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Employee Mentoring: Five Winning Approaches For Your Team

Author:
Gary
PUBLISHED ON:
December 7, 2021
June 26, 2023
PUBLISHED IN:
Leadership And Mentoring

Employee mentoring is a bit like a legendary film with a bunch of awful sequels (think the first two Home Alone films versus the rest). People’s minds have become so wedded to the classic idea of senior employees coaching younger ones that they block out all the other options, but today’s mentors and mentees are different to the old breed.

Where our cinema analogy breaks down, however, is that the coaching scriptwriters put together something compelling for every other type of mentoring we’ve listed here.

The truth is that employee mentoring is what you make of it and it can make or break your business and people — that’s why it’s crucial to consider which type best fits your organisation and those developing within it.

Five popular types of workplace mentoring — and when to use them

Mentors can fulfil a wide variety of different roles and purposes and their relationships with mentees can be formal or informal. Mentors can be subject matter experts who’ve shaped their career through internal development, or they can be called in from outside of your organisation. Rule nothing out when it comes to mentoring, it all depends on the needs of your business, workforce and individual employees.

Great mentoring really is a work of art! But rather than designing your program from a blank canvas with no direction at all, here are the five popular types of mentoring you can pick up from the successful business palette. We’ll also tell you when they’re most beneficial!

  1. One-to-one or direct mentoring
  2. Group mentoring
  3. Peer mentoring
  4. Reverse mentoring
  5. Virtual mentoring

One-to-one or direct mentoring

This is the type of mentoring program most people have in mind: a mentor meets with a mentee for private discussions to help advance their learning and development.

Traditionally, the mentor would be older and/or more experienced, while the mentee is younger, fresher and in need of development, but those tides have been changing for quite some time. These days, it’s not uncommon for direct mentoring to be upwards, downwards, sideways, and any which way across seniority and teams.

In ‘direct’ mentoring, a mentor might have multiple mentees. It is even possible (though unusual) for a mentee to have multiple mentors too. The important thing is that each mentoring relationship is distinct and separate, with a long-term vision.

When to use one-to-one or direct mentoring: Building future leaders

One-to-one mentoring should be your go-to for developing an outstanding employee with loads of untapped potential. Between the mentor and mentee, they can discuss personal barriers to future success, set leadership learning goals and the mentor can share their wisdom having ‘been there, done that’ before.

Think of it as career mentoring in a different guise – this is someone who’s been there and done it helping someone else learn from their success and failures.

One-to-one or direct mentoring: How to get it right

For a direct mentor-mentee relationship to be a good match, you need to know what both parties are looking to gain (their personal goals) and how that would benefit the business (the company goals). Mentoring programs structured in this way are more likely to drive impact and help people see the benefit in them.

Filling skill gaps can be hugely rewarding for mentors and mentees, and that engagement translates directly to team morale and productivity — but only if their match is a success!

Next, if you’re going to help high-potential employees channel their skills and enthusiasm, you had better have a career path that’s open to them. Make sure your mentors are briefed on the latest strategic workforce planning so they know which roles will be open and when.

You should also consider ways for both the mentor and the mentee to reflect on the experience alone and with other people. Are they both benefiting from the relationship? Is the programme achieving its pre-agreed purpose? If so, how? Setting, sharing and measuring goals will be key to keeping the programme on track — so too is adapting and flexing the mentoring type and format as needed.

But for all their benefits, one-to-one mentoring schemes have also been linked to underlying bias — and reinforcing it. It’s only human to gravitate towards people you feel an affinity with, but in terms of L&D there’s more to be gained from mixing it up. So consider assigning mentees to their mentors, instead.

Other use cases for one-to-one or direct mentoring

Direct employee mentoring can also be beneficial when:

  • Employees are considering a career/department change (the mentor can come from the field they are exploring).
  • A company has uncovered a cultural issue within a section of the team (mentors and coaches can be used to steer individuals back in the right direction).

Group mentoring

Group mentoring is where a single mentor works with a small group of mentees. Mentees might have the opportunity to meet with the mentor alone occasionally, but the main relationship is between the mentor and the group.

When this type of mentorship program works well, the relationship between members of the group of mentees can become a peer mentoring relationship, too.

When to use group mentoring: Encouraging cohesion and teamwork

Teamwork is essential in most organisations, but there are a number of workplaces and industries that live and die on the power of collaboration. If you’d put your business in that camp, then group mentoring might be for you.

Group mentoring allows your team members to learn from each other, with the assistance and supervision of a more experienced mentor. It encourages colleagues to value each other’s opinions and contributions — to collaborate on tasks and provide 360 feedback. It also helps increase empathy, understanding and respect.

