“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways” – Robert Greene
Why L&D Snippets?
The organisation of today is faced with a period of many tempestuous changes and challenges. In our maiden L&D Snippets, we as the SABPP Learning and Development Committee draw your attention to the crucial role of learning and development in this period. The Snippets serves as a curation and montage of topical publications and issues in L&D. Our objective is to highlight and share some of the latest and topical developments in the L&D community. We hope these articles will provide an opportunity to learn from others and affirm the importance of L&D in sustaining the organisation of today.
What are the changes, challenges, and evolving role of the L&D?
Globally, the L&D community is fully aware of the impact of changes that the organisation of today is confronted with. And they are ready to advance ideas that can assist the organisation to thrive. This can be seen in the recent report by LinkedIn Learning. The report highlights how L&D has become more central and strategic in organisations, and how this is raising expectations of L&D. Access the article from the link (https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report) and see their recommendations for how L&D needs to:
- transform to meet the strategic needs
- be ready to face the challenges and changes
- rethink and build skills in the organisation
- and rethink how to be successful and how this is measured
Wanting to know more about transformation of L&D, especially the swift development of digital transformation of the L&D function? See the articles by:
- Kniffin et al. (2020): www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/20- 127_6164cbfd-37a2-489e-8bd2-c252cc7abb87.pdf
- McGuire et al (2021): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1523422320973426
Another report echoes the findings of the LinkedIn Learning report: https://www.talentlms.com/employee-learning-and-development-stats. The report highlights the following:
- L&D became one of the most crucial mediums to ensure the furtherance of the organisational objectives during the pandemic.
- Training budgets may have increased especially during 2022 because of the varied needs most organisations are confronted with.
- L&D must take cognizance of the fact that there is a variety of learning formats employees prefer for example simulation, coaching, video, webinars, books, podcasts, role playing, blogs etc.
- L&D must also answer the following questions:
- Are the trainings provided by the organisations beneficial?
- How frequent are the trainings?
- Are the employees satisfied with corporate training?
- What kind of soft skills training employees want and what do they get?
- Are L&D plans in sync with what employees want to learn?
- Do they provide training related to promotion from within?
What made L&D central during the pandemic? See the following report: https://bigthink.com/plus/learning-and-development. The report suggests that L&D’s importance in an organisation grew from:
- Technological changes, a shift in the workplace demographics and unpredictability or skepticism about the future.
- L&D has been seen as the support structure to managers during changes and challenges.
- L&D proved to be of cardinal importance in keeping employees engaged throughout the pandemic of 2020 and 2021.
L&D in an organisation will remain strategic and essential because of the growing need for the organisation of today to be resilient against possible future challenges, including the challenges related to generational changes in the workforce and widening skills gaps.
References
Big Think. [2022]. Why learning and development will be vital in 2022. Retrieved, 23 June 2022, from https://bigthink.com/plus/learning-and-development
Kniffin, K.M. Narayanan, J. Anseel, F. Antonakis, J. Ashford, S.P. Bakker, A.B. Bamberger, P. Bapuji, H. Bhave, D.P. Choi, V.K. Creary, S.J. Demerouti, E. Flynn, F.J. Gelfand, M.J. Greer, L. Johns, G. Kesebir, S. Klein, P.G. Lee, S.Y. Ozcelik, H. Petriglieri, J.L. Rothbard, N.P. Rudolph, C.W. Shaw, J.D. Sirola, N. Wanberg, C.R. Whillans, A. Wilmot, M.P. and Vugt, M. (2020), “COVID-19 and the workplace: implications, issues, and insights for future research and action”, Working Paper 20- 127, Harvard Business School, available at: www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/20- 127_6164cbfd-37a2-489e-8bd2-c252cc7abb87.pdf (accessed 8 March 2021).
Linkedin Learning. [2022]. 2022 Workplace Learning Report. Retrieved, 23 June 2022, fromhttps://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report
Mikołajczyk, K. (2022), “Changes in the approach to employee development in organisations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”, European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 46 No. 5/6, pp. 544-562. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-12-2020-0171
McGuire, D., Germain, M.L. and Reynolds, K. (2021), “Reshaping HRD in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: an ethics of care approach”, Advances in Developing Human Resources, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 26-40, doi: 10.1177/1523422320973426.
Talent LMS. [2022]. The state of L&D in 2022. Retrieved from https://www.talentlms.com/employee-learning-and-development-stats
Training. [2022]. 5 Trends Disrupting Learning and Development in 2022. Retrieved, 23 June 2022, fromhttps://trainingmag.com/5-trends-disrupting-learning-and-development-in-2022
