Anti-Chaos, Pro-Learning

By Catherine Doyle

6 minute read

Workplace learning is at a breaking point. There’s more content than ever, more skills to develop, and more platforms to navigate, yet somehow, employees are still stuck in the same cycle: endless searches, irrelevant results, and no clear direction.

Digital transformation was supposed to simplify things, but it’s only added fuel to the fire. Generative AI seemed like the answer - producing everything from instant courses to personalised recommendations. But instead of solving the chaos, it’s often made things worse, flooding already-overloaded platforms with even more content to get lost in.

Look at content bloat. Companies like Mitsubishi boast 21.8 learning hours per employee annually, and Electrolux doubled its training hours between 2021 and 2022. But, a McKinsey report shows 60% of employees don’t feel they’ve gained the right skills from all that training. More content doesn’t equal better learning. Learners are consuming more, but learning less.

Consumption = Chaos. 

And what about discoverability? Employees spend so much time searching for content they give up before they find anything useful. A Deloitte report says 50% of workers feel overwhelmed by the amount of resources available. If you’ve ever tried to search for something in a bloated LMS, you know the struggle.

Then there’s the way we consume content. Learners today want quick, actionable resources - think podcasts, short videos, and interactive tools. But many organisations are still stuck offering outdated click-next courses. It’s no surprise that 94% of employees prefer micro-learning.

The rate of change is compounding - 42% of core job skills will be different in two years. Yet the current approach to workplace learning just isn’t cutting it. Employees need precision, relevance, and impact and they need it now.

Finally, the pressure to act quickly on skills gaps is ever-increasing. For example, one tech company faced challenges up-skilling leaders for rapidly changing markets but found its traditional pathways unfit for purpose - completion rates sat discouragingly low. A recent report from the World Economic Forum highlighted that 42% of the skills required for core jobs will change in the next two years, underscoring the need for agile, responsive learning strategies.

These examples paint an un-pretty picture: the current approach to navigating learning at work isn't working. In my career so far, especially when launching and marketing learning platforms to enterprise audiences, I've learned about some of the tactics you need to cut through the chaos that reigns in organisations of almost any size. It’s time for a framework that doesn't just cut through chaos but, eliminates it and delivers focused, actionable, and relevant learning at every step.

 


What L&D is facing

Let’s be real: Content Chaos isn’t just frustrating - it’s expensive. Outdated systems and bloated platforms waste time, money, and resources and leave employees disengaged and underprepared.

Here’s the reality:

  • Skills frameworks are stale. 70% of employees don’t have the skills they need to meet job demands. Static frameworks that don’t evolve with the business aren’t helping anyone.
  • Content libraries are too much. LinkedIn Learning reports 60% of L&D pros think employees spend too much time searching for learning content. When you’re scrolling for hours to find something useful, the problem isn’t the learner - it’s the idea behind the system. We need to move from systems of consumption to learning thats about taking action.
  • Nobody can find the best stuff. Even the best content is useless if it’s buried under 100 irrelevant courses. Skillsoft found that 63% of employees struggle to find what they need. 
  • Engagement is low. Employees aren’t excited about their LMS or LXP, and who can blame them? Outdated formats and irrelevant content drive workers to YouTube, TikTok and Reddit for better resources.
  • Impact is unclear. Only 21% of L&D professionals can confidently measure the impact of their learning programs, says Training Industry. Without insights, there’s no way to improve.

The shift from monolithic learning platforms to focused academies between 2019 and 2021 charts a path for the kind of targeted, action-led systems we need. Take IBM, for example. They poured millions into their learning platforms, thinking more content would solve the problem. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Employees were drowning in options and couldn’t find what they actually needed, so engagement tanked. After realising that throwing more content at the problem wasn’t the answer, IBM revamped its system to focus on relevance and ease of use. The result? Employees started engaging again, and learning finally started working like it should.

L&D teams are working hard, but the system is broken. Existing products are inherently designed to capture records of consumption and at best, facilitate browsing. Search is universally not good. What’s missing is a platform that culls the chaos and delivers focused, action-oriented learning that actually works.

What these organisations lack is an integrated, end-to-end system that tackles Content Chaos from every angle - from dynamic skills frameworks to precise end-user delivery. Without this, the gaps between L&D strategy and learner outcomes remain unbridged.

Filtered is closing these gaps. By introducing an action-oriented delivery layer for end users, the Anti-Chaos Learning Platform completes its transformation into a full-stack solution that connects L&D buyers to learner success.

