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Artificial intelligence

How 3 Smart Companies Actually Use AI For Work

photo of woman writing on tablet computer while using laptop
Photo by Antoni Shkraba on Pexels.com

We were all surprised by generative AI in 2023.

But, the next 2 years (24-25) is where we take the fabulous tools we have from gimmicks to meaningful assistants. You don’t have to start from a blank page though.

We have plenty of examples and case studies available now.

Here’s some of the best:

BHP Mining: Improving leadership frameworks with ChatGPT

TL;DR

  • BHP, the mining giant, leveraged ChatGPT to revamp its leadership framework, ditching traditional consultants for AI (sorry consultants).

  • They fed ChatGPT a 90-page culture assessment and other crucial documents to get insights on improving leadership approaches to match new cultural goals.

  • ChatGPT provided insights to refine these leadership qualities

  • It made the often confusing HR language more relatable to frontline staff too

The problem they were solving

BHP were keen to update its leadership framework to align with new cultural aspirations.

Normally, this task would require hiring consultants for a project spanning weeks. Which, as I’m sure many of you know, takes a lot of time and a lotta money!

The goal was to make the leadership model more reflective of where BHP needed to go. Plus, they needed to improve the language used in HR documents to make them more understandable to frontline teams.

I think we’ve all stared at HR documents wondering “What does this mean?”. Using AI to decipher the HR lingo is a big win in my eyes.

“Normally this is a job you’d farm out to consultants, it’s a six-week project. We thought, ‘Why don’t we give it a go using ChatGPT?”

Vaughn Sheahan, Head of Organisational Development and Analytics at BHP

How they did it

Instead of going the conventional consultant route, BHP turned to ChatGPT.

They uploaded a 90-page culture baseline assessment and HR policy documents into ChatGPT.

CGPT was tasked with analysing these materials to suggest how BHP could reshape its leadership to better meet its future objectives.

The process involved identifying gaps and opportunities and rewording documents to make them more accessible to all employees.

“The chat started with some fairly basic processes that we’re reviewing, where are the gaps and opportunities. It then moved to improve the language because one of the critiques we have in the way we write these documents. So you say to ChatGPT, ‘Express that or rewrite that in a way that [a] worker can relate to it and engage with it.”

Vaughn Sheahan, Head of Organisational Development and Analytics at BHP

Sheahan also noted the AI’s practical advice, “Not only did it pick up the things that were missing, it said a framework is one thing but it’s the implementation that matters.”

Return on Impact

ChatGPT proved to be more than up to the task.

Yes, PWC, McKinsey, Deloitte and the rest of the crew. Be scared.

CGPT offered meaningful suggestions that BHP found valuable. The AI’s ability to digest extensive documentation and provide actionable insights surprised the team.

Reflecting on the AI’s analytical capabilities, Sheahan was impressed: “That’s quite an abstract, deeply analytical question – and its response that came back absolutely blew my mind in terms of its ability to look at it.”

picture of a wall street bank

Morgan Stanley: Your local AI banking nerd

TL;DR

  • Morgan Stanley launched ‘AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant,’ an AI tool to improve financial advisor’s access to the bank’s vast database of research reports and documents.

  • Built on OpenAI’s GPT-4 software, it streamlines the boring admin and research tasks, allowing advisors to focus on client interactions.

  • MS were one of the early adopters of GEN AI.

The problem they were solving

Morgan Stanley needed a speedy way to access and analyse the bank’s stack load of over 100,000 research reports and documents.

Can you imagine the stress of finding all that in archaic bank tech? I’m having heart palpitations just thinking about it.

Financial advisors needed a more efficient way to find all that money-making information. No one wants to sift through vast amounts of data. The other problem was more time searching meant less time with clients to get that dollar, dollar!

How they did it

Morgan Stanley collaborated with the smart folk at OpenAI to develop their assistant.

The assistant provides quick and easy access to the bank’s intellectual capital. Enabling advisors to ask complex questions and receive concise, relevant answers (we hope, anyway).

The development process involved curating documents and extensive testing with human experts to ensure the AI produced high-quality responses.

As much as you can control a probabilistic system, of course.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career, and I’ve been doing artificial intelligence for 20 years… We saw a window of opportunity that was just completely disruptive”.

Jeff McMillan, Morgan Stanley via CNBC

Return on Impact

The launch of ‘AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant’ shifted a few things.

