The global consulting and technology services firm has long recognized that new managers need support. This has proven especially true in a learning climate marked by digital fatigue,  and what some have casually described as “death by pathway.”

At a time when the Capgemini business is scaling rapidly and client demands are growing more complex, the organization understands the importance of supporting its first time managers, to set them up for success right from the get-go.

Yet, traditional leadership programs are hard to scale, difficult to maintain, and often disconnected from the pace and priorities of the business. Learning delivery teams spend too much time managing training logistics, emails, and manual processes. And Learning teams want something more coherent, modern, and impactful.

To meet these challenges, Capgemini has launched an Emerging Leaders program—a guided, cohort-based experience built on Degreed Academies. The result? A 26% jump in skills proficiency, a big drop in attrition, and a 4.6 out of 5 learner satisfaction rating—proof that Capgemini first-time managers aren’t just trained, they are equipped to lead. 

Leadership Development That Starts Strong and Scales Fast

Co-created with business leaders and learning partners, Emerging Leaders follows a complete learning cycle. It’s more than a content playlist. It’s a full development journey designed to embed growth into everyday work, supported by nudges, mentors, reflections, and social accountability.

To build the journey, learning teams worked closely with HR and business leaders to define success, select content, and ensure the program reflected the company’s Leadership Vision—a set of guiding leadership principles that the company believes every employee should develop.

The result is an experience designed to match the expectations of a digitally fluent, ambitious audience. Employees progress through a six-week cycle, combining curated digital content, real-world projects, mentoring, reflection, and guided practice—all within a single Degreed-powered environment.

How Degreed Academies Makes It Possible

Degreed Academies gives Capgemini the infrastructure to deliver a holistic, guided leadership journey within a single, unified experience. From onboarding and nudges to live events and reflections, everything is centralized—no more spreadsheets, scattered tools, or siloed communications. And, with Microsoft Teams integration and built-in calendar functionality, participants stay on track while balancing their day-to-day responsibilities.

Capgemini uses Degreed Academies to structure monthly cohorts in a fully guided, week-by-week experience—layering content, leadership simulations, mentoring prompts, and reflection points in a clearly defined journey. Employees always know what to do next and why it matters. Automated nudges and personalized messaging help maintain momentum and accountability, without overloading delivery teams. By streamlining what were previously resource-heavy, manual tasks like scheduling, communications, and tracking, Degreed gives L&D professionals more time to focus on content quality, learner engagement, and business alignment.

Because everything runs through Degreed, Capgemini can access real-time insights on progress, engagement, and outcomes. This allows learning leaders to tweak delivery based on cohort behavior, and to identify bottlenecks early. With Degreed Academies, Capgemini isn’t just delivering training—it’s running a scalable, data-backed leadership product.

Features like live events, embedded reflections, and automated reminders help create a sense of connection and momentum.

Completion rates have peaked at 81%, with learner satisfaction scores averaging 4.6 out of 5.

More Than Engagement. Measurable Growth.

In 2024 alone, nearly 4,000 employees across 39 countries completed the program. Capgemini is on track to scale cohorts of 2,000 people per month in 2025. Attrition of managers who completed the program dropped to 6.5%, versus a much higher company average among the same target population.

And employee feedback has been resoundingly positive. Participants consistently call out the program’s relevance, structure, and challenge.

“The Emerging Leaders program was unforgettable among the other trainings I’ve taken,” said one employee.

“One of the most practical, useful, and challenging programs I’ve participated in,” said another.

Employees show a 26% average increase in skills proficiency from pre-program assessments to post-program outcomes. And more than 90% of those surveyed said they’d apply what they learned in their current roles.

A Model for Strategic Leadership Growth

Capgemini hasn’t just improved leadership development—the company has reimagined how it should operate. Instead of a fragmented or manual model, Emerging Leaders is now a repeatable, data-driven experience that’s aligned with the long-term Capgemini leadership strategy.

For enterprise learning teams facing similar challenges, the takeaway is clear: When leadership development meets thoughtful design and scalable technology, impact multiplies.

With momentum building and demand accelerating, Capgemini continues to refine and expand the program—proving that with the right model, early leadership development can be both high-impact and high-scale.

Learn more.

Build a scalable leadership program like this one. Let’s talk about how Degreed Academies can support workforce development at scale at your organization.

The post Innovative Leadership: Capgemini’s Approach to Emerging Leaders appeared first on Degreed.

