Working out loud

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Stepper at the keynote on December 7, 2017 at # WOLC'17

When Working Out Loud (WOL) is a mindset of cooperation and also based upon this self-learning method called.

Basic idea of ​​the Working Out Loud

The term was picked up by Bryce Williams in 2010 and explained in a blog post. Bryce sums up the core idea as follows:

Working Out Loud = Observable Work + Narrating Your Work

You shouldn't just do your work, you should also let others participate so that everyone can learn together and become better. Social networks and collaboration environments are tools for this in order to be actively involved.

With WOL, Bryce Williams put into words what could be observed with the increasing relevance of blogs and social media: the paradigm shift for knowledge workers away from the "knowledge collector" to the sharing of knowledge : Relevant is those who willingly share their knowledge and help - no longer who hoards and guards the knowledge.

The learning method WOL

John Stepper developed the method further and made it known with a book published in 2015.

Stepper describes WOL as a way to build relationships that help you achieve a goal, develop a skill, or discover a new topic. But instead of networking to get something, invest in relationships. By bringing in contributions from their own work and experiences, each participant becomes more visible over time.

The 5 principles of WOL are:

  • Relationships
  • Generosity
  • Visible work
  • Purposeful Discovery
  • Growth Mindset

The core of the method is a 12-week program (the so-called WOL Circle), in which the participants are put in a position to adapt their habits to the principles through various exercises (the Circle Guides).

The German Working Out Loud Community of Practice (WOLCoP, consisting of representatives from AUDI, BMW, Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Telekom, Siemens) won the HR Excellence Award in November 2017 for their self-organized, cross-company collaboration and exchange the category Employee Engagement and Collaboration (Group).

Working Out Loud Circle

A circle works in a self-organized manner . Composition, scheduling, learning, goal control take place without external parties and are completely based on the intrinsic motivation of the participants.

It is up to the participants themselves whether they come together for the meeting in person or virtually.

The exercises in the guides are in principle technology-independent, but many examples rely heavily on digital collaboration and the corresponding tools.

We recommend 3–5 participants for the Circles, each of whom sets a goal for himself and works on the exercises of the individual weeks (one hour meeting per week). During the meetings, the results of the exercises should be discussed according to the proposed agenda. Group exercises are sometimes planned.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ When will we Work Out Loud? Soon! In: TheBrycesWrite . November 30, 2010 ( thebryceswrite.com [accessed February 7, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jäger: The new social media in corporate reality - possibilities and requirements. (PDF) In: Hans Böckler Foundation, http://www.boeckler.de/ . October 10, 2012, accessed February 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ What social media has to do with knowledge work | Politics digital. Accessed February 7, 2018 (German).
  4. ↑ John Stepper: Here's the first time I saw the phrase in print (so to speak): https: //thebryceswrite.com/2010/11/29/when-will-we-work-out-loud-soon/… In : @johnstepper. February 4, 2018, accessed February 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Frank Edelkraut, Denise Gramß, Nele Graf: Agile learning: New roles, competencies and methods in the corporate context . Haufe-Lexware, 2017.
  6. ↑ John Stepper. Retrieved February 2, 2018 (American English).
  7. ↑ Winner 2017 | HR Excellence Awards . In: HR Excellence Awards . October 24, 2017 ( hr-excellence-awards.de [accessed February 2, 2018]).
  8. ↑ New Ways of Working? Working Out Loud! - TechAcute . In: TechAcute . May 13, 2014 ( techacute.com [accessed February 5, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Working Out Loud Circles. Retrieved February 2, 2018 (American English).