I also learned new skills outside of work. It was annoying to work with someone who used work time to manipulate their work learning. There would be a serious conflict and their "work" was not about advancing the firms "interests" but their personal ones. If you can be honest, you can learn things in advance that are congruent to work strategy and then be ready for their use when the opportunity develops.

I learn new technical skills outside of work hours. Personally, I've found that it's pretty hard to learn new skills while at the same time under the pressure to deliver something.