AI has the potential to develop your workforce in powerful new ways by improving efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. But one of the most promising use cases is around personalized learning and development, with AI-powered platforms delivering personalized learning experiences tailored to individual learner skill gaps and learning references. By adapting content and pacing based on progress and feedback, AI can ensure more effective skill development.
The shift towards skills-based learning
When it comes to aligning learning programs to business goals, upskilling employees, creating a culture of learning and improving employee retention there’s no silver bullet. But what if there was an approach that could support these objectives, that were all highlighted in the LinkedIn 2023 Workplace Learning Report as focus areas? Organizations can tackle these areas collectively by building a culture that supports AI-driven learning.
Use AI to help solve learning challenges and scale your initiatives
By leveraging AI, organizations can transition to a skills-based approach more effectively, ensuring they have the right talent with the right skills to achieve their strategic objectives. AI can be applied in a number of ways, from skill mapping and analysis to performance management and succession planning. But one of the most promising use cases is around personalized learning and development, with AI-powered platforms delivering personalized learning experiences tailored to individual learner skill gaps and learning preferences. By adapting content and pacing based on progress and feedback, AI can ensure more effective skill development.
See how you can boost your upskilling programs with AI
Using AI to help deliver better learning experiences
Put learners in the driver’s seat so they can lead the way
“Can I really advance my skills and career here?” This is a question all high performers will be asking themselves at regular intervals.
People want to find meaning in their work and you need to provide a learning environment that answers that question in a personalized way to keep them motivated. With AI you can adapt various aspects of the learning process—including the pace of learning, the selection and quality of training materials, the sequencing of topics, the technologies used for learning, and the instructional methods—to align with each learner's preferences and objectives. This ensures the experience is customized to suit every learner's specific needs and goals. Making it learner-driven.
Using AI for personalized learning enables learners to progress through training at their own pace and schedule. AI technologies can help predict how people will learn, allowing for the creation of L&D content that aligns with each learner's objectives and previous achievements.
AI is fast becoming essential in customizing at scale the journey for every learner, enabling L&D teams to modify learning experiences to cater to the unique needs, interests, and learning preferences of each learner.
Support for adaptive learning styles
Different learners respond to different training approaches, such as visual, auditory, written media, or kinesthetic approaches. AI can monitor learner interactions with course materials and media to identify how they most effectively absorb information. This allows you—or the AI on your behalf—to customize how content is presented, ensuring it matches everyone's preferred learning style.
Personalized recommendations
By analyzing extensive data sets consisting of a learner's previous coursework, levels and their professional interests and objectives, AI tools can create highly customized recommendations for learning resources. This enables learners to find content aligned with their unique requirements and tastes.
Revealing new insights
By examining how your learners learn, AI can highlight areas where additional support is needed or pinpoint topics that captivate their interests. L&D teams and managers can use these insights to better understand each learner’s unique needs and tailor the learning experience with greater precision.
Leveraging AI to upskill at the speed of business
Organizations and learners can align their training interests more easily than you think
Brandon Hall research shows that almost half of L&D teams find it challenging to upskill employees at the speed of the business. But with a personalized learning approach you don’t just develop learners for the sake of it, you also deliver more tangible benefits to your company in the form of better business and financial outcomes. The key is aligning your learning programs with employee development and overall strategic business goals.
Boost productivity
When learning programs are customized to match individual needs, preferences, and learning styles, your employees and external learners can absorb and apply new skills more efficiently and effectively. This personalization ensures that training is not a one-size-fits-all solution but a strategic tool that offers targeted solutions for problematic skill gaps and accelerates performance improvement.
As employees develop their skills and become confident in their roles, a ripple effect is felt across the organization—tasks are completed more swiftly, the quality of work improves, and teams are better equipped to tackle complex challenges. This heightened productivity drives business growth, fosters innovation, and strengthens your business’s overall competitive advantage.
Align individuals’ learning objectives with your strategic objectives
Through their highly granular data collection, personalized learning platforms offer a more nuanced view of your employees’ skill development than traditional educational methods. With access to in-depth insights, L&D teams can effectively link learning outcomes to the organization's broader goals. They can also help identify potential issues before they escalate.
Consider, for instance, a manufacturing company whose COO wants to boost compliance with safety standards. Through reporting on their L&D dashboard, an instructor might discover a machinist who hasn’t completed the necessary operational training or several production managers with below-satisfactory knowledge of OSHA standards. Knowing these specifics, the instructor can intervene and offer AI-powered targeted remedial training in these specific areas.
Motivate employees
When employees see that their growth is supported by the organization and linked to its direction, their engagement and commitment to their roles significantly increase. This alignment ensures that as the business evolves, so do the skills and competencies of its workforce, creating a dynamic environment where both the organization and its employees thrive together.
The importance of human expertise can't be overstated
While technology and automation play critical roles in enhancing efficiency and productivity, a well-trained human workforce’s unique insights, creativity, and problem-solving abilities are irreplaceable. Human expertise drives innovation, fosters a culture of continuous improvement, and builds the resilience necessary to adapt to change. In customer-facing roles, employees’ depth of knowledge and interpersonal skills directly influence the quality of service and customer satisfaction, reinforcing the value of investing in human capital.
Investing in upskilling is more than just a matter of filling knowledge gaps. It’s about leveraging human expertise as a strategic asset. Effective training and development programs empower employees with the skills and confidence needed to excel in their roles, contribute to organizational goals, and navigate the complexities of an ever-changing business environment. Organizations prioritizing upskilling and valuing human expertise are better positioned to innovate, compete, and thrive in the digital age.
Is AI the key to boosting your corporate learning efforts?
The transformation of corporate learning isn't on it's way. It's here. And it's powered by AI.
Integrating AI into an LMS is about more than just enhancing the personalization of learning. It's about fundamentally reshaping the learning experience to be more inclusive, adaptive, and effective for every learner. Connecting skills for work and skills for the individual, paving a way for learners to thrive.
When you tap into a learners’ intrinsic motivations, all you need to do is to make sure that the work environment you provide is conducive to continuous learning and let them take ownership. And you can achieve this by building a culture that supports AI-driven learning.
Check out this resource where we cover:
- AI in learning
- Using AI to help deliver better learning experiences
- The stakes of poor upskilling
- Questions to ask yourself before implementing AI, plus worksheets to help guide you
