I wrote 156,000 words across 52 editions to 5,000 people in my newsletter across 2025.
These thoughts might not be the most popular according to my stats, but they’re the ones I believe are the most meaningful and that I enjoyed writing.
Ready?
Here we go…
1/ The Anatomy of A Modern L&D Team
Now, I update this article every year.
I call it an article but its more like a playbook for the modern L&D leader. I’ve been publishing a new edition of this every year to help leaders craft a team, skills and tech stack to navigate today’s world.
In 2025, it had its biggest update.
And yes, AI had a lot to do with that, yet it goes beyond technology.
In the almost unstoppable AI takeover this year one thing became clear to me, the human element is more crucial than ever.
2/ Everything L&D Teams Need To Know About AI Agents
2025 was supposed to be the year of AI agents – but was it?
I’m not so sure.
This time last year, every tech and AI CEO preached that 2025 would be the year AI agents hit the big time. While I’m not convinced the hype delivered, I do believe these will become important parts of the work ecosystem in the years ahead.
Yet, something that grinds my gears is when a lot of social media gurus try to confuse and deceive the every day human on what exactly AI agents are.
So, that led to me creating this mini-guide for L&D to understand AI agents with out the BS, and explore how they can impact and amplify work as we know it.
This isn’t exclusively an L&D thing, yet I really wanted to say something about the state of what I see (and I’m sure you do) online.
The tipping point for me came when I saw one too many so called ‘L&D influencers’ continually spread misinformation through clickbaity headlines about research they didn’t actually read.
There’s a reason you should read beyond the headline.
And with the 2025 word of the year being claimed by “Rage bait”, I believe we need to look deeper into what we see, hear and read in online spaces.
If you want to discover why being a Skeptical hippo could improve your mind, ability to learn and your emotions, then this one is for you, dear reader.
4/ How AI Is Redefining the Way We Assess Learning
Ok, I’m big on the future of learning not focusing on recall with stupid end of course tests and quizzes, but shifting to human reasoning.
The catalyst for this? Yes, you guessed it…AI.
In this one, I propose that now is the time to ditch the memory games in place of true activities that nurture human intelligence through the use of modern tech solutions.
If you fancy shaking things up in 2026, the come join me in this one.
Somehow, it’s been a year since I hit publish on that one.
The message of that piece was to think deeply about the over-reliance we will easily slip into with AI, and how easy it will be to convince ourselves we’re learning how to do something, when in reality, AI is doing it for us.
A year later, I only see more activity, which has amplified both.
That’s not to say there are not those who are rejecting total delegation to AI and those finding the balance between artificial and human intelligence.
As society obsesses over what it gains from AI, perhaps we should be asking what we lose, too.
I love learning, and I’ve loved my L&D career. We add so much value in many situations and that’s what keeps me writing more words every week.
While AI is changing the world, I don’t see it replacing human learning and those who work in organisations working to amplify that. It will look different but it won’t die (fyi, human learning will never die).
There’s been a ton of talk about AI adoption the last two years
It’s odd because the validation of “adoption” has many definitions dependent on the context and environment. The common pitfall is to measure adoption as ‘use of AI tools’ alone.
As we know with previous technology, usage alone doesn’t mean meaningful adoption.
Setting what adoption looks like in your organisation is not a task for the L&D team.
Yet, we have an opportunity to contribute to long term and meaningful adoption of AI across workforces as part of a wide collaboration in a community.
Choosing your best work is always hard, and I’m sure if you asked me to pick again a week from now, I might have a different combination
But for now, this is it.
Hopefully, I can keep talking about these topics in more detail with you across the next year, both here and in the weekly Steal These Thoughts newsletter.
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.
I do, especially when it comes to new tech. Around this time every year, I find myself doing a strange dance with Apple’s newest iPhone. It’s new, has shiny colours, and has attractive buttons – I have no clue what they do, but I want them!
The problem is there’s a difference between a want and a need.
