What happens when a group of L&D pros get together to talk AI, skills and business impact? Honest takes, real-life challenges, and some seriously useful reflections.

Hosted by Donald H. Taylor (author of the Global Sentiment Survey) and Nelson Sivalingam (Co-Founder and CEO of HowNow), this session brought together insights from both industry research and on-the-ground experience.

If you missed our recent webinar, don’t worry, we’ve wrapped up the key talking points right here (but trust us, it’s worth watching the full thing too).
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The data dilemma: We’ve got questions… but not always answers

One of the biggest themes? Data. Or rather, the lack of it.‍

It’s tough to demonstrate the value of learning when you’re not measuring the right things or anything at all. Soft skills, behavioural shifts, and learning transfer are especially hard to track, and many organisations just don’t have the systems (or confidence!) to collect useful, relevant insight.

We heard things like:

• “Our systems don’t talk to each other.”
  
• “We’re tracking content, not outcomes.”
  
• “Even when we do have data, it’s hard to prove impact across the business.”
  
  

There’s also a skills gap in L&D itself when it comes to data, knowing where to start, what to measure, and how to speak the language of the business. And let’s be honest, it’s easy to get flustered when someone throws a KPI curveball your way.
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Content ≠ Learning (and the business still isn’t getting it)

Another familiar story: teams asking for training, rolling it out, ticking the box, and moving on. But where’s the application? Where’s the change?

There’s still a massive gap between delivering learning and embedding it into the day-to-day. Too often, L&D is treated as a one-off intervention, not an ongoing journey. And because business-as-usual tasks take priority, learning ends up being the first thing cut.

One fab suggestion? Let’s borrow from leadership and try a bit of “Learning By Walking Around” (LBWA) embedding learning into everyday work, not keeping it tucked away in a central team.
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L&D value is a moving target

One person’s idea of value isn’t always the same as another’s. What L&D sees as successful might look completely different to a manager or exec. And that misalignment? It's a major blocker.

Here’s what came up:

• Organisations focus on the cost of training, not the savings that come from better performance.
• L&D needs to be clearer and more confident in defining what success looks like and linking it back to business goals.
• Leaders play a crucial role in reinforcing behaviours and encouraging learning transfer.
  
  

We loved this reflection: “We know our vision. We know our KPIs. We know the skills needed. Now we’ve embedded learning into performance, career growth and project success thanks to a supportive exec team.” That’s the dream!
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AI in L&D

“We’ve been conditioned to think learning happens in long courses. But AI is showing us how powerful just-in-time learning can be.” Nelson.

AI is changing faster than most learning plans can keep up. Most training is still long-form and static and doesn’t keep pace with the rapid shifts happening across roles, tools and tech.

“We talk about upskilling, but let’s not forget about reskilling. That’s where the AI conversation gets real for many job roles.” Nelson Sivalingam, HowNow CEO.

The takeaway? We need to be more agile, more reactive, and ready to upskill in the flow of work. That means building learning cultures that support just-in-time learning, not just scheduled courses.

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Final thought

L&D isn’t just about delivering content. It’s about driving behaviour change, influencing business outcomes, and helping people build the skills they need for today and tomorrow. That means:

• Getting comfortable with data (even the messy kind).
• Working closer with the business to align goals.
• Embedding learning into real work, not just side projects.
• And most of all, being brave enough to challenge old ways of doing things.
  
  

Fancy diving into the full conversation? It’s all here. 👇
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Leadership isn’t just about what you know - it’s about how you show up, do the inner work, and integrate personal growth into your impact on the world.Dr. Lucrecia Grandolini, Global Head of Learning at Investec, goes beyond strategy to explore the deeper, more human side of leadership. From self-awareness and emotional intelligence to ethical and spiritual dimensions, we dive into what it really takes to lead with integrity.

Tune in for a refreshingly real conversation on leadership that goes beyond the surface - one that challenges, inspires, and redefines what it means to lead with purpose, heart, and authenticity.

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Watch on YouTube

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Listen on Spotify

Heather Burright is the Community Manager for the Non-Profit L&D Collective, host of the Learning for Good podcast, and delivers instructional design and leadership development for nonprofits.

So, it’s safe to say she knows this space well! And she joined us to explain some of the best insights and lessons other L&D pros can take from the nonprofit space.

Expect to learn whether it’s easier to connect people to purpose in non-profit organisations.

Lessons on building leaders in these organisations, why non-profits tend to invest more in learning, how they approach storytelling, why they have to prioritise buy-in because there are certain things they can’t mandate, and much more.
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How to connect:

Find Heather on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-burright/

Subscribe to Heather’s newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/nonprofit-l-d-insiders-7056631980473397248/

Listen to the Learning for Good podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-for-good-l-d-solutions-and/id1621971310 

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Watch the Episode

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Listen on Spotify

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Four L&D lessons from non-profit organisations 

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1. Why nonprofits need to build buy-in and how they do it.

Heather explained that a lot of larger nonprofits have a federated structure, which means that there's no direct reporting line between the local organisation that you see in your community and whatever their kind of corporate national global offices. 

And this means they can’t really mandate anything, so they have to work really hard to create that buy-in.

“One of the things that I recommend and use when I'm working with nonprofits like this is that we want to involve those local chapters early in the process so they feel heard. 

“And so you know that whatever you create is going to meet their needs. And so they feel like they're part of the process, right? 

“There's a saying that says people hate change done to them, but they love change done by them. So how can we ensure that people are involved in the process and feel like they are part of whatever that change or that training is going to be?.”

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2. People in nonprofits feel connected to purpose, but watch out for this.

“I think my only word of caution is just that when we rely too heavily on that connection to impact and we don't care for our employees in other ways, like salary or development, flexibility, work-life balance, right? All of these things.”

And it’s important not to rely too heavily on the fact that people want to work here and might expect to receive less pay or benefits.

“I think there's a huge opportunity to be competitive when we combine great pay and benefits with our impact story, as long as we're also taking work-life balance into consideration so we're preventing burnout. 

“Because sometimes there's a tendency in non-profits, right, like you care, you care so deeply, and so it's like just do a little bit more, just do a little bit more, and we do see a lot of burnout in the sector.”

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3. The challenge of developing leaders in nonprofit organisations

“I mentioned that a lot of the larger nonprofits are federated. And so that comes with some challenges to developing leaders because it becomes harder to access those leaders. They're not actually on your payroll, so it becomes harder to access them.”

Which also makes it harder to understand their local context and local area! And with no direct reporting line, you’ll often find that there are competing priorities.

So normally, when you do get them involved in a learning experience, they are still doing all those other things and putting out fires.

“And then I also think there's a bit of a return on investment question. If they're paying to attend the training, for example, how are they going to know that it's actually worth it, that it's going to be valuable to them and their role in their chapter? 

“And then along those same lines, it's really difficult to measure when you aren't actually in the same organisation.”

4. Non-profits invest more in learning for these reasons…

“I'm not sure if it's because we tend to pay less in nonprofits. And so we're kind of dangling the development piece as a benefit. Or if it's because we just care deeply about our mission and so we want people to be their best. Or if it's because we have so many frontline staff who are serving our customer base. 

“But the data consistently points to nonprofits spending more per learner than corporate. So a training magazine article, I believe from 2023, reflecting on 2022 data, shared that nonprofits spent $1,105 per learner in 2022. 

“And that was compared to $751 per learner in mid-size companies and $481 per learner in large corporations. So I'm not sure why, but that is not the first data set that I've seen related to per learner spend and nonprofits being a higher amount.”

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