As we continue to navigate changes brought about by the past two years, we find that the future of work has finally arrived. We see organizations easing out of crisis mode and considering long-term planning for the “new normal.†Many are keen to keep a hybrid, if not fully remote, workforce in play. However, one of the most pressing questions for the year is, how do we build a workforce with skills for tomorrow while retaining the most qualified talent today?
In 2022, organizations will face many of the same challenges presented last year. The pandemic and Great Resignation continue to impact the country, so the emphasis on effective leadership and skills development is greater than ever. To help clarify what may lie ahead, I sat down with a few colleagues here at Skillsoft — our chief technology officer, Apratim Purakayastha, chief content officer, Mark Onisk, and chief marketing officer, Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek. Here are our predictions for learning and development (L&D) trends that will shape the new year and what it will take to prepare today’s workforce with the skills for tomorrow. Â
1. Your best talent will leave if you’re not investing in their skills
Sustaining your workforce is not enough. Organizations can retain top talent by reskilling and upskilling employees to overcome skills gaps.
Learners are more vocal than ever about their desire for professional development within their company, and employers are picking up on this. According to The Year 2021 For Skilling: A Pulse SurveyOpens a new window , 88% of businesses rated building skills and capabilities as the topmost priority.Â
Organizations that provide a way to transform the skills of their talent in a meaningful way, with a transparent career trajectory, ultimately see the most success in their learning and development mission. Success is about retaining talented individuals who are excited to learn with an infrastructure that enables them to do so.Â
2. Collaborative, immersive learning is the key to success as remote work and virtual collaboration become the norm
Another trend holding strong is that employees continue to seek enriching, community-driven experiences online, i.e., online learning
Leaders must be open to creating meaningful and engaging programs using blended learning methods. These methods infuse self-paced, team-oriented, instructor-led training with live courses, hands-on labs, boot camps, and more to appeal to multiple training preferences and styles.
Many organizations are looking at the success of gamer culture for inspiration. Gamers worldwide have vast social networks of people they’ve never met face to face but collaborate seamlessly to achieve in-game tasks. Therefore, leaders are experimenting with novel and collaborative learning methods, such as VR headsets for onboarding and live virtual strategy sessions.Â
In 2022, organizations should review their learning and development mission to ensure it is social and contains various learning types.Â
3. Personalized coaching will help the next generation of leaders stay ahead of the chaos
Effective leadership has never been more critical in a world that has become rapidly virtualized and heavily reliant on report work. Coaching accelerates leaders’ professional development by providing a personal mentor who can thoughtfully assess strengths and facilitate new skills to encourage growth. Therefore, building leadership competencies must be an integral part of learning across the organization as quality talent becomes increasingly scarce.Â
We can also expect increased investment in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance digital coaching. AI is a maturing technology and is being trained using the rich corpus of information from every industry to augment human intelligence, find patterns and make predictions. If we apply that to learning, we can take the institutional and practical knowledge in people’s heads and share it systematically. If we merge the predictive nature of AI with blended learning, we have something that looks like an omnipresent digital coach.
4. Digital transformation is critical; all departments must build technical skills and competencies
According to a McKinsey Global SurveyOpens a new window  on future workforce needs, nearly nine in ten executives and managers say their organizations face skill gaps or expect gaps in the next five years. The same report found that the top two business areas with the greatest need to address potential skill gaps are data analytics (43%) and IT, mobile, and/or web design management (26%).
Organizations must acknowledge that the IT skills gap is real and growing. As a result, employees must carve out time on their own to learn new skills and keep up with the pace of their organization. It is up to the business to provide and encourage opportunities that retain talent and scale skills across the organization wherever there’s a void. Not only do reskilling efforts improve a company’s bottom line and employee retention, but McKinsey’s survey also found that 73% of respondents said that it improved overall employee satisfaction.
Therefore, ramping up IT training across your enterprise will carry both professional and personal value to your employees and should be a major consideration for businesses in 2022.
See More: Powering Digital Transformation With Contingent Workforce Management
In the End, It’s All About Embracing the Flow of Work and Life Within the New Normal
Learning new work skills will evolve to become more natural, intuitive, and personal. The next level of productivity and efficiency will occur through upskilling your teams, creating a culture of hyper-accessible social learning, and coaching leadership that learners can practice whenever and wherever they want. Â
What trends do you see for learning and development this year? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .
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