  • Reduced the time advisors spent on admin tasks
  • Increase time with clients for enhanced human relationships

That’s exactly what we should aim for.

Enhancing human activities by delegating the blockers to that. Don’t get confused with AI, use it to enhance human stuff, not lose it.

My one feedback on this one would be the name MS gave the tool.

I mean, was ‘AI @ Morgan Stanley Assistant’ the best that could be done? I suppose, they’re are a bank after all.

picture of a consultant facing off against a generative AI tool

McKinsey & Co: Consulting on command

The consulting gods must have heard the news about BHP above.

Companies with the ability to leverage AI to do classic consulting work are no good for business. so, what do you do instead? Send the consulting mafia? Perhaps.

Or…you get smart too.

McKinsey took the latter approach. I would have loved to see a consulting mafia vs AI, personally.

TL;DR

  1. McKinsey & Company introduced ‘Lilli’, a generative AI tool designed to empower its team by providing quick and efficient access to the firm’s extensive knowledge base.

  2. Just like Morgan Stanley’s assistant but with a much better name. Lilli serves as a researcher, time-saver, and source of inspiration, streamlining the search and synthesis of McKinsey’s vast stores of information.

  3. Lilli represents a pretty good use of Gen AI in enabling McK & Co to leverage its intellectual capital at speed.

The problem they were solving

I’m not going too deep on this one.

The Morgan Stanley problem, and thus, the problem with surfacing content is shared here and millions of organisations.

What good is all that content if it’s locked in Dorothy’s secret Sharepoint site?

McKinsey sought to overcome the challenge of efficiently accessing and synthesising its vast knowledge resources. Conversational AI is a tool that could quickly bring together its best insights to support client engagements, without the limitations of traditional research methods.

Sorry, Dorothy. This means the secret info hoarding on Sharepoint is over.

Remember to delete those AI-generated cat pics!

How they did it

Simple. They paid someone to create a Large Language model (their own ChatGPT).

They graced it with the name Lilli and threw it out into the McKinsey-verse. For (probably) the first time, the firm’s knowledge and capabilities were only a conversation away.

Lilli is designed to provide an impartial and streamlined search across McKinsey’s extensive databases. This makes it easier for teams to find relevant information and insights. That line sounded overly corporate. I must say.

Erik Roth (or obvious Eric as I named him while writing this), a senior partner at McKinsey, preached the benefits of Lilli, stating:

“It aggregates our knowledge and capabilities in one place for the first time and will allow us to spend more time with clients activating those insights and recommendations and maximising the value we can create”.

    Obvious Eric

    Or in human words: We’re outsourcing the shit stuff to make more money with humans.

    I get you, Eric.

    Return on Impact

    As with the folks at Morgan Stanley:

    1. Less time running around trying to search for that ‘one golden document’

    2. More time schmoozing human clients for that sweet-smelling paper dough (aka money)

    3. Dorothy can also find her cat pics faster

    Final Thoughts

    1. Opportunities are everywhere
    2. This is a long game, not a short game
    3. Explore and experiment in your work

    If you want to work smarter with GEN AI at work. Let me help you in my 2-hr Crash Course for L&D pros. Get everything you need to cut through the AI chaos.

    Before you go… 👋

    If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

    You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

    Categories
    Artificial intelligence

    The Data Is Clear: AI Tools Quickly Impact Employee Performance

    The modern workforce (and the world for that fact) is a huge puzzle of diverse skills.

    Yet many find themselves on the outskirts of opportunity. Trying to figure out ‘how do I get there from here?’. The answer isn’t always so obvious or even accessible to those who do have it.

    The skill gap is a topic we always talk about as an industry.

    That daunting chasm between current abilities and the demands of tomorrow’s jobs. It can feel like a foe you’ll never quite conquer, but I believe we’ve found a new weapon to help us slay some of those demons.

    You know what I’m going to say… Gen AI.

    Contents
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    Yes. I’m a huge fanboy.

    However, I’ve spent the last two years analysing every bit of research I can get on how the new wave of AI tools will impact workplace performance.

    One finding is absolutely clear now after seeing it replicated again and again.

    Conversational AI tools (LLMs or large language models) are bridging the skills gap at speed for the least experienced employees.

    And I think this is wonderful.

    Move from AI gimmicks to enablement

    Let’s be straight, most of the AI use cases you’ve seen on social media are gimmicks.

