4 Ways Learning Influencers Will Change The L&D Game
Organisations are encouraged to foster a culture of ‘peer learning’, but what does that actually entail? It starts with identifying individuals who are willing to share their knowledge - known as ‘learning influencers’. This was the hot topic of conversation on Moving Forward, with guests Benjamin Jaksch and Maike Telaak.
They discussed why learning influencers are structurally changing the role of L&D - scroll to uncover the full takeaways or listen to the podcast episode here.
To start, it’s worth understanding what a peer or learning influencer is.
Benjamin said: “Think about where people normally go if they have a question. More often than not, they’ll ask a peer - they won’t start searching online or the learning management system (LMS).”
“It’s easier and more direct if you have an individual’s contact - they can instantly tell that person if they shared the same challenge, and how they overcame it.” The bottom line? A learning influencer is a trusted individual - someone that can shed light on a particular change, challenge, or opportunity that they’ve experienced within the organisation.
The keyword to remember here is experience. And Maike explained why: “I might have a peer I can trust - but if they don’t have the experience to help me, they might not be the learning influencer I’m after. Think about the mistakes they’ve made, and the key lessons and takeaways.”
Maike also provided a core piece of advice: “You need to articulate that you are looking for learning influencers. It’s not going to necessarily happen the other way around. If the intention is clear, you won’t run the risk of missing out from individuals, who are unsure of whether you want to hear their stories in the first place.”
There’s a misconception that knowledge sharing has to be in a formal, documented way. And that in turn, creates a culture of reluctance for people to share their findings far and wide, within the organisation.
So, what’s the fix? Maike said: “Ease your way into it. It could be a little shortcut you’ve just learnt - share it via Teams or Slack.”
But it also comes down to learning and development (L&D) teams - Benjamin offered his insights: “L&D can provide the frameworks, such as a team learning board, to make the learnings (however big or small) visible and readily available for employees. A hub that is easy to follow, and provides different formats of the content, can ensure that individuals can get straight to the point of the learning.”
Enabling the organisation to share insights with one another will ensure that user-generated learning content will be utilised to the fullest.
No two people consume or learn content in the same way. And this should be top of mind, to ensure that the quality of user-generated learning content doesn’t decline.
Maike contextualised this, with a scenario around a software change: “Someone might have figured out how to use the software. It’s important then for that said person to think about the best format to display this piece of knowledge. Is it a video or a slide deck?”
She explained further, stating: “The software change might not be applicable to all teams across an organisation - so being cautious if the topic is relevant and being shared to the correct audience, is also important.”
Benjamin rounded off this part of the conversation, saying that quality isn’t at risk if people are honest on how much they actually know about the topic: “It comes down to simply saying something along the lines of I’m not entirely sure on how to do this, but here’s what I think.”
It’s all about initiative. Maike said: “L&D or HR teams are advising employees on the training they should be doing, and what they should be learning.”
“However, what’s going to be notable for employees is what they need to know now - in their day-to-day job. Can they learn something that’ll enable them to fix an immediate problem?”
She also added :“All it takes is one person’s willingness to be open about the fact that they need to learn something, being motivated by the fact that they’ll learn something new.” This serves as a gentle reminder that learning is a conversation - and a continuous process.
Watch to the full episode:
