As vice president of learning and leadership and head of the global leadership academy for Walmart, founder of L&D Cares and author on the future of learning and development, Brandon Carson stays provocative in the industry.

At Walmart, Carson’s core responsibilities include corporate and officer onboarding experiences, careers and opportunities, the company’s education credential platform and community academies around mobility, career opportunity and global leadership development. 

With a deep technological background and a nose for value creation, Carson excels at providing science-backed training while remaining rooted in the fundamentals of learning and care for his people. 

“Brandon is a highly accessible person. He is a make-the-world-a-better-place person,” says Elliot Masie, chair of the Masie Learning Foundation and CEO of Masie Productions. “He is not an orthodox or doctrinaire person. He’s somebody that you can have a conversation about learning about, without necessarily needing to know the language of learning.”

An accidental career

Carson grew up in New Mexico, moved to California at 20 and began working odd jobs. He didn’t enter the world of L&D until he ultimately graduated and received his master’s from Jones International University in educational technology at 48. 

Working in Silicon Valley as the internet was rising, his first foray into online learning came after he was laid off from a higher education publishing company, when Multimedia Pathway hired Carson to focus on computer-based training and expand on interactive computer learning supplements for biology textbooks. 

As a consultant, Carson benefited immensely from working on the cutting edge of digital learning. “I got involved at the beginning, developing the instructional design aspect of it,” Carson says. “That sparked the career […] and it took off from there.” Over 20 years in California, Carson worked with tech companies such as Google, Macromedia and Adobe.

Eventually contracting with Intel as they deployed their first-ever learning management system, Carson experienced his first “welcome to the big rodeo,” and worked with economist Thomas J. Kane, he says. In 2007, Sun Microsystems hired Carson and eventually put him in charge of creating one of the first online social learning experiences and the game-based Sun Open Learning Center for system administrators. With additional L&D roles in the tech industry at Yahoo and consulting with Microsoft, Carson transformed training and cut his teeth building out L&D teams. 

Then in 2014, moving to retail at Home Depot presented Carson with an opportunity to transform L&D for frontline workers. With 180,00 associates across 2,000 stores, Carson led the push to accelerate competency and confidence and moved training beyond the break room. As director of learning leading a team of more than 40, he redefined and embedded app-based training that workers could access on their work devices in the aisles where they worked — which is still being used today. It was a significant performance catalyst for a company that had gone from hiring retired plumbers and electricians to younger associates with less home improvement knowledge. 

Looking to the skies in 2018, he then joined Delta to lead the training team for global airport operations as director of learning. For the fast-operating airline, Carson supported over 30,000 global employees and implemented its first leadership academy to support and develop airport operations and infused flow of work nudges to help reinforce and synthesize regular training, all without crashing their operating systems in the busiest year in travel history — 2019. But in 2020, not a month after celebrating their profit sharing day for the previous year, the pandemic hit and 97 percent of the business dissipated in “just a couple days,” Carson says. “That was a jolt. We didn’t have a playbook for that. Nobody did.”

In the early part of 2021, Carson was recruited to join Walmart. “I wasn’t looking for work,” he says. But he saw “an opportunity to do game-changing work and have a real impact on people, and an opportunity to build a legacy.”

Building a path for everyone

Donna Morris, chief people officer at Walmart, solidified Carson’s decision to join after she shared her commitment to transform the workforce and make Walmart an academy company where people can start their careers, but don’t have to stay.

Taking the world’s largest private workforce and combining it with the corporate world’s largest skilling ecosystem and with leadership committing $1 billion over the next five years to train and educate its workforce; “Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of that?” Carson asks. 

The more he realized the goals of the organization from talking to Morris and others, the more he bought in. “This is now a recognition that the culture that Sam [Walton] started,” he says, “Save money, live better, right? The ‘live better’ part is what we have to focus on and ensure our associates can have better lives.”

Now at Walmart for over two years, Carson’s work focuses on helping the company live and learn better. Focusing on career development opportunities, Carson says through its no-cost high school and college degree, Live Better U program, Walmart offers all associates the ability to access an education and drives equitable mobility from day one. “We see it as an opportunity builder, [it] provides a path for everyone here.” 

With support for short-term credential programs in high-demand skill areas like fluency in health and wellness technology, truck driving and HVAC repair, they’re working to provide careers beyond Walmart. 

“We’ve taken several people who were store associates into cybersecurity analysts with technology,” Carson says. “You can triple their quality of life because they move from an hourly wage into a salaried global tech position.” Part of Walmart’s broader transformation to becoming a skills-based organization, and working away from requiring a college degree. 

Working within the broader organizational strategy, Carson believes in accountability and responsibility to develop and maintain a competent and confident workforce. He says that developing leaders to navigate an increasingly complex and confusing world isn’t a simple task as we transition from a VUCA- to a BANI-mindset world, which is why the opportunity to train and develop so many for better opportunities was so attractive to Carson. It’s the bottom line of his work, beyond just supporting their workers, supporting the broader community as well.

Moving away from one-size-fits-all learning programs that doomed corporate training in recent history, Carson sees technology as a vital tool to tailor learning to each individual learner. “We have the technology, especially with AI technology, to take a scale of one size fits one; we can adapt this to you, the individual. [Walmart]’s investment in doing that is unlike anything I’ve seen before us.”

Carson cares

Looking ahead, Carson aims to be as successful as possible in developing those on his team to replace him. “I don’t have an ego. I don’t need to build an empire,” he says. “I just want to lift my team up and ensure they have what they need. To me, that is success.” Giving those he serves the capabilities they need to move from a good job to a great career keeps him moving as he continues to support more than 15,000 corporate hires each year with engagement and leadership development programs.

Beyond Walmart, Carson is passionate about giving back to future L&D talent with his non-profit organization L&D Cares. In April 2020, with fears of massive layoffs hitting, Carson met with Masie and others in the L&D industry to come together and provide resources, recruiter connections, mentoring and coaching for talent development people who might be laid off or need to transition in their career. 

“Brandon is very much organized in this low-ego, low bureaucracy non-funding-based organization to ping people that can help others in their career,” says Masie. Now with more than 2,000 members and having helped about 100 launch new careers, Carson developed this support group into a non-profit organization that serves those new to the industry and more senior leaders interested in elevating their own performance. 

Carson says he’s provocative in this industry because he’s uncomfortable with it. “If you watch ‘Stranger Things,’ we’re in the Upside Down right now,” he says “We’re fundamentally changing what it means to be in L&D and HR. We’re in that uncomfortable period of what I’m trying to do is be provocative and push us to think differently.” 

Part of his effort to think differently comes across from his work as an author in his books — “Learning in the Age of Immediacy” and “L&D’s Playbook for the Digital Age” — in an attempt to get things to change, he says. Expand your horizons, look up and be a systems thinker, looking around at the world and what’s going on. 

Considering the future of the industry, Carson reflects on a recent panel he sat on with other learning leaders, when, after he spoke on capability, education and training, a younger panelist followed. 

“The first thing out of his mouth was joy, happiness and safety and being considered at work,” he says. “The conversation is changing. And that gives me hope that this dark age of training won’t last. This next generation will fundamentally architect a different practice for developing our people.” 

Great careers > good jobs

In our current capability crisis, many organizations still expect technology to be the holy grail, Carson says. “We’ve been too reactive. We’ve been too focused on the granularities of a task or job,” Carson says. “We’ve lost decades of capability, and not many corporate training organizations have funded or set up properly to deal with this.” 

He says overcoming the last two years was mostly about helping people and staying sane. But moving forward, Carson is “most excited about the opportunities we have to assertively help people through their careers and help people,” he says. “It’s a good time to be in this practice. This practice has a lot more respect now.”

Outside of a career, what keeps Carson in L&D is the “ability to build capability,” he says. “It’s a little bit like teaching, but more meeting people where they are in their job and career and helping them along that journey. It’s always been something that, since I started, I fell in love with and became passionate about. To the point that my daughter is telling me: I’ve got to get a life because I’ve got my books, a non-profit […] But it’s all escalated to more of a need now to help people bridge the gaps so they can have meaningful, not just good jobs, but great careers.”

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Mentoring has been a best practice in business for decades, as soon as researchers proved that employees with mentors were more successful at work than those without. Their findings were: A mentor helps their mentee gain clarity on career goals, develop leadership skills, clarify values and leverage their talents.

The Metaverse is a powerful new virtual medium with the potential to enhance the mentor/mentee relationship. Recent innovations like augmented reality, virtual reality and digital identities, along with best practices from social media, create spaces for rich user interactions that mimic the real world. With the right application, the Metaverse can have a transformative effect on the mentor and mentee. 

Trust blossoms in the Metaverse

Trust is the foundation of any mentor-mentee relationship. The Metaverse is an ideal safe space to build trust — to form emotional bonds, develop a sense of belonging, share and be vulnerable. When a relationship is built on trust, mentees can confide their most cherished aspirations, share their deepest concerns and explore different solutions and ways of thinking with their mentor. 

Research shows that 80 percent of people feel more included in the Metaverse than in real life. This is no small coincidence, as the workplace is rife with prejudice and unconscious biases. According to Glassdoor, 61 percent of employees have witnessed or experienced workplace bias.

Up to 75 percent of employees report that they identity cover — hide something about themselves at work for fear of negative consequences. How exactly does the Metaverse help with this? It diminishes fears of being judged by allowing individuals to modify their avatar’s physical appearance. It gives people the ability to create an identity they are comfortable with — and to show their authentic selves. 

Empathy in the Metaverse

Displaying empathy is one of the most important behaviors within a mentorship, and is a prerequisite for a good mentor/mentee relationship. A good mentor puts themselves in the mentee’s shoes to understand their hopes and fears.

The use of an avatar contributes to a more empathetic relationship. Researchers have proven that an avatar lets others “step into someone else’s shoes.” This happens because of “embodiment” — a psychological state where an individual feels the avatar is part of them. This allows mentors to understand, in a visceral way, the challenges a mentee may face such as gender bias, racial discrimination, ageism and more. 

The Stanford University research project, Being Homeless, was one example of how embodiment (and empathy) works. The goal of the study was to see if participants could experience empathy and positive attitudes toward the homeless. Participants completed a seven-minute VR experience in which they lost their job and had to suffer the consequences. Afterward, researchers assessed the participants’ feelings about the situation. The results showed that participants of the VR experience became more empathetic toward the homeless than non-participants.

Researcher Fernanda Herrera observed: “Taking the perspective of others in VR produces more empathy and prosocial behaviors in people immediately after going through the experience and over time, in comparison to just imagining what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes.” The virtual experience made all the difference. 

