Summer 2026: A Strategic Reset for Learning and Development

For many organisations, summer is a quieter period. For Learning and Development teams, it should be something more valuable: a chance to pause, review, and prepare for a sharper, more effective second half of the year.

In 2026, L&D teams are under pressure to deliver more capability, faster, and often with tighter budgets. Learning hours are increasing, expectations are rising, and organisations are asking L&D to support everything from AI adoption and leadership development to compliance, customer experience, productivity, and workforce transformation.

That creates a clear opportunity. Summer is the moment to simplify, focus, and make sure learning activity is truly aligned to business need.

Start with what you already have

Many organisations have large learning catalogues, multiple platforms, duplicated content, and programmes that have grown over time without being fully reviewed. This can create complexity for learners, administrators, managers, and reporting teams.

Summer is the ideal time to ask:

What learning is still relevant?

What is being used?

What is delivering value?

What should be refreshed, consolidated, or retired?

A cleaner learning ecosystem improves the learner experience, reduces administrative effort, and helps organisations focus investment where it will have the greatest impact.

Refocus on the skills that matter most

Skills remain a major priority for organisations in 2026, but skills strategies only create value when they are practical and connected to real business challenges.

L&D teams should use the summer to identify the critical capabilities needed for the rest of the year. These may include technical skills, leadership capability, customer skills, compliance knowledge, operational excellence, digital confidence, and AI fluency.

The key question is not simply, “What training do we have?” It is, “What capability does the business need, and how do we help people build it?”

This is where L&D can move from being a training provider to a strategic performance partner.

Build practical AI confidence

AI continues to reshape the learning landscape, but many organisations are still working out how to use it safely and effectively.

For L&D teams, the focus should be practical application. AI can support content development, learning design, knowledge management, assessment writing, translation, administration, reporting, and learner support. However, it needs structure, governance, and human oversight.

Summer is a good time to create simple AI guidelines for the L&D function. These might define where AI can be used, where it should not be used, how quality should be checked, and how teams can use AI to improve efficiency without compromising accuracy or trust.

Used well, AI can help L&D teams do more with less. Used poorly, it can create risk, inconsistency, and confusion.

Support managers to make learning stick

Learning does not end when a course is completed. Managers play a crucial role in helping employees apply new knowledge and behaviours at work.

L&D teams should use the summer to strengthen manager enablement. This does not always require a major programme. Simple tools can make a big difference: manager briefing notes, coaching questions, post-course conversation guides, team discussion prompts, and practical reinforcement activities.

When managers are better equipped, learning is more likely to translate into performance.

Improve measurement before the autumn rush

Too often, measurement is considered after a programme has already been delivered. By then, it is harder to show impact.

Summer provides a valuable opportunity to define success measures before the next wave of activity begins. For priority programmes, L&D teams should agree what success looks like in terms of learner experience, behaviour change, operational outcomes, business impact, and return on investment.

The strongest L&D teams are not only reporting completions and satisfaction scores. They are helping the business understand whether learning is improving capability, reducing risk, supporting retention, and enabling performance.

Refresh compliance and mandatory learning

Mandatory learning is often one of the most visible parts of the employee learning experience. If it is outdated, unclear, repetitive, or difficult to navigate, it can damage confidence in the wider L&D function.

Summer is a practical time to review compliance learning. Is the content current? Is it easy to understand? Is it role-relevant? Are assessments meaningful? Could the learning be shorter, clearer, or more scenario based?

Improving mandatory learning can reduce learner frustration while strengthening compliance outcomes.

Prepare for budget and supplier decisions

The second half of the year often brings budget planning, supplier reviews, and decisions about future learning investment. L&D teams should use the summer to prepare the evidence.

That means reviewing cost, usage, quality, learner feedback, operational effort, vendor performance, and measurable impact. It also means identifying where delivery models can be improved through better blends, digital learning, managed services, automation, or more effective use of external partners.

The goal is not simply to reduce cost. It is to increase value.

Talk to the business

Summer is also the right time to reconnect with stakeholders. Business priorities may have shifted since the start of the year, and L&D plans need to reflect that.

Useful questions include:

What capability gaps are slowing the business down?

Where are employees struggling?

Which programmes are working well?

Where is learning not meeting the need?

What should we stop, start, or change?

These conversations help L&D stay close to the business and avoid delivering learning activity that is disconnected from real operational priorities.

Invest in the L&D function itself

The expectations placed on L&D are changing quickly. Modern L&D teams need capability in learning design, facilitation, data, technology, AI, project management, performance consulting, vendor management, and stakeholder engagement.

Summer is a good time for L&D teams to review their own ways of working. Are processes efficient? Are roles clear? Are tools being used well? Are teams spending too much time on administration and not enough time on strategic activity?

Improving the L&D function itself can have a major impact on the quality, speed, and value of learning delivery.

How VPS can help

At VPS, we work with organisations to make learning more effective, efficient, and aligned to business need. We understand the pressure L&D teams face: rising expectations, complex learning ecosystems, constrained budgets, and the need to deliver measurable results.

We help clients review and optimise their learning operations, improve administration, strengthen learning design, support digital transformation, manage training delivery, and create scalable solutions that work in practice.

Whether the challenge is simplifying a learning catalogue, improving learner support, introducing AI-enabled efficiencies, strengthening compliance training, managing complex programmes, or building a more effective operating model, VPS brings the experience, structure, and practical delivery capability to help organisations move forward with confidence.

Summer 2026 is not just a pause in the calendar. It is an opportunity to reset.

For L&D professionals, the most valuable action now is not to do more of everything. It is to focus on what matters, improve what already exists, and prepare the organisation for the capability challenges ahead.

VPS helps organisations do exactly that. Get in touch today to learn how we can help you