These days technology is rapidly changing, making it more crucial than ever to invest in learning and development in order to build and sustain an organization’s competitive edge. Add here today’s top external challenges, which include inflation, supply chain disruptions, and labour shortages, and internal ones like talent management, digital transformation acceleration, the development of next-generation leaders and moderating business models. With all these in stock, learning leaders are playing an increasingly crucial role in pursuing business goal and facilitating business changes. At the same time, it’s L&D programmes that can be most vulnerable to budget cuts during economic downturns, and learning managers are expected to craft effective learning and development strategies to improve leadership buy-in.
People often conclude that learning and development is only about professional growth. Of course, L&D is directly applicable to work, but it is more than just one person’s growth. Learning and Development strategies have a significant impact on an organization’s business decisions. They highlight the development of specific skills that will allow you to grow into new markets or stay competitive in your industry. Training can cost a business quite a money and bite away from employees’ daily tasks. So, it’s vital to align your L&D strategy with the overall company’s strategy to maximize your ROI.
What makes learning and development strategy successful? It’s the ability to effectively link an organization’s vision with a plan for execution, and link employees with the tools and resources required to carry out the plan. It is affected by factors such as company goals, stakeholder needs, actual skill gaps, designing and selecting the appropriate learning methods, measuring L&D efficiency, and how it becomes a sustainable policy.
From the employee’s perspective, if an organization has cleverly established talent strategies and offers them more development opportunities, they are more likely to stay with that company as they believe there is potential for growth. A Deloitte study found that companies with a solid learning culture experience a 30 to 50% increase in retention. From the business’s position, each $1 spent on learning and development per employee leads to an average of $4.70 more business revenue, according to research by Deakin University and Deloitte.
Let’s take a look at how big brands approach L&D within their structures.
Yelp
Yelp is an example of a successful learning and development strategy and talent management. This organization has a reputation of promoting employees to higher-level positions, even though they may not have all the necessary skills. These “resin” roles allow individuals to acquire additional skills by mentoring, lunch-and-learns, and presentations from experts in leadership positions. These low-cost learning events not only help develop talent internally but also improve the employee experience.
Itsu
British food chain Itsu delivers ready sushi sets to fast food outlets, supermarkets and restaurants. Itsu’s training division began providing hands-on practice for new employees after high turnover among its fish cutters threatened the company’s growth. Itsu soon launched a masterclass as well as a competition for “Fish Pro of the Year”. Over 90% of Itsu’s locations now have a Fish Pro. This resulted in lower recruiting costs and higher retention.
Google
Google’s Microlearning is a popular learning tool, particularly for managers who are looking to upskill. As a way to help managers improve their weakest skills, the Whisper course was born out of the performance review process. Managers receive a series of emails suggesting actions that they can take with their direct subordinates. Although these emails are quite brief, assessments have shown significant improvements in specific skills.
The above examples again underline that a thought-out and thoroughly implemented L&D strategy can help companies significantly better business outcomes.
So, where learning and development strategies can be improved?
1. Workplace culture. According to MIT Sloan study, almost 30% of employees cite corporate culture as their main reason for staying with their employer.
2. Attraction and retention. One of LinkedIn researches found that organizations with sustainable talent strategies and internal mobility police realized through upskilling their employees are able to retain them for an average of 5.4 years. This rate is almost twice that of companies that don’t upskill their staff, which retention averages 2.9 years.
3. Employer branding. One of the best ways to cement your positive business image is to show that you are investing in your employees.
4. Employee engagement. Naturally, employee engagement is increased when learning something new.
In the second part of the article, we will learn direct steps and pieces of advice to build your successful L&D strategy. Don’t miss it!
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