Management & Strategy
The strategic approaches used to shape the direction of the learning function and to support the design and development of learning solutions.
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Giving Technical Interns a Head Start: Why Speaker Training Matters
By Neil Thompson As summer rolls in, thousands of college students across the country start internships. These interns, especially those in technical departments, represent the future workforce. They come equipped with technical know-how, but there’s a vital piece of the workplace puzzle they often lack: soft skills, particularly communication. Engineering curricula tend to emphasize coding, algorithms, and systems design, but rarely do they prepare students to speak about their work in clear, compelling ways. The result? Interns with excellent technical aptitude but limited ability to communicate their work to nontechnical stakeholders: executives, clients, or even colleagues in different departments. This…
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What Next-Gen Learning Leaders Are Doing Differently
By Briana Gattis and Paige Yousey Over the last decade, there has been a quiet tug-of-war between the established generation of business leaders, Gen X and Baby Boomers, and the rising voices of Millennials and Gen Z. Critics of the new generations would tell you that Gen Z is too idealistic, too sensitive, and not willing to put in the work. New leaders challenge that notion—we’re ready to shake things up and leave a mark on the industry. We’re blending empathy and technology and rethinking what learning & development looks like to build an empowered workforce, driven by curiosity. More…
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Trust in the AI Rollout
By Megan Torrance and Lauren Milstid Visit the website of any major technology consultancy firm and search for “trust in AI.” You’ll get articles full of essential and valid topics, such as explainability, security, data privacy, reliability. These are the cornerstones of technical trust, and they’re critically important. We want to know the AI models are sound, the data is safe, and the output isn’t unintentionally biased. But there’s a big hole in that conversation—and it’s a human-sized one. As learning & development (L&D) professionals, we often sit in the space between systems and people. And while IT teams can…
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Will AI Change the Work of Instructional Designers? Maybe It Already Has
By Saul Carliner, Giuliana Cucinelli, and Samira Karim On the one hand, it seems that ever since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, professionals in learning and development (L&D)—including instructional design—have tried to figure out how this technology might affect the work of instructional designers. After all, some early examples of generative AI (the class of artificial intelligence tool represented by ChatGPT) include entire courses and tutoring services prepared by the software. Some writers focus on using AI; others speculate about how AI might change our jobs. On the other hand, despite the sudden appearance of ChatGPT, AI technologies…
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Undervalued & Overlooked? AI-Powered Communities Help Reclaim Visibility
By Iuliia Algasova Imagine having a wealth of knowledge and innovation inside your organization, but it’s hidden, siloed, or simply goes unnoticed. In talent development, you most probably work with incredible people from diverse backgrounds: former teachers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and technologists. Many of them push boundaries daily, experiment, and invent things. They have true and tested practices, inspiring stories, and powerful insights we all wish more people knew about. Instead, what we often get is duplication. Silos. Teams reinventing the wheel. Everyone celebrating small wins in isolation while collective progress stalls. It’s not that people don’t want to share; they…
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Launching Your Customer Education Program: Technical Considerations for Taking Training to Your Partners
Training departments are continually challenged to serve more than just internal employees, especially when it comes to product training efforts. As your partners grow, so do investments in time and budget. Establishing a plan for managing and distributing training content is essential to ensuring your products are properly understood, marketed, and sold. Creating a customer education program – also known as an extended enterprise approach – helps remove the friction of accessing training, ensures your external partners are well-informed, and can provide insights into how learners are using your content and course effectiveness. In this eBook, you’ll discover:
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Leveraging Rubrics in Instructional Design
Using rubrics can help you boost the effectiveness and quality of your training materials.
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The Role of L&D in Navigating Organizational Transformation
By Lucas Stidham As someone who has been deeply involved in the field of learning and development (L&D), I’ve witnessed firsthand the pivotal role it plays in driving organizational transformation. It’s a complex and multifaceted process that requires strategic planning, effective communication, and a deep understanding of the company’s culture and goals. L&D plays a key role in enabling this change, though it also comes with its own unique set of challenges. Understanding the scope of transformation The first challenge in assisting organizational transformation is understanding the scope and scale of the change. Transformation can range from minor adjustments in…
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Meet 10 Rising Stars Shaping the Future of L&D
The Learning Leadership Conference has selected the 30 up-and-coming learning leaders that will participate in this year’s Thirty Under 30 program! If you missed the first reveal, see the article here. The second group of 10 Thirty Under 30 honorees features everything from professionals who’ve been interested in L&D since undergrad to those who jumped into the role with no prior experience: Lexi Danos, Sr. Manager Content Design, 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee Lexi has maintained a high-impact onboarding program with a 95% success rate, delivering both live and virtual sessions. She also created a development program for recent college…
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Making Security Training Less Painful & More Human
On May 3, 2019, I received a letter offering me my first cybersecurity position. I was ecstatic. After 16 years in Human Resources with the federal government, I had decided to make a complete career change. There was one condition I had to meet: I had to obtain my Security+ certification within two weeks of accepting the position. The endless loop of training I signed the offer letter, then I was off to the races. I had to learn massive amounts of content and pass an exam in just 14 days. Looking at how other cybersecurity professionals succeeded, I began…