We caught up with Jordan from the Organisational Development team to chat all things experimentation and continuous learning. From trying new things in everyday life to bringing a learning mindset into the workplace, Jordan shares how he keeps curiosity at the heart of what he does 🚀
Tell us a little about your role and what L&D looks after at Rightmove
Hello! I’m Jordan and I am the Skills and Performance Lead at Rightmove, sitting in our Organisational Development team. Our team covers all things Talent Development, from more traditional Learning & Development (L&D) opportunities like Leadership training, through to talent management and succession planning. My role in the team is to support the organisation with our approach to performance, enabling our teams to be high performing, as well as skills enablement with a particular focus on AI right now.
When did AI first become something you started actively exploring in your life/role in Rightmove? What are the wins so far?
I first started using AI with the early access of ChatGPT. I’m not a “traditionally techy” person, but I’ve always been very curious with new tools and gadgets. When I found out about it, I just wanted to play around with it and see what it could do. I remember I first used it to create some poetry and joke song lyrics, and I was amazed at what it could do back then, let alone how far we’ve come in the three years since. There are so many ways I use it within work to help me. Sometimes it’s mundane things like asking it to help me find a file I know I had seen but couldn’t quite remember where it was, and then other times it’s doing complicated (for me) Excel wizardry I would never be able to do but then creating a beautiful dashboard.
How are you personally using AI in your day-to-day work today?
Aside from those examples, there’s a few key things I use it for.
- Data analysis – I am a huge advocate that within L&D, a lot of the work we do should be grounded in data and enable us to make data-driven decisions. Whether that’s creating a solution from solid data and evidence-based, so we know we’re targeting something meaningful within Rightmove, or it’s being able to understand and find patterns in the data we do have that help us tell meaningful stories.
- Workshop design – Designing workshops takes a lot of time, and AI really helps in getting your structure right, and turning notes and conversations into actionable outputs. AI tools give you the foundation to then apply your creativity, judgement and design skills and spend less time on the repeatable, standard stuff.
- Coaching – Coaching is such an incredibly valuable development opportunity for those who are fortunate enough to have it, but not everyone can afford to have coaching for various reasons. AI helps to bridge that accessibility gap for low-stakes meetings where you’d benefit from some quick coaching, you now have the ability to have personalised support which can be really beneficial to give you the help in the moment you need it. We have our own internally designed conversation coach agent which at the very least allows you to understand your own thinking and provide a soundboard to support you.
What’s the L&D team’s view on Rightmovers experimenting with new technology?
From an L&D perspective, I think it doesn’t matter if it’s AI or leveraging the latest technology day to day. What matters is that you’re staying current with what is happening, you’re continuously evolving and you are willing to learn and adapt with the business. Curiosity is an incredibly undervalued trait; being eager to learn why something works or understand who someone is and their perspective helps you grow and become more enriched as a person.
How do you encourage people to experiment with AI without feeling they need to be experts?
The easiest way to think about it is to ground it in real use cases but in a way where people feel like they can fail and be okay. If people are afraid to use it because they’re not sure if it’s in line with your data policy, they just won’t use it. You need to create the conditions for people to feel safe that if they mess up – hey that’s okay! That’s what experimenting is all about.
How can AI help Rightmovers become more effective in their roles?
Everyone is time poor! One of the biggest reasons we hear why people don’t use it is they don’t have the time to learn how to use it. They may try once or twice, and then the output isn’t what they want so they give up. If there’s something you find yourself doing the 4-5 times a month, it’s worth investing the time to understand and learn how it can help you with that thing and do it harder/better/faster/stronger.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?
Everything moves so quickly – rather than get stuck in details, you should invest in the “no-regret skills” – skills that will last, always be relevant and help you make the most of whatever tool you use.
As an example, developing your critical thinking skills can set you up for success when using AI much more than learning something like “prompt engineering” where the mechanics of it change frequently. You can get really bogged down and overwhelmed by the sheer pace of change, so for me I’ve found it more useful to learn these broader concepts around AI, so when there are all these changes, you can use your time more valuably.
What’s one thing you’d recommend to somebody who’s curious about AI but doesn’t know where to start?
There are so many free resources you can use which help you. All the big tech companies – Google, Anthropic, OpenAI – all have their own training that is free for people to use and a great starting point.
Outside of that, just play around with it on things you want for your personal life. Ask it to help put together a gym plan for you. Ask it to help plan your next holiday. Take a photo of your kitchen cupboard and ask it for meal inspiration using only the ingredients you have in the cupboard.
Once you start to see where it’s useful and where it’s not, you’ll more easily be able to spot opportunities within your work where you can use it.
