As workplace learning professionals, we help our clients define, design, and develop comprehensive learning strategies that include a very deliberate blend of learning modes. You may be familiar with the 70−20−10 rule of workplace learning which estimates that about 70 per cent of workplace learning takes place on the job, through solving problems and through special assignments or other day-to-day activities. Another 20 per cent occurs through accessing the knowledge of others in the workplace and through support, coaching, and mentoring from managers and colleagues. Only 10 per cent occurs through formal learning, whether classroom, virtually-facilitated, or eLearning.

If you’re going to integrate learning with work, you had better understand the work. Watch people, talk to people, use appropriate analysis tools, and think like the performer. Understand their world, day to day pressures, tools they use (or could use), and how they use them. Understand the job inputs, processes, and feedback mechanisms for job incumbents.

I originally wrote this post a few weeks ago for my personal blog: Peformance X Design. As our training expectations and needs evolve, the points outlined here can be useful for any organization in any industry. We have a need for organization specific knowledge and skill, but customized learning does not always meet that need.