AI in Learning: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Employee Development Cornerstone Connect Live

Speaker A: This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more@accenture.com Spotify.

Speaker B: This is William Tincup and Ryan Leary and we are broadcasting live from Cornerstone Connect in Orlando, Florida with Craig on Craig.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker C: Yeah, well, thank you for having me on the show and looking, uh, forward to having a little conversation here. Uh, but Craig Lutz, I'm currently the Director of Learning and Development at Gannett. I've been in the L D space for 20 plus years at several different organizations.

Speaker B: So, Chief Learning Officer, Is that still a thing?

Speaker C: Uh, there is a Chief Learning Officer, yes. Okay, I'm not there yet, but you

Speaker B: know what I'm talking about, right? At one point.

Speaker C: No, not, not him.

Speaker D: He thought you were talking about him. Well, it goes with the. I forgot the guest name.

Speaker B: No, no, no. Yeah, uh, fair enough. No, fair, fair. Because it was an actual question. At one point there was a real push. Josh Burson used to have an event for Clos and it was just for Clos, and it was a real thing. And then it kind of died out a little bit because learning, I don't know, it kind of felt like it got placed on the back burner. Now not so much now it's on the front burner, right?

Speaker C: Yeah, very much so.

Speaker B: So how has your job changed, uh, since you've been at Gannett?

Speaker C: So I've been there for about a decade now. And uh, you know, when, when we first started there was a, ah, focus on trying to bring our learning online, foundational learning, um, building out just a learning system.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Uh, and then just getting learning content online versus in the classroom and moving people all over the country. All that comes into the logistics, uh, of that. And uh, so, you know, that was really the first initiative. And, and it makes me think back a little bit to when I first got started in L, in uh, L and D. I was doing a lot of classroom training and instructor led training and you know, five weeks in the classroom, eight hours a day, you know, ah, all of that. And right about the time when elearning and virtual classrooms started to take off and just kind of jumped right into it and said, well, this is going to be something you Know, we had the dot com boom and the Internet boom, and this is just the next in line. Right. And how is this going to impact my future? Because I was fairly young at the time, so I had a lot of Runway ahead of me. Um, and, uh, so as I typically do, I just kind of said, well, the best way to figure this out is to just jump in and try it and, uh, you know, take some courses, go to some conferences, do the things that you do to build those skills. Um, but, you know, that really set me up for that success, to be able to go to an organization that was looking to go in that direction and, uh, get them started down the road. And it's been a good journey and a lot of growth in this area over the years, especially as the technology has changed, how people learn has changed, um, the fact that people need skills more quickly. Uh, today, uh, everything's just in, uh, hyper mode.

Speaker B: Right, Right. Years ago, you would have days to figure things out, or even weeks, months, whatever.

Speaker C: Maybe years.

Speaker B: Yeah, maybe years.

Speaker C: Not anymore.

Speaker B: That was like, uh, seconds. Right. You know, you gotta make that decision.

Speaker C: What do you mean? You don't have an answer. Right.

Speaker B: So go back. Uh, this is what we do with all guests on, on the practitioner's corner. Go back to 15, 18 years old. What'd you want to be?

Speaker C: Yeah. I will tell you, I never saw myself in the career that I am in now.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Um, when I first started out in high school, um, trying to figure out where I was going to go to college, what I was going to major in. I landed in accounting.

Speaker B: Ah.

Speaker C: And, uh, it seemed like that would always be a job that was needed. And, you know, I did, uh, I did enroll. I was doing accounting, and I realized I just didn't want to be in a world where the rules were always changing and just working with numbers.

Speaker D: So you join learning.

Speaker C: So I join learning to solve that problem. Right. Really what I did is I went from accounting and finance to technology because, of course, technology I really felt was the future. And, uh, so I switched schools, switched majors, uh, went and enrolled. Uh, at the time, Penn State had a fairly new program, Information Science and Technology. And I enrolled in that program. And, um, from there, interestingly enough, my first job out of college was at a bank.

Speaker B: My goodness.