    While AI-generated images of cute cats doing random things might feel warm and fuzzy. It has no use in improving your performance or skills. Unless you’re so motivated by cute cats that it’s the driver of your performance.

    In that case, I take back what I said!

    Outside of my work (which is odd to explain because I work for myself), I’ve found daily use cases with LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity) in:

    • Making sense of the complicated UK tax system
    • Unpacking concepts from books and reports
    • Advising on proposals
    • Installing hardware on my gaming PC
    • Brainstorming ideas

    Of course, you can translate much of these into 9-5 work.

    What we’re now seeing is the conversational AI tools, that have been shoved in our faces for nearly two years, are moving from a bit of fun to workplace productivity tools.

    A cute cat hissing at AI

    How Generative AI accelerates the performance of novice employees

    I like to believe we all got into the L&D industry to help others.

    I’m here because I want to help industry pros (like you) understand how to improve performance and skills with modern technology. As you know, conversational AI tools fall under this category.

    What most excites me so far is 3 things:

    • They are true ‘learning in the flow of work’ tools
    • They’re the personalised experiences the industry has craved but failed to deliver
    • They’re proven to enhance the skills and performance of employees

    Obviously, I’m not going to say all this without dishing out some data.

    Fret not, I have plenty for you to munch on.

    🔮 Microsoft and the Future of Work

    Those smart, and I now see very wealthy, folks at Microsoft released a fantastic new FOW report.

    I know the term ‘future of work’ is overused. Everything beyond today is the future. No one actually knows what will happen, but it’s fun to indulge in some dubious speculation. Anyhoo, the below visual on page 8 of the report caught my eye.

    My spidey sense (or should I say, AI sense!) was tingling when my eyes landed here.

    The TL;DR is much like me, they’ve reviewed lots of reports and found the same conclusion.

    LLMs help the least experienced the most.

    Let’s dive into 3 case studies to illustrate this.

    An image from Microsofts future of work report 2024. It shows data and evidence pointing to large language models helping the least experienced employees the most with work tasks.

    Boston Consulting Group + Harvard: Assessing ChatGPTs performance impact with Consultants

    I talk about this one a lot.

    You no doubt recognise the names. As will your teams and business leaders. so, it’s always a good one to roll out when making a business case (more on crafting your own later).

    Here’s what you need to know:

    Background: The study explored how Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 impact the way humans perform tasks, focusing on complex, knowledge-intensive tasks.

    Study Design:

    • Participants: Involved 758 consultants, making up approximately 7% of the individual contributor-level consultants at the firm.
    • Experiment Setup: After setting a performance baseline on a task, participants were divided into three groups:
    1. No AI access
    2. GPT-4 AI access
    3. GPT-4 AI access with a prompt engineering overview

    Findings:

    • AI excels at certain tasks but struggles with others that seem similarly complex.
    • Productivity and Quality: Consultants using AI were notably more productive, completing 12.2% more tasks and 25.1% faster, with a 40% higher quality of results than the control group.
    • Skill-Level Benefits: AI augmentation benefited consultants across all skill levels, with below-average performers improving by 43% and above-average by 17%.
    • Limitations: For tasks deemed beyond AI’s current capabilities, consultants using AI were 19% less likely to find correct solutions.
    An image from a Boston Consulting Group and Harvard joint report showing the performance output of consultants when using ChatGPT-4.

    Impact on low-skilled vs high-skilled consultants with AI

    Here’s where it gets really interesting.

    Low-Skilled Consultants:

    • Improvement in Performance: The study found that consultants below the average performance threshold experienced a significant improvement in their task performance with AI augmentation, with their efficiency increasing by 43% compared to their baseline scores.

    • Benefit from AI: This group benefitted from AI by being able to complete tasks more quickly and with higher quality. This suggests that AI tools can compensate for gaps in knowledge or experience, effectively elevating the performance of less experienced or skilled consultants to closer match their more skilled counterparts.

    High-Skilled Consultants:

    • Enhanced Productivity and Quality: Although the improvement was less pronounced than for their lower-skilled peers. high-skilled consultants still saw a notable increase in performance, with a 17% improvement over their baseline scores.

    • Utilisation of AI: For high-skilled consultants, AI likely served as an enhancement tool that complemented their existing skills.

    In sum:

    Both skill levels benefited, yet it was the low-skilled who reaped the most rewards.

    This is good news for humans.

    It shows that skill and capability levels are a big factor in how AI can enhance work from a knowledge standpoint. It can’t know how to do everything!

