In Why social learning will be even more vital in the future of work (Trainingzone, 8 July 2020) Sheridan Webb writes ..
“Nine times out of ten, if I want to learn something, I will ask either a specific individual or a particular group. This made me realise that all the recent focus on working (and training) virtually has given us a distorted view of what the future of L&D is all about. We’ve mistakenly decided that it’s remote/virtual/tech based. I don’t think it is.
Obviously, as a method of delivery, that’s true. Regardless of when restrictions are eased, tech-based solutions are here to stay, and blended learning will be normal. This is a good thing – but I believe that the real future of learning lies with communities.”
Sheridan provides a number of benefits of communities, and then asks the question How do you set up a learning community?
“The simple answer is you don’t. Not really. If you try and create a community from nothing, force connections where they don’t exist or (even worse) ask people to go to a place they don’t already hang out, it’s unlikely to work. I’ve been invited to join communities on Slack and WhatsApp, but I’m not in the habit of going there, so I don’t engage.
Good communities grow organically – I set up the Training Designer’s Club when I realised that I was having multiple conversation around the same things with different people, so it made sense to create a group space. As with anything, when it gets a bit of natural momentum, it starts to attract like-minded people.”
QUESTION:
What communities do you belong to – in and out of work? How do you learn from them? How could you help others to set up (learning) communities in your organisation that can grow organically?
SHARE your thoughts with your team.
How could you build a true social learning culture in your organisation?
FIND OUT how more how to manage communities of practice in the MWL 2020 resource. [Note: to view this content, you will need to purchase access to MWL 2020]
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