Picture this. An employee is about to lead a difficult conversation with a team member. They know it is going to be tricky, but they do not have time to sit through a 30-minute eLearning module on feedback skills. What they need is a quick, practical tip they can read in two minutes, right now, before the meeting starts.
Or imagine a new starter trying to process an online order for a customer. They cannot remember the exact steps. What they need is a short how-to guide they can access on their phone, right there at the point of sale, without leaving the floor.
That is learning in the flow of work. And it is quietly becoming one of the most important ideas in modern L&D.
What is learning in the flow of work?
Learning in the flow of work, often shortened to LIFOW, is the idea that learning should be embedded into the natural rhythm of someone’s working day rather than existing as a separate activity they have to step away from their job to complete.
The term was coined by Josh Bersin back in 2018, and it has gained significant momentum since. At its core, LIFOW is about delivering the right knowledge, to the right person, at the right moment, without disrupting what they are doing. Instead of pulling people out of their work to learn, you bring the learning to them inside their work.
In practice, this might look like a short microlearning module embedded directly into a CRM system, a quick tip delivered via a Slack or Teams notification before a key meeting, a searchable knowledge base that answers a specific “how do I…?” question in under two minutes, or an AI-powered suggestion that surfaces a relevant resource based on what someone is working on right now.
The key distinction is that LIFOW is not about making training shorter or more convenient (although it often is both). It is about making learning a seamless part of how people work, so that the gap between learning something and applying it shrinks to almost nothing.
Why does this matter?
The case for learning in the flow of work is grounded in some uncomfortable realities about how workplace learning currently operates.
People barely have time to learn
Research from Josh Bersin found that the average employee has just 24 minutes per week to dedicate to formal learning. That is roughly 1% of a typical working week. When time is that scarce, expecting people to carve out hours for traditional training simply does not work. LIFOW respects this reality by fitting learning into the minutes people already have available, between meetings, during a task or in a brief pause in the day.
People spend too much time searching for answers
McKinsey research found that employees spend an average of 9.3 hours per week searching for and gathering information. That is an extraordinary amount of lost productivity. Much of that time is spent hunting through intranets, shared drives, email threads and documents to find the answer to a specific question. LIFOW addresses this directly by putting the right information at the point of need, cutting out the noise and reducing the time it takes to find what you need to do your job.
Learning that is disconnected from work does not stick
We have all experienced it. You attend a training course, feel motivated for a day or two, and then gradually forget most of what you learned because there was no immediate opportunity to apply it. When there is a gap between learning something and using it, retention drops sharply. LIFOW closes that gap by delivering knowledge at the moment it is needed, so learners can apply it immediately. This is not just more convenient. It is more effective.
The pace of change demands continuous learning
Skills are evolving faster than formal training programmes can keep up with. New tools, new processes, new regulations and new ways of working emerge constantly. Annual or even quarterly training cycles cannot respond quickly enough. LIFOW enables a model of continuous learning where knowledge is updated and delivered in real time, keeping people current without waiting for the next scheduled training event.
What does LIFOW actually look like?
One of the challenges with LIFOW is that it can sound abstract. So here are some concrete examples of what it looks like when it is done well:
- Embedded microlearning: A two-minute lesson that appears inside a sales platform when a rep moves a deal to a new stage, offering tips specific to that part of the sales process.
- Just-in-time job aids: A searchable library of short guides, checklists and how-to videos that employees can access from their phone or desktop whenever they hit a question on the job.
- Contextual nudges: A short notification in Slack or Teams before a scheduled one-to-one meeting, reminding a manager of a coaching technique they learned last week and suggesting they try it in the conversation.
- AI-powered recommendations: A learning platform that analyses what someone is working on and surfaces a relevant article, video or eLearning module without the learner having to search for it.
- QR codes at the point of need: A QR code next to a piece of equipment or a system login that takes the user straight to a short tutorial on how to use it.
- Manager-led micro-coaching: A five-minute discussion at the start of a team huddle where a manager reinforces one practical skill tied to real work happening that week.