Mediums to deepen relationships and drive performance

The Metaverse gives mentors and mentees access to a suite of virtual mediums and tools — ones they might not typically have. They can explore famous landmarks together, do a choose-your-own adventure experience or watch an interactive documentary and reflect on it afterwards. They can create a sculpture together, play tennis or a board game, video chat and so much more — all virtual tools that facilitate meaningful human interactions. The impressive variety of mediums allows mentors to select what works best in that moment for the mentee, no matter where they are physically located.

Mentoring in the Metaverse promotes virtual collaboration. For example, Meta’s virtually infinite whiteboard lets users to simultaneously collaborate on a virtual whiteboard, which can be downloaded and saved. As many mentees will have experience working virtually, adoption of these mediums should be automatic.

A growth opportunity: The Metaverse and people with disabilities

Mentoring in the Metaverse holds great promise for people with disabilities. It has the potential to provide the same opportunities and access, no matter someone’s abilities. 

What can this look like in the future? Here are a few of the possibilities:

• People with physical limitations can be “virtually mobile” and have experiences they otherwise couldn’t have. Beyond experiencing physical movement in VR, sensory enhancements are being developed, such as haptic feedback wearables, AR-enhanced hearing aids, 3D audio echolocation and visual improvement technologies.
• Those who are neurodivergent,or process information or learn differently than others, can have a difficult time assimilating and acting on what they learned. The Metaverse offers remote learning and experiences that support these needs. For example, Mind Gym allows neurodivergent users to complete exercises that allow them to build and practice skills that would be extremely challenging for them to do in face-to-face situations.
• Individuals with invisible disabilities (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD) are often overlooked with no accessibility accommodations made for them. They may find it difficult to navigate social systems and relationships. The Metaverse offers tools like VOISS, a VR experience that uses social situations and scenarios to teach social skills. A VOISS advisor supports teacher professional learning.

Digital accessibility is still in its infancy in the Metaverse, and there’s much work to be done before it can fully support the needs of people with disabilities. But it holds the revolutionary potential as a tool and space for all to use — including mentors and their mentees.

Looking ahead

The Metaverse is an exceptional medium for mentoring. This technology promotes trust, builds empathy, and can create equality within diverse groups. It allows mentees to find the right mentor anywhere in the world, regardless of location. In the Metaverse a mentor/mentee relationship opens new doors of opportunity, allowing people to discover their own potential and reach their professional goals quickly. It is our belief that organizations around the world will soon be making mentoring in the Metaverse a best practice.

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For many, the mere idea of giving or receiving feedback conjures up negative feelings. People can see it as criticism, second-guessing or reprimanding. But at any level, feedback given and received appropriately can be a helpful, productive part of any successful business relationship.

Giving feedback to the boss 

As challenging as it can be to give feedback to a team member, it’s trickier yet to present feedback to your boss, even when you believe what you have to say would benefit them. But there’s a way you can increase the odds that your feedback will get your boss’s undivided attention. 

When I was teaching courses at a business school years ago, a new dean arrived. The dean had written a lot about participative management — an early form of servant leadership — but he certainly didn’t practice it. He spent his time wheeling and dealing and making all kinds of top-down decisions without any participation from the faculty. Every so often, a faculty member would decide to have words with him about his inconsistent behavior. The problem? Not one of them had personally connected with this man prior to confronting him. He essentially threw each of them out of his office in turn.

People who set out to give feedback to upper management often make this error: They forget to connect before they confront. They haven’t built a relationship with the leader prior to sharing their feedback. When attempting to influence up the hierarchy, it’s important to remember that you have no position power with the person. So, when you give a leader feedback before you have a connection with them, chances are it will not be well received.

The best way to influence up

In my case, I generally agreed with the direction the dean wanted to take the school. But, like the rest of the faculty, I was concerned about his eccentric decision-making style. I realized I had to develop some kind of relationship with him before I had any chance of getting through to him with my feedback.

Building a relationship with someone is like putting money in the bank. And delivering feedback to that person, no matter how tactfully, draws something from that interpersonal bank account. So you’d better have some goodwill in your account to balance things out. I needed to build up my bank account before talking with the dean about the negative impact his style was having. 

With this in mind, I saw him one day in the hallway and commented on how much I admired his writing skills. (I truly did.) Then I said, “I’m working on a paper I hope to get published in a good journal. Would you have time to meet with me? I’d like to share my latest draft with you and get your feedback.”

The dean responded immediately: “I’d be happy to meet with you.”

When we met, the dean had all kinds of helpful feedback for me. Later, at the end of a follow-up meeting, he casually said, “Ken, how do you think we should deal with some of the jerks in this school?” The key word I picked up on was we. Now I knew I had some money in my interpersonal bank account with the dean, so I felt free to talk to him about how a change in his decision-making style might help. Because he felt comfortable with me now, he was able to listen without getting defensive.

I wasn’t trying to butter up the dean to make myself look good in his eyes. I was just hoping to get him to let down his guard a bit. That way, he and I could have a constructive conversation about the advantages of shifting his leadership style and working side by side with faculty on decision making.

Getting feedback from your people

Are you in a position of leadership? Do you encourage feedback from your team members? As I mentioned, giving feedback to the boss doesn’t come naturally to most people. They may fear being the messenger who bears bad news, so they hesitate to be candid. 

Servant leaders don’t shy away from feedback. The only reason you are leading is to serve — and if a team member has an idea they want to present or a suggestion for how you might serve better, you need to listen. Let your people know that you really want to hear what they have to say and you won’t get defensive. Make yourself approachable and easy to connect with.

The best way to receive feedback

When listening to feedback from a team member, remember that they are giving you a gift. Focus carefully on what the person is saying. When it’s your turn to speak, make sure the first thing you say is “Thank you.” Then follow up with “This is so helpful. Is there anything else you think I should know?”

As a leader, if you do receive negative feedback, rise above the way it may be presented. This will help you gather potentially helpful information from the suggestions you hear. Don’t let your ego keep you from being your best self or bringing out the best in others. You already know leadership is not about you — it’s about the people you serve. And in my experience, once you open the door for feedback from your team, you will gain lots of valuable nuggets of truth you can use to improve your leadership style. 

Giving and receiving feedback without judgment — whether up or down the hierarchy — is a best practice for any leader who strives to achieve both great relationships and great results.

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Learning is a lifestyle, says Par Merat, vice president of training and certifications at Cisco. In the modern workplace, Merat believes it’s important to support learners who are on non-traditional career journeys and create an inclusive culture where learners from all walks of live can thrive. Inclusion is also front and center for Cisco U, the organization’s new digital learning experience.

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It’s an unfortunate truth: Most companies view learning and development mistakenly as an appendage of HR instead of a strategic partner for both protection and growth. However, correcting this mistaken view can clear the path for L&D professionals to demonstrate the pivotal role they play.

Robust employee training and development helps companies to not only be agile and competitive, but to also mitigate negative risk in an uncertain environment while capitalizing on positive risk. How, then, is it possible to achieve all of this? 

The typical answer lies in buy-in from leadership. While this is true, strategic L&D professionals realize that they themselves are leaders in their organizations, and therefore must be proactive to demonstrate how their role directly supports and drives the company’s overall mission. To earn that seat at the table, L&D leaders need to develop a long-term plan to coordinate their department with larger company goals and initiatives. This includes bringing to light the critical importance of learning and development to help meet legal and compliance requirements which guides the organization to successfully manage risk overall.

For instance, in a recent speech, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco described increasing enforcement efforts as they relate to bribery and corruption, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. She explained that there is a “new level of intensity and commitment to sanctions enforcement” at the United States Department of Justice.

Monaco emphasized that sanctions enforcement is no longer just a concern for a one certain industry such as the financial sector, but rather for “any business with an international supply chain.” Thus, organizations should place related knowledge and training efforts at the forefront. This is but one example where L&D professionals can lead and demonstrate their value to get a seat at the table.  Moreover, the DOJ “expect[s] to see a new level of sophistication and resource commitment to sanctions compliance at companies across the globe,” so this means that companies must provide resources to heed the DOJ’s warning and to take action to establish the appropriate programs to address potential issues and violations. Such programs include training, where L&D professionals can truly shine.

As Monaco indicated, such programs should include ensuring that the organization has sufficient knowledgeable personnel regarding related risks. Additionally, as the DOJ’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs instructs, an effective compliance program should include development and training on related compliance policies and procedures. This then helps corporate boards, which should evaluate whether they are effectively overseeing the company’s controls and related compliance. Again, this is an area where L&D professionals can add their expertise and get their voices heard by all leadership.

As can be seen from just this one example, as the DOJ’s commitment to enforcement grows, the stakes are potentially very high to companies. As Deputy Attorney General Monaco explained, the old ways of managing such risks may no longer be sufficient to address the risks of today.

There are so many opportunities for L&D professionals to add their expertise, including to assist in the assessment of their current compliance programs and risk profile to reduce the negative risk of potential violations and DOJ enforcement. Being proactive and strategic will get the L&D professional a seat at the table. And, given today’s increasingly uncertain world, it is necessary to do so.

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For collaboration to flourish in a workplace, employees need a judgment-free environment that welcomes both hard questions and bold solutions. As a chief learning officer, if you want to foster cross-departmental collaboration and teamwork, you must build and nurture a safe, transparent culture in which information can flow freely.

In this article, I will focus on the fear of being honest. CLOs who not only encourage openness and honesty as part of their organizational culture, but also model and embody transparency themselves, will find that collaboration comes more naturally to their workforce. 

Your to-do list

Here are five ways to encourage open, healthy communications throughout your organization as a CLO. With these in place, collaboration will naturally follow.

Create a sense of psychological safety. This is a belief that there are no “silly” ideas or questions. Your team needs to be able to bring up ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. Keep in mind: This will take time! Modeling this from the top-down is the best strategy. If an employee sees their manager or department leader speaking freely, they’ll know they can too.

Build effective systems for constructive feedback. Teach both managers and employees to frame feedback in a way that’s specific and issue-focused. Using a peer-to-peer survey will offer your team practice in both giving and receiving constructive feedback that benefits both parties. 

Offer experiences that cultivate empathy. Allow time for your team to periodically shadow each other so they can get a sense of their co-worker’s day-to-day responsibilities and challenges. This will break down invisible workplace barriers, allowing team members to be more honest and real when and where it counts.

