In 2019 and beyond, learning and development (L&D) strategies shouldn’t just be implemented by corporations or enterprises alone. Why? Because L&D will be the most innovative department for any organisation for the next decade or so, regardless of its shape or size.
An L&D strategy is a vital tool for organisations to align the corporate training with business objectives. It has the following benefits:
- It ensures that staff learning and development needs are effectively met.
- Company's skills requirements for senior management are being developed.
Despite knowing these benefits, questions still remain.
- What are the best ways to create an L&D Strategy?
- How do we make it efficient and effective?
Aligning learning goals with business
The past is the past, but what about the future? The future is something we can’t control. Wrong, strategy begins by focusing on the vision, mission, and goals that make the future of your business an exciting one.
Create a strong project team with senior management buy-in from the outset. Collaborate with managers and leaders to gain a better insight of the business goals and objectives.
As a business you may be aiming to halve your production time, double your client base, or increase sales 20% by the end of the financial year? Whatever your business goals, make sure to define them clearly and SMARTly. The SMART goals definition is simple: aim for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound.
One the goals are clearly defining, use subject matter experts in the organisation to shape the content and provide organisational information on products or processes where needed.
This can be expressed in 3 steps.
Design
Learning opportunities should develop real skills for the business and deliver measurable performance improvement.
Manage
Administration and management of the learning operation. Balanced measures and ongoing monitoring. Portfolio management & corrective actions.
Improve
Review your business goals to align learning to deliver business impact.
And repeat…….
Learning and Development Profile – Build a brand
Learning and Development need to take a look at themselves and ask questions like “Would I buy this product/service?” Make no mistake there are large groups within organisations that will have an opinion of “I don’t need them.” Or “Why should I use them?”
Can you turn to your managers and sell learning and development? To gain commitment from others, you must effectively sell your concept to them. Selling an idea involves a clear and focussed communication of the benefits. To achieve full commitment to training from all parties, you need to confidently put across the reasons why a total buy-in on their part is essential for success.
This is your brand image. It is also almost certain that your brand as L&D has not been thought about in a focused way, if at all. When was the last time you thought about your brand as the L&D department?
Your brand is your promise to your internal customers and what they can expect from their relationship with you. It shapes their perceptions and expectations, so start by writing a mission statement that includes your L&D organization's value proposition
Communicate.
You may also need to develop other branding and positioning materials such as a brand promise (what you always deliver), a "voice” (the tone of your communications), talking points, materials templates, curriculum naming architecture, and materials style guides.
Make sure that all communications, physical and electronic conform to these standards so that they have a consistent look and feel and are always “On message”.
Effective communication with the target audience is a critical part of marketing and branding, and it doesn't take advanced audience analysis to realize that means speaking the language of your business; avoid L&D terminology, use clear unmistakable messages and do it regularly.
Developing L&D as a business driver
By and large, the L&D function is viewed in one of three ways: Which of these reflect your situation?
Low value: As a necessary cost, but also a cost to be minimized. The focus is generally on providing training and other basic “how-to” resources, but at the lowest cost possible.
Medium value: For work related learning. The focus is generally on building skills and learning best practices that support the company’s tactical goals.
High value: As a business enabler. The focus is on shaping the desired culture, fostering new ways of thinking, developing new behaviours, and driving strategic opportunities.
Aim to be High Value. Some ideas of how to achieve this could be; conceive, recommend, and implement L&D solutions that enable your company’s business strategy. Come up with solutions that enable your company to pursue new opportunities. Develop solutions that address the problems and obstacles that prevent higher levels of business performance. Think not only about improving people productivity and effectiveness, but also about enabling new markets, new strategies, new partnerships, and best practices. Drive behavioural changes that directly drive results.
Remember: Training is not a cure all.
Do not be afraid to challenge managers when they say, “I need a training course to fix…..” There may be environmental or system/process issues that could be resolved instead of a training course.
You may see a reoccurring theme here. Understand the business, the goals, the challenges and speak to management regularly.
Building capability - How do L&D professionals stay ahead of the game?
So, how do modern L&D professionals develop their skills and capabilities to ensure they are up to speed with current trends and technologies?
Just like a sports team, individuals need to train and practice to develop their skills. Even the most experienced L&D team will need reliable resources to consult while they work, such as handbooks, policy documents, etc.
Also, make sure your staff have ample opportunities available to them for their own development, in the form things like;
- On the job learning
- Peer to peer learning
- L&D Journals
- L&D Networks
- L&D qualification
- Membership of professional bodies
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