The common thread across all of these is that learning meets the person where they are, in the tools they already use, at the moment they need it, in a format they can act on immediately.
LIFOW is not a replacement for all training
It is important to be clear about what LIFOW is not. It is not a reason to scrap all formal training and replace everything with tooltips and push notifications. Some learning needs are complex and require dedicated time, focused attention and structured practice. You would not use LIFOW to teach someone a completely new technical skill from scratch or to run a deep management development programme.
Where LIFOW works best is as a complement to formal learning. Think of it as the connective tissue that holds your wider learning strategy together. A structured course might introduce a concept. LIFOW then reinforces it through nudges, reminders and practical application opportunities over the following days and weeks. Or LIFOW might be the first port of call for a quick, specific question, while a more in-depth course is available for someone who wants to go deeper.
The real power comes when LIFOW and formal learning work together, each doing what it does best.
What makes LIFOW work
Getting LIFOW right is not as simple as chopping a course into smaller pieces and sending them via email. Here are the factors that tend to make or break it.
Content needs to be genuinely useful, not just short. A two-minute module that does not actually help someone do their job better is just a short waste of time. Every piece of LIFOW content should answer a real question or solve a real problem. If it does not pass the “would someone actually seek this out?” test, it probably is not worth creating.
It needs to live where people already work. If employees have to log into a separate system to find learning resources, it is not really in the flow of work. The most effective LIFOW strategies embed content directly into the tools people use every day. That could be a CRM, a communication platform, a project management tool or a mobile device on the shop floor.
It needs to be easy to find. Even the best content is useless if people cannot locate it when they need it. Good search functionality, logical organisation and smart recommendations are essential. If someone has a question, they should be able to find the answer in under a minute.
Managers play a critical role. LIFOW is not just a technology play. A manager who says “before your meeting, have a quick look at that guide on handling objections” is doing LIFOW without any platform involved.
Culture matters more than technology. If the organisational culture treats learning as a distraction from “real work,” even the best LIFOW strategy will struggle. Nearly half of employees and HR managers say their company views training as time away from productive work. Shifting that mindset is a prerequisite for LIFOW to thrive.
How to get started with LIFOW
If you want to start embedding learning into the flow of work, here are some practical first steps.
Map the moments that matter. Look at your employees’ daily workflows and identify the key moments where they are most likely to need support. Where do they get stuck? Where do mistakes happen? Where do they waste time searching for information? These are your LIFOW opportunities.
Start with performance support, not courses. Before you build any new eLearning, ask whether a simple job aid, checklist or short video could solve the problem more effectively. Performance support resources are often quicker to create, easier to update and more immediately useful than formal courses.
Embed content into existing tools. Work with your IT team to explore how learning resources can be integrated into the tools people already use. This might be as simple as pinning a resource in a Teams channel, as practical as embedding a short tutorial inside a software application, or as sophisticated as using an LXP that integrates with your wider tech stack.
Involve your subject matter experts. Some of the most effective LIFOW content comes from the people who do the work every day. A quick screen recording from an experienced colleague showing how they handle a common task can be as useful and credible as a polished eLearning module.
Measure what matters. Track whether people are finding and using the resources you create, whether they are resolving issues faster and whether performance is improving in the areas you have targeted. Completion rates are less meaningful here. What matters is whether learning is actually helping people do their jobs better.
The bottom line
Learning in the flow of work is not a trend that will come and go. It reflects a fundamental shift in how we think about workplace learning. Pulling people away from their work to sit through training is increasingly at odds with how workplaces operate. People are time-poor, constantly connected and used to finding answers instantly in their personal lives. They expect the same at work.
LIFOW does not mean the end of formal training. It means recognising that formal training is only one part of a much bigger picture. The most effective learning strategies combine structured development with just-in-time support to help people perform at their best every day.
If your current approach to learning relies entirely on course catalogues that sit in the LMS waiting for people to find time to complete them, it might be worth asking: where are the moments in your employees’ day where a small piece of well-timed learning could make the biggest difference? Start there. Because the best training is the kind people barely notice, precisely because it fits so naturally into how they work.
