From a workplace learning perspective, learning can be understood as lasting changes in individuals’ thinking and actions that result from both formal training and self-directed, informal learning (Degerman & Wallo, 2024). At work, learning occurs not only in projects and development initiatives (e.g. 2018) but also in everyday practice. Learning in development projects requires openness and vulnerability, which are key preconditions for deep, transformative change (Wesselink & Popa, 2025).
Thus, workplace learning is not confined to distinct training events but is embedded in long-term change processes that are shaped by emotional experience. Training, when understood as knowledge transfer, is therefore not only about content, timing and structure, but also about workplace learning as an ongoing process. This process requires motivation, commitment and the recognition of emotions. Previous research highlights that emotions play a pivotal role in adult learning because they significantly influence motivation, engagement and cognitive processes, thereby shaping learning outcomes (Bano & Hou, 2026).
Emotions are also central in online learning environments. Bozkurt and Sharma (2020) examine emotional presence in online education and emphasise the role of affective engagement in the formation and maintenance of virtual learning communities. They present how emotional presence manifests in online settings and argue that affective engagement is crucial for sustaining such communities.
Consequently, workplace learning, especially occurring in development projects, cannot be fully understood without considering its emotional dimension. Openness, vulnerability and emotional engagement are not merely contextual background factors but are directly connected to how participants make sense of their experiences and how lasting, transformative learning becomes possible. Transformative learning is the process of changing mindsets, assumptions and expectations to become more critical, open, and emotionally capable of supporting change (Mezirow 2018; see also e.g. Roux 2026).
With the broader aim of strengthening organisational capacity in mind, peer mentoring can be seen as a central mechanism that links individual learning with collective development activities. In this context, informal learning arising from everyday interaction, situated reflection and collaborative problem-solving constitutes a key resource for organisational learning.
Peer group mentoring links individual learning to organisational development
Workplace learning, peer group mentoring (PGM) and multidisciplinary peer mentoring groups (PMGs) can be helpful approaches that foster not only individual professional growth but also contribute to organisational learning. As structured, collaborative modes of learning embedded in everyday practice, PGM and PMGs generate important resources for employees’ individual learning, while also creating value for entire work communities (e.g. Aarnikoivu et al. 2020; Nokkala et al. 2022).
Research suggests that PGM and multidisciplinary PMGs provide psychologically safe environments for collaborative learning. Mentors and mentees experience them as meaningful means of promoting professional learning and well-being, and they also create indirect benefits within work communities (Tynjälä et al. 2021) as part of formal, but also informal learning.
Mentoring in COMHOM
COMHOM is a three-year initiative launched in 2025 and funded by the European Social Fund (ESF+). The project focuses on transforming the way homelessness is tackled by leveraging data, digital tools, and a standardised monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework. Its goals include harmonisation of methodologies and facilitation of policymaking, creation of digital tools, improving decision-making and resource allocation, enhancing capacity through training and mentoring programmes, supporting innovative practices through social experimentation, and generating policy recommendations to guide EU-wide efforts in combating homelessness.
Building on the conceptualisation of workplace learning and peer mentoring, the COMHOM project provides a concrete example of how these practices can be embedded in large, multi-actor development initiatives.
Mentoring was implemented as a continuous process to support dialogue and skills development in the project. For that aim, a mentoring programme (capacity building and mentoring, CB&M) was implemented to support digital transformation and co-development of a digital data resource across Europe. The aim of the mentoring was to strengthen the organisations’ capacities to participate in the development and implementation of the digital platform by 2027.
Monthly online meetings were organised in spring 2026, focusing on reflection, guidance and identification of the needs of the participants. Approximately 70 participants from 25 sub-grantee organisations participated in the sessions, divided into five groups that met to discuss and advance the COMHOM project. Contrary to the training sessions that took place at the same time, these meetings emphasised dialogue and exchange of expertise in small groups. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences coordinated these sessions in collaboration with the project’s thematic content experts.
Each two-hour mentoring session followed the same structure, but the themes varied according to the sub-grantees’ needs and the development stage of the project. Mentoring (M) was implemented as an integral part of this structure, as a continuous process supporting discussion and skills development. Each participant engaged in approximately 40 hours of online sessions.
The sessions were designed as context-sensitive and demand-driven support, aligned with contemporary approaches to capacity development. Mentoring relationships were strictly confidential, reflecting evidence that trust-based mentoring and coaching are critical mechanisms for effective capacity building in complex change processes (Garvey et al. 2017).
Positive feedback from online mentoring
Systematic feedback was collected from each session by an e-form survey, focusing on that month’s training and mentoring activities, including the structure and content of the sessions.
According to the survey results, mentoring and the COMHOM platform helped transform existing, often ad hoc practices into more structured and coherent ways of operating. The needs identified concerned both technical and organisational dimensions, including improved data systems, stronger staff engagement, clearer roles and responsibilities in data processing, and enhanced internal communication.
In general, sessions were perceived as highly valuable. Participants appreciated practical examples, clear step-by-step guidance, structured explanations and exercises – such as process mapping and the review of existing practices – that helped identify gaps, clarify responsibilities and improve workflows related to data processing and beneficiary tracking. Peer learning was also identified as a significant benefit, as organisations could learn from and build on one another’s experiences.
Learning in digital contexts is different
Learning in such digital platform development process requires certain socio-emotional conditions to be met to enable learning to occur in online environments. At the end of the project in December 2027, a digital platform for collecting data on homelessness will be finalised as a project deliverable.
Mentoring is a valuable method for supporting capacity development, especially when combined with training sessions and open dialogue. Open dialogue is fundamental for deep learning and presupposes a psychologically safe environment, especially in the context of work-based learning.
Moreover, psychological safety can effectively support development- and change-oriented work, as it enables the articulation and consideration of diverse viewpoints. It allows questions and doubts to be voiced, which are crucial elements for deeper learning. In a psychologically safe learning environment, team members can take interpersonal risks and express their views without fear of negative consequences (Edmondson 1999, 354; 2019).
At the same time, digital activities may evoke fear in learners who have had little exposure to digital technologies, and anxiety in mentors who may be exposed to sensitive information about their learners, such as passwords or private images (Marshall, Dezuanni & Hourigan 2025). These elements need to be taken account.
Thus, the development of digital platforms and mentoring practices needs to proceed hand in hand. This highlights the importance of emotional awareness and psychological safety as essential components of effective workplace learning and capacity development, also in projects such as COMHOM, where digital environments form a central part of the work-based learning context. Capacity development, or capacity building, refers to a process in which individuals, organisations and broader systems improve their ability to carry out tasks, solve problems and achieve their own goals (OECD 2006).
The observations made during online mentoring in spring 2026 demonstrated that the participating organisations’ differences and similarities created genuinely valuable opportunities for mutual, work-based learning. Learning at work became closely intertwined with building, co-creating and testing a new European-level digital system.
The feedback indicated that learning in COMHOM was not only technical or procedural, but also deeply affective and relational. Capacity development in a large and complex initiative like this involves more than knowledge transfer: it requires active engagement, tolerance of uncertainty, flexibility and sustained attention to emotional engagement.
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Author
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Eija Raatikainen
Principal Lecturer (PhD, Associate Professor) and Project Manager, Metropolia UASEija Raatikainen is Principal Lecturer (PhD) and Project Manager in the School of Well-being, Metropolia UAS.
About the author