 


Some of the challenges and outcomes

  1. Outdated skills frameworks
    Challenge: GSK's learning resources weren’t being used. Employees felt the content was irrelevant, leadership programs were disconnected from business goals, and engagement had hit rock bottom. It was clear their approach wasn’t delivering the impact they needed.
    Outcome: By aligning their skills framework to future-ready priorities, streamlining content, and trimming their vendor pool, we saved them £300k annually. The result? A focused, high-impact learning system that boosted engagement and aligned perfectly with business goals.

  2. Bloated content libraries
    Challenge: AstraZeneca was struggling to manage its massive learning content budget. With multiple content libraries and multi-year vendor contracts, they weren’t sure if their investment was delivering the right impact. Employees needed more relevant content in better formats, but the company lacked clear insights to make confident decisions.
    Outcome: Filtered revealed a 41% saving opportunity on their external content spend. By conducting a full market review, we helped AstraZeneca streamline their libraries, improve content relevance, and offer better formats, durations, and languages for their people. The result? A sharper, more tailored learning experience and a massive annual cost saving.

  3. Poor discoverability
    Challenge: Employees at Cigna were stuck hopping between systems, searching aimlessly for content that wasn’t aligned with their career paths. It was a time-suck and an engagement killer.
    Outcome: Filtered came in and tagged 10% of 300,000 resources against 800 skills, saving a massive 17,000 hours. By connecting content directly to job profiles and talent needs, everything clicked. Employees now get exactly what they need without wasting time and it all happens seamlessly across systems. When the search works, learning actually happens.

  4. Disconnected learners 
    Challenge: Swisscom’s learning pathways were all over the place. With thousands of outdated, irrelevant, and poorly engaged paths, employees were stuck in a maze of content that didn’t align with their current needs. It was pathway chaos.
    Outcome: Filtered’s Pathway Audit Service brought clarity. We tagged and mapped pathways to the most critical skills, identifying gaps and removing excess. The result? Swisscom streamlined over 3,400 pathways, saving time, cutting clutter, and focusing only on what mattered. Learning became relevant, actionable, and aligned with their business goals.


 

 

The Anti-Chaos, Action-Oriented approach

Solving Content Chaos isn’t about adding more tools or content - it’s about integrating every stage of the learning journey into a coherent framework. The Anti-Chaos, Action-Oriented Approach addresses challenges from strategy to delivery, ensuring both L&D teams and learners succeed.

  1. Dynamic skills frameworks
    Skills change fast, so frameworks need to keep up. Filtered builds adaptable, AI-powered frameworks that evolve with business needs.
  2. Fewer, better resources
    A good library isn’t a big one - it’s a focused one. By cutting the clutter and keeping only the best content, Filtered helps organisations save money and deliver impact.
  3. Search that works
    If learners can’t find what they need, they won’t use the system. Filtered’s advanced search and tagging make discoverability effortless.
  4. Action-Oriented end-user functionality
    Learning only matters if it drives results. Filtered’s personalised pathways, bite-sized modules, and interactive coaching empower employees to take action.
  5. Analytics that are filtered by relevance
    Measure the learning actions that are relevant to your strategy. Not the random noise that isn't. Filtered’s analytics tools give L&D teams the insights they need to prove impact because we understand which content and pathways are relevant to your priority learning topics. 

As the urgent need to solve Content Chaos has become apparent for many organisations, Filtered’s approach is resonating strongly across the market. This is why our platform has been adopted by over 25 enterprise customers, all seeking clarity and effectiveness in their learning initiatives. As Steven Rick of ECITB puts it:

"I can’t wait for us to create calmness for our customers, in the chaos of content, no matter the platform or learning environment 👏."

This framework isn’t about delivering more, it’s about delivering better. By closing the loop from strategy to end-learner, Filtered transforms workplace learning into a cohesive, impactful experience at every stage.

 


 

Closing the loop with our new end-user offering

This chaos only stops when the user experience works. Here’s where it all comes together: the final piece of Filtered’s Anti-Chaos Learning Platform is a delivery layer built for learners to get things done. Alone, GenAI can often add to the content mess, throwing more generic content at users without the ability to search internally or externally validated content. As Tom Norman from PepsiCo explains:

"LLMs aren’t great search engines when you have a large amount of data to trawl through, like a learning catalogue. This is a brilliant way to bring ultra-personalised, hyper relevant search results to an intelligent GPT powered chatbot. Bravo!"

Filtered solves this by combining AI with our unmatched precision search, ultra-personalised pathways, and includes only the most necessary action-oriented features that guide employees, distraction free to what they actually need - when they need it.

The action-learning paradigm requires that we consider learners as no longer passive consumers of training content anymore; they’re engaging with learning that’s actually tailored to their roles and goals. Check out our new end-user features in action:

 

This final layer delivers what workplace learning has been missing: focus, relevance, and action. No fluff, no wasted time - just results.

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