Social learning structures, like group mentoring, have been found to dramatically increase L&D success. Over at Harvard Business School, social learning boosted course completion rates by 85%!

Today, group mentoring could be your secret weapon for distributed and virtual teams too – but more on that later.

Group mentoring: How to get it right

Group mentoring does come with a few difficulties — especially if it’s used for an established team, where questions of confidentiality can be a concern. Team members need to feel safe enough to be honest and have confidence in the support of the group.

These issues can be avoided by setting expectations at the get-go and giving mentees someone to come to with any questions or doubts.

You also can’t forget about the individual’s goals in a group mentoring context. Yes, you’re approaching L&D as a team — learning in an open, collaborative format — but if the programme isn’t helping everyone to advance, then it’s not working that well.

Other use cases for group mentoring

You don’t have to be a highly-collaborative team to make use of group mentoring. Because a number of people are in the learning crew together, group mentoring works:

  • When many people need to build the same knowledge or skill at once, before a new product launch for example
  • When access to great mentors is limited and/or your team is working remotely.

Peer mentoring

Peer mentoring is when both the mentor and the mentee are at the same stage in their career.

Typically, these relationships rely on the mentor having more experience in an area that the mentee is struggling with, but they can also be somewhat fluid with the participants switching between mentor and mentee.

When to use peer mentoring: To empower a culture of learning

The classic way of thinking about mentorships is that the mentor gives up their time and energy to help someone lower down the career ladder. It’s not accurate, but we still tend to think of mentoring as altruistic.

Peer mentoring offers you the opportunity to empower both mentees and mentors — and to be explicit about the benefits both parties stand to gain. Your mentee will typically receive advice and support from someone who has recently faced similar issues, but your mentor is also gaining experience in leadership skills. Both stand to gain productivity and performance tips, from spending time walking in each other’s shoes.

With a small gap between their overall experience levels, peer mentoring is based on a more equal relationship. Mentor and mentee have more shared experiences, which can make it easier for them to connect and form a trusting relationship. Programmes of this type also help promote learning as an everyday activity — and as something the organisation believes in.

Peer mentoring: How to get it right

When the typical hierarchy is taken away, you need both the mentor and the mentee to enter into the peer mentoring program with open minds and equal intentions. You might want to do away with the ‘mentor’ and ‘mentee’ labels altogether, as that can encourage a more balanced level of input from both sides. This is about two people demonstrating their mentoring and leadership skills.

Other use cases for peer mentoring

Informal learning between colleagues can be a benefit for:

  • Onboarding new hires: giving fresh recruits a ‘buddy’, rather than a ‘mentor’ — someone who is on their level and can be an informal person to turn to.
  • When people in the same business or similar roles work on different products or services. What could a salesperson for Product A teach someone selling Product B, and so on?

Reverse mentoring

Reverse mentoring is usually a one-to-one mentoring relationship, but the more junior member of staff takes on the role of the mentor.

Flipping the typical programme on its head, senior employees can benefit from fresh ways of thinking — they might even be challenged by the world view and skillset of their younger colleagues.

When to use reverse mentoring: Boosting your empathy and diversity

Something magical happens when traditional norms are subverted. And that’s why reverse mentoring is a fantastic way to encourage all employees to walk a mile in their colleague’s shoes.

When a senior staff member has been in the industry, or even the same organisation, for a number of years, they can develop tunnel vision. It becomes harder and harder to see new ways of working, systematic discriminations or age-old workflows that exclude certain demographics. Your younger staff and early talent are the perfect people to call it out.

Reverse mentoring: How to get it right

Reverse mentoring requires humility on the part of senior staff members, and junior mentors need to be diplomatic in how they explain new ideas and their experiences.

If both parties work well together, the benefits of honest communication can be dramatic. Giving early-career stars the platform to influence senior management can help companies grow and change.

Other use cases for reverse mentoring

When you flip the typical mentoring structure on its head, you give younger workers the opportunity to educate and develop their seniors. This can work equally well when:

  • Undergoing digital transformation (moving to a hybrid, cloud-based work environment for example).
  • Embracing a culture of innovation: no business remains competitive by standing still — reverse mentoring can be just the ticket when you need your senior staff to start thinking like their youngest customers.

Virtual mentoring

A new entrant to this hit-list since around March 2020, virtual mentoring is understandably having a big moment right now.

