Informal workplace learning experiences of gold-collar workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine informal workplace learning experiences of gold-collar workers working as corporate executive leaders. It was expected to understand what, how and why gold-collar leaders learned informally in the workplace, throughout their careers. The research was designed as a qualitative study and the data was collected mainly through semi-structured interviews. This study reveals the learning outcomes that are essential to act and perform as better leaders while dealing with increasingly complex tasks and responsibilities. These are solving problems, making decisions, managing risks and crisis, communicating, building teams, delegating, and monitoring tasks. The findings indicate that thinking strategically, exercising judgment, leading by values, engaging people, empowering leaders, developing teams, leading the change and transformations, and fostering the organizational culture are the major learning outcomes associated with leadership thinking, mindsets, and styles. Learning from experiences and other people, self-directed learning and meta cognitive learning skills, initiatives taken for increasing self-knowledge, dialogue, and networks as communities of practices are found as the major sources, strategies, and processes of informal learning used by the corporate leaders. Growth mindset, flexibility, passion, adaptation, and curiosity are revealed as individual factors influencing learning in the workplace. It is concluded that informal learning accounts for most of the leader`s learning in the workplace and leader development in the workplace should be considered and redesigned more from the perspective of informal learning.