Learning Strategy in a Nutshell

  Why is L&D still not part of the Business Strategy? This is the ultimate question for L&Ders. Why do most companies still see learning and development as separate to the business? We’ve all read that we should use the same language and build stronger relationships with the business, but what does that mean? To know this we need first to look at how L&D is different. A traditional learning and development department often doesn’t have the same focus as the business. The most significant of these is content: L&D habitually speaks and thinks in conceptual terms like Leadership Skills, Team Building or Negotiation Skills. How can this ever relate to a business that thinks in terms of Increased Market Share, Improved Revenue or Increased Profitability? In a nutshell, L&D tends to be Activity Driven and has no clear business purpose. A traditional learning & development team doesn’t even work under the same premiss as the business. Out of these, the issue that m...

Sometimes Learning and Development doesn't fit. It's time for a rant. I know that I am an L&D professional and this post may seem counter intuitive, but L&D needs to step up and claim its place in the business. Why do most businesses completely miss the opportunities Learning & Development bring in the modern age? It's probably because L&D in most small to medium sized businesses and some less enlightened large businesses and major corporations is still the little backwater to provide training when managers deem it the right solution. We all hear that learning professionals need to adapt to business, talk in business terms, curate content and so on. Isn't L&D supposed to help the business to resolve its issues? So why, oh why does business, and to a degree L&D itself always fall back to "What TRAINING do you need?" We are surely, or at least we should be, way past this by now. We all know tL&D professionals are supposed to ask lots ...

  Hey everyone. I was thinking over the weekend "What makes L&D really useful to the business?". With increasing pressure to deliver tangible results, it's important that L&D teams are prepared and able to align with the wider business agenda. Your business may not have the resources or budget of larger corporations for learning and development activities, but to continue to grow they should not be neglected. I have always thought that L&D is pushed somewhat into a backwater, as it is often considered as a nice to have, rather than a must have. Which is funny when you think that most companies will say "Our staff are our greatest asset." What a load of BS! L&D is always the first area to get hit when there are any hiccups in the economy at most companies, where any budget is redirected to sales or marketing. To overcome this stigma and become an indispensable part of the business, I truly believe that " Running Learning & Development as...