IN 2006, KELLY decided to go back to school to study learning and education technology in parallel with her full-time role as senior director of learning products in Silicon Valley. It had been many years since she received any formal education and school had changed much more than she had realized.
Instead of sitting in huge lecture halls filled with hundreds of anonymous students feverishly taking notes, she found herself in a social environment collaborating with her peers. The lone professor lecturing at the front of the room had been largely replaced by virtual classes equipped with online collaborative learning tools. Students would watch video lectures and would then be asked questions about what they had learned.
This new environment of peer-to-peer learning created a safe space for each student to share information, viewpoints, and experience. It was a place where even the most introverted students felt compelled to speak up, a space where everyone had a voice.
But it didn’t stop there. The students would then share their thoughts on the responses given by their peers. Kelly found herself engaging with her peers, learning about others’ ideas, experiences, and opinions. As the program went on, Kelly realized that she was learning as much if not more from her peers than she had learned from her college professors all those years earlier.
It prompted Kelly to start asking herself questions: What if employees could develop their expertise by tapping into their desire to learn from and collaborate with their peers? What if learning was integrated into work, and collaboration with coworkers was the prominent form of learning in the workplace? This new learning experience convinced Kelly of the power of peer-to-peer learning for organizations.
Why Learning Cannot Be “Ordered Up” Like Fast Food
In the corporate world, “peers” may or may not be in the same work group. Unlike the traditional expert-to-student learning where one person tends to outrank another in terms of responsibilities or position, peer learning begins on a level playing field where everybody feels comfortable to engage and collaborate with each other either in person or online.
Typically, in peer-to-peer learning there will be someone facilitating the learning process. Learning facilitators make sure everyone stays on topic, notes key ideas and themes, and keeps the conversation moving forward. The rest of the participants must be prepared to go “all-in” by openly communicating with the group, actively giving and receiving feedback, and helping others learn, where possible. Of course, successful peer-to-peer learning only comes about when organizations implement it, which, as Kelly found out, isn’t all that often.
It has been more than 10 years since Kelly studied learning and education technology in a master’s program, yet when it comes to corporate learning in organizations, things have been slow to evolve. Most organizations still depend on outdated learning management systems, training courses delivered through PowerPoint presentations by someone in HR, or outsourced vendor programs. Over $130 billion is spent this way on corporate training in the US, with organizations struggling to see the benefits.1
One problem is that many managers and leaders tend to see learning as something that you do once, check the box, and you are done. Want to make employees more culturally aware? Send them on a diversity training program. Managers not hiring the right people? Put them in front of a PowerPoint presentation and get someone to lecture them on interviewing skills. Research shows that the people taking part in these programs either resent being there in the first place or simply forget what they’ve been taught within the space of a couple of days or even hours.2
The point is that learning cannot be ordered up like a burger in a fast-food restaurant. There is no quick fix. Learning is about gaining new skills and knowledge from the people around us; in fact, studies have shown that even the act of learning itself is a major contributor to job satisfaction.3
Closing the Generation Gap
These days, most companies have a workforce made up of four generations. Millennials work alongside baby boomers and gen-Xers, and now gen-Zers are starting to enter the workforce. Sometimes generational differences can get in the way of working together in harmony. Peer-to-peer learning is a valuable way of uniting a multigenerational workforce because it enables people to teach each other on a level playing field. When people are in an environment that allows them to listen to different perspectives and share their own knowledge and expertise, they gradually develop a greater understanding of each other.
But it’s more than just sharing knowledge. Peer-to-peer learning creates a workplace environment that actually raises the bar on what is expected. According to a study in Germany analyzing millions of workers over a 15-year span, healthy social pressure pushes people to do better: “When an employee is around other high performers, they feel pressure to keep up with their colleagues, which leads to an environment where coworkers themselves raise the bar on what is expected.”4
The study showed, however, that performance tends to dip when top performers exit the team, leading to the suggestion that “when top performers leave, their positive impact leaves too.”
