Skill Forward: How Comcast is Redefining Learning in the Age of AI

Submitted by Kerry Summers on 6 October 2025 - 11:40am

At Comcast, Chief Learning Officer Sara Dionne has been leading a transformation that many L&D leaders will recognise: moving from traditional competency frameworks toward a data-driven, skills-based approach to talent development.

“We branded it Skill Forward,” Sara explains. “We’re about three or four years in now, and this is where we have started building skill-based learning that is completely driven by business priorities. That’s where the data piece comes into play for us.”

From the outset, Sara’s team focused on asking business leaders a simple but powerful question: What do you need to achieve, and what skills will enable that? In year one, just 1,100 leaders participated. Today, more than 3,000 contribute to shaping the company’s skill priorities, alongside insights from hiring data, external research, and corporate strategy.

The Challenge of Scale

Building a skills-based organisation at Comcast’s scale is no small feat. With tens of thousands of employees spread across diverse roles—from frontline technicians to HR specialists to operational managers—the challenge is not simply identifying skills but ensuring that development opportunities feel relevant across such a wide spectrum.

“The biggest challenge we always face,” Sara tells us, “is how do we balance the enterprise-wide need and that consistency with what each business or function needs, with what each individual needs?”
- Sara Dionne, Chief Learning Officer, Comcast

In other words, the central tension lies in balancing personalisation with scalability. Individualised learning journeys are the ideal, but in a matrixed organisation of Comcast’s size, tailoring programmes for every employee is unrealistic. Instead, the company has focused on embedding skills into business operating rhythms, linking development to the natural flow of work.

This means that when new projects, strategies, or changes emerge, the skills most critical to success are introduced at the right moment. Over time, these skills are reinforced, contextualised, and aligned with the broader enterprise strategy.

Why “Skills” Resonates Where Competencies Didn’t

A notable insight from Comcast’s journey is how the language of skills proved more accessible than traditional competency frameworks.

Competencies, Sara tells us, while valuable, can often feel abstract or difficult to pin down. Skills, by contrast, are tangible and relatable. Employees can see them, learn them, and apply them. This clarity has helped secure buy-in not just from senior leaders but also from employees themselves.

“Everyone knows what a skill is,” Sara explained. “Sometimes when we were using competency language, it was a little bit more, where does the competency end or where does it begin? A skill is unique. You add it to your toolkit.”
- Sara Dionne, Chief Learning Officer, Comcast

This subtle but significant shift in language matters. It has allowed Comcast to frame development as something practical and actionable, rather than theoretical or bureaucratic. For employees, skills represent real opportunities to grow. For leaders, they provide a clear lens to assess readiness and capability.

The Problem of Assessment

Sara tells us that identifying and prioritising skills is only half the battle. Measuring them—and doing so at scale—is another challenge entirely.

As Sara pointed out, skills can be acquired quickly through projects, experiences, or short learning bursts. But how can organisations reliably assess whether someone has mastered a skill, or merely been exposed to it? And how do you track those skills across a workforce of thousands?

This issue is magnified by the pace of change. Skills that once lasted a decade may now be relevant for only a year or two. In areas like AI, the landscape can shift in a matter of months. Ensuring assessments keep pace with that change is daunting.

For Sara and Comcast, the focus has turned to exploring how technology can support both personalisation and assessment. The long-term goal is to create systems that not only identify emerging skills but also validate proficiency and track growth over time.

Convergence of Human and Digital Skills

One of the most compelling aspects of Comcast’s journey is its recognition that technical and human skills are no longer distinct categories. Instead, they are converging into integrated capabilities.

For example, AI literacy is critical, but not in isolation. Sara mentions that this must be paired with change agility, collaboration, and trust. Leaders need to understand the technology, but they also need the empathy and adaptability to guide their teams through disruption.

As Sara put it: “If I’m a leader, I need to learn what that technology is. But now I have to navigate the disruption that it’s about to bring. And I need to give confidence to my workforce and bring empathy, because we’re all going to be part of that journey together.”
- Sara Dionne, Chief Learning Officer, Comcast

This blending of human and technical skills reflects the reality of modern work. Employees are not just using tools; they are working with them. In many cases, AI or digital agents are effectively teammates. Building high-performing teams in this context means cultivating both technical fluency and the human capabilities that enable trust, inclusion, and resilience.

Looking Toward 2026: What Skills Matter Most

As Comcast looks ahead, its priorities illustrate how the skills conversation is evolving for organisations everywhere. The focus for 2026, Sara explains, centres on four areas:

1. AI Literacy and Tools

Building not just technical fluency, but also ethical awareness and adaptability to ensure employees use AI responsibly and effectively.

