Setting Up For 2024 Success: Navigating Budget Constraints in GenAI Era of L&D

Introduction

We’re in a post-AI business landscape where organizations are shifting to a skills-first approach. 

According to IBM, 40% of workforces will need reskilling over the coming 3 years as a result of AI, alongside 83% of employees stating that improving their skills is one of their top priorities.

L&D departments play a business critical role in ensuring business success through the nurture and creation of a skilled and adaptable workforce.

However, a large majority of L&D leaders point to a lack of budget and resources as a top challenge when it comes to designing and delivering impactful learning initiatives.

So, how can L&D leaders make sure their teams are set up for success as we move into 2024?

This article will explore strategies and perspectives that can help L&D leaders achieve success while navigating budget and resource constraints. 

Tackling Budget Blockers

Addressing common budget blockers for L&D is the first step towards building a strong business case and unlocking the budget you need.

L&D is a Cost Center

Business leaders need to reframe L&D as an investment in your organization’s future, not an expense.

By investing in employee development, productivity is improved, turnover is reduced, and innovation is boosted.

Some stats:

• 94% of workers say they would stay in a role if they felt their development was being invested in
• 86% of employees say they would move to another organization with more chances to grow
• Companies that have invested in employee development have seen a 58% increase in retention

Learning isn’t relevant to daily tasks

By investing in L&D, business leaders open up the opportunity for more relevant, impactful learning initiatives. 

In addition, investing in new technologies and platforms that offer access to AI-powered tools can also aid in optimizing resource allocation and effectiveness.

• Making investments that will empower L&D teams to deliver impactful, relevant and timely learning experiences can save business leaders up to £80,000 per 1000 employees

L&D efforts can’t be attributed to ROI

Measuring the success and impact of L&D initiatives has never been easier. With the birth of technologies such as AI, teams now can automate the measurement of not only quantitative data, but also qualitative. 

Against this backdrop, there are ways for L&D teams to unlock more targeted and effective measurement and reporting capability which will mean that this can no longer be a valid blocker for more investment in L&D.

• In light of this, there has been a 159% increase in CEOs who are now turning to L&D to solve key business challenges

Optimizing your L&D outputs with a Lean Team

There are some simple strategies to optimize your L&D efforts with budget and resource constraints:

Let Data Lead the Way: Through measurement and data-driven decision making you can ensure your and your team’s time is focused on the correct skills at the right time, and agile to proactively develop skills needs as they arise.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Rather than investing time and money into new content, harness the information and knowledge that already exists within your organization and repurpose it for L&D requirements

Enable Remote Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Integrating learning within work schedules can reduce costs associated with traditional training methods, while also catering to individual learning pace and style.

These strategies look great on paper, however it’s likely you’ll need some help realising them – that’s where a partnership with an AI-powered Skills Academy like Hive Learning comes in.

The Role of AI-Powered Skills Academies

With an industry partner like Hive Learning, lean L&D teams can be empowered to deliver consistent and impactful learning at speed and scale, all while delivering ROI. 

“No matter what your industry, AI-generated learning can enhance and accelerate the way your organization upskills its workforce” 

Tejal Shah, Global Head of People Development & Effectiveness at Kantar

What does this look like in practice?

Platform: A truly unique and flexible custom-built platform that can scale from 10s to 1000s of users 

Content Creation: Build any course, program and content in minutes

Content Synthesization: Rework existing content to bring it to life as an engaging learning pathway informed by tried and tested learning methodologies

Program Design & Customization: Design your programs, edit, customize and even control your other platforms via a suite of integrations

Qualitative Data Reporting: Extract and tell a story with valuable insights from qualitative data, such as learner feedback and sentiment analysis

An extension of your team: Measuring success, driving engagement and even performing complex tasks such as needs analysis

Conclusion

While business leaders lean more on L&D to solve business challenges with skills development, it doesn’t mean your team has to do more with very little. 

There are now ways to drill down into your approaches to L&D to ensure you are clinical and targeted in your efforts, allowing for more output with limited resource and budget allocation. 

As we’ve seen, the key lies in facing up to budget blockers, and embracing new technologies to empower your organization towards a “build don’t buy” approach to skills.

By doing so, L&D leaders can ensure their teams are set up for success into 2024 and beyond, leading the way to a more agile, innovative, and skilled workforce.

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Set your L&D initiatives up for success in 2024 with Hive Learning

Sources:

IBM, Augmented work for an automated, AI-driven world 

Employee Training Development Statistics 

Growth Engineering – The Impact of Learner Engagement on your Business 

LinkedIn Learning, Insights on the New State of L&D