2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

By 2026, digital JSAs, operational digital twins, sentry cobots, AI copilots, and wearable technologies are no longer futuristic concepts — they are becoming part of everyday work. Yet these same technologies sit at a critical crossroads: they can be used to surveil people to ensure they do work compliantly, or to design systems so people can work safely.
The difference isn’t the technology. It’s intent.
This session takes participants through a “day in the life” of three roles in 2026 — a frontline worker, a manager, and an engineer — each interacting with advanced digital tools. For each role, two possible futures are explored. In one, technology becomes a compliance engine, amplifying oversight, reinforcing blame, and threatening professional identity and expertise. In the other, technology becomes a capacity-building partner, reshaping work design, revealing hidden constraints, and enabling resilient human performance.
Drawing on Human and Organizational Performance (HOP, the session explores a central tension of innovation: every innovation threatens someone’s expertise — and resistance is often a rational and predictable response. Participants will examine how intent, governance, and organizational learning practices determine whether technology becomes a digital tattletale or a cognitive aid.
This session explores the next frontier of HOP: designing digital systems that support how humans actually think, learn, and perform.

Frontlines workers are hired to complete tasks. Sometimes those tasks are completed in dynamic environments working close to high energy. Cognitive overload is a real issue for workers adapting to solve problems, especially if a task is unfamiliar.

What if we told you that human error isn’t the problem – it’s the key to improvement?  Welcome to the world of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), where failure isn’t a dead end but a doorway to learning.  In this engaging and eye-opening session, we’ll break down the core principles of HOP, exploring how organizations can shift from a culture of blame to one of resilience, adaptability, and continuous improvement.   Through real-world examples, interactive discussion, and practical takeaways, you’ll discover why traditional safety and performance models fall short – and how embracing a HOP mindset can drive better outcomes for individuals, teams, and entire organizations.  Whether you’re new to HOP or looking to reinforce foundational concepts, this session will challenge the way you think about mistakes, accountability, and success.