Informal Learning

Informal Learning

Accounts for over 75% of learning in organisations.
Less than 25% of learning spend goes on informal learning
Informal learning isn't just online communities, it's those around you as well
Informal learning includes all forms of community, teams, play, reading, coaching and mentoring

What do we mean by Informal Learning?

It is probably best described in broadest terms as being a lifelong process in which individuals acquire such things as morals, values, attitudes, skills and knowledge from:

everyday experiences
everyday learning events
family and neighbours
work and play
mass media

In the more confined world of an organisation, informal learning can become more focussed and can be seen as everything, apart from formal learning, that enables the human resource to develop.

Why is Informal Learning so important?

Most organisations, focus on formal learning programmes. Some are still even more narrow-minded in that, thinking only in terms of achieving their training objectives by ensuring that they send more people on more courses than they did in the previous year.

Various figures are available but it seems that it is not too far from reality to suggest that an 80/20 principle applies. Only 20% of the learning taking place is formal, the other 80% is informal. Yet, organisations spend 80% of their learning budgets on the 20% that is formal learning.

Organisations are losing valuable opportunities and valuable outcomes.

So where do I start?

Ideally, you need to understand what learning is actually taking place in your organisation. Informal learning will already be there. Indeed, if you currently provide no formal learning opportunities, you are probably best advised to put in place practices enabling you to cultivate and capture informal learning 'nuggets' and make them available 'pseudo-informally' through an easy to use and cost-effective mechanism such as L-Cubed - ICUC's learning management system.

In this way you will establish strategies for improving learning opportunities for everyone and establish tactics for managing and sharing what is known within your organisation.

Using L-Cubed will enable you to Leverage your Learning Landscape. You will start to identify learning needs and learning opportunities and be able to promote them in both formal and informal environments.