Social learning: 4 Habits you should Form

Social learning’s not new – there’s always been a water cooler and ways to collaborate in learning. But technology has breathed new life into social learning. Ahead of their new series of Guides on social learning, Totara LMS, VIP sponsor of the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition 2015, look at four habits that you and your colleagues should form in this social age.

1. Share your ideas

Social tools let you share ideas: you can post updates, share your stories. But you don’t just want to be part of the noise or add to the Cat Video landfill. You share for a reason. You want to share stories that are relevant to specific communities or, indeed, specific people within a community.

Social tools enable you to share your ideas for work — ideas for how to do a project better, ideas for strategy, ideas for where to go for lunch. You need to ensure that it’s the right story in the right space. Tools like Totara Social keep the social noise away from the work signals.

2. Build your reputation

We build reputation through our actions – are we generous with our time, do we share our insights, or do we sit back and wait for others? Social tools carry our reputation into online spaces: how we behave, respond and contribute on the platforms, through our status updates, sharing, contributions and writing all influence our reputation, so think about how you want to be seen and act in ways consistent with that.

You can build your reputation effectively by thinking about relevance and timeliness of what you share: if you contribute in ways that are timely to individuals or groups, and if you make your content relevant and practical, you’re likely to build a stronger reputation than if you just throw stuff out to everyone. Again it’s about making sure that what you add is value, not noise.

3. Solve problems 

Got a problem? Time to draw on the capability of your community. There’s wisdom in those crowds. Here’s how

• Create the culture – do people collaborate outside structured channels in your organisation? Social can be a great way to build alternative teams and relationships, cutting across roles and territories.
• Find the experts – many social tools (like Totara social) will let you browse your network for skillsets that match the problem you’re facing
• Give them a reason – we’re creatures of motivation. Is there something in it for them? Can you reward them, help them, return the favour?
• Reward collaboration – be nice, and pay people in the currency that means something in your network. That might be a star ranking, a recommendation, something that confers value on them.

4. Share your story

It’s called #Working Out Loud. Learning is about change, and working out loud is about sharing your story of change over time. It’s about reflecting, pondering, making decisions and sharing consequences.

You can do it through status updates, asking questions or even creating a dedicated reflective group, or you can do it externally, on a blog, and share your posts back inside the organisation. Get senior people in your business to take the first step and be open about their learning story – others will follow if the tone is set right. And you may want to keep this inside the organisation  – so consider a secure Enterprise Social Network such as Totara Social.

Start forming habits

Habits get formed through small actions, and it takes time to build social momentum – so why not start with one of these and lead the way in your organisation?