We asked people working in L&D where they want their function to be in three years, and what is standing in the way. On where they want to be, most gave the same answer. What blocks them is a different story.
chose the same destination: a strategic Center of Expertise, advising the business on performance and capability.
The other two options were both about producing content: one with a lean team using AI, one with more resources and higher output. Each drew far fewer answers than advising the business.
Select an option to see what sits behind it.
are energized by the idea of L&D as an internal consultancy: advising the business, not executing its requests.
That is more people than the 59% who picked it as their destination. Some are drawn to the advisory role without naming it as where they want to end up. What sits between those two numbers is the subject of the rest of this report.
64% feel pressure to prove L&D contributes to business performance.
Not just that it delivered trainingThe answers cluster at the top of the scale.
We asked whether the rise of AI tools has changed what the business expects L&D to deliver: faster, more, or at lower cost. Most say it has. For the larger part of that group it is a shift that has been raised rather than one that dominates, and a smaller group report expectations rising sharply. The rest have not had the conversation internally yet.
Select an answer to see what sits behind it.
Asked to choose the phrase that best captures the role they want L&D to play, three labels took most of the answers. Different words, same instinct: every one describes a function that advises, enables or partners. None describes a function that fulfills requests.
The three most chosen phrases, ranked. Size follows share.
We asked what is stopping them from getting there. No one named software. A few named the skills of their own team. The largest group named something about where L&D sits in the organization. The answers group into four themes.
Select a theme to read what sits underneath it.
We asked one open question with no options attached: what is the single biggest challenge in your role that you do not think gets discussed enough? Four patterns run through the answers.
Learning is asked for, but the room to do it is rarely created. Answers here return to the same tension between what gets mandated and what the working day actually allows, and to how much of what is built reaches the job afterwards.
Several answers describe L&D working at one remove from the operation it serves, and the difficulty of connecting learning to where the organization is heading rather than to whatever was last requested.
These answers ask open questions rather than report problems. Where does learning end and work begin, now that AI is pulling learning into the flow of the job? What does using AI well actually look like? And what does the shift mean for the people whose work is building the content?
Engagement comes up repeatedly, in the form of employees who do not see their own development needs and the ongoing work of making learning feel worth the time it asks for.
Put the answers next to each other and the shape is consistent. Most want the same destination. Most find the advisory role energizing. 64% already feel pressure to prove business contribution. And when asked what stops them, most named something about position rather than about what their team can do.
59% want a Center of Expertise, and 73% find the advisory role energizing.
64% already feel pressure to show business contribution, and 68% say AI has changed what the business expects.
Invited too late. No time for the function itself. Read as operational. Team skills were named too, but far less often.
The most common obstacle points at one thing: being brought in before the request is handed over rather than after.