Lack of capacity, priority and support from the business are top challenges for L&D Leaders
Nicolas BEHBAHANI
Global People Analytics & HR Data Leader - People & Culture | Strategical People Analytics Design
??Staff retention is the top people priority, according to L&D professionals?but aligning learning activity to organizational and people priorities continues to be a challenge for learning practitioners, and the current workplace environment is not always conducive to learning and individual development.
Addressing the skills gap is the number one priority for 29% of L&D professionals, but they are prioritizing inputs (for example, increasing self-directed learning) over outputs (for example, speeding up the transfer of learning). L&D professionals are battling with a lack of capacity, a lack of priority from the business and a lack of insight about what is needed and what has worked, according to a new interesting research published by CIPD called "Learning at work 2023 survey report" using data from 1,108 complete responses from individuals who have a responsibility for supporting learning at work and collected via a YouGov panel and from a range of sectors and company sizes and included roles with different levels of responsibility and accountability.?
?Growth, cost reduction and increasing productivity are the top three priorities for organizations
Researchers found that growth, cost reduction and increasing productivity are the top three priorities for organizations and these are starting to align with business leaders’ organizational goals.
??The top priority for organizations is growth, which is in line with pre-pandemic data. The second and third most common priority areas are reducing costs and improving productivity, both growing slightly since 2020.
However, there is an increased focus on addressing skills gaps in the workforce, with 21% identifying this as a top three priority in 2023 compared with 15% in 2021. This shift highlights the increased importance of the skills agenda for learning practitioners.
?Staff retention as a key focus area for L&D leaders
Researchers found that, learning practitioners were most likely to cite staff retention as a key focus area regarding people's priorities in the coming year.
Succession planning was also cited as a top people focus area, suggesting that developing the right skills and talent for future business needs is top of the agenda.
?? But it's also worrying to see that for L&C Professionals, leadership development such as developing leadership capability of senior leaders/management team or develop future leaders, is no longer a top priority....
?Climate of "Trust" for Learning is crucial
Researchers found that two-fifths of organizations believe they have a learning environment which fosters trust perceptions of the learning environment within organizations.
Organization need to create an environment where individuals and teams have the permission and space to learn.
?? But findings show that the majority of L&D leaders don’t feel they work in organizations that foster a climate of genuine psychological safety, where teams are encouraged to take risks, raise issues, learn from mistakes and embrace unique skills.
?Alignment with organizational goals
Researchers discovered another rather disturbing result, as they see that aligning learning activity to organizational and people priorities continues to be a challenge for learning practitioners when they compare their results with 2 years ago.
?? They also found a small difference between respondents from public and private sector organizations and their ability to respond to the skills needs within their organization.
?Skills Gap is the top L&D priorities but inclusive learning is far away...
Researchers found that addressing the skills gap is a top three priority for L&D practitioners and this result is aligned directly with the findings with the results seen above to the organizational and people priorities but surprisingly, given the wider organizational focus on both staff retention and the skills agenda, it is surprising that only 8% are prioritizing speeding up the transfer of learning back into the workplace or creating a more inclusive learning offering for all.
?Main barriers for L&D Leaders
Researchers found that in 2023, business leaders flagged two challenges that they have with learning:
1?? a lack of strategic influence by L&D to support business transformation
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2?? a short-term focus versus a longer-term vision
Researchers noticed that learning practitioners have the current main challenges across all sectors and organization sizes:
??Lack of priority from the business:
Those working in a specialist L&D function within HR were most likely to struggle with a lack of line management support (24%); those L&D practitioners working within generalist HR were least likely to find this a barrier (14%)
?? Lack of capacity Time, resources
Those in focused L&D teams were most likely to report both a lack of L&D capacity to meet demand and L&D capability as barriers (23% reported these challenges). Those in the public sector were most likely to report limited budget (50%) and high levels of demand preventing strategic planning (18%)
?? Lack of insight What's needed? What's working? What's not?
A lack of understanding of organizational strategy and knowing which methods are effective was common across the board. Those working in large organizations and those working in specialist L&D functions were most likely to struggle to show return on investment. Those working in the public sector were most likely to report that they were unprepared for rapid digital transitions.
And a further 10% said that they did not have any challenges - These were mainly those working outside of traditional L&D - the HR generalists and line managers working on learning.
?Critical role of Line managers to support L&D initiatives
Researchers believed that line managers play a critical role in supporting individuals and creating opportunities for learning transfer, but perceptions of line manager support to help do this, and to assess the impact of L&D, are generally low.