Social learning theory says that we learn best by observing someone else’s behavior and then imitating it. Psychologist Albert Bandura writes, “Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.”5
In fact, there is a different dynamic altogether in learning from our peers versus learning from someone in a superior position. Regardless of the relationship you may have with your boss, the reality is that when you work for someone, they ultimately have power over you—the power to help you with your career, to mentor you and champion your efforts, to impact your income and your yearly bonuses, and to promote you or fire you. These factors often inhibit us from saying what we want to say or speaking up when there is a concern.
The other dynamic to peer learning is reciprocity. People receive feedback from the group for their own work, and they tend to put more time and energy into providing meaningful feedback on their peers’ work as well. That simply doesn’t happen when the boss is delivering one-way feedback to employees.
Peer-to-peer learning is a vital part of the learning journey, but why do so few organizations implement it? Jaime Casap, education evangelist at Google, believes that peer-to-peer learning does not come naturally to us.
The problem is we’re not open to peer-to-peer learning as a society. And what I mean by that is we talk about collaboration in education, but we don’t mean it. We teach kids to be individuals and to value individual accomplishments.6
In other words, the idea of sharing knowledge and exchanging honest feedback with our peers goes against traditional learning, where the focus is more on assessing people singularly. However, the peer-to-peer learning process can switch that focus and provide us with a whole new set of skills.
The Peer-to-Peer Learning Process
As we learned in chapter 1, there are four steps to the learning process, which we call “the Learning Loop.” The steps are obtaining knowledge, practicing what we have learned, and getting feedback, followed by reflecting on the whole learning experience.
Peer-to-peer learning provides us with deeper levels of learning by going through the entire learning loop.
• Gain knowledge
• Practice by applying the knowledge
• Get feedback
• Reflect on what has been learned
Take Priya, for instance. When Priya was trying out a new role in product management, she reached out to other product managers in the company to gain knowledge by understanding their roles better. When it came to actually produce the product plan, she asked for sample product plans from other product managers so she could practice what “good” looks like for this group and this company. Once Priya put together her first product plan, she asked the other product managers for feedback. After she received feedback, she took some time to reflect on what she had learned throughout the process.
By completing the peer-to-peer learning process and going through all the phases of the learning cycle, we gain other valuable skills, including self-reflection, critical thinking, and how to effectively give and receive feedback.
Self-reflection skills
Self-reflection is the ability to ultimately know yourself or be willing to get to know yourself better. Being able to self-reflect can also positively impact our work performance. A study focused on call centers shows that people who spent 15 minutes at the end of each day over the course of 10 days reflecting on what they had learned performed their work 23 percent better than those who did not self-reflect.7
When self-reflection is applied to learning, especially in the context of “learning how to learn” or in demonstrating learning agility, it provides the foundation for understanding our own strengths and weaknesses, keeping an open mind, accepting constructive criticism, and applying those insights to something more productive. One of the many benefits of peer-to-peer learning is that it gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own work. It also gives us space to think more deeply about the work of others to provide thoughtful feedback. As management expert Peter Drucker once said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”8
Critical-thinking skills
Next, the peer-to-peer learning process helps improve our critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is the ability to use our knowledge and intellect to analyze information or situations without judgment or bias to make balanced, thoughtful, evidence-based decisions and resolutions.
During the past 10 years, critical thinking has become one of the most highly sought traits in employees, and it is still an important skill for the future. A recent report called “The Future of Jobs” by the World Economic Forum shows that critical-thinking skills will rise in demand as organizations rush to deal with an ever-increasing variety of complex problems.9
Giving and receiving constructive feedback
Finally, peer-to-peer learning helps us master the difficult skills of giving and accepting constructive feedback. Giving honest feedback, listening, and being able to receive feedback may be some of the most important skills of all. Most people are better at giving positive feedback because it makes everyone involved feel good, including the giver. Yet most people shy away from giving negative or constructive feedback because they do not want to hurt or disappoint people. Let’s face it, sometimes it’s much easier not to say anything at all. However, successful peer-to-peer learning gives people the confidence to provide constructive feedback and receive it without a feeling of defensiveness.
