Peer to Peer learning: An Overlooked Tool for Employee Engagement and Development

Whenever we run into any issues at work, where do we first try to look for solutions? Google? YouTube? Research indicates almost (55%) of employees first turn to their peers for solutions when they run into any problems.

Peer to peer learning can serve as a great development tool. It is an excellent tool to bridge the skills gap between experienced and developing employees. Not only is it an affordable option for employers, it encourages collaboration and connectivity within the workplace. It helps improve overall employee morale, increases employee engagement, and strengthens working relationships.

How Peer to Peer Learning Helps

Unlock Experienced Peers

Companies spend a great deal of time and energy hiring the best employees in their quest to hire talented individuals with a great amount of knowledge and experience. This knowledge capital is a powerful resource. Think about how much an organization can gain if these peers share their expertise.

Learn and Practice

Peer to peer learning enables employees to gain knowledge, practice what was learned, receive feedback, and reflect on that feedback. New and developing employees gain valuable knowledge while experienced employees develop their coaching and evaluating skills.

Employee Comfort

Peer to peer learning is very effective in building a comfortable and positive work culture. Employees not only feel comfortable asking questions and raising concerns to peers, but interactions also become more about improvement and learning. This promotes healthy employee engagement across the entire team.

Ways to effectively facilitate peer to peer learning

Job Shadowing

This is one of the easiest ways employers can promote peer to peer learning and encourage social learning in the workplace. Employees are able to simply watch and interact with their peers while they perform a relevant task. This type of learning is relatively informal, puts less pressure on employees, and helps support higher levels of employee engagement in daily tasks.

Mentoring

Mentors help new employees solve problems and adjust to the workplace. They are not subject matter experts but have a good understanding and knowledge of everything that the job requires. Mentors are a huge benefit for workplaces as they help solve problems, keep employees on track, and create a stronger workforce.

Lunch n’ Learn

Most organizations practice lunch n’ learn and it is one of the most common ways to share knowledge among employees. Employees are encouraged to eat lunch in a group setting and the same time is utilized to answer questions, provide informal training, and share information.

Focusing on Peer to Peer Learning

Peer to peer learning can offer a wide variety of benefits right from being cost-effective to effective learning, and happier employees. Additionally, it can be easily implemented in almost any company. Along with a formal training process, peer to peer learning is a practical and effective way to develop employees. This improves employee engagement and delivers benefits to individual employees and their organization.

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