For companies across industries, the learning and development function (L&D) has become more important and ambitious. Today, companies are seeing accelerating change on many fronts, from corporate transformation efforts and evolving customer behavior to new work and operating models necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Forward-looking companies must pivot quickly in the face of change, which often requires abrupt shifts in the skills and knowledge essential to a modern workforce. Increasingly, employees will need to not only understand and operate advanced technologies, but also work in partnership with artificial intelligence-powered virtual team members — that is, bots. In short, constant and rapid change are givens for companies and workers alike.
As our recent survey of 500 U.S. L&D leaders shows, traditional methods of corporate learning cannot keep up with this pace and breadth of change; they are too rigid and fragmented, too unconnected from employees’ daily work, too inefficient and costly. Fortunately, businesses understand the need for change; survey respondents clearly see a different approach to L&D taking hold.
We believe L&D organizations must apply new technology to provide employees with the up-to-date skills that can transform their offerings and themselves. How are companies planning to achieve such a vision? Our study found they are pursuing reskilling and upskilling strategies; establishing metrics to better track the impact of learning; and partnering with other parts of the organization, especially IT.
For leading organizations, tomorrow’s approach to L&D will be more flexible, engaging and responsive to digital change.
