The Allegories Blog

Though we’re not always conscious of it, we benefit from informal learning every day—in our homes, workplaces and on the road.  Informal learning is driven by mobile devices. For example: while on vacation we check out Yelp to find the right restaurant. Or, if the kitchen faucet starts leaking before guests arrive, we consult YouTube for fast tips on how to fix it. This is how learning and readiness in our lives outside of work feels: it’s peer-driven, it happens just in the nick of time, and it feels totally informal. But... Continue Reading

This article originally appeared on hbr.org. Authors: Julia Milner and Trenton Milner Julia Milner is a professor in leadership, academic director of the Global MBA program at EDHEC Business School in France and an honorary professorial fellow with the Sydney Business School in Australia. Trenton Milner is the general manager of the International Centre for Leadership Coaching. Are you successful at coaching your employees? Many managers tend to think they’re coaching when they’re actually just telling their employees what to do. This is hardly an effective way to motivate people and help... Continue Reading

In a previous post we took a closer look at thinking holistically about employee development and embracing the informal learning activities people not only prefer but seek out on their own. Any strategy that ignores this 90% of professional learning already taking place outside the confines of structured learning programs is missing a tremendous opportunity to elevate sales rep performance across the most critical metrics. But change is still often scary, even when accepted as the right path forward.  So, let’s take a stab at alleviating the two most common fears. #1... Continue Reading

If the entirety of the learning which training organizations support is an iceberg drifting in the ocean, the tip of that iceberg (10%) consists of formal learning: classroom trainings, in-person sales meetings, and instructional online videos and quizzes. This is where reps spend the least amount of time learning. Instead, they spend the majority of their learning time (90%) swimming the depths on their own seeking informal learning from peers, their managers, subject matter experts, and even external information sources. This modality of learning goes mostly unseen and unsupported, despite the fact... Continue Reading