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As many of us head into the summer break, I find myself doing something that often gets pushed aside during the intensity of the year: taking time to reflect.<\/p>\n
The first half of 2026 has been busy. Across conversations with learning leaders, HR executives, operational teams, technology providers, and transformation leaders, one theme has consistently stood out above all others.<\/p>\n
Organisations are no longer talking about learning as a support function.<\/p>\n
They are talking about workforce capability as a business imperative.<\/p>\n
Whether the discussion is about AI adoption, workforce resilience, compliance, operational readiness, customer experience, or digital transformation, the underlying challenge is remarkably similar: how do organisations build skills fast enough to keep pace with change?<\/p>\n
It is a question I have heard repeatedly across sectors and geographies.<\/p>\n
And the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the organisations making the greatest progress are not necessarily those investing the most in learning. They are the ones building the operational capability to make learning work at scale.<\/p>\n
That observation has led me to spend a lot of time thinking about Managed Learning Services and the role they increasingly play in successful skills transformation initiatives.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, many organisations were focused on delivering training. Today, they are focused on building capability. That distinction matters.<\/p>\n
Training is an activity.<\/p>\n
Capability is an outcome.<\/p>\n
For many learning teams, the challenge is no longer creating content or deploying a learning platform. Most organisations already have access to technology, digital content, and training resources.<\/p>\n
The challenge is managing complexity.<\/p>\n
Learning leaders are being asked to support AI adoption, help close skills gaps, improve productivity, support compliance, accelerate onboarding, reduce risk, and demonstrate measurable business impact.<\/p>\n
At the same time, they are often operating with finite budgets, stretched resources, increasing stakeholder expectations, and increasingly complex learning ecosystems.<\/p>\n
It is little wonder that many learning functions are feeling pressure.<\/p>\n
Across the organisations I speak with, there is growing recognition that skills transformation cannot be solved through individual courses, isolated programmes, or new technology investments alone.<\/p>\n
What is needed is an ecosystem approach.<\/p>\n
One that connects strategy, content, technology, administration, delivery, governance, analytics, and learner experience into something coherent and scalable.<\/p>\n
That is where Managed Learning Services are becoming increasingly relevant. VPS’s approach positions managed learning as a way of aligning learning operations, technology, administration, content, and outcomes around an organisation’s specific goals rather than forcing organisations into predefined models.<\/p>\n
One of the most interesting developments I’ve observed this year is a growing appreciation for learning operations. Historically, administration, logistics, reporting, vendor management, learner support, and platform management were often seen as back-office activities.<\/p>\n
Not anymore.<\/p>\n
The reality is that even the best learning strategy can fail if the operational foundations are weak.<\/p>\n
Learners become frustrated. Managers disengage. Processes become inconsistent. Reporting becomes unreliable. Programmes become difficult to scale.<\/p>\n
In contrast, organisations that invest in strong learning operations create the conditions for successful capability building.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, this mirrors a theme emerging from the development of our forthcoming 2026 Learning Priorities Report<\/strong>. The report explores how leaders across high-consequence industries are approaching workforce capability, AI, skills disruption, compliance, operational readiness, and performance improvement. It is built around senior voices from sectors including automotive, energy, finance, and government\/defence.<\/p>\n One of the emerging themes is that learning operations are no longer simply administrative functions. They are increasingly viewed as part of transformation infrastructure that enables learning to scale effectively.<\/p>\n That feels particularly relevant right now.<\/p>\n When people hear the phrase “Managed Learning Services”, they often think about outsourcing.<\/p>\n I think that’s too narrow a definition. The organisations seeing the greatest value from MLS partnerships view them as strategic enablers. They create the operational capability required to support continuous workforce development.<\/p>\n They provide scalability. They simplify complexity. They improve consistency. They increase visibility.<\/p>\n Most importantly, they free learning leaders to spend more time focused on workforce strategy and less time solving operational challenges.<\/p>\n As capability requirements continue to evolve, that becomes increasingly important. We all know that the pace of change is not slowing.<\/p>\n AI alone is redefining skills requirements across almost every function however we are all seeing that \u00a0AI is only part of the story.<\/p>\n Customer expectations continue to change. Regulatory requirements continue to evolve. Technical knowledge requirements continue to grow.<\/p>\n New products, services, and business models continue to emerge.<\/p>\n In this environment, organisations need learning ecosystems that can adapt quickly.<\/p>\n They need learning programmes that are connected to performance.<\/p>\n And they need operational models that can support transformation at scale.<\/p>\n One of the projects I am most excited about for the second half of the year is the publication of the VPS 2026 Learning Priorities Report<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Over recent months we have been shaping a new approach for the report.<\/p>\n Rather than focusing exclusively on broad survey data, we wanted to go deeper into the realities facing learning leaders operating in environments where workforce capability has a direct impact on performance, safety, compliance, operational resilience, customer trust, and transformation<\/p>\n The report will bring together perspectives from learning leaders and industry experts across EMEA, North America, and the UK, providing insight into how organisations are responding to some of the biggest challenges affecting workforce development today.<\/p>\n Among the themes we expect to explore are:<\/p>\n The report’s central argument resonates strongly with many of the conversations I have had this year: learning is increasingly moving from a support function to a strategic workforce capability. Organisations are prioritising faster capability building, smarter use of technology, stronger operational foundations, and clearer connections between learning and business outcomes.<\/p>\n I look forward to sharing more on that in the months ahead.<\/p>\n One of the benefits of stepping away, even briefly, is perspective.<\/p>\n When we’re immersed in delivery, targets, meetings, programmes, and deadlines, it can be difficult to see broader patterns.<\/p>\n Reflection creates space for better questions.<\/p>\n As I look back on the first half of 2026, one question continues to stand out:<\/p>\n Are we investing enough attention in the operational capabilities that make skills transformation possible?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Learning content matters. Technology matters. Strategy matters.<\/p>\n But increasingly, success seems to depend on something else: the ability to orchestrate all of those elements into a learning ecosystem that is scalable, measurable, and aligned with business needs.<\/p>\n That is why I believe Managed Learning Services will continue to play a growing role in workforce transformation.<\/p>\n Not because organisations need more training, but because they need more capability.<\/p>\n As we head into the summer period, perhaps that is a useful reflection for all of us in learning, talent, and workforce development.<\/p>\n The future may belong not to the organisations with the biggest content libraries, but to those that can identify critical capabilities, build them quickly, support them in the flow of work, and demonstrate measurable impact.<\/p>\n Enjoy the break, recharge well, and I look forward to continuing the conversation when we return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What the First Half of 2026 Has Taught Me About Skills Transformation As many of us head into the summer break, I find myself doing something that often gets pushed aside during the intensity of the year: taking time to reflect. The first half of 2026 has been busy. Across conversations with learning leaders, HR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[116,157,223,118,119],"class_list":["post-6145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights-en","tag-learning-strategy-en","tag-training-en","tag-vps-learning","tag-workforce-development-en","tag-workforce-learning-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWhy Managed Learning Services Matter More Than Ever<\/h3>\n
Looking Ahead to the VPS 2026 Learning Priorities Report<\/h3>\n
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A Final Thought Before Summer<\/h3>\n