Ask most modern-day mentors, and they’ll tell you they’re currently mixing in-person sessions with video calls and other virtual touchpoints. Digital learning platforms, like HowNow, also exist to support mentors and mentees, with follow-up learning resources and a way of tracking activity.

When to use virtual mentoring: Navigating the ‘new normal’

Mentoring was one of the first things to get dropped in many organisations at the start of the pandemic. It might be a natural reaction, but it’s also a shortsighted one.

Mentoring is at its most powerful during times of high stress and dramatic change, after all. This is exactly when your employees need you to invest in their future and reassure them that you see a future with them and with your company too!

When things are changing so rapidly, like they were when virtual mentoring really took off, it’s the most crucial time to share knowledge, tap into past experiences, break ideas out of silos and start thinking about succession planning for when that period of flux ends. That’s when virtual mentoring really comes into its own.

Virtual mentoring: How to get it right

Virtual mentoring is the same as face-to-face mentoring, right? Wrong. Well, almost.

True you can achieve the same quality of connection (excuse the pun) between mentor and mentee, but it’s not enough to roll out the same format when mentoring in the virtual space. Virtual mentors should make an effort to check in more frequently and to provide meaningful resources at the end of, and in-between, sessions. Put your phone on silent, turn off screen notifications and really commit to each other during the time — it makes all the difference.

We’d still recommend finding opportunities for mentors and mentees to meet up IRL at least once a quarter, where possible. And, ideally, for their first meeting to be in-person too. Zoom fatigue is real and mentoring is too important for either party to enter into it feeling uninspired.

Where in-person meetings aren’t on the table, do whatever you can to make those mentoring moments feel different; order in croissants and coffee (on the company, of course), walk and talk around your local parks. Whatever works for you.

Other use cases for virtual mentoring

As we work towards lasting hybrid work structures, virtual mentoring will become a more and more feasible option for organisations today. But it can also help if:

  • Your team is pushed for time (as there’s no need to travel).
  • You are expanding to new markets and want team leaders in new locations to learn the ropes directly from HQ.

Ready to get started on your mentoring journey

Great mentors, and great mentoring schemes, don’t just happen. They take effort and expertise, but you don’t have to do it alone. Sometimes even mentoring schemes need a helping hand.

HowNow can help you create the perfect structure for your mentoring scheme, based on your needs and priorities. See how for yourself.

Check out our other leadership development resources

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Overview: Based on reviews from learning platform users, Sana Learn is praised for its intuitive interface, easy adoption, engaging interactive content, and AI-powered tools that can speed up content creation and discovery. Customers consistently highlight smooth onboarding, responsive support, and useful integrations with email, calendar, and collaboration tools. However, recurring limitations emerge around content flexibility, AI accuracy, occasional technical glitches, UI quirks, and gaps in admin training, which can create friction as teams scale their learning programs. While Sana Learn works well for organisations seeking fast rollout and straightforward learner engagement, teams needing more customization, reliable AI, and robust integrations may want to explore alternative platforms and see how they compare in practice.


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When you're evaluating learning platforms, everyone has an opinion. Vendors have feature pages. Review sites have listicles. And everyone claims to be the best AI-powered LMS on the market.

What nobody tells you is what it's actually like six months in.

Sana Learn (part of Sana Labs), an AI company founded in 2016 in Stockholm, will likely show up early in your research. It's well-funded, well-marketed and has built a genuine reputation in the AI learning space.

But reputation and reality don't always match. And the people best placed to tell you the difference aren't the sales team. They're the L&D leaders, admins and learners who use it every day.

To help you, you’ve analysed 50+ real customer reviews so you don't have to. Not to cherry-pick the bad bits but to find the patterns that will help you make informed decisions. The things that come up again and again once the implementation is done and the day-to-day reality sets in.

Because when you're making a buying decision that affects your entire workforce, what matters isn't which platform has the best copy or demo. It's which one that will help you build and engage your workforce to proactively build the skills your business needs to grow.

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Where Sana Learn does well.

One thing becomes clear when you read through the customer reviews: Sana Learn is easy to like.

Users consistently describe the platform as intuitive, clean and simple to pick up. There's very little friction in getting started which, if you've ever tried rolling out a new learning platform to a sceptical workforce, you'll know is no small thing.

That ease extends to implementation. Several reviewers highlight how seamless the setup felt, with teams barely noticing the transition. For organisations without the time or appetite for a heavy rollout, that's a meaningful advantage.

AI is another area where Sana Learn gets genuine praise. Users point to how quickly they can generate content, surface answers and navigate learning materials with AI woven throughout the experience. When it works, it removes friction from the content creation process in a way that L&D teams with limited resources will appreciate.

