Claudia Carr
Partner, BearingPoint
Workplaces need to adapt to new employee expectations of workplace learning, as managing knowledge and leveraging emerging technologies can deliver significant benefits.
Workplace learning is changing. Traditionally, when an employee needed to acquire new knowledge or learn a new skill, they’d be sent on a training course or given on-the-job coaching. However, savvy companies are adopting this approach — and for two main reasons.
Workplace training methods and employee expectations
First, AI and Gen AI provide a new slant to workplace learning. “Traditional training methods simply cannot keep up with the pace of change in the workplace,” says Claudia Carr, Partner at multinational management and technology consulting firm, BearingPoint. “Rather than being trained on what you will or may need to know, digital assistants can now guide employees to the relevant learning content and knowledge as they need it — right information at the right time.”
Second, workforce expectations have changed. “The new generation of employees are used to finding answers for themselves online,” says Carr. “Their attitude is: ‘I don’t want you to tell me. Just show me where I can find the information.’”
Having the right guidelines and guardrails in place
AI tools need to learn, so the information they access and how employees engage with it can have a significant impact on outcomes. Understanding the context is critical, as is knowing when to question outputs. This will involve ‘a human factor,’ including coaching from more experienced staff.
Traditional training methods simply cannot keep up with the pace of change in the workplace
It is not enough to just provide the tools; employees also need to access trusted and verified content from valid sources in real time, backed up by governance, guidelines and training. This increases the need for critical thinking and prompt engineering skills.
“The quality of the output is directly related to how the question or prompt was phrased,” says Carr. “That includes verifying that the appropriate source of information is being used.” This means it is equally important to unlearn outdated information.
Shared responsibility for workplace learning
When looking at approaches to information and knowledge management, collaboration is crucial. “As people learn and develop, it’s essential to put structures in place — both within the organisation and with external partners — so that insights and learning can be shared,” says Carr. She notes that while emerging technologies can be an enabler of learning, they cannot be used in isolation. “Workplace learning won’t just be the responsibility of the learning and development team anymore. It will be everyone’s responsibility.”