    National Bureau Of Economic Research: AI Performance Impact on Customer Agents

    Here’s the TL;DR from NBER’s research:

    This study focused on evaluating the impacts of a generative AI-based conversational assistant on job performance across 5,179 customer support agents.

    The introduction of this AI tool boosted performance by 14%, as measured by the number of issues resolved per hour.

    Interestingly, the productivity gains varied significantly across different skill levels. Novice and low-skilled workers experienced a substantial 34% improvement, whereas experienced and highly skilled workers saw minimal impact.

    This disparity continues to underscore the nuanced effects of AI tools in the workplace.

    Data from the national bureau of economic research on the impact of generative AI tools on customer support agents.

    1️⃣ Generative AI tools enhance the performance of low-skilled workers

    The report unveils a significant improvement in productivity among novice and low-skilled agents working with a GEN AI conversational assistant (ChatGPT).

    These agents experienced a 34% increase in the number of customer issues resolved per hour.

    The research team attributed this to the AI tool’s capability to disseminate best practices and effectively guide less experienced workers down the learning curve more rapidly than traditional methods.

    It enables the surfacing of the right information at the right time for the right level of expertise.

    A bar chart showing improvement for the lowest performing customer support agents with ChatGPT-4.

    2️⃣ But it didn’t do much for experienced agents

    A confirmation of the results from the BCG and Harvard report.

    Like with this research we’re highlighting now. They discovered it was incredibly powerful for low-skilled consultants but the more experienced only found a 5% performance improvement.

    The NBER team observed that while AI can replicate and transfer the knowledge and best practices of skilled workers, it offers less in terms of enhancing the performance of those who already operate at a high level.

    See, we still need humans to grow together.

    In sum:

    What I found promising from these results was AI’s role in facilitating worker learning and improving customer sentiment.

    The NBER report suggests interacting with AI allows workers to better internalise best practices, leading to durable gains in productivity, even in the absence of future AI assistance.

    Nielsen Norman Group: AI improves performance by 66%

    This is one of the first reports released in mid-2023 which drew attention to AI’s potential performance impact.

    A data visualisation from the Nielsen Norman groups research showing LLMs improve employee performance on average by 66%.

    The 66% figure was calculated across 3 case studies the group worked with:

    🤳 Customer service agents resolving customer inquiries in an enterprise software company.

    ✍️ Experienced business professionals (e.g., marketers, HR professionals) writing routine business documents (such as press releases) that take about half an hour to write

    👩‍💻 Programmers coding a small software project that took about three hours to complete without AI assistance

    The BIG takeaway: Users were much more efficient at performing their jobs with AI assistance than without AI tools.

    Quick results overview

    • Study 1: Support agents who used AI could handle 13.8% more customer inquiries per hour.

    • Study 2: Business professionals who used AI could write 59% more business documents per hour.

    • Study 3: Programmers who used AI could code 126% more projects per week.

    Narrowing the skills gap for customer agents with AI

    Yet more evidence for customer agent performance.

    “In study 1 (customer support), the lowest-performing 20% of the agents (the bottom quintile) improved their task throughput by 35% — two and a half times as much as the average agent. In contrast, the best-performing 20% of the agents (top quintile) only improved their task throughput by a few per cent.”

    Additionally, the speed and quality of learning increased too.

    “An experienced agent can complete 2.5 inquiries per hour. This level of productivity is normally reached in 8 months of work (without using the AI tool). In contrast, the agents who started using the AI tool right off the bat reached this level of performance in only two months. In other words, AI used expedited learning (to this level of performance) by a factor of 4.”

    What this means for the future of workplace learning

    Clearly, in the right context, conversational AI tools are a performance enhancer.

    We have enough data to say this comfortably. I feel right in saying we can’t discount LLMs in our learning performance strategies. Why shoot ourselves in the foot?

    The next challenge will be how you work with and integrate these tools into your company’s workflow. We’re still early in this cycle, and this is not all on you. It’s an entire company effort. al though, I imagine most of it will land at your doorstep.

    There are two things you can do today:

    1. Get upskilled with conversational AI tools (guess who has a course on that for L&D pros 😉)

    2. Craft a business case for utilising GEN AI tools to improve and enhance performance of teams

    Let’s take a stab at number 2.

    How to build a business case for Generative AI at your workplace

    A lot of companies are running around like headless chickens trying to figure this out.

