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Why Most Training Fails

Most employees don't become proficient just by taking a class or completing a module, especially regarding soft skills like communication, leadership, or feedback. Proficiency requires many repeated applications of the skill in real-world situations, with proactive mentorship. Proactive mentorship is guidance, direction, intervention, and feedback on the skill's application from an expert in every attempt.

Without proactive mentorship, most people struggle to apply new skills effectively. That's why 70–90% of learners stop applying new management and leadership skills within a year, with many never really trying.

How People Actually Learn at Work

Today, workplace training programs are variations on apprenticeship, procedural (step-by-step) training, or a combination of the two.

Apprenticeship: Learning by Doing with an Expert

Think of the old-school model: a blacksmith teaches a young apprentice by showing them how to do the job, usually one skill at a time, starting with the simplest tasks. The learner watches, tries, gets corrected, and gradually becomes proficient by doing the work, side by side with an expert.

This model succeeds because it's personal and relies on real work. But it's slow, inconsistent, and doesn't scale. Across an expert's entire career, they only apprentice a small number of novices.

Procedural (Step-by-Step) Training: Born in Wartime Factories

During World War II, factories needed to train millions of new workers quickly and consistently. The apprenticeship approach was insufficient. That's when Training Within Industry (TWI) was created. TWI taught factory supervisors how to teach factory floor skills rapidly and reliably to their new employees (job instruction training). This innovative procedural learning approach involved:

1. Breaking the job or skill into steps
2. Explaining each step and its reason
3. Guiding the learner through practice, then actual on-the-job application

This procedural approach made training faster, more consistent, and easier to scale. It was the original train-the-trainer model, and it was very successful.

TWI also instructed factory supervisors on managing employee problems (job relations training) and improving work methods to reduce waste and increase productivity (job methods training). However, these two programs faced a potentially big obstacle -- the supervisors didn't have access to anyone at work who was an expert in these new skills.

The Real Challenge of Learning a New Skill: Applying It

Whether you learn from a facilitator, mentor, manual, or video, the hardest part of learning a new skill isn't usually memorizing the steps or method. It's applying the approach in real situations. Reality is messy. Take giving feedback. Should you do it in the moment? Schedule a meeting? Send anything in advance? What type of support should I provide? What if they say that they didn't know my expectations? What do I do if they act defensively or reject my feedback? What if they cry? Am I willing to fire them if they don't improve? In what ways can I support them? What if they have a history of not responding to feedback? And so on.

This is what we call contextualization, figuring out how to apply a skill based on the particulars of a situation. And it's hard, especially for beginners who haven't seen enough examples to recognize patterns. Indeed, you might need to apply a new soft skill in real situations over 100 times -- each time with proactive mentorship -- to become proficient.

Why Experts Make the Difference

Experts help learners bridge the gap between knowledge and action. They don't just know (and reinforce) the method. They have the experience to do the pattern recognition that the novice can't, so they can guide the learner in contextualizing the skill. Their hands-on support helps learners:

Succeed sooner (they do the skill right, even early on)
Build confidence (affirmation and success encourage them to keep going)
Accelerate proficiency (more reps with feedback equals faster learning)
Contribute meaningfully (they're productive even while learning)

Moreover, learners often don't realize they're making mistakes without expert feedback, especially with soft skills. They think they're doing it right, but they're not, and no one tells them. They might also do a good job but get unlucky and abandon a successful approach without someone to affirm their choices.

In other words, even with procedural learning, you typically need proactive mentorship to learn to apply the skill proficiently. Because most learners anticipate the difficulty of applying a new skill or have a challenging experience in an early attempt, many abandon the skill without sufficient proactive mentorship.

How TWI Overcame the Lack of Expertise

TWI overcame the lack of supervisor access to proactive mentorship for job methods and job relations skills in two ways.

External Proactive Mentorship

For job methods, TWI compensated for this lack of in-house expertise by acting as consulting-like experts to the supervisors during training and returning to the factories regularly to help them apply the skills to real work. Also, whenever a supervisor identified an improvement, TWI circulated it to all other supervisors in all factories so that everyone could pursue it and learn from how their peers identified and implemented innovations.

Limited Contextualization

Compensating for the lack of proactive mentorship for job relations skills was more challenging. The supervisors' supervisors weren't experts in the skills, and employee problems arose with a frequency that made it impossible for TWI to provide consulting-like support. Initially, many supervisors abandoned job relations methods. Then, TWI started training the supervisors' supervisors in job relations. While they weren't true experts, they were knowledgeable and available to support the front-line supervisors as they tackled employee problems, which reduced anxiety and increased confidence. More importantly, the job relations method had fertile soil in the WWII factory environment because (1) employees had a strong sense of mission and would tolerate a lot of hardship, (2) employees expected a command-and-control environment where they had little say, (3) the job relations training made employees feel better treated than they expected, and (4) factory work wasn't complicated. As a result, contextualization wasn't hard to begin with, and the job relations approach TWI taught made it even easier.

In no small part because of TWI's WWII success, corporate soft skill training has remained "expertless" even as employee expectations have changed dramatically and complex knowledge work has become the predominant form of employment. Five factors determine if it is difficult to contextualize a skill: skill complexity, context variability, judgment required, interpersonal dynamics, and action irreversibility. The special conditions in factories during WWII made all five factors for job relations relatively low, but those conditions no longer exist. Today, management and leadership skills -- the modern version of job relations -- are performed in conditions where those five factors are high and contextualization has become challenging to the point that sustained improvement is the exception, not the rule.

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What is Inetegrated Learning

Imagine if every time an employee needed to use a skill, they had access to a virtual expert who could provide guidance and feedback. The intensity of the support could range from light advice to full skill performance, based on the level of help needed. With the virtual expert's help, the employee could perform the skill proficiently without training, as well as increase their ability over time to perform it independently. Learning would become a byproduct of performing the skill proficiently instead of a prerequisite.

That's the Integrate Learning approach. Compared to existing training methods, it provides:

1. Day One Effectiveness in Performing a Skill Proficiently
2. Accelerated, More Dependable Proficiency Development
3. Lower Cost Scalability
4. Easy Customization at the Company, Regional, Department, Team, or Individual Level

How Does It Work?

Integrated Learning is a new development modality that gives employees real-time, expert-like guidance -- proactive mentorship -- as they do actual work. No class. No prep. No delay.

It combines:

The hands-on support of apprenticeship
The structure of procedural (step-by-step) training
The scale and availability of gnerative AI (or other expert systems)

So employees don't just learn a skill. They confidently use it right away and build independent proficiency over time.

Current uses of generative AI in learning and development solutions involve improvements to the production of courses and materials (e.g., lower cost, faster generation) and new features (e.g., chatbots, practice sessions). These sustaining innovations improve the modalities we already have, but they don't overcome the fundamental reason why training remains an ineffective method for developing soft skills. Integrated Learning is the disruptive innovation that directly elevates employee productivity. Learning happens -- and happens more reliably -- but it is an ancillary benefit, not a prerequisite, of employee productivity.

A More Familiar Example: the Automated External Defibrillator

Someone is having a heart attack in public. A bystander can't go off for CPR and defibrillation training. They need to act now.

That's what AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) make possible. These devices walk a person through every step -- "remove their shirt to expose their skin," "place pad A at," "press button," "stand back," and so on. In the process, the AED collects information from the bystander and its sensors, such as the heart's rhythm, the patient's impedance, past defibrillation attempts, and the patient's age group (pediatric). It then uses that information to contextualize its general rules and determine whether to shock the patient and with what energy level to discharge.

The expert guidance and contextualization are built into the system, enabling a bystander with no experience to defibrillate as effectively as a first responder.

Integrated Learning works similarly, albeit much more collaboratively.

A Workplace Example: Setting Expectations

Let's say an employee has never been trained on how to set expectations effectively. In an Integrated Learning session:

1. They are asked questions about the task and context, explaining why the information is important and how it is used.
2. The system recommends a framework (e.g., SMART goals) and explains why it is optimal, although it leaves the final choice of a framework up to the employee.
3. It walks them through crafting clear expectations, using their real situation.
4. At the end of the Integrated Learning session, the employee has produced a strong expectations statement and detailed guidance on communicating it for accountability, along with tailored supporting materials that would be useful to an expert, not just a novice./li>

They performed the skill proficiently. In the process, they learned by doing and are now better prepared for the next time they need to set expectations. That's Integrated Learning.

How Integrated Learning Sessions are Built

Integrated Learning session design starts where you would expect -- with an expert. The expert in the target skill first creates a detailed architecture for the session that specifies the (1) skill process, (2) what information a user needs to provide, and (3) criteria for assessing the contextualization of the process to the situation.

Next, the expert trains a tool (usually powered by generative AI or an expert system) to engage with the user and perform (or support) the contextualization of the skill to the specific situation.

Then, whenever an employee needs to perform the skill, they launch the Integrated Learning session and, just like an AED, it provides them expert guidance in performing the skill proficiently.

How Intelligently AI Helps You Build Your Integrated Learning Capability

* We maintain and grow an Integrated Learning Library containing sessions that members can use off-the-shelf or tailor for their unique circumstances. We develop some in-house, which we call SkillStreams™, and facilitate sharing of tohers across member organizations. These materials are unlocked and licensed for your internal use in perpetuity.
* We have an Integrated Learning Toolbox that includes access to Integrated Learning authoring tools, virtual learning workshops, and our prototype Integrated Learning platform, all of which are designed to avoid platform or vendor lock-in.
* We generate and share Research & Insights on Integrated Learning and other related developments via traditional webinars, white papers, and Intelligent reports that allow members to apply the insights. These insights will empower your people to lead intelligent AI adoption in the workforce performance space.
* At the end of the Integrated Learning session, the employee has produced a strong expectations statement and detailed guidance on communicating it for accountability, along with tailored supporting materials that would be useful to an expert, not just a novice.

Integrated Learning is not just a better training modality. It's a better way to work.

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Integrated Learning Library

The Integrated Learning Library contains Integrated Learning sessions that members can use off-the-shelf or tailor for their unique circumstances. These materials are unlocked and available for internal use in perpetuity after your first year of membership.

Intelligently AI builds some Integrated Learning sessions - our SkillStreams™ - for members. The library also contains Integrated Learning sessions built and shared by other members.

Instant Manager Excellence SkillStreams™

Intelligently AI is developing a full suite of SkillStreams™ that allow managers to perform core management functions effectively in their day-to-day work and become more proficient in them over time. For experienced managers, these can reduce the time needed to perform these functions and help improve the quality of their execution. Our first set of SkillStreams™ focuses on the management skills that we most often hear learning and development professionals requesting.

Setting Objective Performance Expectations

How can you set clear, measurable expectations for what success looks like?

When employees don't understand what outcomes they're responsible for - or how success will be measured - they may focus on the wrong things, miss targets, or underperform without realizing it. Ambiguity creates misalignment and confusion.

This SkillStream™ helps you define and communicate clear, objective performance expectations using measurable outcomes. Doing so enables better planning, supports fair evaluations, and gives employees confidence in what's expected of them.

Setting Subjective Performance Expectations

How can you clarify expectations that aren't easily measured but still critical to performance?

