What’s in Store for Learning & Development in 2016?

Recently we sat down with Mark Van Buren, Practice Leader of CEB’s Learning and Development Leadership Council, to discuss the biggest developments he sees in Learning and Development for the coming year.  He shares insights in the many factors that are changing the way that learning and development programs will be delivered across organizations in the coming year. 

One particular trend that Mark points out is that pressure for organizations and its people to be more productive. These growing demands for productivity in the workplace means that days are busier and there is little perceived time for formal learning courses. In many cases, employees feel that there are too many things on their “to-do” list to take the time out for a classroom style course. 

Similarly, outside of the workplace, employees are exposed to information in more bite size chunks. Instead of watching an hour long news program, they can easily find the top headlines on their social media network of choice. This demand for quick, on the go content, is spilling over into the workplace and into learning and development curriculum where social learning is on the rise. 

Finally, Mark discusses how the new collaborative environment within organization is also changing learning the development opportunities. With employees now reporting to more people and working with other employees that they may not have interacted with before, the growing collaborative nature of organizations offers new challenges and opportunities for learning and development executives.