The Importance of Learning and Development

As part of an annual study to identify senior executives' top concerns, AccentureTM conducted a survey of 425 senior executives at many of the world's largest organizations across all major industries and the public sector to identify and prioritize the issues of greatest concern to senior management. The results as they relate to learning and development are significant.

Here’s the prioritized list of top concerns:

1. Attracting and retaining skilled staff. (35%)
2. Changing organizational culture and employee attitudes. (33%)
3. Acquiring new customers. (32%)
4. Developing new processes and products to stay ahead of the competition. (29%)
5. Increasing customer loyalty and retention. (29%)
6. Managing risks. (29%)
7. Improving workforce performance. (28%)
8. Increasing shareholder value. (27%)
9. Using IT to reduce costs and create value. (27%)
10. Being flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing market conditions. (26%)
11. Developing employees into capable leaders. (26%)

Each one of these top concerns can be supported through rapid, effective development and delivery of learning interventions. As leaders and practitioners in Learning and Development, it’s up to us to creatively serve these fundamental training requirements. Understanding our role in supporting business outcomes is critical if we are to increase the competitive strength of our organizations. Never before has there been such a significant opportunity for us to influence future success.