How Managers Can Use AI for Team Development

Casey Adams

vendredi 16 janvier 2026

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Learning isn’t about how much content people consume. It’s about what they can do with it. 

Yet, the learning and development metrics that most businesses track have long focused on exposure, consumption, and completion: Attend the class, finish the program, check the box. 

Real development doesn’t happen as a result of skimming a slide deck or attending a one-time workshop. It happens through application, practice, feedback, and iteration. It happens when people try, reflect, adapt and try again.

And that’s where managers come in.

Managers are uniquely positioned to turn learning into development by creating the space to apply and pressure test new skills. They unlock moments to practice and experiment, and they can lead by example. 

That’s always been true, but what has changed is how quickly and effectively managers can make skill development happen with AI.

But first, let’s take a step back. Why does experiential learning and practice matter so much?

Experiential Learning for Team Development

Early in my career, I led the retail training team at Cabela’s, an outdoor retailer. There, learning was practical and experiential by necessity. Employees weren’t just expected to know about the outdoor products they sold, they had to demonstrate how to use them. Fly fishing demos. Dutch oven cook-offs. Tent speed setups. We had to have active experience using the products.

Customers expected expertise in the products we carried, and the business’ success depended on it. If you were selling it, you were expected to know how it worked because you’d actually done it. These events and demos helped us get real experience with the products we were selling. We practiced our skills in real time. Learning was hands-on, social, and… fun. And it worked.

That same principle applies in today’s workplace, even when work is largely virtual. People learn best when they practice in conditions that resemble reality.

But as effective as “real-world” practice is, it’s still practice. At Cabela’s, we were learning and attempting to use these products, but in a gamified way where we were surrounded by peers. We weren’t learning at the moment that a key sale was at risk. 

Practice in safe, low-risk environments builds confidence. Repetition builds muscle memory. Feedback accelerates improvement. And it’s the manager’s job to coach their team, helping them upskill and be well-rehearsed for the moments that matter. 

How Managers Create the Right Learning Opportunities

Organizations can provide employees with the content, the tools, and even the key focus areas for upskilling, but it is managers who are best positioned to build a culture of development and create opportunities for real-world practice. Managers can say, “I know how hard you’ve been practicing, why don’t you try that next presentation?” or “You’ve been learning how to do that with AI, why don’t you try it for this project?”

Managers have four key responsibilities to help boost development:

1. Define the boundaries. Teams need clarity on which skills matter now and which ones will matter next. That starts with clear goals and a shared understanding of what “good” looks like now, and how the standard is changing.
   
2. Encourage—and model—experimentation. Telling people to use AI is easy. Learning out loud is a lot harder. When managers experiment themselves, they can share what works (and what doesn’t), and learning accelerates. It sets the tone and standard for the whole team. 
   I once had to build basic business intelligence dashboards without any prior experience. My first version wasn’t great. I shared it anyway. Someone on the team said, “Hey boss, nice idea, but this isn’t very good,” and they took it further and did it ten times better. That person became the expert, the team got better data, and learning was celebrated as valuable for everyone on the team. But they were unleashed to try and fail because I had done so first.
3. Build the learning culture. Culture shows up in small behaviors and habits. How often people are encouraged to practice. How often they get feedback. How safe it feels to try and fail. When learning is integrated into the job, not an extra chore, development follows.
   
4. Highlight learning wins. Organizations celebrate deals closed, products shipped, and targets hit. Learning deserves the same spotlight. When managers showcase newly developed skills, recognize progress, and reward experimentation, they reinforce behaviors that drive long-term growth.

But even the best leaders face real constraints. Time is the biggest one. Calendars fill up quickly, coaching becomes reactive, rather than proactive and development slips.

This is where AI-powered learning experiences fundamentally change the game.

Using AI to Amplify and Maximize Personalized Learning

No one wants their first attempt at a new skill to happen in front of a customer or critical stakeholder. A missed deal. A broken relationship. Lost credibility. 

In high-stakes moments, “learning on the job” is a luxury most teams don’t have.

That’s why practice matters. And it’s why managers can’t leave development to chance. Traditional learning makes this harder than it needs to be. It introduces friction at every step—searching for the right content, waiting for feedback, or trying to find a safe moment to apply a new skill. All of that eats into already limited time. And when time runs out, practice is the first thing to go.

AI changes that. 

AI allows managers to shift learning before the moment of risk. It compresses feedback loops. It personalizes practice. It lets people rehearse in realistic, low-risk environments on their own time and in their own context, so they’re ready when it counts.

Here’s how managers can enable AI in practice:

Streamline processes and standards

If you want your team to practice using AI, make it easy. Create clear standards and repeatable environments, like a custom AI agent, an AI workflow, or even a shared prompt. Then, encourage the team to share early and often the successes they have with everyone. This enables them to work faster and, ideally, to continue iterating on the process. 

Empower the team with AI learning tools and rewarding development

Not all AI is created equal. The right AI matters here. The most effective tools combine skill data, internal company knowledge, adaptability, and contextual learning science principles built in. Teams should be able to use AI tools to practice new skills immediately, in their own context, at the correct level of expertise, and in their own language. That speed and right-sizing will translate directly into confidence, readiness, and performance. 

Lead by example to build the desired culture

Managers still set the tone. Use AI yourself and find out what works (or what doesn’t). Invite your team to improve on it and reward discovery of new and better ideas. Uncover the possibilities of AI together. When experimentation becomes normal, learning accelerates. And when priorities inevitably shift, teams that know how to learn can shift with them.  

I’m fortunate to have tools like Degreed Maestro readily available to create realistic simulations like sales conversations, objection handling, leadership dialogues, and consulting scenarios that my team can use to practice repeatedly. The biggest benefit is they can get feedback on how they are doing, without needing me to provide it in every session. My biggest constraint as a leader is my full calendar, and now it doesn’t have to impact my team’s development. I can turn feedback cycles from weeks and months to days and hours. 

Manager Development with AI

As teams level up, managers have to level up too. AI can help managers rehearse high stakes conversations, refine communication, and deliver more targeted coaching through data-driven insights.

With the right data and AI-enabled guidance, managers can focus on what matters most: guiding people from where they are today to where the organization needs them to be next. This is also one of the fastest ways to accelerate individual career growth.  

AI, Personalized Learning, and Leadership

AI doesn’t replace learning or leadership. It amplifies both.

When managers use AI to scale practice, personalize feedback, and celebrate learning in action, development becomes part of everyday work. Teams move faster. Confidence grows. Learning stops being something people consume and becomes something they do.

That level of transformation starts with managers. And it is carried forward by their teams.