Picture this. A customer service team is trained to use a new ticketing system. During training, employees learn how to log requests, track progress, and resolve issues using the new workflow. Then, they’re back at work, and many return to their old habits. They still keep notes in spreadsheets, send emails, and handle requests the way they always have. They know how to use the new system. But they aren’t using it consistently.

That’s the problem Learning and Development professionals try to solve. Training gets completed, but the behavior stays the same. According to Habit hugging: When old habits block new ways of working, 65% of employees agree that letting go of an old habit is harder than learning a new one. Something has to replace the old habit, and that takes time and conscious effort.

Behavior change depends on more than remembering the course material when training finishes. Employees must recognize when the current workflow no longer serves them. Employees need to practice new skills until they become part of their daily work. L&D teams need to make the new approach easy and relevant enough to make the transition successful.

What is behavior change in L&D?

Behavior change in L&D means employees consistently apply new ways of working after training. It’s the difference between completing training and a new default. The old habit stops being used, the new approach becomes how work actually gets done, and performance data shows the shift.

The other half is unlearning. Skip it and old habits pull people back the moment training ends.

Why training alone doesn’t change behavior

Finishing a course doesn’t mean the behavior change follows. After training, people go back to their usual tasks and deadlines. But the tool or process doesn’t always match what the course taught. Only 41% of employees consistently use the new way of working after they’ve been trained on it, and more than half (52%) sometimes fall back on old habits.

Here’s what that looks like and what pulls people back.

The signs of behavior reversion

Look for three signs that employees are reverting to their old behaviors:

• The work looks the same as before: If you compare the output before and after training and the errors, rework, and questions haven’t moved, the behavior didn’t change.
• The old tool or process is still in use: 42% of employees still use tools managers think were replaced. Managers see the rollout; they don’t see what’s still running underneath it.
• People work around it and stay quiet: In TalentLMS’s Learning Debt report, 62% of employees use workarounds when they lack the skills or training for a task. In the same research, 47% of employees have stayed quiet about not knowing how to do something. Admitting you don’t know much can feel embarrassing, especially right after training. So people figure it out by themselves. If the work gets done anyway, the gap stays invisible.

What’s pulling people back

So what makes people go back to their old habits? Here are the top three reasons:

1. Time pressure

Under pressure, people default to what they know. 53% of employees say heavy workloads leave little room for learning, according to TalentLMS’s L&D Benchmark Report. When new knowledge has to be applied right away, there’s no room left to absorb it—so people revert. Among employees who fall back on old ways of working, 30% cite tight deadlines or high workloads, and 30% cite a lack of practice or guidance after training.

2. The old way feels easier

Among employees who keep working as before or fall back to it, 55% say the old way feels more familiar, and 48% say it’s faster. Familiarity is the speed: no lookup, no checking, no second thought.

3. Nobody checks during the switch

 Managers carry their workload, so verification happens after the fact—if at all. They may also not see the gap. According to TalentLMS’s Skills Visibility report, 90% of managers say they understand their team’s skills, but only 69% of employees agree.

How to reinforce new ways of working

Behavior change follows three steps: unlearn, relearn, and apply.

Reinforcement starts with an honest assessment. Before you pick a new strategy, find out whether people are using what they learned. Then match the support to the gap.

Spot and diagnose the gap

Forty-one percent of employees say their company tracks training completion. Yet, only 36% say it checks whether people use what they learned, and 34% say it assesses whether they understood it. To get a clear idea of who changed how they work, measure training effectiveness along with course completion and progress with Reporting features on your LMS.

The more reliable check is the work itself. On “Solving the training impact mystery” from TalentLMS’s podcast series, Talent Talks, Kevin M. Yates suggests asking what people need to be doing in their workday to hit the business goal. Then, go and check whether they are.

For example, for a customer service team, that means looking at:

• CSAT scores and customer feedback
• Complaint and escalation volume
• A sample of emails and social replies, read for the skills the course covered
• Live calls, where you can hear whether reps reach for the new approach

A few samples are enough to see whether the new way is showing up in the work. However, managers can only act on what they can see. Only 51% of employees say their manager knows how often they struggle with the skills their job needs. With features like Skills, managers have a better view of the skills on their team and where the gaps are.

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Pro tip: Once you see the gap, ask what’s behind it. If people have no time to practice, build practice into the workday. If they’re still working the old way, follow up quickly rather than waiting for the next review cycle. When people stay quiet, ask first. A gap nobody mentions is still a gap.

Reinforce until it sticks

Reinforcement works best when it fits into employees’ everyday work. This is where people relearn and apply.

Put guidance where the work happens

Fifty percent of employees say building new ways of working into the everyday workflow helps. What does this mean in practice? The guidance sits inside the job. For instance, an email template that shows the shape of a good reply, starting with an acknowledgment of the customer. Or a short video inside the tool people already have open, showing how to work through the issue in front of them.  With TalentCraft, the AI course creator, you can build short courses from training material you already have.

Give people a safe place to practice

Forty-nine percent say more practice opportunities help. Features like Learning Playground give people AI-powered practice, including role-play, so learners can try the new way before it goes live. Learning Paths can also sequence that practice after each course. And AI Coach provides personalized help at the time of learning.

Self-led practice that builds real skills.

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Make managers part of it

A short weekly catch-up can cover what went well, what customers said, what’s in the way, and what happens next. Managers should also use the new way themselves. In TalentLMS’s Habit Hugging report, consistent adoption runs at 49% when managers model the new way, against 22% when they don’t.

From completion to changed behavior

Training that ends at the certificate leaves people with a new skill and an old habit.

People need time to let the old way go before the new one can take hold, plus guidance on where the work happens, practice before it counts, and a manager in the loop.

FAQs

The post Behavior Change in L&D: How to Reinforce New Ways of Working appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

In a dusty political comedy from the ’90s, a small-time swindler wins a seat in Congress because he happens to share a name with a congressman who had just died. His campaign slogan: “Jeff Johnson, the name you know.” 

The plot may be implausible, but the pull of familiarity it taps into is very real. 

The same pull shapes how we work. Research shows that as much as half of work behavior is habitual. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Habits make work easier by putting repetitive tasks on autopilot.

But in the workplace that’s being rewired in real time, that autopilot has a downside. It can keep us reaching for familiar ways of working even when the work has outgrown them.

We’ve given this tendency a name: “habit hugging.”

What is habit hugging?

Habit hugging is the tendency to hold on to familiar ways of working as jobs keep changing, expectations rise, and AI rewrites how work gets done.

Just as job hugging describes workers holding tightly to their jobs, habit hugging describes workers holding tightly to familiar ways of working. Under pressure to deliver more and faster while navigating constant disruptions, they increasingly rely on routines and tools they know and trust.

The TalentLMS Habit Hugging Report found that for 65% of surveyed employees, letting go of an old work habit is harder than learning a new one. That may explain why 42% said they still use old tools their managers think are gone. 

Habits are a powerful force, helping us navigate challenges, save mental energy, and reduce decision fatigue. But when their grip goes unchecked, they can become quicksand.

Why are old work habits so hard to break?

Let’s examine the conditions that are fueling the rise of habit hugging.

The gravity of the familiar

Scientists once watched chess experts try to find a better move. The players said they were looking for one. Yet the eye-tracking device told a different story: their gaze kept going back to the move they already knew. People are wired to automatically gravitate toward what’s familiar.

The wait-and-see reflex

Gartner reports that 36% of business leaders say their teams hesitate when facing change at work. They tend to wait and see whether changes will stick before adopting them. This is a natural response to uncertainty. And when the pivots are ongoing, waiting it out becomes the automatic response.

That’s human nature. Let’s see how today’s workplace reinforces it.

Change on top of change

Deloitte found that one in three employees experienced more than 15 major changes in a single year. Meanwhile, employee capacity to absorb change has plummeted. Facing an endless cycle of new targets, org charts, and tech rollouts, many workers experience change fatigue. Unable to absorb one change before the next arrives, they do what anyone would: hold on to what they know.

The day that gets away

A workday cut into pieces leaves little room to think, let alone change how we work. The Microsoft Work Trend Index found that 64% of workers don’t have the time and energy to do their jobs. Maybe because interruptions are relentless. Some employees are interrupted every two minutes at work. In a day this fragmented, it’s nearly impossible to redesign how you work.

And yet another tool

The average company uses 93 different tech tools, per Okta’s Businesses at Work Report. Each one is something new to learn. The problem is that employees barely have the capacity to do the work. And mastering yet another dashboard takes headspace that is already spoken for. Runaway app sprawl isn’t necessarily making employees faster. It may actually be adding to the overload.

AI adds a second shift

AI was supposed to buy us time to think and do more important work. Instead, it has raised the baseline for how much we are expected to produce. Thirty-one percent of AI users say their employer has asked them to take on more responsibilities because of AI, per Gallup. What’s more, nearly half of employees now spend more time managing and directing AI than doing the work itself, BCG reports.

Together, these are some of the forces keeping old work habits in place.

Sticking to habits is only human, and we’re wired to do it. But the environment in most workplaces today amplifies that natural pull. Constant change, fragmented days, tool sprawl, and AI-raised expectations all draw on the same limited time and attention. And they compound, draining the headspace needed to adopt new ways of working. 

The irony is that workplaces now expect change to be adopted faster than ever.

Conclusion: When the environment hugs back

In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes that “environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.” Meaning you can’t successfully mandate a new habit inside an old environment. Still, with companies focusing mostly on changing how work gets done, the environment those new ways depend on often gets overlooked.

Habit hugging may look like something employees do. 

But the workplace may be doing a lot of the hugging for them.

FAQs

The post The Rise of Habit Hugging appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

At this year’s World of Learning, the UK’s comprehensive annual event for Learning and Development (L&D) and HR professionals, featuring seminars, networking, and industry suppliers, we ran a simple poll at our stand, “What’s the one thing slowing down your training today?” where over 220 attendees stopped to vote. The results were insightful, but what really stayed with us was how people reacted to being asked.

The poll became an opening, and the conversations that followed were some of the most honest we’ve had. For most L&D professionals we spoke with, the opportunity to openly discuss their challenges and everyday frustrations was too valuable to pass up. Many told us they rarely get asked in their workplaces what they think, what challenges they’re facing, or what their experience tells them is the right approach to L&D decisions.

We came to listen, and people noticed.

In our interactive poll at World of Learning, five themes kept coming back, both in the results and in conversation. 

What did L&D professionals say at World of Learning 2026?

Across conversations and poll results at World of Learning 2026, five shifts stood out. L&D’s value is still on trial, time scarcity is crowding out learning, the learning-to-doing gap is where training breaks, AI anxiety is growing, and often leadership isn’t set up to see any of it. What attendees wanted most was to be asked, listened to, and have access to evidence they could take back to their organizations.

Shift 1: L&D’s value is still on trial

The theme people kept returning to was when budgets tighten, training is the first line to be cut. As a result, organizations often deprioritize L&D projects first. In our poll, proving L&D impact was the second-most-cited challenge (21.6% of votes).

Proving impact remains the core struggle. The verdict on whether training is effective—or even necessary—often comes from outside L&D, from parties that aren’t able to capture what learning changes. Many attendees have worked as internal or external consultants, meaning they were hired for their expertise but then not listened to. Being unheard is what “value on trial” feels like day to day.

The hunger for evidence was palpable. When we shared our Learning Debt report—which found that 41% of employees say their role has evolved faster than their company’s ability to train them—the reaction told us how starved people are for data they can put in front of decision-makers.

