The L&D Crystal Ball for 2025

As we bid farewell to another year of navigating the corporate learning and development maze, let's take a jolly good look at what's in store for L&D professionals in 2025. Grab your mince pies and appropriate festive beverage...we've added some festive colours, so let's dive in!

1. The Skill Shelf-Life Shuffle: In a world where skills expire faster than milk, expect to become the Marie Kondo of corporate knowledge. Does this skill spark joy (or productivity)? If not, out it goes!

   
   

2. The Attention Span Sprint: As attention spans shrink, your training sessions will need to be snappier than a TikTok video. By 2025, 'Microlearning' might just mean shouting facts at people as they walk past your desk.

   
   

3. The VR Voyage: Virtual Reality training will reach new heights. Expect 'How to Survive a Meeting with the CEO' or 'being on a teams call in a supermarket, without being sussed' to be the most popular VR simulations of 2025.

   
   

4. The AI Apprentice: As AI continues to evolve, you might find yourself training both humans and machine/robots. Just remember, one of them doesn't need coffee breaks, but co-pilot does not = auto pilot.

   
   

"No, Dave, the coffee machine is not plotting against you. It's just programmed to be passive-aggressive."

5. The Soft Skills Soufflé: With automation taking over hard skills, soft skills will be all the rage. By 2025, either 'Advanced Emoji Communication' or 'create my own I'm working from home on Friday GIFs' could be your most sought-after courses, guaranteed!

   
   

6. The Great Office Bake Off (Staying on the cooking theme): With remote work here to stay, L&D teams will need to get creative to maintain skills development. Expect virtual baking competitions to become the new team-building exercise. Who knew that perfecting your soggy bottom or crispy (burnt) top will be a key performance indicator in 2025?

   
   

For all our L&D heroes out there, remember: no matter what size company you're in, your ability to adapt, innovate, and laugh at the chaos will be your superpower in 2025.

So, as we wrap up another year of corporate shenanigans, take a moment to pat yourself on the back (or get a robot to do it for you). Have a fantastic festive break, and here's to a 2025 filled with more laughter than meetings, more solutions than problems, and hopefully, a lot less time spent trying to unmute yourself on video calls!

Cheers to the future of work – may it be as unpredictable and entertaining as ever!