"According to The TalentLMS 2026 L&D Benchmark Report, 86% of employees pick up new skills simply by figuring things out on the job. Another 65% name on-the-job experience as their absolute top development method. Add the 42% who seek out external training on their own initiative, and a clear reality emerges: Your people are learning skills every single day."
"For example, an employee might spend three weeks mastering a complex reporting tool to bypass a frustrating bottleneck. Their manager is entirely unaware of that new technical proficiency. A month later, HR hires a costly contractor for a project requiring that exact capability. The talent already existed inside the building. No one could see it."
"Most companies build their entire talent map using only formal training records. Yet those formal programs only reach 47% of the workforce. Leaders end up completely ignoring the 65% of employees developing skills through informal learning."
Organizations systematically underestimate employee capabilities because they rely exclusively on formal training completion rates to assess competency. Data shows 86% of employees acquire skills by figuring things out on the job, with 65% naming on-the-job experience as their top development method. Yet most companies build talent maps using only formal training records, which reach only 47% of the workforce. This creates a critical blind spot where valuable informal skills—from technical proficiencies to leadership capabilities—remain completely invisible to management. As a result, organizations hire external contractors or recruit senior leaders externally despite possessing these exact capabilities internally. The disconnect between where learning actually happens and where organizations look for talent creates significant resource waste and missed opportunities for internal advancement.
Read at TalentLMS Blog
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