The learning experience itself also lands well. Interactive modules, clickable elements and embedded content make it easier to engage with topics that would otherwise feel dry. Learners aren't just clicking through slides; they're actually interacting with material.

Put simply: Sana Learn is a platform that's genuinely easy to adopt and easy to engage with. For teams prioritising simplicity and fast time-to-value, that counts for a lot.

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What are the limitations of Sana Learn?

Once you move past first impressions, the reviews become more nuanced; and more useful.

A recurring theme is that while Sana Learn is easy to use, it can feel limiting when you try to do more with it.

Several users point to a lack of flexibility in content creation. Editing options are described as restrictive, with one reviewer putting it plainly:

"Tables are a bit clunky and hard to edit… [there's not] much freedom when it comes to text & layout."

Others mention having to rely on external tools to get the output they actually need:

"Many features are unavailable and have to be done outside of the platform using third-party providers."

For L&D teams trying to scale content production or tailor learning experiences more precisely, that's where friction starts to add up.

There's also a subtle but telling critique around product direction. One reviewer notes that the platform sometimes prioritises:

"attention-grabbing features over more basic feature development."

That's the kind of comment that tends to surface when a platform is evolving quickly; but not always in the direction its users need most.

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Is Sana Learn's AI reliable?

AI is one of Sana Learn's biggest selling points; but it's also one of its most inconsistent areas.

While some users are impressed by the speed and convenience, others highlight accuracy issues that slow them down rather than speed them up:

"There are times when the AI doesn't fully grasp what I'm asking for…"

"Sometimes the AI suggestions are not fully accurate, and it takes a bit of time to find the exact content I'm looking for."

That tension shows up across multiple reviews. The capability is there; but it's not always reliable enough to trust without sense-checking.

For L&D teams expecting AI to meaningfully reduce manual effort, that gap matters more than it might first appear.
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What do Sana Learn users say about technical performance?

Another pattern across the reviews is the presence of ongoing, low-level technical friction. Not catastrophic failures; but enough to interrupt workflows when they matter most.

Users mention occasional platform freezing, performance lags when handling complex content and integration challenges, particularly around APIs. One reviewer sums it up plainly:

"The platform can be a bit glitchy at times…"

Others call out specific integration issues:

"Had some hiccups with [the] Bamboo integration API."

These aren't universal experiences; but they appear frequently enough to be worth factoring in, particularly for organisations running a broader HR and L&D tech stack where reliable integrations aren't optional.
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What do Sana Learn users say about the interface?

Interestingly, even though usability is one of Sana Learn's most praised qualities, there are still consistent complaints about specific interface behaviours; particularly once users move beyond everyday tasks.

For example, one reviewer points out a frustrating content creation issue:

"When I'm creating a comment… and then pop over to another window, the comments I started typing disappear."

Others find the home screen experience overwhelming:

"The interface can appear a little overwhelming with all the videos visible when you enter the homescreen."

There are also mentions of difficulty navigating back to in-progress courses, and issues with live learning environments around audio and visual quality.

None of these are deal-breakers on their own. But together they create a sense of inconsistency; where the platform feels smooth in some moments and frustrating in others. For L&D teams managing large learner populations, those friction points tend to get amplified at scale.
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What do Sana Learn users say about the learning experience?

Beyond the platform mechanics, some users point to limitations in how learning content is actually delivered.

Quiz functionality comes up more than once, particularly around rigid structures:

"When making a mistake… you have to click through the whole exam before being able to repeat."

Others mention repetitive questions and a lack of depth in supporting materials:

"Example videos are not very detailed enough."

There's also feedback around pacing; specifically that learners can move through content too quickly without meaningful controls in place to slow them down or check understanding along the way.

None of these are headline issues. But for L&D teams where learning effectiveness is the whole point, they're worth knowing about before you buy.
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What do Sana Learn admins say about the platform experience?

While learners tend to find Sana Learn straightforward, the experience for admins and L&D teams is less consistently praised.

Some reviewers highlight a lack of guidance when it comes to more advanced features:

"Need more training on available features."

Others point to documentation that doesn't quite hit the mark:

"Videos are usually very short and articles can be text heavy."

This creates a meaningful disconnect. The platform feels simple on the surface; but getting the most out of it as an admin can require significantly more effort than the initial experience suggests. For L&D teams who need to move fast and can't afford a steep learning curve behind the scenes, that's worth factoring into your decision.
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Should you be looking at Sana Learn alternatives?

That depends on what you need.

