The lunch and learn defined

A lunch and learn is just what it sounds like—an opportunity for team members across an organization to gather together at lunchtime and learn from one another.

Lunch and learns may be hosted in person, virtually or in a hybrid fashion.

Some lunch and learns function more like a presentation, with one main presenter running the meeting and others listening. Other lunch and learn meetings can serve more like a conversation, with active back-and-forth communication between participants.

Why you should host lunch and learns

Lunch and learn meetings are an excellent way to promote cross-functional collaboration in all kinds of organizations. Breaking bread together can help to break the ice, leading to more meaningful conversations and more open minds.

Giving employees insight into how their colleagues work and what their roles entail gives them a deeper understanding of the business as a whole. It may also help them be more effective at their own jobs once they see how it fits into the larger picture of the organization.

Lunch and learns are also a great way to boost employee morale. They bring members of the organization closer together, which has the potential to improve retention rates and help employees feel more engaged with their work.

Empowering employees to host lunch and learns is also an excellent way to build future leaders for your organization. It’s a low-stakes opportunity for employees to practice giving presentations and facilitating conversations, and in turn, boosting their confidence at work.

Lunch and learn ideas by topic

So now that you want to host a lunch and learn, what should your lunch and learn focus on? Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning.

Skill sharing

A common format for lunch and learn meetings is to have someone from one department share knowledge with people from other departments in their organization.

For example, in a clothing manufacturing business, someone from the legal team could give a presentation about intellectual property to employees on the design team, teaching them about how the designs they create must pass muster against certain legal criteria in order to protect the company.

Skill sharing could also take place among wider teams. Another example might be if the technology team wanted to teach people in the organization about how to protect their accounts from phishing or other cyber threats. Learning important skills like this while sharing a meal in a community-like setting might make the experience more memorable and, hopefully, help the attendees better absorb the information.

Community building

Lunch and learn meetings can also function more like a socialization event in the sense that employees can have lunch and learn about each other rather than learning a new skill or sharing information.

You might consider hosting lunch and learns based on hobbies or interests employees share. If your company has already formed some employee interest groups, you can have a representative from a group teach others about the hobby or have an employee do a lunch and learn within the existing employee interest group about something they have in-depth knowledge about.

Hosting lunch and learns with the goal of helping employees get to know one another on a deeper level is a great way to make your company culture stronger.

Mentorship

Another avenue to pursue via lunch and learns is mentorship. You could encourage a more senior staff member to host a lunch and learn for junior staffers.

In this sort of format, the leader of the lunch and learn could begin by sharing a bit of their professional story—where they started out, how they climbed the ladder and important lessons they learned along the way.

In a mentorship-style lunch and learn, it’s a good idea to also leave time for the more junior staff members to ask questions at the end. Allowing the more novice staffers to openly converse with the senior staff member leading the meeting creates a more genuine bond.

This kind of mentorship-style lunch and learn may also help build stronger bonds across the company and allow for more organic mentorship to occur after the meeting is over. For example, if even just one junior staffer makes a connection with the leader of the presentation, they might continue to have helpful discussions and share advice throughout the rest of their time at your company or even throughout their entire careers.

Brainstorming

A lunch and learn is also a great format to use for a brainstorming session. For example, you could gather employees for lunch and share a problem you want to solve or a campaign you’re looking to plan.

From there, you can enjoy the meal as a team and organically move the conversation around the topic you presented at the beginning.

You could also use the lunch and learn as a jumping-off point for a future brainstorm by hosting a lunch where you present a problem or topic you’d like ideas for, enjoying the lunch as a team, and then sending the team off with a due date to come back with their ideas.

Brainstorming in a casual, team-oriented setting like a lunch and learn is a positive way to spark creative ideas.

Pro tips for hosting lunch and learns

Once you’ve decided on the topic for your lunch and learn, you’ll need to focus on the logistics.

Pick a date and time that’s convenient to host your lunch and learn. Next, determine who you’d like to invite.

Based on the list of attendees, you’ll need to decide if you’ll host the lunch and learn in person, virtually or on a hybrid basis.

If your lunch and learn includes remote attendees, make sure you develop a plan so they can enjoy a meal remotely. A simple way to plan for this is to send each attendee a gift card to a restaurant delivery service so they can order a lunch of their choice in time for the meeting.

And if the meeting is solely in person, plan well in advance when it comes to finding the right meal provider. Make sure to take any dietary restrictions and preferences into account so all the attendees are comfortable partaking in the lunch part of the lunch and learn.

Next, if you would like another employee other than yourself to lead the meeting, make sure to discuss that with them and establish a plan in advance. Working with the leader of the meeting to develop a clear, defined agenda and providing them with any technological or other resources they need to run the lunch and learn will help ensure it’s as productive and enjoyable as possible for everyone involved.