What Every Purchasing Director Should Know About Learning Today

We’ve been in the game for over 20 years, helping large organizations create award-winning blended learning programs, grow learning cultures, to build their businesses. Much of L&D’s work is evergreen: onboarding, manager and leadership development, upskilling and reskilling, and compliance.,

Additionally, we’re experiencing a greater demand for targeted, expert-driven strategies that will increase engagement, length-of-service, and ROI.

?Drawing from my experience and recent conversations with clients, I’ve identified five core principles of successful learning in 2024 that every Purchasing Director should know to better support L&D in making informed decisions.

Group one: Impact

1.????? Provable impact on bottom line

We’re seeing clients asking harder questions about measurable behavior shifts, impact on the bottom-line, and clear numbers. For board-level buy-in on ambitious L&D projects, expect to see an increased emphasis on evidence, and potential partners receiving additional requests for real evidence of impact.

2.????? Evidence of value for money

From LMS platforms to ‘a library of all knowledge’, proving Value for Money remains a priority. Vendors should be able to provide you with evidence of their ability to create, launch and sustain engaging learning programs that build on your investment.

It’s not about paying someone to create a platform and asking your staff to create learning programs in their evenings: it’s about finding a learning partner who understands the value of learning experts and content created by real thought leaders, not by AI. This should provide sustained value for money.

3.????? Futureproofing the workforce

48 percent of leaders understand the value of curiosity to drive growth and innovation. But, when 44 per cent of 18–34-year-old s are thinking about leaving their job to find a job where L&D supports their professional growth, there’s still a significant gap. Leaders who want to attract and retain talented, driven and committed employees should work with a partner to grow learning programs.

Group two: expertise in pedagogy

4.????? Blended learning continues to dominate

Blended learning — the careful curation of digital self-serve, and face-to-face or live virtual sessions — allows organizations to scale programs and embed local knowledge. Providers will need to demonstrate how they grow their cultural understanding, potentially providing frameworks and allowing partners to guide content, creating maximum impact.

5.????? Resurgence in expert led, programmatic learning,

Programmatic learning frameworks target complex organizational issues at scale: think leadership training programs for first-time managers, or a global academy for supply chain managers. They’re longer-term, action-focused programs and combine self-paced and group learning, allowing employees to learn the skills your organization needs within your brand and deploy them immediately, embedding the knowledge needed where it’s needed, when it’s needed.

Programmatic learning is most effective when the L&D strategy is supported with a strong figurehead. We see a growing trend in expert-led programs, allowing organizations to inspire employees, building buy-in, and increasing long-term engagement .

6. Upskilling within the flow of work

The World Economic Forum reports that “employers believe that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years and that six in 10 staff members will require training before 2027”. Upskilling outside of the workplace can make it harder for learners to both practice and embed essential knowledge. Providing employees with on-demand access to branded, compliant learning allows employees to learn quickly, embedding learning, avoiding costly errors.

7.????? Building learning communities

Creating cohesion in global academies without excess spend on international travel, or carbon-heavy travel, is a complex challenge for ambitious L&D teams. Growing learning communities allows leaders to create branded moments, spaces and places that foster collaboration and innovation, increase networks and grow the strength of the team. L&D leaders should be locating their own communities of practice, to develop their skills. Internally, L&D leaders can pin-point potential learning ambassadors, to support go-to-market strategies .

Group three: Skills and tech

8.????? Human skills

Human skills — relational, critical thinking, and communication skills – will continue to increase in importance, alongside the rise in generative and predictive AI. Programmatic learning offers employers the opportunity to incorporate sector specific human skills alongside globally required skills, allowing employees to grow skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence, negotiation and influence.

9.????? Personalized learning experiences

One-size-fits-all learning doesn’t increase engagement or skills, so expect to see an even greater emphasis on personalized learning experiences. Predictive learning paths that blend an employee’s strengths, challenges, learning needs and goals will support your talent management and efficiency, allowing parity for global employees whilst respecting and building on local cultural norms.

10.?? Generative AI skills, ethics, compliance and synthesizing

One in five employees admit to sharing proprietary data in generative AI platforms such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bing, Claude, and more. Training your staff in the safe and ethical use of AI should comprise part of your AI strategy, in addition to growing critical thinking and synthesizing, to fact-check and grow on generative AI outputs.

11.?? Learner marketing

One tactic to increase the accessibility and engagement of L&D programs is through learner marketing. What better way to capture attention and drive participation than by using targeted campaigns that resonate with learners, addressing their specific needs, preferences, and goals?

Group four: Taking care of the team

12.?? Wellness and mental health support

With more visibility on health areas such as menopause, neurodivergence and mental health, learning platforms can educate the workforce on areas of communication and understanding. Help people know how to talk about potentially complex topics, know when to ask for help, and where to go.

13.?? DE&I within workflow

Many employers are cutting DE&I budgets , but this offers L&D an opportunity to lead. Survey your organization, talk with DE&I leaders, and understand how to blend DE&I into existing learning programs, delivering the learning and growth that’s needed.

Group five: Partnerships

14.?? We’ve saved the best for last. From collaborating on roadmaps to learning the nuance of your unique business, we see the growing importance of partnerships. Every organization fosters an exciting and challenging blend of people, ambition, products, goals, and tech. Finding a partner who shares their expertise across your organization will help you build every element of your L&D, and your business.

L&D is both evergreen, and constantly changing. By understanding core tenants of successful learning — how to measure impact, the need for pedagogical expertise, skills-based learning, team care, and partnerships – every leader can grow a successful, skilled learning program that grows the strength of the team.

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Useful? Enjoy this? For tips on building your strategic, measurable L&D function, find me, Magali Finet-Perdu , on LinkedIn.

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