What to Do When You Can’t ‘Google It’?

Workplace Learning in the Consumer Age

Workplace learning is no longer the remit of HR. In fact, it’s not the remit of any one function any more. It’s HR, it’s operations, it’s IT, it’s at the core business sustainability. In the age of the consumer, where objective views from others matter more than brand voice, knowledge sharing, mentoring and training have been lifted out of HR and into the wider organisation.

This change in learning style from the directive ‘being told’ to an era of Google, peer endorsement and learning through the experiences of others, has revolutionised workplace knowledge management practices. Technology now challenges the 70:20:10 framework — does interaction with others still account for just 20% of our learning?

People need people — to share knowledge, build knowledge, and make decisions in the workplace (from the best way to solve a problem to the direction of their career) just as they do when booking a holiday or buying something on Amazon! But, there are some things Google can’t help with!

In the workplace, we need somewhere to go to get those answers; to learn from the credible experiences of others through individuals, work groups and networks. And, in a globalised world, the way we do it needs to take advantage of multiple devices, work styles and schedules to help dispersed teams work efficiently and communicate from anywhere, anytime.

This is where tech comes in

Why do some approaches to knowledge sharing and mentoring fail?

In my own experience, it can be a lack of systems to support knowledge sharing, perhaps a lack of excitement or motivation from those contributing, poor definition of what they’re trying to achieve through the programme, or a lack of ongoing support or ability to track outcomes. Quite a long list of where I’ve seen things go wrong!

Tech enables us to develop a central platform that blends knowledge curation, knowledge sharing, knowledge building and mentoring. A solution that uses a consumer-based approach in the workplace to break down barriers and silos. Used effectively, tech-based knowledge sharing helps employees to take greater ownership of their own career growth and learning.

A tech-based approach enables employees and organisations to access knowledge and work smarter at a lower cost than traditional mentoring schemes — increasing participation, accessibility and efficiency. Plus, it’s supported by analytics to help improve the experience over time.

But that’s not to say that buying knowledge management or mentoring software is the answer to all your worries about organisational memory. The approach you take needs to create incentives, build excitement, and be sustained and improved over time so that knowledge sharing becomes an integral part of organisational culture.

Building a knowledge culture

80 percent of learning is informal according to Josh Bersin. That means that mentoring and knowledge sharing can empower learning in ways that training courses, employee handbooks and the intranet cannot. Peer-to-peer learning puts people on a much steeper learning curve.

Does your organisation have a knowledge culture?

• Can you measure the skill sets of current employees?
• Can you identify knowledge gaps in the business?
• Can you calculate the cost of knowledge loss?
• Is knowledge transfer part of induction, training and succession planning
• Does mentoring form part of HR processes such as on-boarding, training and retention efforts?

Building a knowledge culture means adopting a mindset that values employee experiences, contributions and idea sharing. In order to do this, you need the systems in place that will empower employees to collaborate with colleagues, share ideas across business units and direct their own learning. It’s also essential that the business can incentivise and reward success.

For the things you can’t Google there are other invaluable sources out there! In fact, in a culture of sharing and innovation, you’ll probably find the best source is your peers. Talking Circles is a secure platform that empowers and incentivises efficient workplace knowledge sharing.

If you’re interested in new approaches to knowledge sharing please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. sayhello@talkingcircles.co or request a demo here.