Editor’s Note: This article is part of our “L&D Reflections” series, where learning leaders share what they’ve learned over the past year and how those insights are shaping their work.

2025 has been a year of change and growth for many organizations as we navigate the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and how it applies to our day-to-day work. Learning and development (L&D) jumped in to help others learn to swim while keeping our heads above water as well. As the year ends, we can catch our breath and reflect on how far we have come while also looking ahead and applying what we have learned.

ConstructConnect provides team members with many learning programs, for all skill levels and leadership ambitions. While I am proud of what we have developed over the years, my takeaway for 2025 is “Zoom out, and then design in.” Step back, look at the whole organization and identify future business needs to more intentionally apply the great programming we already have.

Identifying Key Groups and Needs

What does this look like? It means identifying key groups in the business, determining their unique needs and providing program suggestions that help leaders focus on effective solutions. Right-timed leadership development — sequenced to an individual’s stage and the company’s strategy — beats one-size-fits-all programming.

While you may feel like you have thoroughly communicated your leadership and learning programs to your organization, L&D professionals must be empathetic to the competing demands for attention and time our leaders experience. Resource literacy is challenging for leaders when they are faced with multiple responsibilities, such as team members looking for guidance and their own leaders looking for business outcomes, all while they try to figure out their own learning journey. Being deeply engaged in the career development of every direct report can be taxing.

If we as L&D professionals can simplify career and professional development, we will get better buy-in from our leaders and greater partnership in the future. This means helping leaders navigate the great tools we already have — at the right time and for the right audience — rather than churning out new programs.

Each organization is unique and will have different strategically important groups and needs. L&D professionals can look to a few different sources to identify key talent areas and what is needed for the road ahead: your company strategy and priorities, objectives and key results (OKRs) or similar planning programs, the 9-box grid, succession plans, workforce plans, critical position lists and partnerships with leaders. From these sources, consider the group, the competencies most needed for current and future success, and how your current programming can foster these competencies. This provides a framework for leaders so they can quickly locate and connect their team members with the most helpful resources.

Constructing a Persona-Based Development Checklist

Reflecting on the year and how to better apply current programs based on talent development needs, here’s what persona-based development guidance looks like at ConstructConnect:

For Early Career High-Potential Individual Contributors

• Essential competencies
  • Professional communication/managing up
  • Business acumen/organizational savvy
  • Time management; project management; accountability
  • High-level exposure to how the organization identifies strong candidates, develops them and keeps them engaged
• Tools and programs to apply
  • Emerging Leader Learning Path (i.e., a cohort workshop experience)
  • Impact Project (i.e., an experiential, action-learning opportunity where participants support a project team)
  • Mentorship focused on individual learning goals
  • Employee resource group (ERG) participation 
  • Attend industry hours (i.e., companywide business acumen lunch and learns)
• Documentation and success measurement
  • Creation and implementation of goals on Success Plan (IDP) and mentorship
  • Impact Project implementation

For New People Leaders/Managers With Direct Reports

• Essential competencies
  • Technical management skills, including navigating policies and processes, and partnering with human resources (HR)
  • Communication, listening and conflict management
  • Coaching and performance management
  • Time management and decision-making
  • Deep dive into talent management (i.e., selecting, developing and engaging talent)
• Tools and programs to apply
  • New Manager Checklist (i.e., a 60-day checklist of technical processes and skills)
  • New Leader Pathway (i.e., a cohort workshop experience)
  • Leader Labs (i.e., monthly cross functional leader learning)
  • Six months to one year in — 360-degree feedback process
  • Mentorship focused on individual goals and early leadership
• Documentation and success measurement
  • Creation and implementation of goals on Success Plan (IDP) and mentorship
  • Pre- and post-360-degree feedback results
  • Team engagement feedback via Gallup’s Q12 Survey

For Experienced High-Potential Individual Contributors/High-Impact Roles

• Essential competencies
  • Leading through influence
  • Business acumen/organizational savvy
  • Financial acumen
  • Cross-functional collaboration and communication
  • Strategic insight and change management
  • Project management and accountability
• Tools and programs to apply
  • Advanced Leadership Pathway (i.e., a cohort workshop experience)
  • Impact Project (i.e., an experiential, action-learning opportunity where participants lead a project team)
  • Targeted stretch projects or delegated tasks from a leader
  • Six months to one year in — 360-degree feedback process
  • Mentorship focused on individual goals and learning needs
  • OKR ownership and reporting
  • External learning or certification; external networking
  • Job rotations and cross‑functional exposure
• Documentation and success measurement
  • Talent map/9-box grid
  • Creation and implementation of goals on Success Plan (IDP) and mentorship
  • Pre- and post- 360-degree feedback results
  • Impact Project implementation
  • OKR or stretch project completion and implementation

For Experienced High-Potential People Leader On a Succession Plan

• Essential competencies
  • Business and financial acumen
  • Cross-functional collaboration and communication
  • Talent management with an emphasis on leading leaders
  • Strategic insight, change management, decision-making
  • Project management; accountability
• Tools and programs to apply
  • Advanced Leadership Pathway (i.e., a cohort workshop experience)
  • Leader Labs (i.e., monthly cross-functional leader learning)
  • Targeted stretch projects or delegated tasks from a leader
  • Six months to one year in — 360-degree feedback process
  • Mentorship focused on individual goals and advanced leadership
  • OKR ownership and reporting
  • External learning or certification; external networking
  • Job rotations and cross‑functional exposure
  • Attend relevant business or planning meetings
  • Run transition drills: Identify interim coverage, document knowledge transfer and plan onboarding for key milestones (first day, 90 days, and 180 days).
• Documentation and measurement
  • Talent map/9-box grid
  • Creation and implementation of goals on Success Plan (IDP) and through mentorship
  • Pre- and post- 360-degree feedback results
  • Team engagement via the Gallup Q12 Survey
  • OKR or stretch project: successful completion and implementation

Conclusion

The energy I’m taking into 2026 is to step back, assess what great content we already have, and align those tools to key talent and timing, not titles.

While I love an exciting new program as much as the next L&D professional, I want to reframe what exists for the right person at the right time. Ask yourself what talent the future requires and what resources can pave the way.

As you reflect on your own learning journey, explore how the Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM) program can help you grow the skills you need to lead training with confidence.