I used to get questions in learning sessions which were about how things worked. As the world has moved on, and intrinsic process knowledge is demanded less, I’m hearing different questions.

There are questions about learning and technologies. We’re in 2024 and we have to consider how AI is going to shape the workplace. You can’t ignore it – almost 2/3 of desk based workers want training in generative AI, with more than half of 18–24 year-olds already using generative AI to learn skills for the workplace.

However, questions which used to be about ‘how do I’ are now more specific – where and when – or more contextual – why. I have no doubt people are using LLM and AI tools to work out half the problem and then want to speak with people about how to get things to work.

This is about understanding; people can capture the information and codify it to become knowledge. What they can’t do is contextualise it and work out which information (and when) to use it. 2/3 of 18-24 year olds want more critical core skills training.

Not being able to find what they want, your colleagues are looking outside the organisation for answers. It takes too long and they doubt what you’re offering is the answer to the questions they have.

The role of L&D is not to put the genie back into the bottle, become the learning police or censure ‘unapproved’ information. You need to work with people in a true collaborative way, having absolute clarity on their objectives, so you can support them the best way. That means being able to ask unusual questions of them, and similarly, being able to answer those same questions when they’re posed to you.

Be an engineer, not a shopkeeper.