The supervisor as a facilitator of informal learning in work teams

Abstract

This paper explores the importance of enhancing the facilitation skills of line managers at a supervisory level, and suggests that they can then promote a positive learning environment for informal learning within their work teams. Supervisors are important to their firms, because they are at the interface between the organisation and its work teams. The paper proposes that supervisors who are effective facilitators will utilise their own learning and interpersonal skills to encourage informal learning opportunities through knowledge‐sharing in their work teams, thus improving the team’s performance. The ideas outlined in the paper are intended to make a contribution to a discussion which advances a conceptual argument, and will form the basis of future empirical research.