Your employees don't compare their workplace learning experience with last year's training programme. They compare it with Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and the other digital experiences they use every day.
In this episode of The Voices of The Learning Network, Bill Banham speaks with Clare Harris-Hughes, Head of Learner Experience at Havas People, about what Learning and Development can learn from consumer-grade user experience and why removing friction can be just as important as creating great learning content.
Clare brings around 20 years of agency experience spanning automotive, pharma, technology and AI, working with major brands including Ford of Europe, Pfizer, Honda Europe, Unilever, Boehringer Ingelheim, AXA XL, Sage and Zurich. Her background also includes a PhD covering 3D computer-aided design, parametric modelling, computer science, learning and design.
The conversation explores why workplace learning can fail even when the underlying content is accurate and useful. If learners struggle to find a platform, navigate a confusing interface or work out what they're supposed to do next, the quality of the learning itself may become irrelevant.
Clare explains why good learning experience design should start by reducing friction. That can mean fewer clicks, clearer navigation and treating every screen as something that has to earn the learner's attention.
Bill and Clare also explore learner engagement and knowledge retention, including the importance of active participation, feedback, spacing and retrieval practice. A particularly important distinction is between information people genuinely need to remember and information they simply need to know how to find when they need it.
The conversation then turns to generative AI and its rapidly growing role in corporate learning. AI can now produce learning content, structures and first drafts remarkably quickly, but that capability brings its own risks.
As Clare explains, L&D could find itself surrounded by a "sea of competence": huge volumes of material that are technically acceptable but ultimately generic and forgettable. If everyone has access to similar AI tools, simply producing more content is unlikely to be enough.
Instead, the opportunity is to combine the speed and research capabilities of AI with the things humans continue to do particularly well: creativity, storytelling, judgement, craft and an understanding of what will genuinely capture someone's attention.
The goal is what Clare describes as "thumb-stopping learning": experiences strong enough to compete for attention in a world where learners are accustomed to polished, engaging digital experiences.
In this episode, we explore:
• What consumer-grade UX means for workplace learning
• Why reducing clicks and friction can improve learner engagement
• How to make the next step obvious for learners
• Why every learning screen needs to earn attention
• The difference between information learners need to remember and information they need to reference
• How active participation, feedback, spacing and retrieval practice can improve learning retention
• Why more features don't necessarily create a better learner experience
• How generative AI is changing learning content creation
• The danger of creating a "sea of competence" filled with acceptable but forgettable content
• How L&D teams can combine AI efficiency with human creativity and storytelling
• Why learner experience design should ultimately focus on what people need to do differently back at work
If you work in Learning and Development, instructional design, learning experience design, HR, talent development, learning technology or employee experience, this conversation offers practical ideas for creating workplace learning that people can find, use, remember and act upon.
Connect with Clare Harris-Hughes
Connect with Bill Banham
Voices of the Learning Network is the Learning Network podcast connecting the learning and development community. https://thelearning-network.org/
