Learners are busier than ever. That’s why as learning professionals, we’ve become experts at meeting our learners where they are — virtually, on-demand, hybrid — and responding to the resurgence of face-to-face teaching. The variety of modern learning tools ensures that learning and development is both timely and impactful within the moment.
Ultimately, our purpose as L&D practitioners within our organization is to encourage new skill development and adoption, which takes time, repetition and continuous practice. Consistently demonstrating new behaviors requires effort, and keeping the momentum is often challenging once the formal learning events are over. With any new learned skill, practice makes perfect, and guided repetition encourages learners to hone their education in a positive environment. Online communities’ surge of use and familiarity can extend learning experiences and increase engagement by providing learners a place to connect and continuously refine and hone their skills.
Within formal L&D programs, collaboration time is often guided and scheduled, allowing learners to share and socialize ideas before moving on to the next topic. While contributing in this way has been shown to create a deeper understanding of the context and increase the likelihood of demonstrating the desired behavior, it could feel contrived and is often only contained within the program itself.
But what if there was a way to encourage collaborative learning more organically?
As L&D leaders, we can take simple steps to cultivate an online community by starting small and building over time.
The era of “we”
Since 2020, online communities have become increasingly important as a place to connect and learn from our peers and leaders. Since COVID lockdowns, existing communities registered an 81 percent uptick in engagement, with 98 percent of people reporting a heightened sense of belonging. A significant percentage of people started to feel more comfortable navigating and connecting on online communities — supporting the premise that the environment can be used to extend the learning experience with the right approach. Although some of this can be attributed to the severe isolation experienced by many people during the pandemic lockdowns, that sense of belonging has remained front and center of people’s desire to stay engaged in communities.
Communities encourage connection
We are all wired with a need to connect, and online communities are natural meeting places to encourage L&D efforts. The goal of any online community is to create a space for people to connect and interact meaningfully. Ideally, a self-sustaining environment can provide a platform for sharing ideas, insights, experiences, advice and knowledge. Online communities can flourish when they allow people to form social relationships and foster a sense of belonging.
Communities allow learners to access peers from their cohort and new contacts independently. With more remote work and flexible working hours, meeting our learners where they are is more important than ever. Those instances can span from a casual check-in of upcoming events on a smartphone to structured research by posting a question (and getting multiple on-target responses) on the forum — all in real-time, in the flow of work and detached from structured learning.
Focused groups within a learning community encourage members to explore topics particular to their needs. Additionally, by offering multiple groups, a community can spark curiosity and promote learning at a broader scale, inspiring a more diverse and engaged community. An example might be entering Sephora’s award-winning community interested in learning about makeup solutions for oily skin and joining the “Oily Skin” group with 70,000-plus members. Next, the same learner might decide to further their makeup application knowledge by exploring the threads in the “Everything Eyes” group that provides tips for the latest eye makeup techniques. This benefits both Sephora by exposing members to alternative content and to the community member, as it broadens their learning and connecting opportunities.
Furthermore, online communities can foster a global connection. Forums and discussions can be read in multiple languages and help bridge cultural gaps — which leads to a deeper understanding of the topic, creates meaningful relationships between people from different parts of the world and ultimately fosters a greater understanding and connection.
Communities extend the learning experience
Online communities give a safe place for learners to interact with each other and exchange ideas. Through live feeds, discussion forums, chat rooms, moderated events, direct messaging and other interactive tools, learners can ask questions, express opinions and get feedback from others who have had similar experiences. Here are four primary ways that an online community can support a learning experience:
- Continuous learning: Communities can support ongoing education by providing opportunities for learners to progress beyond the formal training program. For example, the Blanchard community offers regular webinars, discussion forums or other resources to help learners stay current on their field’s latest developments. Additionally, learners can get feedback on their work, allowing them to improve their skills in real time.
- Knowledge sharing: Communities facilitate the sharing of expertise among learners. By sharing their experiences and insights, and with moderation and oversight, learners can build a collective understanding of the subject matter, which helps sustain their learning over time. A forum discussion or a carefully positioned chat topic can often prompt this type of collaborative learning.
- Peer support: Learning can be challenging, and learners may need support and encouragement to stay motivated. Communities can provide a space for learners to connect with their peers and receive real-time support and feedback. Praise can extend past a one-time certification or course graduation. This helps sustain their engagement and motivation throughout the learning journey.
- Mentoring: Communities can also provide opportunities for mentoring and coaching. Experienced learners or subject matter experts can offer novices guidance and advice, helping them overcome challenges and sustain their learning. Additionally, recognition and awards may be incorporated for community members who routinely help other members or achieve professional milestones.
Fostering your learner community
Perhaps you’re reading this article and all of the above sounds appealing but out of your reach. That’s not the case. One can take simple steps to cultivate and grow a community to self-sustenance. Starting small and manageable is easy.
Once your community’s purpose and goals are outlined, choose the platform for your budget and audience. Online communities can live in many places for your learners — from your LMS system to a SharePoint site or MS Team, to forums like Reddit and Discourse and to hosting it on one of the many customizable and configurable platforms. Not surprisingly, there are online communities that help and support members to build and foster online communities! There is learning potential available to all.
By using online communities, we can encourage new skill development and adoption, which takes time, repetition and continuous practice. A community can allow learners to practice and socialize, leading to better outcomes. Better outcomes, in turn, help our bottom lines and demonstrate the true value of L&D within organizations.
In summary, online communities can be a powerful tool for reinforcing and sustaining L&D efforts. Leveraging the different elements of an online community, whether it be resources, forums or events, can help facilitate knowledge sharing, peer support, continuous learning and mentoring. Over time, you’ll garner the measurable outcomes your training aspires to achieve, including better employee engagement, adoption of new skills and improved performance, all supported by your community of motivated and committed learners.