    That’s usually what brings them to someone like me. Lucky for you, as a member of the cult of thoughts. You can get some of that juicy advice here.

    I touched on this in a previous newsletter.

    Let’s expand on that ↓

    💼 The business case for AI

    As part of your strategy proposal to senior teams, you will be asked why Gen AI.

    You’ve got that answer with the above data already.

    As a controversial idea, you could compare the findings above to those of your current learning tech. How do they match up? Share this too.

    Here’s something to try for a proposal

    1. Share this post with them as a reference point

    2. Craft your case around the data shared here. Leaders like nothing more than seeing real case studies and getting FOMO. I don’t think you can get much bigger than Harvard.

    3. Connect this to the state of performance in your company today and moving with the pace of modern technology (more fomo).

    4. Recommend an experiment. Perhaps with the L&D and HR function, or if you’re a small company, identify a team of low-skilled workers who can benefit.

    Final thoughts

    In the right context, conversational AI tools can enhance performance and bridge the skill gap of low-skilled and novice employees.

    Use this data to build your proposal for performance and shape the future of learning and performance in your work.

    Before you go… 👋

    If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

    You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

    Categories
    Artificial intelligence

    No One Wants To Talk About These 3 Ways AI Copilots Will Reshape Learning

    This is probably going to go down as the time of the Copilot.

    For global workplace L&D teams this will mean a huge shift. We have plenty of data on this already.

    Here’s why that’s not a bad thing:

    1/ True learning in the flow

    Since Josh Bersin coined the now infamous phrase, every tech vendor has tried their own spin on it.

    The reality is none of them have come close.

    No systems till now have fulfilled that vision. You might call this controversial. But I believe AI copilots are the real LITFW solution.

    Why?

    Because you don’t have to leave where you are.

    Accessing 99% of LXPs and LMSs means leaving the workflow. But a Copilot is right there with you.

    2/ Learning decentralised

    The goal of any good L&D team should be breaking down the silos to access knowledge.

    We get into this industry to help people.

    Copilots help us surface content to people at speed and in a personalised fashion. This lightens the load on teams.

    Hopefully, it encourages end users to think more critically in how they frame their problems too.

    3/ Skills at speed

    I had my own experience with this at the weekend.

    I wanted to modify the website. But, I needed to modify both JavaScript and HTML code. One problem. I can’t code.

    But with ChatGPT as my Copilot I do.

    This is something that I would have either:

    Spent days trying to solve myself

    Paid someone else to do because of my skill gap

    With ChatGPT’s help (and some crafty prompting, of course) I was able to modify my website in minutes. This modification could lead to a healthy growth increase for my website.

    Now I’ve solved a performance problem for my business.

    This is where I see the power of bridging the skill gaps with generative AI tools. It’s why I talk a lot about the potential of this tech for not just end users but L&D operators too.

    Before you go… 👋

    If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

    You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

    Categories
    Skills

    5 Rare Skills No One Talks About To Become a Successful L&D Pro

    Attracted by the juicy title?

    I spent a long time on that one (with a copious amount of tea).

    To be a high-performing learning strategist/valued strategic partner and future L&D leader, you need to craft skills that aren’t of the traditional L&D mould.

    Your technical skills can only take you so far.

    Your most human skills and abilities are what give you the edge.

    The world’s most in-demand skills

    I’m going to set the scene with some external data before I drop my list.

    According to a bunch of people with way more budget for research and probably with more intelligence than I, these are the core skills of 2025:

    Infographic showing the core skills needed for the year 2025 according to the World Economic Forum, listing ten skills including analytical thinking, resilience, creativity, and technological literacy.
    Source: WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025

    My first thought, as always, with these types of data viz’s is they’re too broad.

    These are like the heads of the skill families, kinda like how the Mafia works. They’re are many layers and connections underneath each. Some of these are more vital than others.

    This is what we want to find.

    From the same report, these are the speculated skills needed for 2030:

    Infographic illustrating the top 10 fastest growing skills by 2030 according to the World Economic Forum, including AI, networks, technological literacy, and more.
    5 years people

    Again, very ambiguous.

    I kinda feel like they pressed shuffle and threw a couple more tech-focused ones in for good measure.

    If you want to get even nerdier, we have this one.

    Which I have many feelings about, and not generally good ones. The box in the bottom left gives me all those emotions.

