informal learning

[Loretta Donovan]

Hello everyone,

I know Jay Cross well and have been involved in dialogue with him and 
others about informal learning.  Jay is attempting to popularize a term 
that has a rich research agenda reaching back into the 1980s (Marsick and 
Watkins, Senge, and others). A lot of what he is saying is true, but 
inaccurate in its relationship to informal learning.  Some of his concepts 
are more true of incidental learning, others are gleaned from the 
evolution of traditional workplace training to action learning.

Here are some notes (see below) that I have made regarding the Breeze 
presentation.  Please don't consider my ideas any more authoritative than 
Jay's.  I offer them as a way to continue the conversation!

All the best,

Loretta

Loretta L. Donovan
President 	
worksmarts
 	
Register now for Summer Appreciative Inquiry Course
Innovations in Business Through a Positive Lens
http://www.squidoo.com/worksmarts

phone 914-779-3246
cell 914-309-3952 	



Networks – I disagree – they are not all the same in the way they 
operate.  Growing a larger network is not always better – they are better 
if the additional members bring value to the enterprise.

Governance – hierarchy is still powerful when it retains control over 
resources.  Where it is facing challenges is the sharing of information 
that inspires innovation.  You can’t govern who is entrepreneurial or 
creative and these people tend to find one another. (see Rob Cross on this 
and Verna Allee)

Tacit work is a misnomer since tacit means that something is not 
expressed, visible or universally understood.  Tacit knowledge does exist 
in discrete work relationships.

Improvisation (as Frank Barrett has explained) takes talent and trust 
based on explicit principles and practices shared by collaborators.

Informal learning is the result of reflection on process and performance.  
It occurs when there are models and methods for capturing stories of 
success (AI!) in an organization.  It doesn’t happen by accident.  It is 
more likely to inspire behavioral change in the group.
 
Formal learning on the other hand is much less process and learner 
centered, and heavily focused on the content expertise of a few people.  
It hardly ever changes the individual’s performance and less frequently 
changes behavior in the group.
 
Companies on the cutting edge began to shift to informal learning to 
create continuous change more than a decade ago (GE, Chubb, Otis).  

The budget ratio of spending for formal vs. informal learning has been 
moving into balance for some time.  This is not news.

Free range learning seems to expect that adults will have the motivation 
and ability to learn on their own.  Research has shown that the vast 
majority of adults lack the self-direction to plan and carry on a learning 
project with attention and purpose. (We all may know exceptions)

Learning styles (visual, kinesthetic, verbal, etc.) have been understood 
and used for many years.  

Virtual connections and technologies have the potential to be personally 
and organizationally valuable but simply being available to people won’t 
make that happen.  Again, these habits need to be encouraged, nurtured and 
modeled as well as rewarded.

Body parts don’t think.  As a system, the body can experience and learn in 
so far as behavior can change.

Networks are most important and effective when there are boundary 
spanners.  Using web2 technologies inside a company’s firewall is great, 
but that boundary is a limitation.

Extraordinary performance is notable because it is not the norm and 
everyone can’t do it.  It’s important to differentiate the unique from the 
ordinary, and to value both for what they contribute to routine and non-
routine work.

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