How optimistic are learning executives about the health of the learning function in organizations as we head into 2015?

To answer this question, we can turn to ATD’s Learning Executive Confidence Index (LXCI), a report that provides a wealth of information on what learning leaders feel the importance of learning and the amount of investment in the learning function will be six months down the road. Every quarter since 2008, ATD Research has surveyed over 300 learning executives on their level of optimism regarding the state of learning in organizations and published our findings in the LXCI.

As the current year draws to a close, we can look at the LXCI for the third quarter (published in October) to see how optimistic learning executives are about the health of learning into early 2015.

The good news is that learning executives generally have an optimistic six-month outlook for the learning function, echoing the optimism about the economy as a whole, which has seen increasing business investments and dropping unemployment in the United States in recent months, as well as continued global recovery. The LXCI is measured on a 100-point scale, in which a higher index score reflects a more optimistic outlook for the learning function in organizations and a lower index score reflects greater negativity. 

For the third quarter of 2014, the LXCI is at 66.9, which is over a point higher than it was in the previous quarter, when it was 65.7, indicating a more positive outlook.  To put the current score into context, it is only three points lower than the highest score recorded since ATD began calculating the LXCI over six years ago, and nearly 12 points above the historic low score.

The LXCI score is based on learning executives' six-month forecasts for four key indicators: 

1. the ability of learning executives to meet organizations’ learning needs

2. the impact of learning on corporate performance

3. the perception of the value of learning within organizations

4. the availability of resources needed to meet learning needs. 

Taking a closer look at these four critical components of learning executives’ outlooks, learning executives have confidence in their ability to foresee and address the needs of learners into 2015, despite the number of new jobs being created, the rapid pace of change, and ever-evolving technology. In fact, they are more positive than they were three months ago about their ability to meet key learning needs.

Leaders in the learning field also have an extremely positive view of their ability to influence corporate performance in the next six months and the perceived value of learning in organizations, suggesting that learning objectives are aligned with business performance goals.

A dim spot is that the majority of learning executives do not have a positive six-month view for the availability of resources needed to meet learning needs, and learning executives are more pessimistic in this area than they were a quarter ago. One possible explanation is that learning executives feel that, even as new jobs are being created and employees’ responsibilities and the knowledge they are required to have change, organizations aren’t increasing the amount of resources for learning (such as funding, staff, and technology), or they aren’t increasing it enough to meet the growth in demand for learning.

The LXCI relies on survey responses submitted by learning executives, and ATD Research is extremely grateful for the continued participation of many individuals. If you are a learning executive interested in participating in the future by completing brief online surveys, please email [email protected].  

ATD publishes the full report online each year in January (for Q4 of the previous year), April (Q1 of the current year), July (Q2 of the current year), and October (Q3 of the current year). The full report is free to everyone.