I’ve spent most of my career developing long-form “training” experiences. By long-form, I mean 30-minutes of “seat time” or longer. I’ll explain my use of quotes in a moment. This post is all about my desire to share my learning strategist views on learning in the flow of work so that it provides a roadmap and talking points for training in 2021 and beyond.
Why I put “training” in ”quotes”
When I wrap the word training in quotes, I’m doing so because I firmly believe that my role in adult learning is not to make training. It’s to help organizations develop knowledge, skills, and behaviors in their people. Training has typically meant something that you do and then you’ve been trained. I prefer the word learning instead of training because learning by its very nature is never complete. We learn until we die, and then depending on your beliefs you… well, you get it!
Why I put “seat time” in ”quotes”
The term “seat time” refers to the length of time a person is expected or required to spend taking a course. In developing eLearning, typically SCORM packages designed for LMS distribution, “seat time” is calculated by how long the narrator reads to the learners, how many activities are present, and my personal favorite: how long it takes to get through the course (even if you click next to continue and pay no attention to the content on the screen).
The Case for Learning in the Flow of Work
As learning and work converge, organizations are trying to shift from a focus on courses, curricula, and programs to enabling worker performance and productivity in ways not measured in hours and completions. This challenge is magnified by changes in work itself—unpredictable, full of conflicting priorities and distractions, structured around cross-functional teams, more project-oriented, and less directed by a middle manager. Four Practices to Embed Learning in the Flow of Work from Deloitte
While experts give Ted talks and write books about the best way to teach something, it’s important to ask yourself how you’ve learned what you know and how you arrived there.
Personal Learning
Learning at its most basic level begins with awareness. The first time you encounter something – that’s when you become aware that it exists. Your brain tries to understand what it has just encountered. If you are open to new things, your brain will try to make associations with this new thing. For example, the first time I had a mango my brain did not know what to make of it. The inside was colored like an orange, but the outside was green and red like a pear. There was a pit inside like a peach, but it was massive and the fleshy fruit clung to it. It was sweet and tangy but completely unlike an apple, plum, pear, orange or peach (all things this Ohio boy knew well). It was kind of like a nectarine, but only in color and texture (sort of). My point is that I was trying to fit the mango into the information I already had about fruit.
Learning at Work
Learning new things at work is more complicated than eating mango for the first time, but the associative protocols our brains follow are very much the same. For example, let’s say you have a bunch of smart people that have never sold painted widgets before. The widgets are rare and very expensive. They are painted with 25 different kinds of paint that come in an infinite number of shades of color. None of your people have ever tried to sell your widgets before but they all know what they are because they have either seen them or maybe even bought them. How do you as a “trainer” or instructional design professional get them up to speed? After all, your goal is to improve the ROI of the company by creating an educated workforce capable of selling a lot of painted widgets.
The concept of learning in the flow of work is defined as an employee easily accessing an answer to a question – or a piece of learning material – while working. This empowers employees to find the true value of a tool or process without disrupting their workflow and productivity. Learning in the Flow of Work: A How-To Guide, whatfix
Why Traditional Training Fails
Traditional models of “Training” would create “seat time” courses to deposit a ton of information into the heads of the people. This would be done with live courses, binders or PDF guides, elearning courses, activities, and maybe even some kind of gamified platform to incentivize people to memorize information. Despite my obvious slant, I acknowledge that the traditional method does work for some people. However, it does not build a thriving learning community that fosters internal and company growth. It is a return to lecture courses in subjects we know we will never need in our lives!
We can do better. The whole world of education can do better!
Why We Should Move Toward Learning in the Flow of Work Model
Learning in the flow of work requires active participation. We need to start with where people are at by engaging them at their level of prior knowledge. Once we place the onus on the learner, we can provide them with the tools they need to learn. Those of you reading this and thinking “this dude has never tried to ‘train’ unmotivated people.” For the record, I taught reluctant learners for 10 years and created retail training for 7 years. So, let’s get into what I mean by learning in the flow of work. Let’s talk about infrastructure and activity design.
When the learning needs of employees are met in the flow of work, the overall cost of training will go down for the organization. Employees will not need to take time away from work to attend a formal training program. Additionally, the immediate application and practice of new information reduces scrap learning – or the information learners consume during training that they do not retain or apply on the job. Immediate application means increased productivity for the individual and no wasted spending on the part of the organization. Learning in the FLow of Work: What Does it Look Like? Krishna Gathwal, Training Industry
Elements of a Learning in the Flow of Work Program
- Mobile-first software application
- Video-heavy instruction
- Microlearning design
- Interactive activities
- Social learning community
- Knowledge checks with immediate feedback
- Evaluative quizzes
- Gamified awareness
- Scenario-based learning
- Performance support
- Access to experts who interact
- Detailed metrics
Learning in the flow of work gets rid of the distance between theory and practice, which is not only more efficient in terms of time, but also in terms of engaging learners’ brains. Because they are receiving content and applying the knowledge immediately in real-life situations, learning is accelerated. Time efficiency + retention efficiency = long-term success.
Summary
Learning in the flow of work programs doesn’t totally eliminate the need for “training,” in that some organizations will still need classic elearning and in-person courses. However, if we can shift our mindset from “one and done training” to long-term knowledge retention and application, we are planning for success. The best way to do this is by incorporating learning in the flow of work whenever possible. Whenever we learn something new, our brain strives to make analogies and comparisons to situate the information somewhere in our brain. When you are learning while (literally) doing your job, the time it takes to make connections decreases. This also means it sticks more efficiently. This decrease in the gap between learning and doing as well as the decrease in the time needed away from the job to have content deposited in brains via classroom or elearning means a more productive and well-educated workforce. It’s time we learned how to go with the flow – of learning while working!
Helpful Links