Guide employees through conflict. If an employee often comes to you for intervention, use this opportunity to mentor them through the situation, rather than solving it for them by talking to their managers. Give them conversation prompts, suggestions on how or when to approach the team member and give them praise when they handle it on their own.

Reward failure and smart risks. To bolster your organization’s culture of psychological safety, make it a point to celebrate failures when something was learned from it. Give kudos to a team member who took a leap and made it work.

Your next executive team discussion points

The next time you get together, talk about your team’s level of psychological safety:  What are your areas of strength? Your areas of weakness? Which of the items on the to-do list would have the most immediate impact on team culture?

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It’s a tough time to attract and retain female talent. There’s no doubt about it.  

There’s a whole different mindset among the workforce about work/life integration and corporate culture. Women are changing jobs more readily, and there are fewer talented women to take their place. It’s an organizationwide problem from entry level to C-suite. 

Organizations are feverishly looking to address this talent crisis. Understandably, but unfortunately, many are tending toward a quick fix approach. What we are seeing too often is expediency thwarting efficacy. For example, companies may launch a one-time, internal leadership development program, or pull together an employee resource group for women or sponsor women to attend a women’s conference. Underlying these efforts is the hope for a “one-and-done” solution — and it is clearly not working. 

What’s needed:A multi-layered approach

Our almost 30 years of experience at WOMEN Unlimited have consistently shown that successfully attracting and retaining female talent is a multi-layered process that includes engaging the women themselves, but also doing much more. Developing and supporting female talent is about developing both people and attitudes across the organization:

• Women themselves must become more adept at managing their careers, at advocating for themselves and at creating allies who will stand up for them when they are not at the table.
• Managers must develop their skills to coach, encourage and advance those on their teams who are not like them, including women in general and especially women of color. They need to expose their female talent to stretch opportunities that broaden both their skills and their visibility.
• Chief learning officers and HR professionals must work to foster systems and procedures that help level the playing field. For example, they can help ensure that women get the same kind of feedback as men — not the “soft feedback” currently so prevalent and relatively useless for career advancement.
• Senior leaders must be willing to enact change at all levels in response to the current needs and requirements of their workforce, especially their female talent. Yesterday’s paradigms are often today’s problems.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”

While these strategies are key; they alone won’t attract and retain female talent. Peter Drucker, the iconic management guru, has a famous quote which has always resonated with me: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Drucker’s assessment is especially meaningful in today’s environment where more and more employees, especially women, are looking to corporate culture as a reason to join an organization, or to stay with it. 

A recent blog on TAB described the difference between strategy and culture this way: “While strategy defines direction and focus, culture is the habitat in which strategy lives or dies. Strategy focuses on resourcefulness and skillfulness, while culture defines engagement, passion and execution.”

Strategies work best when buoyed by a corporate culture that fosters passionate buy-in at all levels to implement change and seek out improvements. An effective corporate culture keeps strategies relevant and meaningful by regularly assessing the effectiveness of current policies and procedures in light of the current environment.

Additionally, successful corporate culture brings with it a willingness to move beyond a one-size-fits all mentality. Flexibility in pathways to career advancement, flexibility in looking at the needs and requirements of a continually more diverse workforce, flexibility in work hours better positions an organization to attract and retain female talent.

In my previous article, I underscored the importance of scaffolding — creating a multi-layer, multi-level structure that buttresses the organization and supports change and progress. It applies everywhere and to everyone. It is the underpinning for bringing together strategy and culture to attract, retain and develop female talent from the minute they walk in the door. It helps ensure no one’s breakfast gets eaten.

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The field of learning and development is undergoing a major transformation in the company of artificial intelligence. For organizations to remain competitive in today’s rapidly evolving work environment, they must keep up with these advancements. 

The rise of AI in L&D

L&D is now widely accepted as a value-add across the most successful organizations today, helping to develop, engage and retain their most valued employees. According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, “opportunities to learn and grow” are the most highly rated culture-drivers worldwide.

However, L&D practitioners, who usually help others in their organizations adapt to change, are now faced with adapting to change themselves, as AI tools become more accessible in everyday life. The most popular of these tools, the generative AI ChatGPT developed by OpenAI which recently received a multi-year $10 billion investment by Microsoft, has expanded the possibilities of what is possible in L&D today. This article explores the benefits of using AI in talent development, as well as exploring the possible challenges and risks of doing so.

The benefits of AI in L&D

Increased efficiency and scalability. AI can help increase the efficiency of L&D practitioners at all levels, allowing them to better scale their offerings and reach more employees with less upfront effort. As AI tools expand and become integrated into the systems we use every day, they will drive efficiency at an even faster rate. For instance, Microsoft has recently integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine and announced plans to further integrate it into other Microsoft products, like Word. This level of accessibility will allow L&D professionals to quickly draft initial workshop outlines, implementation plans, communications and detailed content on a variety of subject matters.

Personalized learning experiences. AI can help L&D practitioners quickly develop personalized learning experiences, tailored to the individual needs of each team or individual. With the correct amount of input information entered in a prompt, an extremely individualized learning journey can be outlined in seconds, with robust learning material developed with a few more follow-up prompts.

Increased ROI. The potential for increased ROI is not just highly likely, but already being achieved in some organizations that are using AI effectively. By quickly creating more customized content, employees can receive the learning they need when they need it as opposed to traditional learning approaches that are often event-based and developed in a one-size-fits-all method.

Virtual coaching. AI will soon be able to provide virtual coaching on-demand, making these services more accessible and convenient for employees at all levels to reap the benefits of an often-costly service. While AI in its current form is nowhere near on-par with highly experienced certified coaches, it is not inconceivable that in the near future they will be able to exhibit more conversational skills, empathy and critical thinking.

Interactive simulations and gamification. AI can create interactive simulations and help gamify learning to make it more engaging and more likely to stick. Role-playing scenarios with peers are a common tool used to practice new skills before using them in real-time. With AI, these scenarios can be customized, in real-time, to an employee’s needs, when and where they need it, not just during group workshops.

Possible use cases and example prompts

Training outline:

You are a trainer, facilitator and L&D manager at a successful tech company. You are professional, smart and well-spoken. Write a training workshop outline on best practices for one-on-one meetings with employees for managers. Make it engaging, interactive and useful.

Engagement activities:

What are some examples of interactive exercises that I could facilitate virtually to drive engagement and learning on meetings best practices? Provide me with five examples and a description of the activity.

Description and learning objectives:

Can you provide a high-level description of this outline? Provide me with a brief overview and learning objectives.

Communications:

Can you create a relaxed and helpful Slack message to a channel for managers only? The Slack message should aim to inform and advertise the new offering to managers to get them and their teams to participate in it once launched.

Interview prep and gamification:

Let’s gamify the interview process. You are the interviewer. I am the interviewee. For each answer that you judge me to have answered in a satisfactory and correct manner, you will give me one point. For each answer that you judge me to have answered incorrectly, you will subtract one point. After five questions, give me a tally.

You are a hiring and L&D manager at a large tech company working on their people team. You are looking to hire a director of learning and employee engagement. Ask a relevant interview question related to the subject matter expertise someone in that role would be expected to have every time I ask you to ask me a question.

Please start by asking me one question. I will submit my response. I would like you to give me feedback based on my response with areas for improvement.

Personalized learning plans:

You are an expert trainer and certified coach in the ___ industry. You are developing learning plans based on your team’s professional development goals. You have a new manager that needs to learn basic skills management skills across five one-hour virtual sessions. Create a lesson plan and outline for each session with a focus on one core skill per session. This new manager is an excellent communicator and develops her team well, but they need help delegating work and leaning into productive conflict and debate more.

Suggest a couple of books that focus on these topics in a business environment to supplement the five sessions.

Naming:

Give me name suggestions for an onboarding program at a company named _____ in the ____ industry. The new hire orientation is focused on culture transfer, department overviews, and our brand story. I want a catchy name instead of just calling it “onboarding”. Our brand is seen as smart, progressive, at the cutting edge and is in the hyper-growth stage. Give me 10 suggestions.

Challenges and risks

Ensuring data privacy and security. Organizations are rightfully concerned with employees feeding potentially confidential information into these public tools like ChatGPT. But, as AI tools begin to become monetized, we can expect them to begin to offer Enterprise License Agreements where an instance of the tool can be privately accessed by all employees within an organization’s existing IT-infrastructure, negating the risk of data leaks.

Copyright infringement and liability. Recently, Getty Images sued a generative AI image creation tool, Stable Diffusion by Stability AI, for using its expansive, copyrighted image library to train their software. This case, and others like it that will follow, will set the precedence for how AI companies will be allowed to operate in our market. How will this case affect the company of an employee who used the tool to generate images that look similar to a Getty image that they then used in a marketing campaign or internal presentation? Questions like these will have to be answered and in the meantime, it’s best that L&D professionals err on the side of caution.

Addressing skill gaps. Organizations need to address the development of new AI-related skills as the roles of many professionals will change once AI is more widely adopted. Training on how to input the proper prompts to get useful outputs will be critical. L&D professionals will shift from being creators, as many instructional designers are now for instance, to primarily serving as editors. Their work will be focused more on customizing content to their company’s culture, fact-checking information and facilitating or program managing.

Creating a culture that supports AI-driven learning. The importance of creating a culture that supports and embraces AI-driven L&D cannot be understated. Culture plays a critical role in the successful adoption and implementation of any change initiative, and AI’s adoption is no different. Its introduction into everyday work-life has to be a well-planned and implemented endeavor with buy-in garnered from across the organization.

Inaccurate information. The current state of AI is such that it cannot be trusted to give completely accurate information all the time. ChatGPT itself has a “limitations” warning claiming it “may occasionally generate incorrect information.” As such, any AI output should be thoroughly reviewed and fact-checked by a knowledgeable professional that is equipped to make judgements on the fidelity of the content.

Ensuring ethical use of AI. Organizations should consider writing AI-related policies that directly outline which areas of work are acceptable for AI-usage and which are not. There are also ethical issues that must be addressed, such as:

1. Bias: AI algorithms can perpetuate and amplify existing biases based on the data it has learned from. Organizations should actively work to reduce bias in AI algorithms by conducting regular reviews, testing for bias and implementing a rigorous fact-checking process.

2. Job loss: AI-powered L&D and other emerging tools can nearly automate certain tasks and processes, leading to the fear, or reality, of job loss for some employees. Organizations should invest in upskilling and reskilling programs to support employees whose jobs may be impacted by AI.