Not all aspects of performance can be captured with numbers. Qualities like judgment, creativity, or collaboration may go unspoken or be inconsistently evaluated, leading to misunderstandings or unfair assessments.

This SkillStream™ equips you to articulate and align on subjective standards, such as quality, style, or approach, so that employees understand what is expected of them and have confidence in their ability to succeed.

Setting Behavioral Expectations

How can you define the way people are expected to act at work?

When behavioral expectations are vague or left unspoken, issues like miscommunication, mistrust, or toxic dynamics can arise. People may unintentionally behave in ways that undermine the team and themselves.

This SkillStream™ helps you establish and communicate the behaviors that support team success, such as respect, responsiveness, or initiative, so that cultural norms are clear and positive interactions become the norm.

Giving Constructive Feedback & Restoring Accountability

How can you help your team improve while holding them accountable for results?

Without timely, actionable feedback, employees may repeat mistakes or miss growth opportunities. Without clear accountability, performance issues may persist, leading to frustration and uneven standards, or worse.

This SkillStream™ supports you in giving effective feedback that increases the likelihood of the person meeting expectations in the future. It helps build a culture of continuous improvement and shared responsibility.

Delegating Optimally

How can you delegate in a way that builds capability and drives performance?

Managers often struggle to strike the right balance - either holding onto too much or handing off too quickly. Poor delegation can create bottlenecks, burn out the manager, and limit team development.

This SkillStream™ helps you delegate with intention - matching tasks to employee readiness, clarifying authority, and setting expectations - so you can free up your time, empower others, and grow team capacity over time.

Engaging Employees Effectively

How can you increase motivation, retention, and energy on your team?

Disengaged employees may meet the minimum bar but withhold effort, creativity, or loyalty. Managers who focus only on tasks may miss the deeper drivers of performance and satisfaction.

This SkillStream™ helps you identify and use positive levers - such as purpose, growth, autonomy, or recognition - so that your employees feel connected, valued, and committed to the team's success.

Giving Praise and Recognition

How can you use recognition to reinforce great performance and boost morale?

Many employees feel underappreciated, even when doing excellent work. When praise is absent or generic, it fails to motivate or signal what behaviors should be repeated.

This SkillStream™ helps you give timely, specific praise that acknowledges both effort and outcomes. By recognizing wins publicly or privately, you reinforce desirable behavior, boost confidence, and build a culture of appreciation.

In addition to this initial set of SkillStreams™, we will be working with members to develop additional ones to support the following common managerial responsibilities:

Team Capability Building

Increase the team's ability to create value for the organization.

Teaching and Mentoring

Fostering the growth and development of team members through formal and informal hands-on teaching, guidance, and opportunity facitation for skill-building and professional advancement.

Employee Engagement

Identifying and using positive levers—such as purpose, growth, autonomy, or recognition—to make your employees feel connected, valued, and committed to the team and organization's mission and success.

Team Wellbeing

Promoting and supporting the mental, emotional, and physical health of team members by creating a balanced work environment and addressing wellbeing challenges.

Diversity and Inclusion

Fostering an inclusive team environment that values diversity in thought, background, and experience by promoting respect and ensuring equal opportunities for all team members.

Innovation Encouragement

Promoting creativity and innovation within the team by encouraging new ideas, supporting experimentation, and creating an environment that embraces change and continuous improvement.

Performance Reviews

Providing constructive and timely evaluations of employees' job performance, including recognition of strengths and identification of areas for improvement, that lead to improved performance and increased employee rewards.

Hire Team Members

Participating in the hiring process to identify and onboard candidates who are a good fit for the team, balancing skills, experience, and cultural alignment.

Workforce Planning

Anticipating future staffing needs based on team objectives and organizational growth, and working with HR to recruit or reallocate resources as necessary.

Career Counseling

Guiding employees in setting career goals, identifying opportunities for growth, and navigating career development paths within the organization.

Change Agent

Leading and managing change initiatives by fostering an environment open to innovation, overcoming resistance, and ensuring smooth transitions during organizational changes.

Operational Oversight

Oversee the team's day-to-day operations.

Delegation

Ensuring that tasks are appropriately distributed among team members, balancing workloads, and managing deadlines to prevent burnout, maintain productivity, and enable employees to build new skills.

Reporting

Communicating relevant data, metrics, and updates on team progress and performance to higher management, stakeholders, and team members.

Decision Support

Assisting team members with decision-making processes by providing relevant data, insights, and recommendations to enable effective and informed decisions.

Problem Solving

Identifying and addressing operational or personnel issues that may arise within the team, using critical thinking and analysis to develop practical solutions.

Course Corrections

Ensuring that the team meets its objectives by adjusting operations as needed.

Ethics, Integrity & Values Promotion

Promoting ethical behavior, integrity, and firm values, by making principled decisions and addressing inconsistent conduct within the team.

Risk to Plan Identification

Recognizing potential risks and obstacles that could hinder the successful execution of a plan and developing strategies to mitigate or address these risks.

Compliance

Ensuring that the team adheres to internal policies, external regulations, and industry standards, maintaining ethical and legal standards in operations.

Budget Management

Overseeing the team's budget by tracking expenditures, forecasting future needs, and ensuring that the team operates within its financial limits while meeting its objectives.

Compensation

Overseeing the equitable and transparent allocation of compensation, including salaries, bonuses, and benefits, to motivate and reward employees.

Conflict Resolution

Managing and resolving conflicts within the team by mediating disputes, addressing underlying issues, and promoting a collaborative and respectful environment.

Performance Management

Ensuring team members meeting performance and behavioral expectations.

Setting Expectations

Defining and communicating clear, objective performance expectations using measurable outcomes to enable better planning, support fair performance evaluations, and give employees confidence in what's expected of them.

Fostering Accountability

Create a team culture where individuals feel high accountability for meeting expectations.

Performance Feedback

Informing team members where their actions deviate from expectations in a manner likely to lead them to make corrections.

Performance Intervention

Identifying critical performance issues within the team and taking corrective actions to improve individual and team outcomes.

Motivation

Inspiring and encouraging employees to perform at their best by fostering a positive and engaging work environment, recognizing achievements, and aligning individual goals with team objectives.

Stakeholder Engagement

Supporting the needs of groups and individuals outside the team and securing external support for the team.

Stakeholder Management

Managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment with organizational goals, addressing concerns, and maintaining effective communication.

Resourcing

Securing the necessary resources, such as time, budget, equipment, and personnel, to enable the team to achieve its goals and complete its work efficiently.

Communication Facilitation

Acting as a liaison between the team and upper management, ensuring that information flows smoothly both up and down the hierarchy and that team members are kept informed of relevant organizational changes.

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Integrated Learning Toolbox

Integrated Learning Authoring Tools

Unaided, building an Integrated Learning session from scratch requires significant effort. It can take weeks or months to produce an effective one. For someone who has no experience building them, the task can feel insurmountable. Intelligently AI is creating a suite of authoring tools to dramatically reduce the time required, increase quality, and empower people with no Integrated Learning experience to create these sessions. Tools completed or under construction include:

Subject Matter Expertise Debriefer: This tool collaborates with the designer to capture the subject matter expertise associated with the skill in a form that can be translated into an Integrated Learning session.
Session Architect: The Session Architect collaborates with the designer to develop a step-by-step process for collecting context information from the user and helping the user perform the skill proficiently.
Instruction Generators: Instruction Generators turn the subject matter expertise and session architecture into a set of instructions for the desired platform to execute the Integrated Learning session.
Testing and Refinement Wizards: These tools help the designer modify the instructions so that an Integrated Learning session consistently generates outputs that align with the desired outcomes.
Customization Editors: Designers may want to start with existing Integrated Learning sessions and customize them to conform to particular circumstances, such as processes or language specific to a company, department, team, or individual. These tools help the design with that customization.

Integrated Learning Workshops

Intelligently AI regularly hosts three types of workshops: competency building, member experience sharing, and SkillStream™ specific.

Weekly workshops are held most Tuesdays at 12pm ET/9am PT and repeated on Thursdays at 3pm ET/12pm PT. Other workshops are added frequently based on areas of member interest.

1. Competency Building Workshops

Intelligently AI's Integrated Learning Workshops support participants in achieving five different levels of competency:*

Weekly workshops are held most Tuesdays at 12pm ET/9am PT and repeated on Thursdays at 3pm ET/12pm PT. Other workshops are added frequently based on areas of member interest.

Level 1: Accomplished. The designer has successfully built novel and tailored existing Integrated Learning sessions using authoring tools.
Level 2: Independently Knowledgable. The designer understands and can describe unaided the concepts, principles, and methods for creating Integrated Learning sessions.
Level 3: Independently Proficient. The designer can create Integrated Learning sessions unaided, including designing them with the user's skill level in mind (novice, knowledgeable, proficient, expert, transformative).
Level 4: Expert. The designer can teach others how to design Integrated Learning sessions and achieve Level 1 competency.
Level 5: Transformative. The design can re-envision the skill and transform it given the ability to harness Integrated Learning.

Intelligently AI offers certification for each level achieved.

Frequently repeated live workshop subjects include:

Introduction to Integrated Learning
Inherent Limitations of Modern Learning Modalities
Combining the Best of Traditional and Modern Learning Modalities
Principles of Integrated Learning
Key Insights from Two Years of Integrated Learning
Building Your First Integrated Learning Session

2. Member Experience Sharing Workshops

Intelligently AI frequently facilitates workshops in which members share with one another experiences and lessons learning from adopting Integrated Learning and using AI in Learning & Development and Human Resources more broadly.

3. SkillStream™ Specific Workshops

Intelligently AI hosts workshops for specific SkillStreams™ (Integrated Learning sessions Intelligently AI develops for you) to help your employees use them. In these workshops, our experts will provide additional guidance and answer questions as the participants use the SkillStream™ to perform their actual work. While SkillStreams™ don't require expert support, some employees may find it more comfortable to have an expert available to help them the first time they use one.

These workshops and their recordings can be used to onboard employees to different SkillStreams™ in place of traditional training on the same skills.

Integrated Learning Platform Prototype

While Intelligently AI believes that the pace of change driven by generative AI and high uncertainty around future applications make it prudent to avoid vendor lock-in, most organizations don't have in place processes and platforms to experiment with, design, and deploy Integrated Learning sessions. We've developed a prototype platform based on member feedback that you can use as you build out your capabilities. The platform will continue to evolve — and be replaced if necessary — as AI-based technologies evolve and we learn more about how companies leverage Integrated Learning sessions.

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Research and Insights

Insights from our research agenda are shared in traditional webinars and white papers as well as intelligent reports that will allow members to apply the insights in their decision making and to surface potential needs for changes in priorities and investments. This agenda may change based on guidance from our members.

Member's Research Agenda

The Productivity Imperative

From "How can we use AI to reduce costs?" to "How do we avoid the productivity paradox that has plagued all previous digital innovations?"

The launch of generative AI tools immediately sparked widespread speculation - and action - around workforce displacement. Many companies have already laid off employees or announced plans to do so, anticipating that generative AI can wholly or partially replace humans in performing certain types of work. But if history is any guide, this focus on substitution may be misguided. Previous waves of digital innovation - from personal computing to the internet to enterprise software - have rarely yielded meaningful productivity gains for adopting companies, even over decades. This disconnect, known as the Solow Productivity Paradox, reflects the reality that while technology providers often reap substantial rewards, the promised performance improvements for users frequently fail to materialize.

