Strategies for Promoting Informal Learning in the Workplace: A Report

This report delves into the significance of informal learning within the workplace, emphasizing its crucial role in individual and organizational development. It defines informal learning as unstructured and organic, contrasting it with formal training methods. The report explores how team building, feedback, and experience contribute to informal learning, while also examining organizational culture's impact. It identifies factors that both enable and restrict informal learning, such as transparent feedback and growth opportunities. Individual characteristics, including motivation and communication skills, are also analyzed for their influence on informal learning. The report highlights the benefits of information sharing, employee motivation, improved organizational culture, and enhanced performance. Ultimately, the report offers recommendations to promote informal learning, recognizing its importance, especially for organizations with limited resources, as it fosters employee satisfaction, loyalty, and improved overall performance. This report provides valuable insights into strategies for creating a workplace environment that supports continuous learning and growth.

Running Head: Informal Learning
Informal workplace learning
Report on promoting individual workplace learning

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Introduction
Informal learning is a vital aspect in the growth and development of every individual.
Informal learning refers to the learning which is not structured or formal. It has no set goals
or objectives and hence cannot be bounded by timelines or structures. It can be promoted but
it also largely depends on the individual’s basic nature (Noe, 2013). Many organizations
promote informal learning as it leads to individual’s advancement and offers learning
opportunities. Informal learning clearly identifies the importance of socializing in the work
place and learning from other individuals, however, it is much wider than simply increasing
network for the purpose of socialization (Bancheva, 2015). The focus is built on learning due
to the environment an individual is in and surrounding people. This is very different from the
traditional concept of formal training, induction or learning (Manuti, 2015).
Informal learning throws light on the ability of individuals’ to learn from other people’s
experiences and spread learning and knowledge from their own experiences. Organizations
are focussing more on creating an environment that promotes informal learning. This benefits
the employee as well as the organization and leads to improved performance for both.
Besides this, it further leads to employee engagement, learning, growth of a more positive
culture and also provides employee with a platform for innovative thinking and fosters
creativity (Watkins, 2014).
This particular report throws light on how organizations can promote and enhance informal
learning in a workplace. It covers aspects like the factors influencing informal learning;
personal individualistic characteristics that impact informal learning and the benefits of
informal learning and how does it impact the growth of an individual. The report ends with
certain recommendations to promote informal learning in an organization. These
recommendations have been defined after in depth research and understanding.

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Findings
How do individuals learn in the workplace
Team building
The best way for an individual to foster learning is to work with other people in a team.
When three or more people come together, they share experiences, thoughts, ideas and
knowledge which in turn provide a platform for learning among individuals (Tannenbaum,
2010). The formation of teams is hence a crucial aspect of any organization. Team work also
enables immediate feedbacks given to employees. At the time of a conflict, team members
discuss, argue and make decisions. This provides for a wonderful opportunity of informal
learning to an individual (Mathieu, 2015).
Feedbacks
Feedbacks given to employees play a vital role in shaping their growth and affecting their
performance. Feedbacks are given by superiors or colleagues. Both these forms of feedback
help in letting the employee know his or her shortcomings and areas of improvement. A
transparent and genuine feedback mechanism leads to employee’s improved growth (Baker,
2013). Feedbacks are formal as well as informal. However, informal feedback has a more
positive approach and improves the learner’s ability to understand (Holmes, 2015).
Experience
Very often, employees learn from their experience or the experience of others. This is first
hand learning and creates a long lasting learning in the minds of the employee. What an
employee learns from his experience sustains with him for a longer duration (Kolb, 2014).
Experience is the best teacher in the true aspect. When employee’s share their experience
with other members of the organization, it also creates a better flow of communication and
helps in achieving more learning by employees (Pellegrino, 2017).
Leaders leading by example
When the leaders or the people in authority in any organization behave and accomplish goals,
they can be sources of informal learning for the employees. This is why it is crucial that the

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leaders of the organization lead by example. This creates respect for them and a better
learning opportunity for employees (Fullan, 2014).
Self-Reflection
The procedure of a learner learning from himself is known as self-reflection. This is an
important style of learning. Employees often learn from their mistakes and their
achievements (Boud, 2013). After completion of every task, employees are recommended to
self-reflect upon different areas of the task and their performance and learn from the same
(Hager, 2011).
Factors enabling informal learning
Organizational culture is extremely crucial when it comes to informal learning. Certain
organizations promote informal learning while certain organizations restrict it. Let us first
take a look at factors that enable informal learning in an organization and must be
implemented efficiently.
Transparent feedbacks
Feedbacks given to employees play a vital role in their learning and growth. It is therefore
important that feedbacks given to an individual, whether formal or informal, are transparent
and genuine. The purpose of the feedback should always be to foster growth and performance
rather than discouraging or belittling an employee (Bernstein, 2017). The purity of this
intention deeply impacts employees. A transparent feedback mechanism assists employees in
understanding their performance areas that require improvement and hence leads to learning.
Structuring of work
Work must be well structured and clearly defined in the organization. This is important
because then the employees know and understand their job roles and work to excel in their
respective fields. This structure of job leads to efficient association with other members of the
organization and enhances chances of informal learning at a work place.
Team activities
Team activities are usually done to promote a positive culture in a team. During team
activities, members learn from each other, share their personal experiences and provide