And the cost of that debt is concrete, with 54% of employees experiencing mistakes at work that proper training could have prevented. Such data can support the business impact L&D is asked to show, for example.

It’s also a theme we’ve explored on our podcast, Talent Talks, with L&D leader David Kelly, on “L&D in 2026: Learning debt, AI, and transformation”. He points out, demonstrating value requires a shift in how L&D communicates its contribution.

“We have to change our narrative and our mindset to, how does the work that we do impact the business? How does it provide business value?”

Shift 2: Nobody has time

Not having enough time was the most universally nodded-along pain of the event. Lack of time took 31.7% of the vote, the single biggest training challenge according to our poll at World of Learning this year. The reason is no mystery. L&D has to pull people away from daily work to train them.

Skills gaps persist because learning gets crowded out by workload. When we said this out loud, everyone agreed. TalentLMS’s 2026 L&D Benchmark Report found the same. Sixty-five percent of employees say performance expectations have risen this year, yet lack of time remains the biggest barrier to learning.

Manual admin also compounds time scarcity. Too many organizations still run training by hand—scheduling sessions, chasing completions, and sending reminders one by one. And when legacy systems have been in place for years, switching can feel like writing off the investment. Even when the current setup could cost more time than it saves.

As L&D expert Natal Dank explains in Agile L&D: fast and adaptive training at the speed of business, perfect training has become the enemy of useful training. Learning teams need to reduce bottlenecks and respond faster, not overbuild programs that are outdated before they launch.

Shift 3: The gap between learning and doing is where training breaks

Some of the strongest booth reactions came when people saw TalentLMS’s Learning Playground feature. It addresses a gap everyone recognized immediately: the distance between finishing a course and actually applying the knowledge.

Bridge the gap between learning and doing.

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TalentLMS’s Speed-to-Skill report shows how wide that gap runs. Seven in ten respondents say people need faster ways to practice skills as job demands change. Yet only 16% say skill-building happens quickly when new needs arise. And nearly one in four (24%) say the lack of a safe environment to practice before using skills on the job slows progress down. The demand is clear for more opportunities to practice.

Bob Mosher explored this on Self-directed learning: Why your employees are training themselves. Most learning is now self-directed and happening in the flow of work, and the challenge for L&D is supporting that shift rather than fighting it.

Shift 4: AI adoption doesn’t have to mean AI expertise

Thought leaders insist L&D must become AI experts to justify their value. Meaning they should master AI for their own work, then teach it to everyone else.

The reality on the floor was more mixed. Uneven AI adoption is legitimate—some organizations are ready, some aren’t, and some are deliberately cautious. What resonated most was that AI on TalentLMS’s features didn’t require adding another layer of complexity to their work. TalentCraft, TalentLMS’s AI course creator, was one of the strongest booth reactions. People saw how AI could speed up course creation within their existing workflow without requiring them to become AI experts first.

Control mattered too. The fact that in TalentLMS, you can switch AI off gives people the choice of using it only when and where it belongs.

TalentLMS’s above-mentioned reports found that 83% of HR managers believe their company actively supports AI learning—but only 64% of employees agree. And there’s a quieter signal underneath: 37% of employees say AI has made them appear more competent than they actually are—masking unmet training needs rather than meeting them.

This was also the thread running through our VP of Learning Transformation Nick Gonios’s main-stage talk at the event. AI works best when it’s invisible and amplifies human mentorship instead of replacing it.

Shift 5: Leadership often hasn’t been set up to see any of this

It’s easy to assume people will stay motivated to learn regardless of circumstances, tools, or how learning is designed. Most organizations have formalized that assumption, as 61% of employees and managers say people are expected to keep their skills up-to-date on their own.

Leadership often hasn’t been set up to see the gap between what training looks like on paper and what it feels like on the ground. This doesn’t happen because they simply don’t care. It happens because the signals rarely reach them. Our Skills Visibility report shows that 90% of managers say they understand their team’s skills, but only 69% of employees agree. And the Learning Debt findings show that nearly half of employees (47%) have stayed quiet about not knowing how to do something at work.

Al Dea explored this on The manager multiplier: Bringing development into the flow of work. Managers are the missing link in developing talent, and most feel unprepared for the role—not because they’re unwilling, but because nobody equipped them for it.

What we’re doing about it

Listening is the point of an event like this. But listening without acting on what you hear is just networking. So here’s how what we heard maps to what we build:

• For proving value: Reporting in TalentLMS shows assessment results, learner progress, engagement and compliance data—the evidence L&D needs for conversations with decision-makers. 
• For time scarcity: TalentCraft, TalentLMS’s AI course creator, speeds up the process of building courses, which was the single strongest reaction when time came up in conversation. TalentCards struck a chord of its own at the event. A large share of L&D teams struggle to reach deskless workers (people on the floor, on site, and on the move). TalentCards is built for exactly that. Microlearning that fits into a working day, designed for reinforcement of learning over time. For teams already on TalentLMS, it works as an add-on for their deskless workforce.

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• For the learning-to-doing gap: Learning Playground gives people a space to practice before they perform, closing the distance between course completion and on-the-job application. Learning Paths help users achieve their tailored training goals with clear milestones and next steps. Finally, the AI Coach, TalentLMS’s AI-powered assistant, helps learners better understand course content and engage more actively with training material.
• For AI anxiety: AI features in TalentLMS work within your existing workflow, helping you save time without disrupting the workflow or requiring you to master AI first. And because AI is optional, you decide when and where to use it.
• For leadership visibility: Turn skills gaps into targeted development. TalentLMS’s free skills gap analysis template walks through the five-step process for making team capability visible. Plus, with Skills it’s easier to map capabilities and surface development needs.

What we’re taking back with us

Listening was our goal, and what we heard gave us plenty to think about. We’re taking all of it back with us. The frustrations, the workarounds, and the honest “we’re not there yet” will shape what we build and what we write next.

If you were at World of Learning 2026 and shared your story with us, thank you. And if any of this sounds familiar—remember that you’re not alone.

FAQs

The post What We Heard from L&D at World of Learning 2026 appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

When a new tool or process changes how a team works, employees need time to find their footing. Methods relied on for years may need adjustment, and knowing what to change can take trial and error.

Learning agility helps employees draw on experience, question old habits, and adapt effectively. But developing it takes reflection, feedback, and a willingness to try new approaches.

For HR and L&D teams, the challenge is creating the conditions for employees to put what they’ve learned into practice, especially when familiar ways of working no longer fit.

What is learning agility?

Learning agility is the ability and willingness to learn from experience and apply those lessons in new or unfamiliar situations.

Agile learners reflect on what worked, listen to feedback, and adjust their approach. For example, a manager who struggled with a stalled project might use those insights to organize a new team more effectively.

While training builds knowledge, learning agility shows up in how someone applies what they’ve learned to new challenges.

What are the five dimensions of learning agility?

Learning agility is commonly described through five dimensions: mental agility, people agility, change agility, results agility, and self-awareness. These dimensions work together rather than in a fixed sequence, with employees often drawing on several when facing unfamiliar challenges.

Mental agility

The first dimension, called mental agility, is about how an individual approaches tricky, unfamiliar problems. A person with strong mental agility stays curious, questions assumptions, and explores different angles before jumping to conclusions.

People agility

People agility means learning from different perspectives and adjusting communication and collaboration accordingly.

Change agility

The change agility dimension refers to someone’s capacity to try out new ideas and adjust their habits as things shift around them.

Results agility

Strong results agility involves applying lessons from experience to achieve outcomes in unfamiliar or challenging situations.

Self-awareness

Strong self-awareness influences learning agility. It means recognizing strengths, limitations, and their impact on others, then using feedback to improve.

Why is learning agility important in the workplace?

As roles, technologies, and business priorities evolve, organizations need employees who can handle challenges their previous training may not have prepared them for. Learning agility helps teams solve unfamiliar problems, improve how they work, and build the capabilities needed for changing responsibilities.

It also supports continuous improvement. Rather than relying on established methods, employees can use feedback and experience to find better ways of working. Over time, this can help organizations respond to change and improve performance without relying on formal training for every new challenge.

Managers face the added pressure of guiding others through uncertainty. An approach that worked with an experienced team might fall short with new hires. Adapting based on experience helps leaders respond more effectively as team needs evolve.

This is particularly important because the pace of workplace change can outstrip what formal training alone can address. 

Talent Talks (Season 4, Episode 6) Self-directed learning: Why your employees are training themselves

For HR and L&D teams, tracking course completion indicates who’s finished training, but it doesn’t show whether employees can apply what they’ve learned. Real growth happens when employees unlearn outdated habits, develop new skills, and apply them on the job. That’s what turns learning into meaningful behavior change.

How to assess learning agility in employees

A learning agility assessment should look at how employees respond to unfamiliar challenges, act on feedback, learn on the go, and apply lessons from previous experiences. Capturing these behaviors requires a combination of workplace observations, practical exercises, and feedback from others, rather than relying on a single test or measure.

Note: These suggested methods help gather evidence and support development conversations. They don’t constitute a validated learning agility assessment. 

Here are a few more practical ways to assess learning agility in the day-to-day:

Ask behavioral and situational questions

Past experiences can reveal how employees learn from challenges and whether they carry those lessons into new situations.

Behavioral questions are designed to uncover what employees have actually done, while situational questions help explore how they might approach an unfamiliar problem.

Questions could include:

• Tell me about something you learned from a mistake or setback. How did you apply that lesson when facing a different challenge?
• Describe a time someone’s feedback led you to change your approach.
• If a familiar process stopped working on a new project, how would you investigate and respond?

While hypothetical answers offer insight into how employees think, real examples provide stronger evidence of how they’ve applied lessons from experience. Follow-up questions can help establish what employees learned, what they changed, and whether they’ve applied those lessons in other situations.

Observe employees in new situations

When priorities shift or employees take on new roles, observe how they seek information, test ideas, and handle setbacks.

Afterward, ask which past experiences influenced their decisions, what they learned from the task, and how they might apply those lessons to future challenges.

Gather feedback and assess development needs

After employees complete a new assignment, encourage them to reflect on what went well, what they learned, and what they’d do differently next time. Compare their reflections with feedback from colleagues to identify strengths and areas for development.

For example, if an employee struggles to explain a new process, peer feedback might reveal a need for additional support, such as targeted communication training.

An employee adaptability template can help structure these conversations, while a skills gap analysis template can help identify and track development priorities. Once a development need is clear, focus on improving one behavior at a time.

How to develop learning agility at work: 6 practical strategies

Everyday work offers plenty of opportunities to build learning agility. HR and L&D teams can help employees make the most of these experiences by supporting hands-on learning, reflection, and feedback. Managers can reinforce this learning by helping employees apply what they’ve learned to new challenges.

Here are six practical ways to make learning agility part of everyday work.

1. Encourage curiosity and continuous learning

One way to develop learning agility at work is to make room for employees to observe how other people work. A customer support employee, for example, could spend time with the product team to learn how they investigate recurring issues. Then apply a similar approach to identifying the causes of repeated customer complaints.

Building a learning culture also means creating an environment where employees feel comfortable questioning familiar processes. Managers can encourage this curiosity by listening to employees’ observations. And by giving them opportunities to test new ideas out on a small scale.

2. Create opportunities to learn through experience

Stretch assignments give employees opportunities to apply what they’ve learned to unfamiliar challenges. HR and L&D teams can also introduce experiential training methods, such as simulations or self-led practice, that allow employees to experiment before taking on new responsibilities.

