Managers As Mentors, 3rd Edition

Be an Advocate for Informal Learning

Being a great mentor includes fostering an environment that values and nurtures learning. This means advocating informal learning. And there are myriad ways to make learning a natural part of the work world.

A major consulting firm found that professional reading among employees increased when the firm installed magazine racks with professional journals in the lavatories. The firm’s president discovered that surprisingly few journals were absent-mindedly removed, and employees began contributing their own copies of journals to which the firm did not subscribe. Comments like “Did you read that article about …?” were frequently interjected in staff meetings, which further reinforced the amount of informal learning ...