It was probably in 2020 that for the first time people started paying attention to the reality that was about to hit most organizations — one where many job roles would become insignificant, therefore completely dissolved in the advent of technology and digitally transformed working mechanisms. This was probably accelerated by the pandemic because for the first time people saw a glimpse of what technology brings to the table. However, what many thought was a result of the pandemic was actually hiding in the shadows long before that. The Future of Jobs Report 2020 estimated that by 2025, “85 million jobs might be displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines.”
This is a reality that people found hard to digest but its roots have spread far and wide in the last two years. Forward thinking organizations have since shifted their focus deeply on building efficient teams and people affected by this trend have started focussing on remaining more relevant by upskilling rigorously. The surge in upskilling and demand for learning and development by employees doesn’t come as a surprise in that case.
L&D pros now have a seat on the table
In order to build organizations of the future, one can not today run away from transformation in business. This means taking the time to invest in talent that can work with agility, growing and learning in the flow of work. The needle has shifted significantly in this direction. The biggest trend that’s emerged amidst this is that L&D pros have seen a hockey stick growth in their careers. They are currently “in demand”. Just within 2021 and 2022, there’s been a 94% increase in demand for L&D professionals. This indicates a huge shift. In fact, research shows that over 90% of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job.
L&D pros are today a big part of strategic business discussions because how they equip the workforce with capabilities needed for the future of work, essentially ever-changing and unpredictable, is critical to the pace at which the company grows. However, another thing that’s emerged as a result of this is that while L&D has become front and center, how it is rolled out is not entirely in sync globally.
This makes the role of L&D pros even more critical
The window of reskilling has become shorter over the years which means the pace at which an organization changes has increased rapidly. Therefore, in order to build teams that are “transformation-ready”, there needs to be effective upskilling solutions put in place by leaders who can envision the future and are able to equip the organization with the right tools to execute strategies and L&D plans in a way that’s effective. Learning and development directly impacts business — this has come out in different kinds of research done over the years and is something we’ve spoken about at length through previous articles. However, this impact can only happen if L&D interventions are targeted and there is measurable RoI on training at the end of this effort.
Data-driven training is key and Fundamento equips organizations with actionable data on behavioral skills that are critical to the future of work, provides training recommendations on the back of that data and helps them regularly measure RoI on training so they can close the loop and see their efforts play out in the most productive manner.
As we move forward, the role of L&D leaders is going to become more and more critical to how an organization adapts to the changing world of work and will dictate the pace at which the organization grows.