If your priority is fast rollout, strong initial engagement and a clean intuitive interface, Sana Learn clearly delivers. For teams that need something up and running quickly with minimal friction, it's a strong option.

But if you're thinking longer term; about scaling learning, tailoring content more precisely and integrating deeply into your wider HR and L&D tech stack, the limitations that surface across these reviews start to matter a great deal more.

The question isn't whether Sana Learn is a good platform. For many organisations, it is. The question is whether it's the right platform for where your organisation is going; not just where it is today.

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Is HowNow a good Sana Learn alternative?

HowNow tends to come up for teams that want more than a clean learning interface.

Reviews give you a strong starting point but they won’t tell you how a platform fits your specific setup.

If you’re weighing up Sana Learn against alternatives, the most useful next step is to see them side by side.

HowNow built around a different idea: that learning shouldn't sit in a separate platform, disconnected from the way people actually work. It should connect everything together; the content, the skills data, the performance context and the tools your teams already use every day.

In practice, that means bringing learning from multiple sources into one centralised place, linking development directly to skills gaps and business performance, and using AI in a way that supports real workflows rather than just speeding up content generation.

But perhaps most importantly, HowNow is designed to scale with you. Not just easy to start; but built to deliver more as your organisation grows, your needs get more complex and your expectations of what good learning looks like get higher.

If the patterns in these reviews resonate with challenges you're already facing, it might be worth seeing it for yourself.

👉 Book a demo here

Sana Learn Reviews: Pros, Cons & What Customers Really Think

Based on 50+ customer reviews, this guide breaks down Sana Learn’s pros, cons, AI capabilities and platform limitations. Discover what real users say about usability, integrations, support and whether it’s the right fit for your L&D strategy.
Comparisons
Apr 10
.
5 min read

Buying a learning platform is a big decision.

You’re comparing features, pricing, integrations, and user experience. But there’s one thing that often gets pushed down the list is security.

It shouldn’t be.

Learning platforms sit on a goldmine of sensitive data e.g. employee records, performance data, personal details. If that data is mishandled, the impact isn’t just technical. It’s reputational, legal, and operational.

So before you get dazzled by a slick demo, it’s worth asking more important questions such as:

Is this platform safe? And can I trust this vendor?
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Why security matters when buying a learning platform

Security conversations are often left until the final stages of evaluation.

By then:

  • Data has already been shared
  • Internal stakeholders are invested
  • Walking away feels expensive

That’s how risky decisions get made.

Instead, bring security into the conversation early.

Loop in your InfoSec, IT and data protection teams from the start so they can review vendors alongside you (not play catch-up at the end which is what we often see).

It saves time, avoids friction, and builds confidence internally.
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What security certifications should an LMS or LXP have?

There are plenty of badges vendors can display.

Not all of them mean the same thing.

When it comes to learning platform security, there are two certifications that actually matter:

ISO 27001:2022 — The Global Standard

ISO 27001 is a globally recognised information security standard.

It’s a risk-based framework that shows a vendor takes security seriously across their organisation (not just in isolated areas).

But this is where many buyers stop too early.

The certificate alone isn’t enough.

Ask for the Statement of Applicability (SoA).

This document shows:

  • which controls are implemented
  • how risks are managed
  • why specific decisions were made

When reviewing it, pay close attention to:

  • information classification
  • data leakage prevention
  • handling of personally identifiable information (PII)

Learning platforms process large volumes of employee data. If a vendor can’t clearly explain how that data is segmented and protected in their cloud environment, the certification doesn’t mean much.
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What to double-check

  • Does the certification cover the whole organisation or just part of it?
  • Is it officially accredited?
  • Is it the vendor’s certification, or are they pointing to their hosting provider (AWS, Azure, etc.)?

If it’s the latter, push back. Hosting infrastructure doesn't mean application security.
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Cyber Essentials Plus — Essential for UK-based organisations

If you’re a UK-based company, Cyber Essentials Plus should be your baseline.

Unlike the standard Cyber Essentials (which is self-assessed), the Plus certification includes:

  • independent technical verification
  • hands-on testing
  • real validation of controls

For a learning platform handling sensitive employee data, this provides confidence that the basics are properly secured.

As with ISO 27001, don’t just take it at face value.

Verify it:

Security checklist for evaluating any LMS vendor

Even with the right certifications, you should go further.

