In the late 1990's the Institute for Research on Learning sent anthropologists to companies to look at how people do their work. They discovered that most learning occurs on the job. In fact, they determined that 80% of learning occurs informally by trial and error or by asking a co-worker.

Jay Cross was fascinated by these findings and has dedicated a large part of his professional career since then to getting the word out about how effective informal training can be if we just harnessed it in some way. Here is an excerpt from an interview with T+D journal from Sept 3, 2011.

Chief learning officers who continue to let informal learning happen by accident are leaving money on the table. There's plenty they can do to make it better. For example, they can make expertise more accessible through profiles and social networks. They can replace lots of classroom training (frequently forgotten before it has a chance to be applied) with on-demand learning. They can replace wordy courses with intuitive graphics. They can replace cumbersome workshops with coaching sessions..."

One of the other things Jay endorses, which we at The Training Doctor have been saying for years, is "If people are going to learn on their own, you've got to give them time to talk. Conversation is the most important learning technology the world has ever seen."

Adults learn best through collaborating with others while they learn - so allow them that time, not only "at work" but also "at training," to work through their learning with their colleagues and determine how to make it apply on the job.