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positive feedbacks. Team activities also enhance association and bonding between team
members which makes it easier for employees to learn from each other and improvise overall
team performance.
Factors restricting informal learning
In an organization, there are various factors that restrict an individual’s ability to learn
informally from colleagues. It is imperative that organizations filter out these factors and aim
to remove them from the organization. This is important because if an employee becomes
restrictive to informal learning then it adversely impacts overall company’s performance.
Insufficient growth opportunities
If an organization does not offer growth opportunities to it its’ employees, then employees
lose their will to learn and feel demotivated. When the growth opportunities are higher, then
there is competition among team members. They then focus more on their learning.
Insufficient growth opportunities make employees lethargic and less keen on learning new
things.
Behaviour of colleagues
Behaviour of colleagues and supervisors deeply impacts an individual employees’ ability to
learn and make the best of the environment provided. If the colleagues are unfriendly, they
can never provide a good source of learning. Colleagues who are discouraging can also make
employees demotivated. Sharing of information and knowledge among employees is crucial
to an employee’s learning. Colleagues who do not share knowledge or experience and allow
their team members to make the same mistakes, then they adversely impact the culture of the
organization. Employees will find themselves difficult to learn in such an organization.
Centralized decision making
Some organizations leave the entire decision making to the top management. Jobs are defined
to the employees and they are simply supposed to do what is told (Pettigrew, 2014). This
leads to demotivation and majorly reduces an individual’s ability to learn new things.
Centralized decision making in an organization acts as a hindrance to growth and innovative
learning of employees. Organizations must leave certain decisions to the discretion of the
employees as this will give them confidence and aid in their learning experience (Li, 2015).

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Individual characters affecting informal learning
Informal learning largely depends on the individual’s ability to learn and understand on its
own. There are various factors that affect informal learning in an individual. The employee’s
background, educational qualifications, family history, previous organization, their cultures,
age, experience, level of motivation, communication skills, people skills and team
management skills etc. have a major role to play in how much an employee learns from any
given situation. In an organization, younger employees might be keener on formal learning
but due to a richer experience, elder employees are more prone to learning informally and
from their experience.
Level of motivation in an employee also largely impacts the employee’s behaviour and
ability to learn in an organization. Employees who are largely motivated tend to learn
something new from any given situation. However, employees who are demotivated often
require an external force to stay inspired to learn new things.
Confidence in oneself is an important aspect of informal learning. A confident employee will
interact with more people and hence gain a better learning (Oloko, 2017). Whereas a less
confident, socially awkward employee will make fewer interactions and this would adversely
impact learning.
Communication skills of an individual greatly decide how much can an individual
communicate and learn from others. If the communication skills of an individual are superior,
he or she will find it more comfortable to discuss ideas with others, listen to their opinion and
learn new things (Dozier, 2013). However, if an employee does not possess good
communication skills then, then interaction with others would be limited leading to reduced
learning.
Benefits for employees and organizations of informal learning in a workplace
Information sharing
Informal learning requires employees to interact with each other, share their experiences and
discuss ideas. This leads to effective information sharing within the organization and allows
employees to widen their horizons and learn things from a different perspective. Effective
information sharing further also leads to better communication and transparency in the

