Constant changes and increased business complexity have reshaped how we think about work, what constitutes work, and how we learn and develop the skills to work. The majority (70%) of what and how people learn in the workplace occurs through experiences and by working and interacting with others. Only 10% occurs through traditional training and development solutions that emphasize the storing of knowledge and a one-size-fits-all approach. In this context, peer learning is becoming the primary way that workers and managers improve their performance in the workplace.
Peer learning is an essential component of a modern corporate learning strategy. As a mutually beneficial activity, it recognizes that everyone is a teacher and a learner. It facilitates continuous development by encouraging like-minded professionals to engage in a knowledge exchange through collaboration, networking, discussion, reflection and experimentation. This enables them to enhance their professional and industry knowledge beyond more formal training methods.
Peer learning offers many benefits:
- It provides an effective way to learn from respected and experienced peers
- It offers a cost-effective solution that does not require additional training or workshops
- It allows managers and the organization to continuously develop their capabilities
- It helps organizations find valuable solutions to specific industry problems.
The Peer Learning Group Model©: Managers Learning for Performance
The Peer Learning Group Model© offers a targeted and experiential social learning solution that brings the 70:20:10 framework to life in a structured way. It provides organizations with the increased flexibility to reduce costs and deliver more responsive skill development that meets the needs of managers where they are: in their workplace. Additionally, it allows them access to knowledge and performance support on a just-in-time basis within the context of their own organizational culture.
The Peer Learning Group Model© is a framework for professional development for managers in the workplace. Managers build core leadership and management skills and put them to use in real time learning and peer-to-peer coaching situations. This experiential and interactive method mines the intellectual assets of managers to make them available to the entire organization.
Peer learning group sessions are not an ordinary series of meetings – they are enjoyable, challenging and hands-on educational experiences that dramatically enhance the managers’ ability to bring forward the skills, knowledge and experience in themselves and others. Peer learning groups are places for discovery, creativity and new knowledge creation.
In addition, peer learning groups change professional development from a push experience, where employees and managers are ‘pushed’ to develop skills through training, to a pull towards learning and developing using their intrinsic capabilities and experiences.
In reflection,
Peter Korynski
