Corporate upskilling is broken.
If you’re an L&D leader, you already know this. You spend serious budget on massive e-learning libraries and LMS platforms, but your skills gaps keep growing. the future of work after COVID-19
If you’re a busy professional, you feel it even more. You’re told to “upskill to stay relevant,” but you have no time for long training sessions and generic courses that don’t reflect the reality of your day-to-day work.
For years, the industry has been buzzing about a solution: “Learning in the Flow of Work.”
The phrase, reportedly coined by analyst Josh Bersin, has become a top L&D trend because it promises to solve the biggest barrier to upskilling: lack of time. The idea is simple: instead of pulling people out of their jobs to learn, integrate learning seamlessly into the work they’re already doing.
It’s a brilliant concept. But there’s a problem.
The term has been misunderstood and co-opted. Most of what’s now sold as “Learning in the Flow of Work” is actually something much older and much simpler: software adoption. Find out more: true Learning in the Flow of Work
This post defines what true Learning in the Flow of Work was meant to be, what it has (wrongfully) become, and how to get the real thing.
What “Learning in the Flow of Work” Has Become (And What It’s Not)
Search for “Learning in the Flow of Work” today and you’ll see the same pattern: a wave of tools classified as Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs).
These platforms – including tools like Whatfix and Spekit – are very good at what they were built to do. Their promise is straightforward: provide in-app guidance and just-in-time help so you never have to leave your workflow to figure out how to use a piece of software.
For example, a DAP can place a small tooltip or a step-by-step walkthrough directly inside your Salesforce dashboard to show you exactly which button to click to correctly file a sales report.
This is:
- Useful
- Contextual
- In the flow of work
But it is not skill-building.
It is software adoption.
And that’s the core misunderstanding. Teaching an employee which button to click is a simple, mechanical task. It’s workflow optimisation, not cognitive upskilling how it works. It solves a narrow problem (how to use the tool), but ignores the bigger, more valuable one (how to perform the job better).
The Real Gap: Software Adoption vs. Cognitive Skill Acquisition
Go back to a simple example: your sales rep.
Thanks to a DAP, she’s now a power user of Salesforce. She can file her reports, update contacts, and log calls in record time.
But here’s the real question: is she a better salesperson?
Does the DAP teach her how to:
- Handle difficult objections?
- Write more persuasive sales emails?
- Communicate the value of a complex new product in a way that lands with the customer?
No. Because that’s not what it’s built to do.
The same is true in other roles. A marketing manager can become fluent in Power BI with the help of guided walkthroughs, but that doesn’t mean they understand the fundamentals of data science or how to interpret the trends they’re seeing. See how bobolink does this: adaptive learning for teams
The skills gaps organisations are worried about are not about button-clicking. They’re not about “how do I navigate this UI?”
They’re deep, cognitive skills in areas like:
- AI and automation
- Data analysis and interpretation
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- Communication and storytelling
- Cross-functional collaboration
These are precisely the skills that Digital Adoption Platforms do not address – and were never designed to address.
The True Meaning of Learning in the Flow of Work
True Learning in the Flow of Work is about more than when you learn. It’s about what you learn.
To be meaningful, it has to combine both sides of the equation:
True Learning in the Flow of Work = Workflow Guidance + Cognitive Skill Acquisition
You need both:
- Context (What am I doing right now? What problem am I trying to solve?)
- Cognitive learning (What underlying skill or concept do I need to understand to be better at this?)
Imagine a different scenario.
A marketing manager has a meeting in 10 minutes with the data science team. They need to present a performance report, but they’re worried they’ll misunderstand the terminology and won’t be able to ask intelligent follow-up questions.
Here’s how the two models compare:
- The Button-Clicking Solution (Software Adoption)
A DAP helps them export the latest report from their analytics dashboard. It shows them where to click, what filter to set, and where to download the file. Useful, but it does nothing to help them understand what the numbers mean. - The True In-Flow Learning Solution
An intelligent learning companion understands their role, their goals, and the context of their calendar. It sees the upcoming meeting with the data team and proactively surfaces a 3-minute, personalised micro-lesson:
“How to Speak Data Science: A 3-Minute Guide for Marketers.” true Learning in the Flow of Work
Now, learning is:
- Tied directly to a real task (today’s meeting)
- Delivered at the moment of need (10 minutes before)
- Focused on cognitive skills (concepts, language, interpretation)
- Small enough to complete without disrupting work
The “what” is the personalised cognitive skill they need – in this case, the basics of reading and discussing a data report.
The “how” is microlearning – a short, focused lesson that delivers real skill development in minutes, not hours.
This combination is what true Learning in the Flow of Work looks like. It doesn’t just help people use tools faster; it helps them think better, decide better, and perform better. Bobolink
Don’t Settle for Half the Solution
The next time you evaluate a platform promising “Learning in the Flow of Work,” ask one blunt question:
“Are you teaching my employees how to use a tool, or are you teaching them how to be better at their jobs?”
If the answer is the former, you’re looking at software adoption, not real upskilling. Bobolink
Both have value. You do need people to know how to use internal tools. But if your strategy stops there, you’re training for button-clicks while your real skills gaps continue to deepen.
Look at any list of “top microlearning platforms” and you’ll see this split clearly:
- Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) like Whatfix and Spekit are excellent for in-app guidance and process compliance inside tools.
- Skill-building platforms focus on concepts, problem-solving, and capability growth – the things that actually move performance.
The danger is when the first group is marketed as if it were the second.
How Bobolink Delivers True Learning in the Flow of Work
At Bobolink, we’re not trying to turn every click into a lesson or every popup into a tutorial.
Our focus is different:
- Identify the real skills people need to grow in their roles
- Tie those skills to the work they’re actually doing
- Deliver short, structured micro-lessons at the right moment – before a task, during a project, or ahead of a key meeting
Instead of:
“Here’s where to click in this software.”
You get:
“Here’s how to approach this task, what to think about, what good looks like, and how to repeat it.”
Bobolink’s contextual learning engine connects live work context (role, goals, tasks, calendar) with personalised micro-courses designed to build real, cognitive skills – not just tool familiarity.
The result:
- Less time wasted on generic courses
- More real capability growth, visible in day-to-day work
- A workforce that can adapt to AI, data, and new ways of working – not just survive another software rollout
If You’re Done Training for Button-Clicks
If you’re ready to stop calling software guidance “learning” and start building future-proof skills, you need more than in-app walkthroughs Book a demo here. You need a system that treats learning as part of the work itself – not something bolted on afterward.
That’s what Bobolink is built for. Bobolink
Instead of one-off answers or static courses, Bobolink gives your people structured, contextual, and repeatable learning experiences anchored in their actual work.
So the question isn’t just:
“Can my team use our tools?”
It becomes:
“Can my team think, decide, and perform at the level the future of work demands?”
If that’s the gap you’re trying to close, it’s time to move beyond software adoption and embrace true Learning in the Flow of Work.