    A graph illustrating core skills expected by employers for the year 2030, displaying a comparison of essential and less essential skills along two axes.
    Source: WEF Future of Jobs Report

    If not obvious, I’m talking about the “Out of focus skills” section.

    It firmly feels like the rejects corner, but for me, it has quite a few surprise entries.

    These caught my eye:

    • Reading, writing and mathematics
    • Teaching and mentoring

    In the report, these skills are earmarked as less essential and will see a decreased investment.

    This is MADNESS.

    Look, I get AI is amazing, but to say these skills are less essential is the only thing that blows my mind right now. I’m sure all the AI and Tech bros will disagree, yet, to read, write, and crunch numbers is a pivotal form of critical and creative thinking, and analytical judgement.

    The biggest sin we can make is to outsource our thinking to AI and let our thinking be shaped by AI too.

    Sadly, a growing body of research points to an increasing over-reliance on AI tools.

    I’ve covered some of this in detail in another article: What Is AI Doing To Your Skills?

    But what does this mean?

    So that’s the global view of the skills situation (I broke down the top 7 insights in more detail from the WEF report too).

    There’s loads more reports out there from every consulting firm you can think of that parrot the same information.

    But what does this mean practically for you, me and the people you serve through L&D as we find our way alongside our digitally intelligent buddies?

    Here’s my take based on zero money to fund my research but a bag of first-hand experience working with a variety of global companies, building my own company at the same time, and analysing far too many reports than time should allow me.

    You could say, this is where I’m placing my bets.

    The 5 skills to build your human edge

    Before we crack on, a quick explainer.

    I’m going to give a L&D angle to these skills, but they’re vital for any human reading these words (I know you’re reading this too, AI).

    1. Writing

    Writing is a super-powered skill.

    You do it every day. From emails to text messages – you’re a writer.

    Hogwart’s very own headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, once said “Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”

    Good writing is good thinking.

    → Clear thinking is clear writing.

    Words can make people millions of dollars, change cultures and win hearts. Pretty damn powerful. Don’t make the mistake of outsourcing this to AI.

    AI can help you but never outsource your thinking to it.

    To think is to write, to write is to think.

    This is not just a L&D thing. It’s great for life in general. As L&D pros, we spend a lot of time trying to win hearts and minds. Writing is a gateway to do this.

    Plus, you’ll get really good at writing persuasive emails!

    The best writing stays with you

    I’m sure you’ve read a set of words that stay with you.

    Perhaps, they’ve even changed you.

    For me, some came in a Monday morning email from a former CEO of a company I worked with.

    It started blandly, as per usual.

    I slid my eyes through the usual dribble of sales, results and how stock market analysts were happy about something.

    Then something caught my eye.

    This CEO used a short paragraph to share their career experience.

    One which has stuck with me for over a decade:

    “True happiness beats in your chest. Work out what you like to do best and try to do more of that. Don’t torture yourself pondering the purpose of life. It’s here, it’s now & it won’t last forever, so enjoy it.”

    I think about that paragraph every week.

    I’ve repeated it hundreds of times, and written it maybe thousands more.

    Perhaps that fictional wizard is right.

    → Always work on your writing.

    🤘 Resources for you:

    2. Marketing

    Marketing is not just an industry.

    It’s something we each do, every day, in many ways. You market your skills to a potential employer, you market ideas to business leaders and you even use marketing techniques to convince your crush to go on a date with you.

    It’s one of those things (like everything on this list) which is woven into the fabric of living.

    I’m not the best experience designer, coach or facilitator.

    But I’m a damn good marketer.

    This and writing give me an edge in my career. I’ve been able to get results and climb that annoying corporate ladder to senior roles because I understand how to wield these skills for performance.

    I guarantee it will do the same for you.

    🤘 Resources for you:

    3. Sales (aka positioning products for success)

    This might be the one that takes you off guard the most.

    Selling and L&D, WTF!

    Like it’s close sibling in marketing. The art of selling is something you do a lot more than you know.

    It’s incredibly useful because we’re in the business of influencing people to make change.

    From courses to events, we are trying to sell tickets to those shows.

    Sales is about great communication. It’s not inherently evil, yet people have used its power in nefarious ways. That’s not what I’m talking about.

    TThat’s not what I’m talking about.

    Sales, at its core, is the process of persuading or influencing a potential buyer to exchange their money for a product or service.

    It was also recently put to me as a combo of storytelling and expert positioning, and I kinda like that framing too.