Speaker C: And, um, you know, you come out of college, you just want to have a job. You take what you can get and you work your way up through organizations. You get your foot in the door. Um, but then I had a chance to, uh, get in with a technology company and I was doing a lot of work that was related to my degree. Um, and then somebody came along and said, hey, look, you know, we found that you're, you know, real good at what you do, but you're also good at helping others and teaching others and. And, uh, we'd like to talk to you about a they tricked you role in learning.

Speaker B: They tricked you, essentially.

Speaker C: The rest is history.

Speaker B: They tricked you. Hey, uh, they gave you a bunch of compliments, maybe some more money, and they just tricked you.

Speaker C: Got me. Got me hooked.

Speaker B: Now, how'd you get to Penn State?

Speaker C: So I was, uh, born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania, so I grew up, uh, a Nittany lion fan. So that probably had a little bit of something to do with it.

Speaker D: Where at in Pennsylvania?

Speaker C: A little bit south of Scranton, Wilkes Barre area, right around the Hazleton area.

Speaker D: So I'm in Montgomeryville, Montgomery County.

Speaker C: Okay. So that's down by Philadelphia, up north of Philly.

Speaker D: So you got like, uh, from you. So Allentown, Quaker Town, and then me,

Speaker C: I'm down that way often. There's an airport down there I fly in and out of.

Speaker D: I've never been to that airport.

Speaker B: Ryan knows most of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, uh, based on, uh, where he fishes.

Speaker D: Yes. If there's a lake, I know it. Other than that, it's farmland.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So. So how did you get. How did you. Okay, so job after the bank, what was the job after? Bank. Technology company. What was after that?

Speaker C: Uh, technology company. And then after that was another technology and data company.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker B: And at this point, were you in

Speaker C: learning and I was still in learning.

Speaker B: Yeah. Got it.

Speaker C: So that would have been the second position I took in learning, and then that landed me where I am now with an organization that's news journalism, marketing, advertising. Um, but I got into that space within our sales organization that really, you know, we sell PPC and SEO and websites and advertising. So, um, that was also part. When I say a technology company, that was a big part of the technology.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: The first company I worked with was the original domain name registrar. The company has been bought several times and doesn't exist anymore. But, um, that's where it started. Got into websites, got into digital marketing, all those types of things.

Speaker B: Yeah. What was the name of the company? The. The. It was an Internet internic.

Speaker C: Uh, no, it was Network Solutions.

Speaker B: Netsol.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah, I. I knew. Yeah, I knew Netsol really well because I bought a bunch of domains.

Speaker C: There you go.

Speaker B: Yeah. Because it was Network Solutions, but their domain was Net Sol.

Speaker D: Yeah, he was a domain flow still is.

Speaker B: Still is.

Speaker C: Buy those domains and resell them.

Speaker D: Huh?

Speaker B: I've done well.

Speaker C: See, get real creative and get these names that I know people are going to want.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: If anybody's looking for Clear Channel park or Clear Channel Field. Just kidding. Yeah, just kidding. So once you got to Gannett, what was the original role?

Speaker C: So I was um, really, I started out as a learning and development manager.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: And uh, that was really, you know, just to get back to the fact that coming in and, and um, you know, getting started, really, it was kind of almost like a company that had been, um, around for a while, but in this particular space, um, it was kind of like, let's, let's build something new.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Let's do it different.

Speaker B: And uh, was it classroom, was it classroom based when you first started?

Speaker C: That was, yes. And it was very democratized. It was, I mean a large company and you know, training in different pockets. And so we were trying to also centralize at the same time. Same time.

Speaker D: Did you, did you bring everybody into one building to train or you flew.

Speaker C: Uh, so we would, we would bring them to, we often like to bring them to headquarters or another one of our larger properties.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: So it wasn't always the same place, but we were, we tried to regionalize it, but people were moving around.

Speaker B: Oh yeah.

Speaker D: The amount of effort that took back

Speaker C: then, oh my God, they could be herculean.

Speaker B: Just, just to get people in one place and do the logistics.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, with all of the, get flights and the hotels and all that

Speaker D: stuff, uh, you pay more to the agency to get your people there.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: Then you actually pay for the training.