Conclusion

While the emergence of everyday AI use will be a huge boon to L&D professionals in terms of efficiency and productivity, the ethical concerns and risks counterbalance the benefits at first. As generative AI becomes more knowledgeable, effective and nuanced though, the benefits will far outweigh the risks.

Ultimately, L&D departments and businesses that do not begin to at least explore these new tools may be left behind as this technology empowers their competitors. The future of L&D lies in AI use, with possible use-cases yet to have been discovered, let alone perfected. All L&D teams should begin to invest their time in exploring generative AI tools and the possible use cases that may make their jobs easier while also making them more effective and productive.

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Organizations are increasingly recognizing the competitive advantage of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategies in the battle to attract and retain the best staff. It means that today, more than ever, DEIB training has become a priority.

But is the training being done in the most effective way to bring about lasting change? Or, is progress being held back by out-of-date training methods and beliefs? Embracing adult learning theory and the human story is vital for successful transformation. It’s no longer about checking the box — but redefining it.

So, what are the key things learning and development professionals need to bear in mind when it comes to successful DEIB training?

Start by challenging the motives behind your organization’s inclusion activities. Inclusive cultures require much more than isolated training — and, unless you take the time to consider how you will turn insight into action, your efforts could be doomed to failure. Focused and practical inclusion training, tied to a change agenda, will help employees consciously adopt new practices — both behavioral and organizational. But unless they see evidence of systemic change, their enthusiasm will soon disappear.

It is also time to change the way you think about compliance. All too often, training focuses on “gained compliance” — a check-box immunity for the coming year. Gaining compliance in DEIB suggests your work is done — when, actually, it should be the first step. True success needs to be measured in marked cultural change, not mere attendance. Instead of viewing compliance as a sign-off, think of it as a collection of check-in efforts throughout the year — a learning pathway of practical application, monitored and measured through the commitment of employees and the results of their invested time.

Treating DEIB training as a detached transfer of knowledge is a common mistake. Introducing emotions is crucial for motivation and effective change. Of course, logical and practical application is essential for behavioral change – but successful DEIB training hinges on emotional discomfort. It is natural to rebel against being told how to act or think, and emotions influence the effectiveness of learning. Acknowledge the emotional health required for DEIB change and understand that motivation must be intrinsically inspired.

A useful technique when it comes to DEIB training is flipping the classroom, in which the learning content is shared, via digital resources, prior to the training event. Additionally, trainers should think of themselves as facilitators rather than instructors. As a result, the classroom event is transformed from a two-hour knowledge download to an interactive opportunity to test new-found information, with learning from both the facilitator and peers in practical application. Flipped learning allows learners to experience the topic at their own pace and arrive at the classroom event prepared for practical and tangible discussions.

As modern DEIB delivery requires lived experiences or topical expertise — as well as the emotional intelligence to create a safe learning space — to truly elevate your offering, think beyond your immediate and traditional training delivery team. While your go-to delivery team may be effective, take the time to question the team’s depth of understanding when it comes to creating a safe environment and speaking with expertise pertaining to particular groups. Don’t be afraid to shake things up and use your internal subject matter experts, your employee resource group participants or your business champions — pulling together a faculty of facilitators with deep, researched or lived experience to speak with insight and authenticity. This will not only authenticate your experiences, but also provide great development opportunities and showcasing of diverse talent.

Enhancing all of the above is, of course, offering point-of-need learning opportunities. In a world of instant gratification, we have become used to expecting answers within minutes. And training has to be perceived as relevant if it is to succeed. Formal scheduled training events risk being squeezed out by the competing demands of busy workloads. A more successful approach is often to layer training events with digital resources that can be accessed when the employee needs them — when an interaction or event has caused them to question what they know. Make these “just in time” learning resources easy-to-use knowledge nuggets so that learners don’t have to wade through heaps of irrelevant information.

In a constantly evolving world of social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, L&D professionals cannot rest on their laurels with outdated DEIB learning templates and the ever-present iceberg graphic. Diverse and inclusive companies are 35 percent more likely to outperform their competitors, according to research by McKinsey & Company. And diverse management teams lead to 19 percent higher revenue, a Boston Consulting Group study has found. It is time to truly embrace a new way of proceeding, using adult learning insights to ensure an impactful and transformational metamorphosis.

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At a time when companies are shifting priorities, strategies and resources to better position themselves in a post-COVID recovery environment, employees are also thinking about how they can best move forward with their career plans. As the enterprise learning and development function, we must be prepared, flexible, adaptable and globally consistent to support business challenges.

During our first 100 days as a newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery learning team, we created an experience for employees that met them where they were. We thoughtfully discussed what employees needed at a time when there was so much happening in the world. We knew this event could be a learning solution for everyone to gain new perspectives. Utilizing our first learning initiative as WBD, we saw the opportunity to support employees and leverage the team’s interests and strengths. In addition, this approach was a pseudo-team-building exercise for our learning professionals.

While strategizing in several brainstorming sessions, our thoughts centered on what would help people no matter where they were in their career journey. Although creating a webinar series was a great team bonding event, we performed better than we expected in the forming stage of team development. The outcome of our collective expertise made it evident that everyone put their hearts into the work. I am proud of the program the team delivered and felt compelled to share insights from our learning initiative.

Team approach

With a new L&D team forming, we focused on building relationships within the team to effectively deliver a solution that would resonate with employees. This learning initiative was an opportunity to break out of the norm and expand our knowledge of each other by utilizing everyone’s skills, strengths and interests. We started the journey with the following:

● What were each team member’s skills, strengths, and interests.

● What problem(s) were we solving, and what story will we be able to tell afterward.

● What learning methods in their experience worked well for this challenge.

Understanding the team’s skills, strengths and interests allowed our learning professionals to contribute to the learning initiative in ways that supported their career goals.

Strategy development

Based on the environment at that time, we used the following areas to understand the opportunities and the indicators of success:

1) Overtones and undertones. Deciphering what was happening on a macro-, meso- and micro- level aided in identifying what would resonate with people. Change was the consistent theme, and career development and career advancement have been heightened priorities for employees during the pandemic. Using a career-focused perspective allowed us to hone in on tangible areas that would help an individual navigate to a solution they deemed appropriate.

2) Individual strengths and interests. This was a unique opportunity to break out of the regimented and often theoretical recommendations for change initiatives. So, providing the space for team members to explore and bond ushered in the room for creativity and innovation. As a newly formed learning team, understanding individual strengths and interests before collaborating on goals and executing the plan were imperative to achieving success.

3) Appropriate learning strategies. With a global workforce, there are many ways to deliver learning solutions. However, managing through various complexities led us to the right solution at the right time. Usually, a live session can have a long tail for consumption if designed and appropriately produced to engage learners who access the training as an on-demand option. A byproduct of this effort also enhanced the team’s ability to deliver just-in-time learning solutions amid transformations.

4) Storytelling strategies. Most times, the impact of training can fall flat if a data strategy is not considered part of the deliverable. Identifying our stakeholders and detailing the benefits of the training led us to ask this simple question: How are we connecting the dots for business leaders and employees? Learning initiatives have at least two main ways of signaling the benefits: business justification and learner impact. We used qualitative and quantitative data to create communication for leaders and employees, aiding in messaging the initiative’s outcomes.

Learning solution

There were five themes identified to support employees no matter where they were in their careers. We used internal subject matter experts and renowned external speakers to deliver the content and facilitate the conversation.

● Mindset — How can one’s mental model prohibit them from achieving career goals?

● Brand — How can one build a personal brand that aligns with their career aspirations?

● Impact — How can one perform at a high level through significant changes?

● Wellness — How can one improve balance for physical, emotional, and mental health?

● Influence — How can one advocate for one’s self and others?

Using a multi-modal approach that included a live webinar with on-demand replays made it easy for everyone to participate. After each session, participants had access to one-page practical application tips for using key learnings. We edited the 60-minute webinars to five-minute micro-learning videos for busy employees. Both versions were available with surveys for employee listening feedback loops. Finally, each webinar theme also featured self-paced courses for learners to go deeper in their areas of interest.

Favorable outcomes

The first learning initiative was an excellent opportunity to help employees navigate change professionally and personally. We utilized quantitative and qualitative data to understand how employees responded to the training. The data collected were from surveys that aided in understanding how the participants felt about their current situation, what they valued and what were their priorities for learning, among others.

While gauging how the learning solution resonated, we found that the data also provided validation that our approach aligned with participants’ expectations. Employees were already starting to think as one team. They wanted to build trust, support others and display a positive mindset as we began our new chapter. Participants frequently used words such as optimism, positivity, trust (yourself and others), resilience, shared leadership, collaboration, relationships, support, curious, learn, innovate and inclusive.

The data also showed that learner sentiments were positive, and that people were agreeable to using the tips and tools provided during the sessions. Recurring themes like “learn”, “curious”, “collaboration”, “innovate”, inclusive” and “relationships” set a tone for our new guiding principles. This information was input for the next phase of learning strategies and how we could build on the established foundation.

Overall, employees found the program to be useful and felt that they learned something they could apply professionally and personally. The WBD Learning Speaker series served a significant purpose as the first shared event employees of both legacy companies engaged in, resulting in a positive outcome. To support our new culture and embed the guiding principles into the fabric of the organization, we are using pragmatic approaches for modeling our values and providing employees with unique learning opportunities.

As we move forward, the combined successes of our legacy companies are a testament to our ability to create premier global brands. And for the L&D function, it starts with leaning into the challenges of a transformation and seeing the opportunity to deliver just-in-time learning experiences in novel ways.

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The tragic murder of George Floyd in May of 2020 sparked a global movement for racial justice, compelling corporations to address racial inequalities. Diversity, equity and inclusion  training gained massive traction in the aftermath. However, despite initial progress, the media is now filled with criticism that the corporate world’s approach to DEI is flawed. Yet, with Tyre Nichols’ death in January of 2023 serving as a powerful and painful reminder, we are forced to question what exactly corporations, as bastions for American culture, are doing to truly disrupt systems of inequity. What responsibility does every American business have to raise consciousness around DEI?

Quick fix or DEI-washing

Recent arguments that corporate DEI training is a “fad psychology” suggest that diversity training is yet another trend waiting to be replaced by the next iteration of socially conscious programming. While this perspective is unacceptably destructive, it does highlight one glaring issue with many organizations’ approach to diversity training — that of “DEI-washing.”

DEI-washing manifests as actions such as implementing “quick fix” diversity solutions such as annual “diversity training” workshops, using images of Black people and people of color in print ads to make the company appear more diverse or hiring a leader of color without unbiasing the systems and processes that inhibit diverse talent development. Out-dated DEI programs expend time and resources on word dissection and phrases rather than addressing real inequalities and correcting them. Some argue that DEI-washed programs even threaten dominant groups.