In an ideal world, everyone would successfully learn something of value, and then focus on self-reflection, critical thinking, and providing and accepting thoughtful feedback. In the corporate world it is rare that the four-step learning loop is completed. Often, learning comes to a halt after the “gaining knowledge” stage.
For example, say the legal team at a company wants all its employees to go through a training course on ethics. The employees duly take the online or classroom training class where they are lectured on the ethics of accepting gifts from vendors. If the employees are paying attention, they may have obtained knowledge and even understood why it is not appropriate to accept gifts from clients. But then what? Will they ever get an opportunity to apply this knowledge or reflect on it? Typically not. And even if they do, they will be less likely to remember it at the time when they most need it.
Training courses can only go so far to promote learning, and, in most cases, they don’t even transfer critical information into the minds of potentially bored or disengaged employees. Surely, there must be a better way.
As some organizations are demonstrating, there is a better way. For example, telecommunications company Ericsson holds a “Learning Week,” during which employees can learn from others and teach what they know. People can sign up for sessions that they want to teach others about and either participate in the program online through collaboration tools or at an in-person meeting. For Ericsson, Learning Week has become a wildly successful strategy to encourage peer-to-peer learning. This is because the people sharing their expertise gain as much as the peers who participate.
The strategy for peer-to-peer learning isn’t to lecture, but to set up the learning so there is an opportunity to have meaningful conversations, to listen to different points of view, to get feedback, and to reflect. If we take the earlier example of the legal team, a learning session could include a discussion with peers about difficult ethical situations where peers could share their experiences with legal issues and also include a peer legal expert there to answer questions.
Peer-to-Peer Learning at LinkedIn
In 2014, Kelly’s team at LinkedIn designed a social, collaborative, peer-to-peer learning program called “Conscious Business” in partnership with Fred Kofman, based on the content from his book Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values.10
Conscious Business is a term to describe people who express their own values through work. The idea behind the Conscious Business learning program was to help LinkedIn employees understand how to apply the company’s culture and values in a practical way on the job. This was a tough message to impart, given that company values tend to be somewhat nebulous and therefore difficult to put into practice. Realistically, how could employees demonstrate company values such as “integrity” during their day-to-day working lives? That was the challenge.
In designing the learning program, the team focused on three LinkedIn values, correlating to the theories in Kofman’s book:11
| “Conscious Business” | LinkedIn Values |
| Authentic Communication | Be open, honest, and constructive |
| Impeccable Coordination | Relationships matter |
| Constructive Negotiation | Take intelligent risks |
The program was four weeks, cohort-based, and would take a commitment of three to four hours per week for participants. It started off as invitation-only, making it selective before being rolled out to the entire LinkedIn employee base. The strategy worked—soon there was a waiting list of people who wanted to get into the program.
Once in the program, participants were confronted with real-world situations during a variety of practice sessions. For example, finding yourself in a difficult conversation at work is very common. One assignment began by asking participants to think of a real-life difficult conversation they wanted to have at work but were possibly avoiding. Once they had an idea in mind, they were shown several short videos featuring Kofman role-playing scenarios that demonstrated how to tackle difficult conversations.
For instance, one of the participants, John, wanted to have a real conversation with one of his employees, Mark, about missing important deadlines and how that behavior was impacting the team. Before he spoke to Mark, he was guided by one of Kofman’s videos to practice with one of his peers. John was also prompted to write out a simple script of what he wanted to say to Mark, together with possible responses based on what he thought Mark might say. The goal of the conversation was to be “open, honest, and constructive.” Eventually, John had the conversation with Mark and it didn’t go as well as John wanted. John felt awkward providing negative feedback to Mark and felt that Mark was defensive in his responses.