That’s the missed opportunity facing many organizations. But it doesn’t have to be.

“The future of higher education is one of pluralism. It’s one of many actors, many organizations contributing powerfully, dynamically, and compellingly to a world where you as a learner are able to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve,” said Michele Spires, Assistant Vice President at the American Council on Education (ACE). “It’s about a network of organizations that collectively work together… and you get a new framework for lifelong higher education.”

Lifelong learning resonates at the core of the Degreed mission. And it’s why we’re introducing the Degreed College Accreditation Service, powered by our new partnership with ACE and Credly by Pearson. It means your people’s internal learning can go further—earning college credit, formal credentials, and long-term value.

Workplace Learning That Counts Beyond the Workplace

Let’s be clear: This is more than a new feature. It’s a strategic lever for workforce transformation, designed to help you build, validate, and mobilize skills that matter to your business.

And make no mistake: This isn’t just a benefit for employees. It’s a strategy for organizations that want to attract, grow, and retain top talent in a skills-first world.

With Degreed College Accreditation Service, your learning programs in Degreed Academies can be evaluated for college credit. The Degreed Professional Services team works with you to align content to ACE standards and issue formally recognized, transferable credits via Credly.

Your people get more than just a course completion. They get:

• Credentialed learning programs that support internal mobility and reduce attrition
• Verified, portable credentials that boost talent visibility across and beyond your organization
• Frictionless access to continuing education, with no extra time, testing, or tuition costs

“We need a future where everyone gets recognition for all lifelong learning and skills,” said David Blake, Degreed Co-CEO and Cofounder. “This partnership with ACE represents a significant stepping stone in that journey—enabling workers to gain verifiable, transferable credentials that follow them throughout their careers.”

The Business Case for Recognized Learning

Organizations already invest millions in learning and development—but without formal recognition, those investments often fall short.

Today’s savvy learning leaders seek to provide their people with verifiable credentials to boost employee engagement, strengthen the employee value proposition, and reduce attrition. They aim to transform L&D from a support function into a strategic growth engine, delivering measurable ROI across the talent lifecycle.

Skills That Stick. Credits That Count

When skills are the currency of work, credentials are a key way that currency is verified. Formal recognition gives your workforce the power to advance—whether it’s into a new role, a different industry, or a formal degree.

With ACE and Credly, you gain not only credibility but also measurable proof of performance.

And with Degreed, these credentials don’t exist in isolation. They’re fully integrated into your skill data ecosystem—making it easier to benchmark learning progress, analyze workforce capabilities, and report ROI across the enterprise.

Giving Learning the Recognition It Deserves

Your people put in the work. It’s time that work works harder for them. Let’s discuss how your company can turn internal learning into accredited pathways that drive business results and lifelong impact.

Learn more.

Let’s discuss skill building at your organization. Schedule a personalized, one-on-one call with a Degreed expert today.

The post Say Goodbye to Siloed Learning. Hello, Accredited Skills appeared first on Degreed.

How can a newly-hired recent college graduate prove himself as a financial analyst?

How can a senior compliance officer ensure her company adheres to rapidly evolving sustainability regulations?

While their roles and learning needs are quite different, these two employees share something in common: a need for structured learning experiences that prepare them to succeed.

Fortunately, they each have access to Degreed Academies, designed to help employees—and their organizations—build the right skills at the right time.

Daniel’s Journey: New-Hire Onboarding for Financial Analysts

The new financial analyst—we’ll call him Daniel—starts his first day on the job filled with excitement and nerves. It’s daunting to step into a high-performance environment at a financial services firm where financial expertise and analytical skills are key.

Instead of being left alone to navigate a long list of training modules, our fictional Daniel is welcomed into his company’s New Hire Onboarding Academy in Degreed. This structured learning experience ensures he’s not just absorbing information, but also actively applying it.

How Daniel Experiences the New-Hire Onboarding Academy

• Role-Specific Learning Content: Daniel’s onboarding academy curates essential content, covering industry fundamentals, internal financial models, and reporting techniques. Each lesson builds on the previous one, ensuring he develops knowledge in a structured way so he isn’t overwhelmed. 
• A Blended Learning Approach: Daniel quickly realizes that he’s not just sitting through recorded videos. Instead, he’s engaging in peer discussions, attending expert-led sessions, working on projects that senior analysts review, and getting helpful feedback. Having his work assessed by experienced professionals makes learning feel real; he’s not just studying concepts, but also using them.
• Real-World Application: Just a few weeks in, Daniel is analyzing financial reports and making data-driven recommendations. The first time his mentor reviews one of his reports and provides constructive feedback, he feels a sense of progress. Instead of waiting months to contribute meaningfully, he’s already adding value.
• Continuous Development: When Daniel completes his onboarding program, learning doesn’t stop. The academy transitions him into a role-specific learning path in Degreed Learning, ensuring he continues sharpening his skills over time.