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organization (Wang, 2014). This information sharing is extensively important and crucial to
the effective functioning of any organization.
Motivated employees
Informal learning or creating sources of learning for employees other than formal trainings,
motivate them to work hard, improvise their skills and gives them a purpose to remain in the
organization (Marsick, 2015). Survey says 73% of the people are largely affected by the
people they work with and people often find themselves stagnating when they cannot learn
anything new in an organization. This is when they start looking for opportunities outside.
Informal learning makes sure that employees remain motivated and encouraged to work hard
and deliver better results (Mone, 2014).
Improved organizational culture
Organizational culture that fosters informal learning is extremely positive. This creates an
environment of learning and growth for the employees of the firm. Informal learning also
requires extensive communication and team building within an organization. This in turn
leads to a more friendly culture that provides employees with a platform to learn and perform
better (Alvesson, 2015). A set of motivated employees, who communicate efficiently, share
information and help each other learn and grow is an attractive culture and leads to higher
employee motivation, deeper employee engagement and longer term employee loyalty.
Better performance
When an employee is fostered in culture that assists learning and development, the employee
becomes motivated and performs better. This is better for the employee as well as the
organization. As the performance of the employee improves, overall performance of the team
and the organization becomes better. Informal learning requires a transparent feedback
mechanism. These genuine feedbacks, both formal and informal, help the employee in
understanding areas of improvement. This also clarifies exactly what is expected out of an
employee and hence leads to better performance delivery by individuals.
Conclusion
Informal learning is a significant part in the growth of an organization. This is specifically
beneficial for small scale organizations who cannot afford excessive training seminars or

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formal sessions for their employees. Informal learning instils a sense of motivation and
accomplishment in an employee. It leads to employee satisfaction and contentment which in
turn leads to employee loyalty.
There are various factors that influence informal learning in an organization like the culture,
level of centralization and decentralization, feedback structures and composition of teams in
an organization. On an individual level as well, there are numerous factors that define the
employee’s ability to learn and understand informally. This includes employee’s background,
level of motivation, communication skills, people skills, team building ability, decision
making ability and his or her past working experience.
Various organization are now putting in efforts in ensuring that their workplace fosters
informal learning among employees as it is extremely beneficial for both employees as well
as the organization. Informal learning is very different from formal learning and hence it is
difficult to clearly specify or measure its impact in an organization. However, once the
culture of informal learning has been implemented in the firm, in the longer run, these effects
become much more evident.
Leadership development program
It has been noticed in the case, that the organization does not financially sound to fund formal
training of employees. Therefore. A few recommendations to enhance the level of informal learning
in the organization are given below. The 10 managers who would be attending the training program
must learn to focus on certain specific aspects of informal learning as given.
Realizing the importance of informal learning
Before an organization begins to change its culture, it is imperative that the organization
understands the importance of informal learning. Many times, the top management makes the
mistake of encouraging only formal learning and finding sources for the same. The attending
managers must be trained upon the importance of informal learning and how they can
develop the same in their everyday culture. Therefore the first step would be to make sure
that the top management of the organization understands how crucial informal learning is and
then they can plan to promote and foster it in the organization.

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Encouraging informal learning
Once the top management has realized the importance of informal learning, it should be
encouraged among employees. This can be done by motivating employees to work in teams,
share experiences and knowledge, provide informal feedbacks to employees and ensuring that
every individual is self-reflecting at regular intervals. It is the duty of the top management to
encourage informal learning in the organization by creating a culture which fosters the same.
Once the top management puts in efforts to encourage informal learning, it becomes a part of
the organization’s culture and assists in long term growth of individuals of the organization.
Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing must become a crucial part of the organizational culture to make sure that
employees are consistently communicating with each other. Knowledge sharing in a firm
helps employees learn from each other’s experience. This leads to improved performance as
the mistakes made by one employee can help others to learn from the same to make sure they
are not repeated. Knowledge sharing also builds a deeper connect between employees that
provides a platform for informal learning. This is done by establishing trust among
employees and paving a way for effective and transparent communication.
Customized learning
It must be understood that every employee has a different style of learning. Just like formal
learning can be structured and delivered to suit a wide audience, informal learning is
customized and tailor made for every individual employee. It is imperative for firms to
understand that there is no set method or process for employees to informally learn from
themselves or others. This informal learning cannot be quantitatively measured and one way
of learning will not suit all the employees.
Feedbacks
One of the most important things than an organization can do to ensure informal learning is
by creating a transparent feedback mechanism. Feedbacks from subordinates, superiors and
peers are all extremely important and help the employee in understanding how they can
improvise their performance. The organization must develop a culture that encourages
informal feedbacks given to employees. It is extremely essential that the feedbacks given to

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employees are received with positivity and optimism. If a feedback is given in an insulting or
condescending tone, then it may lead to anger and frustration among employees.
Lifelong learning
This is the most important aspect of informal learning that it must be based upon the idea that
it is a long term and lifelong learning. If informal learning is fostered with the intention to
help achieve organizational goals in the short term, it may not be very effective. However, if
informal learning is provided with the intention that this is a lifelong learning and is being
provided to employees for their personal growth and development, then it will lead to
positive results and higher acceptance. The new joiners also feel more comfortable in a
culture of informal learning. Therefore it is recommended that informal learning must be a
continuous process in any workplace (Le Cluss, 2011).

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