A small subset of companies have broken this pattern by reframing their goals - not around cost-cutting, but around genuine productivity enhancement. Thus, the shift from asking how generative AI can reduce costs to asking how to avoid the productivity paradox broadens the lens. It invites companies to look beyond efficiency and examine the organizational, cultural, and operational dynamics that determine whether generative AI creates real value. Research rooted in this reframed question can uncover the barriers that blunt AI's impact - such as rigid workflows, siloed decision-making, or inadequate skill alignment - and identify strategies for aligning AI deployment with measurable improvements in employee output and business performance.

HR as Architect of the New Workplace Operating Model

From "How should we be using AI in HR?" to "How do we become architects of human-AI performance in our organization?"

Much of the conversation about generative AI in HR has focused on digitizing back-office tasks, automating workflows, or improving efficiency in recruiting and onboarding. But this lens is too narrow. It treats generative AI as a tool for optimizing HR's traditional responsibilities rather than as a catalyst for redefining what HR is for in the first place.

As earlier digital innovations have shown, productivity gains rarely come from adopting technology alone. They come from rethinking how work is done - how people, systems, and culture interact. With generative AI, we now face a similar inflection point. The technology has the potential to reshape not just jobs, but the very nature of learning, collaboration, performance, and growth. And the questions it raises - about trust, adaptability, judgment, capability, and culture - are fundamentally human. That makes them HR's to lead.

To seize this opportunity, HR must evolve from a function-focused service provider to a strategic architect of human-AI performance. This means leading the way in designing systems where people and generative AI collaborate effectively - where AI is used not to replace human potential, but to unlock it. It means reimagining workflows, roles, and skill development to align with a world in which expertise can be embedded, performance can be supported in real time, and mastery can be democratized.

This is not about deploying tools. It's about engineering the conditions for sustainable, scalable performance in a hybrid human–generative AI workplace. Employees will soon expect support systems that help them perform like experts from day one. Executives and investors will expect the productivity gains that generative AI promises - but which can only be delivered when paired with human systems designed to absorb and amplify its power. If HR doesn't lead this shift, someone else will. But if it does, HR can move from the margins of organizational strategy to the center - becoming not just a partner in change, but the driver of the most consequential workforce transformation in generations.

Human Behavior Design

From "How do I train our people to use AI?" to "How do we incentivize and enable our people to train AI-enabled tools?"

As generative AI capabilities become embedded in everyday tools like Excel, messaging platforms, and enterprise systems, the need to explicitly train employees on how to "use AI" diminishes. Natural language is replacing complex interfaces - enabling novice users to accomplish advanced tasks without needing to master formulas, keystrokes, or nested menus. In parallel, new tools are emerging that act as intermediaries: they interact with the generative AI systems behind the scenes so the user doesn't have to.

In this environment, the real unlock lies not in employees learning AI, but in generative AI learning from employees - their company-specific expertise, built from context no system can access on its own. Generic AI tools offer only shallow value unless adapted to the specific workflows, language, and decision logic that shape a given organization. That requires employees to contribute their knowledge. Yet many will resist, fearing replacement, while others will be unsure how to translate what they know into something an AI system can use.

And this isn't a one-time setup. Business processes evolve, and so must the systems that support them. Employees will also increasingly personalize generative AI tools to reflect their own working styles and responsibilities - and those preferences will shift as their skills grow. Reframing the question opens up a deeper challenge: not how we teach people to use AI, but how we support people in teaching AI. This means aligning incentives, building trust, and creating systems that enable shared learning between humans and machines - where the more people use the tool, the better it gets for them and the business.

From "How do we ensure AI tools don't give our people bad information and guidance?" to "How do we shape our people's mindset to treat AI-based tools as teammates?"

Most traditional digital tools - spreadsheets, dashboards, databases - are deterministic. They operate by fixed logic and are expected to return accurate, repeatable results. Generative AI tools, by contrast, are probabilistic. They don't compute answers - they emulate human reasoning, make contextual guesses, and generate content that can be insightful, but also occasionally wrong.

Employees accustomed to tools that "just work" may struggle with this shift. They may over-trust generative AI systems - or ignore them entirely. But these tools are designed to collaborate, not command. Like teammates, they require informed judgment, calibration, and active engagement.

This mindset shift will become more urgent as generative AI becomes the interface layer for many work tools - transforming how people interact with data, content, and decision support systems. But it brings a second-order challenge: behavioral spillover. Because AI tools don't require empathy, courtesy, or patience, people may start to communicate with humans as if they were machines. This erosion of interpersonal skill, already evident in email and chat culture, could worsen as simulated teammates become ubiquitous.

In addition, employees will increasingly work in hybrid teams - blending real and virtual colleagues, often asynchronously. These environments will require new norms, roles, and methods of collaboration we haven't yet invented. Reframing the question draws attention to this complexity. Success will depend not on AI reliability alone, but on developing the mindsets, teaming skills, and cultural infrastructure that let humans and generative AI systems work well together.

Preventing Workflow Complexity and Communication Overload

From "What AI tools should we allow our people to use?" to "How do we leverage technology to reduce job complexity rather than expand it?"

Email and chat tools were once heralded as breakthrough productivity enablers. They made communication faster and cheaper. But what was missed is that reducing the cost of sending a message did not reduce the cost of receiving or processing one. In fact, it made it worse. The result has been a flood of digital communication that has fragmented workflows, overwhelmed workers, and reduced reliance on higher-quality live conversation.

Generative AI may follow the same pattern - only faster. It can summarize, sort, and prioritize messages. But it can also generate long emails, populate threads, and produce content instantly - further increasing the volume and complexity of work. Without deliberate design, generative AI may not solve communication overload - it may amplify it.

That's why the question must shift. It's not about whether to allow a tool - it's about how to design work so that generative AI simplifies, not complicates, the flow of action. That means using AI not only to manage complexity, but to eliminate it. Research and design in this area can identify ways to consolidate communication, reduce noise, and restore intentionality to collaboration. The goal is not just smarter tools - it's smarter work.

Problem-First, Not Tech-First

From "What AI solutions should we be pursuing?" to "What are the biggest obstacles to greater employee performance and productivity?"

Most organizations have developed their workflows through years of real-world testing and refinement. These systems generally work - but not perfectly. They contain friction points: tasks that are too slow, processes that are too manual, gaps that were never cost-effective to fix. Generative AI offers new ways to address these issues - but only if the problems are clearly understood first.

When companies start with the question "What AI solutions should we pursue?", they often fall into a tech-first mindset - looking to generative AI to replace entire human roles or creative functions. These efforts are usually high risk and low return. By contrast, targeting specific productivity obstacles - those inefficiencies and constraints that slow down otherwise well-functioning teams - offers a much clearer path to impact.

Generative AI can remove these barriers, often by restoring tasks that were too complex or costly to justify - like creating multiple communication variants, generating data visualizations, or exploring alternative strategies. It can also help employees surface pain points they might not know how to articulate, creating a continuous improvement loop. The goal isn't to replace what works, but to remove what slows people down - and to let the problems, not the tech, drive the solution.

Performance Without Prior Mastery: The New Training Modality

From "How should we use AI to improve our training and reduce its costs?" to "How can we use AI to make craft mastery possible for all our people - enabling immediate expert-level performance?"

Most corporate training is built on a pre-digital model: teach the skill, then apply it. Even modern "learning in the flow of work" assumes the employee must first receive guidance and then figure out how to apply it in context. But this doesn't reflect how complex work actually happens.

Professional roles increasingly require craft mastery - applying sound judgment, adapting to unique situations, and balancing logic and emotion in real time. The challenge is that most enabling skills (like giving feedback, aligning stakeholders, or managing conflict) are performed infrequently and inconsistently, making them hard to practice, master, or assess.

What's needed is not more pre-task learning, but a new modality that mirrors the apprenticeship model: a system that allows employees to perform like experts immediately by following expert guidance embedded in the task itself. These systems should be able to fully direct the employee - or even take over parts of the task - while also explaining why certain actions are appropriate. In this model, learning is the byproduct of performance, not a prerequisite for it.

Generative AI makes this possible. It enables expert support to be embedded into workflows, scaled across teams, and adapted over time as employee capabilities grow. This not only accelerates performance but fosters real, sustainable growth. The question is no longer how to reduce the cost of training - it's how to redesign it so that performance and mastery happen side by side, for everyone.

Speak to Our Experts

Privacy Policy

intelligently.ai Privacy Policy

Effective Date: May 01, 2025

Privacy Policy Highlights

This Privacy Policy applies to intelligently.ai and its affiliates (collectively, “intelligently.ai,”, “our,” “us,” or “we”) and describes how intelligently.ai collects, uses and shares customer information from our websites, mobile websites, mobile applications, and the services provided by us in connection with the sites and applications that link to this Privacy Policy. It also provides guidance on how you can manage the personal information that you provide to us.

Personal Information Collected

When you use our services or make a purchase, you voluntarily share certain personal information with us such as your name, e-mail address, address, mobile number, and/or credit/debit card information and, with your prior permission, when you connect through social media networks.

Tracking Technologies (Cookies, etc.)

We use tracking technologies such as cookies and similar technologies to measure usage during your visits to our services and provide information and advertising that will be of most interest to you.

Targeted Advertising

Third party ad networks may also use information gathered from your use of the services to serve targeted, interest based advertisements to you on websites and mobile applications.

Use and Sharing of Information

We may share your information gathered from your use of the services with our marketing partners, affiliated companies, our service providers, mobile carriers, social networks, legal and law enforcement, and others if there is a change of control, and as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Your Information Access and Managing Options

You can change your personal information by clicking “My Account”, or contacting us. We may retain the information collected for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. We may retain certain information for purposes outlined in the Privacy Policy, such as for archival purposes and if required by law.

Your Information Choices

You can control if you want to receive promotional communications from us.

Arbitration

Any disputes under this Privacy Policy will be resolved in accordance binding arbitration, in the state of Virginia.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

You agree that we may notify you about material changes to this Privacy Policy by posting a new “Effective Date” on the Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

Questions about our Privacy Policy or your information collected may be sent to admin@intelligently.ai or as otherwise set forth in the Privacy Policy.

MARKETING PRIVACY POLICY

intelligently.ai has developed this Privacy Policy which details important information regarding the use and disclosure of user information collected on intelligently.ai owned or controlled websites, mobile sites and applications, and related services, communications and tools that link to this Privacy Policy, and when you interact offline with intelligently.ai regarding those sites, applications and related services and tools (collectively referred to as the “Services”). intelligently.ai provides this Privacy Policy to help you make an informed decision about whether to use or continue to use the Services and the choices we offer for you to manage the information we collect related to the use of the Services. Each time that you access or use the Services, you are agreeing to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy or Terms of Service (“Terms”), which are incorporated into this Privacy Policy by reference and govern your use of our Services, please discontinue accessing or using the Services.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT.

Information Collected Directly From You.

You can browse our Services without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information including but not limited to your name, email address, phone number, mobile telephone number, credit card information or physical contact information about yourself. If you create an account, contact us or purchase any of our Services you choose to give us your personal information and are not anonymous to us. When you register an account, or use certain of our Services you may provide certain additional information such as username and e-mail address. You may also provide payment information such as credit or debit card information, name and billing address to purchase a membership, series, collections or libraries.

