80% learning in enterprises is informal, observed Jay Cross. Put differently, most of our learning on the job is on demand and social.
Consider this … we do not want to pay for new colleagues learning on the job. That’s how it should be! If the required skills are lacking, they should be rejected. But I have seen many a successful manager go for fast learners instead of point skills. They bank on learning on the job using the pervasive informal learning. So, I wonder – should a smart hire get help for her fair share of informal learning? Or will such help disturb the very behavior that leads to informal learning? Should we not create ice breakers between the new hires and company experts?
Consider this too … experts are experts because they keep their saw sharp. We have all learnt just talking to them. We have seen how the smart hires get pumped up talking to them. Again I wonder – aren’t these encounters unlikely given how distributed and busy we are today? If a company can directly or indirectly pay for the experts sharpening their saw, should it facilitate sharing between the expert and others? Can it be done without taxing any budgets or anyone’s time – just as the hallway chats do not?
The more I wonder, the more I am convinced. It is time to accept the obvious – we need to actively facilitate both ends of informal learning.
Tags: informal learning, Jay Cross, learning on demand, social learning