Why learning and development leaders are becoming stars of the C-suite

Hot take: Your learning and development leader is secretly the most popular person in the C-suite. Don’t just take my word for it. A new LinkedIn report finds that L&D leaders are gaining influence among C-suite executives. Granted, I know some pretty excellent L&D leaders, but their resurgence in popularity is more recent as companies rush to upskill and redistribute talent amid an ever-tight labor market. 

The percentage of learning and development professionals who report working more closely with CHROs jumped from 39% to 44% in the past year alone. And 50% say they work more closely with all C-Suite leaders, up from 43% in 2022. They’re not just chiming in on training. Sixty-eight percent of L&D leaders say they are specifically brought in to help their companies navigate economic storms.

“We know [developing] skills as a strategy, both for people and for the business, is going to pay off in this world where we are experiencing some economic headwinds,” says Linda Jingfang Cai, global head of learning and talent development at LinkedIn. Her own team has grown and expanded in her nearly two years at the professional networking site.

“The work we are doing is increasingly strategic, cross-functional, [and] the scope of work has increased from just building skills to diversity, inclusion, culture, supporting hybrid work policies, all the way to internal mobility and careers,” she says. “I tell my team we need different muscles ourselves.”

L&D leaders must know what’s on the minds of CHROs and CEOs, and vice versa, because in addition to helping leaders discover skill gaps within the organization, they’re executing much of the firm’s talent mapping work, says Jingfang Cai. To pull this off, they need to have deep relationships with CHROs and the rest of the executive team and their full support.

“Increasingly, HR is trying to overcome its historic siloed tendency and say, ‘Hey, what’s the ultimate employee experience? What are the skills we want to drive? And how do we plan to solve it together?’” says Jingfang Cai. Pulling in L&D leaders is often the first step in that process.

Amber Burton
[email protected]
@amberbburton

Reporter's Notebook

The most compelling data, quotes, and insights from the field.

In my conversation with McKinsey’s chief people officer Katy George last week, we discussed some of the consulting firm’s learnings after embracing hybrid work. One of the big takeaways: There's a sweet spot for how much a team should gather in person. 

“One of the things we're learning from our statistics, for our teams anyway, is there is a kind of magic ratio. If you look at mostly virtual teams versus teams that have hit about 50% together in person—often just two days a week—what we've seen is people enjoy their jobs more, they are being mentored and sponsored more effectively, they have more opportunities, [and] they're getting included in more important meetings. We can actually see a positive impact on retention.”

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines, studies, podcasts, and long-reads.

- Managers are one of the most significant determiners of workplace stress and burnout for employees. Scientific American

- A group of Tesla employees informed Elon Musk they plan to unionize. Bloomberg

- Salesforce will offer struggling employees the option to be placed on a performance improvement plan or accept a reduced severance package. Insider

- Converting New York City’s empty office buildings into apartments is logical but not necessarily practical—or even possible. Financial Times 

- Ford will lay off 3,800 employees in Europe over the next three years. Wall Street Journal

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Coins2Day.

Moving day. Walmart announced it would close some satellite offices and is mandating that employees work in person at least twice a week. Employees who work in those offices must relocate to comply with the company’s policy. —Nicholas Gordon 

Microstress. Highly successful people don’t suffer from stress because of a single, big event. Instead, they accumulate countless "microstresses" over time. —Orianna Rosa Royle 

Costly commuting. The slight uptick in the percentage of people working remotely could be attributed to inflation, which made commutes more expensive. —Chloe Berger

Cut some slack. Slack will leave its headquarters and move into parent company Salesforce’s building. —Kylie Robison