Information Imported from Social Networks.

We will collect information from you when you interact with our Services through third party social networking services (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, ) (each and collectively, a “Social Network”). You may also have the option to consent to connecting your activity on our Services with your Social Network information and activity. If you permit a connection, we and that Social Network may be able to identify you and associate information received pursuant to the connection with information we already have about you. Please review the Social Network’s privacy policy and choices for sharing information of any Social Network connected to our Services.

Surveys and Promotions.

From time-to-time we may request information from you and other users via surveys, or contests, sweepstakes or other promotions. Participation is completely voluntary. Information collected may be used as set forth in this Privacy Policy and as set forth in the applicable terms or official rules, including without limitation to notify the winners and award prizes, and file winners’ information as required by law. Survey information will be used for the purposes of the survey.

Information You Post/Social Networks.

The Services are designed to enable you to communicate with others and any information or content you post when participating with the Services and Social Networks, plug ins or other applications becomes public information, depending upon your privacy settings, and is subject to redistribution by intelligently.ai and other third parties. There is no expectation of privacy when posting content or otherwise participating in such interactive forums and we have no control over how those users may use the information you make public. Therefore, you should exercise caution and discretion when deciding to disclose your personal information in a submission or posting.

Mobile Devices.

We may collect additional information from you if you access Services through a mobile device; for example, your unique device identifier, device’s operating system, mobile carrier, location, and if you opt-in, geo-location. We may also collect your location information from your IP address or zip code. We may also use location data internally or in conjunction with our third party service providers to customize your experience and provide offers that may be relevant to you. The degree to which your location can be identified depends on the device you are using, e.g. laptop, smartphone, tablet or other access device (each a “Device”) and how you are connected to the internet (e.g. via cable broadband connection, WiFi, etc.).

Information about Others/Inviting Friends.

From time to time you may choose to submit personal information about other people to invite them to join a Service. Inviting friends is always optional. Please be aware that when you use any send-to-a-friend functionality on the Services, your e-mail address may be included in the communication sent to your friend.

2. INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES.

Tracking Technologies.

In addition to any information that you choose to submit to us, we and our business partners may use a variety of tracking technologies such as cookies, flash cookies, web beacons/GIFs, HTML5, embedded scripts, e-tags/cache browsers/web logs (“Tracking Technologies”), that automatically (or passively) collect certain information from your Device whenever you visit or interact with the Services or third party websites. This information may include your Device identifier, the type and version of Internet browser software you use, and your operating system. We may also collect password information from you when you log in, as well as computer and connection information. During some visits, we may use these tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, time spent on certain pages and page interaction information. Certain features of our Services are only available through the use of Tracking Technologies. You may encounter tracking technologies/cookies from our third party service providers that we have allowed on our Services who assist us with various aspects of our operations and Services. Tracking Technologies are used for a variety of purposes, including the following:

a. Operationally Necessary.

We may use Tracking Technologies for system administration, to prevent fraudulent activity, to improve security or to allow you to make use of our Services.

b. Performance Related. We may use Tracking Technologies to assess the performance of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to improve content offered through the Services.

c. Functionality Related.

We may use Tracking Technologies to tell us, for example, whether you have visited the Services before or if you are a new visitor and to help us identify the features in which you may have the greatest interest.

d. Targeting Related.

We may use Tracking Technologies to deliver content, including ads, relevant to your interests on the Services and third party sites based on how you interact with our advertisements or content, as well as to track the content you access.

Location and Geo-location Functionality.

Information gathered from your use of the Services may be combined with information from third-party sources to identify your location by state and region (“Regional Location”). If you enable location services for our Services we may collect regional location data periodically as you use or leave open our Services. Certain of our mobile applications have search functionality that gathers aggregate location data about visitors and when visitors opt in, allows us to collect information about their precise geographic location (“Geo-location”). We may use GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cell tower proximity to determine geo-location. If you agree to have your Geo-location collected, we may use and retain that precise location data to provide you with information about our Services or carry out marketing and other activities contemplated by our mobile applications and by this Policy. When you have Geo-location software running on your Device, we may only collect that information as controlled by your privacy settings on your Device. For most mobile Devices, you are able to withdraw your permission for us to acquire this information on your location through the Device settings. If you have questions about how to disable your mobile Device’s location services, we recommend you contact your mobile Device service provider or the Device manufacturer.

3. HOW WE USE AND SHARE YOUR INFORMATION.

Our Use of Information.

We may use information that we collect about you: (1) to respond to your requests; (2) to fulfill orders; (3) to provide customer service; (4) to administer surveys, sweepstakes or other promotions; (5) to improve and customize our Services; (6) to provide information to a third party at your request; (7) to give you information about your account or our Services; (8) for internal business purposes; (9) for purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information, or (10) as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Service Providers.

We may disclose information to our third party service providers in order to monitor the activity of the Services, conduct surveys, administer contests or sweepstakes, send marketing communications, and provide other Services to you, such as to provide customer service.

Process Payments.

Information may be disclosed to process credit card transactions, which are handled by established third party banking, processing agents and distribution institutions. They receive the information needed to verify and authorize your credit card or other payment information and to process your order. In addition, we may disclose information to third parties to verify the authenticity of any financial transaction involving our company or its subsidiaries or to update your billing information.

Mobile Data.

When you access the Services on a mobile Device, we may use the information collected for any purpose set forth in this Privacy Policy. For example, we may use the information to provide you with location-based Services, such as advertising, search results, and other personalized content. If you agree to have your Geo-location collected, we may use and retain that precise location data to provide you with information about our Services or carry out marketing and other activities contemplated by this Policy.

Analyze and Aggregate Non-Personal Information.

We use aggregate information about our users and non-personal information to analyze our Services and user behavior and prepare aggregated reports which we may share with third parties.

Promotional Communications.

We may use your contact information to send you updates and communications about our products and services or other promotional communications, such as newsletters, emails, or special offers or share your information with our trusted marketing partners so they can send promotional offers to you (“Promotional Communications”). If you wish to opt out of receiving Promotional Communications from us or our marketing partners or change your preferences for Promotional Communications, you may follow the instructions in Section 5 Choice and Opt-Out, set forth below.

Information from Other Sources.

The information we collect may be combined with information from outside records (e.g., demographic information, navigation information, and additional contact information) that we have acquired in accordance with the law. We may also acquire information from other sources about your visits over time and across other third party websites, in order to serve more targeted advertising to you on the Services.

Legal Matters; Safety.

We may, without your consent, access and disclose your information, any communications sent or received by you, and any other information that we may have about you or your account as may be permitted or required by law (including, but not limited to, court order or subpoena), or to prevent or investigate suspected fraud, violations of our Terms of Service, which we encourage you to read in conjunction with this Privacy Policy, or activity that appears to us to be illegal or may expose us to legal liability. Additionally, we may disclose your information in situations that we believe may involve potential threats to the physical safety of any person or property.

Sale or Transfer of Business or Assets.

If intelligently.ai or any of its affiliated companies or businesses is sold or disposed of as a going concern, whether by merger, sale of assets or otherwise, or in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership, Information of our users may be one of the assets sold or merged in connection with that transaction. Information about our users may also be disclosed in connection with a commercial transaction where we are or any one of our businesses is seeking financing, investment, and support or funding.

Transactional Communications.

We may use your information to send you notices from time to time relating to your account or your purchases. These may include order confirmations, invoices or customer service notifications. We may also send you Service-related announcements when it is necessary to do so; for instance, if our Service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, or the delivery of a product is delayed or there are policy changes.

4. ACCESS TO AND MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.

We believe it is important for you to be able to access and manage the information you have provided to us and make choices about how it is used. To inquire about or update your information, or change your preferences, you may take the following measures:

1. To cancel a subscription or membership or close your account, login to the sit.

2. To change or update your personal information, login to the site.

3. To change your account settings, login and click “My Account” and then select “edit your password and account details.”

You may also contact us as set forth in Section 6 below.

5. CHOICE AND OPT OUT

Opting Out of Promotional Messages.

You may choose not to receive our Promotional Communications.

For emails, follow the “opt out” or “unsubscribe” instructions in promotional emails we send to you.

Administrative Messages.

You may not opt-out of administrative e-mails (for example e-mails about your account, transactions or policy changes) for your account.

Timing and Third Parties.

We will endeavor to comply with your request for changes as soon as reasonably possible; please note that changes requested may not be effective immediately. Email opt-out requests may take up to 10 days to process. Unless required by law, we are not responsible for informing third parties with whom we have already shared your information of any changes requested pursuant to this section, or for removing information from or causing information to be removed from the databases or records of such entities.

6. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES, PRACTICES

Links to Other Sites.

Our Services may utilize hyperlinks to access external or third party sites, which are not controlled by us and, therefore, are not subject to this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you check the privacy policies of those third party sites to determine how the proprietors of those sites will utilize your information.

Security.

We implement security measures to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal information under our control. We use “Secure Socket Layers” or SSL to protect your personal information when collecting and transmitting your billing information to our payment processor. However, despite our efforts, no system can completely guaranty that there will never be unauthorized access to your personal information, and your use of our Services indicates that you are willing to assume this risk.

Storage and Retention.

Information that you provide to us in the course of requesting a product or service through the Services may be gathered and stored in one or more of our corporate databases. Your personal information is stored for the length of time you have an account and for legitimate business purposes as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. We may retain some information from closed accounts or cancelled subscriptions or memberships so that we can comply with law, prevent fraud, assist with investigations, resolve disputes, analyze or troubleshoot programs, enforce our Terms of Service, or take other actions permitted by law. If your account or membership is terminated or suspended, we may also maintain some information to prevent re-registration.

A Note to International Users.

The Services are hosted in the United States. If you are using the Services from outside the United States, you are consenting to the transfer of your information to the United States for processing and maintenance in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service. You are also consenting to the application of United States law in all matters concerning the Services.

Children’s Privacy.

The Services are directed to an adult audience. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18 years of age and, if we obtain actual knowledge that a user is under 18 years of age, we will take steps to remove that user’s personal information from our systems.

Changes to our Privacy Policy.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. You agree that we may notify you about material changes in the way we treat information by placing a notice on the Services. The most recent version of the Privacy Policy will always be posted on the Services, with the “Effective Date” posted at the top. You should check the Services frequently for updates. By accessing the Services after the Effective Date, you are deemed to consent to our then-current privacy policy.

Your California Privacy Rights.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our customers who are California residents to request and obtain from us a list of what personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the names and addresses of those third parties. Requests may be made only once a year and are free of charge. For all requests, you must put the statement “Your California Privacy Rights” in the body of your request, as well as your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. In the body of your request, please provide enough information for us to determine if this applies to you. You need to attest to the fact that you are a California resident and provide a current California address for our response. Please note that we will not accept requests via the telephone, mail, or by facsimile, and we are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or that do not have complete information.

Disputes.

If you choose to visit the Services, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms including arbitration, limitations on damages, resolution of disputes, and application of the laws of the United States and the state of Massachusetts.

