AI-Driven Learning and Skills with Leonardo’s Skills Team

[00:00:00] Vijay: Super privileged to be here. My name is Vijay Swaminathan. I'm CEO of Draup. I have two fantastic leaders from, Leonardo engineering company. Leonardo Engineering Company needs no introduction. You are global leaders in, defense, aerospace, security, and multiple lines of business. With me, I have, Alessandro and Suzy two very, very seasoned, learning and skills transformation leaders.

Very to talk to you for the next, 20 minutes or so. Let me begin with you, where the globally, there is a little bit of a challenge with early career entry-level talent that is coming into the system because so much has changed in some ways in terms of what the enterprises need due to AI and how do you actually think about this entry-level talent, like especially the apprentice programs and other components like that.

Any wisdom you could pass on will be great.

[00:01:01] Assunta: Okay, thank you Vijay. And, everyone knows that, the labor market evolution is so fast in this moment. We have, some rules that are becoming obsolete and others are emerging, so we, adopt, a proactive approach. To, modify completely our, learning programs.

Also to answer to the graduate and, apprenticeship, candidates. and, we try to, re-skill, these, program in order to answer to the capabilities that we'll need in the future. For this reason, we are revising completely our professional system and, Leveraging advanced, the tool and AI based tool, of course to answer to these, requirements, to these new requirements.

So, we, implemented, our professional system to maintain and to map all the organizational roles, skills, and core competencies. And this allowed us to monitor the role evolution, of course, due to the, this transformation is due to the, digital, transformation, but also, and, and especially in the, with, an impact

by AI. So, we, also thanks to some AI platform, we are able to go in deep and analyze this rule and, to, found the existing and emerging skills that we need for our business, requirements. This platform are the characteristic to, and to provide, granularity inside. That answer to behavioral traits, technical competencies, but also cognitive, capabilities for our people.

And, we use AI analytics also to project and, how these specific skills are an impact on our learning program. So the combination of. Our professional system linked to AI platform. This combination allow us to assess the new employees and, give the opportunity to design also development tailored program.

Last but not least, Leonardo Academy. Leonardo Academy is a key pillar for our transformation and of course in Leonardo Academy, we'll use also AI tools, data driven.

[00:04:16] Vijay: Got it, got it. So ton of work is what I can, summarize at a, both at a rule level, and extracting the competencies and the skills that you're going to.

Just curious one follow, follow-up question on that. That requirement then feeds into your early career hiring in terms of what skills we really need to go after at each role level. Is that how you do it?

[00:04:38] Assunta: Yes exactly.

[00:04:40] Vijay: Okay, got it.

[00:04:42] Assunta: Exactly.

[00:04:42] Vijay: That's very, very helpful from, for I'm sure very helpful for many leaders.

I'm gonna switch gears a little bit and ask, you, Alessandro, one of the challenges is in this AI time, employees need to learn some new skills. Right and at the same time, there is also a job to do, their hand. So how do you manage that operational complexity in, terms of. More like, you know, how do I maintain that?

I, use this term called tempo, right? So how do you maintain that tempo of doing my job as of now and also getting ready for the future? seems like many orgs are struggling, and I know, loud to hear from you what your thoughts are.

[00:05:34] Alessandro: Balancing learning with, operational demands is not easy.

A strategic and embedded approach, is, is needed. So rather than considering learning as, something separate from work, we focus on integrating learning

into the, the flow of operations. And this can mean, using micro learning that fit into short time windows. Leveraging on, leveraging a digital platform that, allow a synchronous learning.

Identifying also, and empowering, learning champions within the teams. this is a key point because, it, ensure, the training on the job knowledge, sharing, within the teams. another key factor I, I think, is, opening access to catalog-based learning, allowing, employees to proactively apply, for learning opportunities for training opportunities.

This promotes, inclusiveness and also a shared responsibility for growth while still maintaining, a governance model. That, leave the, the final approval with the line manager to ensure the alignment between learning and business priorities. we believe in, Leonardo that also, the promotion of learning culture is important because, at the end, It let people to reflect and, understand that learning is not just an extra task, is

a

[00:07:38] Alessandro: driver for performance and, employability, even in fast paced environments like, Leonardo.

