As we close the books on 2025, I find myself doing something I rarely do in December—feeling genuinely energised rather than exhausted. This year didn’t just change what we do in Learning & Development; it changed how we think about what’s possible.
Let me share what’s been inspiring me, and what I believe should inspire all of us as we step into 2026.
What 2025 Taught Us (Whether We Were Ready or Not)
1. AI Became Our Colleague, Not Our Replacement
Remember January when half our LinkedIn feeds were either prophesying the death of L&D or insisting nothing would change? Turns out, both camps were wrong.
The real story of 2025 wasn’t AI replacing L&D professionals—it was AI *amplifying* the ones willing to experiment. I’ve watched trainers who once spent three days building a scenario-based exercise now prototype five variations in an afternoon. The technology didn’t make us redundant; it freed us to do what we’re actually good at: understanding people, designing experiences, and facilitating transformation.
The lesson: The question isn’t “Will AI take my job?” It’s “Am I using AI to become the L&D professional I always wanted to be?”
2. Neurodiversity Moved from “Nice to Have” to Non-Negotiable
This might be the shift I’m most proud to have witnessed. Organisations finally grasped that inclusive learning design isn’t about accommodating difference—it’s about unlocking potential that was always there.
I’ve seen companies revolutionise their management training by simply acknowledging that brains work differently. Offering content in multiple formats, building in processing time, creating psychologically safe feedback loops—these aren’t special accommodations. They’re just good practice that happens to benefit everyone.
The lesson: Every time we design for neurodiversity, we design better learning for all learners.
3. Micro-Learning Grew Up
2025 was the year we stopped treating micro-learning like a gimmick and started treating it like architecture. The best practitioners weren’t just chunking content into five-minute modules—they were building entire learning ecosystems where each micro-moment connected to something deeper.
I’ve been working with clients who’ve transformed their leadership development by threading brief, practical touchpoints throughout the actual work experience. Not as a replacement for deeper learning, but as the connective tissue that makes that learning stick.
The lesson: Small doesn’t mean shallow. Micro-learning done well is strategic design, not content reduction.
4. Skills Took Center Stage (and We Finally Got Specific)
The skills-based conversation matured significantly this year. We moved beyond vague competency frameworks to actually mapping what good looks like in real work contexts.
The organisations getting this right weren’t creating massive skills taxonomies—they were having honest conversations about what people actually need to do, then building learning around those specific capabilities.
The lesson: Skills-based learning only works when we’re brutally specific about what skills actually matter.
What’s Sparking My Curiosity for 2026
As I look ahead, here are the opportunities I think we should be leaning into:
1. The “Learning in the Flow of Work” Challenge
We’ve been talking about this for years, but 2026 is when we need to crack it properly. Not by creating more resources people can access “in the moment”—but by fundamentally rethinking when and how learning happens.
Try this: Pick one critical skill in your organisation. Now map the actual work situations where people need that skill. Design your learning intervention to happen *in those moments*, not in preparation for them. Partner with managers to make learning part of the work conversation, not separate from it.
2. Making Measurement Mean Something
In 2026, I’m challenging myself—and you—to measure things that actually matter. Did behaviour change? Did performance improve? Did the business outcome we cared about shift?
Try this: Before designing your next program, write down the sentence: “We’ll know this worked when…” If you can’t finish that sentence with something observable and meaningful, you’re not ready to design yet.
3. Becoming Organisational Storytellers
The best L&D professionals I know aren’t just designers or facilitators—they’re translators. They take complex business challenges and turn them into learning narratives that people can connect with and act upon.
Try this: This month, find one business challenge your organisation faces. Now write the story: What’s at stake? Who are the characters? What’s preventing success? What needs to change? Use that story as the foundation for your learning design. Watch what happens when learning feels like it matters.
4. Building the Post-Pandemic Learning Culture (For Real This Time)
We’re four years past lockdown, but many organisations are still operating in a hybrid muddle. 2026 needs to be the year we stop comparing everything to “before” and start building cultures designed for how we actually work now.
Try this: Audit your learning portfolio. How much of it still assumes everyone’s in the same room? How much assumes everyone’s remote? Neither assumption is right. Redesign your cornerstone programs to be deliberately hybrid—not as a compromise, but as an intentional design that leverages the strengths of both modalities.
The Real Work: What We Need to Demand of Ourselves
Here’s what I’ve been reflecting on personally: we can have all the technology, all the insights, all the frameworks—but if we’re not willing to challenge ourselves, we’ll just create incrementally better versions of what we’ve always done.
So here are my commitments for 2026, and I invite you to consider yours:
I will say no more often. Not every learning request is a learning problem. Sometimes the issue is communication, or process, or even strategy. Our job isn’t to design training for every gap—it’s to solve the actual problem, even when that means walking away from a training project.
I will experiment more boldly. Pilot small, learn fast, iterate constantly. The organisations that thrived in 2025 weren’t the ones with perfect programs—they were the ones willing to try, fail, learn, and try again.
I will connect learning to business reality more explicitly. Every program we design should have a clear line of sight to something the organisation cares about. If we can’t draw that line, we shouldn’t be designing.
I will advocate for the profession. L&D deserves a strategic seat at the table, but we earn that seat by proving we understand the business, speak the language of impact, and deliver results that matter.
An Invitation
As you reflect on your own 2025 and look toward 2026, I’d love to hear:
– What moment or project made you proudest this year?
– What assumption did you let go of?
– What’s one experiment you want to try in 2026?
– What support do you need from the L&D community to make it happen?
We’re in one of the most dynamic periods our profession has ever experienced. The tools are evolving, the workplace is transforming, and the expectations of what learning can achieve are higher than ever.
That’s not pressure. That’s opportunity.
Here’s to a 2026 where we design with courage, measure what matters, and remember that our real job has always been the same: helping people become capable of things they couldn’t do before.
Let’s make it remarkable.
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What’s inspiring you as you look ahead? Share your thoughts in the comments—I’m genuinely curious what’s on your mind as we close out this year.
Bob Bannister
iManage Performance Ltd
Management Training Consultant | Leadership Development | Learning & Development Strategy
