Karena Starkie-Gomez, Avinash Chandarana, Professor Vicki Culpin, Laura Paterson
July 2, 2026
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Who should leaders be speaking to for an accurate picture of their organization’s learning needs? What is the biggest barrier to learning in organizations today? With advancing AI capabilities, what will be left for leaders to do?
Our recent webinar explored these questions, looking at new research findings from the Hult Ashridge Leadership Learning Index (HALLI), and discussing their application in practice at global organizations. Four important trends shaping learning today emerged from the discussion between research author, Professor Vicki Culpin, Karena St arkie-Gomez (Director, Leadership and Workforce at KPMG UK) and Avinash Chandarana (Chief Learning and Transformation Officer at mci group).
#1 Senior leaders are optimistic – but is there a perception gap?
Based on insights from 1,015 leaders around the world, the HALLI research found the picture of leadership learning to be generally positive. 88% of respondents agreed their organization has a learning culture that exists beyond formal learning & development opportunities and 92% agreed they have access to L&D opportunities to support their career goals.
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However, this positivity was not distributed evenly across the organization. The more senior the leader, the more likely they were to agree with these statements. For example, the most senior leaders (C-suite and board level participants) were 13% more likely to agree sufficient time is allocated to team learning and development than the most junior respondents (professional specialists).
Both Starkie-Gomez and Chandarana identified an important group in bridging the perception gap between leadership and frontline teams: middle managers.
“Middle managers play a tremendous role here. They're on the ground, dealing with a lot of pressure in terms of understanding strategy, but ultimately how to execute. So I think that's a significant target group senior leaders need to be connected with to identify learning needs"
They are often the ones cascading and implementing changes from the top, which also applies to learning culture.
Culpin flagged that this "bubble” of optimism around senior leaders can grow larger the longer it is left unchecked. One way of addressing it is by holding up a mirror to senior leaders, by having conversations about how access to learning and the ability to transfer that learning into behavior change is easier for them than for those who are more junior in the organization.
#2 The time-to-learn paradox – how can we enable people to learn?
Encouragingly, 86% of research participants said that sufficient time is allocated to learning and development in their respective organizations. However, when asked about the barriers to learning, lack of time was the most common one.
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How can this paradox be explained? The HALLI report draws a distinction between the allocation of time and the taking of time – a distinction that Chandarana described as permission versus behavior: people may be allowed to take the time to learn, but they are not doing so.
To address this, Starkie-Gomez highlighted the importance of linking learning back to strategic objectives, so that people see the value of learning and prioritize it. This link may be apparent at the executive level, but not throughout the organization.
Finally, Culpin emphasized that time is a truly finite resource, so in order to help people prioritize learning, something else should be taken away to free up this time. She highlights a distinction between making quick decisions and making informed choices:
“It's easy to make a decision. You just say ‘yes’, and then your to-do list gets longer and longer and longer. A choice is actually the understanding that if you say ‘yes’ to this, by definition, you are saying ‘no’ to something else, because time is finite."
#3 Maximizing the ROI on learning – how do organizations identify and close effectiveness gaps?
The research surfaced a surprising effectiveness gap: several of the most effective learning methodologies, such as experiential learning and learning communities, are among the least utilized.
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Culpin offered the explanation that organizations may have a perception of experiential learning as very costly. In contrast, this highly effective learning method can be leveraged through something as simple as a 5-minute conversation or activity that helps people to think differently.
Similarly, Starkie-Gomez outlined the trap some L&D programs fall into of leaning too heavily on content and principles, which people then don’t necessarily know how to embed back in their work, at the detriment of learning ROI.
Chandarana highlighted how “reverse engineering” L&D programs from business targets can ensure that learning directly contributes to business performance. By having this link explicit, it also helps to secure future investment for learning.
#4 Demand for AI literacy is high – how do we balance it with human-centered leadership?
When asked for the most useful aspects of L&D over the past year, research participants ranked AI and technology skills top, which may not be surprising. However, when looking ahead to the critical leadership capabilities of the future there was a shift, with human-centered leadership capabilities ranking ahead of AI and digital literacy.
