How can you measure informal learning? I don’t believe you can, at least directly. Even if you could, why would you want to? The only reason I can think of is to attempt to control and/or replicate it. If you do that, don’t you destroy the essence of informal learning? If you control learning, does it not become structured learning? In terms of replication, how can you replicate something that is idiosyncratic, random, spontaneous and multi-modal?
Informal learning occurs because structured learning is less than totally effective and is the most natural way to learn. If informal learning occurs in your organization and appears to thrive, it most likely means that your employees are competent and good performers. They are learning what they need to learn and getting the job done. Therefore, performance measures would appear to be the critical metrics here.
However, if your employees are not performing well, then perhaps informal learning may not be occurring or is not as effective as it could be. If this is the case, the more practical and relevant question you should be asking is, “What can you do to enhance and nurture informal learning?”
Rather than looking at informal learning itself, you should be asking how you can provide the optimal environment for informal learning to exist and flourish. You should look at such thing as the openness of communication in the workplace, accessibility of databases, knowledge capture, opportunities for employee interaction and collaboration and the like. These things you can measure.
