Informal learning is not better than formal training; there is just a whole lot more of it. It’s 95% of workplace learning, according to the research behind this graphic, by Gary Wise. Read more →

Working smarter is the key to sustainability and continuous improvement. Knowledge work and learning to work smarter are becoming indistinguishable. The accelerating rate of change in business forces everyone in every organization to make a choice: learn while you work or become obsolete. Read more →

“In the period ahead of us, more important than advances in computer design will be the advances we can make in our understanding of human information processing – of thinking, problem solving, and decision making…” ~ Herbert Simon, Economics Nobel-prize winner (1968) Read more →

Charles Jennings argues that the adage ‘access to knowledge is power’ is more fitting in today’s information-swamped world.

The latter 20th Century was the golden era of the training department. Before the 20th Century, training per se did not exist outside the special needs of the church and the military. Now the training department may be at the end of its life cycle. Join us for a brief look back at the pre-training world and some thoughts about what may lay ahead. Read more →

The July issue of Chief Learning Officer is now available online. It features an article in which Jon Husband and I delve into how to measure the impact of learning in the network era. Read more →

More Human Than Human

CLO magazine, June 2009
Column on Effectiveness, by Jay Cross

The future is people, not technology Read more →

We’re in a new age. Organizations can no longer be dependent on training to meet their learning needs. When things changed slowly, we could train people and trust that they could perform or be coached to do their jobs. That day has passed. The steady acceleration of information creation and advances in technology has reached a critical point, and we have been thrust into a realization that our old models of management cannot cope. The chaotic underpinnings of the world have been unmasked, and continual adaptation is the new status quo. Read more →

Workers learn more in the coffee room than in the classroom. They discover how to do their jobs through informal learning: talking, observing others, trial-and-error, and simply working with people in the know. Formal learning – classes and workshops – is the source of only 10 to 20 percent of what people learn at work. Corporations overinvest in formal training programs while neglecting natural, simpler informal processes. Read more →