Contacting Us.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices email us at:

admin@intelligently.ai

When contacting us, please include your full name, address, phone number, and email address, and indicate the specific nature of your request.

Terms and Conditions

Last updated May 01, 2025

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and intelligently.ai (“we,” “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the intelligently.ai website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”).

You agree that by accessing the Site, you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with all of these Terms and Conditions, then you are expressly prohibited from using the Site and you must discontinue use immediately.

Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the Site from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms and Conditions at any time and for any reason.

We will alert you about any changes by updating the “Last updated” date of these Terms and Conditions, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change.

It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to, and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms and Conditions by your continued use of the Site after the date such revised Terms and Conditions are posted.

The information provided on the Site is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country.

Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the Site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

The Site is intended for users who are at least 18 years old. Persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to register for the Site.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the Site is our proprietary property and all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics on the Site (collectively, the “Content”) and the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the “Marks”) are owned or controlled by us or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions.

The Content and the Marks are provided on the Site “AS IS” for your information and personal use only. Except as expressly provided in these Terms and Conditions, no part of the Site and no Content or Marks may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.

Provided that you are eligible to use the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Site, the Content and the Marks.

USER REPRESENTATIONS

By using the Site, you represent and warrant that:

(1) all registration information you submit will be true, accurate, current, and complete;

(2) you will maintain the accuracy of such information and promptly update such registration information as necessary;

(3) you have the legal capacity and you agree to comply with these Terms and Conditions;

(4) you are not under the age of 13;

(5) not a minor in the jurisdiction in which you reside;

(6) you will not access the Site through automated or non-human means, whether through a bot, script, or otherwise;

(7) you will not use the Site for any illegal or unauthorized purpose;

(8) your use of the Site will not violate any applicable law or regulation.

If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Site (or any portion thereof).

USER REGISTRATION

You may be required to register with the Site. You agree to keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your account and password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.

PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES

You may not access or use the Site for any purpose other than that for which we make the Site available. The Site may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us.

As a user of the Site, you agree not to:

systematically retrieve data or other content from the Site to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database, or directory without written permission from us.

make any unauthorized use of the Site, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.

use a buying agent or purchasing agent to make purchases on the Site.

use the Site to advertise or offer to sell goods and services.

circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Site, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on the use of the Site and/or the Content contained therein.

engage in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Site.

trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as user passwords;

make improper use of our support services or submit false reports of abuse or misconduct.

engage in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.

interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on the Site or the networks or services connected to the Site.

attempt to impersonate another user or person or use the username of another user.

sell or otherwise transfer your profile.

use any information obtained from the Site in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.

use the Site as part of any effort to compete with us or otherwise use the Site and/or the Content for any revenue-generating endeavor or commercial enterprise.

decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the site,

attempt to bypass any measures of the Site designed to prevent or restrict access to the Site, or any portion of the site,

harass, annoy, intimidate, or threaten any of our employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Site to you.

delete the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any Content.

copy or adapt the Site’s software, including but not limited to Flash, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, or other code.

upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) viruses, Trojan horses, or other material, including excessive use of capital letters and spamming (continuous posting of repetitive text), that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Site or modifies, impairs, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use, features, functions, operation, or maintenance of the Site.

upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism, including without limitation, clear graphics interchange formats (“gifs”), 1×1 pixels, web bugs, cookies, or other similar devices (sometimes referred to as “spyware” or “passive collection mechanisms” or “pcms”).

except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, use, launch, develop, or distribute any automated system, including without limitation, any spider, robot, cheat utility, scraper, or offline reader that accesses the Site, or using or launching any unauthorized script or other software.

disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.

use the Site in a manner inconsistent with any applicable laws or regulations.

USER GENERATED CONTRIBUTIONS

The Site may invite you to chat, contribute to, or participate in blogs, message boards, online forums, and other functionality, and may provide you with the opportunity to create, submit, post, display, transmit, perform, publish, distribute, or broadcast content and materials to us or on the Site, including but not limited to text, writings, video, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, suggestions, or personal information or other material (collectively, “Contributions”).

Contributions may be viewable by other users of the Site and through third-party websites. As such, any Contributions you transmit may be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. When you create or make available any Contributions, you thereby represent and warrant that:

the creation, distribution, transmission, public display, or performance, and the accessing, downloading, or copying of your Contributions do not and will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or moral rights of any third party.

you are the creator and owner of or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, releases, and permissions to use and to authorize us, the Site, and other users of the Site to use your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Site and these Terms and Conditions.

you have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person in your Contributions to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Site and these Terms and Conditions.

your Contributions are not false, inaccurate, or misleading.

your Contributions are not unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, pyramid schemes, chain letters, spam, mass mailings, or other forms of solicitation.

your Contributions are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable (as determined by us).

your Contributions do not ridicule, mock, disparage, intimidate, or abuse anyone.

your Contributions do not advocate the violent overthrow of any government or incite, encourage, or threaten physical harm against another.

your Contributions do not violate any applicable law, regulation, or rule.

your Contributions do not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.

your Contributions do not contain any material that solicits personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or exploits people under the age of 18 in a sexual or violent manner.

your Contributions do not violate any federal or state law concerning child pornography, or otherwise intended to protect the health or well-being of minors;

your Contributions do not include any offensive comments that are connected to race, national origin, gender, sexual preference, or physical handicap.

your Contributions do not otherwise violate, or link to material that violates, any provision of these Terms and Conditions, or any applicable law or regulation.

Any use of the Site in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms and Conditions and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Site.

CONTRIBUTION LICENSE

By posting your Contributions to any part of the Site you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and license to host, use, copy, reproduce, disclose, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, archive, store, cache, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, transmit, excerpt (in whole or in part), and distribute such Contributions (including, without limitation, your image and voice) for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such Contributions, and grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. The use and distribution may occur in any media formats and through any media channels.

This license will apply to any form, media, or technology now known or hereafter developed, and includes our use of your name, company name, and franchise name, as applicable, and any of the trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and personal and commercial images you provide. You waive all moral rights in your Contributions, and you warrant that moral rights have not otherwise been asserted in your Contributions.

We do not assert any ownership over your Contributions. You retain full ownership of all of your Contributions and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Contributions. We are not liable for any statements or representations in your Contributions provided by you in any area on the Site.

You are solely responsible for your Contributions to the Site and you expressly agree to exonerate us from any and all responsibility and to refrain from any legal action against us regarding your Contributions.

We have the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, (1) to edit, redact, or otherwise change any Contributions; (2) to re-categorize any Contributions to place them in more appropriate locations on the Site; and (3) to pre-screen or delete any Contributions at any time and for any reason, without notice. We have no obligation to monitor your Contributions.

SUBMISSIONS

You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback, or other information regarding the Site (“Submissions”) provided by you to us are non-confidential and shall become our sole property. We shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Submissions for any lawful purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.

You hereby waive all moral rights to any such Submissions, and you hereby warrant that any such Submissions are original with you or that you have the right to submit such Submissions. You agree there shall be no recourse against us for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your Submissions.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND CONTENT

The Site may contain (or you may be sent via the Site) links to other websites (“Third-Party Websites”) as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, applications, software, and other content or items belonging to or originating from third parties (“Third-Party Content”).

Such Third-Party Websites and Third-Party Content are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third-Party Websites accessed through the Site or any Third-Party Content posted on, available through, or installed from the Site, including the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies of or contained in the Third-Party Websites or the Third-Party Content.

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Featured Execution-Ready Insight Preview

The Rise of Collaborative Ensembles: Enable On-Demand High Performance with Ensemble Design

The few organizations that have delivered productivity benefits from AI-enabled and AI-augmented work are converging on a similar approach we call “Collaborative Ensembles.”

What is a Collaborative Ensemble?

A Collaborative Ensemble is a way of breaking down a process, activity, or skill into smaller, easier-to-handle parts. Each part comes with clear instructions on how to do the work and simple rules for how to check if it was done correctly. This makes it possible for someone with little or no experience to complete the work successfully and for another person—or an AI tool—to check that work in a consistent way.

Collaborative Ensembles:

» Embed expertise in daily work
» Support real-time skill contextualization
» Provide transparency and control to the user

Collaborative Ensembles are designed to make hard tasks easier to understand and to help people learn while doing the work.

They include two main roles:

The Worker 🧑‍💻

The Worker, who follows the instructions to produce the output.

The Navigator 🤖

The Navigator, who checks the work against the rules, gives feedback, and suggests improvements. An AI-powered tool usually plays the role of the navigator by default, while the human worker provides context, makes decisions, and gives the final approval.

Collaborative Ensembles can be set up with Fixed Roles — where the worker and navigator keep the same jobs — or with Flexible roles, where they can switch back and forth depending on the situation. Either way, Collaborative Ensembles encourage back-and-forth dialogue, shared learning, and joint responsibility for getting the work done well.

Superior Performance & Impact

AI Monolithic Prompting: Collaborative Ensembles outperform AI monolithic prompting by breaking tasks into smaller, guided steps that reduce the cognitive load on the human and the predictive complexity for the AI and preventing early errors from snowballing.
Off-the-Shelf Apps: They also outperform off-the-shelf AI-powered applications, since an ensemble’s architecture, instructions, criteria, and contextual information can be highly tailored to a specific situation.
Soft-Skill Training: In addition, Collaborative Ensembles deliver faster and better soft-skill performance than traditional development programs, as they enable novices to perform proficiently immediately without training, while building the ability to perform the skill independently over time (we refer to this as guided performance). Only 10-30% of participants in soft-skill training programs continue to apply the skills they learn after a year due to the challenges they encounter in applying them. Collaborative Ensembles eliminate implementation challenges by providing a virtual expert to support novices in the moment.

The Development Challenge

Employees Won't Build Them

Providing employees with tools like ChatGPT and training on how to use them isn’t leading to the creation of Collaborative Ensembles, because most employees are looking to save time — many want a work “hack.” However, building a Collaborative Ensemble requires a significant investment of time. Organizations that have developed Collaborative Ensembles have invested time and resources in their development and not relied on ad hoc employee action.

The Solution

SkillStream™ Prototypes

We've built and continue to build SkillStream™ prototypes, basically ready to use Collaborative Ensembles, to reduce the cost and time required for their development. We also transfer the know-how for building Collaborative Ensembles to member organizations so they aren’t dependent on our SkillStreams™.

Featured Execution-Ready Insight Preview

Just Add Virtual Experts

The Case for Using AI to Reactivate Previously Delivered Leadership and Management Training.

The Problem of Training Decay

Companies spend billions of dollars annually on leadership and management development programs, but within 12 months, 70-90% of participants are no longer using any of the skills they learned.

Why Training Isn’t Sustained

Expert Access: For leadership and management development programs, our research has found that participants usually lack access to an expert who can help them apply the skills in their actual work.
Manager Limitations: Their own manager usually lacks proficiency in the skills or the capacity to support them in the dozens of real-world applications required.
Coaching Constraints: And professional coaches, if provided, typically have capacity for at most a few repetitions and lack the contextual knowledge that would make them effective.

Reinforcement sessions and tools, even months or years after the original training, can reactivate that learning for those who aren’t applying it and improve the performance of those who are, if those sessions or tools address the reasons why the original training wasn’t sustained in the first place.