The result? Daniel onboarded in half the time typically required by traditional methods. And instead of feeling lost, he feels confident and engaged. Actively contributing to the team’s success so quickly boosts his motivation.

Priya’s Challenge: Change Management for Regulatory Compliance

As a senior compliance officer, Priya thrives in a world of structure and precision. But when new sustainability regulations—like the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)—take effect, even the most prepared professional can feel the pressure of adapting.

Compliance isn’t just about checking a box—it’s about transforming how a company tracks, analyzes, and reports environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. Fortunately, our fictional Priya doesn’t have to navigate these changes alone Her company’s Regulatory Compliance Academy in Degreed ensures Priya and her colleagues stay ahead.

How Priya Navigates the Regulatory Compliance Academy

• Structured Learning: The academy is a one-stop hub for regulatory updates, expert insights, and case studies on other companies successfully navigating compliance challenges. With learning modules built and updated by internal experts, she’s always working with the latest information.
• Role-Specific Academies: As Priya progresses, she completes content that shows how different teams across her company in Finance, Procurement, and Operations each play a role in adhering to the new compliance regulations. Knowing that her entire organization is aligned makes her job easier.
• Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: One of Priya’s favorite aspects of the academy is live Q&A sessions with sustainability experts. Being able to discuss new regulations, ask specific questions, and share insights with colleagues makes learning feel collaborative, not isolated.
• Assessments and Compliance Readiness: The academy’s scenario-based projects, which were used as a capstone assessment, push Priya to think critically. When she successfully identifies a gap in the company’s ESG reporting and proposes a solution, she realizes the full impact of her learning. She’s actively protecting the company from risk.

Thanks to the academy, Priya caught a critical oversight in her company’s sustainability disclosures, prevented a €500,000 compliance penalty, and positioned her company as a leader in ESG transparency. More than that, she feels empowered. She’s not just reacting to changes, she’s also proactively shaping her company’s compliance strategy.

Different Career Stages, One Solution

For employees like Daniel and Priya, learning isn’t just an administrative requirement, it’s also an essential part of success.

With structured, strategic learning experiences powered by Degreed Academies, Daniel feels confident contributing to his team in record time. Priya has the knowledge and support she needs to manage complex regulatory changes with ease.

Find out more.

How can your organization get the most from Degreed Academies? Let’s talk about it.

The post Strengthen Onboarding & Manage Change with Degreed Academies appeared first on Degreed.

Learning academies matter now more than ever. Why? consider that 72% of workers are prioritizing skill development. What’s one of the most effective ways to close their skill gaps? Structured learning programs that deliver real business results.

Degreed Academies helps your people do more than simply consume learning content. Through cohort-based learning, expert facilitation, and hands-on projects with feedback from peers and facilitators, it’s designed to develop employees with the skills they need to stay competitive. 

Today, let’s take a journey into how an HR leader at a financial services company—we’ll call him Alex—could use Degreed Academies to tackle two critical challenges. The first is implementing training for new technologies. And the second is minting future leaders to ensure a stable succession pipeline.

Setting the Stage: Alex’s Challenges

Alex, our hypothetical VP of Human Resources, faces two pressing workforce development challenges. 

1. Technology Upskilling: His company is rolling out an AI-driven risk management platform and employees need to become proficient quickly.
2. Leadership Development: While the company has talented individuals there’s no structured program to prepare them for leadership roles.

With these challenges in mind, Alex turns to Degreed Academies to create scalable and impactful learning experiences.

Academy No. 1: Training on a New Technology

While many of the employees at Alex’s company are using generative AI applications like ChatGPT, Bard, and Gemini, they still feel unprepared for the new risk management platform. To ensure his company has a smooth transition to the new software, Alex launches an academy focused on technical upskilling.

