Beginner's guide to social learning

Regardless of which side of the scale you’re on at this particular time, if you’re reading this, you’re absolutely on the right track to learning how to get the most out of your team’s experience and expertise.

So, let’s dive in!

What is Social Learning?

At some point in our professional careers, we have received coaching, feedback or suggestions from our immediate superiors about how we can improve the way we do our job. While that’s not entirely bad, it can fall short at times because it fails to provide us with “real-time” practices needed to fully grasp what is being shown to us.

So this is where Social Learning sets an important lead. Social Learning occurs when associates, managers, supervisors, (everyone!) gain new knowledge by observing or interacting with peers, friends, or experts, either in person or online.

Subsequently, this is why this new model is becoming extremely valuable. It takes into account the expertise of each and every person and shares new ways to learn and build skills.

As Carlos Flores, a support team member from PartnerHero points out, Social Learning is a great way to promote social interaction and the imitation of good behavior.

Still not convinced that Social Learning is quite crucial for your business? Here are a few more reasons why you should consider it as part of your toolkit!

• Without a satisfactory collaboration for associates within their teams, creativity and concepts don’t get the chance of being explored or developed.
• Top management credits setbacks within the business to the shortage of teamwork.
• Peer-to-peer learning helps retain more information than traditional training programs do.

Through peer-to-peer learning, you get to find new concepts, process and examine skills, probe it into “real-life” scenarios, receive feedback and then take everything into account to form priceless takeaways.

The Benefits of Social Learning in the Workplace

• It boosts morale for everyone on the team and helps them take charge of their personal and professional growth.
• It fosters and contributes to an unparalleled company culture, allowing it to be shared within the entire company.
• It supports continued training and growth.

Furthermore, peer-to-peer learning can help you develop management and leadership skills by coaching and helping other develop their skills, giving you the opportunity to share functional expertise.

Now that you know how Social Learning works, I hope you’re super excited to get going and implement your own robust, peer-to-peer learning program within your team. Surely, they will obtain stronger skills and relationships and be able to apply them to their daily tasks.

Here’s a resource that might help you get started: Setting Up a Peer Learning Program