Social learning turns workers into educators says Andrew Northcott, Managing Director of Labour Solutions Australia.
But Northcott says, social learning can have tremendous benefits at work.
“Social learning, from our standpoint, is yet another strategy of education which uses social media like YouTube and other connecting technologies. It enables workers to understand on a far more self-function basis, where they could only go and seek advice on any particular issue they want at that special time.
“An employer can enable social learning at work by, for example, starting an on-line library of audio files, videos and displays that exhibit jobs and job skills, Northcott says.
“That can include conventional, proper content, but what we’re finding is that many of the things people must learn – and might be related to their special occupation, part, or function – often could be caught from others within the organisation. So in regards to the content creation component, a lot can be produced by subject matter experts that are already working inside that organisation, possibly in those specific roles, who’ve actually mastered those roles and have lots of advice and knowledge they could pass on and share.
“It potentially offers a more easy and costeffective method to supply learning for their workers.”
A further advantage, he says, is that workers who contribute to the library “feel more like they’re part of the organisation”.
“Gen Ys or the Millennial generation need to feel like they’re contributing back to the business they’re working for. It’s not only a job, always.”
Social learning will even facilitate job mobility, he adds. Sometimes individuals are wanting to go sideways, for different experiences and different learning.”
While those creating the content will even raise their likelihood of being recognised for promotions and new positions, being able to learn skills which are valued in other sections will help workers appearing to make lateral moves.
“As happens on YouTube, folks are creating content to have discovered. When they’ve really got a specific subject of expertise they exhibit well in these technologies, there’s likely a higher chance they’re going to get noticed by another supervisor or another executive, who might look at them for promotion, or for particular functions later on.”
Breaking down traditional thinking
Presently, Northcott says, when workers think about training they commonly think, “OK, I must enrol myself for a class; I must reserve myself in to complete classroom training, and I must find budget to complete that”.
Further, he says, “the finest kind of education, with regard to worth from learning, is generally experiential; learning from folks that are already within the work force today, and working in similar functions”.
If provided an assortment of methods to perform as such, employers will likely find the individuals within their organisations are somewhat more willing to share and give their skills, he says.
“Some folks love creating video clips of themselves… However, for the folks who are, maybe, less inclined to video themselves, there’s the same capacity to record only an audio recording, or perhaps a PowerPoint presentation or webinar,” he says.
“You don’t have to place your face onto a video and disperse it to the business in the event you’re not so inclined.”
Getting started
Andrew Northcott urges HR professionals to take the lead within this area, and start developing a library of societal learning by recording training strategies for line supervisors, or other “hot issues” they might consistently get asked about.
Alternatively, they could consider transferring certain compliance advice to a social library, he says.
http://www.laboursolutions.com.au