    For those of us navigating the intricacies of L&D, think of sales as the art of matchmaking performance with your people. We connect the dots between a need (often one the buyer wasn’t fully aware they had) and a solution (your product or service) that can fulfil it.

    Don’t think of selling as only about transactions.

    It’s about understanding, communication, and building relationships.

    In our world, sales can also be viewed as an educational journey.

    Where the salesperson (you) guides the customer through a learning process. You help them understand their own needs, the value of the solution offered, and how it can enhance their life.

    At its heart it’s the ability to listen, educate, and inspire.

    🤘Resources for you:

    4. Storytelling

    I never truly understood storytelling’s power until the second decade of my career.

    I thought it was one of those woo-woo things people say.

    → I was wrong.

    I’m a big believer that good stories entertain people, but great stories change people.

    We’ve been telling each other stories since the dawn of time.

    It’s not a radical new concept which can be turned into a flashy tool or methodology by an education provider (although I’m sure they’d try!).

    If you’re like me, you love nothing more than a good old story to inspire you to do something great, or, in some cases, put you into the sleep we so crave.

    We connect through stories.

    I spend countless hours watching, reading and listening to some of the best and worst at it (that’s conference life for ya). It helps shape my own style.

    Connection through telling stories

    I had my ‘aha’ moment with storytelling about 8 years ago on a work trip to South India.

    I’d been sent by the powers that be by my employer at the time to launch a new learning platform for 15,000 colleagues. I like to imagine a Bat signal was raised to call for me. 

    In reality, I was handed an Emirates plane ticket and bundled into a car at 5 am to the airport.

    It wasn’t until the high of my first business class experience had worn off that I started to realise I might be in for more than I bargained for.

    I was to spend the next 2 weeks meeting, greeting and persuading people who had never met me to use this ‘awesome’ learning tool. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake the thought of “Why should they?”

    To them, I was another crony sent by HQ to do its bidding.

    They thou must use this tool, and make thou use this tool you shall! Yes, I speak in my head in a Shakespearean tone sometimes.

    The point is, I had no business telling these people anything.

    I had no credibility or trust built. My bargaining chip was ‘HQ sent me’. It’s certainly not a card to make you popular. I had to change my approach.

    It was time to shift into this storytelling thing.

    A counter-intuitive approach

    Instead of telling people, “You’ve got to do this because HQ says so”. I did the opposite.

    I spent 2 weeks telling a story. Each day I wrote a chapter with those around me. We talked about the power of tech for learning, how each colleague can transform their skills with this opportunity and what it means for them.

    I didn’t talk about the company at all.

    We created a working group in the office to own the tool. I wanted everyone to collaborate and write the story with me. This was one way of doing that.

    You want to know the result now, right?

    Fret not, it’s great news.

    That approach led to the most successful launch I had in my time with that company.

    Storytelling works, kids.

    🤘Resources for you:

    5. Digital Intelligence

    We’re all humans living in a digital world.

    At least it feels more like that right now, and this is a must-have skill for every human.

    I’ve spent too much of my career watching people shy away from tech. You can’t do that anymore. I hate to sound like one of those morons on social media that says “Do this or be left behind”. But I’m going to make an exception here.

    If you don’t invest in your digital intelligence, you will be left behind.

    Defining Digital Intelligence

    Let’s keep this simple.

    It’s about being savvy, aware and adaptable with new digital technologies.

    You don’t need to be an expert but you must be aware of what’s available. Be curious, always.

    I’m 100% confident that my ability to adopt and adapt to new technologies has given me the edge over many of my peers. What is dark magic to them is like playing in a sandbox for me. This only happens when you invest in yourself.

    As the world continues to be eaten up by tech, you would be wise to become fluent in the language of technology to become a valued strategic business partner.

    🤘 Resources for you:

    Final Thoughts

    Ok, let’s park this skills party bus.

    The world still belongs to those who can think clearly, connect deeply and adapt quickly.

    So be the chess player, not the pawn.

    → If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.

    Before you go… 👋

    If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

    You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

    Categories
    L&D Tools

    Why is Performance Consulting so important for L&D?

    A lot of L&D pros tell me they don’t feel valued.

    They feel like a conveyor belt of fulfilling orders vs delivering meaningful work. I get it. That sucks.

    For that to change, you have to change.

    You have to move from transactional to conversational. From McDonalds drive-thru to performance. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.