For someone preparing to handle difficult client conversations, that might mean rehearsing different responses and techniques in a low-pressure setting. Tools like TalentLMS’s Learning Playground can support this kind of practice before employees apply what they’ve learned in real interactions.

3. Build reflection and feedback into everyday work

Reflection helps employees turn everyday experiences into practical lessons. HR and L&D teams can encourage managers to make it part of regular check-ins, discussing what employees expected to happen, what actually occurred, and what they’d do differently next time.

When a project handoff causes confusion, for example, feedback from the receiving team can help identify what needs to change. Employees can then test an improved approach on another project and reflect on the results.

4. Help employees unlearn and relearn

Developing learning agility sometimes means letting go of methods that have worked well for years. Experienced employees may find this particularly challenging because established ways of working can feel natural and effective. Even highly capable employees may need time, targeted support, and opportunities to practice new approaches.

HR and L&D teams can start by identifying which habits need to change, explaining why, and helping employees build on their existing experience.

Take a customer support employee who’s used to writing every response from scratch. As AI-assisted tools become part of their workflow, they may need to shift from drafting responses themselves to reviewing and improving AI-generated suggestions, ensuring they’re accurate, helpful, and appropriate for each customer.

By applying this approach in real customer interactions and refining it based on feedback, employees can gradually make the new skill part of their everyday work. A broader change management strategy can help reinforce the transition across the organization.

5. Encourage managers and leaders to model learning agility

Managers and leaders can encourage learning agility by showing it in their own work. For example, after a difficult meeting, a manager might ask a colleague for feedback and use their suggestions to approach the next discussion differently.

They can also show learning agility by questioning their assumptions and being open about decisions they’ve reconsidered. Explaining what changed and why shows employees that adjusting their approach is a natural part of learning.

Another way managers can lead by example is to adapt their management style based on their team’s needs. A manager who realizes that their hands-on approach is limiting an experienced team’s independence might step back, give employees more ownership, and use their feedback to refine how they lead.

When managers show they’re willing to learn from mistakes, let go of familiar approaches, and try something different, they encourage their teams to do the same.

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6. Reinforce and measure learning in practice

Developing learning agility doesn’t end when employees complete training or try a new approach. HR and L&D teams also need to help employees build on what they’ve learned and make new behaviors part of their everyday work.

Managers can reinforce learning by recognizing when employees successfully try new approaches and encouraging them to apply what they’ve learned in different situations. Rather than focusing on a single successful outcome, look for signs that employees are consistently applying lessons from previous experiences to new challenges.

Skills mapping functionality can help L&D teams track developing capabilities and identify areas where further support is needed. Learning paths can then provide structured follow-up learning as employees build their skills.

To measure progress, combine these insights with feedback from managers and employees, paying attention to changes in how people approach unfamiliar tasks, respond to setbacks, and adapt based on what they’ve learned.

The goal isn’t simply to track training completion, but to understand whether learning is leading to lasting behavior change.

Put learning agility into everyday practice

Developing learning agility doesn’t require a new training program for every challenge. It starts with giving employees opportunities to try unfamiliar tasks, reflect on what they’ve learned, and put those lessons to work.

For HR and L&D teams, a practical starting point is to identify a challenge employees already face. Build in opportunities to experiment, gather feedback, and apply what works to the next task. Encourage managers to model the same behaviors and support employees as they test new approaches.

The goal isn’t simply to help employees learn more. It’s to make sure what they learn changes how they work.

FAQs

The post Learning Agility: 5 Dimensions and How to Develop It appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Choosing an LMS can feel daunting. Platforms can offer similar features yet create different experiences for the teams that use them. This is the case for TalentLMS vs. Absorb LMS. 

Now, you’re probably looking for a solution that’s easy to set up, keeps admin manageable, and offers a good learner experience. But you also need a platform that fits your budget today and can also handle what your training program will look like tomorrow.

This comparison looks at how TalentLMS and Absorb LMS differ in pricing, features, AI capabilities, and scalability. It also breaks down what these differences mean for your team’s day-to-day.

TalentLMS vs. Absorb LMS: Which platform should you choose?

Choose TalentLMS if you want to launch training quickly, manage learning easily, and train multiple audiences from one platform. It offers AI-powered course creation and learner engagement. Absorb LMS is built for teams that need extensive configuration options and are willing to invest more time setting up and managing their LMS. 

TalentLMS vs. Absorb LMS compared at a glance

	TalentLMS	Absorb LMS
Best for	SMBs looking for an LMS that’s quick to set up and easy to manage as they grow	Mid-market and enterprise organizations with complex learning needs
G2 rating	4.6/5 (813 reviews)	4.6/5 (992 reviews)
Pricing	Plans start at $119/month with a free plan available	Quote-based enterprise pricing
Deployment speed	Days to weeks	G2 reviews suggest an average of 3 months
AI-powered capabilities	Content generation, AI Coach, quiz creation	AI-powered learning, content creation, and personalization features
Course creation & delivery	Native AI content creation with TalentCraft, Learning Paths, TalentLibrary, SCORM, xAPI	Native authoring, third-party content, SCORM, xAPI, AICC. Absorb Create as add-on
Compliance training	Certifications, reporting, automated assignments and reminders	Certifications, reporting, automation, and enterprise compliance workflows
Learner engagement	Gamification, discussions, reminders, blended learning, Learning Playground	Gamification and social features through Absorb Engage
Integrations	Connects with HR and CRM systems, video conferencing, and automation tools, including BambooHR, Salesforce, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Zapier	Connects with HR and CRM systems, video conferencing, and external systems, including Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Salesforce, and Zoom

How to choose between TalentLMS and Absorb LMS

According to the Association for Talent Development’s 2026 State of the Industry report, employees received an average of 16.7 hours of formal learning in 2025, up from 13.7 hours in 2024. And the platform delivering those hours matters. 

Choosing the right LMS will help you better organize training, track learner progress, and align learning with business goals. But before comparing features, start by considering your learning strategy and training objectives. 

If you need to get onboarding or compliance training live quickly, an LMS that’s easy to set up and manage will save time from the start. If you manage different learner groups or multiple locations with separate compliance needs, then integration and configuration options become more important.

It’s also a good idea to consider what your training needs will look like as you scale. 

• How much time and admin capacity do you have?

If your team has limited time for setup and ongoing admin, prioritize an LMS that you can easily configure and manage without a lengthy rollout. That can leave you more time to focus on training. Match the platform to the time and expertise you have available.

• How many audiences do you need to train? 

Employee training is only one use case. If you also train customers, partners, or other external groups, look at whether each platform offers separate portals, white labelling, permissions, and content assignment. 

• How much flexibility does your organization actually need? 

More configuration isn’t automatically better. Choose the platform that gives your team the control it needs without adding extra work.

• What will your training operation look like in a few years? 

Think beyond today’s learner count. New audiences, additional business units, more training programs, and new systems change what you need from an LMS.

• What does the total investment look like? 

Compare more than the subscription price. Factor in implementation, integrations, content creation, administration, and any additional products or services you’ll need.

Now let’s take a closer look at each platform. 

What is TalentLMS?

TalentLMS is a cloud-based LMS for organizations that want to easily build, deliver, and track training without a lengthy implementation.

Its features support employee onboarding, compliance training, professional development, customer education, and partner training. It offers easy course creation, Learning Paths, reporting tools, gamification, blended learning, and separate training environments through Branches.

TalentLMS brings AI into both course creation and the learning process. TalentCraft helps teams create and edit course content. In Learning Playground, learners can practice conversations, test their knowledge, explore topics, and work through realistic scenarios.

What is Absorb LMS?

Absorb LMS is a learning management system aimed at organizations with larger or more complex training programs. Its core functionality covers AI-powered course and test creation, third-party content, instructor-led training, portal customization, user management, and reporting. 

Absorb also offers additional products such as Absorb Engage for social learning, Absorb Create for course authoring, and Absorb Analyze for advanced reporting. The platform supports employee, customer, and partner training. It is a solid option when your LMS needs to sit within a larger enterprise environment.

Setup and user interface

TalentLMS

When your new hire starts on Monday, the LMS shouldn’t become another project you have to manage.

TalentLMS makes it easy to move from setup to delivering training without unnecessary complexity. Your team can quickly create courses or reuse existing content. Then they can assign training and organize users into Groups from one interface. This way, your new hires start learning straightaway, and you spend less time on manual work. 

With TalentLMS, you can launch 2x faster than the typical LMS setup, so if training or policies change, updated courses can reach learners at the moment of need. Its intuitive user interface lets admins handle routine tasks and manage progress with fewer clicks.

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS offers a polished interface with a variety of configuration options. Admins have the tools to customize learner groups, departments, portals, permissions, branding, and integrations. 

This flexibility supports larger training operations. However, your team may need more time defining your learning structure, setting up the platform, and connecting it to other systems before launching. 

Course creation and delivery 

TalentLMS

Training teams rarely have unlimited time to turn every policy, product update, or expert document into a polished course. 

TalentLMS lets you turn existing materials into courses by uploading SCORM and xAPI content or adding videos, so you don’t have to start from scratch. TalentCraft then adds AI-assisted course creation options. It helps you generate content, questions, flashcards, images, and AI avatar videos. This reduces the time spent creating training materials, so teams can focus on delivering training instead of building every asset manually. 

For teams that want to start training on day 1 instead of building every module themselves, TalentLibrary provides ready-made training courses. It covers topics such as leadership, HR essentials, compliance training, and sales. 

All this creates a quick, easy course creation workflow, without requiring a separate tool for every type of content.

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS supports formats such as SCORM, xAPI, and AICC. Teams can bring in content created with external authoring tools, which works well for organizations with an already established content production process.

It also offers Aura Create, an AI-powered course authoring agent. Admins can create courses from text prompts or source documents directly within the LMS. For teams that want more control over how their courses look and work, Absorb Create is an add-on tool that lets you build and customize courses. 

Learner engagement

TalentLMS

Course completion is only one part of training. Learners also need opportunities to discuss ideas, practice skills, and receive meaningful feedback.

Discussions give them a place to ask questions and share their ideas. Learning Playground adds interactive practice through role-play scenarios, adaptive questions, topic exploration, and branching simulations. This lets learners apply new skills and gives admins an easy way to measure progress.

Gamification features, such as points, badges, levels, and leaderboards, help you keep trainees engaged and encourage course completion. TalentLMS also supports blended learning, so teams can combine online courses with instructor-led sessions and other learning activities. Together, these offer different ways to interact with training within the same platform and stay motivated.

How Tagmarshal increased course completion by 600% with TalentLMS

Tagmarshal’s courses had low completion rates, leading clients to choose costly face-to-face training instead. Meanwhile, the company continued to grow, making training delivery and consistency even more complicated. It needed a clear, effective way to deliver relevant training without adding to its team’s workload.

This is when Mija Kruger, Tagmarshal’s L&D specialist, decided to revamp their existing TalentLMS setup. She redesigned the learner experience, focusing on shorter courses, role-specific learning paths, multilingual content, and automated reminders.

“We were already using TalentLMS, but only scratching the surface. After exploring some webinars and guides, I realized how many powerful features were just waiting to be used. Once I started applying what I learned, it felt like we transformed the LMS overnight — it was easier and more impactful than I imagined.” — Mija Kruger, L&D specialist. 

