Is your Management & Leadership Development ready for 2024?

Leaders need the right support to grow the capacity, capability, and confidence to lead themselves and their teams. Management development is a major portion of any learning budget, often up to 50%. Can you be sure you are investing wisely? Are you focused on building the most important capabilities? 

Read on to discover our Insight Group’s top trends for 2024:

• What managers / leaders most need to tackle this year
• Top trends for L&D teams 
• Top ten capabilities all managers and leaders need to succeed 

Every year, there are particular challenges and opportunities that managers / leaders face – adding even more colour to the role! So, what are top trends / themes for 2024? 

What managers and leaders most need to tackle in 2024

Navigating uncertainty with stability and agility

Evidence shows the best way to navigate an uncertain world is to provide sufficient stability and agility. Organisations that provide both are 75% more likely to be in top 25% for organisational health. 

Being AI Savvy

Leaders don’t need to know everything about Gen AI, but they do need a broad knowledge, practical know-how, and confidence. They need to be AI Smart. 

Busting busywork

Busywork needs to become value-adding work. Having a diary with back-to-back meetings needs to go out of fashion in favour of thinking / planning / listening / innovation time.

Connecting and belonging 

As humans we are wired to connect, but isolation is at record levels. Managers can make a real difference here – connecting people with each other and with a higher, shared agenda. 

Accountability – trust or bust

With new ways of working (including hybrid) visibility and control are still an issue, but in different ways. Accountability and trust are not opposites - leaders need stop flip-flopping between them and work out how to bring them together. 

Multigenerational teams 

With longer careers, most organisations have 3 or 4 generations working together. Managers need to master getting the most out of diverse teams – thriving and understanding. 

Top trends for L&D teams in 2024

Use AI to boost human skills

Human skills are more important than ever; L&D need to understand how AI can (and can’t) boost human learning. Reading something in a Chat tool is rarely sufficient to shift behaviour, but there are many other ways that AI can help humans become more capable.  

Be timely, but don’t interrupt. 

Learning needs to be even more timey and relevant - in the flow of work, but also ready to adapt as the nature of work is changing.

Fixate on impact  

In L&D, we often get excited about the latest shiny thing – ensure innovations drive value, better outcomes, are in line with your organisational context, and boost the learner experience. 

Hunt out your hidden learners

These might be reluctant learners, specialists in a rut, or over 50s (data shows we invest 50% less in learning for over 50s). LSE suggest the half-life of skills is less than 5 years now, so everyone needs to upskilling and reskilling frequently.  

Ensure learning excites, engages, embeds, and evolves 

30 years of experience shows the best learning is designed using our 4Es – but in practice few L&D programmes are. L&D needs to be passionate about great learning, more is not more. 

HR meets PR 

Competing for time and attention is a major challenge for HR and L&D and is repeatedly the #1 challenge in our annual survey. L&D really need to boost their ability to cut through the noise in ways that land for their audience. 

2024 will be another challenging year, but building the capability of your managers and leaders will make a real difference – to them, their teams and the organisation. 

Top ten capabilities all managers and leaders need to succeed

Our newly launched management and leadership programme can help you focus on the most important capabilities your leaders need. 

Browse our capabilities and insight paper

Explore our new brand leadership programme