By Mark Brandau, Senior Director, Product Marketing

In an attempt to create a more active learning culture, many organizations manhandle the learning process for employees, telling them when, where, and how they can learn. Comply or be punished.

Instead of continuous learning, you get official training at random spurts when budget and scheduling allow, often frustrating everyone in the process. How do you fix this?

Simple: Leading organizations are shifting from a “training” approach to a “sharing” one. Social networking has been the major driver here, reminding us that usually someone we know has exactly the information we’ve been looking for. Asking questions and getting answers builds communities. Instead of hoarding information, employees see the importance in sharing. They get to be the valued asset. You see the value, too: Knowledge capture allows for continuity and increased productivity.

Learning management systems are now integrated with social tools, and you can easily foster continuous learning by pressing the “on” button in the system. Create some how-to guides and best practices, and respond to questions or complaints as they come up. Let the real experts in the field be the ones driving conversations. Baby boomers who are retiring will share knowledge down, and younger employees can mentor up. You’re creating a conversation.

You don’t have to use every social tool out there. Think about blending and phasing the learning programs in your company to where you want to be. Ask employees what they want and how they want it. Instructor-led training may still be necessary for your organization; however, employees need more than a once-over if the training was supposed to impact productivity or change behavior.

It’s said that you never really stop learning. Use that as your motivation the next time you consider how you can shift to a sharing culture. What are some key learning trends that you see in your organization?