What research reveals about workplace learning, and what managers and HR teams can do differently
From our summer series “A different way to learn”: article 4 of 4, now available in English. Read article 1, article 2 and article 3.
In Switzerland, employers play a major role in continuing education. Most employees who take a job-related course receive support from their company, whether in working time, funding or both. Many companies are clearly keen to help their employees grow.
The more delicate question comes afterwards. A manager returns from a course on giving feedback with new ideas and good intentions. Back in the team, the diary is full, old reflexes are still there, and the next difficult conversation may be weeks away.
Research on adult learning offers no miracle method. It does, however, shed light on what helps learning find its way into everyday work: experience, relevance, practice, feedback and the people around us. Many of these conditions are ones organisations can influence.
Experience: where learning begins
Employees don’t arrive at training as blank slates. Take a manager attending a session on feedback. They bring years of experience handling difficult conversations, along with successes, mistakes and a few well-established habits.
What they learn doesn’t simply get added to what they already know. They compare it, interpret it, and sometimes question it.
Experience supports learning, but established habits can also make change difficult. An experienced employee has plenty of reference points, and also routines that may have worked well for years. Learning can mean acquiring something new, but also revisiting a familiar way of working.
In Apprendre au travail (Learning at Work), edited by Étienne Bourgeois and Marc Durand, several researchers show that professional activity becomes a source of learning when people can link it to real situations, try things out, discuss them, get feedback and step back from their experience.
Experience alone isn’t enough. What matters is what people are able to do with it.
Why relevance matters in workplace learning
At work, one question comes up again and again: “How will this help me in my job?”
Swiss data show this question carries real weight. When the Federal Statistical Office asked participants why they took part in job-related continuing education, the most frequent answer was to perform better in their work. Personal interest in the subject and adapting to organisational or technological change also ranked high. Better career prospects came further down the list.
These findings suggest that practical relevance is a major motivation for work-related training, alongside personal interest and the need to adapt to change.
This doesn’t mean every course must deliver results the next day. Learning to manage, lead change or handle conflict takes time. But participants need to see the link between what they’re learning and the situations they actually face.
Learning through everyday work
Much professional learning happens on the job. Yet work isn’t automatically a learning experience.
Researcher Stephen Billett shows that workplace learning depends on two factors working together: the opportunities the work environment offers, and how each person takes them up.
A company can offer a new assignment, a chance to shadow a colleague or regular feedback. The employee, in turn, needs to be able and willing to engage.
A challenging assignment can help someone grow. It can also leave them struggling. The difference often lies in being able to ask for help, observe others and look back on what happened.
70-20-10: a useful guide, not a rule
The 70-20-10 model makes a simple point: we don’t only learn in the classroom. We also learn by working and by interacting with others.
The percentages themselves, however, are not established facts. In Human Resource Development Review, Alan Clardy shows that the available research doesn’t firmly support them.
The real question isn’t the right split. It’s how training, experience, exchange and practice complement one another.
Room to try, and sometimes to get it wrong
Learning means doing something you haven’t mastered yet. That involves trial and error.
At the same time, organisations rightly expect efficiency, reliability and performance. This tension is particularly visible in behavioural skills.
A manager may grasp in a training room how to handle a difficult conversation. The first attempt back at work may not go to plan. To improve, they need room to test, observe, adjust and try again.
This is where psychological safety comes in. In a now-landmark study, Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson linked it to learning behaviours in teams: asking questions, requesting help, flagging mistakes or suggesting another approach without fear of being put down.
Psychological safety doesn’t mean lower standards. It simply recognises a reality:
To learn, you sometimes need to be able to show that you don’t know yet.
Cecilia Mornata, researcher and lecturer at the University of Geneva, applies this directly to workplace learning. She highlights a concrete tension: learning involves hesitation and error, while work demands efficiency and reliability.
When employees feel able to try a new practice or admit a difficulty, an investment in leadership or communication training has a far better chance of becoming visible in day-to-day work.
Why learning is also a collective process
Professional learning is rarely a solitary affair. An experienced colleague can show how they approach a task. A trainer can bring a method and help people step back. And the line manager plays a particularly important role.
Managers don’t need to become trainers to support learning. Small conversations before and after a course can make a real difference.
Before the training, they can help the employee identify a situation they would like to handle differently. Afterwards, they can ask: What did you take away? Where could you use it? What support would help? A few weeks later, one more question is often the most useful: What happened when you tried it?
These conversations turn training from a one-off event into part of an ongoing dialogue about work. They build a bridge between training and real work.
From training to workplace practice
Learning a new software feature isn’t the same as learning to lead a difficult conversation. The first often follows a clear procedure. The second requires listening, interpreting, choosing your words, reading the other person’s reaction and adapting.
Brian Blume, J. Kevin Ford, Timothy Baldwin and Jason Huang pooled the findings of 89 studies on learning transfer in the Journal of Management. Their analysis shows that what happens during training matters, but so do the learner’s motivation, support from the work environment and the nature of the skill. Leadership, communication or negotiation call for more adaptation than procedural skills.
For these skills, knowing a method isn’t enough. People need opportunities to use it.
Take someone who has just completed interview training. They leave motivated, with new reference points. But if no interviews are scheduled for several months, the skill may fade before it’s ever used. One simple question, asked before the course ends, can help: “When will you first be able to use this?”
The aim isn’t to get everything right at the first attempt. It’s to create an early opportunity to practise, then reflect: what worked, and what needs adjusting?
The more a skill depends on context, the more closely learning needs to stay connected to real work.
Before investing in training: five questions worth asking
For HR teams and managers, these five questions can help connect training decisions with real workplace needs.
1. What work situation does the training address?
“Improving leadership” becomes more useful when tied to a specific situation: delegating, giving feedback or supporting change.
2. What do participants already know and do?
Their experience is a resource. It may also include habits worth revisiting.
3. What will they be able to try during the training?
A role-play or real case lets them test new approaches against reality straight away.
4. Where will they apply it afterwards?
A skill needs opportunities to become part of everyday practice.
5. What feedback will they receive?
Input from a trainer, peer or manager helps people see what works and what to adjust.
Swiss employers invest. What happens after the course?
In Switzerland, employers are central to continuing education. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2021 54.4% of employed people aged 25 to 64 took part in at least one continuing education activity. Among those who trained for professional purposes, 93% received support from their employer, in time or funding. Employers also supported around 80% of the total hours devoted to this training.
These figures date from 2021, a year shaped by Covid-19, and they measure participation, not effectiveness. Still, they show how much Swiss organisations already invest. That makes the period after the course all the more valuable: it is where companies can help that investment take root.
So how do people really learn at work?
Not just by listening to a trainer, nor simply by accumulating experience.
Learning takes shape when new ideas meet what people already know, when they see why it matters, and when they have room to try, discuss, receive feedback and adjust how they work.
For HR and L&D managers, this widens the perspective. Designing training is not only about choosing what to teach. It is also about shaping the conditions in which people can apply it. Which of these conditions already exist in your organisation, and which could be strengthened?
Image source: @ Cristina Conti
__________________________________________________________________
Want to develop these skills within your team?
Swissnova offers training designed to build skills that last. Contact our team for more information tailored to your organisation’s meeds.
Explore the programme and contact our team
Turning learning into everyday practice. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________