What is the Virtual Water Cooler?: How we Learn Informally in Virtual Work Environments

While the benefits and instances of informal learning have been well studied for face-to-face teams, the impact of distance and time on virtual team's informal learning has received little attention. Informal learning accounts for most of the knowledge people accumulate about their work, so if people aren't having those casual hallway conversations, or those water cooler moments over coffee, how are they learning informally? With the increase in virtual and remote team work, companies are increasingly dependent on people's effectiveness and learning in these environments. This book examines how employees are learning in their virtual and remote work environments. It describes how appreciative inquiry was used to initiate a conversation about informal learning in a virtual environment and to create implementation ideas. It outlines, through a series of conclusions and recommendations, how organizations can best support and enhance informal learning for their remote and virtual employees for business success.

Rachael Hunt, MA: studied organizational leadership and learning at Royal Roads University. Global Learning Program manager at Hewlett Packard, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.