Here’s a simple checklist you can use internally or share with your IT team:

Before approving a learning platform, confirm:

  • ISO 27001:2022 certification (with SoA available)
  • Cyber Essentials Plus (if UK-based)
  • SSO support (e.g. Okta, Azure, Google)
  • encryption at rest and in transit
  • data classification and leakage prevention controls
  • penetration testing summaries
  • disaster recovery and business continuity plans
  • incident management and breach response policies
  • data processing agreement (DPA)
  • subprocessor transparency

If a vendor struggles to answer these clearly, that tells you something.
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Questions to ask your LMS vendor

If you want to quickly separate strong vendors from weak ones, ask:

  • Can you share your Statement of Applicability?
  • Does your ISO 27001 certification cover your entire organisation?
  • How do you protect PII within your platform?
  • How do you prevent data leakage in your cloud environment?
  • Can you verify your Cyber Essentials Plus certification?
  • Is your certification your own, or your hosting provider’s?
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HowNow’s approach to learning platform security

At HowNow, security isn’t an afterthought. It’s built into every layer of the platform.

We’ve designed our approach to make life easier not just for L&D teams, but for IT and security teams reviewing us too.

Our compliance framework includes:

  • ISO 27001:2022 for information security management
  • ISO 9001:2015 for quality and continuous improvement
  • Cyber Essentials Plus for independently verified technical controls
  • GDPR compliance and data protection standards
  • NIS2 readiness and evolving regulatory alignment

We also provide full transparency through our Trust Center, including:

  • encryption standards (including AES-256 at rest)
  • SSO and identity provider integrations (Okta, Azure, Google, etc.)
  • penetration testing summaries
  • vulnerability management policies
  • disaster recovery and business continuity plans
  • subprocessor details and data handling practices
  • AI security and ethics policies

👉 Explore the HowNow Trust Center: https://trust.gethownow.com/

This gives your IT and security teams everything they need to evaluate us properly without delays or back-and-forth.
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The bottom line:

A great learning platform should help your people perform better.

But it also needs to earn your organisation’s trust.

Security credentials might not be the most exciting part of the buying process but they’re one of the most important.

The right certifications, combined with real transparency, give you confidence that your data is protected and your decision is sound.

Bring your IT team into the conversation

If security is slowing down your buying process, you’re not alone.

The easiest way to move forward is to involve your IT and security teams early and give them direct access to the information they need.

Share our Trust Center with them or book a call with our team to review everything together.

No chasing. No vague answers. Just clear, honest security information.

Which Infosec Credentials Should You Look for When Buying a Learning Platform?

Blog
March 30, 2026
.
5 min read

Learning Technologies is back and we could not be more excited.

L&D is changing faster than most organisations can keep up with. AI is reshaping how people learn, skills gaps are widening and the pressure on L&D teams to prove impact has never been higher. The conversations happening at this year's event are going to matter.

HowNow is already working with companies to build the talent of tomorrow; closing skills gaps, connecting learning to performance and giving L&D teams the data to prove it's working. We want to help you do the same.

Learning Technologies is a great place to start this journey.

You'll find us at stand E30. Come and find us.

Here's what's waiting for you.

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1. Get a Free Learning Health Check

Most L&D teams we speak to already know something isn't quite working. Maybe engagement is low. Maybe learning is scattered across too many tools. Maybe the business is asking questions about impact that are hard to answer.

The Learning Health Check is a free 15-minute desk-side consultation with one of our experts at stand E30. No slides, no sales pitch; just a focused conversation about where your organisation is right now, what's getting in the way and where the biggest opportunities are.

You'll walk away with tips you can apply to your strategy straight away, whether you use HowNow or not. This is exclusive to Learning Technologies and designed to be relevant to you and your organisation.

Prebook your session here for your chance to also claim some exclusive swag.

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2. Hear How to Prove Learning Is Actually Building Skills

Day one. 1:10pm. Bitesize Stage

If you've ever sat in a leadership meeting struggling to demonstrate the impact of your learning programme, this one's for you.

Harvey Stead is taking the stage for a bitesize session on one of the biggest questions in L&D right now: how do you prove that learning is genuinely building skills? Join a group of 30+ L&D leaders for a practical, focused conversation designed to give you something you can actually take back to the business.

Arrive at 1pm to secure your seat. Spaces are extremely limited and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

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3. Learn What It Means to Be a Self-Improving Company

Day one, 11:45–12:15pm in Theatre 2. 

Day two, 11:45–12:15pm in Theatre 2. 

Every company wants the same thing: people continuously getting better at their jobs. But running that loop manually is nearly impossible. Who's struggling? When do you intervene? What actually helps? Did it work? By the time you've coordinated answers to those questions, months have passed and the moment is gone.