The new technical upskilling academy incorporates: 

• Cohort-based learning. Alex groups employees by role (for example, connecting all the company’s risk analysts) to focus on how AI enhances decision making. Learning isn’t just passive; participants collaborate in live training sessions and on projects. 
• Real-world application. Employees complete and submit a capstone project demonstrating their proficiency using the AI risk management software. They receive feedback from their peers and facilitators.
• Flexible learning options. Because employees have varying schedules, Alex offers a mix of self-paced online modules and live sessions featuring platform experts. This ensures everyone can participate without disrupting daily operations.

The Impact:  Within three months, 90% of employees have completed the academy, and usage of the AI platform surges. Employees report feeling confident in their ability to use the new technology, and the financial services firm experiences a measurable improvement in risk analysis efficiency.

Academy No. 2: Building Future Leaders

Leadership training should be more than a perk. It’s a necessity for any future-ready business. In one recent study, only 4% of employees surveyed identified becoming a C-suite executive as a top ambition, and only 9% were interested in becoming a people manager. Alex, our fictional HR leader, noticed the same trend at his employer.

To ensure his company has a strong leadership pipeline, Alex launches a new leadership academy using Degreed Academies. 

The new leadership academy incorporates:

• Sequential learning. Employees progress through content and activities in an ordered and chronological skill-building format that includes prerequisites. It’s designed so skills learned build on each other as participants move forward.
• Peer-to-peer learning. Live cohort discussions promote problem solving, knowledge sharing, and networking. Discussion boards further connect participants, who provide feedback on each other’s posts and projects.
• Actionable insights. Using reporting features specific to Academies as well as integrated Degreed reporting features, Alex tracks participant progress and identifies opportunities for improvement. 

The Impact: After a year, the leadership academy graduates three cohorts. Participants report having more confidence in themselves, and managers who completed the program are 25% more likely to be promoted within six months. Based on this success, Alex and C-suite leaders decide to bring the leadership academy back annually.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Success

Alex has transformed workforce development at his company.

Degreed Academies is designed to help organizations empower their workforce with scalable, flexible, and data-driven learning solutions. From equipping employees with the latest technology skills to nurturing leadership potential, Degreed Academies offers a tailored, often blended, approach to workforce development—all integrated into the overall Degreed Learning experience. 

Degreed Academies can help you turn challenges into opportunities, whether you’re introducing new technology, developing leaders, or building skills across your entire talent lifecycle.

What’s your next step?

Ready to write your organization’s success story? Learn more about how Degreed Academies can empower your workforce and drive results.

The post Building Skills and Leaders: A Tale of Two Academies appeared first on Degreed.

Why? Because self-led training alone isn’t enough.

Studies show better outcomes come from active learning that’s ​​hands-on and applied. 

How can you ensure your learning sticks? Let’s take a closer look. 

Structure learning to fit your business needs. 

At Degreed, we know that learning isn’t just about consuming content. Learning is about building skills that can measurably impact business goals. Degreed Academies delivers structured, cohort-based learning while developing key skills for leadership, AI, sales, and more. 

Degreed Academies helps your business to:

• Align learning to business goals. You can tailor programs and get people together to address your organization’s most pressing challenges, like closing skill gaps or preparing for new market opportunities.
• Scale development. You can support large or small groups with programs that grow as your business evolves.
• Integrate learning tech seamlessly. You can seamlessly connect elements of your learning and HR systems to boost efficiency and cost savings.
• Deliver measurable impact. You can track progress and outcomes with in-app reporting to ensure learning translates to real-world results.

By aligning learning with business strategy, and by scaling development for maximum impact, Degreed Academies ensures skill-building leads to business growth and workforce agility.

Deliver high-impact experiences to build critical skills.

Degreed Academies provides the high-impact learning experience people need to build adaptable skills and keep pace with industry shifts, all while limiting disruptions to the daily flow of work.

Degreed Academies helps your people to: 

• Grow together. Cohort-based learning connects your employees with their peers, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaborative problem-solving. 
• Build skills through action. From project submissions to facilitator and peer feedback, your people actively practice and refine their skills.
• Learn in different ways. Whether it’s an online module, a live expert-led session, or a blended experience, your employees can engage in ways that fit their schedules and preferences.

With Degreed Academies, employees don’t just learn—they retain, practice, and use new skills.

Focus on driving results, not juggling logistics. 

The features, functions and AI available in Degreed Academies make it easy to deliver deep learning experiences at scale. And when combined with other Degreed products, you can deliver impactful self-led, personalized, and cohort-based learning opportunities across the employee lifecycle. 