[00:07:48] Vijay: Got it. Got it. It's, it's fascinating how, you sort of almost starting to look like. The, sooner what we do as the core job and the learning kind of comes together, the better it would be.

Right? So whether it's not like a two different task, it is flowing within the operations, together in a seamless way.

[00:08:14] Alessandro: It's a combination.

[00:08:15] Vijay: Got it. Got it. Got it. Suzy, I'm gonna ask you this tough question, right? So you are an engineering company. Normally focused on measuring everything that you do. But learning is a little bit of a strategic, area, strategic focus, where it's not, things are not gonna happen like in one day, right?

Like things are not gonna happen overnight. So what sort of, measurement from an impact of learning standpoint that you think will be helpful for enterprises?

[00:08:50] Assunta: Yes, it is, usually a key point that everyone ask us regarding the learning measurement. And, in, Leonardo, we take a

comprehensive, multidimensional approach to measure the learning programs, that are, based on performance outcome, but also learning a shift, that, we have after and, in the, their, in the career of our employees. So usually we assess a real impact of learning programs, also using clearly KPIs. Aligned with the business priorities. And, we try to go behind the traditional way to measure the learning and we use other methods. One is the skill assessment and, before and after learning session to evaluate the progress of this learning. Then we have a 360, assessment and also, we, the manager evaluation also to real understand the impact. Of the learning. And, also we have, tracking, progression through our professional system, where different key, stakeholders evaluate the progression and also analyze with the help of AI tools, the, transformation and, the future skills.

That these skills are fit with the evaluation of the learning.

[00:10:41] Vijay: Sorry to interrupt, but that feedback comes from the business normally, or, you are,

[00:10:47] Assunta: how does that Both.

[00:10:48] Vijay: Okay.

[00:10:48] Assunta: Both from the learning owners of the program, but also from the managers that are responsible of the people and so the business.

[00:11:00] Vijay: Got it. So very well-defined KPIs is how

[00:11:02] Assunta: Yes,

[00:11:03] Vijay: we can conquer this game. Got it. Got it.

[00:11:04] Assunta: And we implemented, also another ongoing continuous feedback that we called, Cold feedback. Okay.

[00:11:13] Vijay: Okay not hot feedback.

[00:11:15] Assunta: Not hot feedback. Exactly. That is delayed post-training usually after six, eight months. And to evaluate the real impact in changing technical competencies, behavioral traits, or cognitive capabilities.

[00:11:33] Vijay: Got it. I like the term cold feedback, so it's kind of, it can't. So we can't seek feedback on this, like immediately there is a strategic nature to it. which sort of brings me to the next question, Alessandro, like you are learning, is because of the legacy nature of who you are. The knowledge that resides in your company is, so in depth.

Some of the courses would be designed in a traditional way of learning how we learned yesterday, for example. Now with AI coming and attempting to create this personalized learning. There's going to be a little bit of, I, I want to use the word tension between one way of learning and the new way of learning.

So how a, have you faced that or how are you handling that? What is your thought process on that?

[00:12:28] Alessandro: So. let me start saying that. Both have their place, both type of training at their place, but they have different purposes. Standardized compliance driven training, is necessary for alignment with, legal, adherence, organizational, alignment and, to create a shared baseline of, of knowledge that, and all these aspects are important in regulated and high risk, environment. On the other end, personalized, learning path are essential, for, ensuring, engagement, retention and, developing future capabilities we will need, in the future.

So AI plays an important role for the second, the second training. And in Leonardo, we try to combines, the two, we front load compliance where necessary, ensuring a consistency and risk mitigation. And, we, layer in, personalized learning. And development plans driven by, and I, I would like to link to what Suzy already said, driven by skills, assessments, performance, feedback and career goals.

[00:14:15] Vijay: Got it, got it. So it's, it's gonna be mix of both is what

[00:14:20] Alessandro: Yes. In also in this case, a mix of both, where obviously AI is helping the learning manager a lot. With, suggestions, creating a draft for every learning paths.

[00:14:33] Vijay: Got it.

