In a world where change is accelerating and the future of work is being reshaped by AI, learning and development leaders are grappling with a critical question: how do we prepare people for what comes next?
After leading a recent L&DI and HPC networking event in Dublin, HPC’s Justin Kinnear reflects on the challenges that are reshaping capability development and what they mean for learning and development teams.
It’s interesting to reflect, as we approach the end of 2026, that AI as we know it has only been part of public discourse for four years. When OpenAI made ChatGPT available to the public, we couldn’t have known how quickly it would embed itself in everyday life and conversation. It has most definitely been a disruptor, not least in learning and development, raising questions about the future of capability development and how L&D should prepare people for what’s next.
Four challenges have emerged rapidly in today’s workplaces:
The rapid ageing of skills
Recent reports suggest that almost 40% of people’s professional skills could become obsolete within five years. For L&D, the challenge is not simply to identify the skills that will replace them, but to help people acquire, apply and continually refresh those skills at pace.
Building capability in the age of AI
A 2026 World Economic Forum paper posed a useful question: “As AI becomes more capable, how can we ensure people become more capable too?” AI promises significant workplace benefits, but organisations are still trying to figure out how people and technology can work together effectively.
The battle for attention
Long, content-heavy learning experiences increasingly compete with busy schedules and constant distraction. Research by Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine, found that average screen attention fell from two and a half minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2020. In 2026, as screens and distractions multiply, the challenge of getting learners to focus and stay focused is significant.
L&D faces growing pressure to demonstrate business impact
The days of judging success mainly through attendance figures and “happy sheets” are behind us and it’s the results that matter more than ever. With budgets and people’s time under increasing pressure, L&D must be able to demonstrate a clear connection between its work and organisational priorities, yet many functions still struggle to show this impact.
L&DI and HPC Networking Event
To explore these issues in practice, on 24 September we welcomed more than 50 learning and development professionals to William Fry’s Dublin offices, alongside panellists Sonia López Fernández, Annemarie O’Brien and Fergal Connolly. Rather than centring the event on a conventional panel discussion, we designed it around the experience and expertise in the room.
Participants worked in groups on three questions:
/ How to help someone prepare for a career they cannot yet foresee
/ How L&D can support growth while balancing today’s capability needs with an uncertain future
/ What an L&D function built from the ground up should be accountable for proving
Reflections from the discussion
We deliberately flipped the traditional panel format, asking attendees to shape the conversation rather than it being driven solely by expert perspectives. After 20 minutes of table discussions, each group shared its thinking and the panellists responded with reflections from their own experience. This flipped format created energy, brought a wide range of voices into the conversation and allowed the panel to respond directly to the issues participants were wrestling with.
Several themes emerged from the discussion, but three key takeaways stood out:
Skills are becoming obsolete faster than organisations can replace them. Whatever approach you take, involve learners in the conversation about how skills will be developed and which ones need focus. L&D professionals also have much to learn from the different approaches being taken by other organisations. Experimentation, pilot testing and a willingness to learn from failure remain as valuable as ever.
Today’s priorities and tomorrow’s needs must be balanced. It is tempting to pour all your energy into the new and exciting thing, but you must not neglect the core requirements of the business. Striking a balance between maintaining excellence now and building for excellence in the future is critical. Do not neglect the brilliant basics needed today in your quest to be brilliant tomorrow.
Demonstrating business impact remains the ultimate measure of success. If we can’t connect our work to a business goal or objective, we risk being seen as wasting precious resources and distracting busy people. Every time a new request, project or initiative arrives, we must establish the link between the work and what the organisation seeks to achieve. Thinking strategically, challenging assumptions, asking questions about learning needs and working backwards from the desired goal will put us in a much stronger position when discussing the value of our efforts.
The evening did not produce a single blueprint for the future of capability. It did something more useful: it created a space for practitioners to compare experiences, test assumptions and leave with practical ideas. In a field changing this quickly, our ability to learn from one another may be one of our most important capabilities.
Justin Kinnear – HPC
Justin is Head of Research at HPC and is at the forefront of creating blended content that is relevant, impactful and in line with the current needs of individuals and teams. Justin undertakes external research and analysis for leading L&D bodies and works in collaboration with our clients to evaluate the impact of HPC’s solutions within their organisations.
His passion for people development and his ability to inspire makes him a key member of HPC’s facilitation and coaching teams. His work with HPC focuses on the development of a high performance culture for our clients with a particular emphasis on accountability and feedback.
As well as his extensive research and facilitation experience, he was formerly Head of L&D at IBM and Britvic.
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