And I may want…but I do not need it.
This happens inside companies too.
In research for my 2022 talk “How to stop buying bloated learning tech”, I discovered that the average company provides over 88 different workplace tools for employees. A crazy stat, I know.
If you think about it, it’s not really that staggering in today’s environment.
I’ve worked with large organisations with 20+ LMS/LXPs and tiny organisations with nothing but a Google doc.
We’re in a confusing land of boundless technology and pressure from market expectations. We lose our way with acquiring shiny new things when we would do well to step back and figure out what’s the right tool for the job.
I want to help you get unstuck from this.
After a decade-plus dealing with vendors, L&D teams and senior leaders (I’m looking at you CFOs). I’ve picked up a few useful tools to navigate the buying process without losing my sanity.
I hope these serve you well.
📌 Key insights
Before buying, clearly understand the problem you’re solving and who it benefits.
Use a simple process to evaluate tech options (see framework below).
Always ‘try before you buy’ with a pilot if possible.
Choose tools that genuinely meet your needs, and resist the temptations!
The process of acquiring new tech goes through a pre, during and post-cycle.
Everything I shared above covers the ‘pre’ phase. So before you eyeball the below, run through those to set yourself up for success (I still can’t shake that term from my corpo days).
Now, we’ll cover what to do in the assessment stage.
You’ve spoken to a few providers and seen some demos here. Things are getting a little bit more serious, and you need a framework to help you decide who to continue dating or ditch.
My Zero-Cost Assessment Framework
Ok, here’s what I do during the dating game of “Who will be our new learning tool?”.
I’m still waiting for Netflix to get back to me on the show concept, btw.
This framework stops me from making bad decisions. We all make bad dating decisions, so don’t be hard on yourself. You’ll note the framework pulls from what we spoke about in the ‘pre’ phase. That’s why you should cover that before scrolling any further.
To assess our options, I create a spreadsheet.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t use AI because I don’t need to. However, you can introduce it into the later stage of this for some ‘devil’s advocate’ perspectives.
Right, our spreadsheet (or table) looks like this:
Now, all you have to do is provide the answers for each supplier for a bit of competitive analysis.
Before we get to that, let’s unpack these 4 stages in a bit more detail:
Research: This throws back to our ‘pre-analysis’. Does the tool and supplier help you solve the problem? Make sure it aligns.
Assess: Does it differ from the tools you have? Here I find it useful to ponder if it’s a product or a feature, meaning are you buying something that one of your existing tools might add on? You want a unique product, not a copy of something you already have with a different look.
Connection: Not enough teams consider interoperability between tech. Will the new tool connect with your existing stack to share data? How so, SSO etc, and what APIs are available out of the box? No good having a shiny new toy that won’t play with anyone else. This is where teams get burned most.
Test: When I became a head of L&D, my firm rule with new tech was “Unless we can test it, we don’t buy it”. Looking at staged demos and a few client stories isn’t enough. You need to get hands-on. The best companies will do this for you.
Anything from 4 weeks – 3 months is perfect.
You don’t want to be that person who signs off on a multi-year contract on the promise of a product demo. I’ve been there, it sucks and procurement calls for contract breaks are not delightful.
Save yourself, friend.
Analyse with AI
When you’ve answered these questions for each supplier, you can use AI to do a competitive analysis.
You don’t have to, but I feel like I’m committing a cardinal sin if I don’t mention it.
Upload your document to your LLM of choice, and ask:
“Give me a competitive analysis of the suppliers in this document. Provide a high-level summary of no more than 100 words. I want a clear outcome and your reasons why you chose a particular supplier as the best option”
“Let’s play devil’s advocate with this analysis. What could I be missing? What haven’t I asked or considered as part of this process”
“What might be the unexpected and unintended consequences on our current tech stack for users if we introduce this tool? (Note: You will need to provide the context on your tech stack)”
“Rank every tool in order of suitability and provide in-depth reasons as to why you ranked in this order based on my requirements”
“Create an exec summary of the most suitable tool that I can share with my CPO and CFO.” Power up this prompt by providing an example of what a good summary looks like, and the key points to cover.
