Quick Answer:
Learning in the flow of work happens when employees can access guidance, information, or learning opportunities while performing their jobs. Examples include suggested customer service scripts embedded in software, step-by-step instructions for field technicians, searchable resources for completing unfamiliar tasks, and coaching integrated into everyday work. The most effective solutions make learning and support available when employees need them, without requiring them to stop working to attend formal training.
What Does Learning in the Flow of Work
Look Like in Practice?
Learning in the flow of work (sometimes called LIFOW, LITFOW, or workflow learning) sounds straightforward: Help people learn while they’re working. But what does that actually mean?
For some organizations, it means embedding instructions into software. For others, it involves giving employees access to guidance during customer conversations or helping leaders develop new skills while managing real business challenges. The common thread is that learning and performance support are connected to the work itself.
And while technology can make these resources easier to access, effective learning in the flow of work doesn’t always require a sophisticated platform.
Here are five real-world examples that illustrate how L&D professionals have approached the challenge.
Example 1: How Can Embedded Scripts
Help Call Center Representatives?
When an organization implemented new call center software, its performance development department saw an opportunity to support employees directly within the application.
Rather than relying exclusively on training CSRs to memorize specific language for different customer inquiries, the performance development team collaborated with IT and operations to include suggested scripts on individual screens.
For example, when a customer called to ask about an account balance, the representative could see the recommended wording for presenting that information. The guidance was available at the exact moment the representative needed it. This approach supported consistency while reducing the need for employees to remember every recommended phrase.
What made it work?
Collaboration across departments made this solution work. The performance development team understood the communication expectations. Operations understood the customer interactions. IT understood how to incorporate the guidance into the system. Working together, they created a solution that was part of the employee’s regular workflow.
The takeaway: Learning in the flow of work is often most effective when L&D professionals collaborate with the teams designing the systems and processes employees use.
Example 2: Can a Printed Booklet
Support Learning During Sales Calls?
Not every effective performance support solution requires technology. In one banking organization, representatives conducted telephone sales conversations with existing customers. They needed to respond confidently to different types of customer objections.
Training helped representatives become familiar with common objections and appropriate responses. However, remembering every response during a live conversation could be challenging.
The solution was a specially organized reference booklet.
Different objection categories were visible on stepped tabs, allowing representatives to quickly locate the appropriate section while speaking with a customer. The booklet served as a backup to their training. Representatives could use what they remembered and consult the resource whenever they needed additional guidance. That accessibility helped them feel more confident during calls.
What made it work?
The booklet was designed around the way representatives actually worked. Employees didn’t have to search through pages of training materials or interrupt a conversation to locate information. The physical design made the answers easy to find.
The takeaway: The best performance support tools are not necessarily digital. Their usefulness depends on how quickly employees can locate and apply information during work.
Example 3: How Can Field Technicians
Learn While Installing Equipment?
Field service technicians frequently work with complex equipment that requires specific installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting procedures. Traditionally, technicians might attend instructor-led training before working with a new product. But classroom instruction creates challenges when technicians have limited opportunities to practice on actual equipment or when they don’t encounter the product until weeks after training.
In one organization, the learning approach shifted toward task-based resources that technicians could access while working with the equipment. The resources included instructional videos, technical documentation, and procedures organized around actual service tasks.
Instead of depending entirely on what they remembered from earlier instruction, technicians could consult the appropriate guidance as they installed or serviced a product. The approach also supported learning by doing, allowing technicians to follow instructions while working with the equipment itself.
What made it work?
The learning resources were organized around the technician’s tasks rather than a traditional course sequence.
The takeaway: When employees need to perform complicated procedures, task-based guidance available during the work can provide valuable support beyond initial training.
Example 4: How Can Software Help
Employees Complete Tasks They Rarely Perform?
Large software systems often serve employees with very different responsibilities. Some use the system throughout the day. Others access it occasionally to complete a particular transaction. For infrequent users, remembering detailed instructions from a training course can be difficult.
During one complex software implementation, the training and organizational change management teams worked alongside the functional team early in the project. Together, they developed a combination of formal training outside the system and performance support embedded in the system.
Frequent users received structured training appropriate to their responsibilities. Employees who used the system less often could access task-based job aids through a help folder organized by program and function.
The team also developed field-level descriptions to help employees understand what information belonged in specific parts of the system. Importantly, the organization planned how to update the resources as the software changed.
What made it work?
The teams considered differences in employee responsibilities and frequency of system use. They also planned performance support before implementation rather than trying to add it afterward.
The takeaway: Learning in the flow of work can be particularly effective for tasks employees perform too infrequently to remember every step.
Example 5: How Can Manufacturing Employees Access
Instructions Without Leaving Their Workstations?
In a manufacturing environment, employees may need guidance on specific procedures while operating equipment or completing production tasks.
In one organization, training resources were available through computer kiosks located away from employees’ individual workstations. Workers could access the information, but doing so required them to leave their immediate work area. As a result, the kiosks were more likely to be used during breaks than when guidance was actually needed.
To bring learning into the flow of work, the L&D team introduced tablets at individual workstations, giving employees access to step-by-step instructions and videos while performing their tasks. Instead of relying on memory or walking to another location to find instructions, employees could consult the guidance as they worked.
What made it work?
The resources became accessible at the point of performance. The L&D professionals considered not only what information employees needed, but also where and when they needed it.
The takeaway: Even well-designed learning resources have limited value if employees can’t conveniently access them. Sometimes improving learning in the flow of work means changing how and where existing guidance is delivered.
What Do These Examples Have in Common?
Although the situations are very different, several principles appear across these examples:
- The solution starts with the work. Each approach addresses something employees need to accomplish, whether answering a customer question, servicing equipment, or making decisions.
- Support is available when employees need it. Guidance is accessible during the task instead of being confined to a previous training experience.
- The format fits the environment. A printed booklet makes sense during telephone sales calls. Embedded instructions make sense inside software. Coaching makes sense during leadership work.
- Formal training and workplace support can complement each other. Employees may need initial instruction before they can use performance support effectively.
- Collaboration matters. L&D professionals often need to work with operations, technology teams, subject matter experts, and business leaders to make solutions practical.
These principles help explain why learning in the flow of work is as much about understanding work processes as it is about designing learning resources.
How Can Organizations Identify Their Own
Opportunities for Learning in the Flow of Work?
A useful starting point is to examine situations where employees regularly interrupt their work to find information, ask for help, or recover knowledge they previously learned.
Consider where employees struggle with infrequent tasks, changing information, complicated procedures, or applying skills after training. Then explore whether guidance could be made available closer to the moment of performance.
An experienced instructional design consultant or performance consultant can help organizations evaluate these opportunities and determine whether formal training, learning in the flow of work, or a combination of approaches would be most useful.
The central lesson from these examples is simple: Effective learning in the flow of work is designed around what employees are trying to accomplish. When the right guidance is available at the right moment, learning becomes a n
What to Read Next:
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