At a time when in-demand skills are constantly evolving, investing in learning and development (L&D) is essential to modern business success. Or, as Benjamin Franklin famously said, “For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.”

It’s worth remembering those words as we navigate an exciting, albeit uncertain work landscape. Businesses will never regret upskilling their people, especially when trying to take advantage of cutting-edge technologies like the latest AI models, automation, the Internet of Things, smart cities and more. Your organization cannot remain productive and competitive if your workforce lacks the skills needed to embrace future opportunities.

Yet, the reality is that you need to prepare your people for the future, even when budgets are tight and every dollar spent is scrutinized. Nobody can deny the need for more AI and data skills across the workforce. After all, it’s predicted that 80% of the U.S. workforce will have at least 10% of their tasks automated by generative AI models. Having the right skills to work alongside artificial intelligence (AI) is vital and L&D is leading this upskilling charge — but in a cost-effective way. To achieve this, you need creativity and innovation.

Now Is the Time for Training and Development

Uncertain times are the perfect opportunity to double down on your upskilling and reskilling. There can be a temptation with some business leaders to pause and take scope of the changing environment and, although this is a prudent move in most cases, with AI, you need to adapt and evolve as it advances. You cannot predict what new AI app will hit the market, nor how jobs will change in the coming months. Essentially, if your learning strategy isn’t fluid and adaptable, you won’t be able to embrace the latest opportunities that AI offers.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up a bit, breathe new life into your learning strategy and explore new resources to engage your learners. It’s a bit like changing your engine oil and ensuring your tires are roadworthy before embarking on a long journey. There are bound to be bumps along the way, as well as traffic jams and the occasional detour, but having a roadworthy vehicle will ensure you successfully reach your destination.

A Wealth of Learning Resources

We’re fortunate today to have a wide range of learning resources to offer the workforce. There are over many different ways to develop your employees today. Long gone are the days of solely classroom-based learning, with individuals now able to choose from written pieces, books, audiobooks, podcasts, videos, learning communities and more. For those feeling budgetary constraints, there are many free and low-cost resources available online. You just have to curate them into a meaningful learning pathway for your people.

Skills to Focus on

AI and data skills may be obvious focus areas for upskilling in the AI era, but human skills have proven to be just as important in building a resilient and adaptable workforce. Indeed, 9 out of 10 of the top skills (based on the number of created learning pathways) in Degreed in 2023 were human skills. Only one — data analytics — was directly linked to tech.

Conversely, the full list was:

• Leadership.
• Project management.
• Data analytics.
• Communication.
• Change management.
• Collaboration.
• Leadership development.
• Agile.
• Problem-solving.
• Coaching.

Human skills are an interesting development area for L&D teams because they cannot be effectively taught in a solely classroom-based setting (whether that’s in-person or online). You need an element of collaborative, experiential learning to effectively build a human skill like leadership or communication. Especially when most people prefer to learn from their peers than their L&D team or line manager. Cohort-based learning, where groups of people are set up around specific skill areas such as leadership, change management or effective communication is ideal for building human skills.

Learning at Two Speeds

Learning has also evolved to go at two speeds. There’s fast, everyday learning where people consume short videos, blogs, podcasts and quizzes to quickly get-up-to-speed with the basics of a skill. And then there’s more targeted deeper skill-building via capability academies that build the precise capabilities people and organizations need to succeed. This is especially important with AI-focused upskilling because it allows employees to continuously learn foundational skills to enable an AI technology (for example, basic data literacy and responsible AI use). When the need for deep skilling arises due to a new AI model or business opportunity, an academy can be set up around it.

Learning That Suits Your Business

With such an array of learning choices at your fingertips, it can feel overwhelming to pick the right ones for your workforce. Especially if you’re keeping an eye on spending versus returns. Creativity, in a business context, will bring chaos if it isn’t aligned with what you need. Your North Star should always be your business goals to ensure your learning delivers the right returns and impact on your business. If you want to prepare your workforce for working with new AI processes in your warehouses, for example, your learning pilots may center around deskless technologies that deliver key data and AI literacy in the moment of need.

Let Your Learners Lead

Additionally, give learners the autonomy to choose their own learning opportunities that align with their focus areas and professional goals. Upskilling works best when it matches the interests and career goals of learners — and the vast majority (93%) are interested in AI at work. Offering them a wide range of resources to build their AI-enabling skills in the way that suits them will help you develop the continuous learning habits needed to keep ahead of AI advances. Plus, by tailoring your learning opportunities to individuals, you make it less likely that they’ll disengage. You won’t be wasting dollars trying to build skills that nobody wants to grow or use in the future.

Embrace New Possibilities

As you consider the opportunities ahead, don’t be afraid to shake things up. Our changing times naturally bring about innovation and creativity because we have to constantly adapt, reflect and make the most of our resources. The current range of learning content and tools this year will help you do that, giving your workforce options to confidently upskill ready for the AI era in a way that aligns with your business needs.