Once everyone in the group had a chance to practice a difficult conversation, they then went to an online discussion group to share with their peers what had happened in the practice session. This is where John got an opportunity to talk about how his discussion with Mark went. This became a very powerful learning tool because it gave participants a chance to reflect on what happened. For instance, they could ask themselves and others if the conversation had gone well, and if so, why? Had the feedback session been awkward or contentious? How had John and Mark handled it? By sharing these reflections with their peers, who were all going through the same exercise, they were able to understand how others handled the situation, and what they did well or could do better next time. Sharing feedback and experiences in this way meant that the participants were gaining real insights from their peers as well as building relationships with them.
The Conscious Business program turned out to be the most popular learning program offered at LinkedIn and went on to win some learning awards. The participants were learning great concepts, like the importance of building relationships at work. In addition, they were actively practicing what they had learned on the job and seeing real results.
In 2015, not long after the Conscious Business program, Kelly’s team set up another initiative called “Learning Labs”—a pop-up, physical learning area during lunch hour where employees could stop by and get help with topics related to their roles (similar to a drop-in IT desk). For example, employees could access something called the “Transformation Plan,” which helped them focus on their career goals and tie learning to the skills they wanted to develop. If employees wanted help talking through their Transformation Plan, a group of learning professionals would staff the learning lab and help people one-on-one and peer-to-peer. Employees could also take part in group learning sessions to get suggestions on how to improve their own profiles on LinkedIn. Let’s face it, if you’re a LinkedIn employee, you really need to have an amazing profile.
As the LinkedIn example shows, the key to a successful peer-to-peer learning program is to ensure everyone taking part has a real goal or problem to solve. Some organizations run peer-to-peer programs that have theoretical problems to resolve, in the hope that participants will apply the same model to a real problem when or if it arises on the job. This approach really doesn’t work as well. Think about it—do busy employees really want to take time out from their real jobs to work on a theoretical problem? The chances are the task will either be completed reluctantly or take a back seat to other, more real priorities.
On the other hand, being assigned a real work problem as a learning opportunity is powerful. Employees become motivated to participate in a problem they can relate to and are accountable for and take the necessary time to resolve it. They are getting work done with the added benefit of learning something new at the same time.
Building a Safe Environment for Peer-to-Peer Learning
For peer-to-peer learning to work, the participants need to feel safe enough to share their thoughts with their peers. This type of learning involves being open and vulnerable enough to accept constructive input and having the courage to give honest feedback rather than telling people what they want to hear. Receiving feedback involves keeping an open mind and appreciating that the other person has taken the time to think about how you can be better or do something better. Ideally, feedback should be perceived as a generous gesture that should be met with gratitude, rather than defensiveness.
While Google’s Casap believes that exchanging honest feedback is a key part of peer-to-peer learning, he acknowledges it’s not an easy concept to apply:
There is an old saying “be careful when someone asks you for feedback, because what they are really looking for is validation.” So if you show me an article you are writing for a magazine and you ask me to review it for you, I’m usually going to give it back to you with some statements like “it was well written,” or “don’t take it personally,” or, “I just have a couple of edits.” I might not even dive deep because I don’t want to offend you or make you feel bad about what you wrote versus really giving you feedback and really giving you assessments. So, this idea of peer-to-peer starts at this level with an understanding and appreciation that real collaboration is the ability to ask good questions, the ability to give good feedback and take good feedback, the ability to assess someone and be assessed, the ability to influence and to build consensus. Those types of things we really need to build and we’re not doing that in education.12
As Casup says, constructive feedback is where the real value is. There is no better way of learning how we’re functioning and what we can do better.
