The State of L&D Skills 2026
What skills do L&D functions need to deliver business impact?
As chosen by 200 + L&D teams, we have 6 core capabilities and 26 skill themes.
The most curious signal: L&D professionals think the job is now about the business first, and learning craft second.
Five things we learned.
The patterns that stood out most.
Business literacy is the most-named skill.
Named by respondents more than any other skill: knowing how the organisation makes money and speaking its language. Maybe that tells us more about L&D’s future than you think.
L&D needs to work from evidence.
44% named data literacy or measurement and ROI. Data literacy alone is the second most-named skill, at 34%.
Learning experience design was not as popular as I expected.
Named by 19%, it’s the most-named learning craft skill, yet none of the top eight skills is traditional learning craft.
AI matters, but it didn’t dominate.
24% named AI fluency, tying for 4th behind business literacy, data literacy and performance consulting.
Practitioners are ditching the order taker vibe.
39% named performance consulting, needs analysis or listening and questioning. Feels like a good sign towards being a partner to the business rather than a participant to relentless course requests.
The L&D Operator skills map.
The inner ring shows the six capability areas, shaded by how many respondents named at least one skill in each. The outer bars show every skill theme within them.
Six areas of capability
Share of respondents who named at least one skill in each area. Select an area to filter the ranked skills list.
Every skill, ranked
Filter by area, then open any skill to see what else those respondents named alongside it, plus a summary of what they said.
Also named by these respondents
What respondents said
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Where AI sits
AI is on the list, but not at the top of it. When it does appear, it rarely appears alone.
named AI fluency or AI enablement as a skill L&D needs.
of those who named AI also named data literacy in the same answer.
gave answers made up entirely of human skills, with no mention of AI or technology.
What leading CLOs say
Senior learning leaders on what these findings mean for L&D.
“What a time to be alive!
I love getting a glimpse inside the crazy, beautiful minds of L&D folk. This research gives us plenty to think about.
Three things jump out.
First, we’re ready to be more forward deployed into the business - not fighting for a seat at the table, but getting closer to where the work happens.
Second, as AI makes knowledge easier to access, our opportunity is to become more expert in moving from individual to organisational change: helping people, teams and whole organisations adapt and evolve together.
And third, it’s not enough to be curious, courageous and thoughtful. How do we unlock those qualities in everyone else?
Perhaps that’s our greatest opportunity: to become the forward-deployed humanists of the AI era.
What a wonderful time to be in L&D”
“These findings perfectly articulate the shift that many in L&D are sensing - and many are trying to anticipate - but don’t know what’s quite happening or, more importantly, what they need to do.
This isn’t just raw data. Ross clearly knows the role of L&D in organisations and has applied that understanding so that the report is wholly relevant to the L&D reader.
My advice would be to sit with these findings and explore what these mean for you in your role now - and what it means for expanding L&D’s impact in your organisation for the benefit of all your stakeholders.”
“The world of work is complicated and changing from norms we’ve held onto in L&D for way too long. These insights clearly lay out a path to broader impact and success if you work in an L&D team. Know your “business” and how it works/makes money is such a key cornerstone to balance your offerings and approach from. Everything else will follow, the challenge is then working out the key projects you’ll need to go after to drive your business and its people on.”
What next
My recommendations
10 Essential Skills For L&D Operators
The survey is the voice of the community. These are the skills I believe every L&D team and operator needs in 2027.
Select a skill on the wheel to open it up.
Each one shows what it includes and why it made my list.
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About this data. Free-text answers to one open question, collected June to September 2026. Each answer was coded against 26 skill themes, and one answer can mention several. That's why percentages across skills add up to more than 100%. Answers with no usable content were excluded.
Grouping into themes involves judgement. Treat the ranking as directional rather than exact.
Respondents chose to take part, so results reflect this audience rather than the whole L&D profession.