Learning in the flow of work: learning where the work happens
Learning in the flow of work means that learning does not sit in a separate system but in the environment where you work. In CoVince a learning journey lives in the same platform as documents, chat, workflows and calendar. That shrinks the distance between knowing and doing.
The distance between course and work
Most training has a problem on Monday morning. The course was good, but the work is different: different rush, different systems, different people. What was logical in the room is one step too far on the shop floor. This is the transfer problem, and it is bigger than a lack of knowledge.
An important part of the solution is to shrink the distance itself. The closer learning is to the work, the smaller the jump.
One platform for work and learning
CoVince is a work platform with learning built in. With one login you have documents, spreadsheets, a canvas, decisions, workflows, mail, calendar, video calls, a Control Room and CrewMates. A learning journey sits right in the middle of that, not next to it.
That has practical consequences: you do not have to log in to another system to learn, you ask questions in the learning journey’s chat and you can see the outcomes next to your organisation’s other figures.
Timeline and chat with the material
A learning journey has a timeline with cards and replies and a community chat. Progress is in the navigation. Questions and answers therefore sit with the material, instead of being scattered over mail and conversations. A new colleague can see what others asked and learn from the conversation. That is social learning, built in.
Workflows that assign learning
Workflows can give access to a learning journey or slide and assign slides to people. Think of a new employee who automatically gets the right learning journey, or a procedure change that makes a short lesson appear for the teams involved. A CrewMate can help build a workflow.
That way learning hangs on the work processes that already exist, instead of on a separate learning policy that someone has to maintain. See onboarding new employees.
From voice report to swipeslide
A special path runs through the voice. A learning journey can contain a voice report slide: the learner speaks and a report is written with a summary, insights, actions and a timeline. That report has a follow-up button that leads on to a swipeslide. So someone carries on from their own story straight into a short lesson.
Note what this is not: a spoken note does not turn into a swipeslide by itself. The author decides which swipeslide follows. It builds on the voice input in the platform, with an offline queue for people on the move.
Learning visible in the KPIs
In a Control Room you can show learning KPIs next to the other figures: who is where, what is completed, where it gets stuck. That way learning is not a separate report for HR, but part of how a team follows its work.
An example: rolling out a new procedure
An organisation changes a procedure for handling complaints. The traditional route: an email, a presentation and hoping it lands. With learning in the flow of work it becomes a short learning journey of five slides, assigned by a workflow to all teams involved. The slides explain what changes, walk through a case and end with a question about what the team will do differently tomorrow.
Questions come in through the learning journey’s chat and are answered there, so everyone sees the answer. A CrewMate answers the standard questions. After a few weeks a Control Room shows who has completed the learning journey and where questions remain. It is no longer a separate learning track, but part of the change.
Where it goes wrong
- Notification fatigue. If everyone constantly gets a learning moment, it becomes noise. Choose moments that matter and keep it short.
- No room. Learning in the work needs time in the work. Without that room it becomes an extra task.
- Technology only. A platform helps, but managers must encourage its use and set the example.
See transfer to the shop floor for what the environment can do.
Seeing whether it lands in the work
If learning is in the work, you can also see in the work what it does. A Control Room can show learning KPIs next to other figures: how many people have completed a learning journey, where it gets stuck, and how that relates to, for example, error reports or lead times in the same process. That is no proof of cause and effect, but it is a good reason to ask questions.
Agree in advance which figures you put side by side and who looks at them. And do not look only at averages: the group that lags behind often says more than the average.
How to start
- Choose a process where mistakes or questions keep coming back.
- Make a short learning journey of it, with the people who do it.
- Link it to the process: a workflow that assigns it at the right moment.
- Use the chat as a place to ask and let a CrewMate look along.
- After a few weeks see what the reports say and adjust.
Want to know why this increases transfer? Read transfer to the shop floor.
Frequently asked questions
What does learning in the flow of work mean?
That learning happens in the environment where you work, at the moment you need it, instead of in a separate system or at a separate moment.
Can workflows assign slides?
Yes. Workflows can give access to a learning journey or slide and assign slides to people.
What is a voice report?
A report written from what someone speaks, with a summary, insights, actions and a timeline. The follow-up button of the report leads on to a swipeslide.
Can I see learning in a Control Room?
Yes. You can show learning KPIs in a Control Room next to other figures.