Decoding S I M P L E (Social Learning)

This is in continuation to the blog that articulated Social Learning is S.I.M.P.L.E – “Social and Informal Model for Participative Learningand Engagement”.  Its a learning that occurs with and from other people. People share their knowledge with others who can then use this knowledge to improve their performance. People collaborate with other people to work on problems, innovate for solutions, brainstorm, etc.

Let’s break each crucial part of the acronym in greater detail:

Social:  involvement of individuals in groups that form social communities.

Informal: a casual conversation among the social communities that revolves around a focused topic resulting in sharing of information and/or new learning.  

Model: designed to explain a situation or behaviour, with the idea that it would eventually be able to predict that behaviour.

Participative Learning & Engagement: consider these three terms holistically, involving participation (active or passive) from all community members resulting in knowledge sharing, interaction and learning.

So, does it mean that SOCIAL learning is really so SIMPLE? I would say that the meaning of Social Learning is simple, but its implementation is as complicated as Human Behaviour! Live, in-person interactions between peers are an important and often untapped learning channel for employees. Enhance the potential of social learning to drive employee performance by understanding the different forms peer-based social learning takes, adding structure to existing peer groups, and focusing peer-based social learning on the best opportunities.In my next blog, we will relate Social Learning and Change Management  - as implementation of Social Learning involves in depth Change Management models.