For today’s learning and development (L&D) professionals, 2024 promises to be a year of unique challenges and exciting opportunities. Between the rising wave of return-to-office mandates, a rush of younger people joining the workforce and climbing the management ranks, and increased pressures to prove the return on investment (ROI) of training programs, this year promises to serve up some rocky terrain.

In response to these unique conditions, we predict the rise of these emerging L&D trends in 2024.

1. Adapting to Gen Z’s Needs

This year, successful organizations will need to adapt to the specific needs of the latest rising management class — Generation Z. By early 2024, Gen Z employees will officially overtake baby boomers in the full-time workforce.

For chief learning officers and other L&D pros, this will mean looking closer at the strengths and weaknesses of the so-called “zoomers,” including direct communication with their reports. According to a recent Culture Amp survey, 81% of direct reports agreed that their Gen Z managers are good at giving useful feedback on their performance.

Conversely, Gen Z managers value transparency as a motivating factor much more than any other age group. They cited “open and honest communication” as one of their top five drivers of motivation, while this factor didn’t even appear in the top 15 drivers of motivation for everyone else.

2. Accountability to Business Objectives — Not Just Participation

In an uncertain economy, the pressure is on learning professionals to ensure their programs have a clear impact on the business. The data-driven C-suite wants to know that L&D programs are aligned with the company’s current strategic goals and objectives, contributing to these goals and supporting the company’s long-term growth initiatives.

This year, learning leaders should focus on communicating and highlighting tangible ROI benefits of employee development, such as:

• Revenue from sales directly attributed to L&D.
• Savings from retention as a result of L&D.
• Savings from promoting within the organization.

The good news? A double-blind survey of 752 U.S., U.K. and Canadian leadership development professionals — 50% of whom work at companies with more than $1B in revenue over the last 12  months — found an ROI ranging from $3 to $11. On average, that’s a whopping ROI of $7 for every 1 dollar spent on leadership development.

3. Investment in Manager Communication Skills Training

Expect companies to invest heavily in upskilling the communication and leadership skills of team managers in their current roles or reskilling the people who have moved to new roles/increased responsibilities.

Focus areas include:

• Emotional intelligence and how empathy and compassion can forge a better understanding of team member needs and concerns.
• Communication strategies, such as how to have difficult conversations and give feedback consistently, bolster middle managers’ coaching skills.
• Training managers not for their current role, but their next role, now. This impacts succession planning and employee retention.
• Offer different options for upscaling manager skills to ensure anybody moving into the pool has the necessary skills; only some are managers. For example, senior leaders should have a “thought partner,” such as an executive coach, with whom they can check in.

In 2024, jobs and technology will continue to evolve more rapidly than ever. Since 2015, skill sets for jobs have changed by about 25%, according to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, and this is expected to double in 2027.

4. Shift to Microlearning and a Focus on Upskilling

On the rise for a few years now as lengthy “all-in-one” training courses have fallen out of favor, microlearning (i.e., bite-sized modules designed to achieve a single learning objective, delivered in a digestible, engaging way) will officially become dominant this year. In 2024, you can expect to see a growing focus on mini-lessons and courses focused on specific initiatives such as strategy/goal alignment, team building and relationship building.

This will include increased:

• Microlearning opportunities to learn skills in short spurts.
• Subscription-based or self-paced training delivery methods.
• Focus on specific employee groups and what they need. Each group needs different skills and support.

5. AI Skills Training and as a Training Tool

One area where upskilling may be particularly vital in 2024 is artificial intelligence (AI). This doesn’t mean that every employee will need to be a ChatGPT whiz, but experts predict that AI will become an even bigger part of how companies operate moving forward. In fact, the small businesses already using AI were 12% more likely to see higher profits than non-AI businesses, according to a survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The onus will fall on L&D teams and company leadership in 2024 to help teams navigate the technology’s risks and benefits, determine where AI can play a role in their organization and help employees embrace it as a tool where it makes sense.

L&D pros are finding AI to be a valuable new training tool as well. For example, coaching and training consultancies are building AI bots to facilitate quick and easy answers to common queries related to management challenges, providing a starting point for educating new managers. Other tools leverage AI bots to deliver virtual mentoring and coaching or to create 360-degree assessments from coaching data.

By staying on top of the L&D trends outlined above, you will be well positioned to drive your company’s training efforts in 2024 and into the future.