Social Workplace Learning: Connecting learning and working

Corporate further education generally follows this pattern: The human resources department selects topics recognized as important content for a training measure. This is followed by a seminar in which knowledge is imparted. The seminar may conclude with a test. Back at the workplace, the acquired knowledge often cannot be applied. The individual practical connection is missing. Therefore, the future of further education lies in Social Workplace Learning.

Artificial learning environments miss the mark

Conventional further education measures such as seminars, employee training, and workshops have a structural problem: all participants in such events receive the same input, regardless of individual interests and specific areas of work. The only exceptions to this are specialist seminars, for example, those in which legal foundations are taught. The teaching content is predetermined, and if it is an external seminar instructor, they usually cannot address individual experiences from the working world. E-learning programs also often have the shortcoming that users are confronted with standardized questions that have little to do with the true challenges of everyday professional life. This type of further education is inefficient and uneconomical for companies, and it is frustrating for employees whenever there is no added value in practice. Many HR managers have recognized this problem and are now focusing on Social Workplace Learning.

Social Workplace Learning: Imparting skills in a targeted manner

Today, it is no longer about learning a canon of knowledge, because methods and facts quickly lose their validity. It is a matter of recognizing learning as a lifelong and work-accompanying process and acquiring the necessary skills. Instead of decoupling learning units as further education measures from everyday professional life, they must be integrated into the working process. Depending on the size and orientation of the company, various methods of Social Workplace Learning are possible. Tandem partners from different specialist areas can exchange ideas and thus improve communication and the flow of processes between departments; in small-scale project groups, solutions to problems can be developed together, and offerings such as the entertaining learning app make it possible to bring current practical knowledge to employees quickly and as memorably as possible.

Methods of Social Workplace Learning

• Case studies
• Role-playing
• Gamification
• Exchange in the learning community
• Individual e-coaching

Developing a Social Workplace Learning concept offers several advantages for companies. Once the structures have been developed, they must be regularly updated and supplemented. This eliminates the expensive purchase of external employee training providers. In addition, employees can learn in a self-determined manner, independent of time and place.

Social Workplace Learning requires...

• a learning platform for internal blended learning and e-learning offerings
• individual learning games and simulation games as well as web-based trainings
• digital communication channels such as blogs, company wikis, community portals, etc.
• opportunities to measure learning success based on the employee's increased competence
• concepts for exchange between employees (e.g., cross-departmental projects, tandem partnerships, etc.)

Develop the right concept for your individual Social Workplace Learning environment with us and offer your employees an optimal learning and working environment – both sides benefit.