DEI-washing is the rough equivalent of hiring marginalized associates into a burning building and choosing to address everything but the fire and the smoke. It has led to DEI efforts’ most significant threat yet: A great deal of visibility, but with very little meaningful real change in organizational behavior. As summarized in an extensive 2022 diversity analysis, employers will suffer major losses if quality investments are not made in diversity efforts. What is needed is a more modern approach to diversity training.

Outdated DEI training must go

Antiquated approaches fail to acknowledge a key component of a more modern approach to diversity training — that of belonging. Belonging manifests as creating inclusive spaces where all individuals can see themselves reflected. Successful diversity leaders leverage diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging — DEIB — as the foundation for diversity learning and development programs. These programs are carefully curated following a thorough assessment and diagnosis of organizational culture, structure, gaps and change readiness. They should exist for all employees, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.

Modern programs leveraging the DEIB framework create the foundation necessary to enable internal change through proven social learning methods. It is not solved in an e-learning module or a single course. Gone are the days of one-off, mandatory, check-the-box bias/diversity training. We must stop using employee resource groups as the only mechanism for meeting business needs. We need to provide true sponsorship for individual members of minority groups. And, we need to stop relying only on our employees of color to lead diversity efforts.

Effective DEIB strategies

To gain both the human and business benefits of DEIB, organizations must formally incorporate DEIB strategies as a foundation of their multi-year strategic plan, which is tied to business and human capital successes. Like any growth initiative, DEIB programs must have meaningful ties to all the business goals, and must commit funding to support organizational change. Corporations must have clear metrics that measure DEIB specific to organizational success, such as measuring engagement to increase productivity, reducing turnover to manage costs or measuring growth in customer demographics. These are not easy solutions, but they are grounded in basic business sense that all successful leaders understand: A transformative strategic plan is tied directly to addressing business growth.

Imagine a workplace where all employees feel a genuine sense of belonging, work together to develop solutions and innovate products and have a long, successful tenure. Your customers feel heard and are loyal to your brand. Your business is thriving. Welcome to a reality that is not an annual check-box training, but a solution for success that DEIB can bring to your business.

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The pandemic forced us to adapt to new ways of working and learning nearly overnight. Suddenly, the kitchen doubled as an office, and the classroom became a collection of faces on a screen. As organizations and employees scrambled to adapt, new technologies emerged to support corporate learning and workplace collaboration, forever transforming our brick-and-mortar, pre-pandemic ways of doing business and acquiring knowledge. 

As pandemic restrictions eased and workers began to return to the office, it became evident that remote work did not negatively impact productivity or innovation. On the contrary, employees appreciated the flexibility of working from home and learning outside of a traditional classroom setting. 

Significant portions of the workforce now expect remote or hybrid options, and may even change jobs if they are not available. Employees expect organizations to help them grow and build capabilities as new technologies emerge at breakneck speeds. The hybrid world of work and learning is now an expectation, not an exception. 

Organizations must figure out what a hybrid workplace looks like beyond shared office spaces and state-of-the-art video conferencing tools to meet those expectations and attract and retain top talent. Today, employees seek non-tangible and material benefits. Such abstract perks include flexibility in work arrangements, a sense of belonging and community, personal and professional development opportunities and a sense of purpose in their work.

The good news is that these trends align with our human biology. Humans are wired to learn, grow and live purposeful lives. Organizations can leverage new developments in the science of learning to craft an employee experience that meets the evolving demands of a hybrid workforce.

Learning in a hybrid environment 

Attempts to transcend the boundaries of the traditional classroom environment are not new. While learning patterns (how, when and where) have been changing incrementally over the years, only recently — with the onset of a global pandemic coupled with advances in education technology — could we experience the power of learning anywhere, anytime. 

Hybrid learning is an event where some individuals attend virtually online while others are physically present in the same room. Facilitators employ video conferencing tools to deliver instruction live to in-person and online learners simultaneously. The undisputed benefits of hybrid learning include the following:

• Flexibility — you can learn from anywhere, anytime and from any device.
• Affordability — reduction in travel costs such as flights, hotels and rental facilities.
• Safety — if a participant is ill, they can still attend without the risk of infecting others. 

However, challenges around learner engagement (boredom, low participation), technical difficulties (unstable or slow internet connection) and miscommunication between instructor and participants (lack of clear body language) continue to frustrate learning designers and participants alike. 

How can talent developers overcome challenges with hybrid learning while creating continuity between in-person and remote learners’ experiences? There is a winning approach: Combine education technology with brain-science principles of how we best learn. 

New developments in neuroscience help create effective learning solutions 

Here are some key findings that can enhance your learning design. 

1. The brain is built for lifelong learning.

New developments in the neuroscience of learning show that learning continues throughout life, a phenomenon scientists call neuroplasticity (our ability to change or reorganize existing neural pathways) and neurogenesis (the ability to form new neural pathways). It’s never too late for people to learn new skills or change behaviors.

2. Humans have nine types of memory.

One essential aspect of designing more effective learning is understanding how memory works. 

Scientists have discovered nine types of memory: two types of short-term and seven types of long-term memory. Short-term memory includes sensory memory (like noticing the temperature in the room which lasts only seconds) and working memory, which lasts a few minutes, unless something pushes it to long-term memory. As learning designers seek learning transfer and application, moving learned information or behavior from short to long-term memory is the goal. 

Long-term memory lasts a lifetime and scientists have discovered both conscious or unconscious types of memory. 

Conscious memory includes semantic memory, like learning information or facts. This memory requires effort to be consciously recalled and remembering learned information. Many of us in the learning and development industry work with semantic memory as we train employees on compliance and safety policies, onboard new staff to the organization’s culture and processes or provide knowledge on how to satisfy a customer. If you want learning encoded into long-term semantic memory, information retrieval through quizzes, polls, group discussions and presentations on the topic are effective tools for learning to stick. 

The other type of conscious memory is called episodic — the personal memories we each have from lived experiences where we can recall the sights, sounds, smells and sensations. Let’s say you go to Paris on vacation. Your brain takes in all that data through your senses and encodes it as an episodic memory. Later, we can recall that memory by simply seeing a picture of the Eiffel Tower or smelling a croissant, for example. Events activate the memory pathway, bringing it to the surface with vivid clarity.  

In his new memoir, “Spare,” Prince Harry shares how he used his mother’s perfume to help unlock memories he had lost of her due to suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Smell and music are particularly powerful for eliciting memories. Consider how you might use these in your learning design.

There are five types of unconscious memory including somatic, emotional, non-associative (habituation and sensitization), priming and procedural, which includes learning new skills or habits. We’ll focus more on this last one. 

3. New skills and habits require repetition

The basal ganglia is the brain structure responsible for helping us learn new skills or develop positive habits. 

Suppose you want to train managers on skills like coaching, resolving conflict or creating psychological safety. To ensure the behavior becomes ingrained in memory and can be performed quickly and without conscious effort, learners must practice it repeatedly. The repetition of the behavior is critical to making the learning stick, rather than relying on recall. 

Every day, we execute many habits, both professionally and personally. Examples include brushing your teeth, using your smartphone or driving a car. These are tasks we perform on autopilot that do not require conscious effort. The basal ganglia converts frequently performed behaviors into energy-saving neural pathways, allowing us to perform them with minimal effort while preserving brain capacity for other important tasks. These automatic, effortless behaviors are commonly referred to as habits.

As L&D professionals, we must look at forming habits as a framework for thinking about behavior change in the workplace. Here is what we know about habits and how they are formed: 

• We need to repeat a behavior at least twenty times to form a new neural pathway.
• On average, it takes 40 to 50 repetitions for the basal ganglia to form a habit where the behavior becomes automatic.
• At 66 repetitions, neurons get thicker, much like muscles that get bigger with use. 

Like your muscles, the more you use them, the stronger they get. The implication? To build skills, L&D events should emphasize hands-on practice to help individuals progress as much as possible in forming new habits. Teaching habit design at the start of your learning event is a good strategy too. It helps people understand how we are programmed to continue repeating old behaviors. With this awareness, people can be more participative on their journey to adopting new or better habits.

Understanding habit design and how our brains form and recall memories is essential because they inform which learning methods to use. These brain-based strategies can help overcome challenges in hybrid environments, such as maintaining learner engagement, enhancing retention, preventing feelings of isolation and facilitating the transfer of learning.

Emerging technologies and learning

Effective learning plays a crucial role in retaining and satisfying employees, making it important for learning designers to approach their work with intention and a focus on evidence-based practices. To achieve this, designers must expand their toolkits and clearly understand when and how to use each tool. 

The good news is that the human brain learns through all kinds of activities, ranging from a simple written document to elaborate virtual reality experiences. But you’ll need to pick the tools that are most suited to achieving your goals, supporting your learners and aligning with budgetary and scaling expectations. Many powerful learning methods can be employed with very little technology, such as self-reflection, group discussions, role-plays, quizzes, polls and assessments. 

Videos are easy to create and deploy. They activate the mirror neuron system, which helps humans learn through observing others. And, we can also use technology to make these methods faster, better or more affordable. 

As the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds become increasingly blurred, L&D professionals must be prepared to integrate cutting-edge, immersive technologies into their training programs as they are revolutionizing the speed at which we learn. 

Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies such as augmented, mixed and virtual realities can provide personalized and adaptive learning experiences that create realistic simulations for hands-on learning. Extended reality is already used in the medical field to simulate hands-on training for surgical procedures. It is also used in science classes to demonstrate molecular-level structures that are otherwise invisible to the human eye and in virtual research labs where students gather data in a simulated environment, among others. VR simulations in particular register in the brain as lived experiences, creating long-term memories. Several organizations are leveraging this technology to rapidly scale behavior change while creating safe environments for their learners to practice new skills. It is truly learning by doing and being. 

As L&D professionals expand their toolkits and consider incorporating VR and other immersive technologies into their programs, it is a good rule of thumb to use them for experiences that would otherwise be DICE (dangerous, impossible, counterproductive or expensive). Another good rule of thumb is that form follows function. If a PDF solves the problem, you don’t need to build a VR experience. To maintain their competitive edge, learning designers must understand how the brain learns and be skilled at determining the most appropriate technology to incorporate into their instructional events. 