The changes brought significant results: Course completions increased by 600% per month, signups grew by 350%, and Tagmarshal’s Customer Success team saved over 180 hours in one-to-one training.

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

Get started free

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS includes gamification features and supports social learning through Absorb Engage. This is designed to add collaboration features to the learning experience. 

For organizations that want a dedicated social learning layer, Absorb Engage helps build a community around training. The trade-off is that these capabilities come through a separate add-on. TalentLMS includes its core engagement features within the main platform.

AI-powered capabilities

TalentLMS

TalentLMS integrates AI across both content creation and the learner experience. TalentCraft generates course content, images, flashcards, videos, and questions. AI tools also improve, translate, and expand existing content. This way, your team can easily turn documents into course material and generate assessments without starting from a blank page.

AI also extends beyond course creation. TalentLMS includes AI-powered Skills to help you identify skills gaps across your team and match learners to relevant courses. 

TalentLMS’s AI Coach lets learners ask questions about course material, get explanations and summaries, and generate practice questions while they learn.

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS also uses AI for content creation and personalized learning. Aura Create enables admins to generate courses using AI, while Absorb Create includes AI tools for customized content within a visual course authoring environment. Its newer AI capabilities can also create podcasts and scenarios from documents, text, or existing courses.

Absorb uses AI to connect learning with skills and roles, including recommendations based on a learner’s target role. This is useful when training needs to align with broader skills development.

The main difference between the two systems is how their AI capabilities are distributed across the training workflow. TalentLMS puts AI tools across day-to-day work, from creating and adapting content to supporting learners inside courses. Absorb combines AI-assisted creation with skills-based recommendations.

Administration and automations 

TalentLMS

TalentLMS reduces repetitive admin work by making common training workflows easy to automate. You can assign courses or Learning Paths after specific events or when certifications expire. Also, automated notifications remind learners about upcoming or incomplete training, making follow-ups happen without manual chasing. 

These tools are useful for recurring processes such as onboarding, refresher training, and certification programs. Certain automations can also be targeted to specific Groups or Branches, rather than managing every learner individually.

Absorb LMS

With Absorb LMS, admins can use departments, groups, roles, and enrollment rules to determine who has access to training and what administrators can manage. Users are also added through imports, APIs, integrations, or HR systems.

Automations assign training based on learner information. Options for re-enrollment, recertification, and scheduled enrollments support complex training policies.

Compliance training and certifications

TalentLMS

TalentLMS keeps compliance management straightforward. Admins can create certifications with defined expiration periods, automate recurring training, and send reminders when certifications are approaching expiration. And because all these are tracked automatically, teams can easily prove compliance in audits.

Groups, Branches, and Learning Paths also help organize teams or audiences with different compliance needs. L&D teams can manage recurring compliance training without adding a separate layer of admin.

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS provides various configuration options. Admins can assign required courses to the relevant employees and manage recurring training and recertification. Reporting tools help teams track course completion and monitor compliance across different learner groups. 

This setup is useful for organizations whose requirements vary by role, department, or audience. 

Reporting and analytics 

TalentLMS

TalentLMS provides real-time and custom reports on learner progress, course completion, certifications, and training trends. Customizable dashboards help you visualize performance, so you can easily spot incomplete mandatory training or learners falling behind. Teams can also schedule reports to stay updated without manually exporting and sharing data.

Absorb LMS

Absorb includes built-in reporting as part of its core LMS. It helps you track learner progress, course completions, enrollments, and user engagement. For teams with demanding requirements, Absorb Analyze, a paid add-on, provides custom reporting. This includes interactive dashboards, forecasting, and trend analysis.

Customization and audience management

TalentLMS

Once you start training people outside your organization, audience management becomes just as important as course delivery.

TalentLMS supports multiple audiences through Branches. These let you create separate learning environments with their own branding, courses, users, and settings. This is useful when employees, customers, and partners need different training experiences. Your L&D team can still manage all of them from one platform.

How Nosto Turned Scattered Training into One Consistent Experience with TalentLMS

When Product Marketing Manager Lucas Weber joined Nosto, the company had no centralized way to deliver training. The team frequently shared onboarding, product updates, and other important company information through email. But Nosto was growing globally, serving over 2,500 retailers globally, which meant they needed a more consistent way to deliver, manage, and track course completion rates. 

Lucas Weber evaluated 6 different learning management systems before finally choosing TalentLMS. 

With TalentLMS, Nosto manages onboarding, ongoing employee training, and partner training in one platform. Their training experience is standardized, giving learners a consistent structure for content, pacing, and exams. It also uses TalentLMS to deliver training globally when there’s a product launch or CRM update, with reporting that shows who has completed each course. 

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS is built to support both employee and external training. Organizations can create branded learner portals and control the courses, users, access, and learning experiences available to each audience.

That flexibility is useful for extended enterprise programs, such as organizations managing training across multiple business units or regions.

The Absorb LMS vs. TalentLMS distinction: TalentLMS’s Branches provide an easy, straightforward way to create separate environments for different audiences. Absorb LMS suits organizations whose programs need to cover multiple business units, regions, or enterprise system integrations. 

Pricing and scalability 

TalentLMS 

TalentLMS uses transparent, tiered pricing based on the number of users. Plans start at $119 per month for up to 40 users. There is also a free plan for teams that want to start with a smaller training program before committing.

As the learner population grows, teams can move to a higher plan without changing platforms. This makes it easier for growing organizations to estimate their LMS costs and scale their subscription alongside their training needs.

Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS uses custom pricing, with the cost depending on your requirements, learner population, and setup needs. However, you can’t estimate the total cost from the outset without a call to their sales team. When considering Absorb LMS, you should also consider whether you’ll need additional Absorb products.

TalentLMS vs. Absorb LMS: Where does each LMS stand out?

Choosing the best Learning Management System between TalentLMS and Absorb LMS will depend on your training needs, audiences, budget, and goals. 

For teams managing a large, highly connected learning operation and needing extensive enterprise capabilities, Absorb LMS is worth considering.

TalentLMS stands out for its quick setup, intuitive admin, transparent pricing, and AI-powered course creation tools. It helps teams launch quickly and manage training without adding unnecessary complexity. If this sounds like what your team needs, you can always start with the TalentLMS free plan and see how it works for you. 

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

Get started free

FAQs

The post TalentLMS vs. Absorb LMS: A 2026 Guide appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

360Learning is a widely used AI-driven collaborative learning management system. It’s best known for peer-driven authoring, which lets internal subject-matter experts create and update training. 

This approach works well for organizations with a lot of internal knowledge to capture. But here’s the catch: Your experts still need time to turn this into courses. When SMEs are busy, content can sit unchanged while processes, products, or policies move on. 

As more people contribute, keeping training consistent takes more coordination. L&D teams still need to make sure courses follow the same standards, with the right level of detail and a consistent experience for learners.

A G2 reviewer points out the lack of other learning content options: 

“I really like 360Learning for bringing in the social learning aspect […] I think the only problem I felt was the lack of resources. […] It would be nice to have inbuilt modules or videos that we can add.” 

Keeping training relevant is an ongoing job, too. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030. As the skills people need evolve, training has to keep pace. 

If 360Learning’s collaborative approach doesn’t fit your team’s needs, you have options. We compared 7 top alternatives to 360Learning to help you find the best fit. 

What are the top 360Learning alternatives for 2026?

The top 360Learning alternatives for 2026 are TalentLMS, Docebo, Cezanne Learning (formerly Learn Amp), Sana Learn, NovoEd, Absorb LMS, and LearnUpon. Each platform covers different learning needs: From easier admin and faster setup to enterprise automation, AI-powered learning, and multi-audience training. Key selection criteria include setup time, admin workload, content creation options, integrations, pricing, and scalability.

7 Best 360Learning alternatives

How to choose the right top 360Learning alternative for your needs

Before switching LMS platforms, start by identifying the problem you want to solve. 

Course creation may be too dependent on subject-matter experts with limited time. Your admins might be spending too much time on repetitive tasks. Or you need to train customers and partners as well as employees. 

Consider these areas before making a final decision: 

• What are your setup needs?

How quickly do you need to launch training? If your team needs to launch onboarding next week, look for an LMS you can set up without a long implementation or dedicated IT support. Teams with a complex tech stack should check how much time they’ll need for integrations, data migration, and configuration. 

• Who are your learners?

Training employees is different from managing programs for customers, partners, contractors, or franchisees too. If you need to train external audiences, check for an LMS that lets you manage these separately. Look for an LMS that lets you create dedicated learning environments so you can fully control what each group can see. 

• How will your team create training content?

If subject-matter experts will still build most of your courses, look for simple authoring and collaboration tools. When your L&D team is short on time, AI-powered content creation can help speed up the process. You could also benefit from ready-made content libraries. These help you launch compliance training or soft skills without building each course from scratch. 

• What does your budget look like? 

Consider what your LMS will cost as your team and training needs grow. Check for minimum user requirements, pricing tiers, included LMS features, implementation costs, and any add-ons. A low starting price can look very different once you add more learners or different audiences. A smaller team might also want to consider an LMS that offers a free trial. 

• What are your learner development goals? 

For onboarding and compliance training, prioritize assignments, certification management, reminders, and reporting. If you’re also building a long-term employee development program, then skills, coaching, and social learning capabilities could be useful. 

Top 360Learning alternative #1: TalentLMS

TalentLMS is an easy-to-use Learning Management System, which allows you to build, manage, and update training yourself, even without a dedicated L&D team. You can go live quickly, without a lengthy implementation or IT support.

Why we picked it 

Where 360Learning puts SME-led authoring at the center, TalentLMS gives you more ways to build training without that bottleneck. You can create online courses from scratch, use AI to speed up the work, or pick ready-made courses from TalentLibrary. That gives your L&D team more ways to keep content moving when SMEs have limited time.

And as you scale, you don’t need to rely on one person to keep training consistent. Learning Paths put the pieces in the right order, so your learners know what comes next and admins can track learner progress. Branches let you organize different audiences, so you can give each one its own branded learning environment. 

If your team likes to share ideas, ask questions, or learn from colleagues, TalentLMS gives learners space to interact. Discussions give learners a way to share ideas and ask questions as they go. Instructor-led training adds another layer when learners need live teaching, practice, or feedback. This gives your team room to choose the training format that works best for them. For a direct side-by-side comparison, see how TalentLMS vs 360Learning differ across ease of use, setup, pricing, AI capabilities, and scalability.

Key features:

• TalentCraft AI content creation
• AI-generated images, videos, captions, and course translations
• Discussions
• Instructor-led training
• Learning Paths
• Learning Playground
• Reporting
• Branches for different audiences
• Gamification
• SCORM 1.2, xAPI, cmi5, and LTI 1.3 support
• Automated assignments, reminders, and administrative actions

Best for:
SMBs and organizations that need to train employees, customers, and partners from one platform.

Pricing: Free plan available; Premium trial; Paid plans start from $119/month for 40 users.

What users are saying on G2:

How 42 North Dental trained 1,600 learners with TalentLMS 

Imagine managing training for 1,600 employees across a growing organization. Compliance records are spread across systems. Certifications need constant attention. Admins spend hours chasing updates.

This was the exact case for 42 North Dental before they turned to TalentLMS. Its director of L&D, Randy Schumacher, needed one place where employees and managers could access and track training easily. 

TalentLMS gave the organization a central hub for learning. Teams could access training in one place, while managers could keep track of progress and compliance. They automated certifications and recertifications, saving more than 10,500 work hours. At the same time, they reduced their employee turnover from 40% to 25%. 

