Adopting the discipline of an embedded performance support (EPS) strategy has become an increasing imperative for many organizations. EPS remains a curiosity for many more wrapped in the question: “How do we get there?” Answering that question requires a long, hard look at whether the organization is ready to go there, or if they are in a state of readiness to go there.

L&D practitioners face three significant challenges: adding context to their mobile learning and performance support challenges, understanding the possibilities of new technologies, and opportunities to see real-world applications.

There’s lots of talk about replacing training with performance support, and in many cases, it’s a great idea. But what about the times when you need both? How do you incorporate performance support within a training context? How do you use instructional design to get the best of both worlds, and why should you do it? Ideally, your clients should be clamoring for performance support. But in reality, if an independent strategy can’t get traction, perhaps it’s time for a more unified approach.

Performance support is typically designed and developed separately from other training solutions. As such, it becomes a solution that may not be used as it was intended, if at all. When part of a complete solution, performance support better serves to enhance and reinforce formal learning initiatives for a more effective solution.