With Degreed Academies, administrators can:

• Get the most from existing learning investments. Incorporate content from your existing learning content catalogs to deftly create relevant projects and coursework.
• Fully leverage the entire Degreed product suite: Include pre-built Pathways, AI-powered coaching with Degreed Maestro, Degreed Skills+ skill data, industry insights and more.
• Automate administrative tasks. Spend less time managing cohorts and more time driving impact with automated communications, nudges, and AI-powered learning suggestions.

Ready to transform your workforce?

Cohort-based learning builds skills that stick. Whether you need to reskill your workforce, upskill teams for new challenges, or develop future leaders, Degreed Academies gives you the right framework for getting the most from your learning investment.

Your people are ready to grow. Give them the opportunities they need to succeed. Let’s unlock the full potential of your people—to build your future workforce, together, and drive lasting business results.

See Degreed Academies in action.

Schedule a personalized, one-on-one demo today.

The post Degreed Academies: Go From Learning to Action at Scale appeared first on Degreed.

This means that any L&D and HR leader worried about the talent shortage — essentially everyone — should invest some time and effort in learning about and leveraging academies to close the skills gap.

Whether you’re in the process of building your own academy or you just heard the word mentioned at the L&D and HR water cooler, this article will tell you everything you need to know — from the basics like definitions and use cases to more practical how-to’s designed to help you build or improve your own internal academies. 

Table of Contents

• What are learning academies?
• What major problems do learning academies solve?
• Why are learning academies a good solution for deep upskilling? 
• Who can (and should) build learning academies?
• What are some additional benefits of building learning academies?
• What are some basic tips to build your own learning academies?

What are learning academies?

A learning academy is a collaborative place where employees develop deep skills that align with business needs. 

It’s possible you’ve already heard about learning academies.  The idea appeared on the radar of HR & L&D leaders a few years ago, when Bersin used the term to describe “an emerging zeitgeist in corporate learning and development (L&D).” 

While the idea itself isn’t new, it signifies a “new breed of platforms” in the learning tech marketplace. In fact, these platforms are so new that the nomenclature of “learning academies” isn’t even fully baked. The “academies” part remains constant but, depending on who’s using the term, a different modifier can wind up at the front of it: learning academies, capability academies, training academies, skills academies or talent academies. Whatever word someone places in front of it, the basic concept driving learning academies — a collaborative place to develop skills that align with business needs — remains the same. 

Okay, enough with semantics. Now let’s discuss why academies are so damn important. 

What major problems do learning academies solve? 

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the learning academy definition: a collaborative place where employees develop deep skills that align with business needs. This definition disrupts the current learning tech marketplace by addressing two key problems: 

• The ever-widening skills gap and talent crisis
• The misalignment between L&D and business goals

These two issues have baffled L&D leaders for years. Finally, a promising solution has arrived on the ed tech scene. 

Problem No. 1: The ever-widening skills gap and talent crisis.

Even before the disruption by generative AI, the World Economic Forum in 2020 predicted that by 2025 the unrelenting pace of technology will displace 85 million jobs, create 97 million jobs, and require half of all employees to reskill. 

McKinsey & Company already reports that, as predicted, 87% of companies are experiencing a talent shortage. But the skills pinch is happening despite business leaders working hard to fill the skills gap. Companies threw a boatload of money at the problem in the past decade.

In 2010, companies spent 271 billion on corporate training globally, and that spending increased by 37% in ten years. According to Training Industry, companies in 2020 will spend a whopping $357 billion on training and learning programs. And in the United States alone, training expenditures passed the $100 billion mark in 2021-2022. 

What do companies have to show for their spending sprees? Not much. As companies spent billions of dollars, the percentage of CEOs worried about skill availability only increased. It actually increased at a faster rate than company spending: it went from 53% in 2012 to 79% in 2019. (With the arrival of generative AI, who knows how much that percentage increased?!)

Clearly, the learning solutions that companies spent billions on in the past decade didn’t fill their skill gaps. But don’t lose heart — now there’s a viable solution for keeping your company stocked with talent.

Solution: How academies keep your company stocked with talent.

Academies enjoy a long and successful track record when it comes to developing and delivering internal talent. A famous example comes from General Electric: After building skills at the company’s physical academy in the 1950s, Reginald Jones went on to become a future GE CEO.  

Bersin also lauds his old-school academy experience at IBM in the 1980s:

“We had a sales academy like none other. I spent years in sales training and learned more about customers, selling practices, and products than at any other time in my life. (My son just spent a year in the SAP Sales Academy, and it set him off on an incredible career.”

