More than ever before, learning and development (L&D) leaders must act as strategic business partners. Delivering targeted training to bridge skills gaps and build workforce readiness is essential in positioning both L&D professionals and the entire training function as a key business driver.

“In this environment of change, L&D has become an essential lever for any organization thinking ahead to building the skills they need for the future,” says Stephanie Conway, senior director of talent development at LinkedIn. It’s both “exciting and daunting” for L&D to finally have a seat at the table, she says.

In a volatile business environment, however, developing a strategic talent development plan that supports future growth can seem like an Olympic feat. How can L&D leaders predict the future skills the business will need to stay competitive? How can they ensure that employees receive the comprehensive development they’re looking for? And how can they determine if employees have the training and support they need to propel the business forward?

Here, we’ll address these questions and more, and will offer actionable tips for building a future-forward talent development strategy. But first, let’s consider what recent research says about the current state of talent development.

The Current State of Talent Development

A cooler labor market has employees staying put longer in their roles, and the C-suite is “hyper-focused on mobilizing them,” Conway says. Unfortunately, “employees say they still aren’t receiving the right support to grow in their roles — and they aren’t feeling very confident about their future with their current companies,” she explains. LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report found that most employees feel less confident about prospects to progress in their careers than they did a year ago.

Cornerstone’s 2023 Talent Health Index report had similar findings. Notably, the report found that:

• 41% of employees don’t believe they have what they need to develop their skills.
• 65% of employees are looking for additional skills development content.
• 59% of employees are looking for tailored and comprehensive career guidance.
• 62% of employees are eager to find more personalized coaching and mentoring.

Mike Bollinger, global vice president of strategic initiatives at Cornerstone, says the research also indicated a “skills confidence gap,” reflecting the difference between employers’ and employees’ confidence levels in their organization’s level of skills development support. It’s worth noting that the skills confidence gap isn’t new. It’s remained “pretty persistent [and] pretty stubborn” over the past few years. The good news is that Bollinger says the skills confidence gap is “much smaller, to the point of being statistically insignificant” in high-performing organizations (i.e., organizations with higher levels of profitability, revenue growth, employee retention, customer satisfaction, etc.), which are often more likely to prioritize talent development.

Best Practices for Building a Talent Development Strategy

It’s clear that employees want more skills development and career guidance. To begin building a talent development strategy that meets these needs, and that will position the business for future success, consider the following best practices.

1. Conduct a talent development “check-up.” First, it’s important to take the pulse of your current talent development offerings. This may include conducting surveys or interviews to identify courses, programs and additional support (i.e., coaching, mentoring, peer learning, etc.) that employees are looking for, in addition to areas in which they feel they already have enough support. Consulting with employees’ direct managers can help you identify additional skills gaps and performance challenges.

2. Determine which needs are the most business critical. Once you’ve assessed the current state of your talent development offerings and have identified key gaps, work to determine which needs are the most critical to the business. For example, if managers are concerned about employees’ ability to use a new technology that will soon be implemented, providing training that can help ensure a smooth adoption would be more critical to the business than providing training on a more “evergreen” topic, like collaboration or teamwork. While important, these less business-critical topics can be rolled out at a later date. Working closely with stakeholders can help you determine your organization’s most business-critical training needs.

3. Define success and determine key metrics. Too often, “data sometimes feels like an afterthought” when it comes to talent development, says Kristin Barry, director of hiring analytics at Gallup. We know that talent development is important “because human beings are important.” Therefore, it “has inherent value.” That said, “We also work for organizations that have to demonstrate business value,” she says. As you’re developing your talent strategy, Barry suggests deciding upfront what you’re going to measure, how you’re going to measure it and what success looks like. For instance, you might measure learning completion rates and increased confidence in learners’ ability to display a skill. You might measure it through surveys, interviews or conversations with learners’ direct managers, and you can determine what success looks like by simply asking direct managers, “What would be a win?” If you fail to define what success looks like before rolling out your programs, “people can be dissatisfied” after the fact, because there’s no benchmark from which to measure successful outcomes.

4. Make it comprehensive. As identified in Cornerstone’s report, employees are looking for comprehensive career guidance and support. Thus, providing a one-off course on a skill they’re looking to learn isn’t enough. Supplementing courses and programs with additional support, such as coaching, mentoring, lunch and learns, and even job aids, tools and templates, can help ensure that they’re comprehensive.

A People-Centric Approach

With advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies accelerating the pace of change facing businesses worldwide, having a talent development strategy is grounding during these times of uncertainty, Barry says. “There isn’t a world where we don’t need people at all. Even if people are interacting with the computers or the robots or the systems, we need people.” Thus, investing in talent development should remain a top priority for businesses looking to stay ahead of change and thrive in an uncertain future of work.