Webinar challenges L&D teams to look beyond the data when planning for 2027
As L&D teams develop their plans for 2027, a Learning Network webinar facilitated by Insights Media’s Martin Couzins will show how existing evidence can uncover the organisational realities behind the numbers - and lead to a more credible strategy.
Learning and development teams are entering a critical planning period for 2027. Yet the strongest strategy may not begin with collecting more data. It may begin with asking better questions of the evidence already available - and testing what it appears to show with people across the organisation.
The Learning Network webinar, What is your data telling you about your 2027 L&D strategy?, takes place on 30 September from 12.00 to 13.00 BST. Hosted by Martin Couzins, it will explore how L&D teams can move beyond headline metrics to understand the pressures, priorities and working realities that should shape your plans for the year ahead.
“Data can tell you what is happening, but it cannot always explain why. The opportunity is to use it as the start of a conversation - one that can confirm, challenge or add context to the story the numbers appear to tell,” says Couzins.
The session will cover:
- how to use existing data as the starting point for deeper conversations
- who to talk to, why their perspective matters and what to ask them
- how feedback can confirm, challenge or add context to what the data appears to show
- how to turn these insights into better-informed priorities and decisions for a 2027 L&D strategy.
The webinar draws on an interview with Dr Nigel Paine, former head of learning and development at the BBC, who helped the organisation respond to significant digital disruption. Paine argues that L&D strategy should be determined by current organisational pressures rather than automatically extending historic activity.
His advice is to speak with senior leaders, recognised experts and people doing the work; remain open to feedback that challenges L&D assumptions; involve stakeholders in shaping the response; and prioritise the activity that can make the greatest difference. Governance is central: business representatives need a meaningful role in scrutinising priorities and connecting learning plans to functional and organisational needs.
For teams facing AI-driven change, constrained resources and fast-moving business priorities, this approach offers a practical way to build a strategy that is realistic, relevant and easier for stakeholders to trust.
Register for the webinar: https://thelearning-network.org/event/what-is-your-data-telling-you-about-your-2027-ld-strategy/