In this session, Nelson Sivalingam; CEO of HowNow, one of the fastest-growing AI learning companies and author of the acclaimed book Learning at Speed; introduces a fundamentally different model: the self-improving company.

Nelson will show how AI agents are transforming organisational performance by monitoring work systems in real time, detecting struggles the moment they emerge, intervening with the right support at the right time and measuring what actually improved in performance data; not surveys.

So popular we are running it twice. No excuses to miss it.

4. Hear Trainline’s Approach to Employee Engagement

Day two, 14:45 – 15:15 in Theatre 2. 

Building a learning culture sounds great on paper. Doing it in reality? That’s where things get interesting.

In this honest fireside chat, Trainline shares how they’re approaching employee engagement from the ground up; what’s worked, what hasn’t and where they’re still experimenting. From driving early adoption to making learning feel genuinely relevant across the business, this session goes beyond theory and into the real challenges L&D teams face every day.

Expect practical insights you can take back with you, along with a clear view of what it actually takes to get people engaged in learning.

If you're trying to increase learning engagement, bring a notebook.

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5. Meet HowNow Customers at Our Happy Hour

Day one, 15:00 onwards - Stand 30. 

Straight after Nelson's session, we're hosting a customer meet and greet at stand E30. Prosecco, canned cocktails, beers and the kind of conversations you actually come to events like this for.

Want to know what it's really like to use HowNow? Don't ask us. Ask them.

Look out for the special 'talk to me' badges; those are the HowNow customers with the real stories. They'll be in and around the stand all afternoon and they're easy to spot. Pull them aside, ask them anything and hear first-hand what's working for organisations just like yours.

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6. Get refreshed with us

And if all that wasn't enough, we’ll also have fresh coffee flowing and soft serve ice cream on hand too; because balance is important.

Whether you need a caffeine boost, something sweet, or just a reason to pause between sessions, it’s the perfect excuse to stop by and have a relaxed chat with the team. No agenda, no pressure; just good conversation (and better snacks).

The best moments at events like this aren’t always on stage. Sometimes they’re over a coffee… or an ice cream, but either way, they are together.

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And so many more reasons….

So, whether you want to catch a talk, grab a drink, or just have a proper conversation about your learning strategy, we'd love to see you. Learning Technologies is one of the best opportunities of the year to connect, learn and get inspired and we're making sure our stand is worth your time.

See you there.

6 Reasons to Visit HowNow at Learning Technologies 2026

Blog
March 18, 2026
.
5 min read

Onboarding is one of those things everyone agrees matters and yet it’s still one of the most inconsistently done processes in most organisations. Too often it’s a chaotic first week of back-to-back meetings, a SharePoint folder nobody can find, and a laptop that arrives three days late.

Designing onboarding that actually scales is one of the biggest challenges HR and L&D teams face. Most organisations know their onboarding could be better. 

Pauline Taylor, VP of People at HowNow, spoke with Ian Walker on the L&D Disrupt Podcast about what great onboarding really looks like and how to build it properly.

This blog walks you through what came out of that conversation and where to start.

Why Onboarding Matters More Than You Think

Let’s start with the business case, because it’s a strong one.

As Ian puts it:

“The value, of course, is that you are accelerating people’s sense of connection. And the statistic about that is that if people feel that they have been treated well in the onboarding process, their longevity is extended. So from a retention point of view, the evidence is pretty unequivocal.”

Connection drives retention. If a new hire spends their first few weeks feeling lost, anxious, or like an afterthought, you’re already on the back foot, regardless of how good the role is. Good onboarding accelerates that sense of belonging and gets people up to speed faster. Friction in those early weeks doesn’t just feel bad. It costs you time, productivity, and ultimately, people.

Want to learn how to create an onboarding process? Check out this blog on how to create an onboarding process.

Should Employee Onboarding be In-Person vs. Remote?

There’s no universal answer here, but there are some useful principles.

If you’re onboarding in person, you’re making a strategic investment in culture. Salesforce, for example, made in-person onboarding a priority specifically because they believed it was the best way to embed culture from day one. That’s not a logistical decision; it’s a values one.

If you’re onboarding remotely, the goal is to make the experience feel as close to in-real-life as possible. As Ian says:

“Similarly, if you’re doing it remotely, make sure that all of the experience is as far as possible close to the in real life experience.”

The principles are the same: connection, culture, and clarity. The delivery just looks different.

Nail the Employee Onboarding Fundamentals

This one sounds obvious, but it’s where so many onboarding programmes fall apart.

