Research Topics

The Core Risk: Strategic Lock-In & IP Dilution The Problem: PA leaders are torn between the speed of "All-in-One" vendor AI and the need for Data Sovereignty. If they build their "System of Intelligence" inside a vendor’s proprietary cloud, they create a single point of failure. By feeding their "Crown Jewel" data (e.g., verified skills, mobility patterns) into shared vendor models, they risk losing control of their IP and essentially training the vendor's product for their competitors. The Research Focus: Decoupled vs. Consolidated: Are mature teams moving the "Single Source of Truth" to neutral lakes (Snowflake/Azure) to avoid lock-in, or accepting the vendor suite?The "Data Moat": Which high-value datasets are companies explicitly refusing to share with vendors to protect competitive advantage?The Exit Strategy: Measuring the "Time to Migrate" architecture. Can the organization swap out an AI engine without losing its historical intelligence? The "So What" for the Board: "We are making a 5-year architectural decision. Do we build a 'Data Moat' (Owner mindset) or accept 'Vendor Capture' (Renter mindset)? This determines if we own our future intelligence or lease it."

The Core Risk: The "Skills-to-Work" Disconnect The Problem: Organizations have spent millions building "Skills-Based Organizations" (SBOs), but they are hitting a wall. They know what skills their people have (Supply), but they don't know how those skills map to the specific tasks that need to be done (Demand). Without this link, PA leaders cannot answer the Agent question. They can’t say "Automate this task" because they don’t know which specific skills represent the "human premium" that must be protected vs. the "commoditized skills" that Agents can replace. The Research Focus: The "Job-Skill-Task" Chain: How are leading organizations mapping the full lineage? (e.g., Job = Product Manager → Task = Write User Stories → Skill = Technical Writing).Skills as the "Router": How to use skills data to route work. (e.g., If the task requires Emotional Intelligence, route to Human. If it requires Data Synthesis, route to Agent).Updating the SBO Model: Moving from static "Skills Taxonomies" to dynamic "Work Ontologies" that update automatically as AI changes the skills required for a task. The "So What" for the Board: "We have the Skills data. We have the Agents. This study gives us the 'Task Map' to connect them, so we know exactly what to automate and what to upskill."

The Core Risk: Strategic Blindness & Planning Obsolescence The Problem: Traditional SWP counts "Heads" in "Annual Cycles." This fails in 2026. Leaders are trying to plan in a world of "Labor Whiplash" (Tariffs, Immigration changes) and "Digital Labor" (Agents). They need to move from static Headcount Planning to dynamic Total Capacity Modeling—planning for Tasks rather than Job Titles, and fulfilling that demand through a fluid mix of Humans, Agents, and Contractors. The Research Focus: Total Capacity Modeling: How to combine 4 data streams into one model: Internal Supply (Skills), External Signals (Tariffs/Labor), Digital Labor (Agents), and Contingent (Gig).Task-Based Demand: Shifting the unit of planning from "Roles" to "Tasks." (e.g., Forecasting a demand for 5,000 hours of 'Code Debugging' rather than 3 Software Engineers).The "Whiplash" Engine: Moving to continuous, trigger-based scenarios (e.g., "If tariffs hit 20%, auto-adjust the offshore vs. agent mix"). The "So What" for the Board: "We are planning with 2020 logic. We must stop counting 'Heads' and start modeling 'Capacity'. This study gives us the math to plan for Agents, Tasks, and Humans simultaneously."

Annual update of the PAT market.

People's work experience is changing in this new world of AI. This will be a foundational piece explaining the dimensions of people experience (also known as employee experience or work experience). It is an update on our 2024 Worker Experience Framework.

The use of Generative AI in the workplace may level the playing field when it comes to skills. What will be the new category of KSA's needed to succeed?

Federated, Centralized, or Decentralized: which structure makes sense, and what roles belong in each? Optimization of budget Optimizing portfolio, etc. Financial mgt of the learning org, how to get really good at doing that Look up Dave Vance - a practical way to justify needing a budget (forensic spend analysis) (financial acumen) what other practices are there to undertstand where is the org spending money and can we optimize that spend to pool dollars

How are organizations truly enabling talent mobility, in each of the 5 models we identified in 2021?

As the economy works to find its footing, how are organizations making decisions about what talent is critical, and how to develop that talent?

Too often, organizations try to boost employee wellness by adding more to employees' plates: An app to interact with, a program to follow, a class to take. These efforts, though well-intentioned, don't address a fundamental and underlying driver of employee stress and burnout: There's just too much to do. This project would look at how organizations are simplifying, redesigning, and / or automating work to make workloads more manageable--and the effects those efforts have on employee wellbeing.

Organizations that put purpose at the center of what they do are experiencing challenges on a number of fronts: economic, social, cultural, and political. How are they weathering these challenges? What changes are they making? And how are these new dynamics affecting organizational culture and performance?

The 2020 murder of George Floyd kicked off a host of pledges by corporations to support DEIB efforts more strongly. Fast forward three years, and organizations have laid off DEIB leaders in droves, layoffs have disproportionately impacted employees from diverse backgrounds, and DEIB budgets (never large to begin with) have been slashed. What is a leader to do? This report is designed to understand the current challenges and how leaders might navigate them effectively, as they continue to support DEIB efforts.

With high turnover and a tight labor market in many industries, many organizations face pressure to very quickly get new employees up to speed and performing at full capacity. This can only be done if employees know the right people, have access to the right information, and feel motivated to work well. Building on RedThread's existing research into the different types of connection that are important in organizations, this research will dive into how organizations can help employees form the right connections, quickly.

Update to Coaching Tech Research - 2021

How should organizations consider their ethical responsibility when it comes to employee and company data?