LIFO a New Strategy to Explore

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LIFOW (a concept by Josh Bersin) advocates that for continuous learning to happen, the learning resources must be available within the learner’s workflow.

How to Design Training that Drives Learning in the Flow of Work

March 9, 2022 | By Asha Pandey

Do Learners Want Learning in the Flow of Work Now?

The short answer: Yes!

Based on data collected between 2017 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (post-pandemic), synchronous learning, which includes On-the-Job Training (OJT) and On-the-Job Coaching (OJC), dropped from 86% to 77%.

What Strategies Should You Adopt to Enable LIFOW?

A comprehensive LIFOW program involves implementing multiple strategies. Some of these include:

  1. Microlearning: Bite-sized (shorter) learning content is ideal for learning in the moment of need.

  2. mLearning: Leveraging small footprint content, which is mobile-friendly, enables learning anytime and anywhere.

  3. VBL/IVBL: Both Video Based Learning (VBL) and Interactive Video Based Learning (IVBL) facilitate on-the-job learning by acting as Performance Support Tools (PSTs). They also serve as great Microlearning resources as part of broader learning in the flow of work strategies.

  4. PSTs/Job aids: In busy workplaces, especially in hybrid environments, pausing work to learn isn’t an option. Performance Support Tools (PSTs) and other job aids (PDF documents, “How to…” videos, Cheat Sheets, Templates) are great LIFOW strategies.

  5. Content curation: The hallmark of an effective LIFOW program is to quickly empower employees with the learning they need just in time. Having well-curated, efficiently indexed, and intuitively collated content can further the goals of any LIFOW strategy.

  6. Social learning: The 70:20:10 rule tells us that not all learning happens through formal training, or only in the workplace. Learning in the flow of work examples, where learners learn outside of the workplace from peers and groups of social networks, work well for hybrid learners.

  7. User Generated Content (UGC): LIFOW can leverage UGC to aid employees to tap into experiences of colleagues and peers.

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Great share @Roxann tho I admit a degree of puzzlement, haven’t we been supporting workflow learning for… well, almost ever? Performance support systems, job aids, sticky notes, the traditional “ask Bob” are all parts of the workflow process and what I found very valuable in this post shared is the focus on peer-2-peer learning including curation and UGC.

Where L&D can drive value is to partner with users as they add content to develop quick assessments and to drive performance tracking and trending to monitor operational effectiveness. When we “see” data trends then remediation can quickly occur, and we can demonstrate the ROL we bring to our operational partners.

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