The LPI Learning Survey 2024: 10 things you need to know and DO as an L&D manager!

The LPI 2024 Learning Survey is brimming with data. Here are 10 areas to act on for L&D managers.

 

  1. L&D struggles to have a strategic voice, with 32% of respondents saying they are mostly seen as a cost centre. It’s 2024 and time to shift that narrative. Align with stakeholder challenges and start to talk value and impact.

 

  1. More than half of L&D managers think their L&D strategy is ineffective. Take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why. And then talk to stakeholders and ask them why. Ensure your strategy is aligned with them and their business objectives.

 

  1. Almost two thirds (62%) of L&D managers say they need more capacity to meet demand. See previous point – an effective strategy delivering impact and value will help you build the case for investment.

 

  1. More than 60% of L&D managers say they are either bad or could do better at marketing the L&D department. Wait a minute. L&D creates the strategy and designs the products for an audience that wants and needs them. Your audience wants to be competent, capable and developing their skills and your CEOs wants them to be doing it too. The real problem lies with the offering. Start by building the right products and services and the marketing part will get a whole load easier. Marketing products and services that no-one wants makes life harder for you. So, focus on building really useful things that people want and need.

 

  1. Marketing the effectiveness of learning is also a huge challenge. See above. First, is it effective? Really? If it is, capture success stories and share them with the right audiences. If you have strong data, you will have strong success stories that resonate with people. Ultimately, you need your audience to do your marketing for you. They are your best marketers. Peer referral is what you want.

 

  1. Based on the previous five points, it is surprising that 75% of L&D managers say their CEO is positive about L&D. Research findings always throw up anomalies. If true, then use this goodwill to elevate your voice and ensure your strategy is aligned with business objectives. Keep in close contact with your CEO and ensure they understand how L&D can support the organisation with its various workforce challenges – current and into the future. Talent management anyone?

 

  1. Another anomaly I’m afraid. More than 70% of L&D managers say they think employees are satisfied with the quality of L&D programmes. THINK is the operative word. Maybe the question was not great because as an L&D manager you need hard data – both qualitative and quantitative (see point 5). No thinking, just facts.

 

  1. Nearly 50% of L&D managers think their tech stack needs attention and 10% say it is a mess. Time to hold up the mirror again! How digitally mature and confident are you when it comes to technology? Now is the time to invest in developing your understanding of the tech landscape – especially AI. But buyer beware – it is hard to navigate the marketing jargon and fads so talk with peers in similar organisations and more bleeding edge organisations and find out what they are doing that works.

 

  1. Understanding the learning requirements of employees remains a challenge and survey respondents say there are a lot of gaps in their data currently. Gaps in data will scupper your plans with AI so don’t just think about data for understanding requirements – think about the data that is going to help you crack the CEO’s bigger talent manager

 

  1. 80% of L&D managers want AI to fix the problem of learning personalisation. At a basic level personalisation is about enabling employees to easily access relevant resources they need when they need them. This really is a hygiene factor – we do it outside of work and have been doing so for years. But still the sector bangs on about personalisation. So, fix it with the tools available and move on to solving the more pressing issues . . . innovation and agility anyone?!

 

One final point. Some 42% of L&D managers say learning styles are relevant. Research says the opposite. There is no basis for using them so stop using them – L&D are the learning experts so let’s make sure we are expert and not pedalling myths.

 

You can download the report here.