Through social learning, we absorb at least 75% of information in the workplace. This is, of course, about the knowledge that we gain by observing colleagues, receiving feedback from them, or asking them questions. Currently, in the world of distributed teams, social learning is gaining a slightly different dimension. Due to the fact that less and less employees stay with each other in one office, at the same time, the approach to social learning should also undergo the process of digitization.

Regardless of whether there are processes in the company that support social learning or not – it still takes place. It is to our colleagues that we usually turn when we face a challenge and we have no idea how to solve it. Therefore, it is worth considering how to improve this process and how to support the employees who take part in it.

The return on investment of social learning is 75:1 compared to formal online training. When thinking about introducing and using social learning in an organization, we must first create a space for learning. However, this concept can be understood in two ways. First of all, it is about infrastructure – tools supporting collaborative in the company. The second aspect is the company’s values and its organizational culture.

Employee productivity can increase by up to 20-25%, thanks to the introduction of effective technologies supporting social learning. It is not only about access to technological innovations that greatly facilitate work and communication. It is also about creating a space for exchanging experiences, everyday communication, integrating, as well as collecting and storing information that may be useful to other employees in the future.

Tools alone will not be effective if the culture of the organization is closed to asking questions, giving feedback or making mistakes. It is these elements that make social learning so effective, and the employee feels encouraged to improve their work style. Before introducing social learning into an organization, it is necessary to examine its culture and values. Investigate whether there are conflicts in the company or if there is a metaphorical wall between management and lower-level employees. In this case, there is a risk that the transfer of knowledge between colleagues will concern not only good practices, but also habits and attitudes that can be harmful.

The first step in introducing social learning in an organization is the appropriate selection of tools to support communication between employees. These include internal chats and conversations, channels for individual departments or projects, and closed thematic groups where employees can look for tips and information on a specific topic. Communicators have the advantage over off-line conversations with co-workers that the answer to the question usually appears immediately, because it can be given by any person from the group who has time. It is by asking questions and testing different solutions that employees learn new procedures most effectively. Another advantage of communicators in the company is the ability to observe the discussions of other people – which is also a valuable source of knowledge.

In 2017, Leroy Merlin faced the need to change its onboarding process. Their statistics showed that as many as 55% of people leave them in the first three months of cooperation. The main reason was the lack of involvement of superiors and caregivers in the onboarding process. Leroy Merlin decided to implement the 70/20/10 principle in their structures. It means that 10% of the time is formal learning, 20% is learning from a tutor, and 70% is learning in the process of doing work. Thanks to the new approach, they were able to increase productivity after 1 month of work from 40% to 70% and reduce turnover by 9% in the group of employees who worked less than a year. One of the actions that Leroy Merlin took was to introduce the role of a buddi. Buddy is a co-worker who becomes the guide of the newly hired person and will guide him through the difficult time of the first moments in the new company. New employees have the skills that are needed for their position, but they do not yet know how to use them. They do not know the procedures and standards of the new organization. Buddha makes sure that they acquire this knowledge efficiently.

Social learning has a disadvantage. It can be said that the employee first learns the exceptions before learning the rule. Therefore, the new employee should receive a knowledge package in which he will find all the most important information, descriptions of processes, norms and values of the company, as well as the structure of the organization. It is about a base where he will be able to look at any time and explore the problem he faced. This knowledge base can also be a great tool for introducing social learning in an organization. It is here that more experienced employees can write good practices related to their position on an ongoing basis or share files that are needed at a given moment. The knowledge base has the advantage that the information collected by employees does not disappear and does not get lost. They are generally available and the know-how remains inside the company.

Learning in companies is becoming more and more digitized. Webinars and video calls allow you to effectively gain new knowledge and ask about all the elements that are unclear. However, it should be remembered that in order for a new employee to be able to ask questions and dispel their doubts, he must have minimal knowledge in a given topic – otherwise he will not even know what to ask. That is why it is worth taking advantage of the various possibilities offered by online meetings. Presentations, watching movies together, live surveys. During such meetings, you can act out scenes, test different scenarios and take samples of work. For example, image sharing allows a new employee to follow step by step the actions of a more experienced co-worker. This function efficiently replaces observing colleagues during work, which has so far been the main element of social learning.

In order to introduce social/collaborative learning into an organization, a culture of providing and receiving feedback should be promoted. Thanks to this, employers will be happy to give each other feedback and thus gain more and more knowledge about their strengths and areas for development. But feedback has another important aspect, which concerns the introduction of social/collaborative learning. It is on the basis of the data that we collect from the company’s employees that they will be able to create an effective system of developing competences, ideally suited to the needs of its employees. Let the interested parties themselves share with the organization information about what makes it easier for them to assimilate knowledge.

Source: https://hcmdeck.com/blog/jak-wprowadzic-social-learning-do-organizacji/

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.