CV1-I2-12-Repositioning- Leveraging ‘Learning & Development’: A Strategic Imperative
Gone the days, where Training has mostly seen as a support function, Today, more and more organization are adopting contemporary approach, Where Learning & Development is seen more as a business driver having a direct impact on business success.
In the VUCA world, rapid changes are taking place in business needs, workforce demographics, technology, lifestyle, the expectations from L & D have grown manifold. To change constantly yet to remain predictable, being agile yet being futuristic, customize yet standardize these are some of the menus on the platter in front of L&D function. (Exhibit 1.1 VUCA)
L & D has a great potential to create Learning Organizations and has great caliber to change any mundane culture to vibrant Learning Culture. It is a powerful
tool facilitating growth & capability Building for future of the organisation.
Exhibit 1.1 VUCA worlds (Source: HBR JAN- FEB 2014 issue)
However, building culture of learning is not an easy job…Learning is still not seen as something which drives business performance. L & D should be seen as business activity and not an event. There should be a clear mandate that if there is no up – skilling the quality of Performance will suffer. Thus the shift from ‘Training’ orientation to Learning & Development is required. And thereby training won’t be seen as an intrusion in operational activity but as a business activity.
The second challenge is aligning L&D to business needs – Capability building is not one-time affair. It’s a continuous process…it’s a journey. For aligning the capability building with business strategy, its essential that the strategy is commonly understood at all levels of business. Thus, the strategy in the mind of CEO to be articulated or communicated comprehensively and the drivers of capability development should also take proactive effort to articulate the strategy. HR professional should revamp/ make over themselves from Service Providers who are mostly involved into administrative activities to business leaders. Both HR and Business need to work together to impact customer engagement and Business performance.
Third is a ‘perception’…How L & D function is perceived by the leadership (C- Suite & Board) and Midlevel managers. Do they view it as absolutely central to the organization or a tactical support to business or a just protocol? Perception gap needs to be bridged from cost savers to value creators to ‘Growth Partners’.
Again, Not everyone believes in the philosophy of Learning Culture so need of enrolling more and more people in the entire process who believe in the philosophy of learning culture. Ultimately culture is cumulative, repeated behavior of a group as whole.
Executing & Driving L & D – What really drives L & D is ‘Readiness’ & ‘Buy In’ from the higher-level leadership. There needs to be focused approach on converting these priorities into business outcomes.
For execution, there should be right mix of ‘Those from the Business’ and ‘Those from the Core Function of L&D’. Also depending upon the present life cycle of the organization, Mix of Functional training, skill building & leadership training should be decided. No doubt, the ultimate aim of L&D is capability development and future proofing but Business Level trainings is a first step towards it. e.g. For example: If we need to improve the front office service of Hospital, the training will be offered from a service point of view. It impacts the efficiency, doctor’s appointments and the overall experience of a patient – which correlates to more references and thereby increases the pool of patients we offer care to. Another aspect of learning will be awareness that is based on data. For example, how does the average length of stay improve patient health, and what is the optimal amount of time that we may have considering utilization of beds? The learning is in terms of how to collect, analyze and use the analysis to effect optimization within the boundaries of patient-care.
From pedagogical standpoint, how people learn in the organisation will keep the L & D drivers on toes. The approach to learning also needs to be linked to day–to–day work. Also an opportunity to apply the learning...Experiential Learning is a form of learning, which believes that learning does not always happen during a training program. In fact, any training program that is not followed by experimental learning is a waste, as it does not impact business. Thus, Action learning projects and hands–on coaching, Mobility, access to critical projects needs to be encouraged.
Technology is a key enabler in learning and development. Technology to be used for customization, personalisation, and hyper engagement of the customer. Focus on the impact and analytics will help to consider technology as a lever for reaching out to learners with new ways and at minimal cost.
Along with Traditional classrooms training LMS, Gamification, Virtual classrooms and Assessment Centers Massive open online courses (MOOCs), Use of Mobile Platforms, social learning and are fast picking trends in industry. Using online & offline program relevant to business, Content to impart more relevance, credibility and value to the business make the entire learning experience more effective.
Ultimate aim of L & D is to prepare Leaders for tomorrow. But most of the time, organisations are operating on ‘Here and Now’ mode focusing on building technical competencies.
Thus L & D should start focusing on strategic activities than tactical ones. however, in order to succeed in future, organizations need to emphasize more on the behavioral competencies which will prepare leaders for tomorrow.
Strategic refers to activities such as long term planning, aligning to business strategies, attending business meetings etc. Tactical activities include activities such as requirement gathering, defining and delivering training etc. there exists a clear need to shift the focus on OD and Leadership Development, with the least time spent on training.
Policy for higher education, Temporary Assignments, Mentoring & Coaching, ‘Deputyships’, Outside Experience, Personal Development Plans, develops the leaders for tomorrow. With the growing investment in learning and development, there comes the responsibility to measure its success. What is the Business value Proposition of L & D? As Peter Drucker says ‘ If you can’t measure it , You can’t manage it’. Now the L& D has gone closer to business that calls for replacing the traditional Metrics (e.g. Percentage of people undergoing training, man-hours spent on the learning activities, cost of the training, participation rate and feedback.) to sophisticated metrics which show direct correlation between learning & business. The most relevant metrics today are the productivity metrics, revenue growth, & customer satisfaction.
If the ‘level of knowledge’ , ‘ownership of learning’ is displayed by learner, If the number of hours spent by the line managers and leaders in actively partnering in learning activities (training delivery, coaching, mentoring, creating case studies, being role models or any active participation in learning interventions). If the average time spent by them in learning activities is constantly increasing, it is a decent measure of growing learning culture in the organization.
Conclusion: L&D is an extremely creative job, which looks at organization development as a whole at macro level and individual aspiration at a micro level. Again, what has worked for one organization may not work for the other. So, getting the pulse of the organization correctly is also important. I would like to reiterate this fact that the real worth of L&D will come to the spotlight, when it will be capable of creating a direct influence on the business and we foresee that day is just around the corner.
Jyotsna Datar
Jyosna Datar is Founder Director, Demeter Consultants, Training & Consultancy Services, Vashi, Navi Mumbai