Ingrid has a very nice post about the training my good friend Steve Dale and I provided to some folk at the Local Government Association and the Improvement and Development Agency today.
I think people left the room enthused. A colleague whose arm I twisted to attend the course (when I was worried it wasn’t full – in the end it was overfull) thanked me for getting her along. I’m planning to meet with another colleague in the near future to take some of the training into real concrete action. And that’s the best feedback of all.
Which is very gratifying to hear.
I think there is a real need for fairly basic overview sessions like this one, introducing people to some of key aspects of this social web thing: not just what the tools are and what they do, but some of the philosophy behind it all.
Digital mentoring for public servants? Quite possibly. Maybe a topic for Barcamp?
I think its absolutely essential if we want this stuff embedded into the mainstream
This is so essential. The great session you organised in Peterborough was a tasty appetiser, but going further than that solo is quite challenging. The blog about Local Government “consultation” processes was a useful prompt for self reflection, and a spur to get a promise of “microsites” up and running.
The experience we’ve had is that you can teach someone how to use WordPress and other social media in a half day session. You can even enthuse them about the benefits of using social media. You can’t however turn them into effective bloggers overnight. It takes time to learn the nuances of using social media effectively. You only discover that as you try it.
For Dave, Jeremy and I we’ve been able to learn along the way and be part of the “rule” making. A senior public servant or politician won’t get the same ride we get and coaching or mentoring is going to be important.
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That’s why the http://www.civicsurf.org.uk/coaching programme starts with a face-to-face session followed by extensive online and telephone support from people who know how to use social media and know how to coach.
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On a side note. Nice to seee you drop the technology that doesn’t deliver. RIP intenseDebate