— Josh Bersin

So historically, learning academies have been successful. And while the GE and IBM academies were brick-and-mortar buildings, today companies can continue to cultivate talent with the same principles using the latest technology. And they continue to remain successful. Bersin identifies some of these successful modern-day versions:

• Comcast, Academy of Customer Service
• Comex, Supply Chain Academy and Safety Academy
• Visa, FinTech Capability Academy
• Capital One, Cloud, Digital and Cybersecurity Academy
• Ford, Autonomous Vehicle Academy

Problem No. 2: The misalignment between L&D and business goals.

Along with the widening skills gap, another difficulty plaguing HR and L&D leadership is aligning learning initiatives with company goals. Because of the endless learning options provided by podcasts, conferences, books, and boot camps, it’s easy for well-intentioned employees to spend learning benefits on skills that don’t align with company needs. 

For example, employees using one of the many self-directed learning platforms often make learning decisions with limited to no guidance from C-suite leaders. In an article for Training Industry about academies, Yael Gilbo Kaufmann, Co-founder of Learn In, observes that “self-directed learning requires too much guesswork for employees: ‘Would I be more valuable to my company if I read this article or watch this video on digital analytics?’”

Just how far off is the alignment? In the Brandon Hall Group 2020 Learning Strategy Study, almost every company (87%) expressed the need to align learning and goals, but only 13% said they were capable of doing it. What an extrodinary statistic!

Obviously, before companies start investing in upskilling, they need a learning solution that re-aligns learning objectives with business objectives.

Solution: How academies drive business objectives. 

For upskilling to align with company goals, academies must provide the connective tissue between learning platforms, data, and people (e.g. other departments, C-suite leaders, managers, and employees). 

The corporate academy is a storied 20th-century U.S. institution — starting in the mid-1950s when the president of GE, Ralph Cordiner, bought land and established a brick-and-mortar university to develop managers. As you might expect, and with so much overhead spent to run brick-and-mortar academies, leadership in the old days insisted on playing a key role in shaping curricula and goals. 

Today’s modern academies continue this tradition. Bersin explains that academies “should be led by a business leader, not an L&D professional.” This, he says, could be the CIO, CEO, or CFO at the helm of their academies. 

But it’s not just having the C-suite over the academy that ensures alignment. Today, modern academies utilize technology, like integrations, to promote quick and easy communication between software programs, access skills data, and connect everyone within the company. More easily and effectively than ever, leadership can now provide insightful unique perspectives on the skills that are needed and help design the learning pathways to fill those needs.

Why are learning academies a good solution for deep upskilling? 

As companies spent those billions of dollars over the last decade, many legacy learning solutions attempted to use their software to bridge the skills gaps. As discussed, it didn’t work. So why will learning academies get the job done? 

The builders of academies understand that deep upskilling is a different critical learning need than training or everyday learning. Deep upskilling requires different pedagogical strategies. Deeper upskilling requires a richer, longer, and more intensive learning experience. To do that, academies focus on a learning methodology that promotes deeper, more critical skill learning and supports developing those skills to pursue a career path. 

Three learning strategies enable academies to deliver deep skill-building: 

• Collaborative learning
• Career pathing and skill mapping
• Practical application and feedback

Collaborative Learning

Academies — at their core — are collaborative. It specifically refers to a class of learning methods based on traditional in-person learning models, which are often executed in groups or cohorts. After all, blended learning has long been regarded as one of the most effective learning models for high-impact learning topics. The social dynamic of learning from peers and subject matter experts lends context, sparks discussions, and offers coaching and feedback. 

Especially with generative AI changing the world of skills, humans must fill in the gaps of deeper learning around more complex or human-centric skills like critical thinking, effective decision-making, communication, and problem-solving. So it’s a win-win for any deep skill building to require employees to flex interpersonal and communication skills.  

Career Pathing and Skill Mapping

Academies think big. Careers are built by performing a cluster of skills — not just one skill. Too often legacy learning programs only focus on learning a skill. Or if an employee does learn a cluster of skills, those skills don’t necessarily relate to a clear career path.

Academies use an infrastructure that looks beyond just “a” skill and toward actual career development. With the right academy program, academy participants can identify a career path and then use the academy program to identify the skills they need to get there. 

