On-the-job (OTJ) learning

The importance of OTJ learning cannot be overstated: it is the most common kind of learning at work and very possibly the most effective. It happens to everybody at work, anyway, whether HR, Learning Professionals and line managers like it or not.

Examples of OTJ learning include:

• Delegation
• Trial and error
• Research and projects
• ‘Sitting with Nellie’(being shown a task by someone who already does it)
• Work shadowing and placement
• Secondments
• Observation
• Questions and listening
• Networking

OTJ learning needs no special or additional facilities to those already made available to staff. It has a direct, immediate and relevant relationship to actual work because it IS actual work. Its relevance makes it particularly good for Pragmatists. Activists can also benefit from it, as they are required to DO the work rather than just think or talk about it. Reflectors and Theorists can benefit, but will need time to process and consider tasks (Reflectors) and will need to be given reasons and background behind tasks (Theorists).

OTJ learning is powerful as it can influence the knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees. However, this power is completely dependent upon the quality of line management provided to employees. Good managers and leaders see the roles of delegator, coach, mentor and monitor-evaluator all as part of what they do every day. Bad or inexperienced managers and leaders get lost in the implementation of tasks and fail to concentrate on the OTJ learning of their staff. They forget the old adage ‘Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and eats for a lifetime.’

Even good managers often forget to plan, record, evaluate or celebrate the results of OTJ learning. As it happens anyway, they don’t always see the benefit of managing the process. The costs and benefits of OTJ learning can remain hidden.

But if HR and Learning Professionals can work with line managers to demonstrate the costs and benefits of OTJ learning, line managers can be won over and start to manage the process. So start singing the praises of OTJ learning: the HR professional’s little gem.