Dashe & Thomson Blog Social Learning For Leaders

Learning and Development: Social Learning for Leaders For leaders, social learning is an effective way to increase desired leadership abilities, behaviors, ethics, and skills. Social learning requires constant awareness of your surroundings and your responses to the actions of yourself and others around you. Social learning first came about in the 1960’s when Albert Bandura defined a cognitive process which takes place within a social context. But in L&D today, social learning has become a powerful tool for developing both leaders and organizations. Typically, social learning has a strong positive impact on soft skills and performance, but it needs to be done properly and effectively. There’s no one size fits all technique to utilizing social learning in your organization; it’s most effective through natural social processes like discussions. Leadership and Social Learning Theories In both formal and informal settings, social learning theories have been used for decades in teaching management and leadership skills. Social Learning has purpose in leadership, and it enables understanding the behaviors of a leader or manager, and the continuous shared interaction between the leader and the environment that controls their behaviors. There are three primary aspects to social learning that leadership encompasses: Leaders acknowledge that their behavior is controlled by the various situations, experiences, and needs that are present. Leaders work with their employees and teams to discover what needs, situations, and experiences can potentially arise. Thus, leaders and employees then work together to discover ways in which they can manage individual behaviors to generate adequate and constructive outcomes.