Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning and Degreed today announced a partnership to help organizations address their most critical talent development and skill gaps through a personalized, learner-driven solution. The next release of Harvard ManageMentor Spark brings together leadership and management expertise with an industry-leading learning platform to help organizations foster a culture of continuous workforce learning. 

Harvard ManageMentor Spark provides employees with a personalized, learner-driven experience that allows them to explore their interests and develop their skills to keep pace with the ever-changing business world.

The industry is at a critical crossroads where the rate of technological and digital advancement is surpassing the current abilities of today’s workforce to keep pace in developing the critical capabilities required to successfully compete. Now more than ever, engaging and developing talent is a main concern—and priority—for the majority of global executives who believe they will need to retrain or replace a quarter of their workforce within the next five years.

According to a recent survey from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning and Degreed, 85% of learners feel confident that they know their own skill gaps. But at the same time, 61% percent of learners say their organizations need to help them align learning to their individual goals and skill gaps. It’s clear that L&D teams must find a balance between enabling employees to make decisions about their own learning priorities and providing the guidance they are looking for to keep learning relevant and contextual.

Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning is collaborating with Degreed on the next release of Harvard ManageMentor Spark, a powerful, personalized learning journey that provides in-the-moment access to a wide array of compelling experiences that help learners develop skills in the areas most critical to their success. 

Through the partnership with Degreed, clients will gain access to a solution that develops talent and addresses skill gaps using engaging, high-quality resources and an experience that reflects how today’s employees learn through on-demand, collaborative, and social approaches.

“We are coming to a point where AI, data and automation will become table stakes in business, and success will be determined by how well talent is driving disruption and execution through increasing complexity and on a global scale,” said Ian Fanton, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Learning, Harvard Business Publishing. 

“We’re excited that, after a thorough and thoughtful analysis of all the major learning experience platforms, the Harvard Business Publishing team selected Degreed as the platform for the next release of Harvard ManageMentor Spark,” said Chris McCarthy, CEO of Degreed. 

He added, “We’re constantly exploring partnerships that amplify our ability to help people connect their skill-sets to learning opportunities. Now, through this first-of-its-kind partnership, we’re combining our best-in-class learning platform with their premier learning content.”

Harvard ManageMentor Spark enables organizations and learners to address current and emerging hot topics, such as authenticity, big data and analytics, design thinking, and digital transformation. The solution provides learners with daily learning feeds focused on their own interests—as well as the interests of those they follow—and the ability to join groups and make their own recommendations, while also giving L&D leaders opportunities to help them master skills through curated pathways.