2. Process Optimisation

Developing systems thinking and problem-solving skills to ensure technology investments drive efficiency and value.

3. Vision and Goal Alignment

Equipping leaders to plan strategically, align teams, and foster accountability in an era of constant change.

4. Human and Digital Teaming

Preparing employees to collaborate effectively with AI agents and digital copilots, cultivating a new model of teamwork.

These priorities reflect a shift from narrow skill sets to holistic capabilities that combine technology, leadership, and human connection. They also highlight the need for CLOs to anticipate not just today’s requirements, but the emerging demands of tomorrow.

Lessons for Heads of Learning

Sara’s experience offers several key takeaways for CLOs and senior learning leaders:

Start with the business

Anchor learning programmes in business priorities and engage leaders in defining the skills needed to deliver outcomes.

Scale thoughtfully

Personalisation is critical, but it must be balanced with scalability. Embed skills into business processes and operating rhythms to drive adoption.

Use clear language

Skills resonate more strongly than abstract competencies. Make learning feel tangible and actionable for employees.

Invest in assessment

Reliable, scalable ways to measure skills are essential for credibility and impact. Technology will play a key role here.

Blend human and digital

The future of work is not about technical skills alone. Leaders must also cultivate empathy, adaptability, and inclusion to succeed in a digital-first world.

A Journey, not a Destination

Perhaps the most important insight from Sara’s reflections is that becoming a skills-based organisation is not a one-time project—it is a continuous journey.

As technologies evolve, skills will shift. As business priorities change, development strategies must adapt. And as employees grow, organisations must find new ways to support them.

What makes Comcast’s Skill Forward initiative so impactful is not that it has all the answers, but that it embraces the complexity of the challenge. By treating skills as a living, evolving part of the business, the company has built a foundation that can flex and adapt to whatever the future holds.

For CLOs navigating similar transformations, the message is clear: don’t wait for the perfect model. Start where it matters most to your employees and your business, build momentum, and keep iterating. The skills of tomorrow will not wait.

Sara is a transformational HR Executive with a proven track record of leading enterprise-wide HR, talent, learning, and change strategies for Fortune 20 organizations. Recognized for driving innovation, cultural evolution, and business impact through strategic leadership, operational excellence, and people-first transformation. Currently, Sara is the Chief Learning Officer at Comcast. She leads “ULearn” -- the global learning organization for Comcast. Provide learning leadership and impactful L&D strategies and solutions that enable the continued growth and success of Comcast business goals. Lead team of 300+ L&D experts to deliver learning for 65k employees globally, averaging 2M hours of learning annually.

Thumbnail:

Feature on Homepage:

News category:

Artificial Intelligence

More Insights

Building a Skills-Based Organisation: Insights from Zurich Insurance

In an age of constant change, Zurich Insurance has embraced a skills-based approach as a core strategy to future-proof its workforce and drive business success.

In an interview with iVentiv, Adrian Stäubli, former Group Head of Skills Development Solutions at Zurich Insurance, highlighted Zurich’s commitment to identifying, developing, and deploying skills across its global workforce.

This model isn’t just a tool— to Adrian it’s a "secret ingredient" that touches every aspect of employee development, from career progression to job design, setting Zurich apart as a truly agile and resilient organisation.

Watch our interview now to see how Adrian embraced skills, and how it’s transformed Zurich’s employee experience.

The power of partnership: how iVentiv and HEC Paris drive Executive Development together

In the ever-evolving world of executive education and corporate learning, partnerships are key to success. iVentiv has nurtured a long-standing relationship with HEC Paris, a prestigious European business school that was founded in 1888, since 2010 and has become a leading institution in Executive Development. Through this collaboration, HEC Paris has not only elevated its presence within the corporate learning community but has also provided valuable insights and support to iVentiv’s events worldwide.

Join us as we dive into the partnership between iVentiv and HEC Paris, how it's bloomed over the years, and where it will go next.

What Makes an Effective Learning and Development Team Event?

In today’s complex global landscape, even the most experienced L&D executives face a persistent challenge: ensuring alignment and collaboration within large Learning & Development teams spread across geographies, business units, and time zones.

Too often, L&D functions in multinational companies operate in silos. Teams set objectives independently, repeat each other’s work unknowingly, or miss opportunities to scale successful initiatives. Despite good intentions, the lack of structured knowledge-sharing and alignment can hinder progress, dilute impact, and ultimately affect how well organisations respond to change.

