The world of leadership and organizational development has rapidly evolved over the past 45 years since Blanchard’s founding as Blanchard Training and Development.
Serving as a showcase of best practices across that entire span of time, the Blanchard Leadership Summit has set the stage for evaluating technological advancements, identifying workforce expectations, and advancing next-generation strategic imperatives.
This year’s biannual event is happening October 8-10 in Dana Point, California. Leadership, learning, and talent development professionals from 20 different countries will be in attendance. Participants will hear from industry thought leaders like Marcus Buckingham, Jennifer Brown, Scott Blanchard, and Terrell Fletcher. They will also explore case studies from top companies such as Amazon, Becton Dickinson, BIC, CAL FIRE, Delta Dental, and St. Luke’s Health System.
A special feature of this year’s event is a chance to participate in concurrent sessions focused on three key areas—Strategy, Design, and Delivery. And while final tweaks are still being applied to sessions across each dimension, several key insights are already emerging from session rehearsals. Here are some of the key themes being explored in each of the learning tracks.
STRATEGY
1. The Role of Generative AI
Generative AI remains top of mind for HR and L&D professionals. In her presentation "Generative AI: Impact and Adoption for L&D," innovation expert April Hennessey focuses on the transformative role of generative AI in learning and development, as well as opportunities and challenges associated with its adoption.
Hennessey explains that AI can be used to enrich leadership development, automate tasks, and provide personalized learning experiences. But it is important to separate hype from reality when considering AI's role in L&D. While AI is advancing quickly, there are still areas where human intelligence, emotional understanding, and cultural awareness cannot be replaced.
2. Decoding the Employee Experience
The employee experience is another major theme highlighted in the Strategy track. Chief people officer Kristin Costello’s focus on understanding and acting on employee feedback reveals that organizations must consider the employee experience at every stage of the employee journey. This means not only collecting feedback but also analyzing it, ensuring anonymity when necessary, and taking action on that feedback to build trust.
The concept of psychological safety plays a key role here—employees need to feel secure to share honest feedback without fear of retaliation. Building a culture of trust requires a proactive approach from managers, who must create safe spaces for open conversations. Regular town halls where leadership addresses feedback openly can help maintain transparency and ensure that employees feel valued.
3. Fostering Innovation and Change Leadership
In an era of rapid technological advancement, innovation and change leadership are critical. Change expert Judd Hoekstra outlines how organizations can successfully foster a culture of innovation while navigating the challenges associated with change. Innovation is often seen as risky, and many companies fail to fully embrace it due to a fear of failure. Hoekstra suggests that creating a safe space for innovation is key: reframing failure as a learning opportunity encourages risk-taking and experimentation.
Successful change leadership requires addressing predictable stages of concern including information concerns, personal concerns, and implementation concerns. By proactively addressing these concerns, leaders can prevent employees from becoming stuck and help them move forward in the change process.
4. Addressing Manager Burnout
Manager burnout is an increasingly common problem, particularly as managers are asked to juggle an ever-growing list of responsibilities. In his session, Dr. Jay Campbell, Blanchard’s chief product officer, highlights the significant challenges faced by today’s managers including understaffing, a lack of resources, and the pressure to constantly meet organizational demands. Many managers are working longer hours but feel ineffective, leading to burnout and reduced performance.
To combat this, organizations must prioritize manager well-being by providing tools and resources that help managers prioritize tasks and balance competing demands. Leaders can also support managers by clarifying priorities, helping them understand the impact of new initiatives, and providing opportunities for career development. Managers also need support in setting boundaries and finding a balance between their work and personal lives, and leaders must model these behaviors.
5. Aligning Organizational Goals with Learning and Development
One of the most critical elements in organizational success is the alignment between learning and development initiatives and broader organizational goals. VP of client solutions Butler Newman’s discussion on this theme emphasizes that misalignment between L&D and strategic goals is a leading cause of failure in transformational initiatives. Successful organizations ensure their L&D programs are not just about training—they are directly tied to achieving business objectives.
This alignment requires a clear understanding of how learning contributes to business success. For instance, operational leadership must be closely linked to strategic leadership. While strategic leadership sets the vision and culture, operational leadership is responsible for executing those strategies on the ground. Developing ready leaders who possess both technical and interpersonal skills is essential for bridging the gap between strategy and execution.
DESIGN
1. Neuroscience and Learning
Neuroscience has become an invaluable tool in optimizing learning and teaching strategies. Coaching expert Madeleine Homan Blanchard’s presentation highlights how understanding the brain’s learning processes can enhance L&D initiatives. The journey of learning—from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence—mirrors the stages of brain development as learners form new neural pathways. The brain’s response to novelty, discomfort, and social interaction also plays a critical role in learning retention.
