On August 27th, we welcomed an exclusive group of Digital Workplace Leaders to beautiful Skåvsjöholm for the third annual WorkScape Circle. What began in 2024 as a forum for discussing the future of the digital workplace has developed into a trusted community of leaders navigating one of the most significant workplace transformations of our time. This year, the theme was "Thriving at the speed of change - People and AI at work." As always, the discussions between participants were confidential, creating space for candid conversations, however, we want to share a high-level overview of the expert sessions for Digital Workplace Leaders who were unable to join us.
We started the day with Mervyn Cunningham, Microsoft Employee Skilling Lead for Europe North and South, and his session, Thriving at the speed of change - People and AI at work. Mervyn challenged us to stop viewing change as an occasional event that employees can prepare for. As tools, roles and workflows evolve continuously, learning can no longer sit outside everyday work as a separate talent or HR initiative - it must become a business capability. Drawing on Microsoft’s experience as "Customer Zero," Mervyn shared practical lessons from Microsoft’s own AI transformation. He shared how top executives were doing demos in their team meetings and actively sharing what they’ve learned with their teams. The key to success is not another training campaign, but a broader adoption system built around executive sponsorship, workforce readiness, trust and governance, community, and measurement. The concept of ”Protecting time” for learning from the top down resonated with the group.
Ida Lööv, Head of Digital Capabilities at Stena AB, continued the discussion by sharing how Stena uses its values of Care, Innovation and Performance as a compass for AI adoption. Care means using AI responsibly and supporting colleagues by sharing knowledge. Innovation begins with curiosity and the courage to ask, "What if?" Performance comes through reflection - considering what worked, what did not, what was surprising, and what should be approached differently next time. Ida shared the many initiatives they have introduced at Stena AB, including an AI Mentoring Program, Storyals Copilot Kickstart Program, AI Hub, Learning hours, and a “Copilot Café”. Ida emphasized that leaders play a crucial role in this journey. They need to model curiosity, create psychological safety for experimentation, reward learning rather than perfection, and encourage reflection and knowledge sharing. For Digital Workplace Leaders, this is an important reminder. Adoption does not begin with expertise - it begins when people feel safe enough to explore, ask questions, and learn together.
Rasmus Holst, CEO of Zensai, and Nina Carøe, Chief Human Success Officer at Zensai, challenged us to look more critically at how we measure AI value. Rasmus welcomed us “into his boardroom” and shared what it is like being a CEO today: ensuring your CFO doesn’t fall off the chair as the CTO consumes AI tokens like fuel - in the pursuit of rapid innovation. In a highly entertaining presentation that felt almost like a tandem race, Rasmus and Nina walked us through the concept of Human Success: the critical middle layer between AI activity and business outcomes. They shared their newly published book with all attendees, “The Human Success Playbook” and introduced the ultimate KPI based on Learning, Engagement and Performance.
Ulrika Frimmel, CEO of Brilliant Future, brought the conversation back to the fundamentals of high-performing organizations: psychological safety, effective collaboration, engagement, feedback and trust. Her message was that these human needs have not changed - but the world around us has. Managers are now expected not only to deliver results and develop people, but also to: drive change, support hybrid work, lead AI transformation, build new capabilities, protect wellbeing and foster innovation. A long laundry list of demands that keeps increasing - while the time available for leadership does not. Her conclusion captured the opportunity beautifully: the organizations that succeed will not necessarily be those with the most technology, but those that use AI to make leadership more human.
After lunch, Hannele Takala, Digital Workplace Professional at Sandvik, brought us into the story of Sandvik’s first global Prompt-a-thon. With music playing in the background and her hips moving to the beat, she shared the story of an “AI festival” where more than 800 colleagues came together to apply their newly gained AI skills to address real business priorities. Participants were supported by AI Buddies and expert juries in an environment designed to be practical, safe, fun and business-focused. The Prompt-a-thon resulted in the ”Sandvik Playbook of Prompts” - a collection of prompts, agents, business scenarios and supporting resources. Hannele’s lessons were clear: people learn by doing, community matters, and structure and planning are essential to create space for creativity.
Usman Afzal, Solution Architect at Microsoft, then took us beyond AI assistants and Copilots into The Agentic Workplace - when AI starts doing the work on our behalf. Naturally, his presentation was fully AI-generated, and for many (who don’t work at Microsoft) a glimpse into what might be our future: aka.ms/workscape. He introduced us to his team of “digital colleagues”, specialized AI agents that help him stay on top of his work.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Elizabeth Marsh, Director of Digital Work Research, focused on a question that is becoming increasingly urgent: Do we actually know whether our workforce is ready for AI? Elizabeth showed that AI literacy cannot be treated as an isolated competence. It rests on a broader foundation of Data- and Digital literacy. She shared horror stories of what happens when AI is applied without the underlying digital skills. In her session, she introduced the integrated digital skills model, which measures seven domains of digital skills and is built on the European Commission's DigComp framework.
Elizabeth emphasized the growing importance of domain six, “Digital mindset and behaviors” in today’s fast-paced, AI-powered workplace - especially as digital wellbeing comes under pressure from increasing AI workslop and the mental fatigue often described as “brain fry.”
Elizabeth’s session created a natural bridge to a particularly meaningful milestone for Storyals. For the first time, we demonstrated Storyals Digital Skills Navigator to an external audience. All WorkScape Circle attendees were given early access so that they could experience the assessment themselves and provide feedback as early users.
Across all the sessions, six themes appeared repeatedly:
Perhaps the clearest reflection from this third WorkScape Circle is that AI transformation is becoming less about the tool itself and more about the organizational system around it. Skills, workflows, leadership, culture, measurement, and human judgment cannot be addressed separately. They reinforce one another.
A heartfelt thank you to all the speakers, attendees and partners who contributed their insights, energy and openness. WorkScape Circle remains an intimate, in-person forum by design. The round-table discussions, shared experiences and informal conversations are what make it truly valuable. This year, those conversations continued long after the final session - over refreshments, live music, a barbecue dinner and a boat journey through the Stockholm archipelago under a full moon. Next year, we look forward to bringing Digital Workplace Leaders together again for the next WorkScape Circle - this time in Dubai.