I think you get my drift.
AI can be a useful thought partner when you have structured data.
Don’t be seduced by market expectations
It’s easy to be starstruck by technology.
It feels smarter to buy the new thing, instead of fixing the old one. We currently live in an age where AI is often treated like the second coming of the tech gods. I’m pitched at least 3 new tools a day in my DMs.
But let’s not forget that any tool, no matter how advanced, is only as good as the problem it solves.
Read that line again. Let it sink in.
On your journey, you will find lots of tools that want to date you. So, always keep in mind the problem you’re solving.
Final thoughts
Ok, we’ve covered the dating game of L&D tech.
A little time, research and reflection can save you from a dreadful relationship. Try these frameworks out, and let me know how you get on.
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.
I run lots of experiments in a “How does x thing work” style.
Sometimes I share these, and often I don’t. Mostly because I’m not sure people would care if it’s a non-L&D topic.
Anyway, I’ve inadvertently found myself growing my YouTube channel by 60% subs and 240% views in the last 8 months with 2 -3 hours of work a month.
In this, I’ve learnt a lot about how the platform works. So, I’ve crafted a sort of YouTube Growth Playbook. I have no plans to be a YouTuber but I’m fascinated by how it works.
After many conversations and lots of reflection.
I think there’s a lot to learn from the YouTube design process for L&D design.
From choosing the right idea to designing the user experience to packaging it for a viewer. I see so many similar traits with L&D.
That seems like something worthwhile for us to unpack.
The Experiment: Growing a YouTube Channel in 2-3 hours a month
As mentioned, I have no plans to be a YouTuber.
I just need somewhere to store the videos I share on LinkedIn and this newsletter. My solution is YouTube. I use it more like a storage locker rather than trying to attract people to it.
At the start of the year, I became curious to learn ‘what makes people click’ on a video.
This inevitably sent me down a black hole of learning. I like to think we can agree that is a good type of black hole to fall into. I discovered that crafting high-quality YouTube videos is pretty similar to good end-to-end learning design.
You can transfer a lot of frameworks and skills from writing and marketing into this space.
What happened?
I’ve been running a growth experiment with YouTube for 8 months.
→ It’s increased subscribers by 60%.
→ It’s increased watched hours by 240%.
I’m not out to become a YouTuber, but I do love to learn how things work.
Since our world works on a lot of digital platforms, and we each use them to promote work and business, I like to know how this game is played.
Here are my 4 biggest lessons from taking my channel from 300 subs to over 1,000 (as of this post) in 8 months, with 2-3 hours input a month:
Writing is more important than you think: For scripts, descriptions with SEO, titles and hooks.
Good design matters: From your thumbnails to how the video looks and flows.
Experiment often: This is especially true with thumbnails, descriptions and titles. Some of the biggest players on this platform do this, and it’s something which has worked for me.
Build evergreen content, not just for today: Play the long game. I have a set of 4 to 5 high-performing videos that bring in 80% of subs and views. Why? Because they’re evergreen content that transcends the years with relevance.
Note: I could have achieved way more if I was dedicating myself to this, but that’s not my plan.
4 proven YouTube growth strategies for creators, designers and educators
After 8 months of experimentation, I landed on 4 principles that enhance both growth on YouTube and serve as good learning design.
Let’s unpack these in more detail.
Writing is more important than you think
You’re forgiven for thinking that a successful video is all about, well…good video.
Writing is one of the most important skills you need. Without good writing (and editing) you cannot:
Get buy-in for your work
Build a compelling message
Explain complex problems
Design quality user experiences
And much more.
Specifically for YouTube, writing comes in:
Generating video ideas
Scriptwriting
Video titles
SEO-rich video descriptions
Transcripts and subtitles
We use almost all of this for good learning design.