For a growing organization, that’s what centralized learning can look like in practice: Less time chasing training records and more time keeping people learning. 

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

Get started free

Top 360Learning alternative #2: Docebo

Docebo is designed for organizations with large, complex learning environments. It combines AI-assisted content creation with personalized learning, skills, automation, analytics, and integrations.

Why we picked it

Docebo is worth considering when your training spans employees, customers, partners, and other external audiences. Compared to 360Learning, it offers more depth if you need more centralized control on your training at scale. 

Docebo offers enterprise-level automations for enrollments, assignments, and recertifications. It also supports personalized learning experiences across different audiences. So when a new partner joins, enrollment rules automatically assign them to the relevant learning plans. Expert Q&A allows learners to ask questions and get answers from people who know the subject best. Communities give people a space to connect and learn together. 

The trade-off? Docebo can take more time to configure and manage.

Key features:

• Learner-generated content
• Expert Q&A
• Content sharing
• Communities
• Moderation and expert approval
• Reporting on informal learning activity 

Best for: Enterprises combining formal training with knowledge sharing across employees, customers, and partners.

Pricing: Custom pricing based on tier and user model. Elevate and Enterprise plans, with optional add-ons.

What users are saying on G2:

Top 360Learning alternative #3: Cezanne Learning (formerly Learn Amp)

Cezanne Learning (formerly Learn Amp) connects social learning with knowledge sharing and employee development in one platform.

Why we picked it

Training doesn’t always stop at course completion. An employee could finish a course but still need to keep building their skills, set goals, or work more closely with a coach. If these activities live in different systems, managers get a disconnected view of employee development. 

Cezanne Learning brings these together. Learners can discuss content and pathways, ask expert questions, send private messages, and share useful resources with colleagues. Learning pathways give employees a structured route through training, while social features give them space to contribute along the way. 

The wider Cezanne HR platform also connects learning with onboarding, performance management, and succession planning. However, because of the platform’s customization, your admins could need more time to work out the best setup.

Key features:

• Content and pathway discussions
• Expert Q&A
• Private messaging
• Cohort management
• User-shared resources
• Learning pathways
• Skills and role development
• Performance management
• Reporting and analytics 

Best for: Organizations building a learning culture linked to employee development, where peer interaction matters alongside formal training.

Pricing: No public pricing, quote-based. 

What users are saying on G2:

Top 360Learning alternative #4: Sana Learn 

Sana Learn is an AI-centered platform combining collaborative content creation with personalized learning. It is a good fit for teams who want to tailor training based on skills, roles, and individual progress.

Why we picked it

When an employee has a question, they don’t want to have to search through folders, old courses, and scattered documents to find the answer. They want to ask a question and get an answer from the knowledge already available to them. Sana Learn lets them do this with an AI-first approach. 

Its authoring tools can generate learning content. Personalized learning features adapt the experience to individual learners. The AI tutor and search tools help employees ask questions and get answers based on their learning content. It can also explain topics in simple, bite-sized ways. Automated enrollments and reminders help keep learners on track without requiring admins to chase everyone manually.

Key features:

• Collaborative authoring
• AI-assisted course creation
• AI tutor
• Virtual classroom
• Learning paths
• Automations and analytics 
• Ready-to-use content 

Best for: Teams prioritizing collaborative authoring and AI-supported learning, with sufficient scale for minimum commitment.

Pricing: Per-user pricing varies by region and volume; plans start at 300 users. Enterprise pricing is custom. 

What users are saying on G2:

Top 360Learning alternative #5: NovoEd

NovoEd is a solid choice for enterprise organizations that want to focus on collaborative, cohort-based learning and hands-on practice. It is particularly useful for leadership development and capability-building programs. 

Why we picked it

Where 360Learning’s collaboration focuses on creating and sharing content, NovoEd centers on practicing it. Learners can work in teams on real-world projects. Peers can share constructive discussions and get feedback from mentors or facilitators. 

They also have access to project galleries where they can see how others approached the same problem. This makes the platform useful for L&D teams who want to move learners from understanding a concept to applying it in a work context. Gamification elements like points and badges also engage learners between sessions. 

The catch is that NovoEd’s collaborative programs need planning and facilitation. That model may be more than teams need if their priority is simply assigning courses and tracking completions.

Key features:

• Cohort-based learning
• Team projects
• Practice activities
• Inline discussions
• Peer and mentor feedback
• Project galleries
• Learning journeys
• Analytics
• Integrations

Best for: Enterprise leadership and capability-development programs where participants need to practice together and learn from each other.

Pricing: No public pricing available. Contact sales for a quote. 

What users are saying on G2:

Top 360Learning alternative #6: Absorb LMS

Absorb LMS suits teams that prioritize formal training management at scale. It supports structured learning programs across employees, customers, partners, and other audiences, with tools for compliance, reporting, and certification management. 

Why we picked it

Absorb LMS is a good fit if you need centralized control over complex training programs. L&D teams can manage different audiences and learning requirements from one LMS, while tracking enrollments, completions, certifications, and reporting. 

For teams that also want a more social experience, Absorb Engage adds engagement features. Learners can join discussions, respond to polls, follow news, and interact with colleagues. Leaderboards add a more competitive element to help encourage participation.

Key features:

• Training administration
• Reporting and analytics
• Multi-audience learning portals
• Employee training
• Customer and partner training
• Certifications and compliance
• Absorb Engage
• Discussions
• Polls
• News and announcements
• Leaderboards

Best for: Organizations prioritizing formal training management while adding social engagement for employees and external audiences.

Pricing: Custom quote based on features, training program size, and support needs. Absorb Engage is an add-on.

What users are saying on G2:

Top 360Learning alternative #7: LearnUpon

LearnUpon is suitable for teams that need structured learning for different audiences, without creating a separate system for each one.

Why we picked it 

A customer shouldn’t have to wade through employee onboarding to find a product course. A partner shouldn’t see the same training as an internal employee. LearnUpon is built around this problem. 

Employees can have their own learning environment, while customers, partners, or association members get a separate space with training that’s relevant to them. Personalized learning paths give each audience a defined route through training. Forums give learners a place to ask questions and exchange ideas. 

Key features:

• Separate learner portals
• Learning paths
• Forums
• HR integrations
• Training delivery and reporting 
• Certifications
• AI-assisted course and assessment creation 

Best for: Businesses prioritizing organized employee and customer training, where audience management matters more than collaborative course production.

Pricing: Custom quotes. Published starting sizes: 100 users for employee training, 300 for customer education, and 150 for associations.

What users are saying on G2:

Which 360Learning alternative should you choose?

The right learning management system depends on the problem you’re trying to solve.

Maybe your team needs to launch training quickly. Maybe you’re building a company-wide development program. Or perhaps you’re juggling employees, customers, and partners across different learning environments.

Here’s where each alternative fits:

• TalentLMS stands out for its ease of use, transparent pricing, AI-assisted content creation, and quick implementation. It covers employee, customer, and partner training, as well as onboarding and compliance. Branches help you create separate training environments for different audiences. Automations keep training consistent as you grow.
• Docebo fits large organizations that need enterprise automation, AI, skills intelligence, integrations, and multiple learning audiences.
• Cezanne Learning brings learning closer to skills, performance, career development, and employee engagement.
• Sana Learn puts AI at the center of content creation, personalized learning, and knowledge access.
• NovoEd is built for collaborative, cohort-based learning where discussion, practice, mentoring, and feedback matter.
• Absorb LMS fits mid-sized and large organizations managing complex internal and external programs.
• LearnUpon works well for organizations running separate learning programs for employees, customers, partners, or associations.

The post 7 Top 360Learning Alternatives for 2026 appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Your software should make training easier to manage, no matter how much your team grows. This is the mindset behind every new TalentLMS update. The July 2026 release focused on building and delivering learning faster: AI video in TalentCraft, the deeper connection between TalentLMS and TalentCards, and a set of everyday usability wins. 

TalentLMS 7.2 takes this further. It enhances learner engagement and knowledge retention through AI Avatar Video. It helps admins manage learning across the wider employee lifecycle through the growing connection between TalentLMS and TalentHR. So hiring, onboarding, learning, and growth run as one flow instead of living in separate systems. The newest update also builds reinforcement and scale into everyday admin with automated Learning Paths, bulk Skills management, and branch-level notifications. 

Introducing TalentLMS 7.2

As roles and skills evolve, training needs to evolve with them. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that 39% of workers’ core skills are expected to change by 2030.

TalentLMS 7.2 brings a new set of enhancements to help you create, connect, and scale training as those needs change.

So, what does that look like in practice? You can create presenter-led videos in TalentCraft, move more easily between TalentLMS and TalentHR, and spend less time on the admin behind Learning Paths, Skills, and branch notifications.

“AI is transforming what learning platforms can achieve. At TalentLMS, we’re focused on turning that potential into tangible outcomes—removing friction, accelerating the journey from identifying a learning gap to closing it. With these capabilities, TalentLMS helps SMBs unlock new possibilities for how they create, deliver, and personalize learning based on the skills gap each learner has.”

Want a live walkthrough? Join our 7.2 product release webinar on October 1. Register here. 

AI Avatar Video: Put a presenter on screen 

An instructor on camera can make training feel more personal, but it’s one of the slowest and hardest types of courses to produce. You need someone who’s comfortable presenting, has time to film, and can find a setup that works. 

Then there’s the bigger problem: What happens when the content changes? A new policy, updated process, or revised product detail can leave you re-recording an entire presenter-led video. You could use a separate AI video tool instead, but you’d be trading the studio for one more platform to manage.

TalentCraft has been building toward this for a while: Text, then quizzes, then images, then AI video in July’s 7.1 update. Now it can also put a presenter on your screen. 

With AI Avatar Video in TalentCraft, you provide a script and generate an avatar-led clip back, ready to drop into your unit:

• Open the AI menu.
• Write the script you need. 
• Choose your avatar
• Generate an avatar-led presenter video.
• Add it straight to your unit.

You can type or paste exactly what you want the avatar to say. For example, a policy update could start like this:

“Our returns policy has been updated. Customers now have 30 days to return eligible items with proof of purchase. In this video, we’ll cover what’s changed, which items qualify, and the steps you need to follow…”

Don’t want to write the script from scratch? Choose “Write a script from my content,” and TalentCraft uses the existing content in your course to create one for you. You can review and edit the generated script before turning it into your avatar video.

AI Avatar Video is available on all paid plans.

TalentLMS × TalentHR: Connect the employee journey

TalentLMS and TalentHR are already working together to connect employee information with learning. In 7.2 this connection gets closer, making it easier to access the two platforms as you manage the employee lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding to learning and growth. A structured employee training lifecycle helps connect learning initiatives to changing employee needs over time. A new app switcher lets you move between them from the same menu.

This tighter connection shows up in your day-to-day:

• User information flows between the platforms, so you set someone up once rather than twice.
• Courses and certificates show up in HR profiles, so a person’s learning sits alongside the rest of their record.
• Admins can assign training straight from TalentHR.
• HR processes like onboarding, compliance requirements, promotions, and work anniversaries can trigger the right training automatically.

Already running TalentLMS? You could bring that same easy-to-use, intuitive experience to your HR operations with TalentHR and manage learning and employee information across the two connected systems.

From hiring to learning: How WIOCC Group connected the employee journey 

WIOCC Group is a digital infrastructure provider scaling across Africa. Its team was managing hiring through inboxes, while its learning system lacked visibility into HR data.

