As businesses contend with a widening skills gap and larger growth targets, social learning—where employees develop their skills and knowledge through interactions with their peers—easily distinguishes itself as an effective strategy for driving learning and talent development. 

But for social learning to effectively further organizational goals, it’s essential to have the right tools in place to facilitate purposeful connections and guided conversations.

10KC is transforming how industry leaders like RBC, EY, AIG, and Nike approach talent development by unlocking strategic connections and critical knowledge sharing in the workplace—all while making a measurable impact on productivity, retention, and performance.

How? Let’s talk about it.

Creating a social learning ecosystem with mentoring, networking, and group learning experiences 

Social learning starts with facilitating the right social interactions. Strong workplace connections are critical for learning, culture, and performance. And while chance encounters, one-off  team events, and standalone programs do build relationships, they often don't align with strategic talent or organizational goals.

So the question remains: How can your organization build social learning solutions that align with strategic talent priorities, unlock the full potential of your workforce, and drive measurable impact? By integrating structured mentoring, networking, and group learning experiences that put business needs front and center.

Mentoring: Give employees direct access to experts, leaders, and peers for personalized skill development in 1:1 or group settings with guided conversations and a structured curriculum. 

Networking: Open doors to colleagues across the organization for diverse perspectives, collaboration, and upskilling through 1:1 interactions.

Group learning: Provide access to senior leaders and experts through engaging events, enhancing the overall learning experience. 

The effectiveness of mentoring, networking, and group learning lies in their synergy. When these experiences are isolated, their impact is limited due to reduced visibility, limited knowledge sharing, and misalignment with business goals. 

10KC solves for synergy by combining these elements into curated Learning Pathways. This holistic approach maximizes engagement (everyone finds a learning style that suits them), amplifies skill development (by reinforcing training), and aligns learning with your organization's specific objectives and talent priorities.

"What I love about 10KC is the combination of Mentoring, Networking and Group Learning Sessions. This unique and multi-faceted approach really works to reinforce the skills and mindsets while also creating opportunities for connection and belonging.” - Catherine Brown, Founder, Taybridge Leadership, formerly Google, Nike, Gap Inc., Ernst & Young and Singularity University.

The power of social learning: key business outcomes and examples

In dynamic modern work environments, social learning is a critical piece of the puzzle for effective employee development and business performance. Structured social learning initiatives foster a collaborative environment where knowledge is shared, skills are honed, and innovation thrives.

When companies prioritize social learning, they benefit from:

1. Better skills development

While external expertise and resources are valuable, the knowledge your talent needs to succeed often already exists within your organization.

Through dedicated social learning initiatives, employees can tap into this wealth of organizational knowledge, gaining real-world context, best practices, and the opportunity to apply and reinforce new skills directly in the workplace. This practical application and reinforcement in context are key aspects of skill development that social learning uniquely facilitates.

For instance, Thomson Reuters enhanced skills development initiatives by launching "Quarterly Learning Days.” To reinforce the learning and encourage ongoing practical application, they  also empowered leaders to host 10KC Office Hours where employees could discuss and apply the knowledge gained from the learning days.

2. Increased employee engagement and retention

Social learning doesn’t just elevate your talent, it helps retain them. With roughly two-in-three employees considering leaving their jobs in 2024, a robust learning and employee development strategy can help keep top talent engaged.

For example, by implementing scalable social learning and mentorship initiatives, Spring Health cut attrition of underrepresented employees in half. With 10KC, they scaled their “Sprout with Spring” mentorship program from 42 team members to over 600 employees globally within half a year, and their attrition rate dropped from 32% to a remarkable 15%. 

‍LEARN MORE: How 10KC Helped Spring Health Decrease Attrition by Over 50%

3. Enhanced employee collaboration

Dispersed teams have increasingly become the norm, and companies are facing high rates of workplace transformation. As a result, many organizations are seeing silos emerge that hinder collaboration and innovation, creating missed opportunities for both personal development and business growth. 

