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The Biggest L&D Revelations in 2023 in 12 Charts
Ross Stevenson
January 2nd, 2024
Today’s Thoughts ☠️
Hey there 👋,
Happy 2024!
The chocolate-fuelled festive binge is over and now it’s all about business.
That’s what I’d say if I was working in the corpo world, but I don’t. So chill, this is a safe space.
People go a bit mad this time of year.
Audacious goals that will never be achieved are splashed across social media. Local gyms lick their lips at the prospect of scoring 12-month sign-ups from those who are determined to make this year, the year they do something about their meat sack.
The sad truth is a whopping 92% of people fail to reach their new year goals.
I know I sound like the prophet of doom. Yet, the cycle repeats yearly. We’ll talk more about changing that new week.
I know you’re all about becoming a smarter you after all.
Today, we’re going to ease into 2024.
Let’s unpack the year that was for you, me and L&D in 12 charts 📊
(Yes. Well done to the mathematicians amongst you who calculated one chart for every month).
Get your tea 🍵 or beverage of choice ready. We've got lots to discuss!
In today’s chat👇
Est reading time: 8 mins
THE BIG THOUGHT
The Biggest L&D Revelations in 2023 in 12 Charts
1️⃣ Employees are motivated to grow for performance
We should expect this to be an obvious output for people, but it’s not always the case.
Ultimately, we all want to get better at what we do. It leads to satisfaction and the potential of better career opportunities down the line. Recognising learning as a direct influencer for performance can only be a good thing.
2️⃣ The hype is real
We’ve all been victims of hype at one point (screw you NFTs).
It’s reassuring when something you genuinely find interesting impacts others too. 2023 was the year of AI.
Now it’s time to do something of value with it. That doesn’t include robotic avatars and faces over presentations - sorry, not sorry.
3️⃣ AI improves employee productivity by 66%
The 66% figure was calculated across 3 case studies the group worked with:
🤳 Customer service agents resolving customer inquiries in an enterprise software company.
✍️ Experienced business professionals (e.g., marketers, HR professionals) writing routine business documents (such as press releases) that take about half an hour to write
👩💻 Programmers coding a small software project that took about three hours to complete without AI assistance
The BIG takeaway: Users were much more efficient at performing their jobs with AI assistance than without AI tools.
4️⃣ And just like that, we have 20 years of innovation
One of many entries from the fab team at Mind Tools For Business.
It’s hard to imagine just how much change happens in one industry until you see it in one chart. Long live performance, eh?
5️⃣ Leaders want productivity with AI, not job destruction
Despite mass hysteria in mainstream media that AI will take our jobs. The data tells a different story. When asked, “What would you value most about AI in the workplace?” business leaders were 2x more likely to choose increasing productivity over killing jobs. I’d say that’s positive.
It seems the everyday individual contributor is also pumped about AI’s potential at work.
73% of respondents want to use AI to find the information they need
76% believe it can enhance their creativity
86% want to use it to summarise their meetings, and who can blame them with the sheer volume we endure?
It sounds like there’s a lot of optimism. Of course, you should be aware this report comes from Microsoft which is one of the biggest players in the AI arms race.
Psychologist Adam Grant summed it up nicely when he said:
“It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs.”
6️⃣ We’re getting better at being strategic business partners 🥳
I feel this is echoed throughout the whole report.
→ The closer you’re to the business the better you can succeed
I’m not saying this is always easy. It’s something I’ve written in-depth about before. It’s good to see that industry data is proving this to be a useful approach. The emphasis of a lot of my work with L&D teams is getting clear on their companies:
Culture
Constraints
Context
This quote resonates nicely with this:
“Alignment starts by getting to know the business better. Business acumen is an increasingly neglected skill for most L&D teams, but it’s essential for an effective learning leader. L&D teams cannot always rely on senior leaders in the business to define clear objectives, or to communicate them effectively across the organization. But business environments do predict organizational priorities, so with greater knowledge about the business, L&D teams can meet its needs without having to be asked.”
MindTools For Business: Unlocking Excellence Report
7️⃣ You need to be human-powered to truly succeed
Newsflash: Learning isn’t keeping up with the pace of work.
You probably knew that already.
It’s not just AI skills that leaders are looking for employees to develop. They want those that will enhance an AI-powered future too.
The top 3 are:
Analytical judgement
Flexibility (I think they mean adaptability)
Emotional intelligence
Human + AI skills are the winning combo.
