Organizational Learning Communities

Empowering Social Learning and Collaboration to Improve Performance

Andy Lancaster

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781398615496
• eBook ISBN: 9781398615519
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Learning communities transform organizations through sharing knowledge, spearheading practice, solving problems, seeding innovation and supercharging development. So how can you develop a culture of learning in your organization?

Organizational Learning Communities answers this question and explains how and why this approach can improve individual employee performance and drive overall business results. Written by a leading voice in the learning profession, this book contains everything that Learning and Development (L&D) practitioners need to know to successfully embed learning communities in their organizations. Following the 7Cs model of Cause, Culture, Conditions, Cadence, Content, Contributions and Credit, the book establishes the key factors that underpin thriving learning communities as well as the benefits of social and collaborative learning in the company.

This practical guide establishes strategies to drive community impact and report success to stakeholders, drawing widely on evidence-based research and real-world examples. Each chapter ends with reflective questions to support transfer to the reader's context. This is essential reading for those involved in facilitating learning communities, or planning on pioneering one, to empower their organization's productivity and performance.

Table of contents

• List of figures and tables
• Online resources
• Introduction: NASA, research, the book and our collaboration!
• PART ONE What are the foundations for organizational learning communities?
• 01 Natural tendencies
• 02 Better together
• 03 Social learning theory – Bandura
• 04 Social constructivist and scaffolding – Vygotsky and Bruner
• 05 Situated learning theory – Lave and Wenger
• 06 Collective, collaborative or cooperative?
• 07 The elusive 20
• 08 Community definitions
• 09 The DNA of learning communities
• 10 Community dimensions
• PART TWO How are organizational learning communities impactful?
• 11 Sharing knowledge
• 12 Spearheading practice
• 13 Solving problems
• 14 Seeding innovation
• 15 Supercharging development
• PART THREE What are the keys to facilitate effective organizational learning communities?
• 16 Introducing the 7Cs model
• Cause
• 18 Attraction
• 19 Ownership
• 20 Charters
• 21 Access
• 22 Sponsor-champions
• 23 Launch
• Culture
• 25 Rituals
• 26 Psychology safety
• 27 Inclusivity and intersectionality
• 28 Altruism
• 29 Bias – information and interpretation
• 30 Bias – interaction and image
• 31 Groupthink
• Conditions
• 33 Balancing modes: Face-to-face, digital and hybrid
• 34 Leveraging physical spaces
• 35 Leveraging digital spaces – LMS and LXP
• 36 Leveraging digital spaces – tools
• 37 Leveraging virtual spaces – metaverse worlds
• 38 Ensuring accessibility
• Cadence
• 39 Rhythms
• 40 Cadence
• 41 Phases
• 42 Synchronous and asynchronous interactions
• 43 Shelf life
• Content
• 45 Creative activities
• 46 Coordinated campaigns
• 47 Curious questioning
• 48 Cultivating AI
• Contributions
• 50 Numbers
• 51 Relationship and contribution analysis
• 52 Working out loud
• 53 Task contributions
• 54 Social contributions
• 55 Dysfunctional contributions
• 56 Coordination and management
• Credit
• 58 Roles
• PART FOUR How can we demonstrate the impact of organizational learning communities?
• 59 Quantitative, qualitative, ROI and ROE
• 60 Participant reflection and the five cycles model
• 61 Leveraging narratives
• Closing thoughts: Fanning the flames and ideation!
• Index