Analysis: we seem to be increasingly missing out on learning invaluable bits and pieces from our colleagues, managers or even the new intern
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The surge of Covid-induced remote working has radically changed how we learn at work. A 2020 McKinsey report estimates that 50% to almost 100% of formal training and development programs were cancelled across all organisations during the pandemic.
But what happens to the learning we do during the process of working? While working in silos from the comfort of our homes, we seem to be increasingly missing out on all those invaluable bits and pieces from our colleagues, managers or even the new intern, all of which taught us more about our work.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Sinead Spain reports from Dundalk on how remote working hubs could boost local economies
The traditional workplace setting prompted learning at work alongside the formal training and development settings. For example, you could be learning at work by observing your colleague beside you, applying new ideas you just came across or simply, asking colleagues about their experiences when facing a roadblock. Such an environment creates opportunities which are not just conducive to learning at work, but also making friends, enriching your network and building your social capital.
During the course of the author's ongoing research, Patricia, a senior manager at an Irish public sector organisation, said the importance of learning at work was "absolutely immeasurable. I'd say 85 to 90% of it has been learning at work for me. I know exactly where to go on, who to go to and how or if I need to or where I could find the information."
But remote working has changed all of this. Evidence suggests that learning at work, company culture and an environment of collaboration is missing in remote working. Instead of in-person meetings, joint lunches, office talks, we suddenly relied heavily on various sources of electronic communication and collaboration tools. Recent figures show that only 20% of organisations use blended learning, with a whopping 44% of this done face-to-face and more than 90% through informal social interactions.
From TED The Way We Work, Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress and Automattic on why working from home is good for business
This is a huge shift. The richness of working from office is seen in face-to-face collaborations, socialising and learning from existing social network. A range of factors act as facilitators of learning at traditional workplaces and ne of the most important is proximity. Say, you are struggling with a task and don't have the slightest idea what to do next. As a matter of fact, you would turn to the person sitting next to you, leveraging the benefits of physical proximity and try to engage in a discussion to solve the problem.
Expertise is another important facilitator of learning at work. Research shows that employees facing problems at work tend to identify a colleague or a staff member who have faced a similar problem and successfully (or not) overcame it at work. This is when the idea of prior knowledge or expertise comes to play.
Then, there is the idea of ‘congeniality’ or how approachable a person is. For example, your have a higher chance of learning from someone who smiles at you, walking down the corridor rather than someone who keeps to themselves at work and talks only when needed!
From Forbes, how a startup made remote employee training entertaining
There’s a lot of factors besides these. For example, Sophia, a manager at an Irish public sector organisation talked during a research interview with the author about a climate of "looking after each other" at work and how that induces a learning environment. "In fairness in this organisation, if they can't help you with your query, they'll always try and suggest somebody else who can. You know, there is but a good working atmosphere in the organisation."
So what needs to change?
The age of remote working means a new, more synchronised idea of learning is required, ranging from a greater individual ownership of learning to strategic interventions at an organisational level.
A prompter individual ownership is vital to creating more meaningful virtual social interactions and engaging in learning is crucial in this regard. For example, "Zoom gatherings" or staying connected regularly via Zoom with many work colleagues could help in repurposing digital tools and technologies to benefit learning while maintaining your work relationships.
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From RTÉ TEN, film director John Boorman on learning on the job
Regular interventions from supervisors and immediate managers is important in remote working to promote a culture of learning at work. These could in the form of weekly feedback sessions, encouraging the team to share new ideas amongst themselves, or even having the entire team at work on a specific day on a weekly basis. Reflecting on how they coordinate days at work, research interviewee Patricia comments "you know, if you're going into the office for a particular day, one of my team emails and we'd say, can we coordinate the day? Because I need to ask you three things and you just kind of go, why didn’t I do this all the time?"
A positive work environment is an important factor for learning to be impactful. The CIPD Learning At Work Survey, 2023 estimates about 41% of working professionals are seeking a climate of trust and the ability of taking risks crucial to an environment which fosters learning. Strategic policies in organisations around remote working to promote such a healthy work environment is crucial to facilitate learning at work.
People have worked from office for over 100 years. For the abrupt change we've all experience since 2020 to be beneficial, it is important to be proactive and modernise how we learn virtually from people around us.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
