Employers are facing a complex landscape of evolving skills requirements alongside growing AI adoption. As automation changes job roles, people professionals must address widening skills gaps and foster continuous learning to ensure organisational success. CIPD research shows that organisations are increasingly turning to internal learning and development (L&D) to meet their talent requirements, and to retain employees' 

If undertaken correctly, L&D can offer a competitive edge, increase retention, support talent development strategies and be a core part of employer brand. It is vital that L&D practitioners and people professionals can effectively provide solutions that directly support organisation, team and individual performance and ambitions. L&D can only be effective if it is integrated and aligned to the wider strategic goals, ambition and direction of the organisation. Effective collaboration and planning with stakeholders across the business is critical for successful deployment of an L&D strategy. 

This guide provides a practical introduction to the role of an L&D function in an organisation. It offers support on the key steps to offering effective L&D, including: 

  • creating a learning strategy 
  • undertaking a learning needs analysis 
  • designing learning interventions that support organisational, team and individual performance 
  • exploring the range of options for learning delivery 
  • evaluation approaches to measure the impact of learning. 

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