Open Dialog Between Peers is Key
Breeding Ground for Collaboration and Creative Solutions
By: Line Mørkbak, Facilitator of Global Collaboration @ Global LEAP
How can one describe Peer Learning best? Imagine an environment where establishing an ongoing dialog with our peers is the basis of your work. In this place we are eye to eye with our peers and we strive to be equal partners looking for creative solutions together. It is an environment where we are looking to learn from our experience and our mistakes, and it is a place where peer learning is embraced, learning on the job and working in a context that is based on a dialogue with colleagues, enabling collaborative experiences on a daily basis. The goal being a humble dialog between peers.
To better understand what peer learning is, it can be helpful to paint a picture of what it is not. For example, when we are being taught by the expert, by the “sage on the stage”. Knowledge is being presented to us, being poured into us from the “sacred source”. But this method doesn’t take into account that we are no longer students in grade school; we are capable, knowledgeable professionals who care deeply about the work we are involved in and who have critical ideas about what may work best and what is worth trying.
In this day and age, we are coming alive as participatory knowledge workers. We of course love to learn from others - but it’s difficult to decide who the experts are? We are plugging into TEDtalks and posts by bloggers who have valuable learnings for us to hear. Those TED presenters, those bloggers, are not necessarily the classical sage on the stage - the renowned university professor or MIT researcher. Although they might be. The criteria to share knowledge in these forums is less about title and tenor, and rather more about the speakers’ knowledge and relevance to our current work challenge, to our immediate need for tips, best practices, and ideas for how to move ahead with our most immediate work problem at hand.
This is one of the greatest ways that I believe the value of peer learning has its place. Who is better to guide us and inspire us than folks within our teams and within our industry? The team members or colleagues who are in similar roles as ourselves and are struggling with some of the same questions and issues. Learning from peers provides the opportunity for something unique to happen. Rather than being starstruck and trying to absorb the information being fed to us, we are instead discussing the issues eye to eye with a colleague which in turn creates a collaborative environment that more often than not, results in us being able to shift into solution mode and being ready to quickly roll up our sleeves and resolve the challenges and implement the ideas.
We become more open to discussing how WE fix this problem of yours? How can WE brainstorm solutions to this challenge of mine? In this way, our critical-thinking, solution-oriented, neurons are tuned up and are learning as the pointed, critical discussion takes place. We are not starstruck by the genius/sage/thought leader in front of us. Instead, the contrary is happening. We are evaluating, being inspired, having epifanies as that peer is sharing suggestions and ideas on how to tackle the challenges we are facing.
In my own work I constantly build on the existing knowledge in the room, looking to the group to guide the thought processes and build on the ideas that bubble up in the discussion. When I facilitate online workshops, I match up each participant with a learning partner. They are asked to solve/discuss/present a task together. Also, when I’m asked to guide internal meetings I use a variety of techniques to harvest the wisdom of the crowd. I look for the existing knowledge among peers in the room to be shared and guide the participants to use that knowledge during the meeting. We might run a completely agenda-less meeting (also known as a LEAN coffee meeting) where priorities are set by the colleagues in the room. Why do this? Because - guess what? Participants, the people in the room are often the ones who actually know what is most relevant to focus on and why those items are important!
In addition, in my LEAP Lab project I interview regular teams who are reinventing ways to collaborate and work together. The purpose of these interviews are to share these experiences and their learning with their peers. It is my role to facilitate the discussions, document them and to be the vessel for the peer experiences to be shared with a larger community.
The hidden gem in all of this is that peer learning opens up our own creative thought processes. It is during these exchanges that we individually, and sometimes collectively, experience an epiphany that may change and improve the way we work. Peer learning is all about that exchange. It is an unselfish, equal exchange of past experiences and ideas that can drive what to try next. So if it occurs to you that a colleague or peer could have some insights to your current problem, don’t hesitate to reach out and be open to listen to their thoughts on how things could be. Or listen to what their experiences can provide or valuable benefit to you and/or your organization.
Read more about peer learning:
Growing faster than change with Action Learning by Fiona Scrase