Organizational learning as a social-practice perspective

We've all been there: the first day of a new job.  Part anxiety, part excitement, and the dread of trying to remember everyone's name.  

Onboarding into a new job or a new team is not only that first day, or even the first week -  onboarding lasts well into the first year tenure of the new role.

Employees not only need to learn the responsibilities of their job position, but they also must learn how to “be” within a team and within a larger organization.  

With this, we must recognize that work/occupation identity is derived not just from functional expertise but also from socialization in organizational life.  For example, "I'm a doctor/ teacher/ engineer/ social media manager" can certainly mean a lot about the person's functional expertise, but how do they fare within the cultural norms and process-driven workings of your organization?  

When creating job descriptions, onboarding programs, and other learning & development programs, leaders must create the conditions for that social learning to take place to allow for the best possible fit.  

This is what we call a social-practice perspective.

Subjective learning doesn’t really exist.  We all bring our imperfect selves to the learning environment: our interests, mental models, past experiences, emotions, stressors, and opinions.  When teaching, I have learned to create opportunities for discussion that not just allow, but embrace social learning.  Social learning is not about telling my students or new employees what to think, but rather to let them explore how to be in a social setting.    

Just like children learn how to be social beings at the playground and school, we too must continually learn how to "be", socially.  

>> How have your organizational social norms changed over time - perhaps with a new leader, a new desk layout, a new virtual team, or a new market position?  What have you had to re-learn?  

>> Have you ever had to train a new employee on something non-functional, such as where people eat lunch, how often people speak up at meetings, or if people respond to emails after hours?  How did it feel to train someone on this social practice perspective? 

// photo credit Upsplash.com