Friday Plenary
Individual Agency, Collective Power: Rethinking the Role of Workplace Learning
Organisations are under growing pressure to build people who can think independently, adapt rapidly and contribute to goals that keep shifting . And yet most learning strategies still optimise for the individual at the expense of collective performance, or for compliance at the expense of genuine capability. This dynamic session brings together bold perspectives from leaders who are navigating that tension in practice, challenging each other and the audience on what it really takes to develop people who can act with agency in service of shared purpose. Expect an interactive conversation that asks more than it answers - and leaves you with a question you will not be able to ignore.
Patrik Hedljung
AI Catalyst, Scania
Patrik Hedljung is an AI Catalyst at Scania, where he drives the adoption of generative AI across the organisation. With a background in learning, development and leadership, he focuses on the human and organisational conditions needed to turn AI from an individual productivity tool into a shared capability and organisational change. His work explores how organisations can build agency, responsible experimentation and new ways of working in an AI-enabled future.
Serena Gonsalves-Fersch
Global Talent and Learning Leader/ Advisory Board Member, Shape the Future Consortium
I am Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch, Global Talent and Learning Leader, and the 2024 Colin Steed Award winner for Outstanding Contribution to Learning.
With a doctorate from Middlesex University on the future of learning and talent development in hyper-growth organizations, I have built and led key Talent functions and initiatives including L&D, performance management, succession planning, leadership development, talent identification, DEIB, and corporate universities.
Having been both a client-facing management consultant, and an internal head of Talent functions, I see myself as a consultative problem solver. I have extensive experience in creating, building, transforming, restructuring, managing, and leading Talent, Learning and Engagement strategies that are technology enhanced, business-value driven, and commercially minded. I build and thrive in dynamic environments where creativity and leadership drive impact, and ensure I take teams and organisations along on the journey.
As a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute, an advisory board member to start-ups and think-tanks in L&D, a co-founder of Women in Learning & Leadership (WILL) and an industry speaker, I am passionate in both research and giveback to contribute to addressing the global skills gap, studying the relationships between humans and technology in future organisations, creating skills frameworks, and advancing learning and talent innovation.
My expertise also spans impactful and measurable organizational design and development, change management, and implementing talent and learning systems to future-proof workforces.
Moderator
Laura Overton
Analyst - Explorer - Writer - Facilitator, Learning Changemakers
Laura Overton is an award-winning research and founder of Learning Changemakers.