Intentional social learning and connectivity strategies expand employee networks to break down these silos and create a culture of knowledge sharing that drives performance and business outcomes.

PwC, a top employer recognized by Forbes, Diversity Inc, Fortune, and others, understands the impact of strong employee connections and collaboration on key business outcomes. As a large, hybrid company with teams spread across locations and business units, they sought to break down communication barriers and foster meaningful interactions. With 10KC's social learning platform, they facilitated over 20,000 connections and 170+ small group events, achieving a 96% favorable rating from participants and a 78% adoption rate.

“We wanted to build meaningful connections that superseded historic silos or proximity barriers. We wanted to drive connections that were human-led and tech powered, and 10KC allowed us to do that. The platform has helped us bring intention into conversations, which can be challenging in a remote or hybrid environment.” - Chris Dulny, Chief Digital, Data & Innovation Officer, PwC

LEARN MORE: How PwC Built a Connected Workforce in the Hybrid World of Work

4. Accelerated productivity 

The more connected employees become through intentional social learning initiatives, the more productive they become. Stronger bonds lead to more robust support networks, where colleagues readily share knowledge, collaborate on problem-solving, and provide valuable feedback. This environment accelerates individual and team performance, driving innovation and efficiency.

10KC's social learning tools empower you to deliver a range of personalized learning experiences that directly impact productivity. For instance: 

• Accelerating onboarding with mentoring and peer learning gets new hires up to speed quickly, minimizing their ramp-up time.

• Improving manager effectiveness through coaching and development programs creates a cascade effect that enhances team productivity and morale. 

• Cultivating future leaders through targeted learning experiences ensures a continuous pipeline of talent ready to drive your organization forward.

Social learning also plays a pivotal role for productivity within culture integration during crucial periods of change. When companies merge or evolve, a lack of cultural cohesion can create fragmented teams, silos, and misaligned goals that quickly lead to decreased efficiency. 

As Alim A. Dhanji, Chief People Officer & EVP of Equinox Group, explains, "The very goal you're after – bringing people together – ends up being what's pulling people apart." Structured social learning initiatives can reverse this trend, creating shared experiences and common ground that facilitate understanding and productivity.

‍

10KC’s social learning platform: a suite of tools to drive talent development at scale

10KC’s powerful suite of tools are designed to help organizations power social learning at scale. Here’s how.

Align pathways to specific business outcomes

All social learning is valuable for employees—even those unstructured, serendipitous encounters. But when social learning is scalable and intentionally geared toward specific organizational and employee goals, it can drive critical business outcomes and make the biggest impact. 

It’s typically really difficult to connect informal learning to broader company goals. Many social learning initiatives struggle to scale due to a lack of structure and visibility, and existing solutions often rely on manual methods, which limits their reach and impact. 

10KC offers a curated set of Learning Pathways designed to deliver personalized experiences at scale, aligning with specific roles, talent groups, or business objectives, including:

• Leadership Development: Develop future-ready leaders who can navigate change.

• People Manager Effectiveness: Upscale people managers to lead effectively. 

• Onboarding: Increase time to productivity of new hires. 

• Culture Integration: Integrate and align teams after change.

• Sponsorship: Empower employees to advance their careers.

• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Increase engagement and retention of diverse talent.

• Early Talent: Develop the potential of new grads, co-ops, and interns. 

• Mentoring: Automate and scale your mentorship program.

• Networking & Connectivity: Break down silos and foster cross-team collaboration. 

Pathways bring together expert-backed discussion guides, carefully-selected resources, and a variety of social learning formats to cater to different learning styles and preferences. This way, you can leverage pre-built templates and package together the right mix of learning experiences employees want, in a way that drives the results you want. 

Where customization is needed, you can easily tailor learning journeys to your organizational needs with plug-and-play content and experiences that ensure every employee is able to develop the skills they need to succeed.