[00:14:34] Alessandro: They need

[00:14:35] Vijay: Got it. So in this journey, Suzy, one problem that all learning and development organizations across the world is facing is, how am I gonna

bring my, junior employees, early career employees, more into domain expertise areas, faster, quicker, because some of the tasks that they did before, like five, six years ago now AI is gonna do that. So there is not enough, those basic tasks that early career employees can do and hang around for a while and then slowly learn things, we, we don't seem to have that luxury anymore.

So, which means we have the. As an L&D organization or all the, learning leaders across the globe would have the burden of accelerating that, journey, you know, faster. So how do you think we can do that? That that seems to be a big problem?

[00:15:34] Assunta: Yes, yes is, we know that the new generations are, expectations and, also different motivation.

And, they. Push us to have a very, an accelerate career

[00:15:51] Vijay: Okay.

[00:15:51] Assunta: In the company, Leonardo is, a high tech company with, a complex, also organization. And, sometimes it is difficult to, to be, to become completely autonomous regarding the knowledge for this. For our specific products. But in any case, we analyze the problem and we redesign, one onboarding path that is, characterized by some, checkpoints.

This check points are based on, two main elements. One is the challenge that we will give to the young generation, but also the scope, to understand why and I, why I ask to do this task, this single task in a whole environment. So this is the scope that they ask us to understand. So we start from one checkpoint that, is an assessment about behavioral, skills.

And, this is also assessed. By different, methods, but also the stakeholder, different stakeholders. The second point is, the assessment on professional competencies linked also to our, AI platform to better understand that the skill gaps are also, toward the future. And, the third, check point is, the performance history because, the outcomes are so important and the performance is important and is also discussed by the, the manager, and, to improve, this point. And the last is a combination of skills, performance, and potential, to, better understand, through the potential, where and when the, the employee can accelerate their, his career. All these checkpoint are, in any case, linked to some rewards. That is a promotion, a new Got it. Okay. Level in internal organization or extra price, to obtain.

[00:18:29] Vijay: Got it. Looks like it's good. Be an early career employee at Leonardo. The interest.

That brings me to the next question, like you are, obviously a multi-generational workforce. You have Gen Zs, gen X, late career folks, and while the early careers are in a move to accelerate their learning and push on, sometimes in an legacy company like yours, the late career may be a little hesitant on new technology or I have some questions saying that why change now? I've been doing this far. One way, the 20 years plus, years. Why should I change now? Why should I contribute to a semantic model? Whatever that task that you, tell them, how do you handle this complexity? It's like, it's like managing a country, right?

So with different segments of workforce. So loud to hear from you, Alessandro, what you are. What your thoughts are on that.

[00:19:25] Alessandro: So, our approach, for preparing the workforce for new technologies is, layered and proactive at the same time, we rely on four components, foresight and the partnership.

To, we collaborate with internal, subject matter expert, with the external vendors and, industry think tank to understand, which are the new technologies that we, we need. We regularly assess, Digital and, cyber literacy to understand, which is the current readiness gap. We prepare role specific upskilling path, because, the, the approach can be tired.

I, I mean, foundational awareness for all. Deep technical training for target roles, is needed, and, The fourth component is, hands-on training. Because, we believe that, training, learning is important. But, to complete the training you have to experience what you learn.

And that's why we invest a lot in, simulation in digital twin and, For gaming, to let people, learn practical skills. these, four components are. This is for, the structured approach, but as I said, at the beginning, the approach have to be proactive and that's why, a continuous dialogue, with the universities and their academic advisory bodies is essential.

It is essential to ensure that the, knowledge and expectation gap, between industry and academia, is, reduced, as much as we, as we can. so we, we try to, create a new workforce, new graduates that potentially will be our future workforce with strong, solid base, of knowledge in new technologies, from, when they entered the job market from day one. So on one side we try to train

the, current, the current workers and let the future current workers prepared, to, join us, and to have, keep all people aligned, new technologies ready to, for new technologies.

[00:22:57] Vijay: Got it. So, so you're basically building trust with existing. Employees and accelerating the readiness of, the incoming workforce as well.

Brilliantly said. Now, some fun questions. So, soft skills or technical skills, what do, what do you think?

[00:23:14] Assunta: Soft skills. Alright. We need to unlearning soft skills and we have to learn again.

[00:23:21] Vijay: Got it. Got it. How about you, Alessandro? What's your view?