8️⃣ Diversify your skills intelligently
In the year of AI, is it any surprise companies rank analytical thinking as the #1 core skill for work?
Human thinking on any level is something generative AI can’t do.
In an evolving workplace where we’ll likely partner with AI tools, the ability to think like a human will be a prized asset. That’s why it’s no surprise, critical thinking came in at #2 on this list.
The takeaway: double down on your most human skills.
9️⃣ People want to be upskilled on AI, badly
I’m slightly cheating here with 2 charts in 1.
86% of survey respondents to BCGs AI at Work report believe they need to be upskilled on AI.
Let that sink in.
On the other side, companies are trying to ban AI tools rather than educate their workforce on pivotal skills for the future. We can’t ignore this new technology. It’s happening whether we like it or not.
Plus, the second chart shows just how much more those who’ve experimented with the tools have a balanced view of its opportunities and limitations. That’s surely a win.
I shared an extensive plan for how you could do this in your organisation previously.
🔟 Most L&D teams have been stuck at delivering surface impact for 20 years
This is going to trigger some people.
It’s so easy to bash our industry for not moving fast enough.
I hate doing it, but the data showing just how stuck in our ways we are keeps coming. I like to look at these moments as a time to reflect and plan for the future.
The MindTools team cleverly uses a four-stage learning maturity model to study how different organisations behave. With this they categorise organisations based on the impact of the L&D efforts.
Here’s what they found:
51% of L&D teams surveyed sit at stage 1 with transactional interventions. They seem to be doing a lot in the business but in reality, they’re achieving very little (see page: 13).
23% of L&D teams surveyed sit at stage 2 - implementing L&D programs. These teams are a little smarter in what they focus on but lack enough connection across the business to deliver meaningful impact (see page: 14).
Only 15% of L&D teams surveyed sit at stage 3 with a proactive talent and performance strategy. These teams are found to make more purposeful decisions with an increased clarity of thought (see page: 15).
11% of L&D teams surveyed sit at stage 4 with a high-impact learning culture. These are the highest-performing L&D orgs in the world. They do everything at all 4 levels and link it all back to business alignment (see page: 16).
“Top-performing organizations weave a carefully constructed web of activity, while keeping an eye firmly on what the business needs. As organizations mature, they stop trying to do it all. Instead, they take a step back, reflect on where they’re at and what they’re doing, and then use this insight to build meaningful connections between activities.”
1️⃣1️⃣ 7 Skills for the modern L&D Pro
Ok, full disclosure. The next charts come from my work and research in 2023.
In mid-23, I released my latest research on the 7 must-have skills for L&D pros today. Using several industry-leading datasets I make the case for these skills and how to build them.
1️⃣2️⃣ The 5 Skills that Matter for the Future of Work
It wasn’t just L&D skills I dived into in 2023.
I spent most of the year analysing 20 skill reports to identify the 5 common skills across the top 10 for each piece of research.
[BONUS] AI in L&D is vital for workforce performance
It was too hard to get down to just 12 charts (I started with 35!).
I’ve talked a lot about AI in L&D across 2023. I’ll continue in 24, no doubt.
I launched my own The State of AI in L&D report back in the summer of 2023. One of the biggest takeaways was just how essential the 130 L&D teams I spoke with saw the successful integration of AI tools affecting workforce development.
This data was one of the reasons I wanted to create a product teaching the fundamentals of AI specifically for L&D pros.
Thus, the AI For L&D Crash Course was born.
With over 200 students globally completing the 2-hour Crash Course, I’m pretty confident in saying it’s doing the job well. If you want to become AI confident as an L&D pro, try out the self-paced course here.
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SMART THOUGHTS
Content that will make you smarter.
🤔 5 big thoughts for next-gen L&D pros
In case you missed last week’s round-up of the 5 biggest thoughts from the newsletter and my website.
Here they are again, in all their glory.
💡 6 bold insights from Bill Gates
One of the original tech nerds joins the AI convo.
Gates believes we’re witnessing the biggest shift in computing since the move from command-line to graphical interfaces.
His big prediction?
→ In the next five years, AI agents will transform how we interact with devices. More here.
🔥 My favourite tactic to break free of the McDonald’s order-taking L&D culture
Potentially controversial. Potentially enlightening.
How I can help you👇
1/ My L&D toolkit stack with 20 zero-cost tools.
2/ Work smarter with AI in HR and L&D in my AI For L&D Crash Course.
3/ Work with me on your projects and L&D challenges.
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