So, how do you create an event designed to build a strong, connected L&D team that learns from each other and works towards a shared vision? Read on to find out.

10 Questions to Ask Before Planning an Internal Event

Whether you’re launching a new initiative, or planning a team-building day, internal corporate events need more than just good food and a decent venue. Without the right strategic groundwork, even the most beautifully executed event can fall flat.

Instead, before diving into logistics, you should pause and ask the foundational questions that shape a purposeful, effective experience.

This guide explores the key questions to ask before you start planning an internal event to help you clarify objectives, understand your audience, and align the event with your broader organisational goals. Read more.

Why Customer Education Matters

In today’s competitive, hyper-informed market, you can’t win customer loyalty with a strong product or slick branding alone. Instead, you need trust, relevance, and a consistent demonstration that you understand your customers' needs.

That’s where customer education events come in.

These aren’t just glorified sales pitches. They’re strategic opportunities to deliver value, deepen relationships, and build communities around your offering.
When done well, these events don’t just teach; they transform customers into advocates. They help your business stay front-of-mind while giving your clients the tools and insights to succeed with your product or service at the centre of their strategy.

Curious to learn more? Read now.

The Difference Between Team Building and Team Learning

Large, global Learning and Talent teams are both a strategic advantage and a serious leadership challenge. They stretch across regions, time zones, and business units, and are expected to deliver transformation while operating in a constant state of change themselves.

For many Chief Learning Officers, the only regular opportunity to bring their teams together is the annual offsite or occasional away day.

The result often defaults into “team building”. Although icebreakers, marshmallow toothpick towers, and trust falls are activities that might boost morale, they rarely help a learning professional facing the practical pressures of AI adoption, skills taxonomies, or strategic workforce planning.

Global teams need more than a bonding experience. They need shared language, shared strategy, and shared confidence to deliver.

They need knowledge transfer, not just camaraderie.

They need team learning.

This is where the distinction matters, and this is exactly what our blog discusses. Read it now.

A Framework for Running L&D Events with Global Teams

Leading a global Learning and Development function is both a privilege and a puzzle. You have talent in every corner of the world—people who understand local markets, cultures, and business needs—who often work in silos, separated by time zones, priorities, and communication styles.

The irony is clear: the very people responsible for enabling learning across the business often struggle to learn from each other. When global L&D teams rarely connect, knowledge gets trapped, duplication creeps in, and alignment suffers.

That’s where a well-designed team event comes in. Whether virtual or in-person, a thoughtfully structured gathering can do more than boost morale—it can create alignment, build capability, and spark collaboration that carries through the rest of the year.

This blog offers a practical framework for running effective L&D events for global teams—one that transforms an annual offsite or virtual workshop into a shared learning experience with measurable business impact. Read it now.

Solving the Knowledge Silo in Global Learning Teams

In many large learning organisations, global L&D teams face a recurring challenge: knowledge silos.

Why?

Regional groups or functional departments often operate in isolation, creating, developing, and executing learning programmes with little visibility into what their peers are doing elsewhere. That isolation leads to duplicated effort, inconsistent practices, and lost opportunities for synergy.

In this blog, we’ll explore how thoughtfully designed events—virtual or in-person—can break down silos, strengthen global L&D collaboration, and foster sustained knowledge sharing across your organisation. Read it now.

Designing Events for Knowledge Sharing: Practical Techniques

In today’s workplace, knowledge is your most valuable asset, but it’s also the easiest to lose. As staff turnover rises, careers become more fluid, and hybrid work scatters teams across time zones, keeping that knowledge alive and connected has never been harder.

For anyone running a large global L&D operation, it can feel like trying to keep dozens of spinning plates in the air at once.

Yet when knowledge sharing breaks down, the costs are high: duplication of effort, inconsistent experiences, and ideas that never reach beyond the local team. The solution lies in intentionally designed knowledge sharing workshops and internal knowledge sharing events that make collaboration systematic, not accidental.

This blog explores how to design those events effectively, turning conversation into impact and connecting the dots across your global Learning organisation. Read it now.

Planning Corporate Events For Small Groups: A Complete Guide

When done right, events designed for small groups (typically between 20 and 50 participants) can lead to deeper connections, richer conversations, and more meaningful outcomes. In a world full of overstimulated conferences and overcrowded rooms, intimate gatherings offer a refreshing opportunity to slow down and engage in real dialogue.

In this guide, you’ll find out how to plan powerful small-group events with intention, from designing sessions that spark genuine collaboration, to nailing the logistics that make all the difference. Read more here.