Fifteen years ago, I was working at IBM on advanced learning technology to support employee growth. While on a trip to California, I met a former IBM employee who was a research scientist at Google. During a walking tour of the Googleplex, the scientist told me about his biggest challenge: While Google has a great search engine, we know little about how to use search effectively. Even Google engineers knew less than expected!

He began teaching people (including those engineers) about search, developing search skills and learning how to use search engines effectively for research.

From Search to Prompt

Technology is often ahead of users. This is true with today’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. We know AI is powerful, yet we need guidance to take full advantage of it. As with any technology, AI tools for your employees are only as good as their ability to use them.

To maximize the value of your technology investment, learning professionals need to audit existing technology systems to identify the most and least used features. Remember, you’re already paying for it, so you need to decide whether to use more of what you have or look elsewhere.

Define Your North Star

To determine the right learning technology, learning leaders must consider what their learning “north star” is. In other words, what is the purpose of their training? Whether it’s to check the box with compliance training or provide strategic value by integrating learning with organizational strategy, learning leaders must know the answer.

A Simple Test for Value-Added Technology

Divide your learning technologies into two categories: downside minimization and upside maximization. Downside minimization focuses on making sure bad things don’t happen, such as not missing compliance training. Most organizations focus too much on downside minimization. While being non-compliant is undesirable, the advantage of doing more than the minimum is unclear.

Upside maximization deals with untapped opportunities in high-growth areas for success. Many talent and learning and development (L&D) systems have a high upside when implemented strategically. Let’s explore how you can get the most upside from core learning technology systems:

LMS: From Learning Content to Integrations

Most organizations push content to learners with their learning management system (LMS). While important, consider also using your LMS to integrate with other systems. Messaging, communication and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zoom can facilitate learning and assist with managing and reporting on the learning experience.

LRS: From Courses to Activities

Learning comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s important to capture who learns what, no matter how they did it. Consider using a learning record store (LRS) and xAPI statements to get a holistic view of your learners’ skills. Generative AI tools can provide performance support so you can ask a question, get an answer and get back to work.

LCMS: From Proprietary to Generated Content

Done is better than perfect. Many internally developed courses take too long or remain incomplete because of a quest for perfection. Sidestep this by focusing on speed using generative AI or a learning content management system (LCMS) to create courses specific to your industry, roles or subject matter. Use this as a foundation to start from and adjust as needed.

LXP: From Crowded to Streamlined

The promise of a learning experience platform’s (LXP’s) learner-centered, one-stop shop for all learning needs has led to a stuffy learner experience with excess surface-level recommendations. AI tools can go into the black box of learning content, understand it and use that knowledge to personalize learning for you.

Focus on Upside Maximization

From search, mobile, social, cloud, data and now AI, technology trends are always advancing. Invest in technology and processes that maximize the upside: You will see a clear benefit to L&D and the organization. And who knows, you may soon know more than the engineers who built the systems.