Organisations are spending more on learning than ever - so why are they still falling behind?

By 2026, most organisations will claim to be “learning organisations,” yet few will be able to learn and adapt at the pace their environment demands. Despite rising investment in learning technology, leadership programmes, and continuous development initiatives, progress has not kept pace with the speed and complexity of change. The greatest threats ahead are not technological, but structural, cultural, and cognitive barriers that many organisations and professionals have yet to confront.

“Unless organisations and professionals face the speed and scale of change coming at them, learning will become performative rather than transformative, and relevance will erode quickly,” said Michael Gullan, CEO of G&G Advocacy, an eLearning consultancy specialising in employee development and educational marketing.

Five threats facing organisations

Learning decoupled from strategy

Many organisations still treat learning and development as a support function rather than a strategic engine. Courses are commissioned reactively, frameworks rolled out without context, and programmes often fail to address real business priorities. Research consistently shows that learning initiatives that are not aligned with strategy don’t deliver measurable impact.2

Do this in 2026!

“Make learning a strategic contract, not a catalogue of courses. Tie every major learning initiative to one or two explicit business outcomes, with executive endorsement and clear measures of success. If it fails to advance the business strategy, then you need to interrogate and adapt the learning outcomes,” said Gullan.

The illusion of continuous learning

Many initiatives create the appearance of development. But activity is not learning. Completion metrics mask shallow engagement and don’t account for integration and application. Studies show that when learning is not applied in the workplace, performance remains unaffected.3

Do this in 2026!

“Shift from completion metrics to evidence of capability. Look for demonstrated skills through projects delivered and changed behaviours. Build reflection and application into learning design, not as an afterthought,” Gullan advised.

Over-automation of development

AI will transform learning design and delivery, but many organisations are automating before deciding what should remain human. Coaching, sense-making, ethical judgement, and leadership growth require friction and dialogue. In 2026, organisations that outsource too much development to algorithms will have efficient systems but hollow cultures: technically capable, yet strategically fragile.

Do this in 2026!

“Use AI to scale production, but integrate human-led interactions, such as coaching, leadership development, and collective sense-making. Design learning ecosystems where technology supports thinking rather than replaces it,” said Gullan.

Managers can be the weakest link

Managers are now expected to coach, develop, manage performance, and support well-being, yet investment in their growth and development has not kept pace. This creates a bottleneck that can collapse organisational learning. In 2026, the greatest threat may not be budget cuts, but underdeveloped managers who cannot translate intent into practice.

Do this in 2026!

“Treat managers as the primary learning engine. Prioritise their development and equip them to coach, give feedback, and build their teams,” Gullan said.

Poor learning feedback

Despite advanced analytics, many organisations struggle to learn from experience. Lessons are documented and forgotten, insights siloed, and failure quietly buried. True learning organisations capture knowledge from action, feed it back into systems, and adapt behaviour accordingly. Those who don’t will repeat the same mistakes more quickly and on a larger scale.

Do this in 2026!

“Turn experience into data, and data into decisions. Build simple, repeatable mechanisms to capture lessons from projects, failures, and successes, and mandate their use in future learning design. Reward learning from failure as much as delivery,” Gullan emphasised.

Five threats facing professionals

Skills obsolescence outpacing identity

The pace of skills change exceeds the pace at which professionals update their identity. Many still define themselves by roles or expertise that are becoming irrelevant. In 2026, the risk is not only outdated skills, but outdated self-concepts that block future learning.

Do this in 2026!

Redefine your professional identity around adaptability, not expertise. Ask, “What am I becoming?” rather than “What do I know?” Treat identity as evolving and deliberately build skills beyond your current role.

Passive dependence on organisational learning

Professionals who rely solely on their employer for development are increasingly vulnerable. Organisational priorities shift, budgets fluctuate, and roles disappear. Access to learning is often mistaken for responsibility.

Do this in 2026!

Take ownership of your development. Build a personal learning strategy aligned to future roles and emerging skills, not just current job requirements. Use organisational resources, but don’t wait for permission to learn.

Cognitive overload and shallow mastery

Information has exploded, but attention has not. Many professionals learn about many things without mastering any. The result is brittle competence and surface-level knowledge that collapses under pressure.

Do this in 2026!

“Choose depth over volume,” said Gullan. Prioritise critical skills and pursue mastery through practice and feedback. Stop consuming information that does not improve performance.

Learning without application

Too much development happens in isolation from real work. Courses are completed and certificates earned, yet behaviour remains unchanged. Without application, feedback, and reinforcement, learning decays rapidly.

Do this in 2026!

Apply what you learn within 30 days or lose it. Link every learning activity to a real challenge and seek immediate feedback. If learning cannot be applied quickly, it’s probably premature.

Lack of reflection

Perhaps the most overlooked threat is the loss of reflection. Constant connectivity and performance pressure leave little space to think. Yet reflection is where learning consolidates, and meaning emerges.

Do this in 2026!

Make reflection part of your learning goals. Build short, regular pauses into work to ask what is being learned and how behaviour is changing. Reflection should not be optional. It’s how insights are nurtured.

The way forward in 2026

The defining challenge of 2026 is not whether organisations and professionals are learning, but whether they’re learning the right things, in the right ways, for the right reasons. Learning must move beyond course delivery to capability building, beyond metrics to meaning, and beyond speed to sense-making. “The organisations that thrive will not be the ones with the most courses or the newest platforms, but those that treat learning as a disciplined, strategic, and deeply human practice,” Gullan concluded.