Episode 54: Beyond AI Content Tools: L&D’s Strategic Role

Written By Jess Almlie
 
 

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We are using AI to create content faster, but is this enough?

Most L&D teams are using AI to write content faster, but the business doesn't care. Megan Torrance, founder of Torrance Learning and author of the upcoming AI Implementation Guide for L&D, joins Jess to make the case that L&D professionals are sitting on a goldmine of untapped superpowers, and it's time to use them where it matters most: inside the business's core AI strategy. From the AI Implementation Canvas to the WISE at AI framework, this episode will change how you see your role in your organization's AI future.

Jess and Megan Discuss

  • Why L&D's current AI conversation (content generation, authoring tools) is largely invisible and irrelevant to the rest of the business

  • The unique "superpowers" L&D brings to organizational AI strategy: workflow analysis, broad internal networks, and skilled questioning

  • The AI Implementation Canvas: a 14-dimension framework across 4 categories that gives L&D a structured way to start strategic AI conversations

  • How an empty dimension on the Canvas is actually data, and why silence signals a potential blind spot

  • The three AI impact zones (L&D productivity, learner experience, and organizational transformation) and why L&D needs to push into zone three

  • Why relationship power, not hierarchy, is L&D's path to being called upstream on AI initiatives

  • Practical strategies for building those relationships: proactive curiosity, attending town halls, and asking "what else is going on in your world?"

  • The WISE at AI framework (Wisdom, Inclusivity, Safe and Secure, Equitable, Accountable, Transparent) and how to operationalize it inside your organization

About megan torrance

Megan Torrance is the CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, where she leads a team of learning experience designers and engineers in reimagining workplace learning. Her firm has served Fortune 1000 companies, major research universities, global professional associations, and federal agencies for more than two decades. Megan brings a strategic vision that helps TorranceLearning bridge vision with execution—delivering innovative, data-informed, and learner-centered solutions.

Megan is active in the L&D community, frequently speaking at conferences and writing many articles. She has also written 3 books: Agile for Instructional Designers (2019), Data and Analytics for Instructional Designers (2023), and her newest book which comes out at the beginning of June 2026, The AI Implementation Guide for L&D.

Find and Connect with megan torrance

Jess Almlie
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Episode 54: Running L&D Like a Business