The story of a learning idea that grew from real people

Every company has people who lift others up through knowledge. They are the ones teammates turn to when something doesn't work or when a process needs clarity. They solve problems with calm confidence and explain things in a way others understand. Their experience shapes the way the company works, even though most of their knowledge stays hidden.

We saw this pattern everywhere. Employees with deep expertise became quiet anchors in their teams. They gave advice that shaped decisions, they kept processes moving, and they stopped small problems before they grew. These contributions happened in private conversations and unrecorded moments. They mattered a great deal, yet they rarely turned into training that others could reuse.

The L&D team often stepped in to translate that wisdom into structured training. They scheduled interviews, wrote content, and built courses. They did important work, but they couldn’t keep up with the speed of change. Information moved faster than the systems built to capture it. Something needed to shift.

This inspired the creation of Employee-generated Learning in 2013 by Kasper, co-founder of Easygenerator, a course authoring tool. We wanted to create a way for employees to share their knowledge directly. We believed that people who do the work every day should have a clear path to teach others. They understand the real obstacles and the real shortcuts. They know how a process feels, not just how it works on paper.

Employee-generated Learning is built on the idea that learning is most powerful when it comes from peers. It brings authenticity to training materials. It gives teams a chance to stay aligned as they grow. It also supports a culture where employees feel valued for their experience. When someone creates a guide that helps hundreds of colleagues, they feel a deeper connection to the company and to their own role.

Employee-generated Learning is not only a method for producing training. It also reflects a mindset that values the experience of every employee. It allows a company to keep knowledge close to the work. It also helps people feel confident sharing what they know, because they understand that their knowledge has real value. When people contribute to learning in this way, they feel more ownership of the work itself.

Vocal is a place where stories matter. Employee-generated Learning has a story worth telling because it began with people helping one another. This approach grew one conversation at a time. Someone explained a workflow, helped another person fix a problem, or shared a quick solution. Those moments shaped a framework that became a global learning model.

This shift also supports a more open learning environment. When knowledge flows freely, people gain confidence more quickly. The company keeps moving at the pace of change without waiting for long development cycles. Teams that rely on fast decisions benefit from this kind of learning structure. They can update materials whenever a process changes and share it across the company within minutes.

Today, many companies use this approach to create company-tailored training at scale. They bring employees into the learning process, they support authors with coaching from L&D, and they even choose tools that make content creation simple. The result is a living library of knowledge that evolves with the company.

Employee-generated Learning continues to expand because it respects the people closest to the work. It gives them space to share their wisdom. It also strengthens trust across teams. When someone learns from a peer, they feel supported by the organization as a whole.

The book by Kasper Spiro and Videhi Bhamidi tells the full story of this approach and offers a clear explanation of how it became a structured method for learning inside modern organizations.