In his 2024 book, Organizational Learning Communities, Andy Lancaster highlights that organisational social learning is gaining prominence, especially among effective learning organisations. 

Given its growing popularity, our latest installment of the ‘Back to basics in learning and development’ series, explores the concept of social learning within the context of collaboration. 

What is social learning in a workplace context?

At work, social learning is a process where employees learn new skills, knowledge, and behaviours by observing and interacting with their colleagues. 

It's a natural and informal way of learning that happens through everyday work experiences, rather than through formal training sessions or courses.

In practice, social learning in the workplace can take many forms:

1. Watching how experienced colleagues handle tasks or solve problems
2. Asking questions and getting advice from peers or mentors
3. Participating in group discussions or brainstorming sessions
4. Sharing knowledge and experiences with team members
5. Collaborating on projects and learning from each other's strengths

How to encourage learning through collaboration as part of the everyday

With a focus on collaboration, here are some tips on how this approach can be harnessed to support social learning as a daily habit.

Revisit the use of action learning sets

Action learning can provide opportunities to bring cross-functional groups together to learn whilst solving real-world issues, small and large.

Create space to share wins and fails

Use team meetings as a forum where individuals are encouraged to share successes and challenges using a learning lens. As well as asking “what went well / wrong and why?”, ask “what learning did we take from this situation? What would we repeat next time? What would we avoid?”

Leverage collaboration tools

Use collaboration tools such as Kanban or Trello boards and Slack channels to share information and updates so that project progress is transparent. This can support the provision of good practice suggestions between colleagues in different areas of the organisation.

Share quick ‘how-tos’ in huddles

Use daily stand-ups or huddles to quickly share tips and advice within teams.

Build up your organisation’s ‘memory’

Create an internal Wiki where individuals can share knowledge and build on the knowledge of others. This creates a repository for organisational memory and provides a great source of reference for all team members. 

Encourage passion projects

Allocate time for team members to work on whatever they choose, with whomever they wish to work. One organisation that uses this methodology is Atlassian via its ‘Shipit days’. This initiative allows team members to work on something that inspires them for 24 hours with others from across the business and then present the outcome. 

Organise cross-team presentations

Create opportunities for cross-team collaboration on a presentation or town hall meeting. For example, in a manufacturing setting a presentation that tells the story of a product from design through to delivery to the customer could involve team members from each team in the process. 

Encourage job shadowing (with a difference)

Initiate opportunities for ‘job-shadowing plus’ where team members not only shadow a colleague from another team, but also work with them on a specific task. This gives the ‘shadower’ the chance to live the task, not simply observe it. 

How can L&D professionals support learning via collaboration?

Learning professionals play an active part in supporting and promoting collaboration and social learning. Here are some ways in which you can achieve this:

• Model and promote a learning culture by advocating a mindset of embedding learning into daily activities.
• Equip managers to facilitate learning by asking reflective questions, encouraging discussion and facilitating knowledge sharing.
• Provide access to learning resources that can be used ‘in the flow of work’.
• Recognise collaboration and its resulting learnings by celebrating cross-team collaborations in meetings or via other internal communication channels. 
• Support the effective use of digital platforms such as MS Teams or Slack by providing examples of good practice.
• Act as advocates for collaboration and provide tools that foster learning through reflection on successes and mistakes. 

In conclusion

Collaboration is a key component of social learning. Working and learning together is not only cost-effective, it can also have multiple add-on benefits such as building stronger working relationships and supporting wellbeing in the workplace. 

We hope the tips presented help you to encourage learning through collaboration in the coming weeks and months.

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