1. Research Findings & Evidence Supporting the Virtual Expert Approach

Reinforcement enhances retention:

Studies show that without reinforcement, most training is forgotten quickly (the “forgetting curve”). Follow-up sessions or booster coaching—even months or years later—reactivate knowledge and extend skill retention.

Prior knowledge scaffolds new learning:

Learners who already had initial exposure absorb reinforcement more effectively, even if the language or procedures differ. This is supported by cognitive learning research and training transfer studies.

Investment drives commitment:

Behavioral research shows people are more likely to act on something they’ve already invested effort in. Providing reinforcement tools leverages this commitment effect.

Motivation to transfer persists:

The initial training creates motivation and a sense of purpose. When reinforcement is offered later, participants are primed to re-engage, especially when it aligns with real work challenges.

Follow-up improves real-world application:

Research on training transfer emphasizes that without structured follow-up, behavior change is short-lived. Coaching and action-oriented refreshers significantly increase application on the job.

Engagement and retention impact:

Industry surveys consistently find that employees are more engaged and more likely to stay when organizations continue investing in their development.

2. Benefits of the AI Virtual Expert

Accessibility & Relevance

On-demand reinforcement: Unlike scheduled refreshers, an AI virtual expert is always available at the point of need, turning knowledge into immediate action.
Contextual and personalized guidance: Employees can ask for help in applying the skills in real workplace situations (e.g., preparing for a difficult conversation) and get contextually tailored guidance, making reinforcement practical and directly relevant.

Efficiency & Culture

Scalable and equitable: An AI Virtual Expert can reach all employees at once, overcoming the resource limitations of human coaching.
Stronger engagement and loyalty: Employees perceive AI reinforcement as an ongoing investment in their success, which increases job satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
Supports a culture of continuous learning: Embedding an AI virtual expert signals that development is not one-and-done but a continuous process—driving adaptability and innovation across the workforce.

Confidence and mastery

When deisred, a virtual expert allows learners to refine skills and build self-efficacy safely before applying them with colleagues.

The Bleak Corporate Leadership Report Card

Leadership Solutions Have Hit a Ceiling

Some of the following metrics aren’t reported regularly, while others, especially those regarding employee perceptions of their managers and leadership, are collected frequently by Gallup. None of them have changed in ways that would tell a different story—they have remained bleak for decades.

In our experience, the majority of Board members, CEOs, executives, and managers care about leadership. They want their employees to find their work rewarding and to have good lives. Companies also spend between over $30 billion a year on leadership development programs for their people.

Unfortunately, as we can see from the data, leading well is really hard, and those good intentions and investments have hit a plateau in terms of their ability to improve the state of leadership performance.

Most People View their Bosses as Poor Managers

3 out of 4 people quit their jobs because they have a poor manager.

Nearly two-thirds would choose a different boss instead of a pay raise. (1)

Employee Sentiment

Only 31% of employees feel strongly that their managers support them during changes. (9)
Only 29% of employees strongly agree that their manager keeps them informed about what is going on in the organization. (9)
Only 22% of employees say that their performance is managed in a way that encourages them to do outstanding work. (9)
Only 36% of employees say that their manager creates a trusting environment. (9)

Senior Leaders & Future Potential

Perception of Senior Leaders

Only 1-in-4 managers rate leadership positively. (2)
Over 80 percent of Boards believe their companies have a leadership problem. (3)
Only 19% of employees say that leadership makes them comfortable about the future. (9)
23% of employees strongly trust leadership. (9)
Only 33% of managers are engaged in their jobs, with over half expressing an intent to leave. (9)

Weak Future Leadership Potential

75% of companies lack an adequate pool of ready successors. (4)
Less than 25% of managers view up-and-coming leaders with confidence. (2)
13% of senior executives have confidence in their rising leaders. (7)
Only 18% of managers have a high level of talent to manage others. (10)
Only 38% of managers have even a basic level of talent to manage others. (10)
38-50% of executives fail in their first 18 months. (5)
83% of global leaders believe they are unprepared for their new roles. (8)

Challenges to Transformation and AI Readiness

Major Change Efforts Usually Come Up Short

70%

of corporate transformations fail. (6)

AI-Induced Managerial Challenges(11)

16 significant challenges managers must overcome for their team to use gen-AI soundly.
79% existing core skills and activities managers must relearn.
21% increase in the number of core managerial skills and activities.
56 common AI use cases that managers will need to learn and support.

Sources:

(1) Jennifer Robinson, “Turning Around Employee Turnover,” Gallup Business Journal, May 8, 2008.

(2) Jazmine Boatman and Richard S. Wellins, Global Leadership Forecast (Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International, 2011).

(3) Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell, “Talent Management: Boards Give Their Companies an ‘F,’” Harvard Business Review, May 28, 2013.

(4) David Larcker and Scott Saslow, “2014 Report on Senior Executive Succession Planning and Talent Development Survey,” (Institute of Executive Development and Stanford University, February 2014).

(5) Douglas Riddle, “Executive Integration: Equipping Transitioning Leaders for Success,”(Center for Creative Leadership, 2016).

(6) “Losing from day one: Why even successful transformations fall short,” (McKinsey, December 2021); “Why do most transformations fail? A conversation with Harry Robinson,” (McKinsey, July 2019).

(7) Fernandez-Araoz, Roscoe, and Aramaki, “Turning Potential into Success: The Missing Link in Leadership Development,” (HBR, December 2017)

(8) Scott Keller, “Successfully transitioning to new leadership roles,” (McKinsey, 2018)

(9) “Leadership and Management” (Gallup, retrieved August 29, 2024).

(10) Randall Beck and Jim Harter, “Why Great Managers Are So Rare,” Gallup (retrieved August 29, 2024).

(11) Intelligently AI research

Leadership & Management Development Programs Have Hit a Ceiling

The State of Leadership Development

Ever since Dale Carnegie launched his course “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1912 (the course’s eponymous book followed in 1936), we’ve been trying to address leadership deficiencies by training our employees, managers, and executives to be better leaders. Over the past few decades, statistical insights, technology advancements, and an explosion in the number of leadership development organizations have led to tremendous innovation and a myriad of leadership development solutions.

Here are some examples: An open enrollment course in giving effective feedback. A customized program in leading with influence. First-time manager training covering delegation, feedback, recognition, and expectations setting. An online learning course on managing team conflict.

What is a Leadership & Management Development Program?

A leadership and management skill development program has the following characteristics:

Objective: It establishes or changes how participants perform one or more leadership skills on an ongoing basis. Knowledge transfer is insufficient. Participants must apply the knowledge consistently and in perpetuity.
Programmatic: It is designed to support a group of people simultaneously or over time, keeping the per-participant cost low. It can be configured for each participant, including individual coaching. Simply hiring a coach to support someone wouldn’t qualify.
Subject Matter: It focuses on leadership behaviors (e.g., empathy, influence) and management activities (e.g., giving feedback, delegation). Decision-making frameworks and self-management practices as well. A comprehensive list of leadership and management skills would include over 100 topics.

Lack of Leadership and Management Development Program Impact

The mainstream leadership and management development programs almost always deliver excellent experiences. Whether you use Blanchard, Center for Creative Leadership, DDI, Franklin Covey, Korn Ferry, or MindGym, you will find great course materials, facilitators, videos, tools, and assessments. Many programs offered by small providers are also of excellent quality. Participants give glowing reviews, and almost everyone reports that they benefited from them.

The Executive Perspective

That said, over the years, we’ve seen the responses of over 1,000 senior executives to the question: “What have been the most important moments in shaping you as a leader?” Almost no one listed a leadership or management development solution as one of them. When asked, many could recall a great program in which they had participated, but they didn’t consider it to be a seminal moment.

Expecting a leadership and management development program to have such an outsized impact is probably setting the bar too high. Most aren’t designed to have a life-changing impact, but rather to teach or improve certain skills. But if you measure them on sustained impact, the results aren’t much more encouraging.

CLO/CHRO Sustainability Survey

Over the past several years, we’ve interviewed over 300 Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) and Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) regarding the quality of their leadership skill development programs. They rated programs provided by the largest leadership development providers consistently as of high quality, although many noted niche programs from small providers as being more innovative. Almost all regarded the programs very positively and indicated that they would use them again.

» Nevertheless, when asked about the number of participants in those programs who used any of the behaviors they had learned — any, not all — for more than a year after completing a program, the optimists said 3 in 10 participants (only one person said more than 4 in 10).
» Sixty percent of the CHROs and CLOs said just 1 in 10.
» Among the organizations that actually measured impact for 12 months or more, none reported more than 2 in 10, with most respondents indicating just 1 in 10.

When we asked them why they continued to send their people to these programs, given the low sustainability rates, almost all said that they were very effective for employee engagement and retention, especially among their high performers. Some noted that the programs also helped them attract talent to their organizations. And quite a few noted that, in addition to engagement benefits, even improving the leadership of 10% of the participants generates outsized benefits for their organizations’ performance. Assuming that those benefits generate a positive return on investments, the 70-90% of participants who don’t improve represent a huge lost opportunity cost. That’s especially true in light of the poor perceptions of corporate leadership today. And it begs the question, if program quality is so high, why are the results so low?

Why Participants Don’t Use What They Learn

Most participants leave leadership and management development programs motivated, if not excited, to apply their new skills. That’s when the problems emerge.

Old Habits are Hardwired

First, it’s often hard to change old behaviors. Leadership skills develop over time, often starting in childhood, but usually in suboptimal ways, as they form in complex situations with poor feedback loops. Once on the job, most of us form additional suboptimal habits for new leadership and management behaviors we must use, such as learning to lead a team by watching a manager who lacks strong leadership skills. These suboptimal habits are literally hardwired into our brains.

Unsupportive Work Environments

Second, many participants return to unsupportive work environments. In some cases, colleagues may overtly resist their new leadership behaviors. Usually, though, the workplace — the combination of physical environment, people, processes, and cultural factors — triggers the old behaviors rather than the new ones. As one leadership development executive put it, “We take the fish out of dirty water, clean the fish, then put it back into the same dirty water.”

Contextualizing is Challenging

Third, even when a participant is primed to apply a new leadership and management skill, it can be challenging to execute. It’s one thing to learn a new way to give feedback. It’s another thing entirely to provide feedback to a difficult employee who chooses to be dismissive or combative. For most leadership and management skills, contextualizing the “how” of the skill (e.g., the five steps in a feedback method) to a specific situation is very difficult. They tend to have high complexity and high context variability, require a high degree of judgment, and depend heavily on interpersonal dynamics. Also, the consequences of executing a leadership or management skill poorly often have high irreversibility. And it’s not just that contextualizing leadership and management skills is hard. It’s that novices perceive it as hard, and that makes them anxious or outright fearful of doing it.

Mental Effort is Aversive

Finally, as the first three obstacles imply, learning to apply leadership and management skills and then performing them are mentally intensive tasks. A recent meta-analysis of studies regarding mental effort found that “mental effort is inherently aversive.” In other words, people naturally gravitate away from activities that require substantial mental effort toward easier ones unless there’s a compelling reason to engage in them (like a reward, a sense of duty, or a particularly engaging task). If we are tired, stressed, or have too many items on our to-do list, it’s really easy to say, “I will do it next time.”