Yet, many people struggle to be open enough to provide honest feedback, especially in an environment where they don’t feel safe. According to research by Ruth Helyer, professor of work-based learning at Leeds Trinity University,
[Learning] is most effective when it involves others and as a consequence the chance to collaborate and share ideas about changes, alterations and new ways of operating. Reflecting critically, and sharing the outcomes of this, can be frightening and can cause feelings of vulnerability amongst those exposing their thoughts and findings; working in groups and networks with fellow workers or other students can offer the support and multiple input needed to help deal with this and provide evidence that the process is worthwhile, even if it feels daunting at first.13
Google discovered this when it embarked on Project Aristotle, a quest to find out why some teams succeed where others falter.14 Over the course of two years, 180 teams were analyzed. It turned out that successful teams were not just about putting the best people together, as Google had previously thought, or about shared educational backgrounds or hobbies, but rather about team dynamics. The members of the most successful teams trusted each other enough to take risks and shared the same sense of confidence that they would not be mocked, embarrassed, or punished for expressing themselves in front of their peers. As one Google engineer told the researchers when speaking about his team leader, “[He] is direct and straightforward, which creates a safe space for you to take risks.”15
The findings led Google researchers to conclude that psychological safety, or a shared belief that team members feel safe enough to express themselves honestly and openly without fear of judgment or retribution, was the key ingredient in binding team members together. When people feel psychologically safe in a working environment, they will be more likely to communicate more openly, share knowledge, raise concerns and report mistakes, and actively seek and provide constructive feedback. As Google discovered, showing empathy, listening to each other, being sensitive to feelings and needs, and engaging in emotional conversations normally shied away from in the workplace are key to productive working relationships among peers.
Google works hard to promote the idea of psychological safety within peer-to-peer learning. Tech Talks, for instance, are where engineers share their knowledge with their peers regarding new, cutting-edge technology in a series of in-house presentations. In these talks, the engineers talk about their projects and show how they solve problems with technology. The presenting engineers set aside ample time for questions and answers from their peers, providing a safe space to learn and share information. The Tech Talks are so popular that they have been recorded and posted on a YouTube channel hosted by Google called “Google Tech Talks” (sometimes known as “TED for geeks”) and shared with engineers worldwide.16
Like Google, many companies have adopted a similar peer-to-peer learning model. Since 2013, computer software company Adobe has fully embraced peer-to-peer learning through its “Leaders Teaching Leaders” program for senior leaders.17 As part of the program, Adobe partners with UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business to facilitate solving real business problems. According to one participant, Francis,
If there’s one teacher at the front of the room, telling everyone how to lead, participants get only one perspective. But if we bring together all of our incredible human assets to teach each other and share [our] experiences, we all benefit. The primary asset that a company has is its people, and this is the best way to maximize the value of that asset.18
Francis also reinforces that reflection is a big part of Adobe’s “Leaders Teaching Leaders” program.
I learned that it’s important to share not just techniques but also thinking processes with your peers. This is an environment that allows those interactions to happen and those stories to come up. When I faced this situation, how did I handle it? What wisdom can others find in my experience? If we can all tap into each other’s knowledge and experience, we can all help each other become stronger leaders. I’ve always believed in the power of sharing, and the [program] just reinforced that sharing experiences with up-and-coming leaders is a powerful way to help them lead their own teams more effectively.19
Building Peer Recognition
While Google is busy cultivating a healthy peer-to-peer learning environment through its focus on psychological safety, airline JetBlue is going one step further. The airline has partnered with social recognition company Globoforce to initiate a social “peer-to-peer” recognition program.20 As part of the program, coworkers can nominate each other for their work effort and valuable contribution. The person receiving the most nominations is rewarded with points that they can either spend on a small reward, such as dinner, or save for bigger rewards, like vacations or cruises. The result? A 2 percent increase in employee engagement and a 3 percent increase in retention for every 10 percent of employees who received recognition.
But the results don’t stop there. JetBlue also discovered that higher engagement had a positive impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. In other words, employees who were engaged were three times more likely to “wow” customers, according to favorable customer feedback. Because its employees feel valued, recognized, and appreciated, JetBlue has a thriving peer-to-peer sharing culture.
MBA and Peer-to-Peer Learning
The MBA has been long regarded as the “Holy Grail” of business education. An MBA is typically a two-year, full-time program costing over $50,000 on average and upwards of $100,000 at top schools. The theory is that an MBA is the shortcut to getting a job with a higher salary; yet realistically, how many people have the time and money to take two years out of their professional career to complete an MBA?