    Here’s what you need to know to deliver meaningful performance impact.

    Contents
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    Performance consulting explained

    Think of Performance Consulting as being the workplace detective of the L&D world.

    It’s not just about throwing a training program at a problem and hoping it sticks (or not spraying and praying as I was once told).

    Nope. You dig deeper.

    You chat with the team, look at the data, and figure out what’s really going wrong. Then, you come up with a game plan that might be training, but could also be other stuff like better tools, process changes, or even a morale booster.

    The end game is making sure everyone performs better and the business scores a win.

    The art of consulting seems lost in L&D teams.

    We take a lot of questions, but ask few questions. Sometimes, you have to do this. The nature of your organisation can be tough to change.

    Your mission is to partner with the workforce to understand their needs and propose the best solution.

    The benefits of performance consulting for L&D

    Yes. I get this all sounds like a utopia.

    But whats the actual value of adopting this approach?

    For starters:

    • Get the Respect You Deserve: I know I sound like the Godfather here, yet, imagine walking into a room and everyone’s eager to hear your ideas. That’s the kind of respect we’re talking about – where your voice matters, and your skills shine.
    • Credibility: I’m not just talking about looking smart. Anyone can do that. This is about intelligent insights delivered in a way anyone can understand.
    • Building trust with ease: You’ll learn how to align so perfectly with your company’s goals that they’ll trust you as if you were reading their minds (which I can’t promise you can actually do).
    • Think Like a Consultant, Not an Order-Taker: Say goodbye to just checking boxes and hello to strategising like a pro. You’ll ask the right questions and find the real solutions.
    • Impact That’s Visible: Let’s be honest. We all want this. PC offers a set of tools and know-how to get you won the radar.
    3-steps to get started with performance consulting for L&D

    How you can get started with performance consulting in L&D

    Step 1: Change your mindset 🧠

    Easy to say, harder to do.

    If all you know is how to take orders. You won’t become a strategic partner overnight. You’ve got work to do and mostly in the mindset department.

    We’re often held back by our perceived limiting beliefs.

    I can’t give you a concrete plan to change that. What I can do is offer advice and what worked for me. It doesn’t mean it will work for you. Yet, you can use it as an example to adapt for your context.

    Useful resources:

    Step 2: Gather tools and resources 🛠️

    A great L&D pro has a great toolkit.

    Learning what you need and how to use them in a real scenario is what will set you apart. Your version of performance consulting will heavily depend on your context e.g experience level, company maturity.

    There’s basic principles to guide you.

    But as the great Bruce Lee said: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not and add what is your uniquely your own”. In other words, don’t be afraid to adapt what you read online to your specific approach.

    A lot of performance consulting focuses on the mindset shift mentioned above. After this it’s about your approach. You should look at how and what you communicate.

    With that in mind, crafting smart questions is a good starting point to unlock meaningful conversation.

    → Get started with my 8 powerful performance consulting questions L&D must ask.

    Step 3: Experiment 🧪

    This is going to feel scary, and that’s ok.

    You won’t go from taking orders to consulting in days, weeks or even months. We overestimate what we can do in a week but underestimate what can be done in a year.

    One of my go-to stories to illustrate this journey is through my Trojan horse technique.

    The TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) version is to try to move 5-10% towards a consulting approach in every interaction. If you go in like a bull in a China shop smashing stakeholders all over the place with a new way of working. It’s not going to end well for you.

    The best advice I’ve received is to always take people on a journey.

    Change is hard, and people will resist. But don’t lose hope. It’s the small steps that lead to the biggest shifts.

    A performance consulting course for L&D teams

    Bonus step: Become the strategic L&D Partner they can’t ignore

    Learn from someone who has been there, done that and knows the code.

    I’ve worked across the Talent and L&D space for 16 years. Leading projects, teams and creating products with huge enterprises to small startups. I’ve been in the fire and know what works. So, why not take advantage of that for yourself?

    Get access to all my performance consulting strategies in my The Art of Performance consulting course.

    A custom AI assistant for L&D performance consulting

    An unfair advantage: Get performance smart with AI

    My custom AI assistant, Ema can help enhance your performance consulting skills.

    Ema is available to all ChatGPT Plus subscribers in the GPT Store. Ema was designed to do one thing only and to a high level = Enhance the performance consulting skills of L&D Pros.

    Learn more about how Ema works here and access this on ChatGPT.

    Before you go… 👋

    If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

    You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.