Overcoming the Obstacles with Expert Support

Instructional designers and facilitators generally do an excellent job in designing and delivering leadership and management courses. They often include reinforcement tools like refreshers and job aids, but those tools help with knowledge recall, not overcoming habits and contextualization difficulties.

Learning other skills presents similar obstacles, but the programs that teach them have higher success rates. That’s because they differ in one important respect — the participants have access to an expert who supports them in applying what they learn until they have developed proficiency in the skill. Indeed, the assumption underlying all our modern training methods, which were developed by Training With Industry during World War II, was that employees’ supervisors were experts in the skills taught to the employees and would help them implement those skills. That expert support provides confidence and guidance in contextualizing situations as they arise in real-world contexts.

The Manager & Coach Gap

Unfortunately, as metrics reveal year after year, most managers and executives aren’t proficient in leadership and management behaviors. Those who are proficient often lack the capacity or desire to engage in intensive hands-on support that newly trained participants require. And when organizations assign professional coaches to support participants, they typically meet with limited success because they also have limited capacity due to budget constraints and frequently only offer coaching (a facilitative process of helping the client self-discover) when participants need advice (a directive process guiding the client based on experience). In addition, coaches often have the requisite knowledge about the skill, but lack extensive experience applying it in the relevant context, or have no experience applying it at all.

The AI Opportunity

Fortunately, recent advances in artificial intelligence offer the opportunity to provide leadership and management development participants with virtual experts who help them contextualize what they have learned in real work situations they face. AI-powered tools can combine the best of modern instructional design and facilitation with the best of the hands-on guidance traditionally provided in apprenticeships.

What Good Leadership Looks Like in the AI Era?

Defining Good Leadership

Searches on “good leadership,” “what is good leadership?” and “what does good leadership look like?” are some of the more common paths to leadership development firm websites. Based on searchers’ clicks and follow-up questions, what they usually want to know is one of two things:

» the list of behaviors a good leader exhibits (e.g., empathy, influence), or
» the list of activities a manager or executive should engage in to be effective, and how to do them (e.g., giving feedback, delegating).

Our Updated Definition:

“ Good leadership is the application of the behaviors toward other people most likely to maximize the likelihood of desired outcomes of an endeavor over time — across human, AI, and hybrid systems. ”

The clause “across human, AI, and hybrid systems” is a necessary addition because leadership now operates in environments where decisions, communication, and collaboration are shaped not only by people but also by intelligent systems that generate, filter, and act on information. Unlike traditional tools, AI systems possess a form of agency — they learn, recommend, and adapt — influencing outcomes in ways leaders must understand and shape. It reaffirms that, even as intelligence becomes distributed across systems, accountability, integrity, and ethical judgment remain distinctly human responsibilities.

Seven Core Behaviors: Refined for the AI Era

Across 25 years of research, we’ve consistently surfaced seven leadership behaviors that are also identified in other rigorous investigations. Effective leaders have begun making adjustments in how they apply these behaviors in response to the increasing adoption of generative AI.

1. Build trust and treat it as an asset.

2. Act through influence.

3. Act with empathy.

4. Communicate clearly and transparently.

5. Collaborate.

6. Anticipate, don’t just adapt.

7. Be curious.

For each behavior, we describe: the historic (and continuing) importance of the behavior; how AI directly impacts how leaders enact behaviors; how AI indirectly impacts the work environment; and, the importance of the behavior now in the AI era.

1. Build Trust and Treat It as an Asset

Historically: Trust is the foundation for good leadership. Even when you are leading well, your actions may destroy trust. Identifying where you may have reduced trust allows you to rebuild it intentionally. One tactic that can help is to put a daily reminder on your calendar that prompts you to ask, “Where did I build trust today, and where did I destroy it?” Then, decide what you will do right away to address any damage done.

Direct AI Impact: Leaders must show transparency about how AI is deployed. Trust requires validating AI outputs. Missteps, such as biased recommendations or opaque systems, erode trust if leaders don’t proactively address them.

Indirect AI Impact: Job insecurity and suspicion about AI’s “hidden hand” can undermine organizational trust. Employees may question whether decisions are truly leader-led. Leaders need to over-communicate fairness and integrity, even outside of AI contexts, to sustain trust.

Now: Building trust requires you to manage trust in both people and systems, taking ownership for AI-augmented decisions while being visibly transparent about fairness, integrity, and accountability.

2. Act Through Influence

Historically: If you persuade people rather than command them, they will trust you more and be more engaged. People will usually do a better job and put in more discretionary effort if they choose to act rather than act in response to coercion.

Direct AI Impact: Influence shifts from providing answers to guiding the interpretation of AI outputs. Leaders create value by contextualizing AI insights within strategy, ethics, and lived experience. Without framing from leaders, teams may treat AI as an unquestioned oracle.

Indirect AI Impact: Employees can now generate their own analyses with AI, collapsing traditional information asymmetry. Competing AI-generated “truths” can fragment teams unless leaders actively build coherence. Leaders’ credibility rests on shaping meaning, not controlling access to data.

Now: You should increasingly influence through framing and sense-making, not just your language, expertise, and experience, ensuring AI serves as a tool for alignment rather than division—and taking responsibility for the implications of how AI-driven insights are framed, interpreted, and applied.

3. Act with Empathy

Historically: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Managers who act empathetically toward their employees are viewed as higher performers by their own managers. Those employees are almost more likely to trust their managers, be engaged, and have higher discretionary effort. Acting empathetically excludes using empathy exploitively to manipulate people, so some commentators use compassion in place of empathy.

Direct AI Impact: AI may mimic empathetic tone but cannot offer genuine emotional presence. Leaders must show care during AI-driven transitions, such as role shifts or automation of tasks. Employees value leaders who strike a balance between AI efficiency and human dignity.

Indirect AI Impact: AI disrupts professional identities, devaluing certain skills and creating fear of obsolescence. Uneven adoption fosters emotional strain and tension between adopters and skeptics. Leaders must validate these feelings and help employees reimagine their roles.

Now: You should demonstrate authentic, human empathy, including addressing the emotional impact of AI-driven change while upholding dignity and fostering belonging—and showing accountability for how technological change affects people’s lives and work.

4. Communicate Clearly and Transparently

Historically: Clear communication speeds up execution and avoids misunderstandings. Slower communication, taking the time to communicate clearly, will save much time within days, if not hours. In addition, sharing or at least making as much information as possible available increases trust. People reduce trust and engagement when they selectively distribute information, treating it as a source of power and control.

Direct AI Impact: Leaders may use AI to generate or tailor communication, but must disclose and humanize it. AI risks creating “synthetic clarity” — polished but hollow messaging that conceals uncertainty. Authenticity is more valuable than ever; employees want their leaders’ real voice.

Indirect AI Impact: Faster workflows and rising expectations compress time for thoughtful communication. Employees may doubt whether leaders or machines wrote messages.

Now: You should slow down at crucial points, communicate authentically, and deliberately show your human voice to ensure clarity builds trust in an AI-mediated world, owning the message and the medium as a visible act of accountability.

5. Collaborate

Historically: When work is complex, requires creativity, or involves interdependent tasks, as well as when you want to foster long-term, deep engagement with colleagues, you should collaborate rather than simply cooperate. Collaboration requires actively working with others to share ideas, brainstorm, problem-solve, and often create something new or innovative together. It requires more communication, mutual trust, and a shared commitment to achieving a common objective.

Direct AI Impact: Collaboration now spans humans and machines. Leaders must design workflows that leverage AI to support human effort (e.g., AI drafts, human refinements). Misaligned AI-human processes create friction and inefficiency.

Indirect AI Impact: Teams may split between “AI adopters” and “AI skeptics.” An uneven distribution of AI-heavy versus AI-light tasks can create resentment. Leaders must reinforce that value comes from collective contribution, not just tool usage.

Now: You should facilitate collaboration across humans and AI, ensuring inclusivity, cohesion, and shared ownership of outcomes, and cultivating a culture of mutual accountability across all contributors, human and digital.

6. Anticipate, Don’t Just Adapt

Historically: Adjusting quickly to changed conditions is an important leadership trait, but it is hard to do unless you also anticipate potential needs to adapt. It’s less important that you correctly anticipate future changes than it is that you identify indicators of changed circumstances and consider how you would adapt. Even if something completely unexpected happens, you will be more likely to detect it early and adapt quickly.

Direct AI Impact: Leaders must forecast how AI will transform industries, jobs, and the associated ethical risks. Anticipation means preparing for second-order effects (e.g., if AI automates reporting, what skills become newly valuable?). Proactive foresight differentiates responsible leaders from reactive ones.

Indirect AI Impact: Competitors’ AI adoption sets new standards for customer expectations. Regulations evolve quickly, creating uncertainty even for non-AI teams.

Now: You should anticipate how change — including but not limited to AI — will reshape your team’s work, not just react to new tools or directives. This means paying attention to early signals — which tasks are shifting, which skills are becoming more valuable, and where people might need support or retraining. Anticipation also includes being alert to other drivers of change such as market shifts, customer expectations, and organizational priorities. For executives, you should also anticipate human–AI futures, considering not only direct adoption but also ripple effects across industries and societies. Remember, anticipating isn’t about predicting the future correctly. It’s about considering potential futures so that you spot indicators of change early and make decisions in response sooner and with greater confidence.

7. Be Curious

Historically: Learning about people, projects, processes, and the business ecosystem will allow you to make better decisions and perform all of the other good leadership behaviors better, especially building trust. Individuals and organizations with a predisposition to discovery outperform their peers.

Direct AI Impact: Leaders must explore AI tools, model experimentation, and share both successes and failures. Curiosity signals psychological safety, encouraging teams to explore new methods.

Indirect AI Impact: Uneven AI adoption creates divides; curiosity reassures skeptics and empowers adopters. Demonstrating humility about learning AI strengthens trust in uncertain times.

Now: Leaders must model curiosity as a continuous practice of learning and discovery — about people, work, and emerging technologies alike. Curiosity drives better questions, deeper understanding, and more innovative solutions. In the AI era, that includes exploring new tools and methods, sharing both successes and missteps, and showing humility about what you don’t yet know. Balancing curiosity with accountability ensures learning remains responsible, purposeful, and aligned with human values.

Two Observations About the Impacts of AI on Leadership

Observation 1: Refinement, not Replacement

AI innovations are forcing a refinement in leadership behaviors, but not replacing them. The original seven remain critical, but their expression carries higher stakes in the AI era.

Observation 2: Accountability in the AI Era

Accountability has always been embedded within effective leadership — particularly in building trust, communicating transparently, and influencing responsibly. Yet as generative AI becomes a core part of how decisions are made, accountability has taken on new urgency and visibility.

Historically, accountability meant personal ownership of choices and outcomes. In the AI era, it now extends to the human–AI partnership — ensuring that every AI-augmented decision remains grounded in human judgment, fairness, and integrity. Leaders can’t say “the system decided”; they must own both the intention and the impact of technology-enabled decisions.

Accountability now acts as connective tissue linking all seven behaviors: It sustains trust when AI systems err. It gives credibility to influence by showing integrity. It humanizes empathy by acknowledging responsibility for change. It reinforces transparency and collaboration through honesty and shared ownership. It shapes anticipation and curiosity by ensuring exploration remains ethical and aligned with purpose. In short, accountability is a hallmark of positive leadership behaviors in the AI era, signaling that even amid machine intelligence, the moral and ethical compass remains human.