Pairing TalentHR with TalentLMS changed that. TalentHR became the single source of truth for employee data, while TalentLMS powers their learning and development. Together, the two give admins a complete view of each person’s progress. New hires move from onboarding directly into their assigned courses in TalentLMS, while completions flow back to each employee’s HR profile without extra admin.

More than 400 profiles are centralized, and 70–80% of active staff consistently complete mandatory training. WIOCC Group can see where people stand and how they’re developing, from onboarding through ongoing learning.

The everyday wins in 7.2: Less manual work behind the scenes

The two new capabilities above open up new ways to create and connect training.

The TalentLMS September 2026 Product Release also makes everyday admin work easier as your learners, content needs, skills framework, and organizational structure grow.

Learning Paths automations: Let the next step assign itself

In July, Learning Paths gained group-level assignment, allowing you to give a path to a team, and every new member would inherit it. That update automated who gets a path. In 7.2, this extends to what happens next.

Learners can now keep learning without having to wait on new assignments. When they complete a course or path, triggers assign the next one. This moves learners between courses and paths automatically, with no manual assignment needed by admins.

Skills Import/Export: Build your skills framework in bulk

As your team grows, so does your skills framework. In 7.2, you can import and export Skills in bulk, using one file. It works like the bulk tools you already use for users and courses. So you can easily build and maintain your skills framework without adding more admin work.
 

Notifications in Branches: Tailor messages branch by branch

By default, Branches inherit your main portal’s notifications. But now in 7.2, these can be managed at the branch level. 

A local admin can modify a notification and enable or disable it for their own branch. This way, your learners only get the messages that make sense to them.

More wins in 7.2: Less admin work behind the scenes

Alongside the bigger features, 7.2 brings a set of everyday improvements to the tools you already use. These remove friction from tasks admins and learners perform regularly:

• Faster AI Coach and Learning Playground: Performance improvements make both quicker and smoother in daily use.

• Clearer course-assignment drawers: New filters and a Category column make it easier for admins to find and distinguish between courses when assigning them.

One release, more ways to create, connect, and scale learning 

TalentLMS 7.2 moves along three lines at once:

• Create more training formats easily: Upgrade your courses with the new AI Avatar Videos. Increase learners’ engagement and help them retain knowledge.

• Connect learning to the employee journey: TalentLMS and TalentHR work closer together, so learning becomes part of the wider employee journey.

• Scale without adding admin: Learning Paths assign the next step on their own, Skills import and export in bulk, and notifications follow your branch structure.

Put together, these updates help learning stay current and easily managed as you scale. Because course completion is only a milestone. What matters most is what happens after it: Whether people apply what they learned, adapt when the work changes, and keep building the skills they need. 

TalentLMS 7.2 helps you keep that cycle going, from updating learning to putting it into practice. 

The post What’s New in TalentLMS: September 2026 Product Updates appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Updating employee training when workflows change is something most companies struggle to keep up with. This is also essential for HR and L&D teams juggling limited time and resources. Emerging technologies, new tools, and changing customer expectations and regulations impact how teams work now.

When your company rolls out a new tool, updates a compliance requirement, or restructures a team’s responsibilities, the training behind those roles needs to keep up.

Without updated training, employees can fall back on old habits. They work around a tool instead of using it, or miss what a new feature would’ve caught.  The result: slower resolutions, inaccurate answers, and frustrated employees. Only 16% say skill-building keeps pace with new needs, per the TalentLMS Speed to Skill Report.

“Upskilling doesn’t fail because people don’t want to learn. It fails because learning is still treated as an interruption.”

For more, see our employee training guide.

How do you update employee training when workflows change?

Pinpoint the exact workflow change, identify the affected training materials, prioritize updates by business impact, make targeted edits instead of rebuilding entire courses, communicate the changes, and reinforce through knowledge checks and manager follow-up. Use an LMS to identify skills gaps, assign training by role, and track whether the updates improve performance.

The same steps apply whether the change is a new tool, an updated regulation, or a shift in customer demand. They’re not limited to the example used here.

Pinpoint what’s changed

Start by naming the exact trigger, not just “things changed.” Identify what part of the workflow changed, why, and what employees now have to do differently. This helps L&D move swiftly, especially when updates are needed for safety or compliance reasons.

For example, customer service teams used to spend minutes sifting through a knowledge base for the right resolution. With an AI-powered knowledge base, they can describe the situation and get a tailored resolution in seconds. Reflect that change in training without redesigning the entire program.

Identify the affected training and training materials

Once you know what changed, identify the affected training and respective training materials.  Look at the employee roles that use the workflow and the training module or course where it’s taught. Include any job aids, employee onboarding materials, or supporting content.

Look for signs that training may no longer be working, like dips in productivity, repeated errors, or rework. Employee and manager feedback can also point to gaps. WEF reported that 63% of employers cite the skills gap as the single biggest barrier to business transformation. That gap usually starts with training nobody flagged as outdated.

Skip this, and you risk updating the wrong material, missing employees who need it, or overhauling training that still works.

Prioritize by impact

Most organizations likely don’t have the time or resources to tackle every training program at once.

Ask: “Which workflow change has the biggest impact on our current business priorities?”

For example, if customer retention is a key priority and your service processes recently changed, update that training first. Training with less impact on that goal can follow later.

Urgency and risk matter too. Safety, compliance, and security-related training may need priority. Failing to address them can lead to lost customers and profits, as well as fines and lawsuits. According to IBM, a single data breach costs organizations millions on average. That cost often traces back to a training gap.

Make targeted edits

Updating employee training when workflows change doesn’t mean rebuilding from scratch. Revise only what changed: the specific section or module where it’s taught, along with related job aids, examples, and assessments. A full course rebuild is only necessary if there’s a major change in the workflow or product.

Use version dates or a simple change log to label what’s been updated and what’s still in progress. Good training content management means employees can quickly identify the current process, while L&D and managers can monitor training updates.

Rebuilding an entire course over one changed part delays getting the correct information to employees, leaving them to follow an outdated process. 

Communicate the change

For smaller workflow changes, communication may be more effective at the manager level. Managers can explain what changed through email, team meetings, or one-on-ones and reinforce what employees need to do differently. Gartner’s 2026 CHRO research found that routine change leads to stronger adoption. When change becomes a normal part of how teams work, adoption is three times more likely to succeed.

The update should also live in your LMS or other training tools. A short video clip can work as a quick micro-update employees refer back to.

Reserve formal training revisions or in-class sessions for major changes that need more instruction. Otherwise, employees may miss the update, follow old workflows, or apply processes inconsistently.

Reinforce and review

Check whether the update stuck. Look at:

• short knowledge checks or simulations
• manager check-ins and coaching conversations
• work outcomes like errors, rework, and completion times
• support questions and compliance issues

Set a date to review the update, but also revisit it when performance data shows a problem or another workflow change happens.

If employees are still making the same mistakes, find out why. The training may need another update, employees may need additional coaching, or the workflow itself may be the problem. Following up also surfaces new issues early, which helps improve the next round of training updates. 

Remember that updating employee training when workflows change is easier when you build review into the process. Get your free Employee Training Updates Checklist by TalentLMS to make sure you’re always one step ahead of changes.

How to make employee training updates easier with TalentLMS

Spreadsheets and manual training tracking aren’t manageable or scalable. As your company grows, running training needs assessments gets harder and slower.

“Instead of interrupting work to deliver training, you embed learning inside the workflow precisely when it’s needed, invisible when it isn’t.”

With the right LMS features, you can manage courses and users, automate routine tasks, connect training with other tools, and monitor progress in one place. The September ’26 Release adds new ways to streamline this work, including AI Avatar Video, Learning Path automations, bulk Skills management, and branch-level notifications. Instead of combing through spreadsheets to figure out what requires updating, you can quickly find and update the relevant training.

Identify skills gaps

Identifying the specific missing skill lets you target the right behavior and correct it without revamping the whole training.  An LMS makes this process more systematic and objective. Instead of gut feel, you can use features like Skills to track and recognize the employees’ skills gaps and match them with relevant training.

Turn skills into your most powerful asset.

See exactly which capabilities your team has, who’s ready for promotion, and what training closes skills gaps with TalentLMS.

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This also reveals whether it’s an individual or team-wide problem. One employee lacking a skill may need extra training. If many employees share the same gap, the training itself may need updating.

Assign the right training to the right people

Training is more effective when you assign it based on employees’ roles and duties. Irrelevant training wastes time and can affect company productivity at scale.

With Learning Paths, employees can see what’s coming up next ahead of time. It also lets them unlock new courses step by step and track progress toward clear learning goals. This step-by-step approach keeps learners from feeling overwhelmed. Employees build the knowledge they need before moving to the next stage, making learning easier and more effective.

Use pre-build courses to fill common gaps

Not every workflow change requires custom content. When the update covers a common topic, like compliance, onboarding, or soft skills, TalentLibrary offers ready-made courses that stay current. Instead of building a module from scratch for a widely needed skill, you can assign a pre-built course and focus your time on training that’s unique to your organization.

This is particularly useful for keeping training up to date across fast-moving topics like data privacy or workplace safety, where regulations change frequently and pre-built content is updated to reflect them.

Turn changes into courses

Creating or updating a course manually takes time, from planning content and uploading videos to updating documentation and checking for gaps.  With TalentCraft, TalentLMS’s AI course creator, you don’t need design skills to turn those changes into training. It works whether you’re building a compliance module or updating onboarding. Its AI-powered tools can generate content, build course sections, and create assessments, making it faster to get updated training in front of employees.

Speed matters when workflows change. Delayed updates could leave employees following outdated processes or using the wrong information, leading to service delays and customer dissatisfaction.

Add practice before performance

Training can be more effective when employees practice in a real or near-real situation. With Learning Playground, employees can practice real-life scenarios through AI-powered simulations.

For example, customer service employees can practice handling different customer situations before encountering them on the job. They learn what the problem looks like, which tools to use, and what steps to take.

This gives employees a safe environment to learn and practice the right behavior instead of making those mistakes with a real customer.

Track training ROI and learner progress

Don’t stop at training completion. Track and measure whether the training update leads to better employee performance, higher customer satisfaction, and fewer mistakes.

Reporting dashboards in TalentLMS help track assessment results and provide custom analytics on completion, knowledge acquisition, and learner engagement.

By automating data collection, organizations can more easily connect learning activity with broader performance indicators.

Completing an assessment can show that an employee has the knowledge to take the right actions in their job. But it doesn’t tell you how they’ll perform on the job.

Compare training results with what happens during the job. If one employee struggles, one-on-one coaching may be enough. If an entire team keeps making the same mistakes, you may need team-wide training, course revisions, or a closer look at the workflow itself.

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

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Workflows will change. Will your training keep up?

Updating employee training when workflows change is an ongoing responsibility, not a one-time task. But that doesn’t mean rebuilding every course whenever something changes.

Focus on what changed, which employees are affected, and the part of the training that needs updating.  Targeted updates can give employees the knowledge and practice they need to adapt without wasting time and resources on training that still works.

The right employee training software can also make these updates easier to manage and scale. Explore more HR strategy resources to keep your organization’s learning aligned with changing business needs.

FAQs

The post Updating Employee Training when Workflows Change & Free Checklist appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

As a new manager, your job has changed from getting your own work done to also helping your team do theirs well. That means managing employees, delegating work, giving feedback, handling difficult conversations, and knowing when to step in or step back.

