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2 minute read
In today's ever-changing professional development industry, learning opportunities are more personalized than ever. And while course trees and guided learning paths are important tools to provide employees with everything they need to succeed in their role - they can also focus solely just on an employee's role and department.
In this article, we will take cross-training to a new level by showing you how Groups can help break down learning silos, create more cohesion in your organization, and improve interdepartmental communication. These are also key areas of the employee engagement equation, resulting in not just better job performance, but better talent retention!
What's a learning silo?
Learning silos occur when information, skills, or knowledge are kept separate from each other, often resulting in limited understanding and application of broader concepts. Breaking these silos involves fostering a more holistic and interconnected approach to learning and knowledge management. When we aim to "break a learning silo," we use our role of learning curators to ensure our learners have a broad understanding of different business areas, goals, OKRs, and processes.
Here's how that works in theory and in practice:
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Integration of Knowledge: In professional settings, different subjects, disciplines, or departments can become isolated from each other. Breaking learning silos means integrating these separate areas of knowledge to create a more comprehensive understanding of topics. |
Ever try to read a different department's report and realise you don't understand a single acronym? Or still can't wrap your head around why sales is so demanding when it comes to quarterly reporting? Exposing departments to training usually reserved for others can broaden their understanding of different business processes and stakeholders! | |
| Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaboration between different teams or departments allows individuals with diverse expertise to work together, share insights, and solve problems collectively. |
Create Groups that contain employees from different departments. Online tutoring that includes employees that do not work together can create a greater sense of familiarity with different business units. |
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| Knowledge Sharing: Breaking learning silos involves creating platforms and spaces for sharing knowledge across different departments, teams, or individuals. This sharing of information can lead to improved decision-making, better problem-solving, and increased efficiency. | Think about where you can create spaces for continued knowledge sharing! There are endless ways to think about group demographics - New to the company, employees their first 3 years, future leaders, those who list a certain skill (like public speaking or data analysis) in their Vignita profile, and more. | |
| Communication Skills: Breaking learning silos can improve communication skills, as individuals need to explain complex concepts to those who might not have the same level of expertise. This enhances clarity and fosters better understanding among team members. |
If you have completely separate learning paths for sales and customer success, it may be the case that a sales manager has never been through the customer onboarding process step by step! By including customer success elements into sales training, sales managers can be better equipped to handover new business. |
Overall, breaking learning silos is about fostering a more interconnected, collaborative, and holistic approach to learning and problem-solving. It allows for a deeper understanding of complex issues and promotes innovation by bringing together different perspectives and areas of expertise. Think big and small with Groups - we make all of these learning opportunities possible!