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In the context of 'more-with-more', citizens are often asked to do more: they have to participate more, do more themselves and take on more responsibility. At the same time, this also requires more administration and flexible working from the government.This can result in a more involved attitude from both sides, and in building better-tuned results and knowledge. But this does not happen automatically, and we still too often start from the ideal of participation and co-creation, as a result of which we do not look sufficiently at which forms of this lead to which outcomes and consequences. Social learning is an analytical concept that can help with this: by looking better at how we gain knowledge and skills through interaction with others, we can get a better grip on which factors respond to each other in which way. This article introduces two cases from Groningen, the Netherlands, and discusses three main lessons that flow from this, regarding "desired" results; speed and efficiency; and personal backgrounds and timing of collaboration. The conclusion reflects on five concrete consequences that this has for planning practice.