Until you can clearly write down what you’re solving and how you’re solving it for the user, your product doesn’t have much hope.
One thing I like about the way YouTube Strategists (yes, they’re a real thing) think about design is with ‘packaging’. This term is used to describe how you put all the moving pieces together to craft an experience people will engage with.
What I can tell you, is this doesn’t stop when the video is filmed.
It’s about how you script your intro, the video title you choose, your video description and how you will distribute this to your audience. I’ve found the best people obsess over these things to a militaristic level, and that makes sense.
You cannot do well long-term without this approach.
This is no different in L&D. The work is not over when you finish building an experience (no matter if physical or digital). Think about how you will ‘package’ your product to drive value for users.
Good design matters
This transcends industries and products.
I’d go as far as to say it’s a ‘fact of life’.
In YouTube land, thumbnails, video titles and descriptions are gold. They’re what bring in the viewers, but without a well-designed video behind them, they’ll flop.
This is something I learned early on.
The dopamine video hit
I wrote a devilishly enticing title and designed a clickbaity thumbnail for a bare-bones video.
The goal was to see how much of an effect these variables have on a sub-par product. Long story short, the video did very well in the first 12-24hrs. It racked up a few thousand views, but the people spoke with downvotes.
Despite the high engagement in the first 24 hours, the video died.
Why? It was the most downvoted video I released, and YouTube takes note of that. You can have thousands of views and all the dopamine-spiking materials you want, but if many people start downvoting, YouTube stops recommending.
Lesson: You can’t hide rubbish with rainbow paint.
The big hits
I don’t have and don’t want any viral videos.
I detest the word ‘viral’ in this digital age. Instead, I focus on what I do best: ‘how-to’ educational videos. Probably most of the ones you’ve come to know me for.
The videos that have performed well for me, checked these boxes:
They were well-planned with a clear structure for the viewer’s experience
Each had a short intro which explained ‘what you’ll get’ from this
They solved a problem that people in my niche face daily
They provide a painkiller to the pain the viewer is experiencing
Each had a clear and compelling title and description
Examples of two of my best-performing videos showing these strategies are below:
As you can see, nothing special in particular.
The main thing they do is solve a problem. Just like in L&D. So, solve the problem and you’ll do well.
Research-backed YouTube growth strategies
Instead of me, re-sharing everything I’ve ever learnt about this topic.
Here’s a few resources from people I’ve learnt from and their best advice:
Paddy Galloway: The (Original) YouTube Strategist
Until I came across Paddy, I’d never heard of the phrase ‘YouTube Strategist’.
That was 5 years ago.
Today, it’s pretty common for strategy teams to exist. What I enjoy about Paddy is his critical design mind. You can take how he thinks about YouTube and apply it to many industries. He’s one of those people who can see how it all works together.
The best video I’ve seen him share some of his work in is below.
Here’s 2 of my favourite strategies he shares:
The CCN (Core, Casual, New) Framework: It’s hard to capture everyone, and you probably shouldn’t try too. I love the old saying “If you design for everyone, you design for no-one”.
What you can work on is how your target audience will experience content. Core people will watch anything, casuals drop in from time to time and new are those discovering the experience for the first time.
If we’re being honest, L&D for most company’s is a numbers game, and this is something to keep in mind. Listen to Paddy’s explanation.
What makes good video ‘packaging: In the YT world, this refers to the thumbnail, description and title of the video, hence the word ‘package’.
This is about discoverability.
I wonder how many L&D teams think about this when their content or workshop sign-up is plastered on a LMS and company intranet.
I stumbled on Aprilynne’s videos when seeking how to create worthy thumbnails and titles that support user discoverability.
I didn’t want my hard video work to go unnoticed because the packaging sucks. Lucky for me, Aprilynne had done a ton of research on what works in this space.