By integrating neuroscience principles, L&D professionals can design more engaging and impactful experiences. Strong emotions, cognitive dissonance, and social learning all can improve the encoding of memories. Additionally, spacing learning over time and allowing for reflection helps consolidate long-term retention. This concept is reinforced by the brain's default mode network (DMN), which processes information during times of rest and enables those aha moments when learners connect the dots.
2. Measuring Learning Impact
In Jim Irvine’s presentation on measuring the business impact of training, the focus is on the critical importance of demonstrating learning’s return on investment (ROI). Measurement helps justify training budgets and shows how L&D contributes to business performance, engagement, and retention.
Heading up Blanchard’s measurement and impact practice, Irvine will share a comprehensive framework for assessing the effectiveness of learning programs. This framework helps L&D teams track everything from whether learners enjoyed the training to how behaviors changed on the job and whether the organization saw tangible business improvements as a result.
Measurement goes beyond gathering data—it’s about crafting a “story of impact,” says Irvine. By understanding what stakeholders value, L&D teams can present results in a way that resonates and builds credibility. Measuring learning outcomes ensures that training initiatives remain aligned with strategic objectives and deliver value to the business.
3. Design Thinking for Leadership Development
Design thinking is a powerful approach to creating leadership development programs that prioritize the needs of learners. Innovation expert Britney Cole’s presentation focuses on using design thinking to create solutions that are human-centered and adaptable to different organizational needs.
At the heart of design thinking is empathy—understanding the learner’s challenges, goals, and needs. This people-first approach leads to the creation of learning experiences that are relevant and engaging. The five stages of design thinking—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test—help L&D professionals create scalable leadership programs that can be continuously refined based on real-world feedback.
4. The Five Drivers of Learning Impact
Solutions architect April O’Malley’s presentation on the five drivers of learning impact highlights how organizations can maximize the effectiveness of their L&D initiatives. These five drivers—key influencer support, strategic integration, effective design and delivery, follow-up and reinforcement, and demonstrated tangible value—offer a framework for improving learning transfer and achieving meaningful results.
Key influencer support involves engaging executives, managers, and peers to champion learning initiatives. Strategic integration ensures that learning programs are aligned with organizational goals, while effective design and delivery uses adult learning principles to create engaging content. Follow-up and reinforcement helps learners retain and apply their knowledge, and demonstrated tangible value shows the ROI of the training.
By using these five drivers, organizations can create structured learning journeys that are aligned with business objectives and designed to promote behavior change. The model ensures that L&D initiatives are about not only delivering content but also driving real impact.
5. Curated Content Designs
Curated content designs are essential for creating engaging and relevant learning journeys. Chief solutions architect Ann Rollins’s presentation emphasizes the importance of structuring learning experiences to address multiple skills over time rather than focus on single events.
One of the key concepts in curated content design is scaffolding—breaking down longer content into smaller, more manageable chunks or nuggets. These nuggets allow learners to build skills gradually and apply their learning in real-world contexts. Safe practice and application are also critical, giving learners opportunities to experiment, make sense of what they’ve learned, and reflect on their progress.
The ultimate goal of curated content design is to create learning journeys that are aligned with business goals and foster long-term behavior change. By integrating content with practical application and reflection, organizations can create powerful learning experiences that drive real-world results.
DELIVERY
1. Time Constraints in Learning
One of the most pressing challenges in L&D today is the lack of time employees have for training, says leadership and trust expert Randy Conley. In his presentation addressing learner time constraints, Conley explains that workers face intense job demands and often feel overwhelmed with their responsibilities, which leaves little time for professional development. With frequent task switching and short attention spans, many learners claim they simply do not have enough time to engage in lengthy training sessions. To overcome this issue, organizations are turning to strategies such as micro-learning, on-demand learning, and mobile learning.
Conley’s key message, however, is the challenge may not be as much a matter of time as a matter of perceived value in the learning programs themselves. Conley explains, “Despite time constraints, employees still value training. Around 90% of employees believe learning motivates them to stay engaged at work.” His solution? Connect the dots by aligning learning with organizational and individual goals.
2. Interactive and Active Learning
Interactive learning is essential for increasing learner engagement and retention. "Putting the ACTIVE into InterACTIVE Learning," presented by Blanchard’s VP of applied learning Dr. Vicki Halsey, emphasizes the importance of active participation in training. Passive learning, where learners simply receive information, is far less effective than active learning, where learners are involved in activities that require them to engage directly with the content.