However, there are alternatives for those who don’t have the time and money to dedicate to being a full-time, or even part-time, MBA student. In 2009, former GE CEO Jack Welch started an online MBA program called The Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI) that offers a fully online program where all students and professors are remote. JWMI takes roughly two and a half years to complete, and at just under $40,000, it costs one-third to one-half less than other MBA programs It also has been named by CEO Magazine as one of the top 15 global online MBA programs for 2017, and one of the top 25 MBA programs by the Princeton Review.21
According to Welch, the program is a practical way for students to apply what they have learned to real-work situations. The flow is “Learn it on Monday, apply it on Tuesday, and share it on Friday.” Students communicate about assignments in forums, chat rooms, and over e-mail. Some may argue that’s not as effective as building in-person relationships, but it can still be very effective. In addition to a peer-to-peer component, the program gives students a “success coach,” in addition to discussions once a quarter led by Welch himself.
Seth Godin, best-selling author and entrepreneur, has also created an alternative to getting an MBA, called the altMBA.22 It is an intensive four-week online leadership and management workshop for high-performing individuals who want to “level up and lead.” Participants are divided into learning groups of five peers (which change on a weekly basis) to work together on weekly projects. After each assignment, participants are asked to give feedback on each other’s work. This creates a vibrant learning environment where everyone is held accountable for their contributions.
The altMBA process follows the peer-to-peer learning model outlined earlier in this chapter. Learning groups are first given a real problem to solve, and then they give feedback to their peers, before finally engaging in self-reflection on what has been learned and how the problem/project might be approached differently next time.
It costs $3,000 and involves using digital tools such as Slack (a team communication service) and Zoom (video and web conferencing software) to connect with about 100 students each session from all over the world. In 2016, students from 27 countries participated in the program. The program has had leaders from top companies like Nike, Whole Foods, Google, Microsoft, Hallmark, and Coca-Cola.
Media solutions consultant and altMBA participant Brigitte Cutshall likens the course to a “tough sailing adventure” but feels that the experience was transformational.23 She learned how to think critically by “[asking] WHY first when faced with a decision” and to “focus on what’s important and not just urgent stuff.” More importantly, the course created a long-lasting bond with her fellow participants, whom she keeps in touch with daily. In four weeks, Cutshall had a thriving network thanks to her engagement in peer-to-peer learning.
Joanne Heyman, founder and CEO of Heyman Partners and adjunct professor at Columbia University, shared her experience with peer-to-peer learning. Heyman is internationally recognized as a thought leader, innovator, and key adviser within the social innovation sector. When Joanne signed up for the altMBA in September 2016, she had been a solo practitioner for six years. Much as she enjoyed working for herself, she realized that working alone had its limitations. She felt altMBA would be a really great opportunity for her to interact with people, gain insights, work in a community, and find new ways in which to grow and structure her business.
Like Brigitte, she found the experience exhilarating, and was particularly impressed by the caliber of her fellow participants and the quality of feedback she received:
I feel like I benefited from some really honest feedback to my ideas; I liked being pushed to go deeper and to be more detailed. Frequently when I’m trying to do things for myself, I don’t do that. I can do it for my clients, but I can’t do it for myself. So, I found it incredibly useful to be asked thoughtful and thought-provoking questions on a regular basis—mostly from my peers in the program and sometimes from the facilitators.24
By the end of the program, Heyman was convinced that she wanted to work as a collective rather than by herself, but the outcome didn’t turn out as she expected.
I came out of the program very, very enthusiastic about the power of collaboration, and thought about turning my practice into a collective. I tried for about four to five months and it didn’t work. And out of those failed experiments came a much deeper and more confident commitment to developing myself with others rather than feeling like I had to be institutionally surrounded by other people. So at the end, it was an incredibly powerful experience; it just didn’t end up the way I thought it would.25
Both Cutshall and Heyman learned the value of working with peers from all different backgrounds and countries over the course of just a few weeks. Imagine the wealth of knowledge that could be gained if that level of peer learning occurred every single day in organizations.
