NEW YORK, N.Y. — September 15th, 2026 — USA TODAY Co. has won a 2026 Brandon Hall Group™ Gold HCM Excellence Award® in the Best Results of a Learning Program category for “Closing the AI Adoption Gap,” a program developed in partnership with Flint Learning Solutions.
The 2026 Brandon Hall Group™ HCM Excellence Awards® recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results across Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition, Human Resources, Sales Performance, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and the Future of Work.
Like many organizations, USA TODAY Co. had invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses for its employees including its HR teams. But access is not the same as adoption, and before the program the teams were reaching for Copilot only sporadically.
USA TODAY Co. and Flint Learning Solutions focused on turning capability into habit. Flint delivered bite-sized, AI-personalized activities, each under a minute to read, that prompted HR professionals to apply Copilot to a real task they were already doing, from summarizing survey results to drafting clear communications and building data visuals.
Managers were part of the measurement framework and independently confirmed the improvements they observed. Usage was measured at the team level, giving leaders a clear, aggregate view of how adoption was climbing across the function.
Over an 11-week pilot, the program produced measurable, sustained results, including:
- An 82% increase in weekly Copilot actions across participating teams, from 309 to 562 per week (measured at the team level);
- 96.6% of participants demonstrating manager-validated improvement;
- More than 73% of learners reporting greater confidence using AI on daily HR work, all in under six minutes per learner per week.
Even after the program ended, Copilot usage data showed the new habits stuck with the people who did the activities.
“Getting our people fluent with AI in their day-to-day work is one of the biggest productivity opportunities in front of us. This program moved our HR teams from occasional experimenting to using Copilot with real confidence on the work that matters, and it did it right inside their workflow,” said Craig Lutz, Sr. Director Talent Development, USA TODAY Co..
“Every company is paying for AI licenses right now. The companies that win the next few years will be the ones whose people actually use it every day. USA TODAY Co. showed how fast that shift can happen when you make adoption part of the daily workflow, and it's a model any organization sitting on underused AI licenses should pay attention to,” said James Glover, CEO of Flint Learning Solutions.
Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based on the following criteria: alignment to their business need and environment; program design, functionality and delivery; adoption, integration, user experience, innovation and creativity; and overall effectiveness, impact, and measurable benefits.
The complete list of 2026 winners is available at excellenceawards.brandonhall.com/winners.
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About USA TODAY Co.: USA TODAY Co., Inc. is a diversified media company with expansive reach at the national and local level dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. Our mission is to inspire, inform, and connect audiences. As a media and digital marketing solutions company we are focused on sustainable growth. Through our trusted brands, including the USA TODAY NETWORK, comprised of the national publication, USA TODAY, and our network of local properties, in the United States, and Newsquest, a wholly-owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom, we provide essential journalism, local content, and digital experiences to audiences and businesses. We deliver trusted unbiased journalism when and where consumers want it. LocaliQ, our digital marketing solutions brand, supports small and medium-sized businesses with innovative digital marketing products and solutions.
About Flint Learning Solutions: Flint Learning Solutions transforms how organizations develop on-the-job behaviors through AI-personalized, bite-sized activities that integrate seamlessly into daily work. Flint’s solution delivers measurable behavior change through on-the-job practice, enhancing existing training programs, with AI and machine learning that tailor activities to each person’s role, skillset, and experience level. Flint helps talent leaders prove the ROI of their development initiatives through documented behavior change and measurable business impact. For more information, visit www.flintls.com.
About Brandon Hall Group™: Brandon Hall Group™ is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. For over 30 years, Brandon Hall Group has empowered, recognized, and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Its HCM Excellence Awards® program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is widely known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.”
Media Contact: Heidi Peterson, Flint Learning Solutions · heidi.peterson@flintls.com