Finally researchers provided 9 recommendations to organizations and specially to L&D Leaders:
?? Don’t let go of lessons learned: This study highlights both the opportunity to learn from experiments that failed at that time and to dig into those that were successful.
??Work smarter, not harder: Learning into data and relationships that help us better understand business priorities and into evidence-informed practices that help us prioritize where our efforts will be most effective.
?? Shift the focus from input to outcomes : Learning practitioners who feel valued by leaders show us that they prioritize clarifying outcomes before recommending solutions and dig into evidence-informed learning practices.?
?? Embrace digital curiosity:?With generative AI emerging, organisations are facing some of the most fundamental and rapid changes to work and working lives. Now is not the time for L&D to be shy of technology – it is the time to become digitally curious and explore opportunities for increasing impact.?
?? Operate beyond the course: Sometimes it's necessary to say "no" to traditional methods and embracing informal and collaborative learning and development, such as coaching and mentoring. Always it will mean working smarter with others
?? Work with others to co-create value: Return on learning investment isn’t a mad rush at the end of a program – it becomes the result of working together with stakeholders to co-create value
?? Create space to explore and experiment: The broad range technology adopters, and those who are already reporting that their value is recognized, are starting to carve out space to explore and experiment with new ways of learning.
?? Realize your own potential : Increasing our understanding of evidence-informed principles to improve learning outputs isn’t enough; we need to apply them and to challenge others to apply them as well.
?? L&D leaders – rise up : L&D has a commitment to evolving and professionalizing practice, but they also have a role to play to ensure this happens
Learning practitioners have an opportunity to work with those in the wider people profession to create program to support career progression and job transition as current skills become obsolete and new roles emerge.
Thank you?? CIPD researchers team for these insightful findings:
Laura Overton Amy Bosley Lizzie Crowley David Hayden Andy Lancaster Claire McDermott Michelle Parry-Slater Rebecca Peters Jennifer Puci Joana Suta Wilson Wong Ian Neale Sophie Webb
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1 年This is a wonderful precis of the report and great to get your observations on this Nicolas. I love the discussion and insights this has provided in the comments too. Thank you
Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist | Technical Hiring | Employer Branding | Talent Strategy | I help global tech companies hire top engineers by building high-impact recruitment strategies.
1 年Google's "g2g" (Googler-to-Googler) program, where employees teach each other skills is an example of a successful learning and development initiative. The use of AI-powered learning platforms like Coursera or LinkedIn Learning is a way to personalize and enhance the learning experience. The shift to remote work during the pandemic has led to a greater focus on individual skill development and digital literacy, potentially overshadowing traditional leadership development.
Customer Success Manager | SaaS | EdTech | B2B | E-learning Enthusiast??
1 年Great overview of an insightful report. In my experience, line managers like numbers but it is difficult to generate those numbers without some initial support. Really interested to see where things go. There seems to be a shift in learning at the moment. Here's to collaboration, time for learning, narrowing skills gap and support for L&D
Project Manager @ Lodago | Empowering Your Event Success | MBA | Project Management, Human Resources, Marketing
1 年Fantastic Nicolas BEHBAHANI, thanks for the great information always. I would say that breaking down KPIs into KPAs would be the first step. I don't see many organisations doing this. And then asking whether my employees have the necessary skills (soft & hard) to excel in their KPAs, taking into account employee well-being, turnover rates and team health as well. I've worked in many "well-oiled" companies that have broken teams and unmotivated people. I believe that L&D is an extremely underused and undervalued resource, that if used well can result in great transformation. If we give great L&D opportunities to people with growth mindsets, they're more likely to stick around, even if only for the learning experience.
HR Strategist. Lecturer and International Speaker on HRM and Value Management.
1 年Thank you for sharing this interesting research Nicolas. Firstly, I will pick up on 'the workplace environment being conducive to learning and individual development'. According to Peter Drucker organisational design will be dependant upon the learning culture. As we know, this is no longer the case with the introduction of remote/hybrid working where, in many cases, there has been a decline in development - it requires a different thought process from both the employee and employer (I have written much on this subject). Now to look at the 3 top priorities of senior leaders. I will start with 'achieving growth targets'. As I have pointed out (many times), Staff development = organisational development = growth (for the employee & organisation) = value (to all stakeholders) = Brand (how society views the organisation). Much of this will come down to the learning culture and individualisation of learning - which will come down to where the individual is in their professional development. Providing work that is both meaningful and developmental is extremely important in the generation of growth - it also tends to generate engagement leading to higher productivity (another priority shown). Continued below!