Here are five practical tips you can incorporate into your design to make learning stick:

1. Start by defining your learning goals, then decide which learning methods will help you achieve them. Ask yourself: What type of memory am I trying to create? Which technology, if any, can help me get there? 
2. Ensure you factor in several opportunities for participants to practice the behavior you want them to develop. (Remember: Behaviors take 40-50 repetitions to become automatic habits.)
3. Break the new behavior into small, easy steps to lessen cognitive overload and ensure learner success.
4. Leverage the power of storytelling and visual imagery to create engaging presentations.
5. Allocate plenty of individual reflection and time to debrief and learn from large group discussions.

As we continue to work with a hybrid workforce consisting of remote and in-person employees, we must focus on creating a positive employee experience. The key is to design and execute a strategic learning plan that is both effective and impactful. L&D professionals must be prepared to expand their toolkits and consider which tools will have the most significant impact. We must be intentional about when and how we bring people together while attempting to integrate learning seamlessly into their workflows.

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Call it a tale of two labor markets. Recent headlines have been dominated by tech companies laying-off highly compensated, white-collar professionals as they grapple with the effects of inflation. At the same time, other industries have numerous job vacancies.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, employers experienced a mass exodus from the workforce, whose repercussions continue to present them with many challenges. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 4.5 million workers voluntarily quit their jobs in March of 2022 alone. This Great Resignation has made it challenging for some companies to find qualified employees, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in December 2022 was 3.5 percent, which may make recruitment more difficult. Talent gaps also exist internally within companies, and only 27 percent of employees worldwide feel very equipped with resources to learn the digital skills needed in today’s workplace. 

Companies are being affected by a “training treadmill,” in which an increased focus on hiring and training for positions vacated due to turnover is reducing the amount of time and energy available for focusing on productivity. Meanwhile, many companies are worrying about a potential recession, as their executives brace for scrutiny of all budgets, including their learning and development budgets. 

It’s arguably more important than ever that internal L&D initiatives produce hard data to show a demonstrable return on investment — that proves, in other words, that skills can be measured in terms of what new employees bring with them and then what they learn on the job. But how can organizations be certain that skills-based education and training in the workplace is effective today and over the long haul?

Corporate trainers might be able to draw inspiration from the world of postsecondary education, where instructors and administrators have been working to perfect competency-based education. This data-driven learning practice offers multiple lessons for corporate trainers seeking a roadmap for successful skills-based practices.

CBE uses professionally aligned assessments — which can take a variety of forms — to measure the learner’s skill set. Once learners demonstrate via testing their competence in a verified skill or curriculum standard, they can progress through course material at a pace that makes sense for them. Through the painstaking process of mapping professionally relevant competencies to course content, colleges can use these assessments to gather data that gives them an understanding of how well learners are mastering specific topics. 

When companies and organizations recognize and build upon the current skill sets of their employees, they can offer L&D opportunities that are more efficient and more relevant. They can help their employees develop new skills rather than review lessons learned long ago. Companies don’t have time to waste and neither do their employees.

Corporate trainers are leveraging their own short-form assessments to measure skills and track how quickly employees are learning new ones. Indeed, a growing number of companies are looking beyond traditional hiring and development methods, and turning to pre-hire and on-the-job assessments to better understand their employees. Companies like Catalyte are using online tools to assess individual skills to identify, train and develop non-traditional talent to tech careers.

A 2021 American Institutes for Research report highlighted case studies of 10 employers, including IBM, Comcast and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, that had integrated skills-based practices into employee development. Companies that had succeeded in this space had followed the same basic blueprint: They identified and defined necessary skills, measured skills, incorporated skills validation and tracking into existing HR infrastructure, and identified the benefits and outcomes of this work. The data collected allowed these organizations to gain an accurate picture of the current capabilities and future readiness of their workforces.

While implementing flexible CBE programs over the years, we have learned they can provide another side benefit: It helps us understand where learners need support. By combining CBE’s personalized learning programs with success coaching, academic advising and competency mapping, students can track their progress and understand how their learning aligns with career fields they’re seeking to break into.

Corporate trainers should consider supplementing skills-based practices with digital tools to track learning progress, provide internal road maps for career advancement and conduct 360 reviews where employees are assessed by their managers, peers and direct reports. By making these resources easily accessible, organizations can help employees prepare for their next project and their next company role.

Finally, a shift to measuring skills and competencies has helped to break down barriers to diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Because CBE offers flexible pathways to educational advancement, it has been one tool to improve access for nontraditional learners.

With greater transparency around skills and competencies in the workplace, career opportunities may increase for a broader range of students and workers. Adult learners, veterans, career changers and those from historically excluded backgrounds who might have unfairly been overlooked in the past now have the means to demonstrate to potential employers what they know and can do.

When it comes to using data to assess skills, the competency-based learning models developed in postsecondary education offer numerous insights for companies that seek to better understand the impact of their training investments. Today’s growing talent shortages means it’s crucial that companies understand the skills and abilities of their employees. Lessons learned from CBE can provide corporate L&D leaders a much-needed framework for what works.

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The annual Chief Learning Officer Symposium was ranked number six in BigThink’s list of top 10 learning and development conferences of 2023.

The 2023 Symposium, which is hosted by CLO’s parent company BetterWork Media Group, will take place October 16-18, in San Diego, CA. This year’s theme is “All Eyes on the Future: Building a Culture of Lifelong Learning.” Inspiring keynotes, educational workshops and presentations given by subject matter experts are scheduled for each day of the event, and attendees can also receive recertification credits from ATD, SHRM and HRCI.

Some of the topics that will be covered include competency- and skills-based learning, experiential learning, the metaverse, AI and machine learning, company culture considerations, strategic business alignment and measurement.

Since 2004, the CLO Symposium has brought together learning and HR professionals to network, share anecdotes, overcome organizational and learner-related challenges and to learn from one another. From 2020 to 2022, the multi-day event was hosted in a virtual setting, and was attended by L&D professionals from across the globe.

Some past CLO Symposium keynote speakers include Elliott Masie, Ekpedeme “Pamay” M. Bassey, Adam Grant, Gary Vaynerchuk, Guy Raz, Michelle Gielan, Dan Heath, Heidi Grant Halvorson, Charles Duhigg, Troy Carter, Francesca Gino, Steve Pemberton, Gretchen Rubin, Amy Webb and Susan Packard.

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U.S. companies spend millions on first-time manager development programs, but 60 percent of these new managers fail within the first two years, indicating a poor return on that investment. These programs tend to focus solely on teaching managerial skills and competencies, but neglect to address the three critical mindsets required for success in a new leadership role.

While skills like budgeting, meeting management and setting team KPIs are all important, simply providing training in skills does not go far enough in preparing these individuals for a very challenging transition.

New leaders must recognize that the mindsets that helped them succeed as individual contributors may well hinder their success as managers, and they need training on how to shift these mindsets to those required for effective leadership. Unfortunately, most new manager development programs do not cover this crucial area. Mindsets are essential drivers of behavior and they can be developed through training. What are these critical mindsets that should be part of every new leader development program?

Mindset No. 1: The ‘self vs. team’ mindset

Individual contributors operate with a “self” orientation. They regard work as a chance for self-advancement, and they strive for the recognition associated with personal success. They know that they are measured on the work they perform as individuals. However, when promoted into a leadership role, the mindset needs to shift from self to team. The focus must be redirected from succeeding as an individual to fostering the success of the team. If a new manager neglects to make this mindset shift, they can fail. A new leader that seeks an “I” in team will not be successful in inspiring others to follow them. The team they lead has a much greater chance of being dysfunctional, non-collaborative and lacking in motivation and connection.

New leaders must pivot and adopt a “team mindset.” They must begin to view their work as an avenue for contributing to the success of the team they lead, not as a means to further their individual interest. When the team sees that the leader works in service of the group for the benefit of the collective, they are inspired to strive for excellence and show a higher level of commitment.

Mindset No. 2: The ‘problem avoidance vs. solution engagement‘ mindset

Individual contributors whose egos are closely tied to the positive feedback they’ve received for their abilities, knowledge and skills can be reluctant to engage in any effort that might cause others to question their capabilities.

As a result, individual contributors actively avoid situations or circumstances where they might make mistakes or need to highlight problems. They lean into circumstances that validate their competence and lean away from circumstances that do the opposite. They adopt a problem avoidance mindset. This mindset causes individual contributors to be reluctant to take on ambiguous challenges or risky opportunities out of a fear of failure. They know that they are not in control of the resources, support and even knowledge they might need to succeed so they’d rather not risk it. As a result, they pursue certainty and the status quo in order to protect their self-image and reputation.

Leaders, on the other hand, must challenge the status quo, pursue innovation and be open to change. They cannot afford to be too risk averse. They must imagine new possibilities and cannot be weighed down by the challenges or problems they may face in pursuing them.

New leaders must pivot to a solution engagement mindset. This can be especially challenging for more risk-averse personality types. There is a certain level of personal discomfort that comes along with making this mindset shift. And yet, if new leaders fail to make the shift, they will be stifled in their leadership roles. They will struggle to embrace change initiatives. They will find it hard to be adaptive and flexible. They will crawl toward the comfort of the way things have always been done, rather than pushing for a better way to do things. Leaders cannot be afraid of embarking on the unknown or taking on the hard stuff out of a fear of failure. Leaders need to set challenging goals, manage complex tasks and risk making mistakes. 

Mindset No. 3: The ‘rigid execution vs. flexible adaptive‘ mindset

Individual contributors who come onto the radar screen for leadership roles are often excellent at execution. They get the job done right and on time. When it comes to making decisions, individual contributors focus on the pragmatic aspects of implementing the decision they’ve made.

But with a laser focus on execution, they miss information and signals that might lead to a change in approach. They can be resistant to new information suggesting a different course of action, especially if that information goes against their strong opinions and beliefs. They might block out important information or disregard it. To them, what’s most important is getting the job done without distraction and delay.

When new leaders are overly focused on rigid execution, they become resistant to change and innovation, which can lead to missed opportunities and a failure to stay competitive. Leaders who are overly focused on rigid execution may also struggle to adapt to new situations and changing circumstances. They resist feedback and new ideas, which can lead to a lack of growth and development, and prevent learning. Rigid execution mindset leaders also create a rigid and inflexible work environment that stifles creativity and innovation, which can lead to decreased team engagement and motivation. They often struggle to foster collaboration, leading to working in silos and a lack of cooperation. Finally, leaders who are overly focused on rigid execution may become so concerned with their own processes and procedures that they lose sight of the needs and perspectives of customers and other stakeholders.A new leader’s failure to pivot away from a blind execution mindset toward a flexible adaptive mindset can have disastrous consequences for an organization. 