Learning with Peers (Over Beers)
On the first Tuesday of every month, Dutch psychologist-turned-designer Wouter de Bres meets with his fellow design peers to swap ideas over a few beers. On the surface, it looks like a social event, but for de Bres this gathering is one of the most important parts of his learning experience.
De Bres is the founder of two companies in the Netherlands: digital agency Bread & Pepper; and Gibbon, an online knowledge-sharing platform. He credits his peers for his success: “I have learned more about design from my peers than I have from design courses or books.”26
But de Bres does not confine himself to solely in-person peer events; he is also a member of Dribbble, an online social network for designers. Through this online platform, de Bres is able to not only showcase his work, but also receive feedback from professional designers he admires.
“The feedback is honest,” he says, “and could be perceived as a bit harsh, but for me it is invaluable. Besides, all the designers on Dribbble follow the same code: ‘Don’t take it personally; you are not your design.’ ”27
This understanding helps to foster trust and honesty within the design community. As de Bres explains, “The great thing is that we can receive critical feedback and still go out for a friendly beer if we happen to meet in person one day. We are helping each other while also learning from each other.”
Twitter also played a huge role when it came to learning from and communicating with peers—de Bres would read every article and book recommended by designers to further enhance his learning, and he regularly connected with some great design contacts. This process of sharing knowledge even became the main source of inspiration for knowledge-sharing start-up Gibbon. But to get Gibbon off the ground, de Bres needed funding. When de Bres and his team landed a spot in an investor accelerator program in 2012, de Bres had a chance to spend some time in Silicon Valley and was determined to make the most of his opportunity.
I was in Silicon Valley for 60 days, so I set myself a goal to meet at least one designer per day, most of whom I had connected with through Twitter but had yet to meet in person. It was incredible how much I learned. One designer would immediately introduce me to another designer they knew, and so it went until I had well over 60 design contacts.28
De Bres’ contacts turned out to be top designers from Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, Square, ZenDesk, and Flipboard, to name just a few. Through his passion for learning from his peers, de Bres has managed to build up an enviable professional network populated with talented designers whom he continues to collaborate with and learn from every day.
As de Bres’ experience shows, we can learn faster and progress more quickly by harnessing the knowledge shared by our peers. Worrying about problems doesn’t make any sense when we have so many people around to help and advise us. There are so many advantages to learning from our peers both at work and worldwide. All we need to do is take part.
Key Skills for Peer-to-Peer Learning
Peer-to-peer learning gives us three key skills: the skill of self-reflection, the skill of giving and receiving feedback, and the skill of critical thinking. This section focuses on how we can refine those skills to enhance our own learning experience.
How to self-reflect
People tend not to engage in self-reflection for several reasons. They either don’t understand how it works, or they don’t like the thought of taking the necessary time out from their busy day, or they don’t like the idea of assessing their own actions and potential areas of weakness.
However, like all good skills, self-reflection requires commitment and practice. Anybody can engage in self-reflection if they practice a few simple steps:29
1. Reflect on your day and ask yourself some questions
° What might you be avoiding?
° How are you helping others to achieve their goals?
° How might you be helping or hindering other people’s progress?
° What is your most frustrating working relationship? How might you be contributing to it?
° Think of the last meeting you had. How could you have been more effective?
2. Choose the best method for you to reflect
The method of reflection is up to the individual. If you are the type of person who prefers to gather your thoughts alone, then by all means grab a journal and write down your thoughts or go for a walk or a bike ride. However, self-reflection does not have to be a solitary activity. It is entirely possible to reflect with a colleague, a coach, or a mentor, as long as you’re reflecting constructively on the matter rather than complaining about it.
3. Make time for self-reflection
Schedule reflection time in the same way you would schedule a meeting—put it in your calendar. Deliberately making space for it is more likely to motivate you to actually do it.
4. Set your own time frame
Some people reflect for an hour; others, a few minutes. If an hour seems too much in the beginning, then try 10 minutes. Giving yourself a manageable amount of time to commit in the first instance still helps you make progress.