Acting Like a Good Leader

The real challenge isn’t knowing what good leadership looks like; it’s actually acting like a good leader. Marcus Aurelius said, “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” Unfortunately, these seven leadership behaviors aren’t easy to apply in everyday work, which is why employees’ assessments of leadership quality are so bleak. For example, you might read about or learn a simple 5-step process for giving feedback, but applying it in a real situation is challenging, so much so that most managers soon stop trying, if they try to use it at all. That’s why between 70-90% of people who participate in leadership training programs have stopped applying what they learn within a year.

The AI Opportunity

Fortunately, the AI innovations that are raising the bar on leadership also open the door to new tools that can make executing these behaviors much easier, even without the benefit of formal training.

Alternative Ways to Think About Leading Well

An Article: Center for Creative Leadership

Read this recent piece and the associated documents from the Center for Creative Leadership: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/.

The researchers/authors are outstanding, and CCL has been writing excellent empirical research for 50 years. Their list is longer and includes some practices and skills beyond core behaviors, but it is consistent with these seven core behaviors.

A Book: Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal

Read Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal. It’s ideal for larger organizations but has powerful insights for anyone interested in leadership. It’s the most valuable and useful leadership book I’ve read in the last decade, as it not only offers many original insights from real situations but also helps you understand them with thoughtful analysis and research, which is a rare combination.

(Note: some people, especially non-Americans, may object to the context in which the lessons emerged — the US military action in Iraq — but the leadership insights are relevant to non-military contexts.)

A TV Series: Watch Ted Lasso

Watch Ted Lasso with some colleagues and discuss the human interactions and their impact. Really. The writers took human psychology very seriously in the context of relationships and a team, which is the majority of what leadership is about. The series is a treasure trove of leadership insights that align well with empirical research, and the show is far more entertaining than online videos. But you won’t learn much without the discussions.

A Guiding Principle: Don’t Be a Jerk, Or Bot.

When you are considering how you will act toward your colleagues, ask yourself: “Are people likely to think I’m acting like a jerk?” If so, find a better way to communicate or achieve your objectives. That may not seem like a high bar, but people often fail to clear it, especially at work, where a myriad of incentives and pressures are at play and emotions can run high. If you are angry or frustrated, there is a good chance you are about to act like a jerk. Instead of speaking or acting, pause and take time for your emotions to soften. Write out what you are going to say or at least rehearse it with someone (even a ChatBot) to get feedback on your language and approach before engaging. You can be firm and demanding and still act with decency.

Anecdotal evidence over the past few years also suggests a corollary to the “don’t be a jerk” rule — don’t be a bot. Leaders should act in ways that people experience as fair, human, and accountable — even when AI is in the mix. Use AI thoughtfully, explain its role, and show care in how it affects people’s work. Managers and executives have found that employees will forgive mistakes more readily than they will forgive indifference, spin, or excuses that “the system decided.”

Reactivating Past Leadership & Management Development with AI

The Power of Reinforcement

Companies spend billions of dollars annually on leadership and management development programs, but within 12 months, 70-90% of participants are no longer using any of the skills they learned.

Research has shown that:

Reinforcement enhances retention: Studies show that without reinforcement, most training is forgotten quickly (the “forgetting curve”). Follow-up sessions or booster coaching—even months or years later—reactivate knowledge and extend skill retention.
Prior knowledge scaffolds new learning: Learners who already had initial exposure absorb reinforcement more effectively, even if the language or procedures differ. This is supported by cognitive learning research and training transfer studies.
Motivation to transfer persists: The initial training creates motivation and a sense of purpose. When reinforcement is offered later, participants are primed to re-engage, especially when it aligns with real work challenges.
Investment drives commitment: Behavioral research shows people are more likely to act on something they’ve already invested effort in. Providing reinforcement tools leverages this commitment effect.
Follow-up improves real-world application: Research on training transfer emphasizes that without structured follow-up, behavior change is short-lived. Coaching and action-oriented refreshers significantly increase application on the job.
Engagement and retention impact: Industry surveys (LinkedIn Learning, Axonify) consistently show that employees are more engaged and more likely to stay when organizations continue to invest in their development.

Reinforcement sessions and tools, such as job aids, have long been considered a way to combat the precipitous decline in training effectiveness. Indeed, training results can benefit substantially from reinforcement, even when months or years have passed since the original training.

Overcoming Obstacles with Collaborative Ensembles

To be effective, reinforcement activities must address the reasons why the initial training was insufficient to drive sustained proficiency. Leadership and management development programs face different obstacles, notably participants’ pre-existing habits and the high difficulty of applying new skills in real work situations.

AI makes it possible to overcome these objectives by creating Collaborative Ensembles:

A Collaborative Ensemble is designed to make hard tasks easier to understand and to help people learn while doing the work. It breaks down a process, activity, or skill into smaller, easier-to-handle parts. Each part comes with clear instructions on how to complete the work and simple guidelines on how to verify that it was done correctly. AI is used throughout to provide feedback and suggestions just like an expert would. This enables someone with little or no experience to complete the work successfully.

Coupling a leadership and management development program with a Collaborative Ensemble is even more effective, as it increases participants’ motivation and understanding, and accelerates their ability to perform the skills independently without a Collaborative Ensemble. This is especially true when training managers of other managers (or employees) who are being given Collaborative Ensembles, as it increases their ability to support their teams in using them effectively.

Benefits of Reactivating Past Training

For participants in past leadership and management development programs, providing them with access to a Collaborative Ensemble reactivates their previous training and provides several other benefits:

On-demand reinforcement: Unlike scheduled refreshers, a Collaborative Ensemble is always available.
Contextual and personalized guidance: Employees get expert help in real workplace situations (e.g., preparing for a difficult conversation), making reinforcement practical and directly relevant; it isn’t a separate activity or additional work.
Scalable and equitable: Collaborative Ensembles can reach all participants at once, overcoming the resource limitations of human coaching.
Stronger engagement and loyalty: Employees perceive the deployment of Collaborative Ensembles as reinforcement as an ongoing investment in their success, which increases job satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
Supports a culture of continuous learning: The subsequent deployment of Collaborative Ensembles signals that development is not a one-time event, but a continuous process—driving adaptability and innovation across the workforce.
Confidence and mastery: Collaborative Ensembles also offer participants who want it the opportunity for safe, repeatable practice.

When used as reinforcement for a leadership or management development program as opposed to a standalone resource, Collaborative Ensembles can be streamlined to reflect the participants’ pre-existing knowledge, further increasing employee productivity.

Why AI Adoption Has Changed Our “Timeless” Definition of Good Leadership

The Evolving Definition of Leadership

For years, with the exception of the occasional editor’s word-choice preferences, we’ve used the same definition of good leadership: “Good leadership is the application of the behaviors toward other people most likely to maximize the likelihood of desired outcomes of an endeavor over time.”

The Updated Definition:

“Good leadership is the application of the behaviors toward other people most likely to maximize the likelihood of desired outcomes of an endeavor over time — across human, AI, and hybrid systems.”

At first glance, that last italicized clause — “across human, AI, and hybrid systems” — might seem unnecessary. After all, haven’t leaders always used tools and technologies? Why call out AI specifically when we never added such language for spreadsheets, telephones, or industrial machinery? The answer is both subtle and profound. We include this clause not because humans have lost control, but because the very nature of leadership, systems, and responsibility is evolving rapidly.

The Three Systems Shifts

Leadership Has Moved Beyond Human-Only Systems

Historically, leadership was defined as an inherently human-to-human endeavor: influencing, motivating, and organizing people toward shared goals. Tools were instruments, not actors. AI changes that. Today, leaders operate in socio-technical systems — networks where humans and intelligent systems jointly perceive, decide, and act. AI tools generate options, assess risks, and communicate in natural language. Leadership now means guiding not just people, but human–machine ecosystems.

Why “Control” Isn’t the Same as “Leadership”

Some might argue that explicit reference to AI is redundant because humans remain in control. Leaders approve the final decision, after all. But control and understanding are not the same thing. Modern AI systems operate with a degree of complexity and opacity that challenges even expert users. Leadership isn’t only about having the final say; it’s about ensuring sound judgment, transparency, and ethical stewardship in how humans and machines interact. The clause keeps this expanded scope visible.

From Managing Tools to Orchestrating Systems

The difference between past tools and modern AI comes down to agency. Traditional tools required direct intent. AI, by contrast, proposes, predicts, and adapts. It influences decisions without explicit instruction. This makes AI less like a wrench and more like a junior collaborator. Leaders today must lead through systems that think, not just manage people who use tools.

Framing when and how AI should be trusted.
Designing workflows that balance human judgment with machine insight.
Building cultures that value verification over blind reliance.

Accountability and the Future-Proofing Function

Accountability Has Grown More Complex — and More Urgent

When a human misuses a tool, responsibility is straightforward. When an AI model makes a biased recommendation, accountability can become ambiguous. That’s why this clause isn’t about conceding control; it’s about anchoring responsibility. It reinforces that outcomes generated by AI-augmented systems are still human outcomes. Ethical clarity and moral agency remain non-negotiable. By including “across human, AI, and hybrid systems,” the definition of leadership explicitly reasserts that: Even as intelligence becomes distributed, integrity and accountability must remain centralized in human leadership.

Why We Didn’t Need This Clause Before

Earlier tools didn’t change the locus of decision-making or moral judgment. AI does. It learns, recommends, adapts, and mediates relationships between people. It can amplify or diminish empathy, fairness, and transparency — the very things leadership exists to safeguard. Traditional tools required skill. AI systems require judgment — and that’s a leadership function.

The clause ensures durability. By naming human, AI, and hybrid systems, we make the definition resilient — adaptable to whatever forms of collaboration and cognition come next. It ensures leadership remains relevant as the definition of “team” continues to evolve.

Control isn’t enough. The clause matters because it ensures our definition of leadership keeps pace with the complexity of modern systems. It reminds us that: Influence is now shared, but accountability is not. Even when technology is authorized to make a decision, humans must still lead. Control without comprehension is not leadership — it’s risk. That’s why those eight final words — “across human, AI, and hybrid systems” — transform a timeless definition into a timely one.

Why Intelligently AI?

Our co-founder and CEO, Scott Bohannon, has led the most influential names in leadership development: the Center for Creative Leadership, AchieveGlobal, and The Forum Corporation (AchieveForum). He served as President of Korn Ferry after they acquired AchieveForum and previously was CEO of a leading HR and IT advisory firm (Info-Tech Research Group + McLean & Co). Previously, Scott served as General Manager at the executive education and research company, the Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), and as an instructor at the University of Virginia. Scott built his first predictive models, which evolved into machine learning tools, in the 1990s.

Our co-founder and CTO, Robert Hughes, has led the creation of cutting-edge enterprise technology platforms that focus on benchmarking and community at organizations like the Center for Creative Leadership, AchieveForum, Info-tech Research Group, the Corporate Executive Board, Expectuive Performance Group, Hackett, and AnswerThink. Among other accomplishments, Robert designed and built the technology backbone for the world's largest online network of C-suite executives.

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