Informal learning will work, but only with a strategy
Leaders of Learning & Development within European corporates are reporting successes in the use of informal learning and social media, but feel it will only work effectively if implemented within the context of a concerted learning strategy. This view emerged from a roundtable event held recently by LINE Communications, one of Europe’s leading providers of learning and communications.
Piers Lea, LINE’s CEO, chaired the latest LINE Forum Lunch event which took place at the Blaue Ente restaurant, Zurich. The event was attended by delegates from European organisations including Swiss Re, Clariden Leu, Mövenpick, Syngenta, Smith and Nephew, UBS and Comartis.
Opening the session, guest presenter Laura Overton of Towards Maturity, the internationally respected benchmarking practice for learning, spoke about the measurable business benefits that organisations achieve from a more mature use of innovative learning methods. She emphasised the importance of aligning learning strategies with overall business and organisational goals. Ade Derbyshire-Moore, General Manager, LINE Zurich, built on the message delivered by Laura , presenting LINE's ‘Learning Architectures,’ an approach to structuring learning strategies and programmes informed by the 70/20/10 model, which brings informal learning and social media into the learning mix.
Following the presentations, delegates were invited to exchange their own ideas and experiences in a round table discussion on what a successful learning strategy would look like in the coming years. Several points emerged from the discussion with the most prevalent topics being informal learning and social media.
Delegates agreed on the benefits of both, which were found to work especially well in knowledge sharing cultures. For many around the table, Informal learning has proved so popular and successful that their organisations have gone on to provide platforms to encourage informal learning to take place, embedding it into their overall e-learning and communications strategy.
It was clear, however, that informal learning and social media in an organisational setting raise their own challenges. Not all were convinced that social media worked in all sectors. Added to this was the concern that organisations are worried that employees may abuse their freedom to communicate more widely, whilst the employees themselves are worried that they could be held accountable for anything they say, and possibly face disciplinary or legal measures.
Despite the worries, informal learning was seen as extending learning by providing an environment where people are able to learn outside of the context of formal, prescribed learning events.
Ade Derbyshire Moore, General Manager, Zurich, said, “For me the message from the Forum Lunch was simple "if your organisation wants results from learning then you need to put in a properly thought out learning strategy that's aligned with your organisational goals". This is especially important now as, with the advent of new social media and mobile technologies as well as with a better understanding of how people learn, the learning landscape is far more complex than ever before."