Halsey introduces the ENGAGE model, which stands for Energize Participants, Navigate Content, Generate Meaning, Apply to the Real World, Gauge and Celebrate, and Extend Learning to Action. This model encourages facilitators to create interactive experiences where learners can practice, reflect, and apply their knowledge in real-world contexts. By focusing on practical application and celebrating small wins, learners feel a sense of accomplishment that further drives engagement.
3. Contextualizing Learning for Greater Impact
Contextualization is another critical theme in L&D, as emphasized by Jim Irvine’s presentation "Keeping it Real: Quick and Easy Strategies for Contextualizing Your Training." Contextualization involves connecting the training content directly to learners' real-world needs, making it easier for them to understand and apply what they’ve learned. This is especially important in adult learning, where the relevance of training to the learners' work plays a significant role in retention and engagement.
When training is contextualized, learners can see the immediate benefits of applying their new knowledge in their daily tasks. This approach boosts comprehension and retention by up to 40%, according to research cited by Irvine. Contextualized learning also promotes faster proficiency, better engagement, and higher retention rates.
4. Integrating Technology in L&D
The integration of technology into L&D is an increasingly important theme, as discussed by design expert Betty Dannewitz in her presentation "Integrating Technology Into L&D Designs." While technology is advancing rapidly, many L&D departments struggle to keep up. In some cases, organizations are still using outdated methods even though new tools like AI, podcasts, and digital learning platforms are readily available.
The key to successful technology integration is to ensure the technology serves a specific purpose. It should be driven by a clear problem that needs to be solved rather than adopted simply because it’s new. Dannewitz emphasizes the importance of avoiding analysis paralysis, where L&D professionals become overwhelmed by the multitude of available tools. A focus on the technologies that best enhance the learning experience can drive engagement and improve learning outcomes.
Examples of impactful technologies in L&D include credentialed badging, collaborative communities, and on-demand podcasts. These tools offer dynamic, flexible learning opportunities that can be accessed both inside and outside the classroom, making learning more accessible to busy professionals.
5. Relevance and Engagement in Learning Design
One of the most critical aspects of successful L&D programs is to ensure training is relevant to the learners' roles and the organization's goals. As highlighted in multiple presentations including those by Vicki Halsey and Jim Irvine, training programs must resonate with learners for them to engage fully and complete the material.
Relevance is achieved by designing learning experiences that directly address the challenges and opportunities learners face in their work. Providing reflection opportunities, group discussions, and coaching sessions further deepens learners’ understanding of how their training applies to their specific roles. Programs that scaffold skills and offer practical application opportunities are more likely to drive behavior change and create lasting impact on performance.
What’s in Store for the Year Ahead?
Of course, these are just some of the factors that will drive strategy, design, and delivery in the year ahead. Generative AI will continue to evolve, as will new learning technologies and advances in instructional design. By keeping an eye on all the developments and considering how they will interact and intersect, learning professionals can leverage the best ideas and techniques in the initiatives they are creating.
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Would you like to learn more about what’s ahead for learning and development? Join us for a free webinar!
L&D Issues and Intersecting Trends for the Year Ahead
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
7:00 a.m. Pacific Time
What are some of the top issues being discussed in HR / L&D circles? Join Blanchard CEO Scott Blanchard as he breaks down the content shared at this year’s 2024 Blanchard Leadership Summit. Over 200 leadership, learning, and talent development professionals will have gathered at this year’s event. Blanchard will break down what was shared along with analysis and action steps.
Participants will have a chance to explore the best content shared across three dimensions—Strategy, Design, and Delivery.
· The Strategy dimension looks at the core challenges confronting HR and L&D leaders today. The focus is on seamlessly adapting to technological advancements through the integration of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and sophisticated learning management systems.
· The Design dimension addresses critical aspects of instructional design, emphasizing leadership development and the strategic use of digital tools. It focuses on equipping instructional designers with the skills to create more engaging, effective, and impactful learning experiences.
· The Delivery dimension examines the diverse and evolving challenges faced by today’s corporate training facilitators. It looks at integrating innovative technologies and teaching methods to enhance training delivery.
In this webinar, Scott Blanchard will share an overview of the content presented by keynoters, client case studies, and subject matter experts across all sessions. He will also discuss how intersecting trends will shape HR / L&D strategies in the year ahead.
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore today’s leading issues and how they are being addressed by top organizations. Join us for this free webinar.
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