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I’ll never forget the moment that changed the course of my career.
It was 2011. I had just joined my first SaaS company and found myself at a conference, meeting my CEO for the first time. I was doing the usual—working the room, shaking hands—when she came up to me and said something I’d never forget: “I think you’re going to be my next VP one day.” Until that moment, I had never even considered that path for myself. But her belief in me lit a fire that carried me through the next decade—from a VP role to the C-suite.
That one moment, that single connection at work, completely shifted my trajectory.
And I’m not alone. When I ask others to reflect on the biggest learning moments in their careers, almost everyone brings up a person, a conversation, or an interaction. Because real learning—the kind that sticks, that grows careers—is almost always rooted in human connection.
Learning isn’t just about content. It’s about connection.
As the Chief Growth Officer at Absorb Software, I spend a lot of time thinking about how people learn at work. While we’ve made great strides in delivering learning content—adopting LMS platforms, developing training modules, curating resources—we often overlook the human element. We’ve built systems, but not ecosystems.
People don’t just want to learn from content; they want to learn from each other. 86% of employees say that collaborating with others helps them to learn the skills they need for their job.
We are social creatures. Whether it’s seeking a colleague’s advice, learning from a mentor’s lived experience, or collaborating on a new project, we thrive when we connect.
Yet, in many corporate environments, those vital connections at work are missing. We’ve rolled out the LMS. We’ve uploaded the content. But have we built in the infrastructure for people to learn from one another? Have we made it easy for employees to engage in meaningful conversations, mentoring relationships, or peer-to-peer coaching?
Often, the answer is no.
The cost of disconnection
Let’s be honest: learning in isolation feels… lonely.
We’ve all taken that online course, clicked through slides, passed the quiz—and still felt unsure about what we really learned. Without someone to bounce ideas off of, to ask questions, or to validate our understanding, learning loses its impact.
The rise of remote work has only amplified this disconnect. Employees are craving meaningful relationships, collaboration, and a sense of community. And while most HR leaders want to deliver people-centric programs like mentorship and coaching, many of these initiatives stall or fizzle out due to lack of structure or scalability.
I’ve heard the stories: L&D teams managing mentoring programs manually, chasing participants, building spreadsheets, trying to keep interest alive. It’s no surprise these programs rarely last. They aren’t sustainable.
But that’s changing—and fast.
The turn toward people-centered learning
At Learning Technologies 2025, I was thrilled to see how many people were leaning into this topic. It’s clear the tide is turning. We ran a study recently, asking L&D leaders what people-centered programs they’re prioritizing for 2025. The answers were loud and clear: mentoring, coaching, events, and workshops.
Why? Because employees are asking for connection. They don’t just want better content—they want better experiences. They want to belong, to grow, and to feel valued through real connections at work.
When mentoring and coaching programs are done right, the impact is remarkable. They aren’t just feel-good initiatives. They drive real business outcomes—retention, engagement, and performance.
Let me share two powerful examples.
Case study: Ranstad’s 49% drop in turnover
Ranstad, a long-time customer, was facing high employee turnover. They wanted to run a mentoring program—not just for high-potentials, but for all 1,000 employees across Canada.
But with manual management? Not possible.
They turned to Together, a platform that enables mentorship at scale. It allowed employees to take the lead: mentees could specify what they wanted to learn, and the system automatically matched them with the right mentors.
The results? A 49% reduction in employee turnover. That’s not just impressive—it’s transformational. One participant shared, “Every session feels so short for the amount of wealth and knowledge I get from my mentor.” That kind of sentiment mirrors my own early-career experience and reinforces the value of making connections at work available to everyone.
Case study: Lightspeed’s women’s leadership program
Lightspeed had a different goal: empowering women at all levels of leadership through their Women in Product & Technology program. Once they saw how Together’s smart matching and automation worked, they knew it was the solution they needed.
Within the first few months, 50% of mentees spent over 100 minutes in mentorship sessions. One super user logged 750 minutes of one-on-one learning time. Even more powerful was the feedback: “The structure makes me feel like I could mentor a third person right now.”
That’s the magic of removing friction. When your tools are intuitive and your goals are clear, people don’t just participate—they engage deeply.
The power of technology + human connection
This is why I’m so excited about Absorb’s acquisition of Together. By integrating a best-in-class LMS with a powerful coaching and mentoring platform, we’ve created a truly connected learning ecosystem.
This ecosystem doesn’t just deliver content. It connects people.
With AI-powered smart matching, automated workflows, peer-to-peer sessions, and even virtual coffee chats, we’re helping organizations build real relationships that enhance learning and growth. We’re making it easy for employees to both share and absorb knowledge—together.
When I led this session on connections at work at Learning Technologies, I gave the example of George. George is one of your instructional designers. Imagine he wakes up tomorrow and gets an email that says: “We’re launching a mentorship and coaching program.”
He fills out a skills assessment, lists areas he wants to grow (like using AI to boost productivity), and the system assigns him relevant courses and connects him with engineers doing cutting-edge work in that space.
Then George gets a second email: “We see you’re great at content creation. Some customer support reps want to learn from you. Want to mentor them?”
Now George isn’t just a learner—he’s a teacher, a mentor, a connection point for others.
That’s what a complete learning ecosystem looks like. That’s the power of blending tech with human interaction.
Connections at work: What it all comes down to
Connections at work matter. They matter more than we often give them credit for. They are the secret ingredient to lasting learning, deeper engagement, and a sense of belonging.
Learning isn’t just about ticking boxes on a course or scoring high on a quiz. It’s about the growth that happens when people connect, share stories, offer guidance, and support one another.
And when we make it easy for those connections to flourish—when we build structure, strategy, and technology around them—we unlock the full potential of our organizations.
At Absorb, we’re not just building software. We’re building the scaffolding that holds real human growth. And I can’t wait to see how you use it to create better, stronger, more connected workplaces.
Let’s make those connections at work count.
