Navigating the Future of Learning and Development

One growing trend spotlighted is a shift towards skill-centric learning methodologies. As Scheer IMC CTO Roman Muth mentions: “What is training without skills development? No matter what goal you're progressing towards, there is no training without skills development.” Organisations are increasingly recognising the need to pivot from traditional content-heavy approaches (i.e., from “What am I learning?” to ecosystems that prioritise skills development and personalised learning pathways: “What am I getting out of this?”. 

Accordingly, tools and technology which aim to support organisations in their L&D goals must be aligned with a more skill-based approach: Learning management systems (LMS) need to be increasingly capable of tracking and supporting employee skill growth more effectively, aligning workforce capabilities with shifting market demands, and identifying any skills gap which could exist. 

Having identified these challenges, some broader themes emerged with respect to how decision-makers can best prepare their organisations and wider teams to overcome them. Key among them is not focusing too much on content versus skills, putting learner flexibility at the forefront, and ultimately having an organisational resilience to early teething problems. 

Embracing skill-based ecosystems: As highlighted earlier, organisations should focus on developing ecosystems that track and promote skill acquisition rather than solely delivering learning content. This approach ensures that learning initiatives directly contribute to workforce capability. 

Adopting modular and adaptive platforms: More flexible, modular learning platforms allow for personalisation, giving learners control over their educational journey and fostering continuous engagement: what is termed a “headless” LMS supports users having access to modules and content whenever and wherever it is convenient to them. Dr. Sabine Zander also discussed the implementation of “chunked” content as being pivotal for maintaining flexibility: “What we have seen makes a difference in terms of motivation is the implementation of so-called micro-credentials. These are certifications for smaller learning units that do not require as much time to complete, compared to a fully explored learning path.” 

Fostering a learning culture: Even the most comprehensive technological platforms will be limited in their impact if an organisation isn’t prepared to look behind the first hurdles. This “cold start” problem can potentially be mitigated through the use of AI (e.g., to support with time-intensive initial skill input when setting up a new LMS), or through smaller pilot projects with groups of 5-10 very learning-engaged individuals.