Practical Application and Feedback

Developing a career require practical experience. Most legacy solutions today focus on knowledge, but they don’t ask learners to apply that knowledge. This leads to the classic situation where someone can know everything about dietary science and weight lifting, but they don’t have any practical experience. To be an expert, and to develop deep skills that go beyond knowledge, they must go to the gym regularly, lift weights, and eat healthily. They need to practice and perfect their actual skills. 

To build tangible skills, academies facilitate opportunities for employees to balance practice through individual and team projects. To further enhance and reinforce that experience, academies use coaching, peer and expert feedback, and assessments. 

Who can (and should) build academies?

Sold on academies and want to build your own? Well, you’re in luck. Now more than ever, any company, no matter the size or industry, can build its own academies. 

The list of academy builders comprises the who’s who of the business world: Google, AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft, GE, and more. And while seventy years ago only the most rich and well-resourced companies could afford these expensive and resource-heavy institutions, today you just need the right technological platform. 

Technology democratized learning academies for all businesses. So don’t let the list of academy users intimidate you — let it inspire you! You can (and should) build your own academies. It’s affordable and attainable. 

What are some additional benefits of building internal academies? 

Keeping your company well-stocked with talent is critical, but there are additional benefits you can enjoy by building your own academies. Investing in internal academies will: 

• Reduce costs 
• Boost retention and engagement 
• Provide dexterity for future skilling

Reduce Costs

You can reduce costs in two ways by building internal academies. First, by building your own internal academies you save the money you’d potentially spend hiring an outside agency. Outside agencies focusing on talent development cost a bundle. On top of that initial fee, they can charge extra to customize and tailor their standard content so it aligns with your company goals. 

Second, especially in light of the current talent shortage, upskilling your employees is cheaper than externally hiring new talent. For example, a General Assembly Whitepaper reports that between recruitment fees, advertising, and other hiring expenses, it may cost a company about $30,000 to hire a middle-career software engineer. (That doesn’t even include onboarding expenses.) The whitepaper estimates that “the cost to train and reskill an internal employee maybe $20,000.” While that may not sound like much of a difference, it can save a company “as much as $116,000 per person over three years.” 

Boost Retention and Engagement 

According to a PEW poll, a majority of workers (63%) quit their jobs in 2021 because of low pay or a lack of opportunities to advance their careers. Many learning platforms will cite this statistic to show how employees value learning. But the statistic isn’t about learning — it’s about career growth. What builds career growth? Acquiring new skills. So not only do you save money and develop new skills-building academies, but you boost retention as well.  

Provide Dexterity for Future Skilling

Filling your current skills gaps is critical, but those skills gaps will change over time. “In many ways, technology and AI are moving faster than real life,” explains Andy Bird, the CEO of Pearson. “We’re struggling to catch up, and the impact that that has on us both as individuals and as companies is the need to continually re-skill and upskill.”

The future, as Bird describes it, is unknowable. You don’t know which skills you’ll need in ten years, but you do know that you’ll be constantly upskilling and reskilling. Academies can help you recognize new skill gaps and address them as they arise. Once you’ve built an academy or two, you design an academy framework that works well for your company so you can add new ones as needs arise.

What are some basic tips to start building your own internal academies? 

The obvious question is how can under-resourced L&D leaders put together the kind of flexible, talent-building academies the workforce needs? It’s not as daunting as it might seem. A mix of resources smartly deployed can make it work. Here are a few steps to get you started:

Step No. 1: Address challenges with the appropriate solution. Ask yourself if the problem requires learning, training, or skill development. Then use the right tools to accomplish those critical learning needs. There are three broad areas of skill building:

• Training to teach specific skills and processes.
• Learning that is more focused on enrichment and curiosity.
• Development that prepares employees to advance the organization. 

This framework can help you differentiate some of the different needs you might have and clarify how to move forward. 

Step No. 2: Provide time for upskilling. Providing time is pretty simple. Just 34% of employees are willing to upskill in their own time, while 71% will jump at the chance for paid upskilling and 64% will upskill on company time. 

Step No. 3: Encourage learning in cohorts. More than 90% of employees and HR pros surveyed by Randstad said that skilling initiatives would be more effective with guidance and support. Company-led cohorts provide support and accountability and facilitate cross-training. 

Step No. 4: Get the rest of the business involved. It’s important to make a business case for the talent academy. When the entire business sees the need for talent-building to enable you to compete and win the marketplace, the whole organization is energized and supports it.

