Very often, the field of learning and, in particular, the education sector, suffer from a certain slowness in adapting to the new training needs of today’s world. However, in the business environment, by its very nature, there is greater flexibility and reaction capacity to take advantage of new approaches or tools that may be useful to acquire and transmit knowledge. It is at this point that so-called social learning can find a prominent place and deliver outstanding results.
What is social learning?
The theory of social learning comes to indicate that the different skills and behaviors typical of a certain sector can be acquired through the observation and imitation of others, in a certain social context. Therefore, learning would be a cognitive process that can develop in this social context from the simple observation of other people’s behaviors.
In short, Social Learning is a process in which the person acquires certain knowledge and experiences through their social interaction with the community in which they are, through a cyclical process of observation / repetition / improvement.
The importance of social learning in the business context
Social learning is (or should be) a basic pillar of the operation of any company today; and even more in a contact center, where we must adapt and learn with each client. This is both because of the great benefits that can potentially be obtained from its application, and because the business context constitutes a particularly suitable and fertile environment for its implementation.
In this sense, we can point out five key elements that make Social Learning a very relevant resource in the business field:
1. The omnipresence of the digital environment facilitates the generalization of social learning processes
Today, it is no longer necessary for people to share the same physical environment to enable the implementation of Social Learning. Tools such as online forums, wikis, blogs, cloud storage applications (such as Dropbox, Google Drive or similar), etc., allow informal learning processes to be successfully transferred to the virtual environment. And all this with lower cost and better results.
2. Social learning is a prominent factor in increasing employee satisfaction and commitment
Without any doubt, having employees firmly committed to the company is a basic pillar for the success of any business. In this sense, giving due importance to social learning and the proper management of emotions in the business environment (SEL, Social and Emotional Learning), is a decisive factor to achieve more satisfied, committed employees and with a greater capacity to achieve a good experience with customers, especially in a contact center.
3. Social learning is a very suitable system for learning non-formalized content and acquiring soft skills.
As is already known, the process of acquiring so-called soft skills does not usually adapt well to formalized or traditional learning methods. On the contrary, by their very nature, soft skills are perfect for a social learning system, since they are precisely related to communication or interpersonal skills. Thus, some typical examples of soft skills would be leadership, communication, conflict resolution, motivation, creative thinking, etc.
4. By its very nature, socially learned content is considered more relevant by employees.
In this sense, everything that is learned through observation and interaction is usually directly applicable to daily work. This can happen given that it is not about abstract or purely theoretical knowledge, but about skills and knowledge necessary for the performance of each specific role. Therefore, its immediate usefulness is more easily perceived by the employee, which increases their motivation and commitment to the learning process.
5. Social learning has great potential for innovation and transformation of the company.
Undoubtedly, Social Learning involves a cumulative and transformative process that is fed back through the daily interaction between company personnel. Thus, it contributes to creating an environment of continuous learning and improvement in which the fact of sharing knowledge becomes part of the daily routine of the company. In a contact center this is a very important aspect, since the knowledge learned through the experiences of various agents of the center can be shared and applied to the rest, thus improving the quality of the service.
How to promote social learning within the company?
When promoting Social Learning strategies in the business environment, it is interesting to take into consideration a series of factors that can help their implementation:
- Assessments of training needs should be carried out periodically. In the field of training, it is essential to constantly monitor the demands of employees. Only in this way actions that provide an adequate response to their real needs can be implemented, and, at the same time, have a positive impact on their commitment and motivation. Various studies show that the most successful and best adapted training solutions are those that start from a good previous evaluation work.
- Social learning is always present. It is clear that the informal learning that occurs in the daily interaction of employees is going to happen spontaneously in any case. It is estimated that up to 80% of learning in business is done in this way. It will be, then, that the company can take advantage of this situation through promotion actions, process and content design, enabling tools and evaluation, etc. This will help to maximize the potential benefits of this type of learning and its subsequent application in communication with customers.
- Establish a support network for social learning. All levels of the company must be committed to promoting Social Learning. In this sense, it is very interesting to establish a group of mentors who, in the different departments, can supervise the training and learning processes. Ultimately, it is about introducing a certain degree of direction in non-formalized learning, so that objectives can be clarified and individual actions supported.
- Encourage feedback and evaluation of the actions undertaken. The opinions, formalized or not, that are obtained as a result of the training actions, are an element of great value for the success of learning. On the one hand, they strengthen the knowledge and skills acquired through individual reflection on the learning process; on the other, they promote the continuous improvement of the training actions that can be carried out in the future.
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Conclusion
As we have seen, the potential benefits of good social learning planning are indisputable. However, the vision of the company when it comes to promoting, supporting and evaluating it, will be an essential factor to get the most out of it. For greater efficiency and management in a contact center, the essential thing is to turn this technique into the common thread of learning for the agents and employees of the contact center, in this way, we will be able to have a more professional and prepared staff for dealing with clients.
That is why it is worth dedicating time and resources to the actions we have mentioned, since their cumulative and synergistic effect can contribute to a radical transformation of the company over time.
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