“We were fortunate with 10KC that it was very flexible, we've been able to customize it to our needs, and adapt so that we can meet all of our goals.” - Bryce Hackman, HR consultant for DEI, Thomson Reuters

Identify and assign key talent groups to the selected pathway

With the perfect pathways in place, 10KC helps talent leaders assign employees to the right learning journeys at the click of a button. 

For example, you can quickly select all talent in client-facing departments, enroll them in the 360 View of the Customer pathway, or assign all high-potential talent to the Leadership Development pathway.

Within 10KC, employee users can set their skills and learning objectives, and admins can use those as criteria to match talent to the right pathways and experiences—without the need for manual pairing. Integrations with leading HRIS tools, such as Workday and Azure Active Directory, streamline the L&D workflow and minimize the administrative burden. With HRIS integration, you can also access organizational data and attributes right within 10KC. 

Make strategic employee connections

We love a good water cooler moment. But rather than relying on serendipity, 10KC takes the bias and randomness out of employee connections to ensure that everyone has equitable access to the networks they need to thrive in the workplace. 

And, beyond fostering a more social and supportive work environment, 10KC enables you to strategically align employee connections with the business outcomes your company cares about. 

‍10KC’s Smart-Match algorithm automatically matches employees to the right connections at the right time, based on skills and organizational attributes, such as demographics, seniority level, and department. 

Facilitate purposeful conversations and knowledge sharing

Social learning is only effective when the right conversations are taking place. But even with the best of intentions, it’s easy for conversations to drift. 

Rather than relying on unstructured discussions, accelerate skills development and knowledge transfer by providing participants with relevant educational resources, discussion guides, and curriculums. By creating some structure for these informal interactions, you can feel confident knowing that discussions are staying focused, actionable, and aligned with strategic objectives. 

10KC also seamlessly integrates conversations into your existing workflow by connecting with everyday tools like Teams or Slack. Gentle reminders keep everyone engaged and on track, ensuring that critical knowledge is shared and never overlooked. With 10KC, social learning becomes a natural, continuous part of your workday, driving consistent progress toward your goals.

Measure outcomes and analyze performance 

High-performing development programs often depend on the exchange of institutional knowledge and strong relationships, yet these crucial elements are notoriously difficult to quantify. This lack of meaningful data makes it challenging for stakeholders to understand the impact of social learning and make informed decisions.

However, contrary to common assumptions, it is entirely possible to measure social learning just as rigorously as traditional learning programs. And you don't have to wait months to assess results.

With every pathway, program, and conversation through 10KC, you get an indepth look at:

• Participation and engagement for every experience.
• The topics driving engagement within your community.
• Connection insights to understand how networks are forming across the organization.
• The specific skills being honed across levels and departments.

“I love our dashboard. I'm in it all the time. I'm always curious. I absolutely love it. It’s self-serve. You all are always there for us. And when we have questions [...] we can always go to the 10KC team, but [the data dashboard] is a really good place to go back as a source of information.” -  Fatima Winfrey, Vice President of DEI and Belonging, Horizon Media.

10KC’s Data Dashboard helps talent teams and stakeholders understand the value of your social learning initiatives—and how it translates to key business metrics—in real time. Actionable insights also help you make data-driven decisions to optimize learning outcomes.

"You can see who's connecting naturally, who opts in, how many people they've connected with. We also see who hasn't opted in. That's the kind of person we might spend more time focusing on and encouraging our leaders to connect with […] The technology is so helpful. We can notice trends and make sure employees aren’t getting lost in the shuffle” -Susie Gould, Deals People Leader, PwC

How to get started with 10KC social learning 

Ready to join the industry leaders using 10KC and kickstart social learning for your team? 

Here’s what’s next: 

1. Book a free demo with our team so you can see for yourself everything 10KC has to offer. We’ll answer any questions you might have so you can feel confident deploying social learning within your organization.
2. Get onboarded in as little as 6 weeks and start building personalized learning pathways from our pre-built selections.
3. Assign talent to the right pathways to launch their social learning journey.
4. Watch your talent thrive and measure the impact—all within your 10KC dashboard.

‍