Informal Learning
A recent survey that found that employees (in the UK, at least) are more interested in innovative learning and collaboration than the HR and training people in those same institutions. The study, conducted in March, found that 44% of employees want to see collaborative tools like blogs, forums and wikis developed, while just 32% of HR professionals agree. More HR professionals (42%) than employees (38%) wanted to see more classroom learning.
Having been in both learning and HR roles, (not to mention being an employee for most of my career), These results make perfect sense to me. HR is in charge of creating systemic solutions that will apply to many people throughout an organization. They want to make sure the tools are equally available to everyone, and to standardize the messages that go out. They also want to keep some sense of control over the information that goes out, lest incorrect or careless information lead to some unintentional catastrophe.
Part of the HR organization’s fear of innovative technology is that it can easily become a time – and productivity – sink. Undirected learning is not a straight-line sort of process. It’s easy to fall into the same trap Gina Minks describes in a recent post on informal learning:
“I am easily distracted with shiny, interesting, technical things. Sometimes I don’t realize my search for answers has gone off topic until I have been playing with the shiny new idea for an hour or so.”
Of course, those shiny new ideas often bear fruit down the road – but not in a way that can be easily tracked or monitored. Our goal-setting culture has trained us from a very early age that the proper sequence is to set up objectives and then go meet them. As Sharon explored in a blog post a while back , that approach has some problems.
What do you think? Does the potential from unguided learning outweigh the cost of participating in undirected activity (that may or may not ever add to the business’ bottom line)?
Tags: informal learning
May 15th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I think it can. Like any new technology or tool used at work I think some employees in the long run will utilize information they find during unguided learning. Playing with the next shiny new thing sparks an idea down the road. For others, they may not be interested in applying the knowledge, or they may not realize how to apply it.
I understand the concern of organizations that wikis, blogs are a waste of time and risky from a compliance standpoint. However, at the end of the day, good employees will find ways to take action on what they learn to accomplish organzational goals.
Thanks, Leanne