Organizational Mindfulness is Social Learning

Functional vs. Neural Skills

Technical and functional skills training are being migrated to single-user, self-paced, on-demand programs. This offers lower-cost access to declarative learning (whether text or video) anytime, anywhere. Though this method tends to reinforce the isolation of a remote work environment, it offers distinct advantages that should continue to scale.

However, the most critical work capabilities ahead are the mental and emotional skills cultivated through embodied procedural learning. These include leadership traits like authenticity, vulnerability, trustworthiness, empathy, kindness, and compassion - and workforce skills in psychological safety, inclusivity, communication, collaboration, and more. In short, these experiential skills are best taught through social learning.

Social Learning

Social learning is acquiring new knowledge or skills in coordination with others. Neuroscience confirms that social learning produces a deeper encoding of information in the brain and a higher motivation to apply what has been learned. We’ve evolved to prioritize social information because, throughout history, it has been essential for survival. Connection to a group has traditionally increased our safety, prompting our brains to respond more effectively to what we learn in social settings.

Mental and Emotional Skills

Encoding neural skills requires attention control (which is why mindfulness practices are so effective) and a rich web of memories. Social learning hooks our memory of the material to our emotions and observations of others during the learning process. Because social and emotional information is prioritized for retrieval, these hooks enable us to recall more information faster.

The Motivation to Act

Research suggests that social learning also encourages us to act on what we’ve learned. Creating a neural network to store and retrieve new information prompts us to use that information in new and creative ways - especially as we learn amid the pressures and dynamics of a surrounding social group.

Creating Effective Teams

Organizational Mindfulness teaches a series of all-science principles and practices that scale work performance. It starts with essential trait-building capabilities for individual leaders, high achievers, and teams. However, organizational transformation occurs through learning that changes both our behaviors and how we work together.

We encourage our members to develop their own neural skills and to create shared, social learning experiences for their teams and organizations. To learn about Organizational Mindfulness training and certification, please click here or contact us at [email protected]

References

Learning from Others is Good, With Others is Better: The role of social interaction in the human acquisition of new knowledge - National Library of Medicine, De Felice, Ponari, Vigliocco, 2024

Social Learning and Memory - National Library of Medicine, Ammar, Fogarty, Kandler, 2024

Situating the Concept of Organizational Mindfulness: The Multiple Dimensions of Organizational Learning - Sustainability Ethics and Governance, Rerup, Levinthal, 2013

Mindful Change in the Time of Permanent Reorganization - Sustainability Ethics and Governance, Becke, 2014

Organizational Mindfulness Fact Sheet, Institute for Organizational Science and Mindfulness, 2024