{"id":72546,"date":"2025-12-03T21:38:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T21:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.totara.fortyapp.com\/articles\/social-learning-in-the-workplace-designing-learning-that-lasts\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T21:38:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T21:38:19","slug":"social-learning-in-the-workplace-designing-learning-that-lasts","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/staging.totara.fortyapp.com\/us\/articles\/social-learning-in-the-workplace-designing-learning-that-lasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Social learning in the workplace: designing learning that lasts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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39% of today’s workplace skills may be obsolete by 2030<\/span><\/b><\/a>, according to the World Economic Forum.<\/span><\/b> With this pace of change, organisations need learning environments that help employees continuously adapt and apply new knowledge in real time. Formal learning still provides the structure and foundational knowledge every organisation depends on. But to keep capability growing, it needs to be supported by collective learning where people connect and co-create knowledge together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Totara, we see this blend as the foundation of resilient learning cultures. It’s why we’re exploring how organisations can design collective learning that is both structured and social, enabling employees to learn from one another as well as from formal programmes. To help with this, we invited Anamaria Dorgo, learning consultant and founder of L&D Shakers, to share her knowledge with our Totara Community as a specialist in building communities<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This article is part three of Totara’s social learning series. Part one, <\/span>featuring Charles Jennings, explored how collaboration drives continuous development<\/span><\/a>. Part two showed how Mitchells & Butlers used their Totara LMS to create safe, scalable social learning spaces<\/a>. In this final part, we look at how to design collective learning experiences that bring people together, sustain engagement, and turn shared learning into lasting performance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why organisations need social learning to keep pace with change<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

L&D teams are rightly moving from being content publishers to becoming enablers of performance through rich learning ecosystems, while the shelf life of skills continues to shrink. Formal learning still matters because it sets standards and supports compliance. The challenge is helping people keep developing between and after courses, when the real work happens.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several signals point to this shift. One comes from <\/span>Jane Hart\u2019s long-running survey on workplace learning behaviours<\/span><\/a>, which asks employees how they learn best at work. Although formal learning remains important, respondents often place greater emphasis on learning through Doing, Discovery, and Discussion.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Across thousands of responses, <\/span>Didactics were reported at 14%<\/span><\/b>, compared with <\/span>31% for Doing<\/span><\/b> (job-based activities, manager feedback, coaching), <\/span>34% for Discovery<\/span><\/b> (web search, articles, videos, podcasts), and <\/span>21% for Discourse<\/span><\/b> (interacting with colleagues, communities of practice).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anamaria Dorgo<\/span><\/b> emphasises that in a complex environment, relying on a single perspective is limiting. Collective learning allows organisations to tap into diverse viewpoints and problem-solving approaches that no individual could provide alone. When people learn together, they build capability faster and adapt more effectively to new challenges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Types of social learning in the workplace<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Collective learning is not a single activity but a range of approaches that bring people together to share knowledge and build skills. Understanding these different forms helps L&D teams design experiences that match their organisational needs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Peer learning<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Peer learning happens when equals support each other and learn from one another. Examples include action learning sets, peer circles, communities of practice, show and tell sessions, lunch and learn events, peer coaching circles, internal podcasts, and book clubs. These formats work well when employees need space to share experiences, ask questions, and develop together without hierarchy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaborative learning<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Collaborative learning involves peers working together towards a shared goal to produce or solve something collectively. This could take the form of hackathons, group project-based learning, team retrospectives, garage sessions, incubators, or use case libraries. The purpose here is not just to learn but to create something, with learning happening as a natural part of the process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mentoring and guided social learning<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Guided social learning involves learning from someone more experienced, such as a mentor, senior colleague, or expert. Examples include one-to-one mentoring, coaching, expert show and tell sessions, ask-me-anything sessions, case clinics, expert panels, lightning demos, shadow-the-manager days, and expert critique sessions. These approaches help employees access knowledge that might otherwise be difficult to reach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Informal social learning in organisations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The broader category of social learning includes any learning through observation or interaction with others. This often happens informally through job shadowing programmes, apprenticeships, job swaps or short rotations, a day in the life programmes, role plays with feedback, call-listening sessions, or analysing business cases in training and debating options together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How organisations are implementing collective learning successfully<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Organisations across industries are applying these principles in different ways. In her session, Anamaria highlighted three examples that show how collective learning can be designed to fit organisational culture and business needs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bosch: Working Out Loud community<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Bosch created an open community on their internal digital collaboration platform called Bosch Connect, with <\/span>more than 1,200 members<\/span><\/b> who joined organically. <\/span>The Working Out Loud concept<\/span><\/a> involves small groups of four to five people coming together over 12 weeks to work through challenges and activities. Each group has a facilitator, and facilitators themselves have access to a support community. The platform hosts the circle registration form, media materials, events, activities, and helpful resources in a shared wiki. This approach scaled across the organisation without heavy central coordination.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stuart: Ambassador programme<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Stuart developed a gamified programme<\/span><\/a> that allows employees to get involved in activities outside their normal role while building relationships with peers. Employees can choose from a menu of options: host a Stu-Talk, become an onboarding buddy, join a coffee roulette to talk with someone outside their department, become a mentor, or get involved in local committees or employee resource groups. The programme is incentivised with prizes, making participation visible and rewarding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Novartis: Curiosity Month<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Novartis launched a company-wide event to encourage learning beyond formal L&D offerings. It started with a crowdsourced ideation event that generated <\/span>13,000 ideas<\/span><\/b>. Over <\/span>1,000 volunteers<\/span><\/b> organised a month-long event on curiosity, hosting <\/span>500 events<\/span><\/b> that reached <\/span>55,500 people globally and generated 145,000 learning hours<\/span><\/b>. The success of the initiative led Novartis to allocate 5% of employee time, approximately 100 hours per year, for self-directed learning, curiosity, and development.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These examples show that collective learning works when it is designed around employee interests, supported by clear structures, and given room to grow organically.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Three design principles for sustainable communities<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Anamaria Dorgo’s work with communities of practice has identified three core principles that make collective learning sustainable and effective.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have a clear purpose: why do we gather and who do we gather?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Collective learning only works when people understand why they are coming together and what they hope to achieve. Design should start with a common challenge or goal that is informed by strategic direction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two questions help define this purpose:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n