eWorking is a new way of activating business methods using an online platform that combines online tools, collaboration, and data eith eLearning in a single interface. It is used while people are actually performing their jobs, which is when the best learning takes place. Unlike conventional training, with eWorking the required expertise is collected in the background and delivered at the point of need, reducing the distance between learning and doing to zero. eWorking is an impactful way to activate corporate strategy because it creates measurable business results in real time.
eWorking is also an extremely practical way to rapidly drive best practice to the people in the field, where day-to-day operating decisions are being made. By embedding learning within doing, needed knowledge is available at the point of application. The person in the field is more aware of the choices they are making and of their anticipated outcomes.
eWorking creates a "virtuous cycle" that leverages collective intelligence by embedding "carbon" (human collaboration) in the "silicon" (online tool). The result is real-time change management, evolving and improving methods, tools, and best practice through application, measurement, and feedback from the users in the field.
The CMO of a large chemicals company recently told her colleagues of an eWorking program—LeveragePoint for Value Management—that they put in place last year to increase speed and business impact of their marketing pricing professionals.
She told the story of a marketing professional who had just come onto a project. He had some of the needed expertise and knowledge, but was lacking the full picture and there was nobody to quickly bring him up to speed. However, with eWorking, the previous project leader’s expertise had already been embedded in the tool he was using to create the required output, an Economic Value Estimation (EVE) for an important new product launch. Even though his predecessor was no longer with the company, the new project leader was able to benefit from his experience and expertise. The eWorking tool made the required coaching and examples available exactly as he needed it; no more, and no less. The output was created on time and was of very high quality and contributed greatly to the successful launch.
With eWorking, "expertise" is not something that someone has; rather, it is something that one uses—the result of a creative interface of individual experience and knowledge added to the collective experience and knowledge of the organization. It is far more powerful than eLearning because it puts the expertise of the entire enterprise at the fingertips of the user, and captures best practice and experience of the front-line people who apply the methods, driving the evolution of business methods and iterating those methods in real time.
Here’s how it works:
1. Leverages collective intelligence — by identifying, capturing, and transparently linking the knowledge that people carry in their heads with vetted sources of knowledge, and delivering it in the right context to the right people in the right amount at exactly the right time.
2. Embeds carbon in the silicon — by combining human coaches, coworkers, experts, and advisors with personalized learning objects within the same platform at the time they are needed.
3. Real-time change management — by opening a channel from the field that reveals how well strategy is being executed, and the effectiveness of business methods in achieving business goals. As a result, management can be rapidly improve or change those methods to adapt to unpredictable circumstances. The tool can be instantly updated with improved methods and best practice.
The bottom line: eWorking helps professionals move beyond what they know to what is known, transforming what they can do to what can be done. It creates a supportive "productivity zone" around each knowledge worker, an interface composed of tools, best practices, shared information from colleagues, and data, which is contextually linked to knowledge, methods, and process to drive consistently excellent performance.
Jonathon Levy
Chief Strategy Officer