Intel is struggling to deliver growth and profitability in the age of AI, making it a takeover target. While it’s easy to pile onto company failures when missteps hit the media, Intel’s situation provides 3 valuable lessons for Learning & Development Directors.

1. Tie Everything Back to Culture

Core values and how they come alive inside the company are what creates your corporate culture.

Every strategic priority, every training curriculum, every performance management program should tie back to culture — both the what you do and the how you do things at your company.

According to MIT research, of Intel’s Big 9 cultural values, the most frequently discussed value is Agility and the most positively discussed value is Innovation.

In Intel’s case it seems somewhere there was a disconnect between the strategic bets made and the internal measures that make sure they live up to their most treasured core values.

If you’re not seeing evidence of activities tying back to core values and you’re tasked with training directives to help the company grow, it’s time to revamp your partnerships and programs and ensure they align to your core values.

2. Partner to Customize Complete Solutions

It’s difficult to keep pace with the best approaches to curriculum design and delivery that will close skill gaps for your people, which makes partnering with external providers essential.

Have copy-paste programs failed to create lasting change for your organization in the past?

It’s important to find training providers who partner with you to customize their offerings and create a complete solution that fits your needs.

Walk away from any potential provider who doesn’t have a plan to do each of the following:

• Assess
• Customize
• Deliver
• Measure
• Remind
• Support
• Report

While it wasn’t related to Learning & Development, I remember years working on co-marketing efforts with Intel during my time at Dell Technologies. There was considerable rigor around language, logo size and placement, competing partner relationships, metrics, etc.

They were stringent about what it took to retain a successful partnership with them and the requirements were anchored in another one of the Big 9, Performance.

Learn from how Intel has misstepped in relation to some of its core values and don’t repeat their mistakes.

3. Prioritize Continuity Investments & Insights

The real value of any investment in training comes in the weeks, months and years after its completion. While you’ll never be able to predict a program’s success with complete certainty, focusing on prioritizing continuity investments and insights will give you the best possible opportunity for success.

Rather than building efforts around one-off training and workshops, the best ROI will come from investing in full programs with continuity built in and regular reports and organizational accountability that demonstrate value over time.

Data from Intellium shows that 43% of companies have reported increased revenue since implementing an education program.

Conclusion

Intel's struggles with growth and profitability provide valuable lessons for Learning & Development Directors who want to help their organizations survive, innovate and live into their corporate culture.

By focusing on the right strategic partners and ensuring commitment to critical skills over the long-term, companies can position themselves to compete and have the cultural integrity that attracts and retains key talent.