Instead, leaders must be open to new insights and information that challenges their existing views. They need to seek out the best ideas and the strongest approaches before creating a plan, making a decision or drafting a strategy. They need to embrace the best ideas that emerge from a diverse set of opinions. They also must accept that initiatives, courses of action and strategies shift as information and understanding increase. They have to be open to feedback.

In this sense, they need to be agile in their execution. Leaders with a flexible-adaptive mindset are able to adapt to new situations and changing circumstances, helping organizations remain nimble and responsive to the needs of their customers and stakeholders. Flexible adaptive mindset leaders are also skilled at fostering collaboration and teamwork, helping to build strong, cross-functional teams.

The reason why new manager training programs fail is because they neglect the critical need for inexperienced managers to understand and change the underlying mindsets that shape their behavior. Development programs should place emphasis on training managers to recognize that the mindsets that made them successful individual contributors may impede their success as new managers.

To help individuals make a successful transition, new leader development programs should prioritize training on the three critical mindsets. Through online courses, role-playing exercises and coaching sessions, managers can receive targeted interventions to shape their mindsets. Without this understanding and support, many new managers will fail despite conventional training in leadership skills.

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Savvy business leaders know that moments of crisis provide an opportunity to innovate and emerge stronger. Instead of hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass, the best businesses learn to ride the waves to get ahead of the competition. Innovation thrives during downturns and learning is core to this — as long as the rest of the business understands the role that learning plays. Therein lies the challenge for chief learning officers, with the right internal messaging and reporting, everyone will understand how downturns are actually the best time to invest in upskilling your people.

A renewed focus on business value

Given the current climate, business leaders are hyper-focused on ROI and business value with 44 percent changing their purchasing decisions due to rising costs. This means that learning and development metrics need to evolve beyond vanity metrics that fail to show learning’s true impact on business performance. The impact of any economic uncertainty on organizations are well-documented, with many leaders hunkering down and cutting back on anything they see as unnecessary spending. CLOs need to do everything they can to not be put in that category.

Uncovering the right data

The answer lies in data. If you can find the right metrics to show your senior stakeholders that learning is a clever investment and not just a cost center, then L&D won’t even be a consideration when budget cuts come.

Communicating business impact

It used to be two departments that had to worry when downturns loomed: marketing and L&D. But with the dawn of the Internet and digital channels, marketing evolved to show clearly how it impacted the bottom and top line. Qualified leads, cost per acquisition, customer churn rate and customer lifetime value are just some of the metrics that marketing uses to prove its worth to the wider organization. It’s time for L&D to do the same. 

Broadening L&D reporting

Make no mistake, like the marketing teams of the 2000s, L&D teams are now sitting on a potential mountain of data. The tricky part is identifying and consolidating the data you need from all parts of the business. This is where a close partnership with the heads of other business units will prove invaluable as they often have access to data that learning may not always see. This includes sales leads, onboarding time, performance and productivity metrics, customer satisfaction scores and more. Data generated by different business units during their daily work activities can complement other metrics L&D may own such as learning hours or investment in a learning resource. 

Increasing ethics more efficiently

Ericsson provides a good example of this in action. When it invested in a new online learning system, the L&D team were able to calculate that course completions rose by 62 percent while the cost of operating the learning technology ecosystem fell by half. Alongside this, business units were directly impacted by a 41 percent increase in ethical practices, with 97 percent of employees completing new anti-corruption training within the first two months of the system launching. This was a month faster than previous campaigns with higher completion rates.

Simultaneously, the L&D team also discovered that the number of workers who were learning five company-critical skills (5G, artificial intelligence + machine learning, collaboration, sales and automation) rose by 14 percent due to the new ecosystem. 

Understanding what matters to business heads

To tell the true story of what learning is doing in your business, you need to start using business-aligned metrics. But partnering with department heads has another benefit: You gain their buy-in, and possibly their budget, to do critical upskilling identified within their unit. 

Learning helps all teams to achieve more with less in very tactical and strategic ways. It can increase productivity and reduce attrition. Operational efficiencies are desired by business leaders at all times, but especially when conditions are tight. Learning can deliver some of those efficiencies, as long as you’re tracking the right metrics.

At IT staffing firm TEKsystems, aligning learning to what skills and knowledge sales leaders identified as important enabled new sales agent onboarding to be cut by four weeks. This meant they drove revenue faster and moved from training compensation to salaries sooner.

Looking long-term

It’s helpful to communicate the message that learning also prepares your workforce for post-downturn, because all recessions ultimately come to an end. Recovery is inevitable and organizations that have used the time sensibly will be able to springboard to success when the economy stabilizes. 

Partnering with other business heads will identify the critical long-term projects that you know will have to happen, downturn or not. You can then pinpoint the skills needed to make these projects a reality, alongside the current skill levels of a department and any potential shortages. Learning plans and talent academies can then be built to bridge the gap between what exists and what the department needs.

For technology investment group Prosus, investing in future-ready skills is crucial to its roadmap. It identified skills in AI that it needed to build in non-technical employees, as well as those seeking new career paths into AI. As a result of this targeted approach toward these two employee groups, it has enabled 101 developers to begin new career paths in machine learning and raised technical literacy for thousands more colleagues. Moreover, through its Privacy Technologist Programme, Prosus has expanded its bench of certified IAPP members (International Association of Privacy Professionals) from 30 to 246 people. 

The perfect time to upskill

It’s also worth mentioning that projects can often be delayed when a downturn materializes, which can give employees more capacity. There’s little opportunity cost, therefore, in using this time to develop skills that matter to the business now and in the future. Plus, it can help people feel less vulnerable which pays off when the market improves because employees will remember that during uncertain times, their employer invested in their career development and skills. That builds trust and loyalty.

It also signals confidence, both internally and externally. If you invest in learning during economic uncertainty, it shows that you’re planning for the future. That employees can rely on long-term opportunities at your organization and that your business is planning for growth post-downturn. 

Ensuring success post-downturn

The instinct to pause during any kind of uncertainty, economic or otherwise, is completely understandable. Yet, your people remain a critical part of your workforce and they need to spend this time wisely so they are ready to ramp-up when the good times come again. Now is the best time to upskill your people, as waiting until the economy improves will delay the benefits and cause your organization to lag behind.

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Deciding which analytics are needed has always been challenging in the learning and development field. Analytics measure success and serve as a basis for process improvement. The key is to define the metrics in categories or levels. The value chain, describing learning success at six levels, is the most accepted framework for categories of learning analytics. Regardless of where, how or when learning is provided in the future, certain metrics along this value chain will be important to capture to know and show the success of learning. 

The value chain

The first level is Level 0, Input, which measures volume, cost and time for the learning program. The first level of outcome is Level 1, Reaction, which defines how participants and others see value in the program. Level 2, Learning, measures the knowledge or skills gained from the program. And Level 3, Application, measures how participants are applying the new knowledge or skills in their environment. Application leads to Level 4, Impact. Every application should have a consequence, and that is the impact. The program’s impact is what the sponsors, funders and executives would like to see. The last and ultimate level of accountability is Level 5, ROI, which compares the monetary benefits to the program’s costs. 

The important thing about these levels is that the previous level’s success is necessary for the next level’s success. For example, you won’t have a positive ROI if there is no impact, and there won’t be an impact if there is no application. There is no application if there is no learning. Also, learning and reaction levels often influence each other. The amount of learning will affect reaction, and the amount of reaction can affect learning. Similarly, for application and impact, the amount of application will affect the impact, and the amount of impact can influence application. 

It doesn’t matter where, when or how the learning is delivered, these levels of data are present and define the success of learning. The challenge is to select an appropriate mix of metrics at each level that can lead to the success desired by all parties involved, particularly those who support, fund and sponsor L&D. The analytics must also provide enough data for process improvement during and after the program. Let’s examine possibilities in each of these levels. 

Level 0, Input

Input is important because it defines who is involved in the program. The most common metrics are the number and profile of those involved in the program. Another metric is the time participants are involved. Still, another metric is the cost of the learning. While this measure is necessary if you evaluate at the ROI level, it is sometimes needed just to see the efficiency of one approach compared to another. The key is to include all the costs — not just the direct cost but the indirect cost for needs assessment, design, development, implementation, facilitating, managing the process and even the follow-up evaluation. Input is essential but does not represent outcomes. 

Level 1, Reaction

Reaction is how the participants (and others involved in the program) see value in the program. The metrics should focus on content-related issues and not on the experience. This is not to suggest that experience is not important, but it is the content that will deliver the value later. If participants have a bad experience, it is usually adjusted early in the process. Figure 1 shows some recommended reaction metrics. The items with the asterisk indicate a significant positive correlation between reaction and application (extent of use). 

Figure 1. Typical reaction metrics 

One of the most popular metrics is number nine on the list, the net promoter score. This is calculated by taking the percentage of promoters and subtracting the detractors. (On a scale of zero to 10, if respondents select zero to six, they’re a detractor, seven to eight means they’re passive and nine to 10 means they’re a promoter.) Also, the items with asterisks are more executive-friendly. It is essential to have a few appropriate metrics (we suggest four, nine and 10) and stick with them to develop trends and benchmarking for most of your programs.

Level 2, Learning

Learning is at the heart of a program’s results, and measuring the success of learning can involve many tools, techniques and processes. But in the end, it is usually a simple acquisition of knowledge (concepts, facts, information, trends, etc.) and the skills acquired or enhanced. These two metrics are important to capture, and the key is to measure the extent to which people have learned what is necessary to make the program successful. 

Level 3, Application

Application is defined as the routine and systematic use of the skills and knowledge acquired in the program. While many techniques are available to measure application, surveys are usually sufficient. We suggest you consider three key performance indicators measured on a 5-point scale.

1. The extent of use.
2. The frequency of use. 
3. The success with use.

With application, it is helpful to capture enablers and barriers. We know that learning typically breaks down at this level. Understanding what got in the way or kept the learning from being applied is beneficial for process improvement. Measure barriers with a forced-choice option during the follow-up evaluation, and capture the enablers so you can continue or increase them. 

Level 4, Impact

There are two categories of impact metrics: tangible and intangible. Tangible metrics are those metrics that are easily converted to money. You can find hundreds of tangible and intangible metrics for a given organization, and Figure 2 shows some of the most important impact metrics. 