5. Think about your thinking
Analyze your thoughts and think about your own perspectives and why you are thinking in a particular way. Do you agree with all your thoughts? If not, why?
How to enhance your critical thinking skills
Critical thinking is fundamental to problem-solving and decision-making. The good news is that all of us can become excellent critical thinkers if we ask the right questions. Here are some good critical thinking questions to ask yourself when someone assigns to you a tough challenge:
• What does this problem mean?
• How should I interpret what has been said?
• Does my interpretation make sense? Is it logical?
• What assumptions/conclusions should I draw?
• What additional information do I need to resolve this problem?
• How many ways can this problem be resolved?
• Do I have enough supporting information/facts to make a decision?
• Is the information credible?
• If I decide, what are the consequences of that decision in the short term and the long term?
• Who else can I talk to about this issue? What other perspectives can I seek?
How to give and receive constructive feedback
One of the most important skills we learn from peer-to-peer learning is how to give and accept feedback. Neither is easy to do, but with practice it becomes a great way to empower ourselves and others. Remember, exchanging feedback is a two-way street, so make sure you are giving the other person enough time to react to what is being said, and allow dialogue where appropriate. The most successful feedback is based on clear communication and understanding. The following is a list of suggestions for giving and receiving constructive feedback:
1. Don’t make it personal
When you’re giving feedback, focus on the behavior, not the character. For example, if you’re frustrated by a peer who is constantly late to meetings, don’t attack the person (“You have a problem with time-keeping”), but instead make a helpful suggestion about how the behavior can be changed (“We can all kick off the discussion and finish more quickly when everyone is here at the same time”).
2. Do be prepared
It may sound obvious, but if you’re going to provide feedback, prepare what you’re going to say before you say it. Stay on topic and make sure you use specific examples and references. Never generalize or expect someone to pick up on “hints.” Successful feedback is based on clear communication between both parties.
3. Don’t make comparisons
When you’re providing feedback, be careful not to compare performances (“Look at Janet; she’s never late!”). Comparing people with each other only breeds negative competition and resentment. However, you can compare past performance against current performance, as long as it doesn’t involve anyone else.30
4. Do accept feedback with grace and dignity
Think of feedback as a positive way of empowering you to do better. Listen to understand what the other person is saying, summarize what you have heard, and ask plenty of questions to clarify your understanding. The person providing the feedback will be grateful to you for making such an effort to listen to what they are saying.
5. Don’t be defensive
When you’re receiving feedback, try to control your defensiveness. Being defensive or notably upset only makes the person giving feedback more uncomfortable. It also means that person will no longer view you as approachable and may stop giving you feedback altogether.
6. Do have some patience
It can be tempting to try to justify feedback that you perceive as unfair, but make sure you let the other person finish before you make your case. Similarly, it doesn’t pay to argue. Try to control the impulse to jump in, and focus on taking the time to understand exactly what is being said before formulating a considered response.31
Building a successful peer-to-peer learning environment
Creating a successful peer-to-peer learning environment takes time, but plenty of organizations have managed to achieve it by following these guidelines:
• Appoint someone to facilitate the learning process. People who have typically been instructors in instructor-led training programs are often great facilitators. Peer learning facilitators make sure everyone stays on topic, notes key ideas and themes, and keeps the conversation moving forward.
• Focus on real-world situations by giving the group a real problem to solve. The key to a successful peer-to-peer learning program is to ensure everyone taking part is engaged in something authentic to resolve.
• Build a safe peer-to-peer learning environment where participants feel comfortable enough to share their thoughts openly with their peers. Encourage empathy, active listening, sensitivity to feelings and needs, and engagement in emotional conversations.
• Promote peer-to-peer learning by holding inclusive events and conferences in person or online.
• Encourage peer-to-peer networking by setting up online social networks, organizing networking events, or setting up informal learning groups that meet regularly and exchange ideas (even over a few beers!).