HOW LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT (L & D) IS ALIGNED WITH THE BUSINESS STRATEGY

 

Over the past decade, the global workforce has been continually evolving because of several factors. An increasingly competitive business landscape, rising complexity, and the digital revolution are reshaping the mix of employees. Meanwhile, persistent uncertainty, a multigenerational workforce, and shorter shelf life for knowledge have placed a premium on re-skilling and up skilling. The shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy means that a vibrant workforce is more important than ever. When an organization achieves its goals employees or human resource of the organization act main role and they are a very essential factor to the organization. So, all of these trends have elevated the importance of the learning-and-development (L&D) function. Most of the scalars describe the importance of learning and development to the organization once they achieve their business goals. (Pandey, 2021)

So once the organization aligned their business strategies with their Learning and development is very important to every organization.  To get the most out of investments in training programs and curriculum development, L&D leaders must embrace a broader role within the organization and formulate an ambitious vision for the function. An essential component of this effort is a comprehensive, coordinated strategy that engages the organization and encourages collaboration.

As strategic business partners, we should ensure that our learning and development (L&D) strategy is aligned with the mission of the businesses we support. Training and performance solutions should enable organizational goals, rather than detract from them by wasting time while not adding value. Here are a few guidelines you can use to define your L&D strategy and align it with the business. (Brassey, Christensen and Dam, 2020)

·       Understand Business – In here need to get a holistic view of the company. The easiest way to gain the respect of the teams you support is to take the time to understand the business and the work these teams perform. This also will help you better communicate and emphasize the value that L&D brings to the organization.

·       Define Priorities and Develop the Plan - Once you understand the business, schedule some time with your functional leaders and have them walk you through their business strategies. The steps you took to understand the business will put you in a better position to have meaningful conversations with them. By using some questions able to do this easily.

ü  What are the main priorities for your function this year?

ü  What are some of the biggest challenges your team faces?

ü  How does your team acquire new knowledge, skills, and experiences? 

Then based on the information collected through functional leaders develop a learning and development programme for the company. Below factors are important here.

ü  L&D Vision

ü  Business Goals

ü  L&D Road Map

ü  Resources Required

ü  Project Timeline

·       Align Leadership –Once develop the learning and development plan need to align leadership with a plan so able to call a meeting with the leaders of the organization and get feedback from them. If needed, propose a pilot program with a small group and let the team know you would like to evaluate and review the results with them to determine the way forward for future programs.

When following the above steps to develop the Learning and development plan should feel extremely confident that your proposed L&D plan will bridge the gap between the business's strategy and performance. Indeed, the L&D function should be seen as strategic learning and performance advisors to the business.

 

Reference

Brassey, J., Christensen, L. and Dam, N. van (2020). Essential components of a learning and development strategy | McKinsey. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-essential-components-of-a-successful-l-and-d-strategy.

 Pandey, A. (2021). Aligning Learning and Development Strategy to Business Performance. [online] Training Industry. Available at: https://trainingindustry.com/articles/strategy-alignment-and-planning/redefining-the-purpose-of-learning-and-development-aligning-ld-strategy-to-business-performance-spon-eidesign/ [Accessed 24 Nov. 2021].