Figure 2. Examples of tangible and intangible impact metrics

Consider what tangible organizational metrics are essential to the top executives. These are metrics that the top executives monitor routinely and are concerned about constantly. Ideally, these metrics are connected to the program in the beginning. You can capture this data at the end of each program before the participants use the skills by asking how this program will influence these metrics using a 5-point scale. Then, in a follow-up, you can ask about the extent to which this program has influenced these metrics. 

The intangibles are those metrics that are not generally converted to money. You can collect intangible data in the same way. 

Level 5, ROI

ROI is the ultimate level on the value chain, as it compares the monetary benefits of the program to the costs. Evaluation at this level should be limited to those programs that are very expensive, strategic and important. ROI is very insightful data; leaders want to know if they are getting enough out of the program to cover the cost. 

This level involves converting data to money for each of the tangible impact metrics influenced by the program, tabulating the fully loaded cost of the program with direct and indirect costs, and calculating the ROI using two formulas (the benefit-cost ratio and ROI). Although the ultimate metric, ROI is not a metric that is routinely reported. It may be the most important metric you could deliver for executives because ROI shows that the program was worth it. Additionally, ROI may change the perception of learning because executives quickly see that L&D is an investment, not a cost, particularly if the ROI is positive. 

Conclusion

Moving up the value chain, the key to having essential analytics is selecting the measures that reflect the success you need and satisfying your executives. The challenge for most learning and development teams is to take their evaluations to the next level, moving them up the value chain. It doesn’t matter how the learning is delivered—It’s the same set of metrics. These metrics are essential, telling, insightful, and can make a big difference in the support for L&D—and, yes, the funding for L&D in the future.

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In a 1967 interview with CBS News, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “It’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his bootstraps.”

That quote plays in my head every time I hear a learning leader proudly proclaim something like, “We’ve built a learning culture, where employees own their own development.” 

A few years into it, we can look back and thoughtfully examine the results on the other side of this movement to “own your own development.” The headline is that it’s not going terribly well.

According to research by McKinsey & Company, the leading reason for quitting jobs from April 2021 to Apri 2022 was: “lack of career development & advancement.” It’s those same companies that believe they’ve built a culture of learning that are also seeing challenging turnover rates.

It appears that our employees either missed the memo that they now own their own development — or they’re not thrilled with what it means.

It’s at this point that I will admit that I think the sentiment of “owning your own career development” is partly right. You can’t make someone grow. They do have to own their own development.

However, what is implicit in this statement is that if learning and talent development gives everyone the same access to platforms or learning catalogs, then the learning and development team has done its part. “Parity” (aka “equality”) has been achieved by implementing that LXP and turning on access for all. 

To be fair, that approach is great for purposes of scale. However, it also allows the L&D team to deprioritize the additional needs of helping folks get started on their reskilling journey, and guiding their development so it achieves great career outcomes. 

In the most generous of situations, you may believe that the intelligence and personalization within your platforms will do the heavy lifting of customizing the learning experience to account for existing skills and variable distances to travel in the upskilling journey. For a small piece of content to learn a skill, sure, that may work. For reskilling and mobility that leads to new career opportunities? It’s underwhelming and is likely to produce widely variable outcomes.

In Guild Education’s American Worker Survey, about half of all workers (47 percent) say that not having the right experience, the right education or access to training programs has held back their careers, but this is even higher for Black workers (51 percent) and is much higher for Hispanic workers (60 percent).

Here’s the problem: The philosophy of “owning your own development” assumes that every employee has the same understanding of how to do it. But the truth is that all employees are not on an equal footing. There are folks in your organization who want to grow, they just don’t know how to start. They also might not know what is most tangibly linked to the next job. Or which program can help them navigate a complex schedule. 

This is why our high schools and colleges are full of guidance and career counselors who give us contextual feedback about what’s available to us, what’s required of us, and what we can do next. After that, most of us in white collar roles had access to mentors or could see others who had made transitions — there were models for us to follow. 

All of your workforce didn’t have a parent who was paid for their brains, not their hands. All of your workforce didn’t have family members who went to college. All of your workforce hasn’t seen a model for mentorship and networking.  

Academic research on occupational identity in adolescence paints a compelling picture about parental influence on how children see themselves and what kind of occupational identity they begin to form at a young age, how it influences their education selection, and what job they imagine they’ll have. In Guild’s internal research, we’ve found that more junior employees, especially those in front-line roles, need support in designing their career future and answering the question, “Where do I start?” 

It’s hard to know how to run the race of your own career if you don’t even understand where the starting line is.

Beyond that initial shaping, research has shown that networking has a causational impact on both salary and career growth. Last summer, McKinsey conducted a Social Capital survey and their findings show that senior leaders spend much more time getting in touch with old contacts, building new relationships and strengthening existing relationships than either middle managers or frontline workers. The same is true of men over women – only 11 percent of women say their network has grown over the past two years.    

Employees feel that reality as well. In the American Worker Survey, we also heard from employees that approximately one in four (26 percent) think that not having the right connections or network has been a barrier to advancing their careers. When discussing networking skills with a coworker, I was shocked when I found out that they actually taught her how to network in her MBA program. I’ve yet to find a company that teaches their employees about the importance of networking as a critical part of the “own your own career development” philosophy. Meanwhile, in Guild’s mid-program surveys, professional networking is the highest-requested area of career support among learners.  

This is most deeply needed among your most vulnerable populations —those frontline employees who are leaving in droves for a company they think will give them a little more money and a lot more opportunity. The data in the American Worker Survey tells us they don’t want to leave, 70 percent hope to still be with their current employer in two to five years, and in another study, Guild heard from 55 percent of respondents that they sought internal opportunities before leaving their employer.  

Creating a content library and having a philosophy of “develop yourself” isn’t enough for the majority of your workers to understand how to develop into the talent pipeline you need for the future, and they’re being left behind as a result. Roughly three-quarters of all workers (74 percent) in Guild’s American Worker Survey said they would be “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to leave their current employer if they were offered another job with additional education and career opportunities. This is even higher for Black workers and Hispanic workers (82 percent and 88 percent, respectively).

Here’s how you can start to drive a richer experience for all of your employees, no matter where they start from:

1. Leverage assessments that show people where to go next and offer them skills-matching tools, but ensure those tools capture who people are outside of work as well as their education and work experience.
2. Leverage well-trodden and clear pathways that employees know work, and tell the stories of those who have made the transitions before. 
3. Provide access to growth and career coaches so they can explore where to grow next and how to get ready for the next job. 
4. Increase access to programs that connect all employees to mentors, sponsors and coaches.
5. Ensure that credential-bearing programs are available free of charge for all employees.

For a not insignificant part of your population, failing to provide the wraparound support for reskilling workers sets them up for failure. 

For this population, the table must be tilted in their favor — that’s what equity does. To be truly equitable, we must recognize the increased needs in parts of our employee base and respond in kind. This is how “opportunity” goes from a dream to a reality.

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Adapt. Grow. Learn. Career growth development is probably the top reason why people are leaving their organizations today, says Cristina Goldt, general manager for workforce and payroll at Workday. But a good skills-based learning strategy that is fueled by powerful and pertinent technology can help organizations think beyond simply the job roles they need to fill.

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Earlier this month, a friend of mine resigned from her position. She didn’t quit because the work was unsatisfactory. Her departure wasn’t because she didn’t believe in the organization or its mission. She quit because for months, her supervisor ignored her repeated requests to talk with her about important issues in her department. 

Unfortunately, my friend’s experience is all too common. Organizations lose talented people every day due to negligent leadership. Replacing good people is costly. Not only does the company lose the money it spends to hire a new person, it also loses brain capital. When the person who resigns walks out the door, so does all the knowledge and expertise they gained in that position. 

Following the pandemic and then the Great Resignation, it’s more important than ever for leaders to create a work environment where people can thrive. Unfortunately, most companies still spend more time and money maintaining their technology, buildings and equipment than they do developing their people. This makes no sense, because labor costs — wages, benefits and payroll taxes — represent the biggest expense for a large majority of organizations. 

Keeping in mind that labor shortages are one of the top concerns facing employers in 2023, here are three steps you can take to retain your talented people.

Step No. 1: Commit to investing time in your people

The first step in retaining talented people begins with your commitment to invest time in them. My coauthor Spencer Johnson and I gave this advice in The One Minute Manager®. The message is as true today as it was forty years ago: The best minute you spend is the one you invest in people.

Investing in people does not only mean making learning and development programs available to them. It also means taking the time to strengthen your relationship with them. 

Don’t use the excuse that the post-pandemic rise in telecommuting and video meetings make it hard to strengthen your personal connections with your direct reports. The method you use to connect is not important. What’s important is making that connection. 

Select the medium—phone, Zoom, or face-to-face—that works best for you and your direct report. The goal is to understand their circumstances and find out what they are thinking and feeling about their work. That way you can determine their development level on each assignment and give them the direction and support they need to achieve their goals. 

Step No. 2: Schedule one-on-one meetings

The second step in retaining talented people is to schedule regular, one-on-one meetings with them. These meetings don’t use up a lot of work time — just 20-30 minutes at least twice a month. As my late friend Peter Drucker used to say, nothing good in an organization happens by accident. If you don’t put regular one-on-one meetings with your direct report into your calendar, they won’t happen.

Allow your direct report to set the agenda. There’s no better way to show someone you care about them than to offer your time to talk about anything they wish. One-on-one meetings provide an opportunity for your direct report to speak openly about their concerns—and for you to respond to those concerns. You can also use this time to praise good performance and celebrate wins together.

Step No. 3: Listen skillfully

The third step in retaining talented people is to listen to them. When I ask people about the best leader they ever had, the characteristic they mention most often is that the leader was a good listener. 

Being a good listener is easier said than done. Most of us tend to “sort by self”— we listen and judge from our point of view, rather than tuning in to what the other person is feeling, and seeing what the world looks like from their perspective. For example, suppose someone says, “It’s a beautiful day today.” A person who sorts by self might respond, “I know! I can’t wait to get out on the golf course!” Whereas a good listener might say, “You sound like you’re really happy today. Tell me more!”

On the flip side, if a person expresses disappointment or concern, don’t jump right into solutions. After the person speaks, reflect back what you heard to make sure you’re clear on what the issue is. If the person expresses feelings about the situation, don’t minimize their emotions or change the subject. Statements like “that sounds frustrating,” demonstrate that you empathize with them. By listening skillfully, you’ll not only gain insight, but you’ll also build trust with that person.
Remember, leadership is something you do with people, not to people. Follow these three steps to build genuine partnerships with your direct reports. Not only will you help your organization retain its top talent, you’ll also boost the morale and productivity of your team.

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