Hi Will:

We have pretty good data that ~80% of learning in organizations is informal (Jay Cross, Informal Learning, Appendix B). I'll have to dig a bit to find expenditures but my experience is that most training budgets fund the formal stuff, especially courses. As for management training, I would think some/most of it is courses. Do you have experience otherwise?

Personally, I didn't jump on the informal schtick, I just found that so much formal training was ineffective. I come from a HPT background, so I'm very focused on performance. Supporting informal learning is like reducing barriers to performance, in HPT speak. Your metaphor about paths is good, as workplace re-design is one way to get better informal learning. Mapping out the paths is kind of like social network analysis (maybe some potential consulting work there).

Thanks for your comments.