How AI can actually connect business performance with capability building is no longer a theoretical question for L&D: it is a strategic imperative. In this episode, we cut through the noise to clarify what skills mapping really means today, why static competency frameworks are holding organisations back, and how AI can help identify critical capability gaps faster, focus investment where it truly matters, and accelerate talent development at organisational level.
Nahdia Khan is a powerful voice in this conversation because she brings together workforce skills, impact measurement, and business strategy. With senior experience shaping learning and benchmarking insight, she shares concrete examples of how AI can make sense of fragmented job data, build dynamic skills frameworks, and support evolving skills ontologies. She also shows why L&D’s role in human judgement and validation is not optional, but essential to turning AI insight into business value.
Key learnings of Beyond L&D: How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Business
Explain why traditional skills and competency frameworks are no longer fit for purpose
Differentiate between skills taxonomies, competency frameworks, and skills ontologie
Identify how AI can be used to surface critical capability gaps faster
Assess where AI adds value in skills mapping and how to evaluate outcomes
Apply practical starting points for using AI in skills work with limited budgets and access only to general-purpose tools.
Understand why skills strategy must be an enterprise-wide initiative, not owned by L&D alone, and how to engage business leaders and employees in the process.
Reframe the role of L&D from content provider to strategic partner
Express review
Save time and focus on the discussion elements which are essential for you:
1. Is AI the missing link between performance and skills?
Gaëlle frames the core question: how AI could finally connect business performance with capability building. (0:00:00)
2. How AI is challenging established L&D practice
Nahdia explores why traditional approaches to skills and learning are struggling to keep up. (0:00:53)
3. What do we really mean by skills mapping?
A clear explanation of skills taxonomies, competency frameworks, and skills ontologies. (0:01:15)
4. How skills mapping supports career progression and retention
Linking skills visibility to development, mobility, and talent retention. (0:05:14)
5. Where do organisations start without overwhelming people?
Practical advice on starting small and making skills work palatable in stretched organisations. (0:06:38)
6. What data really matters for skills mapping?
Examples of quantitative and qualitative data sources that are often overlooked. (0:09:57)
7. Securing buy-in without overloading employees
How to engage people meaningfully while respecting workload and capacity. (0:12:18)
8. Validating skills with employees: top-down meets bottom-up
How to involve employees in sense-checking and refining skills insights.(0:16:10)
9. Can low-cost AI tools support skills mapping?
Using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot responsibly and effectively.(0:19:17)
10. Where L&D should start experimenting with AI
Advice for L&D professionals wanting to push the boundaries of their practice. (0:21:47)
11. The critical skills L&D professionals need to develop
Why curiosity, critical thinking, and human judgement matter more than ever. (0:26:48)
12. AI as a companion, not a replacement
A powerful closing reflection on AI creating space for better thinking and conversations. (0:33:44)
Tools and resources
1. Future of Jobs Report 2025 (World Economic Forum)
Examines global employer perspectives on jobs and skills; highlights the scale of skills gaps and what competencies will matter most in the future.
2. Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030 (UK Government)
Outlines future skills priorities across key sectors in the UK economy — useful for workforce planning and policy insights.
3. Falling Behind: How Skills Shortages Threaten Future Jobs (Georgetown Centre for Education & the Workforce)
A long-range analysis of skills shortages and demographic shifts affecting the talent pipeline.
4. SHRM: Real-Time Upskilling and Skills Gaps
Explores how organisations are shifting from traditional training to on-the-job capability building to keep pace with changing skill demands.
About Nahdia Khan, guest speaker of Cracking the Skills Code: How AI Transforms Talent Development
Nahdia Khan is a strategic leader, executive coach, and learning expert with over 20 years’ experience helping organisations build capability and performance. She is the founder of Tasir Consulting & Coaching, where she advises on leadership, learning, and community strategy, enabling businesses to navigate complexity and drive growth.
Her career spans senior roles across the learning and HR-tech landscape, including Chief Impact Officer at Mind Tools, where she led global insights, thought leadership, and community initiatives. She is also Chair of the Digital & Tech Advisory Group for the Central London Careers Hub, bringing cross-sector expertise in workforce skills and capability.
Nahdia’s expertise lies in skills strategy, capability building. She draws on both academic research and hands-on practice to help organisations move beyond static competency frameworks into dynamic, data-driven skills intelligence. She is known for translating complexity into clarity and for showing how L&D can become a true business partner.
Passionate about making learning practical, purposeful, and human, Nahdia brings a balance of evidence-based insight and lived experience — challenging the status quo while offering actionable ways to reimagine skills, leadership, and performance in the modern workplace.
Contact Nadia
Available episodes:
Episode 1: Making Learning Material Truly Accessible
Episode 3: How to measure Learning Impact
Episode 4: How to use videos for collaboration, creativity and performance enabler
Episode 5: Driving Learning Impact Through Accountability
Episode 7: Unmuting Emotions for Better Collaboration in Hybrid Teams
Episode 8: The Art of Meaningful Communication in the Digital Workplace
Episode 9: Psychological Safety in Remote Teams: From Silence to Trust
Episode 10: Learning Communities: The Art of Personalised Learning
Episode 11: Beyond L&D: How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Business
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