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Research shows that new skills and knowledge is not acquired during formal trainings hosted by the organisation one works for, but rather during solving everyday problems and random chats with colleagues, says Jaanika Hirv, an analyst at the School of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University.

Such learning has a problem: it usually benefits a small number of people at once. For example, if you tell a colleague by the coffee machine about how you calmed down a furious customer, then the lesson reaches that one person. This is why sometimes, when a very experienced employee leaves, the whole department grinds to a halt. In addition, the organisation and its employees tend to waste large amounts of time looking for information or solutions that some employees might already know – the problem here is that this employee doesn’t know they have to share it, and the other don’t know to ask that person.

As a solution, all of these people are then gathered into one classroom to bring wisdom to them all at once. Sadly, this is usually where the wisdom stays: when one finally needs the particular skill or piece of information months later, it has only become a fuzzy memory. What if we could transfer and apply new knowledge outside of the classroom, where we really need it?

First, we have to acknowledge that learning is not something that happens in a fixed place or time. If we go to a training session and learn to adjust our workstation to be more ergonomic, this is just the beginning. The learning process continues at the office, where we try to figure out how to adjust our chair. Even better – we may help our colleagues and adjust the chair our children use for studying at home.

Secondly, we can use tools to bring knowledge to the time and place where we would actually use it. For example, we could put a drawing about ergonomic working positions on our table, or a QR code next to the printer to lead us to a list of common errors.

Third, we can save these learning moments, using our smart phones to take a photo, use a special app or just write a quick note. Thus, we collect a volume of knowledge, which could even help Mary at the next department.

Thus, in addition to looking for knowledge from outside our organisation, let’s use the potential our colleagues have. Organisations that benefit from the rapid technological developments, are usually the ones where employees are flexible and constantly learning, and where employees from different backgrounds work together.

At Tallinn University, the international project Learning Layers creates and develops applications that support workplace learning.