Speaker B: Well, and kind of. You obviously know this way better than we do. People's attention span in an eight hour course, you know.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: You got them for a couple hours, maybe, maybe a couple hours in the morning, maybe a couple hours in the afternoon. And the rest of it is they're looking at you and going well and,

Speaker D: and they're there for five days. So they're off the desk for five days.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker D: And then they need five days to recover from the travel.

Speaker C: Or, or we're like at a conference and we're on our phones trying to check in the email. We're giving our attention to, uh, other things because business is still going on. And so, um, because you're just awake and disconnected too much, you're trying to stay connected.

Speaker B: So I think that that model, I mean, first of all, that model. Thank God we're not really doing that model uh, anymore or as much because I Think it created a lot of anxiety for people because of jobs. You're helping them do their jobs or the, you know, the next part of their job. So it's a good thing. However, their job, job that they're getting paid for, things are moving, things are going on and works being done.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: And, and the time out of that job's really lost opportunity cost.

Speaker B: That's right. Good call.

Speaker C: And uh, so, you know, we, we want to make sure that that time that they're being developed is time that is, ah, effective and is going to help them. Oftentimes when you fly people in and you get them into a classroom and you're there five, six, eight hours and you're just giving them instruction and you try to put a little bit of activity around it to keep their attention, um, it really doesn't align to that 70, 2010 where a lot of the learning that sticks is the learning that is not the formal learning, it's the experiential learning.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: And so it's like give, you know, give me enough that I can get a mindset of what it is that I need to do and how I

Speaker B: throw me into it and then put

Speaker C: me into that environment so that I can practice that with coaching. And then as I'm doing that, then I'm getting better at it. And then my ability to recall that information because not only did I just hear it or read it, but I was able to apply it and then not was I, uh, was not able to just do it once I was doing, able to do it repetitively.

Speaker B: Uh, so.

Speaker D: So Director of Learning.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker D: Right. What, what are you thinking about now? What's next for you in your organization for learning?

Speaker C: Well, it really is, you know, with uh, the changing landscape and you know, ever since uh, the pandemic came in, um, I like to say some parts, like my position, uh, it wasn't a big change. I was working remotely for the entire time I've been with the organization. So I just kept going to work like I always was. Um, and we were structured thankfully at the time where we had done some of this work that we were not doing things in person. So we were able to continue without big change. Um, but as far as, you know, the future goes, it's, uh, you know, we did not mention AI yet. I don't know how long we've been talking. Right. But eventually that's got to come up in the conversation.

Speaker B: Mark that.

Speaker D: 11 minutes and 44 seconds.

Speaker B: There we go.

Speaker C: And uh, but, but that is something that, you know, is um, on people's minds, I think there's a fear of it. Uh, some people have a fear of the technology, some people have a fear of. I'm not afraid of the technology, but I don't know what I don't know. And I'm afraid that if I don't, um, learn and see how I can apply this to my role or how my role is changing, that maybe down the road, uh, they won't need me anymore or what that's going to be

Speaker B: fear of being obsolete.

Speaker C: Right. And if there's going to be fear, what we really want is fomo, which is fear of missing out. Um, that drives a sense of curiosity to say, hey, I'm all in. Help me. And that gets into, uh, upskilling and reskilling. And that agility that is talked about often today, where you can take someone that, let's say, is making widgets and help them how to, uh, see a career path and a learning path on how to get there. Um, but that really comes back to. There's a part that as a learning organization, we have a responsibility to be able to create that in that environment and those pathways on how to do that. Uh, but then I also like to say, you know, each individual has a responsibility and, um, not to maybe jump too far ahead here, but we're kind of talking about skills and agility.

Speaker D: Right?

Speaker C: You know, when I think of agility, I, uh, think of, uh, someone who is curious, someone who is flexible. Right. These are, These are characteristics of, of individuals that we must have, um, to be able to meet at the middle and really move forward. Um, you know, a willingness to learn, a willingness to accept change even though it's uncomfortable. And I think that's. The other thing is, just through all of this is helping us understand that we need to have a little grace through all of this. Right. We're all learning as we go. And I think that's something about skills and agility is we just think, oh, I've got to get the skill and I've got to be perfect and I got to move forward. But we're moving so fast that we're trying to change a tire on a moving vehicle.