And there’s often a gap between what managers think they’re doing and what their teams experience. In the TalentLMS Skills Visibility Report 2026, 90% of managers say they support their team’s skill development, but only 60% of employees agree.

Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report also found that manager engagement fell from 27% in 2024 to 22% in 2025. 

The good news? You don’t need every management skill figured out on day one. Here are 15 new manager tips to help you settle into the role without trying to change everything at once.

What are the best tips for new managers

The best tips for new managers in leadership roles center on one shift: from doing the work to leading it. Build trust before making changes, set clear expectations, delegate outcomes rather than tasks, give feedback early, and use 1:1s and active listening to learn what your team needs. Then keep developing the managerial skills that still feel unfamiliar.

15 top tips for new managers

1. Build trust

Your first job in your management role isn’t to prove you’re in charge. It’s to understand the people you’re now managing and build relationships based on trust.

Learn how each person’s work style, what they’re good at, where they need support, and what they expect from you. A few useful conversations tell you more than a team-bonding exercise ever will.

Try this: Ask each team member, “What’s one thing you want me to understand about how you work?”

2. Set clear expectations

A vague request turns into three different interpretations.

When you assign work, be clear about the outcome, priority, deadline, and decisions the person owns. Then check that you’ve been understood.

Try this: After assigning a piece of work, ask, “What are you taking away as the priority?”

3. Give people ownership

Delegation isn’t handing someone a to-do list and checking every step. If you keep all the decisions, you’ve kept the work too.

Give people responsibility for an outcome and agree on when you need an update. That gives them room to think while keeping you informed.

Try this: Before taking over, ask, “What do you think the next step should be?”

4. Ask for feedback

You’ll make mistakes, especially while learning a new role. Make it easy for your team to tell you when something isn’t working.

Don’t wait for an annual review. Ask about specific situations while they’re still fresh, and balance positive feedback with areas that need attention.

Try this: Ask, “What’s one thing I could do that would make your work easier?”

Then act on what you hear.

Stelios Sergis

TALENT gROWTH MANAGER AT TALENTLMS

Specialized in talent development, skills-based learning, and growth culture, Stelios helps organizations empower their people to learn, adapt, and thrive in an AI-driven workplace.

Expert tip: From doing to leading

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1. What got you here won’t get you there.

Gradually, you will need to shift from being the person who executes to the person who orchestrates the work of others – a major mindset shift!

2. Start with psychological safety.

Build trust within your team as the absolute priority. People perform better when they feel safe to ask, challenge, and make mistakes.

3. Normalize feedback early on.

Make frequent, two-way feedback part of the team’s rhythm—not something reserved for performance reviews.

5. Listen before solving

When someone brings you a problem, your first instinct is often to solve it.

Sometimes people need a solution. Sometimes they need you to listen, ask a few questions, and help them work out what to do by themselves.

6. Explain the why

You won’t always be able to share every detail behind a decision. You can still explain what you know, what you don’t, and what happens next.

If a deadline changes, a priority gets dropped, or leadership makes a decision your team doesn’t like, explain the reason when you can. Silence leaves people to fill in the gaps themselves, while open communication makes expectations clearer.

7. Replace constant checking with clear checkpoints

A first-time manager often checks everything because they’re worried something will go wrong.

Set clear checkpoints instead of asking for constant updates. If someone knows what success looks like and when you need to see progress, they don’t need you hovering over every step.

Try this: Replace “Send me everything before you do it” with “Keep me posted at these two points, and come to me if you hit a blocker.”

8. Match autonomy to experience

Not everyone needs the same level of oversight. Your direct reports may have different levels of experience and confidence, so adjust your approach accordingly. 

An experienced customer support agent who handles routine issues well deserves more room to make decisions. A new team member handling an unfamiliar task needs clearer guardrails.

Set the boundaries, then give people the space to work within them.

9. Watch what your behavior teaches

Your team pays attention to what you do, especially when things get busy.

If you say people should switch off after work but send messages at midnight, the message is clear. If you ask for honest feedback but become defensive when you hear it, people stop giving it.

Your behavior sets expectations long before you spell them out.

10. Make 1:1s useful

A 1:1 shouldn’t become a weekly status report.

Use the time to talk about what’s happening with the work, what’s getting in the way, how the person is doing, and what support or development they need. The employee should do most of the talking.

Try this: Before each 1:1, ask yourself, “What does this person need from me today?”

11. Notice what isn’t being said

Management isn’t only about what people say. Notice when someone who is usually engaged goes quiet, when the same disagreement keeps resurfacing, or when an employee seems overwhelmed but says they’re fine.

In fact, a recent TalentLMS study found that 54% of employees experience some level of “quiet cracking,” a slow erosion of engagement that often goes unspoken.

Now, you don’t need to diagnose every emotion. But you do need to notice when a conversation needs more care. It’s always best to ask questions before making assumptions. And give difficult feedback without turning it into a judgment about someone’s character.

12. Deal with conflict early

Small disagreements rarely improve when everyone avoids them. They become harder to resolve once people have spent weeks building their own version of what happened.

Focus on the situation and the behavior, not the person.

Try this: Instead of “You’re not communicating well,” say, “I noticed the last two handoffs were delayed. Can you walk me through what happened?”

13. Make trade-offs visible

New managers often say yes because they want to prove themselves. The result is a growing list of priorities and a team that isn’t sure which one matters most.

You don’t have to reject every new request. Show what needs to move if something new moves in.

Try this: “We can take this on. Which of our current priorities should we push back?”

14. Find a mentor

You don’t have to figure out management alone.

Look for someone whose leadership style you respect, whether that’s a senior manager, a former manager, an HR or L&D colleague, or someone outside your organization.

Come with real situations rather than broad questions. “I had to give someone difficult feedback today, and I’m not sure if I handled it well” gives a mentor something useful to work with.

15. Keep developing

You learn a lot simply by doing the job and taking on new responsibilities. But experience alone doesn’t make someone better at managing people.

Look for chances to strengthen the leadership skills that still feel unfamiliar: coaching, delegation, timely feedback, conflict, 1:1s, and performance conversations.

New manager courses can give you a starting point. From there, real conversations, feedback, and reflection will turn those skills into habits.

Your First 90 Days as a New Manager: A 30-60-90-Day Checklist 

In your first 1:1, someone may tell you a process everyone has learned to work around. In your first team meeting, you may realize two people have very different ideas about who owns the same piece of work. 

Before you change anything, pay attention to what those moments are telling you. They’re about understanding the team, building trust, and creating a way of working that lasts.

Think of your first 90 days as the following process: Learn → Lead → Build.

Days 1–30: Learn

Start by listening. Meet with each team member and ask what they’re working on, where they’re getting stuck, and what they need from you. Look at the team’s current goals, deadlines, and workload. If two people give you different answers about a workflow, make a note of it. Those gaps are part of what you need to understand. 

At the same time, learn how decisions get made, which processes people rely on, and what your manager expects from you. Review existing processes before changing them, and pay attention to any urgent employee performance, workload, or relationship issues. 

It’s also a good idea to set up regular 1:1s and ask your team what they need from you directly.

During your first month as a new manager you’ll have the urge to prove you deserve the role by doing the work. Resist this, your job now is to make your team better at it, not to be the one doing it.

Days 31–60: Lead

Once you understand the team, start creating clarity around how you’ll work together. Confirm priorities and responsibilities, agree on where you need regular updates, and start delegating work with clear ownership.

Use this stage to establish your management rhythm. Give feedback, address small problems before they grow, and remove unnecessary work or bottlenecks. Ask your team what is and isn’t working for them, then review your progress with your  manager.

Days 61–90: Build

By this point, you’ll have a clearer picture of what the team needs from you and where you need to focus next. Review progress against team goals and look for recurring problems that need a longer-term fix.

Start thinking beyond the immediate workload. Set development goals with team members, give people more ownership where they’re ready for it, and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders. Agree on the team’s priorities for the next quarter, ask your manager and team for feedback on your first 90 days, and choose two or three management skills to keep developing.

Remember not to try and take on everything all at once, as it could lead to burnout. 

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

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L&D and HR tips for new managers 

The first difficult 1:1 often comes before a new manager feels ready for it.

Someone misses a deadline. Two employees aren’t getting along. A strong performer starts disengaging. The manager knows these conversations matter, but knowing the theory and handling the real conversation are two different things.

HR and L&D teams can close that gap before and after promotion. New manager training and a modern LMS can give future managers opportunities to practice delegation, feedback, coaching, conflict resolution, and performance conversations. Pair formal learning with mentoring, peer discussion, and opportunities to lead projects.

And when it comes to support, it shouldn’t stop after the promotion. Keep giving managers tools they can use when a real situation comes up, rather than relying on a course they completed months earlier. In Learning Playground, new managers can practice different scenarios in a safe environment to prepare them for day-to-day work. 

The goal isn’t to create managers who know every framework. It’s to help them handle the conversations, decisions, and everyday problem-solving that come with leading people.

Great managers are built, not born

Becoming a manager doesn’t mean you suddenly know how to manage employees.

You’ll get some things wrong and have conversations you wish you’d handled differently. You’ll learn that an approach that worked with one employee doesn’t necessarily work with another. That’s part of the job.

Pay attention to what happens next and always ask for feedback. This helps you think about what you’d do differently next time. Practice the skills that still feel uncomfortable and keep asking questions, giving your team enough room to tell you what they need. 

FAQs

The post 15 Tips for New Managers + 30-60-90 Checklist appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Scenario-based learning software puts learners in realistic situations where they need to make decisions and apply what they know. Imagine a new manager giving staff difficult feedback, a salesperson facing an objection they haven’t heard before, or an employee deciding what to do when a policy doesn’t cover what’s in front of them.

These are moments where knowing the right answer isn’t always enough. People need to make decisions, communicate clearly, weigh trade-offs, and see what happens next.

This is where scenario-based training makes all the difference. It gives learners a chance to practice real-life situations in a safe environment before they have to handle them on the job.

Scenario-based training turns traditional learning methods into a more active process. It can use branching scenarios, simulations, AI role-play, interactive assessments, and feedback to make that practice available without requiring an instructor to coach every employee one-on-one.

If you want to invest in scenario-based e-learning software for your team, here are 7 top platforms worth considering in 2026.

What are the top 7 scenario-based learning software options for 2026? 

The top scenario-based learning software for 2026 are TalentLMS, Docebo, Absorb LMS, iSpring LMS, 360Learning, Cornerstone Learning, and Seismic Learning. The right option depends on your audience, scenario complexity, authoring needs, budget, and whether you need a broader LMS alongside scenario-based practice.

7 top scenario-based learning software 

What is scenario-based learning?

Scenario-based learning puts learners in a realistic situation and asks them to decide what to do next.

Instead of asking employees to recall a complaints policy, put them in a scenario with a frustrated customer and ask how they would respond. 

For managers, a scenario could involve a team member who has missed deadlines, and ask them to handle the conversation. These are just a few scenario examples that show how learners can practice applying knowledge in a safe environment, rather than simply recalling it. 

This gives employees a chance to build critical thinking, confidence, and problem-solving skills in situations that resemble the workplace realities they face. 

In an ATD study, 72% of organizations said better knowledge retention and application was their top driver for using simulations, followed by learner engagement (65%).