If you’re bringing someone in person, the infrastructure has to be invisible. Ian is direct on this:

“If you’re gonna do it in person, make sure that all of that is properly handled and does not come back onto the individual. Not only will that distract them, it’ll make them more nervous, it’ll make them feel less good about the whole experience. But it will detract from the efficiency of ramping them up quickly as well.”

That means flights and hotels booked correctly, a laptop ready on day one, security badges sorted in advance, and schedules organised. Get the admin right, and everything else has a chance to land.

What Should Actually Be In Your Onboarding Programme?

Your company culture is the most important element of any onboarding programme. Don’t just list your values on a slide and move on. Bring them to life.

Ian’s advice here is clear:

“Bring in managers, bring in people who are living the culture. So it’s not just someone listening to the same person, same voice all day. You’re getting different voices in there, but you’re getting people sharing their lived experience of why is this culture important to me?”

When people share their lived experience, it lands differently. It’s personal, it’s real, and far more memorable than a PowerPoint.

Networking opportunities

When you’ve got a cohort of new starters in a room (or on a call) that’s a real opportunity. Ian puts it well:

“Use this opportunity to build your network as well. Understand what’s happening within the company because not only will you leverage those relationships, but you’ll learn about what are potential career paths that you can also follow?”

Build in time for people to actually connect with each other. Those relationships can shape how people collaborate and grow within the organisation long after onboarding ends.

Setting real performance expectations

Be upfront about what working there actually looks like. Ian recalls:

“I remember talking to a room full of newly hired employees and saying, you’re gonna be expected to work hard. And you could see these big eyes — and it’s like, yeah, it’s just a reality. You are gonna be held to account for what you do. So expectation setting early on, I think, is really key.”

Ideally, it starts in the interview process, but reinforcing it early avoids misalignment down the line.

The big picture

Help new starters understand how the company works from top to bottom. As Ian explains:

“If you can explain from a top level down, this is a corporate objective, this is what we try and accomplish, this is how it cascades down within each team and each department — how it all fits together and what role you play in it — people get the sense of the bigger picture they’re playing within the organisation as well.”

When people understand how their work connects to something larger, they’re more motivated and more effective.

The Triangle: Getting the Handoff Right

This is one of the most important (and most overlooked) parts of onboarding at scale.

Onboarding isn’t one team’s job. It’s a shared responsibility across three groups:

  1. The onboarding team: responsible for culture, company-wide knowledge, and the rites of passage every new starter goes through
  2. The enablement or L&D function: responsible for the functional knowledge someone needs to actually do their job
  3. The manager: responsible for supporting the new hire and integrating that learning into day-to-day work

Ian is emphatic about how closely these three need to work together:

“The enablement organisation and the onboarding organisation need to be in a triangle. A really close triangle. So that the handover is happening effectively. The knowledge is being built upon. It’s not being duplicated. Nothing worse than when someone’s being invited to one call for onboarding and then they’ve been invited to an enablement call. You can’t allow that to happen. It has to be sequential and it has to be managed collectively.”

When this triangle breaks down, the new hire falls through the gaps. When it works, everything flows.

Onboarding is a Two-Way Street

Onboarding isn’t something that happens to a new hire. They have a role to play too. As Ian puts it:

“The fourth person is the learner themselves. They need to invest the time in order to onboard themselves effectively. So they need to read the materials, do the out of the room learning piece, as well as relationship building out of the room as well, which is so key to onboarding effectively.”

Setting that expectation early makes a real difference. People who take ownership of their own onboarding get up to speed faster and feel more settled sooner.

How Long Should Onboarding Last?

There’s no magic timeline that works for every role, every person, or every organisation. The length of onboarding depends on the complexity of the role, the individual’s prior experience, and how transferable their skills are.

What Ian suggests is a more interesting reframe altogether:

“You should always feel that you’re onboarding because you are always in your job. And particularly now, jobs are changing so quickly that if you have that beginner’s mindset, you are always onboarding yourself in a new direction. If you are always growing yourself.”

The most effective people don’t stop onboarding when week four ends. They carry that curiosity with them.

The Summary

Great onboarding isn’t about cramming as much information as possible into someone’s first week. It’s about connection, clarity, and getting the fundamentals right so people can do their best work sooner.

Get the logistics sorted. Bring culture to life. Build the triangle. Give new starters the space to take ownership. Resist the urge to put a fixed time limit on it.

Want to hear the full conversation?

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Watch on YouTube

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Listen on Spotify

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Other relevant blogs:

The HR and L&D How-To Guide for Designing Onboarding That Actually Scales

Podcast
March 9, 2026
.
5 min read
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