To learn more tips, download a free copy of A Practitioner’s Guide: Building a Modern Academy.

A Modern Path Forward To Deep Upskilling & Business Alignment  

With skills changing so quickly, companies must get this critical moment right — and fast. You can’t waste your time trying to solve the most unprecedented skill gaps with whatever learning tool you’ve used for the past ten years. You need a solution that delivers, and Academies not only deliver upskilling but they’re affordable and align upskilling with your business needs. 

It doesn’t matter how you get it done. You can build your own academy with a paperclip, duct tape, and shoestring or you purchase a fancy academy platform — just build it.

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In recent years, business and learning leaders have sought to create programs for digital leadership, agile management, complex problem solving and deep skill building, noted analyst and author Josh Bersin. “Why? Because we now live in a world where every part of business, from marketing to sales to supply chain to customer service, has been reinvented in a digital way. So this is not a problem of ‘picking up some digital skills’. It’s one of ‘reinventing how business is done.’”

All of this points to talent academies as an effective L&D strategy for any business that wants to keep its workforce agile, focused and fully prepared for the future. While learning management systems (LMSs) and learning experience platforms (LXPs) are still go-to L&D tools, talent academies powered by what some are calling a mastery platform can play a key role in maximizing knowledge retention and workforce agility through an immersive and community-based learning experience.

The World Economic Forum estimates 44% of the skills employees have today will need to change by 2025 “for people to perform their roles effectively.” There’s never been a better time for L&D departments to take a fresh look at their learning strategies and consider new approaches for future-proofing the workforce.

What are talent academies, and how are they different?

If businesses have learned anything from the recent economic downturn and looming recession, it’s this: No new tech tool or app can replace workforce agility. It’s pointless to invest in new systems or try to improve your processes if your workforce isn’t able to benefit — and reflect on the value.

Heightened awareness of the need for workforce agility is driving interest in talent academies. Also known as capability academies, they blend technical and soft skills development through various learning modalities that include online, instructor-led, and peer-to-peer instruction.

Skills academies mimic the academic experience of a college or university. However, rather than looking at a broad spectrum of topics, they zero in on a specific business problem and incorporate relevant content from there. For example, rather than rigid learning paths or personalized learning catalogs built for specific business needs, a virtual talent academy offers a mix of personalized development, real-time peer-to-peer learning and individualized coaching and mentoring.

In a skills academy, content is delivered by a mix of industry and L&D experts, and it continuously evolves and pushes boundaries by promoting ongoing collaboration, exchange of ideas and the testing of business applications.

“The academy that focuses on capabilities rather than individual competency and skill sets creates a much stronger alignment between learning and business outcomes and learning and individual performance support,” according to Brandon Hall Group. “The focus of this new academy strategy is to provide innovative learning experiences that leverage learning content developed inside and outside the organization, sourced by the learners and experts alike and supported through social and collaborative mentoring and coaching within the organization.

“The academy that focuses on capabilities moves away from being merely a repository of content and creates an immersive learning environment where employees feel they are learning what they need to know to do their jobs and advance in their professions.”

Other benefits include: 

Cohorts hold learners accountable.

Unlike learning in silos, where only a manager might know how an employee is progressing, learning in a cohort by its very nature can make participants more accountable. Courses can mimic academic structures with assignment deadlines, real-time group discussions and on-demand content.

Academies often have a coaching element as well, which helps employees stay on track and make the most of their learning experiences.

Learning is timely.

Standard corporate training is often ineffective because it delivers content out of context. Say, for instance, a company changes its strategy from supporting small businesses to serving enterprise-level clients. A skills academy is always available to deliver training when it’s needed. If the business’s needs evolve, content can evolve quickly.

Learning is tied to business outcomes.

Rather than having generic courses or content that may respond to the career aspirations of your employees, the content at a virtual talent academy is built around your business needs. Take, for example, Comcast and Visa. The former has a Customer Service Academy while the latter is building a FinTech Capability Academy.

Invest in your skills academy.

Stiff competition and exacting customer expectations mean companies need to be agile, innovative and responsive to shifting market and consumer needs. Investment in talent development has never been more important.

At Degreed, we’re fully aware of these challenges. Our acquisition of Learn In will bring talent academies closer to our customers. Talent academies are well-positioned to help businesses respond to these new challenges by making the learning experience not only exciting and relevant but also fresh, community-led and business-oriented.

Want to learn more? Check out Learn In.

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