Speaker B: That's Michael, uh, Dell reference.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: And so is if we're changing a tire in a moving vehicle, there's. There's going to be some bumps and some scars and some bruises along the way. Um, but it's okay. And we learn from them and we keep moving forward. And I think that's the big message is keep moving forward.

Speaker A: So this episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more@accenture.com Spotify where do you get

Speaker B: your inspiration and innovation thoughts of. Uh, as we get this question from a lot of practitioners, it's like, you know, how do they stay on top of things?

Speaker D: Right?

Speaker B: But it's more. That's kind of a. You know what? There's. There's things out there that are happening that I should probably be a part of, etc. But for you, you know, obviously, it's more inspiration and innovation.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: ATD with, like, peers. What. Where. Where do you get that from?

Speaker C: I would say it's not any one place. Uh, I think one, for me personally is the fomo. It's the fear of missing out. I like to be in on what's happening, what's changing. Um, it's just something within me that is a drive, um, which is a good. A good thing. And then as far as, well, when I have that fear of missing out and when, um, I want to learn more, where do I go? Right? So I'll look. Um, you know, you mentioned, uh, atd, Right. I'll read articles.

Speaker B: Right. That's.

Speaker C: That's a quick and easy way find podcasts that, uh, are aligned. And sometimes it's okay to just say, well, I don't know which podcast to listen to. We'll start listening to one or some, or.

Speaker D: Or.

Speaker C: Or an author. And if it doesn't seem to be going the direction you want it to go, it's okay not to finish it. Just say, okay, put that to the side.

Speaker D: Switch it out, Switch it out.

Speaker B: I started a movie last night on Netflix, Hitman.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: I got half. Not even halfway through it. I'm like, m. I'm done.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker B: And I just X out of it. I'm like, you know what? It's okay. I don't have to finish this movie.

Speaker C: It's okay. Sometimes we have to give ourselves the permission.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: To think that way. Right. And it seems, as we're sitting here talking, that seems a little odd that we would have to say that. But human nature sometimes doesn't always.

Speaker B: The clean plate. Yeah. Clean plate club.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Yeah, we were taught that, unfortunately. So, Ryan, what else what do you got?

Speaker D: Well, I, I. So, okay, so the difference is between when you started in learning to now, what is the major, major difference now, obviously, classroom versus digital and all of that, but in the, in the, in the learner, in their mind, what is that big difference that you need to accommodate?

Speaker C: I think, um, well, one thing is fast as things are changing, right? I mean, we know human nature doesn't always like, change, and now it's happening even faster and faster and faster, right?

Speaker B: By the way, you didn't like it, right?

Speaker C: Let's speed it up a little bit, right? So, you know, it is that. I think that's a barrier to get over. And then you mentioned before, um, and I like to explain it this way, but attention spans can be an issue, right? And, you know, sometimes we say, well, you know, in a classroom, but let's just stop and think about what we do on a daily activity, right? Everyone walks around with this device in their hand all day long, right? And if we leave that device behind, we will, we will delay ourselves 10, 15 minutes to go back and get that device, because we can't imagine not being able to get through the whole day because our calendar and our access to every. So much of what we need to do is there. And so, you know, we sit around and we have these, um, social apps like Instagram and, And they've got these little videos on there, and you can sit and go through reels, right? And I do the same thing with reels, by the way, like, okay, that doesn't make an I, you know, I flip through it, but those reels are so short. And we have, like, trained ourselves to that content we're consuming, because that's what that is. Content, right. Made by content curators. People make a lot of money just making, I call them silly videos sometimes, but they're making money doing it.

Speaker B: I, uh, followed a guy on TikTok last night. That's just really funny.

Speaker C: But, but, you know, we get it and it's short and we move on and we get it and it's short and it's. And it's like, we realize that that's how we're. We're building muscle in our mind to react that way. And then when, when we have to learn something, we can't learn it that quick. We're just, you know, can't. Can't handle it. I'll say.

Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's, it's funny because it is changing the wiring in our brains, right? Like, I can scroll through stuff for an hour or two. Yeah. The next day, I'm not sure I can remember who said what or where.

