4 Biggest Takeaways from All Access Corporate Learning 2023

A shift is happening in learning and development. Emerging technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence (GAI),  are no longer thought of as being "on the horizon." Rather, they are a reality to which the world must adapt.

Concerns around high employee turnover have put retention at the front of the HR community’s mindset. Employees demand for DEI to be embedded into every level of their organization's culture. Learning professionals sit at the frontier of this swiftly changing landscape, pushing forward to develop the workforce of the future.

The 2023 All Access Corporate Learning event brought together thought leaders in the HR and learning community to explore the transformation of the workplace.

Discover what participants learned: 

Leadership Development Should Be Flexible

In an interview with Jenny Hill, Director, Learning and Development at Sun Life, participants found out how to build a leadership development program for the future. Shifting away from traditional, in-person teaching to a flexible digital program that allows for the essential flexibility in the world of hybrid-work, Jenny explained the basis for change.

"The technology component of our day-to-day lives is only becoming more important," she said. "This is where the shift is coming from. The way we approached leadership development in the past isn’t effective anymore." 

Click on the image below to see the entire conversation.

Integrating DEI into Manager Training Is Key

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) continues to be important to employees, with 56% of them saying a focus on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion at work is mainly a good thing in a recent survey by Pew Research. Praxis Labs joined us to discuss how we can embed DEI principles into manager training.

The session emphasized the importance of a continuous approach to DEI training for individuals to really engage with the concepts. 

"Multiple exposures to concepts and skills, with lots of opportunities to practice, fail, and receive feedback - that’s an effective way to learn," said Dr. Anne Snyder, Lead Learning Scientist. Snyder further cited how surveys and one-time workshops often fail to truly embed skills and end up acting as a box-checking exercise.

Dr. Mekayla Castro, Head of Curriculum at Praxis Labs, explained that one of the major pitfalls of DEI programs is the difficulty to build connection between programs and business outcomes because of "inadequate measurements." Mekayla said "the reality is that when we aren’t able to make that connection, our efforts can be obscured."

Click on the image below to see the entire conversation.

"AI Will Free Us to Deliver Better Learning."

The day ended with a discussion between Christopher Lind, Chief Learning Officer at ChenMed, and Francesca Di Meglio, Editor of HR Exchange Network, on the implications of the development of AI technology on the learning space.

A major focus of the discussion was the challenges people face because of the acceleration of innovation in the field. Lind explained, "before you can even get to grips with the newest iteration of AI, we are faced with a more advanced version on the horizon." The recommendation was to experiment cautiously with the technology by keeping in mind the ethical and pragmatic concerns.

A member of the audience brought up worries around adopting the technology leading to redundancy of the role of learning and development professionals.

"I don’t think AI can replace the human touch because of our emotional needs," said Di Meglio. "I think it will be a long way off, until we see it taking the place of a teacher, for example.”

In Lind’s opinion, however, people should err on the side of caution and avoid complacency. AI will be able to do things more efficiently than humans and this will cause an identity crisis about the human role in many fields. For the panel, this could lead to a better learning experience overall and allow learning professionals to focus on the governance and oversight of programs achieving better outcomes.

Click on the image below to see the entire conversation.

The Future of Learning Is Here

The speakers and audience at Corporate Learning 2023 linked the importance of learning and development to the transformation of the workplace that is being accelerated by employee leverage, changing employee demographics, and swiftly advancing technology. While everyone had a unique take on the future of L&D, one point was clear to all. L&D will continue to evolve at a quick pace to meet the changing needs of business, and HR leaders must stay on the cutting edge. 

Photo by Christina Morillo for Pexels

Screen shots within the body of the story are from HR Exchange Network's Corporate Learning 2023 event