[00:23:25] Alessandro: I, I agree. I agree. Soft skills.

[00:23:28] Vijay: Got it.

One of the things that we say in, learning, right?

So that is, in a, in an engineering company like yourself, since you both said soft skills, I'm asking this as a follow-up question. Soft skills, just like before the AI became a thing last three years were not very celebrated because a very technical company, very high engineering company. So in some ways, even for you to acknowledge that it's a big

you are to go through a big change within the company. Do you think people are beginning to understand that importance of soft skills better at Leonardo?

[00:24:13] Assunta: Yes. I think that, we are in our performance, process, not only the objective, but also soft skills.

[00:24:23] Vijay: Got it.

[00:24:23] Assunta: Okay. We have the leadership model.

[00:24:26] Vijay: Or is that something recently changed, or has always been?

[00:24:29] Assunta: No. No. Okay. We, have, since, seven, eight years. So, and we change, and probably we need to change again our leadership model because also of the skills are changing. Got it. consideration of AI tools. So we need, to think about, critical thinking, decision making, attention to details. So we have new soft skills that, transform our leadership model, but for us is so important.

[00:25:09] Vijay: Got it.

[00:25:09] Assunta: 50% objectives. What? And 50% how? It's soft skills.

[00:25:16] Vijay: Got it. Alessandro, any myth that you'd like to burst, in terms of L&D. What you think the world thinks may or may not be true.

[00:25:30] Alessandro: Do you mean?

[00:25:30] Vijay: You mean like is, can a skill be learned by anyone with the help of AI you think? Or, what sort of qualities are required for learning? For example.

[00:25:47] Alessandro: Let me say that, job rotation if, it was possible, obviously it's not easy, an extreme job rotation will be very useful.

[00:26:01] Vijay: Okay.

[00:26:01] Alessandro: I mean, job rotation across functions and count and countries, can help.

[00:26:09] Vijay: Got it. I mean, you think that's not done very well across the industry, not just Leonardo. You think that's a, that's a challenge.

[00:26:18] Alessandro: It's a challenge because, it's an, organizational challenge, first of all.

[00:26:23] Vijay: Got it.

[00:26:24] Alessandro: And, as all changes, as its costs. So you right, it is not easy to find, the right balance, the right balance is, is not easy.

[00:26:44] Vijay: Got it.

Folks, that's a great challenge for the entire industry, I guess. One last question.

Who's your role model and why? Suzy.

[00:26:54] Assunta: My role model. I have, you refer to a, name of a person or

[00:27:09] Vijay: You can say what, what qualities really

inspire you?

[00:27:12] Assunta: Quality, okay. For me, is, for me a role model is, listening the person can have the skill, to listen the others. But of course to be very directive and take decision in any case.

But to consider also the point of view of others, but also for me is very important, open-minded. Okay. And curiosity.

[00:27:41] Vijay: Got it. Okay.

So who are has open-minded and listening skills? They are your role model?

[00:27:45] Assunta: Yes.

[00:27:45] Vijay: Great. Great. How about you?

[00:27:47] Alessandro: I think that, the role model, a role model is, represented by a person that, is able to not be

a boss, but a leader, that can support the people who works with, sharing is, his knowledge and try to give in, the right feedback at the right moment.

[00:28:11] Vijay: Got it.

[00:28:11] Alessandro: Because, these help people to grow and to be more solid in their, career.

[00:28:22] Vijay: Fantastic. Fantastic. Thank you so much. I, know how busy you both are. You travel globally. You've been, you've taken some time to, spend time with me.

I learnt a lot from this session because we are this complex human AI journey. So, thank you for sharing your thoughts and also congratulations for you, for winning the Wimbledon, like, Italy w

[00:28:49] Alessandro: We have no married for this.

[00:28:51] Vijay: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[00:28:52] Assunta: But we're fun.

[00:28:53] Vijay: So you, that's a huge motivation for us to learn more.

[00:28:57] Alessandro: Yeah,

[00:28:58] Assunta: Absolutely.

[00:28:58] Vijay: And go from there. So it aligns well our, with our talk. So, thanks a lot. I'll wrap it up here. Once again, thank you for your, contribution here.

[00:29:05] Assunta: Thank you. Thank