The Latest on Trend #10: Virtual Learning

2021 1st Quarter Update

The big COVID pivot finally brought corporate learning and development (L&D) to the table as strategic leaders and awakened the world to the true value of educators globally. The need to quickly upskill and reskill talent required rapid digital transformation in order to repurpose content aligned to new virtual learning strategies. We learned that we are agile, we can adapt, and we can make smart strategic decisions in a pinch.

Additionally, in the US, the recent Security & Exchange Commission’s mandate for public companies to report the material value of their human capital effective November 2020 was another opportunity for corporate L&D functions to step up as strategic leaders to demonstrate business impact. The SEC mandate was a surprise to many organizations, and they scrambled to publicly define the material value of human capital. We didn’t do such a great job in FY21Q1, but we will get better! Across the next few years, watch the explosive rise of human capital measurement consulting and platforms.

Taken together, the future of learning, upskilling, virtual training, and reporting the material value of human capital were hot topics in FY21Q1. Hot topics to watch in Q2 include more opportunities for virtual training and strategies for closing organization skills gaps.