A good scenario-based e-learning experience usually includes:

• A realistic workplace context
• A decision, conversation, or a customer issue to resolve
• Multiple possible responses or actions
• Consequences based on the learner’s choices
• Feedback explaining what worked and what could be improved

This is particularly useful for communication, leadership, customer service, sales, compliance, safety, decision-making, and other areas where the right response depends on context.

What does scenario-based learning software do? 

Scenario-based learning software helps L&D teams create, deliver, and measure these practice experiences.

Depending on the platform, features can include:

• Branching scenarios where learner choices change what happens next
• AI-powered role-play and coaching for practicing conversations
• Simulated scenarios where learners make decisions and see consequences
• Scenario-based questions that test how learners would respond to realistic situations
• Immediate feedback and scoring
• Video, audio, characters, and dialogue for more immersive experiences
• Learning paths that combine relevant scenarios with courses and assessments
• Analytics that show participation and performance
• Integrations with HR, CRM, and other workplace systems

How to choose the right scenario-based learning software for your needs

Scenario-based learning isn’t automatically better than a traditional course. If employees simply need to learn a new policy, a short course or knowledge check may be enough.

Use scenario-based training when people need to apply information, make decisions, communicate, or respond under realistic conditions.

Before choosing a platform, consider:

• Your learning objectives

What are the situations your learners are going to meet in their day-to-day? Think about what real-world skills employees need to practice. Customer-facing staff need to handle difficult conversations, while managers have to rehearse feedback and conflict resolution. Salespeople need to practice handling objections and employees how to make judgment calls around compliance or safety. 

• Your audience

Who is going to use the scenarios, and how will they access them? 

A global sales team might need scenarios in several languages, with different versions for account executives, sales managers, and customer success teams. A smaller L&D team may care more about how quickly it can build and launch its first few scenarios. 

Also consider whether you’re training employees only or have to support customers and partners outside your team.

• Your compliance needs

Some scenarios are designed to build soft skills. Others support high-stakes decisions where consistency and documentation matter.

If training contributes to compliance, workplace safety, or certification requirements, check whether the platform can connect scenario practice with assessments, completion records, reporting, and other required training.

• Your content creation needs

Who is going to build and maintain the scenarios? 

If instructional designers are going to create detailed branching conversations, authoring flexibility matters. If subject-matter experts need to contribute scenarios quickly, collaborative authoring can be more important. 

However, if you don’t have a dedicated L&D team and can’t create courses yourself, you might want to consider AI authoring and content creation tools. 

Pro tip: Test the platform from the learner’s perspective 

Don’t evaluate scenario-based learning software only from your admin dashboard.

Try a scenario yourself. Is the situation believable? Are the choices meaningfully different? Does the feedback explain why a response worked? Can a learner retry without feeling like they’re being punished for making mistakes?

The best software for scenario-based learning makes it easier, not harder, to create realistic practice experiences and deliver them at scale. It also helps you understand whether learners are improving, all in one virtual environment. Some platforms also use reflection questions to encourage learners to think about why they made a particular decision.

Top scenario-based learning software #1: TalentLMS

Why we picked it:

TalentLMS is a strong fit for organizations that want scenario-based training without adding a separate practice platform to their learning stack.

Learning Playground supports active learning by offering your learners a dedicated space to practice conversations, explore topics, test their knowledge, and work through realistic decision-making scenarios. 

The Role Play feature lets you rehearse a difficult customer call, give feedback to an employee, or work through a conflict before having the real conversation. Simulation Mode takes a different approach: Learners make decisions in branching workplace situations, see how those choices play out, and can try again. 

That makes scenario-based practice part of the same environment where L&D teams already manage courses, assessments, learning paths, reporting, onboarding, and compliance training.

Key features: 

• Learning Playground 
• Supports multiple audiences 
• AI-powered content creation
• Gamification
• Analytics 
• SCORM/xAPI integrations 
• Learning paths
• Automated enrollments
• Compliance training
• Certifications

Best for:
SMBs, employee, customer, partner training, onboarding, compliance

Pricing:
Free plan available; Premium trial; Paid plans start from $119/month for 40 users.

What users are saying on G2:

How Deliveroo cut restaurant sign-up time by 30% with better training 

For Deliveroo’s global sales teams, training had to do more than explain products. Salespeople needed to feel confident pitching those products, answering customer questions, and handling real conversations. But the old approach—one-hour Google Meet sessions with hundreds of people—left little room for interaction, practice, or follow-up. 

With teams across different markets also using different tools, Marcus Verri, Deliveroo’s Global Sales Training Manager, wanted one place where people could find practical training when they actually needed it.

So Deliveroo launched its Roo Commercial Academy with TalentLMS. Salespeople could prepare for customer calls by reviewing relevant product training, rather than trying to remember everything from a one-off session. 

And the impact went beyond course completions: Deliveroo reported a 30% decrease in the time it took salespeople to sign up restaurants. For Marcus, that was the real test of training—whether it helped people do their jobs better, not simply whether they finished a course.

Launch training 2x faster and see ROI in less than a year.

 Easy to use, easy to manage, easy to scale with TalentLMS.

Get Started Free

Top scenario-based learning software #2: Docebo

Why we picked it: 

Docebo is a solid option for large organizations that want AI-powered role-play and scenario practice connected to an enterprise learning platform.

A sales manager can’t watch every rep rehearse a tough call. Docebo’s Roleplay does. Learners can practice by voice or chat and get AI feedback. This makes it useful for real-world situations where employees need to know what to do and how to communicate it. You can score practice against defined evaluation criteria, so scenarios test readiness and don’t just deliver training.

With Docebo, you can connect role-play with courses, assessments, and other learning activities in one place.

Key features:

• Docebo Roleplay 
• Simulations
• Branching scenarios
• Assessments
• Analytics 
• Real-time scorecards
• Learning paths
• Voice and chat role-play
• Enterprise integrations

Best for: Large, global organizations with complex training needs.

Pricing: No public pricing. Custom pricing. Plans with different active-user pricing models.

What users are saying on G2:

Top scenario-based learning software #3: Absorb LMS

Why we picked it:

Absorb LMS is a good fit for organizations that want to build branching scenarios inside a broader LMS environment.

Absorb Create includes a dedicated branching feature that lets course creators connect different paths based on learner choices. An employee might be asked how they’d respond to a customer complaint, a safety issue, or a policy question. Their decision then determines what happens next.

Absorb has also added AI-generated scenarios to Absorb Create. This allows creators to build content from a brief description, an existing document, or course material they already have. 

Key features:

• Visual branching scenarios with Absorb Create
• Interactive course creation
• Multi-audience learning
• Integrations
• Automated enrollments
• Compliance training
• Certifications
• AI capabilities
• Reporting and analytics

Best for: Organizations in need of multi-audience training and automation

Pricing: No public pricing. Quote-based pricing that varies by users and features.

What users are saying on G2:

Top scenario-based learning software #4: iSpring LMS

Why we picked it:

iSpring LMS is particularly useful for teams that want detailed dialogue simulations and hands-on control over how a scenario is built.

Its authoring tools support branching dialogue simulations with characters, locations, voiceovers, and multiple response paths. Its scenario builder is designed so instructional designers can map out conversations without coding.

That makes iSpring a good choice for practicing real-world conversations where each response can change what happens next.

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• SCORM/xAPI
• Reporting
• Certifications
• Knowledge base
• Learning tracks
• Course authoring

Best for: SMBs, instructional designers, and corporate trainers creating detailed branching scenarios and role-plays.

Pricing: No public pricing. Customers pay for active users. Third-party sources claim plans start at about $8K per year for 100 users. 

What users are saying on G2:

 Top scenario-based learning software #5: 360Learning

Why we picked it: 

360Learning connects scenario-based learning with input from the people who know the work best.

A sales manager knows the objection their team keeps hearing. A customer support lead knows the complaint that keeps coming up. 360Learning gives those subject-matter experts a way to feed that knowledge into training. 

Its AI content builder can generate scenario-based questions that mirror real-life challenges. Learners can also complete open-ended evaluations, video pitches, and screencast demonstrations. This offers L&D teams more ways to assess if people can apply knowledge rather than simply recall it.

Key features:

• AI content builder
• Interactive assessments
• Scenario-based questions 
• Collaborative course creation
• Subject-matter-expert workflows
• Learning academies
• Skills development
• Analytics
• Employee, partner, and customer training

Best for: Collaborative L&D teams where SMEs need to contribute real-world scenarios and practical assessments.

Pricing: Team plan: $8/user/month; enterprise pricing available.

What users are saying on G2:

Top scenario-based learning software #6: Cornerstone Learning

Why we picked it: 

Cornerstone Learning makes sense for large organizations that want scenario-based practice to sit inside a broader learning, skills, and workforce development ecosystem.

Imagine a manager practicing a difficult conversation with a virtual employee who doesn’t simply give the expected answer. Cornerstone’s immersive tools use AI-powered role-play with virtual humans to create that kind of practice for communication, conflict resolution, and leadership. 

Key features: 

• Learning paths
• Role-based learning 
• Immersive simulations
• AI capabilities
• Scenario-based simulations
• Skills assessments
• Content ecosystem
• Enterprise analytics 

Best for: Large/global enterprises with complex role-based, compliance, skills, and workforce-readiness requirements.

Pricing: No public pricing. Contact vendor for a custom quote.

What users are saying on G2:

Top scenario-based learning software #7: Seismic Learning 

Why we picked it:

Seismic Learning is a more specialized scenario-based learning option with a focus on sales enablement and customer-facing teams.
Instead of asking a sales rep to simply complete a product course, Seismic can put them into realistic sales situations where they practice conversations, objections, and customer interactions. Its learning and coaching tools support AI-powered role-play, video practice, feedback, and skills reinforcement.
That makes it particularly relevant when the goal is to see whether a rep can use the training when a real customer pushes back and not just whether they completed the course.

Key features:

• Practice scenarios through role-play 
• Mock exercises
• AI-driven simulations
• Coaching 
• Rubrics 
• Automated & peer feedback
• Readiness analytics 

Best for: Sales enablement and revenue teams that want scenario-based practice closely integrated with sales training, coaching, and performance management.

Pricing:  Custom pricing. Seismic does not publish standard Seismic Learning pricing; licensing is based on user types and the functionality required.

What users are saying on G2:

Which scenario-based learning software to choose

The right choice will depend on what your employees need to practice, who needs to create the scenarios, how many people you need to train, and whether scenario-based learning has to sit inside a broader LMS.

• TalentLMS stands out as the strongest overall option for organizations that want user-friendly scenario-based learning, AI capabilities, transparent pricing, and a broader LMS in one platform. Its Learning Playground provides a low-risk environment for employees to practice through realistic simulations, all inside the LMS. It is particularly well suited to employee, customer, and partner training, plus onboarding and compliance.
• Docebo is a strong choice for large organizations looking for AI-powered role-play, enterprise learning management, and advanced analytics.
• Absorb LMS is suited to organizations that want branching scenario authoring alongside a broader enterprise LMS and multi-audience training capabilities.
• iSpring LMS is a good fit for instructional designers and corporate trainers who prioritize detailed branching scenarios and role-play authoring, particularly alongside iSpring’s authoring tools.
• 360Learning is well suited to collaborative L&D teams that want SMEs to contribute knowledge and scenario-based assessments.
• Cornerstone Learning caters to large enterprises that need scenario-based learning within a broader learning, skills, compliance, and workforce management ecosystem.
• Seismic Learning caters particularly to sales enablement and revenue teams that want AI-powered role-play, sales training, coaching, and skills reinforcement in one virtual environment.

FAQs

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