Speaker C: It's just all kind of floating around there.

Speaker B: Right, right.

Speaker C: And sometimes I'll send something, uh, I want to keep to my wife or.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Just so I know how to get back to it. Because I know I want to reference.

Speaker D: Why are you sending me? So I could remember.

Speaker C: You don't have to watch it. I just need to be able to know I can get back.

Speaker B: It's my way of saving. Yes.

Speaker D: But I do look at the profiles. I'm like, I remember and I read it to myself and then I forget it.

Speaker B: Oh, I never, I never look at the profile. I can't remember anybody, the names. Like, there's the Threads account that I was going to tell people yesterday when we were talking about it. Um, and it's. It's a really, really dark Threads account and I was going to tell people about it and I'm like, I can't even remember the name of it.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: It just comes up and I read it.

Speaker C: Or you screenshot those things so you remember them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker D: And then my Google Photos is all screenshots.

Speaker C: But, you know, to get back to, um, you know, I think just, uh, just overcoming just human resistance to change sometimes.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: And some people are more accepting of it and open to it than others. Um, I think attention spans because of the world that we live in and how we live our lives every day, everything's quick, you know, uh, which fast food rest wasn't years ago, Burger King your way right away, you know, all that kind of stuff. Um, and then I think also, uh, you know, as we're figuring this out as we go, it's how do we meet the employee, where they are to provide them just in time. Right. Sized, meaningful, relatable content.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: That will give them the skill they need in the moment. I go, I go back to this example. Okay. I'm not a plumber, and I'm thankful for those that are because I have needs of plumbers sometimes. It's just not something I find joy in.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Um, but years ago, I had a little issue with, uh, the, the commode in, in our bathroom. And I looked at it, I said, you know, I'm not going to spend $90 just to have the plumber come out. And then another hour and then the, you know, and I said, it looks like it's just this part here. So I took a picture of the part, I went to, to Lowe's and I found the part and I. On their website, they had this little video that showed you how to do it.

Speaker D: Do it.

Speaker C: Okay. Now I don't know if I could just take the part and go do it again, I'd have to go back to the video.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: But the point of what I'm trying to say here is I got a skill in a moment that I needed a skill and it was something I didn't even need into the future, but I needed it in the moment and I was able to get it and I was able to do it.

Speaker B: That's genius. Uh, last question for me is it's more, um, knowing your audience. So you have an audience of employees and um, there's not a cookie cutter that works with everybody. So there's what learning styles and learning differences. Right. So how do you assess for kind of creating personalized experiences to get to that place where they have the skill or have access to the skills and training when they need it, but again, kind of in the way that they need it, if that makes sense.

Speaker C: Yeah, it does. Right. Um, because there's a lot of training and a lot of content that you can, you can have out there. Um, I think what it really does is it requires a, ah, commitment to understanding. Um, and of course there's this, there's this other, um, I guess we'll call it a shift, but there's, it's just, you know, kind of murky. I'll call it right now where you've got, um, this, this historical way of approach to work where you're hired for a job and you have a job title and that's what you do. And there's a, you know, a group of skills that you need to do that particular job.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: But as the landscape is shifting, uh, what we're finding is especially with AI coming on board and AI doing some of the, you know, more can maybe do some entry level tasks or you know, different things that you don't need is organizations have a need as they're changing fast to say, hey, I need this, you know, this skill, this skill, this skill, this skill. And it's very costly to have to go out and hire someone with that skill. So if we can uh, create a way that we can create a library of skills, these are the skills that we need. Right. Um, and we're able to say, okay, as an employee, as you're working with managers and leaders, what do you aspire to, where are your interests, all of that sort of thing, and then create development paths to get, get those skills and then we're able to see what skills that those employees have. So when we need those, we can align people with those skills to particular projects. Now, that sounds simple. Um, but with, you know, organizations, even large organizations, that's a major shift, um, and a major undertaking to get to that, to that place.

Speaker D: Craig, this has been amazing.

Speaker C: Yeah, I've enjoyed it very much. Thanks for. Once again. Thanks for having me. This is pretty neat.

Speaker B: It was. Uh, thank you so much.

Speaker D: Enjoy the rest of your show.

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