Trusting the Network

Web 2.0 technologies have given new energy to informal learning. It’s now easier than ever before to access immediate, relevant, personalized information. Such technology is changing the standards of speed and efficiency for business success. Not only is there faster access to knowledge and answers, but it’s now easier for teams to work across countries and time zones and search for their own experts who have the exact skills necessary to contribute to the team. Such flexibility and openness in learning delivery is what many organizations are harnessing as they continue along the path of economic recovery.

The recent economic downturn had a negative effect on workforce productivity, engagement and performance. Companies had to reduce costs in training, learning and employee development, but are now leveraging employees to produce, deliver and contribute to content both time- and cost-efficiently through informal learning platforms such as social media. Organizations are resourcefully compressing the time to competence needed by business-critical workforces and are creating a more agile workforce.

“The current global economic situation demands more creative and efficient thinking and working practices,” said Martin Baker, founder and managing director of the Charity Learning Consortium. “Twitter is a great example of something [that] forces you to think both creatively and efficiently because of the restriction on the number of characters you can type.”

Findings from consultancy the CARA Group’s 2010 survey, “How Informal Learning Is Transforming the Workplace: A Pulse Survey on Social Media’s Impact on Informal Workplace Learning,” indicate that 90 percent of respondents encourage or support informal learning in some way; 81 percent feel social media offers valuable learning opportunities for employees; and 98 percent of respondents agree that social media is changing how employees are learning and accessing information. On the other hand, only 47 percent agreed that social communities were one of the most useful tools for supporting informal learning in the workplace.

Survey participants expressed skepticism about social media’s ability to be truly effective and efficient because the broad empowerment of the individual is too high a risk for some businesses. Organizations also worry about security risks, productivity drains and distractions that could occur with widespread access to social media.