Leaders across the corporate and academic worlds gathered in Atlanta on June 23-25, 2025 for InStride’s fourth annual IMPACT Summit, ready to do more than just talk. In hands-on workshops and collaborative sessions, they rolled up their sleeves to tackle some of today’s most pressing workforce challenges: from skilling and AI readiness to internal mobility and measuring talent impact.
Changemakers from retail, financial services, healthcare, and other industries came together to explore what it takes to prepare people—and the organizations they power—for what’s next.
Here are the four big lessons that emerged.
1. Employee experience makes or breaks your customer experience
Putting customers first has long been the default business strategy. But overlooking employee experience can backfire, leading to high turnover, unfilled roles, and, ironically, poor customer experience. In the end, business performance suffers.
The new way forward? Lead with employee experience. This creates what Deloitte calls “stagility,” where employees get the stability they seek while businesses get a more agile workforce.
Bridging the gap between what employees want (a better quality of life) and what employers want (retention, internal mobility) simply requires alignment. Education is where those needs meet: providing stability for employees, and agility for employers.
Some tips for building a strategic education program that enhances the employee experience:
- Listen to what your people want from an education program. Meet them where they are, and make learning as personalized and growth-oriented as possible.
- Ensure your education program supports your business, rooted both in your mission and in business outcomes.
2. Education doesn’t just uplift individuals, it strengthens entire businesses
An education program that promotes internal mobility is a career launchpad and a boon for the entire business. Because when learning leads to real career opportunities, retention rises and key roles get filled from within.
Tips to design a program that supports internal mobility:
- Create career clarity by illustrating how learning supports opportunities for employee growth and development.
- Use technology to deliver personalized support, so employees get the guidance they need through multiple channels, not just their managers.
- Incorporate cohort-based learning, so employees can apply new skills immediately in a collaborative environment.
3. For many, education is still out of reach—blocked by cost, time, and universal design
What good is an education program if your employees can’t (or don’t) actually use it? Supporting employee learning means removing the barriers that stand in their way: cost, time, and universal design.
Tips to make learning more equitable:
- Shift the burden of upfront costs from the employee to the employer.
- Provide flexible, online education so that employees can learn on their own schedule.
- Avoid one-size-fits-all programs. Tailor programs and provide personalized employee support to ensure every team member can participate, no matter their background or experience.
4. AI should unlock human creativity, not replace it
Forget innovation for innovation’s sake—AI should serve people, not the other way around. The real promise of AI is its ability to eliminate administrative work and create efficiencies that free people to do what they do best. But employees can only harness that potential if they’re supported in building AI fluency, so they can understand how to use these tools confidently in their roles.
Tips to build AI fluency across your workforce:
- Make AI training accessible to everyone, from the frontline to the C-suite
- Use immersive, real-world learning experiences to make AI approachable and applicable
Turn talent priorities into tangible outcomes
These insights are a small slice of the energizing work that came out of IMPACT 2025.
Hungry for more? Book a call with one of our education experts to see how a strategic education solution can solve your workforce challenges today.
