A learning and development strategy takes a strategic view of what a business needs to be a success in the future and identifies ways to develop the skills and talents needed to survive and grow. Yet despite this, 24% of employees receive no training opportunities at work. In this guide, we unpack the benefits of introducing a learning and development strategy, as well as how to implement one successfully.
What is a learning and development strategy?
In an increasingly competitive and complex world of work, all businesses must change, adapt and continuously improve to remain successful. As the CIPD states, a learning and development strategy will identify the ‘workforce capabilities, skills and competencies the organisation needs, and how they can be developed to ensure a sustainable, successful organisation’. The learning and development strategy will reflect the overall business strategy, by ensuring ‘the organisation’s performance needs are met through the development of its employees’.
A learning and development strategy should take into consideration the unique context of the organisation, including any changes predicted in the external environment, such as technological, legal, social or economic changes.
What are the benefits of a learning and development strategy?
The core benefit of a successful learning and development strategy is having an available workforce with the skills, competencies and training needed to achieve business goals. As the CIPD states, ‘organisational performance depends on having the right people in the right place with the right skills at the right time’.
Currently, many businesses rely on recruitment to fill skills gaps, which is often time-consuming, costly and can be challenging in the current labour market. Furthermore, investing in learning and development has been shown to have a positive impact on employee engagement and satisfaction, productivity and retention. In turn, this can enhance the employer brand, increasing your ability to attract candidates. Despite the clear benefits, the CIPD found that UK employers spend less on training than other major EU economies, with 24% of employees not receiving any training at all.
Available learning methods and modes of delivery
So what can learning and development look like? There are a wide variety of learning methods and modes of delivery available to employers including:
- Workplace-based learning like induction and onboarding, on-the-job training, internal development programmes, buddy system, coaching and mentoring, job shadowing, secondments and project work.
- External based learning such as qualifications (vocational, managerial or business education), courses, classroom learning, distance learning, webinars, action learning, e-learning and bite-size learning. Each organisation will have a different set of requirements, priorities and budget. For example, highly regulated industries may be more likely to require formal qualifications to comply with legislation.
Overall, learning and development professionals recommend a ‘blend’ of methods. For example, the 70:20:10 learning framework captures the way people learn best at work: 70% of learning comes from on-the-job experience; 20% of learning comes from others; and only 10% comes from formal learning experiences. Often businesses make the mistake of focusing primarily on formal training opportunities, underestimating the impact of on-the-job experience and learning from colleagues which are often cost-effective and simple solutions.
Further information on learning methods and modes of delivery is available here: CIPD – Learning Methods
Recent trends in learning and development
Developments in technology have had a fundamental impact on learning and development. For example, training programmes can now be delivered worldwide via e-learning. Furthermore, many organisations now have a learning management system which can be used to manage, track and deliver online training.
We’ve also seen a trend towards ‘learning pathways’, i.e a group of courses or modules that enable the employee to progress towards the overall learning goal. And, the concept of a learning culture has grown in prominence, described by the CIPD as a ‘supportive learning environment where learning is not only embedded, but encouraged across every level of the organisation’.
Top tips for implementing a learning and development strategy
How can you ensure that a learning and development strategy is a success in practice? Here are our five top tips for implementation:
1. Conduct a learning needs analysis
The first step towards implementing a learning and development strategy is to understand the business goals and the skills and capabilities the organisation will require in the future. Businesses should then assess the existing skillset and capabilities, identifying any gaps and prioritise appropriately. This is called a ‘learning needs analysis’, and can be done by reviewing available data (such as performance management data) and seeking feedback from employees and line managers. A learning needs analysis can be done for the organisation as a whole, a specific team or project, or for individuals.
Further information on conducting a learning needs analysis is available here: CIPD – Identifying Learning & Development Needs.
2. Evaluate available learning methods and modes of delivery
After conducting the learning needs analysis and identifying skills gaps, businesses should evaluate the learning methods and modes of delivery available to them. This should take into consideration your unique organisational context. For example, employers with a global or home-based workforce may prioritise ease of delivery, using e-learning, webinars or distance learning.
3. Involve line managers
Line managers play a critical role in ensuring the success of learning and development initiatives, by enabling and supporting their team members to develop their skills. For this reason, it’s extremely important to involve line managers in decision-making to gain their buy-in, and to ensure they have capacity in their roles to provide necessary support.
4. Agree on a learning and development plan
While a learning and development strategy is a ‘statement of intent’, a plan is needed to provide the detail on how the strategy will be implemented. The outcome of the learning needs analysis as well as the review of appropriate learning methods should be used to inform a plan of action. The learning and development plan should identify the following:
- the future skills and capabilities required;
- the identified skills gaps and learning needs;
- the learning and development initiatives that will be used to upskill the workforce, including learning methods and delivery modes;
- timeframes; and
- how success will be evaluated.
The plan may also include an agreed budget for learning and development initiatives. However, businesses should bear in mind that low-cost interventions such as on-the-job learning, buddy/mentor systems and job rotation can be highly effective.
5. Measure success
To measure the success of a learning and development initiative, the CIPD recommends using a range of different evaluation methods to measure the impact, engagement and transfer of learning activities. Having clearly identified performance targets in place, as well as identified learning needs, will make it easier for businesses to evaluate effectiveness. Both qualitative and quantitative measures can be used including monitoring spend/training hours per person, participant satisfaction, employee retention, employee engagement, productivity, quality improvement, performance management data, recruitment spend, performance evaluation before and after training, and compliance.
6. Bring in the experts
It’s not always possible (or cost effective) to develop and implement an L&D strategy yourself – particularly when you don’t have experience doing it. It can be helpful to outsource projects like this one to experts in this field.
What can we do to help?
We hope you found this guide useful. If you would like advice on learning and development, please get in touch with our team of People Partners on 0330 223 5253 or office@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk. We would be delighted to help you.
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