The Future of Learning & Development

I was honored to be asked to speak at the annual CRATD conference last week. I was even more excited when I learned about the theme of the conference which was “Realizing the Future of Learning & Development Clearly”. As a practitioner, trainer, author, and consultant, I could certainly see how project management should be an integral part of that future!

Our observations in the project management community support the idea of including project management skills training into learning and development programs. For instance, we are reading more articles about a “projectized economy” which refers to the fact that more and more organizations, worldwide, are delivering value through projects. Our economy is becoming dependent on the delivery of projects.

This is also reflected in a recent article published by MIT Sloan Management Review where CEO’s were asked about their lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience. Not surprisingly, “get project management basics in place” was on the list of lessons.  

And let’s not forget about the reskilling report that McKinsey published earlier in the year where 65% of organizations are either currently experiencing a skills gap or anticipate a skills gap within the next 2 years. That research also indicated that project management as one of the top 5 skills identified for reskilling programs.

In the project management community, we continue to share research, our observations and experiences that support the value of learning, understanding and implementing project management practices. We are now hearing from executives around the world that the future of work will be based more on projects than on specific roles within those organizations. There is no time like the present to begin discussions on including project management practices into your learning & development program for your organization. Everyone benefits from learning how to effectively lead a project and be a contributing member of a project team. Everyone.

Is your organization ready for the future?

Are you?