CMR Institute

AI isn’t changing the need for expertise, but rather where that expertise shows up.

In this blog, our Senior eLearning Developer & Instructional Designer, Shelly Cline, explores how AI is reshaping the role of instructional designers.

For decades, instructional designers were primarily content creators—writing scripts, building slides, and producing assets. Today, AI can generate drafts, variations, images, and translations in seconds.

What AI produces, however, is closer to raw material than finished learning.

The real work is selecting, refining, and reshaping those outputs into experiences that align with how people actually learn: sequencing ideas, building opportunities for practice, and connecting learning to real-world performance.

As Shelly C. explains, the role of the instructional designer is shifting from creator to curator.

The tool generates. The expert decides what matters.

Read the blog: https://buff.ly/Q3NA2Er

LTEN 2026 is less than 2 weeks away!

As a proud Titanium PIP partner and LTEN Excellence Awards sponsor, Team CMR is looking forward to an incredible week of learning, conversations, and celebrations in sunny Florida!

This year, we’re bringing Café CMR to Booth 307, where you can experience expertly brewed learning, connect with our team, and celebrate 60 years of life sciences training excellence. ☕

We’re also excited to be leading two sessions at this year’s conference:

🔹 Learning Lab
From Content to Capability: Building Field-Ready Teams Without Rebuilding Everything
📅 June 16, 2026 | 1:10–1:30 PM ET

🔹 Workshop
No Team, No Blueprint, No Problem: A Framework for Building Commercial Training That Sticks
📅 June 16, 2026 | 3:30–4:30 PM ET

Whether you’re navigating training transformation, field readiness, or building more agile learning strategies, we’d love to connect with you at LTEN.

See you at Booth 307!

Why empathy is essential in today’s environment

In an increasingly complex healthcare landscape, professionals are expected to balance scientific knowledge, business objectives, and human connection.

At its core, empathy is understanding another person’s experience, even if you haven’t had that same experience yourself. In practice, that means understanding what your customer is worried about, what they value, and what pressures they’re managing day to day.

Empathy enables life sciences professionals to:

✔ Navigate high-stakes or emotionally charged conversations

✔ Build credibility and trust with healthcare professionals

✔ Understand underlying needs, concerns, and priorities

✔ Respond in a way that is both informed and appropriate

Long gone are the days of seeing empathy as a communication style.

Today, it is lauded as a capability that directly influences relationship strength and performance outcomes. Empathy helps professionals anticipate concerns and offer potential solutions that can cement productive relationships.

To support these critical skills, CMR has released new SoundBites focused on communicating and selling with empathy.

Read more: https://buff.ly/aK2JjrK

Communicating and Selling with Empathy: New CMR SoundBites for Sales and Leadership Conversations Explore new CMR SoundBites focused on empathy training for life sciences professionals. Strengthen sales, leadership, and customer conversations through practical communication skills and empathetic listening techniques.