I read an interesting article by Steve King on the New Knowledge Artisans.  The article succinctly summarizes some of the changes happening in the workforce today, driven by the growth of the Millenials or GenY and their need for knowledge collaboration in the workforce. This is particularly relevant considering the baby boomer generation are approaching retirement age and taking with them key knowledge, expertise and insights gleaned through years of experience. What does that say to organizations that are looking to build true learning organizations and believe that the true area of sustainable advantage lies in the knowledge that lies within an organization? If that knowledge is walking out the door as a generation of the workforce approaches retirement, how best do organizations retain this key knowledge and impart that in a manner that is going to prove meaningful to the next workplace entrants?

The Milennials are more demanding, more collaborative and have grown up accustomed to the use of technology. They actually have access to more sophisticated technology outside their working environment and feel limited and even restricted with anything less. So the question remains, how do organizations best appeal and engage with the new young talent entering the workforce and how do they appropriately manage and map to their motivations and provide them the best tools to learn and collaborate on the job to retain and grow intellectual capital?

Facebook is a really interesting public facing social tool, not only because it has amassed a large follower audience but how it has appealed to this new demanding generation. What makes Facebook so interesting is how it draws people in to constantly throughout the day. It’s a platform that draws people in and through the power of collaboration and community and is like a drug to many. Now imagine the typical organization software application and the usual challenges with growing user adoption. Many a software company could well learn from the Facebook example when it comes to user adoption, use and reuse. So what’s the real point of this? Learning within organizations is in a state of flux. This is being driven by an entirely new demographic who have different needs. To thrive in this new world order, organizations need to rethink how they appeal to this new talent and how they capture and disseminate knowledge in a manner that appeals to the collaborative thirst of these NetGens. But they need to do this in a manner that appeals to the organizational requirements as well. Organizations have to strike the right balance between nurturing the free form collaborative nature of networks yet continue to maintain the quality and accuracy of knowledge that is created and disseminated. It’s a fine line and not all social web 2.0 tools are applicable to an enterprise as a result. At the end of the day, enterprises are toiled with seeking ways to drive higher organization performance through their talent, motivating and nurturing them to improve themselves and their organizations as well and develop the till now the informal learning that has been so challenging to address, until now.