"True collaboration is not about dividing work between machines and people but about bringing the strengths of both together to solve problems and achieve more than either could alone." (Garry Kasparov)

McKinsey analysis has shown nearly all occupations will be affected by automation but only 5 percent could be fully automated. They also suggest 30% of activities could be automated for 60% of occupations. So many roles and occupations will change.

Read on to discover five key insights that all L&D teams need to know and respond to – summarized here in our Hemsley narrative…

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1. Technology is transforming how businesses succeed - but AI is only part of a bigger picture.

With all the attention AI is getting, it could be easy to miss the bigger story – in terms of other influences or unanticipated knock-on impacts. 

We are not denying the transformative potential of AI, particularly generative AI, for business success. There are countless articles describing the potential benefits (and risks) to efficiency, cost reduction, data-driven decision making, personalization, customer service, scalability, cybersecurity and fraud management. Both automation and augmentation are already changing how we work. 

In business, we have a history of getting excited by ‘the latest shiny thing’! We advocate staying alive and open minded to the possible bigger story instead: 

• Other major disruptive influence are still in play (globalization, unexpected market entrants, expansion of e-commerce, aging populations etc.).
• AI is not the only game in town, other technologies are already emerging and could have an even greater impact (e.g. Blockchain).
• For most organizations, AI is not a business strategy per se, but rather a means to help achieve it. 
• To be competitive it maybe more advantageous to be a market challenger or fast follower than a market leader. 
• We have history of under or over-estimating the longer term impact of new technologies. Many thought smart phones would be a great way to look things up and did not anticipate how they shape our social behavior today. 

As we move toward a world where AI plays a more prominent role in the workplace, it is essential to remember that AI is a tool, not a destination. The real value will come from using AI to enhance human creativity and innovation." (Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM)

2. AI is already impacting how L&D teams work – in a variety of ways, but often not very strategically

Leading organizations are already boosting the design, delivery and impact of L&D programs – by accelerating content creation, enhancing program design, boosting ideation in workshops, making translation easier, or providing timely in-the-flow-of-work prompts / checklists. 

Uptake is varied though. Our recent L&D impact survey showed differences between the US and UK with the US appearing to be further along in terms of adoption. In the US the focus is more on learning personalization, simulations and translations, whereas in the UK it's mostly being used for content creation and curation.

Research by Fishbowl shows AI use among professional is climbing and 70% of those using ChatGPT at work are not telling their boss. 

Tactical or fragmented use of AI brings risks, and could mean important questions fail to be addressed – about privacy, safeguards, processes, investments, or infrastructure. HR and L&D need to step forward, working in partnership with the organization’s leaders and operational, legal, IT, and finance teams to make joined up, strategic, and timely decisions.

The strategic imperative for L&D has always been to invest wisely in future capabilities and ensuring that learning that is effective, efficient and a great experience - maximizing the impact for learners and the organization. Whilst this is unchanged, how we deliver on it will change.

It would be surprising if any list of future-proofing organizational capabilities did not include technologies, and probably AI-related ones. A strategic choice is whether to buy (recruit), borrow (partner), or build (develop) these capabilities – a decision with important implications.

How L&D delivers in the context of the transforming skills and technology agenda will be fascinating. At this stage, most functions are running hard to keep up as changes unfold. At some point some will be make a strategic shift – for example: repositioning the work closer to IT / operations / Finance teams; or redefining the function to be about people and performance strategy; or away from formal learning with an LMS to Gen AI in the flow of work. 

By focusing hard on learning impact, L&D teams can play an important role in this shifting agenda - ensuring decisions are outcome and evidence-led & learning initiatives are aligned to operational and strategic outcomes.

3. Driving more content is counterproductive if you really need behavior change

To thrive in an AI-world, we all need to continually learn with regular upskilling, re-skilling, and broad-skilling. But, we know that access to knowledge doesn’t guarantee real learning, and never has. Humans seldom change their behavior just by reading something, especially if they are sceptical about the source. 

According to the World Economic Forum, the half life of a job skills is now about five years (meaning every five years, the skill is about half as valuable as it was before)

For greater impact, the focus needs to be on becoming better at learning and enacting sustainable and relevant behavior change. 

Learners can benefit from easy access to the latest knowledge, but they also need to make sense of any insight in their context, connecting it to their existing knowledge. Learning practice, support and reflection in context makes all the difference. With the best will in the world, AI can’t (at this point or anytime soon) have real straightforward conversations needed to address a tricky issue between colleagues. Human to human mediation or coaching could, along with plenty of practice and experience. 

Our clients consistently tell us the #1 competitor for learning is time! It is tough to gain traction when managers and employees are in back-to-back meetings or working flat out. The abundance of content (curated or online) isn’t helping either. There’s no point having beautifully blended programs or the fancy technology platforms if people don’t have the capacity, means or will to engage with them. Less can often be more in this context. 

Being a better learner is about boosting ‘learning agility’ – the ability to learn new things and to apply that learning in new and different situations. It is a better predictor of future potential than IQ, background or previous experience. People can grow learning agility by having new experiences and taking the time to make sense of what they have learned – individually or with others. Peer to peer learning and the Leader as teacher model will be continue to be pivotal in successful learning outcomes.

Sustainable behavior shift is about creating and embedding new habits - setting knowledge and skills into context so they become natural and coherent. More and new content cannot do this. In our experience, the best learning solutions are carefully curated and excite, engage, embed and evolve. 

4. The smart move is to leverage technology to help power human skills to the next level

‘Human’ skills and capabilities are growing in importance making them a smart and priority investment. They dominate the lists of future skills, including our annual L&D Impact survey, reports by McKinsey and the World Economic Forum, and Learning Industry updates. The AI development trajectory indicates that social-creative skills are at a low risk of AI Impact and are more like required in the future workforce.

AI can boost human capacity and capability by freeing us up. As AI takes the strain of processing (e.g. mass data analysis, developing codes, producing Gantt charts), humans can grow into higher quality skills and obtain decent work. If HR / L&D can leverage AI to free people from lower value work, they have a major opportunity to improve engagement, wellbeing and performance.

“Decent work…is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, equality of treatment” (United Nations)

AI itself can be used to boost access, the experience, efficiency, and effectiveness of learning if targeted in the right way. As an innovative learning company, we do engage with Generative AI, but we make sure we are intelligent and mindful in our approach, guided by our principles.

5. To thrive, humans need to be even more human – connected, supported, authentic, and purposeful

“The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.” (John Naisbitt, Author of Megatrends)

In the post-pandemic and hybrid-working world, authenticity, compassion, and connection have emerged as critical factors in employee engagement, well-being, collaboration, innovation, resilience, agility and organizational success. When we feel connected to each other, a wider purpose, and ourselves we are better able to navigate the inherently uncertain world we occupy. 

As humans we are wired to connect, but isolation is at record levels. A lack of humanity and human connection can affect anyone, and everyone. 

“Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they give and receive without judgement; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship”. (Brene Brown)

Becoming even more human is likely to be a personal and ongoing journey. It’s about endeavouring to be our best selves and making the most of our unique human potential. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being curious, growing, compassion, and connecting with ourselves and others in meaningful ways. 

Cultivating your humanity means discovering or rediscovering what is known and unknown, seen and unseen, shared and unique, enabling and disabling, thought and felt.