Dive Brief:
- When learning and development leaders say their strategy is “fully tied to documented business priorities,” they’re also more than twice as likely as others to say they expect a significant L&D budget increase next year (23% compared to 11% of everyone else), according to new research from AI upskilling provider General Assembly.
- The study found the same increase applied to L&D leaders who say they help shape organizational strategy and who see themselves as partners with company leaders in mapping out critical team skills. Meanwhile, 14% of L&D leaders expect significant budget increases in 2027, and 17% plan to significantly increase head count.
- L&D is quickly becoming a business priority in the face of rapid artificial intelligence developments. A recent poll of board directors found that L&D tasks that included employee AI training and worker redeployment were present in three of the top five priorities when it came to helping CHROs to get ahead of AI.
Dive Insight:
As artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace, L&D leaders are working to offset possible problems before they become too entrenched. The General Assembly study found that 52% of L&D leaders say AI is degrading human skills, such as communications, conflict resolution and collaboration. Another 41% say one of their biggest challenges for the coming year is making sure employees can keep these soft skills despite AI usage. In addition, 59% say they expect an increased demand for soft skills training.
“L&D professionals are tasked with building role-specific AI skills while making sure the human skills that matter most don’t erode in the process,” Daniele Grassi, CEO of General Assembly, said in a statement. “Increasingly, we’re seeing companies looking to integrate AI and soft skills training to prepare employees for the future of work. Training is becoming more hands-on, with opportunities to practice critical thinking, judgement and collaboration alongside AI usage and get feedback in real-time.”
The pressure is also increasing, according to the 64% of L&D leaders who say their team is being pushed to offer AI upskilling to employees. This comes even as L&D leaders themselves say they need strong AI skills. AI literacy was most frequently listed as the top skill for L&D team members to have in 2027, but 33% cite “closing the AI skills gap” as a top challenge.
Another major challenge cited by 35% of L&D leaders is connecting learning initiatives to business ROI. That said, fewer than half say business outcomes, such as revenue growth or profit, are in their top three success metrics. Instead, half say that one of the top success metrics for AI training is course completions.
Even so, 73% of L&D respondents say their organization’s leaders regularly ask for their input on “workforce capability, transformation or future skills decisions,” and 63% say the L&D leaders at their company help shape business strategy.
“Businesses are investing in AI upskilling, but the big challenge for L&D leaders is to prove that what they’re doing is working,” Grassi said. “That means going beyond counting how many people took a course, and measuring behavior changes, skills and competencies instead — and linking those to real business outcomes.”
On the other hand, a separate study recently found that L&D leaders are participating less in business strategy discussions, and that the rate has steadily declined over the past six years. That same study found that L&D leaders “have stopped fighting for a strategy seat and started closing capability gaps directly” by allowing employee learning to happen where their work actually occurs.