As I watched the video, I couldn’t help but think about the similarities when it comes to filtering content on a LMS and LXP.
With so much on these systems, you need to help your best (and most important) content standout.
The same design principles for this transcend YouTube.
Two videos I recommend you check out. The first focuses on what makes a good YouTube thumbnail (which you can use for your content system of choice), and the second, unpacks the thought process behind this with the creator.
These strategies have worked well in my experiments so far.
What L&D audiences experience
Take a look at the below.
Looks familiar, right? You know what it is in 5 seconds – a typical course catalog.
This is what your audience experiences when you push them to a content system. There is nothing inherently bad about this image. It’s just not very clear, compelling and ultimately helpful for them.
I’m sure these could be all worthwhile courses for your audience, but they kinda all blend into the background.
As an example, we can see x3 science related options for AI. Each contain a similar title and quite generic imagery. There’s not much to differentiate on that front.
However, the one clear difference are the higher education brand names, which will probably sway a prospective viewer.
Out of the 3, I’d expect 90% will choose Harvard because it’s well-known and is positioned as being prestigious.
That doesn’t mean the others are worse, and the viewer may never know. Perhaps, they’re better but they’ve not been able to communicate the specificity here on the screen where it matters.
This is where ‘packaging’ is key.
The importance of good packaging
The one tile that stands out to me is at the start of the bottom left.
Yes, the Google one, but why?
The background image is minimal but a contrast to the same stock images used by the rest
It has a very clean visual look so I’m not struggling to make sense of it
The title is the most specific one on the screen. It tells me everything I need to make an informed decision in a few seconds. The others are a bit vague and require further investigation. This turns into a Russian roulette because I won’t spend time on them all. This is where brand familiarity helps.
A good test is to put this image into powerpoint and create a second slide that’s blank (complete white space).
Swipe between the two slides, one with the image and the other with white space. Now note where your eyes are naturally drawn to on the image.
This is the course you’re most likely to click.
Use this to reverse engineer the reasons behind the decision. What attracted you and why?
Assume you’re not Harvard
With many off-the-shelf content libraries, you’ll be competing against more well-known brands.
Your job is to stand out in that sea to ensure company content is front and centre. So you need to package things differently. Build clear, compelling and specific imagery, titles and descriptions.
In sum: The little things matter more than you think.
Experiment
Probably the thing we should do more.
Not just in design, but with ongoing packaging of content and courses.
One thing I noticed about bigger YouTube Creators is how they tweak the elements of their packaging if performance is not as expected.
Sometimes the thumbnail didn’t work or the title doesn’t land, maybe the description is not specific enough for the engine to rank it higher in searches.
So, they change it.
Perhaps days later, sometimes hours. They look at audience data to uncover what’s not clicking. You can do the same with courses and content.
If your work is not hitting the mark after a week, try:
New visual design – mix up your imagery
Change the title – we all know most of us just read headlines, so make yours compelling
Description – most learning platforms search engines work the same as YouTube’s. They look for relevant keywords in both titles and descriptions against what a user has requested. Make sure you have these words in yours.
Often, it’s not about re-creating the product, it’s a matter of re-packaging it.
In sum: Don’t kill the product if it doesn’t work first time. Improve the packaging and distribution.
Create evergreen content
This phrase might be new to you, so allow me to explain.
Evergreen means something that is continually fresh and relevant. In a world littered with short-form content and experiences driven by instant gratification, you want to play the slow growth game.
Simply this means building products (I use this word here to describe content and courses) that last for the long-term.
You do this by updating them for relevance.
Sadly, I don’t see this happen often in many L&D teams. The default is to create another new thing rather than update what you have. I tried not to mention AI today, yet I find a good use case for it here in helping you to update old content.
Try sharing your current content with the AI tool of choice and ask it to:
Check for relevance
Search for new research on the topic
Suggest improvements in style and structure
Pose thoughtful questions for the audience
I’ve found this helpful with my website.
