Can Generative AI Help Fulfill Corporate Learning's Promise?
Enhancing leadership skills, boosting employee performance, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement are crucial to building a strong organization. But, despite the significant strides in developing immersive learning experiences and training programs, challenges persist--specifically in bridging the gap between formal education and its application in real-world work scenarios.
Enter generative AI. Unlike conventional artificial intelligence systems that rely on pre-existing data patterns, generative AI can create entirely new content, whether it's text, images, or even entire scenarios. With such capabilities, this technology ushers in a new era of corporate learning by helping fulfill the long-standing promise of effective workplace education.
The Current State of Corporate Learning
Corporate learning exists to help people be better leaders or employees and excel at their jobs.
Over the past decades, companies and talent development leaders have invested in many ways to execute corporate learning. We offer various training and e-learning programs; we do nudges to inform employees of and motivate them to use the available resources. We have done so many things to help support learners inside their organization, and collectively, we have gotten really good at developing immersive and engaging experiences through cool, technology-assisted, and interesting learning materials.
And yet, it's still formal education.
We know there are gaps between formal education and the knowledge being realized and acted upon in the settings in which it's needed.
We were talking to a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executive at a big pharmaceutical company last week. She shared that in the past two years, their organization has made a massive investment in training their entire workforce on unconscious bias. One can imagine the resources needed to train tens of thousands of people on the subject. In fact, many companies have been doing this for years now.
It was a significant investment for their company. Unconscious bias is a critical topic, and there are a lot of learnings to be applied. And yet, despite everyone in the organization having gone through the training, she noticed that the employees are yet to fully utilize the knowledge they gained from the program to improve their day-to-day tasks.
She takes one example: there's a Director in the company who somebody on their team just left. When writing a new job description for the post, they were not fully thinking of the bias they might unconsciously have while crafting it. Understandably because their hair is on fire. They need to fill a role as soon as possible. They're thinking about the projects, the capabilities, and the skills this person needs to have.
But while we empathize with the Director, this scenario highlights the disconnect between learning in structured environments and integrating this knowledge into the dynamic and fast-paced nature of everyday work.
The Co-Pilot Concept
The concept of the co-pilot explores the idea of designing an intentional, specialized, generative AI tool that can assist leaders, managers, and employees in areas of work where they need help.
For the DEI executive, instead of sending people off to mandatory unconscious bias training, a co-pilot can help the individual write, review and improve job descriptions when needed. Moreover, this co-pilot will help the employee learn in the flow of work and act to defeat unconscious bias.
From models like 70-20-10, which is highly popular but also highly controversial, we learn that the most important thing for people is applying things on the job and applying things in the flow of work. Generative AI may help us finally do that!
This technology offers a lot of potential in integrating learning into employees' daily tasks and challenges. Instead of relying on traditional methods and hoping employees remember and apply their training, a co-pilot can actively assist and guide them in real-time. This not only maximizes the impact of learning interventions but also addresses the limitations of conventional training approaches.
Unlocking Resources and Time
Talent development professionals and executives have spent so much resources, time, and attention on building classroom and e-learning experiences. They market these resources and constantly check the metrics to see how many people have seen and done them.
The shift from traditional learning models to generative AI co-pilots has significant implications for resource allocation. By adopting specialized co-pilots to help learners, colleagues, and employees with their tasks, companies can free up much of their resources, time, and efforts and redirect them to other critical areas of the organization.
We’re excited to work with the DEI executive to build this co-pilot. As we explore the potential of generative AI tools, the possibilities for addressing specific challenges in various workplace scenarios are vast. The co-pilot concept is just the beginning of a new frontier in corporate learning, where intentional and specialized AI tools can revolutionize how employees learn, apply knowledge, and excel in their roles. For those of us in talent development who are yet to start using generative AI, we're behind. It's time to get started!
Reach out if you'd like to discuss how AI could positively impact your workforce.
