As a training leader, you know that the skillful delivery of training enables teams to be more efficient — leads to increased productivity; lowered costs; and a happier, more engaged workforce (which, in turn, reduces employee turnover). Poor training, on the other hand, leads to low levels of engagement and retention. Taking the time to stay abreast of best practices in training pays dividends.

As you map out your training programs over this year, here are three emerging trends to keep in mind that will improve your learning and development (L&D) and improve the return your organization sees from its investment.

1. Greater Connection

More and more, employees want greater connection in the workplace, and leaders are realizing that in order to meet their commitments to their customers and shareholders, they need to put their people first. As a result, they are prioritizing the cultivation of a collaborative and inclusive culture that gives people a sense of belonging. Providing experiences that foster deeper connection among employees will boost engagement and learning retention.

One way to build connections during training is to break a classroom into smaller teams for breakthrough thinking. Research shows that trust and connection develop more easily in smaller groups. In large teams, the desire for conformity and consensus tends to make people less likely to share their thoughts and opinions.

2. Greater Autonomy

We’ve seen a trend toward giving employees greater autonomy for several years now, causing changes in organizational structure. Traditionally, a few leaders at the top make all the decisions, but organizations are giving more power to mid-level managers and individual contributors. Movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo have encouraged people to speak up about what they want, what they believe in and what they expect from their leaders.

This tidal wave has created a gap. As trainers, we have a responsibility to support our learners where they need our help the most, so autonomy doesn’t mean leaving people to figure things out on their own. Rather, it means cocreating with them. It means fostering an environment of psychological safety where team members can speak and act freely without fear or judgment. It means giving them the tools to express their ideas and concerns in a healthy way. Providing autonomy skillfully can also go a long way toward accomplishing an organization’s business goals.

3. Greater Innovation

A third trend is the growing executive priority to drive creativity and innovation across multiple business units. The digital revolution is fueling disruption across almost every industry, and the need to adapt is front and center for most organizations.

Henry Ford is often quoted as saying, “Why is it every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached?” The time when our responsibility as training professionals was to teach humans to do the work that machines can do is over. In order to make the leap away from 100 years of deep conditioning, we need a new approach: We need to train employees to cultivate a “thinking mind” in order to drive new innovations. As training professionals, our goal must be to train people to become better problem-solvers and thinkers rather than do-ers — regardless of their role in the organization.

These trends give training professionals a real opportunity to break new ground and bring the “human” back into human resources. The challenge I issue to you is to go beyond training skills that will feed people for the next quarter or next calendar year. Instead, train them in skills that will equip them to step into the kind of leadership that our organizations need in order to thrive over the next decade.