In our recent webinar, Leading Through Change, Fuse founder Steve Dineen sat down with three brilliant learning leaders: David Goddard, VP of Talent at Levy; Lauren Stinson, Founder of LL Creative, Content Strategist and former Director of Social Learning at Alliance Residential; and Terry Copley, Head of Learning Solutions and Experience at Hilti. Together, they shared real-world stories about how learning teams can step away from old-fashioned, rigid training courses and make a genuine impact in the age of AI. The session was packed with practical ideas, from how to build buzzing online communities to using smart AI tools and proving real value to company leaders.

The full webinar recording is available to view here.

Modernising L&D: Shifting from Course Creators to Internal Consultants 

In fast-moving industries, traditional learning models built around rigid online courses and endless PowerPoint decks simply cannot keep up with the pace of change. The webinar panel highlighted how modern learning teams must shift away from being isolated content creators and instead step into the role of internal business consultants. David Goddard put this brilliantly, warning that if a central L&D team is the only group capable of creating training, the organisation's collective knowledge becomes strictly limited to what that small team knows. He emphasised that L&D teams must democratise learning and act as supportive consultants across every level of the business, because failing to make this shift means failing to serve the organisation properly.

"L&D has our own language and nobody understands it but us. HR has their own language and nobody understands it but HR. We need to speak the business language. And in doing that, you're tied to the business."

— Terry Copley, Head of Learning Solutions & Experience, Hilti 

Echoing this consultative approach, Terry Copley shared how Hilti's learning team transitioned from traditional instructional designers into internal business advisors who empower different departments to build and manage their own learning spaces. As a result, Hilti now runs over 400 active, decentralised Communities of Practice on Fuse that are owned and managed directly by functional teams like sales and marketing. At Levy, David complemented this mindset by filming trusted workplace experts to capture their intrinsic know-how, turning locked-away wisdom into quick, on-demand video assets that keep vital knowledge accessible even during periods of rapid growth and staff turnover.

Authentic Content: Edutainment and Frontline Engagement 

Lauren Stinson brought so much fun and energy to the discussion, showing how workplace learning can feel just as lively and addictive as scrolling through your favourite social media feed. Back when she was managing social learning, Lauren realised that if you want people to keep coming back, you have to throw out the dry compliance checklists and make content that people genuinely enjoy watching. She introduced a brilliant mix of fun videos and clever entertainment - what she calls "edutainment" - to share important company news, policy updates, and sales tips. By launching regular highlights like "Tuesday FuseDay", Lauren built a routine that got an incredible 90 percent of the team tuning in week after week. Her approach shows that when you blend short, catchy videos with a bit of humour and human warmth, learning stops feeling like a boring chore and becomes something employees actively look forward to every single day.

Practical AI: Hyper-Accessible Answers and Intelligent Coaching 

When it came to putting artificial intelligence into practice, David Goddard shared how Levy turned their “bottled greatness” expert videos into an AI-enabled, searchable knowledge hub for over 40,000 team members. Because every video and guide on their platform is automatically transcripted and indexed, staff don't have to sit through long recordings anymore; they can simply ask a question and get the exact answer on their screen in seconds.

"The AI answers piece has really been a game-changer for us... Not just from a learning platform experience, but from an organisational knowledge management piece. That is truly game-changing."

— David Goddard, VP of Talent, Levy 

On top of that, David and his team are testing friendly AI helpers, like an onboarding "buddy" that helps new managers settle in and culinary coaches that help chefs work out menu prices without getting stuck in tricky maths conversions. This fresh approach gives team members instant, friendly help right when they are doing their jobs, which has paid off brilliantly - Levy has seen a fantastic 15 percent jump in employee learning satisfaction scores over the last two years.

Measuring Impact: Aligning Learning with Commercial Business Metrics 

Terry Copley wrapped up the conversation with an inspiring story of how Hilti's learning team acted like internal business advisors to solve a huge commercial headache. When company bosses asked the L&D team to "fix" the sales onboarding journey - setting a seemingly impossible target to slash the two-year payback time down to just six months without giving any parameters on how to actually do it - Terry's team didn't panic or rush off to build another standard sales course. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves, sat down with sales managers, and worked out what top performers were actually doing differently every day, like making four really good, targeted customer visits instead of just rushing through high volumes of random calls. 

By framing everything around real commercial outcomes and daily operational habits, they broke key behaviours down so managers could easily spot where a new rep was struggling and offer instant, bite-sized coaching. This practical, business-focused mindset completely transformed the onboarding journey, slashing the time it took for new reps to become profitable from 24 months right down to just 7.5 months in major markets, and even under six months in some regions. 

Ready to rethink how your organisation approaches learning in the AI age? Whether you want to empower your frontline teams to share their best tricks, bring a bit of fun back into everyday training, or give your staff instant AI answers right when they need them, we would love to help.

Get in touch with one of our Fuse experts today to chat through your ideas, see real-world examples, and discover how Fuse can help you transform learning into a powerful driver of business success.