Training sessions can be uncomfortable for some people; fearing being picked on to answer a question, dragged to the front of the class and made to do a trust fall or even worse, engaged in dreaded role-play!

There’s a wide range of learning styles in the room too, with some people learning better from reading or being told, others prefer a more practical approach or getting stuck in and practicing something for themselves. Relying on PowerPoint and handouts limits the learning and increases the paper airplanes.

There is a better way to learn, and it’s free, one-on-one and won’t stress your shy employees into stepping in front of a large group: peer-to-peer learning!

What is Peer-to-Peer Learning?

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, peer-to-peer learning is a training technique that means your employees are the trainers, and they’re training their colleagues. It really is that simple! You don’t need to pay for a third party to come in and deliver impersonal training anymore, it’s all handled in-house

Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Learning

So what are the benefits of peer-to-peer learning? And why should you start looking at implementing it in your workplace right away? Below are just some of the great benefits of peer-to-peer learning:

Cost effective

How much does peer-to-peer training cost? Nothing! As long as your staff have the confidence to talk about what they already know, they shouldn’t struggle. You could provide training to build peoples’ confidence to facilitate and make the most of learning sessions, but it’s not always a necessity. The only thing that might cost is if you decided to engage with a training provider to create little nuggets of formal learning that can be utilized like our Training Toolkits ‘forever resources’.

Expands the trainer’s knowledge as well

Training your colleagues to a good level of knowledge will require the ‘trainer’ to have that knowledge in the first place. Encouraging staff to train others on something they know a lot about gives them a sense of pride in their knowledge which is seriously motivating.

Variety of teaching styles

You will find that different people will approach sharing knpweldge and training others in different ways bringing a bredth of knowledge and a variety. One week you have a staff member training about customer service via PowerPoint, the following week someone else could carry out on the job coaching.

Staff benefits from learning from someone they know

If you ensure that your training session is being presented by someone trusted within your organisation, then you are likely to get better engagement from the learners. All the examples and references will be ‘real-life’ and told from experience from within your company and sector.

Time saving

Getting a group of 12-15 people out of the business for a day can be a logistical nightmare. Having short, focused training sessions on-site can save bundles of time all round.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help improve training in your organisation – no matter what the approach!