You’re not asking the tools to ‘create this for me’, you’re working with it as a design assistant.
In sum: Before you create something new, consider how you can refresh something old.
📝 Final thoughts
OK, friend, we got through a lot today.
Don’t let good products get lost with poor packaging
It’s the little things that matter: titles, descriptions and imagery
Experiment with distribution and packaging: Don’t kill the product, improve the packaging
Before building something new, refresh what’s old – this is (probably) the best option
Your work needs good design, packaging and distribution to succeed
Bonus: 🤖 Tool for you
To help you apply the topics we’ve covered today, I’ve built a custom AI-assistant with all the videos, tips and knowledge sources in this edition.
It’s not going to make you a superstar YouTuber earning mega bucks, but it will help you put today’s thoughts into practice.
Feel you’re juggling too many tasks but not making enough impact?
You’re not alone.
We’ve all been there as a solo L&D pro or team. You have the best intentions yet you can’t get away from the backlog of mundane tasks that hit you like a never-ending tsunami. So, what can you do?
If you’re not familiar with Zapier, let me enlighten you. Whilst the latest trend has been all-around generative AI. Automation tools like Zapier have been helping many to work smarter and faster with their easy-to-use integrations.
Think of them as the middle-man between tools that don’t normally talk to each other, but with the help of Zapier, they can work together to enhance your life as a user.
You can build zaps (their word, not mine) to do lots of stuff. For example:
Connect Excel documents to survey form responses
Automate emails to activities on your website
If you want a more detailed explainer on Zap, watch this ↓
Despite being known for saving time with their automation tools. Zapiers L&D team faced this exact challenge within its own walls. They were swamped with repetitive tasks, limiting their capacity for impactful work (preach!).
The challenge was simple.
Liberate themselves from the shackles of repetitive administrative tasks to do their best work.
A shared story
Much like me and you, Zapiers L&D teams are swamped.
Whirlwind days of scheduling workshops, managing emails, and the endless back-and-forth of attendee management. They were in a classic ‘I really want to deliver impact, but I can’t escape these Slack messages about where to find x course’.
You know how that feels, right?
Now, here’s the catch – Zapier is all about automation.
Yet, their L&D team was neck-deep in manual tasks. They knew something had to give. Lucky for them, they had the perfect product to make their dreams a reality.
The core issue was clear – the team’s potential was being stifled by mundane administrative tasks. They were spending more time managing logistics than focusing on developing impactful learning experiences.
I want to break free
So, what did they do?
They looked inwards. They asked, “Hey, why don’t we use our own tools to cut through this clutter?” And that, my friends, was the catalyst.
The golden ‘aha’ moment, realising they had the solution all along.
What a beautiful feeling!
Reclaiming time to deliver impact
Armed with this insight, the team set off on their automation journey.
The mission?
Turn routine tasks from time-consuming to time-saving.
What they achieved:
Fast forward, and the results were nothing short of spectacular:
1,000 hours saved annually
Their focus shifted from mundane tasks to creating killer L&D programs that really hit the mark.
Improved accuracy in workshop management – no more ‘whoops, we missed an email’ moments.
Now, that might sound small but it’s huge if you consider how these little things can stack up.
Let’s unpack how they did this.
How they made this happen
So, how did they do it?
The transformation involved a three-pronged approach:
Task Analysis: The team meticulously identified and mapped out all the tasks that were potential candidates for automation.
Tool Selection and Integration: Leveraging Zapier’s own automation tools, they created workflows that connected different applications used for managing workshops, and handling everything from registrations to feedback collection.
Iterative Improvement: The process was continuously refined, with feedback loops to ensure the automation met the dynamic needs of the team and the company.
How you can break free from mundane tasks with automation
You can apply the lessons learned from Zapier’s L&D team by:
Identifying repetitive tasks Identify tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming, yet essential for operations. These might include data entry, scheduling and email responses
Evaluate automation tools Research and evaluate automation tools that can handle these tasks. The key is to find tools that integrate well with existing systems and are scalable. You might have a bunch in your company already.
