Well-trained employees are essential for long-term business success. They are the core of the company and should also be the focus of further education. A popular method that you certainly still know from school is learning partnerships. These also offer you several advantages within the company. Learn now how you can implement learning partnerships in your company!
Self-confidence, personal responsibility, leadership behavior – all soft skills that make employees valuable for companies. To promote such skills, it is essential to train employees. That's why you should offer employees the opportunity to form learning partnerships – this motivates them to learn in their everyday work!
What characterizes a good learning partnership?
Learning partners exist in many areas. Whether at university, during school, or in a company – the principle is the same. A learning partnership can consist of several participants: as a duo or as a whole group – regardless of the constellation, the partners exchange knowledge and experience. In the ideal case, this means that experts share their expertise with one another and complement each other. In doing so, learning partners do not even have to be in the same place. Through methods such as blended learning or Zoom calls, specialist knowledge is imparted digitally!
For the human brain, there is hardly a better method than learning together. Not only does the learning material stay in your memory better, but you also realize more quickly what you haven't understood yet.
Another advantage of learning partnerships lies in so-called social learning. When people learn together, feedback, perspective shifts, and mutual motivation arise automatically. As a result, learning content is not just absorbed, but actively processed. It is precisely this exchange that often ensures that knowledge is understood faster and retained for the longer term.
According to a statistic, people already learn 70% by explaining it to someone else.
3 Scenarios for Learning Partnerships
To ensure that the concept of learning partnerships becomes a success in your company, we present three scenarios of how learning partnerships can be implemented.
Tip: Learning partnerships work always and everywhere! In some constellations you need more technical support, in others less. The main thing is that everyone involved can learn something in the end!
Scenario 1: On-site learning partnerships in the company
To promote personal exchange between the learning partners directly in the company, all participants should arrange a joint meeting. Here, the personal conversation is the focus and enables face-to-face learning for the partners. Learners speak here in a relaxed conversation about experiences and skills. For this reason, learning progress is particularly visible on-site: On one hand, you can avoid communication difficulties (due to a lack of facial expressions and gestures) in a personal conversation. In addition, in person, it is easier to react to spontaneous changes or new information. For example, due to an acute problem.
To capture learning outcomes, it is always an advantage if the learning partners document their learning progress together. A joint online platform or a shared document supports the learning partnership. In this scenario, the learning partners often act more spontaneously and detached from a strict training plan. This offers the advantage of being able to react quickly to acute problems.
Our blink.it example: The Marketing Discussion Marketplace
We meet once a month in the marketing team, and everyone has the opportunity to bring a specific topic or concern. In the case of acute problems, we then sit down together directly and try to solve them. This way, no extra meeting is needed, and we learn directly in the situation :)
Scenario 2: Blended learning partnership
Blended learning complements the learning partnership in your company! The combination of face-to-face and online learning units helps the partners consolidate what they have learned. Thus, both partners can work out problems in person, view these recorded results, and then test their knowledge through quizzes, for example!
You as an HR manager are also called upon here, because your role is to guide this learning process! Important knowledge content should be secured to support learners in the learning partnership. It is helpful here if the online sessions are planned to build on the face-to-face learning units, giving the partners the opportunity to deepen their knowledge further.
Scenario 3: Learning in tandem – Learning by doing
What distinguishes the learning partnership from other forms of learning? Learning with and from each other! For example, in tandem: You probably know the learning tandem from the field of language learning. Here, two partners learn a language together, for example, by going through a dialogue with each other and thereby practicing pronunciation in the first step. In this process, both learners are also teachers, as they monitor each other and look at a situation from different perspectives – which is why this method is so efficient! Learning partners can thus test each other's knowledge, but also impart it.
As an HR manager, you have less of an impact on learning in this constellation, instead silently accompanying the learning process. The method is most efficient when the partners can exchange their knowledge free from guidelines and focus on an acute problem.
Benefits of Learning Partnerships for Employees and Companies
Cooperative learning has more to offer than just the exchange between learning partners. Well-trained employees not only have a higher sense of responsibility but also work independently and self-reliantly. That motivates! You surely enjoy tasks that you are good at more than those where there is a risk of failing.
Motivation and fun at work are reflected in positive results. This benefits not only the customers but also the company itself. Because convinced customers lead to the economic success of the company. Additionally, the corporate image is positively influenced – and all of this through employee training in the form of learning partners! Employees who are less technically adept also have a contact person to support them. In this way, both learning partners can share their expertise and benefit from it themselves! You will find out exactly how this happens next week in the second part of our learning partner series.
Conclusion
Learning partnerships show that learning in the company becomes particularly effective when employees actively share their knowledge with each other.
Instead of understanding further training only as a seminar or course, learning partnerships create a continuous learning process in everyday work. Employees reflect on their knowledge, explain content to each other, and develop joint solutions for real challenges.
Both sides benefit from this: employees strengthen their skills and confidence, while companies foster a learning culture in which knowledge is distributed and applied more quickly.
How you can specifically support learning partnerships and integrate them in a structured way into your further training will be revealed in the second part of our learning partner series.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What is a learning partnership in a company?
A learning partnership is a collaboration between two or more employees who share their knowledge, learn together, and support each other in transferring learning to practice.
What benefits do learning partnerships offer?
Learning partnerships promote knowledge exchange, strengthen motivation, improve learning transfer, and help employees learn from each other and gain new perspectives.
Can learning partnerships also work digitally?
Yes. Digital learning platforms, video conferences, or blended learning enable exchange regardless of time and place, reasonably complementing face-to-face meetings.
What role does personnel development play in learning partnerships?
Personnel development creates suitable framework conditions, provides learning materials, and supports employees in successfully integrating learning partnerships into their daily work routine.
For which topics are learning partnerships particularly suitable?
They are particularly suitable for topics where exchange of experience, joint reflection, and the application of new skills in everyday work are of primary importance.
