What does it mean to be “ready” for a role? In 2026, HR leaders will measure employee readiness not by course completions or scores, but by how quickly people can contribute, no matter what is happening around them.
“Readiness no longer means completing a training or passing a test,” says Jayney Howson, senior vice president of global workforce skills and talent readiness at ServiceNow. “It means showing up ready to perform in an environment that’s constantly evolving.” She describes this as a move away from passive consumption toward learning that is active, applied and connected to daily work.
Jayney Howson, ServiceNowHowson expects a broader change in learning culture. Traditional training models, long treated as scheduled, siloed and separate from the work itself, are giving way to continuous development supported by real-time validation.
Through ServiceNow University, Howson spearheads talent and workforce transformation, helping the company reach its goal of upskilling 3 million learners by 2027.
In Howson’s view, organizations will prioritize “minimum viable time to readiness,” tracking how quickly someone can apply new skills rather than how many hours they spend in training.
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