In a world of increased complexity, developing skills and internal talent has become a process of constant transformation for service providers and consultancies. Many are leveraging internal training and development platforms, often with mixed success. But some are pushing investments to new extremes; the most recent example is the opening of the cutting-edge learning and development center, KPMG Lakehouse in Orlando, Florida. While it seems odd to discuss the value of a physical building in an environment where we are now more isolated and remote than ever due to a global pandemic, KPMG’s investment clearly demonstrates its commitment to improved employee experience, and, by extension, customer experience—even more so in an economy where skills, experience, and talent are more important than ever before.

Simply put, providers must prove to scrutinizing and understandably cynical clients that they are taking talent development seriously. In an environment where everyone professes to be fostering a unique culture of continual learning, it’s often hard to see the results until contracts have long since been signed and the realities of a provider’s talent and training quality are laid bare. Now clients are looking for signs that providers are making effective investments past marketing rhetoric.

KPMG’s Lakehouse investment sets the pace for big bang commitments to learning and development

Consulting firms such as KPMG are perhaps more acutely measured on the quality of their talent than other competitors. The products they trade on are people, and they must ensure those people have the skills and tools they need to deliver successful client engagements. While KPMG and many other major consultancies have a compelling track record of investing in their people, the recent opening of its major high-tech learning and development center Lakehouse will no doubt have rattled some of its competitors and captured the mindshare of existing and potential clients.

At a glance, the development center, while architecturally attractive, could blend into the skyline of any major city. However, unlike many buildings, this one was designed with a single purpose: to support the development of new skills, capabilities, and experience in KPMG’s US team. Executives who drove the project shared that throughput is one of the factors that helps the investment stand out. The center can host over 1,000 people a day, with the aim that everyone working in the US has the opportunity to experience what Lakehouse has to offer regularly.

Where this investment comes into its own is its role in the broader talent development strategies KPMG is adopting. Individuals who visit the Lakehouse will gain fresh skills and tools and depart armed with a sense of continual learning and development that will ripple through their teams and engagements. Lakehouse is to be the nucleus of a broader initiative to drive cultural transformation across KPMG with a specific focus on continual learning and development.

Driving positive experiences is key to sustaining a culture focused on continual learning

Of course, building an impressive center for learning is only part of the battle. Developing a sustainable learning culture relies almost exclusively on the employee experience the overall strategy reinforces. KPMG focuses on evaluating the experiences of the employees who go through the center; according to executives, there has been an overall bump on already-high employee feedback.

KPMG executives candidly advised that not only had Lakehouse produced boosted satisfaction results internally, but word-of-mouth and publicity around the investment increased the talent attracted to work at KPMG, which is an important differentiator in a labor market where professionals have more mobility and choice than ever before.

Training and development must move beyond stale classrooms and become an immersive experience

According to executives and those who have seen what Lakehouse has to offer, the suite of learning resources and experiences is extensive. Learning moves beyond traditional classroom-led experiences to those that immerse learners into real scenarios they may face as an employee at KPMG. Some involve KPMG’s actual clients, providing a window into the specific challenges their business and industry faces. According to one employee who recently attended, the experience is curated from start to finish to focus on learning, health, and wellness through a fully immersive experience that leaves learners charged up and ready to bring new ideas and skills back to their teams.

KPMG’s hands-on, customer focused approach represents a broader industry shift away from stale environments and toward those that focus on the value that learning experiences must provide to be successful. A shift is sorely needed across the business environment to ensure talent genuinely have the skills and experience needed to be successful—beyond the certificates and core business curriculum historically on offer.

The Bottom Line: KPMG’s investment in Lakehouse should reassure clients that the firm is taking learning development seriously, and it should serve as a warning shot to peers who are less focused on talent development.

The reality for many providers in the space is that learning and development have become as complex as they are essential for survival. Many won’t have the resources to splash out on a major learning center, but that cannot become an excuse for lackluster future investments. Developing intuitive learning platforms and supplying talent with the tools and resources they need to be successful are key to thriving in a business environment that is more focused on talent quality than ever before.