Iterate Continuously monitor the effectiveness of your automation. Collect feedback and refine the processes as needed to ensure they remain efficient and relevant.
Focus on the real work Now your routine tasks are automated, redirect your focus towards more strategic activities. It’s time to do your best work, so make the most of it.
Final thoughts
This isn’t just a story about saving time.
It’s a lesson in working smarter, not harder. Zapier’s L&D team didn’t just improve their workflow. They transformed their entire approach to work.
It’s a reminder for all of us in the L&D space – sometimes, the key to unlocking our potential is right under our noses.
In sum:
Think about the ‘manual’ daily tasks that could do with an automation makeover.
Explore your existing tools – what automation capabilities do they have?
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.
For many of you in the corporate world, I know you’re dealing with thousands of employees and archaic systems.
So, how can you maximise technology to support your skill-building initiatives?
→ We’ll explore this with best skills technology on the market today.
Whilst I can’t provide the perfect advice for your context completely. I’m going to do my best to cover tools and features which could be worthwhile to investigate.
Microsoft has 345 million people currently using MS 365 across 150 countries.
It feels smart to explore what this big tech juggernaut offers as I’m sure many of you are sitting in a Microsoft tech stack. Fret not if you don’t, I’ll be covering other skills tech too (I got you Google Workspace friends).
Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a new AI-powered Skills solution in Viva.
Their view is traditional job-based talent models often fail to capture individual and organisational capabilities comprehensively. I’m sure we can attest to that, right?
It seems the big aim of Viva is to push more organisations towards that sexy buzzword of a ‘skills-based organisation’.
Of course, it leverages AI.
I mean we have to say that about everything these days. Even my tea is AI-powered 😉.
If you’re company uses Microsoft services, this tool is attractive for a few reasons:
It’s free if you already have the Microsoft Viva suite, which is their LMS baked into Teams
It analyses data from Microsoft Graph to track, assess and recommend actions on org skills
It connects data from the LinkedIn Skill Graph with the above to its mighty AI reasoning tools to bring you the best skills data
The holy grail here is to align all corners of the organisation under the banner of skills.
From what I’ve discovered in my investigative reporting trip (aka a s**t ton of googling and ChatGPT), MS is positioning this as the bridge to fill the gap between traditional structures and a skills-based future.
The focus is on three core scenarios:
1/ Strategic Workforce Planning
For HR and organisational leaders, it aids in aligning workforce capabilities with business goals. It includes a skills dashboard within Viva Insights to visualise skill strengths and gaps.
You can see an example of this ↓
I think it looks pretty neat.
2/ Upskilling and Reskilling
Another holy grail of our industry.
We covered the 101 of this before. This is an example of the type of tech you can use to make this a reality. With both real-time data for leaders and employees to make better performance-based decisions.
One step closer to focusing on the right skills, not more skills. I hope, anyway.
This feature is targeted at HR leaders and employees, enabling proactive workforce development. Employees can select skills to learn, search for courses by skills, and receive AI-based skill recommendations.
3/ Skill Discovery in the Flow of Work
What is it with everything ‘in the flow of work’?
Perhaps in 2024, I will coin tea in the flow of work! Stranger things have happened, friend.
This integrates skill discovery into daily tasks. Skills are suggested based on Microsoft Graph signals, and employees can confirm, add, and manage their skills.
Although not perfect, this type of transparency can motivate and engage people in their skill journey.
How it all works
There’s a slick 2-minute video from Microsoft here.
This is my TL;DW (too long; didn’t watch)
The goal of Microsoft Viva Skills tool is to help you uncover and leverage the expertise across the workforce. Here’s my non-techy explanation of how this works:
→ Viva Skills integrates two major data layers:
Microsoft Graph: This provides access to data across Microsoft 365 services, including insights about employee activities.