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The top five leadership capabilities leaders believe are most critical to future success (Source: HALLI)
Similarly, the webinar panel emphasized the importance of balancing AI integration with a human-centered approach. Chandarana saw this balance as identifying friction points that AI can smooth out, to free people up for more creativity and higher-level thinking.
If this balance is not well-judged, and companies lean too heavily on AI at the expense of human skills, there are potential risk for the business, as Starkie-Gomez explained:
“Organizations can probably, in the short term, get away with not focusing on those more human leadership skills. But in the long term, it's about survival, ultimately, to really deeply connect with your customers and understand what they want. AI doesn't have that kind of embodied knowing. It can't synthesize in the way that our brains do."
So, how can organizations nurture human-centered leadership in the age of AI? Culpin advised that nothing will translate into action without organizations giving this question attention, a metric, time in conversations, and visibility in senior leadership.
What to do next
1. Spread the optimism
Starkie-Gomez encouraged leaders to aim for the democratization of learning by reminding managers and leaders how they impact others’ learning: to lead by example and consider the organizational storytelling around L&D. They should aim for the whole organization to be optimistic about learning, not just the “bubble”.
2. Rebrand the L&D function
Chandarana advised L&D leaders to move the narrative and perception of this function, from a content factory or training provider to an enablement function that truly drives business transformation. This can be done through language choice, storytelling, but ultimately the relevance of the learning.
3. Review your “little list”
Culpin’s challenge to leaders was to review the “little list” of people they go to first for advice: How senior are those individuals? Who isn’t on that list? The problem with this list is that it limits leaders’ perspective of the wider organization in terms of learning needs and opportunity. Often, the people you don’t want to speak to are the ones that you should speak to first.
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Discover the full research findings
Drawing on insights from over 1,000 leaders, HALLI is the largest and most geographically diverse study focusing specifically on how leaders learn. Download the report to explore the key findings and get practical recommendations on leadership learning.
Meet our expert speakers
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Karena Starkie-Gomez
Director, Leadership and Workforce at KPMG UK
Karena brings over 20 years of expertise in developing leaders and organizations to deliver strategic goals. At KPMG, she leads the design and delivery of leadership, talent, and organization development interventions to support team, organization, and system change across both the public and private sectors.
As a Chartered Psychologist, Coach, and Coach Supervisor, Karena is passionate about developing leaders and their teams to deliver for today and tomorrow, whether that is a more inclusive organization, a sustainability strategy, or technology-led change.
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Avinash Chandarana
Chief Learning and Transformation Officer at mci group
Beginning his career in local HR and Learning in 1998, Avinash Chandarana has evolved alongside mci group’s own transformation, progressing from operational talent development to global leadership, including the establishment of MCI Institute as a strategic engine for learning, capability building, and growth across the organization.
Over three decades spanning Europe, North America, and Asia, his journey reflects the shift of learning from a traditional support function to a catalyst for business transformation. With early experience in digital learning, AI-enabled capability building, and workforce evolution, Avinash brings a global perspective on how technology, disruption, and changing macro realities are reshaping leadership, talent, and the future of organizations.
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Vicki Culpin
Professor of Organizational Behavior at Hult International Business School
Vicki specializes in how to master leadership and resilience in turbulent times and has spent over 20 years researching the impact of well-being and memory.
Vicki also researches in the field of adult pedagogy, specifically in relation to learning transfer. Vicki works with a range of clients from across the world, advising on leadership development, along with sharing her research findings.
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Hari Mann
Dean of Faculty at Hult Ashridge
As the Dean at Hult Ashridge, Hari brings over a decade of experience in academia and business. His main interests are in strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. His research looks at how businesses develop the culture, environment, and infrastructure to foster innovation and entrepreneurial activities.
At Ashridge, Hari has been the MBA and Executive MBA director, and more recently the director of Product Solutions. His research currently involves how financial organization lead and innovate, and how purpose matters in increasing company profits.
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