Innovate, Dominate or Decline

Today, organizations face relentless competition. Numerous research reports, academic and corporate, point to the fact that organizations need to be faster, better, and more responsive in order to maintain a competitive advantage.

Despite the high degree of uncertainty, this research uses a mixed-methods approach, qualitative and quantitative insights, to expand our understanding of organizational learning. It aggregates the views of organizational leaders who are on the front-line of decision-making when it comes to learning and development. Our aim is to provide a clear view of the current situation and of the future outlook for L&D.

We highlight that organizations depend more than ever on their L&D leaders and teams to ensure that they thrive in a complex, volatile, and ambiguous world.

The opportunity is there, the question now is whether L&D leaders are ready to spearhead a once-in-a-generation organizational transformation.

In this research report, we look at:

• Where are we now? – For the first time in 5 years the Organizational Learning Index, which tracks the health and impact of the L&D industry, has gone up. We explore the trends that made this possible.
• Breaking path dependency – Diverging from past decisions is no easy feat. However, modifying old ways of working and learning just isn’t enough - we need something radically better.
• Thinking about the future – If ever there was a time for L&D to play a strategic role and aim to embed a high-impact learning culture, it’s now. Fundamental to this role is a long-term orientation. We explore three key mindsets that top performing L&D leaders consistently rely on: a) disciplined imagineers, b) architects of performance, c) resilient system builders.
• How to become a top performing L&D team – Using several advanced statistical methods, we provide L&D leaders with guided roadmaps that are underpinned by years of research. The guided roadmaps provide an evidence-based approach to transitioning from being reactive and transactional to being proactive and strategic.

Stats you can trust
This research draws on insights from our Learning Performance Benchmark. Formerly of Towards Maturity, it remains the only free, independent and confidential benchmarking tool for L&D professionals. Our new report pulls data from 995 organizations and 6,000+ employees from 83 countries across 22 sectors. To bring you insights, we track the health and impact of organizational learning. That means measuring the impact of L&D strategies, their digital innovation and behavioural change.