LinkedIn Skills Graph: This leverages real-time signals to map how different skills relate to each other, to jobs, and to learning content.
→ Using the data from these two sources, Viva Skills employs AI reasoning to infer the expertise of employees.
Using this AI reasoning, Viva Skills intelligently crafts individual skill profiles. It provides an updated understanding of current workforce skills and a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of emerging workforce capabilities. That’s a big win.
This information is then integrated into Viva and Microsoft 365 experiences.
Microsoft and LinkedIn Skills Graph explained
MS Graph Deep Dive
Microsoft Graph is like a big connector for various Microsoft services.
It allows different applications to talk to each other and share information. Common sources of data it draws from include:
Email and Calendar from Outlook
Documents from OneDrive and SharePoint
Chat and Meeting information from Teams
User Information from Azure Active Directory
So, it’s a tool that helps bring together all the data from these different Microsoft apps to create more integrated and efficient experiences. A little big brother-ish but what isn’t these days?
LinkedIn skills graph
The LinkedIn Skills Graph is a system that LinkedIn uses to understand and show how different skills are related to each other and to various jobs.
It looks at what skills people list on their LinkedIn profiles, what skills are mentioned in job postings, and what is taught in learning courses on LinkedIn. This helps to get a clear picture of what skills are popular and important in different industries and jobs.
I don’t know how reliable it is, but it sounds good.
Will it work with your current tech?
The simple answer is Yes.
While specific details about all compatible systems are not provided publicly as I write this (smart move), key integrations include:
Microsoft 365 Productivity Platforms
Microsoft Graph
LinkedIn Skills Graph
Viva Learning
Third-Party Apps
👀 The benefit for organisations
→ Transition to Skill-Based Organisation
Every company seems to be hot on this right now.
They should have been doing this all along in my opinion, but hey, I’m one guy with a keyboard. Reaching this goal is made easier when you have the right tech in your corner to support this push.
→ Clarity and transparency on real skills data
I hope this is a pretty clear one.
It’s hard for L&D and HR teams to get skills data, and it’s even harder to know how to convey this in the right way to an individual. The thing is we each want clarity on what skills we need to work on and how. Skills tech can facilitate this.
→ Awareness and engagement with skills and careers
Every L&D team chases the engagement dragon.
Like me, you’ve no doubt often been kept awake by the deep question of “How do we boost engagement with learning initiatives?”. Get people interested in skills and you’ll have more engagement than you know what to do with.
→ Connecting siloed systems and data
Don’t you just hate tools and data which can’t talk to each other?
It’s been a constant pain in my own career. The promise of tools like this from Microsoft is to centralise access in one place. Is it good? I’m not sure. Will it actually work? Not sure about that either.
Skills technology for non-Microsoft companies
I’m a man of my word, so here’s an alternative for you non-MS houses.
I have no affiliation with them or MS btw, these are my independent views on current tech, and I like TW at this moment. They made my top 5 emerging L&D tech solutions to check out too.
TechWolf’s technology is like an AI assistant that helps understand the skills within your company.
It digs into what everyone is good at, linking these skills to projects and learning paths.
It’s designed to work with the systems you already have, so there’s no hassle of adding a new platform (allegedly). It sounds like a useful tool for HR teams to make informed decisions about their workforce, based on real data.
📌 Things to know
Integration with Existing Systems: TechWolf links up with the software you already use in your workplace.
It does this through an API, which is like a bridge that connects different technologies. This means you don’t have to get used to a new HR system. It just becomes part of what you’re already using.
AI Technology: It uses AI to understand and analyse all sorts of job-related data, like employee skills and job requirements. This AI figures out the context and meaning, not just looking at keywords.
Final thoughts
The bottom line is measuring skills is hard!
Recruiting tech to help you with this can make it a lot easier.
There are two industry-leading pros I’d recommend you follow in this space for more insightful thoughts on skills on the frontline today:
