Why is it important to align training and development programs with the goals and strategies of the organization?

A perennial hot topic in our field is how to align training with business strategy and needs. A recent Google search for “aligning Learning & Development (L&D) with business strategy” yielded nearly 31 million hits. Clearly, many people in our field think this is important.

Corporations are making significant financial investments in training—total U.S. training expenditures in 2015/2016 were $70.6 billion, according to Training magazine’s latest Training Industry Report. Those investments need to help achieve an organization’s strategy, and enhance individual and organizational performance in meaningful ways.

When training aligns with the business, employees at all levels understand expectations, operationalize vision and values, and recognize what is necessary to succeed. Conceptually, it is not hard to truly align training with the business needs, but it requires a good deal of work.

PERSPECTIVE: REFINING THE PROCESS

My first exposure to this issue occurred in 1985 when I was with consulting firm Xerox Learning Systems (now MHI Global). It provided a course for all client-facing staff on linking business needs with learning solutions. In the mid-1980s, that was cutting edge. But since that time, the approach has been explored in depth, and the methodology has become increasingly refined and sophisticated. Now the field agrees that training should align with business strategy, and there are established methodologies to do so.

One example of a well-structured approach was developed in 2002 when I was at Pfizer, which was ranked No. 1 on Training magazine’s Training Top 125. John Albright, a director of Leadership Development, created a strategy with supporting tactics that focused on maximizing learning transfer and sustainability. Key to the success of the approach was the linkage of learning to business performance. It turns out that if people have a clear line of sight from what they learn to how it can improve their performance—and a clear understanding of how their performance impacts the organization’s performance—they learn better and transfer that learning back to the job. There are a number of other factors that have an impact, such as support from their direct manager, availability of resources, etc. But when there is strong and explicit alignment with business strategy and needs, these other factors often fall into place.

The Performance Alignment Map below is an example of a well-established methodology to link what is important for the business with what is important for the learner.

WHY SHOULD TRAINING PAY ATTENTION TO BUSINESS STRATEGY?

Simon Sinek’s TED talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” suggests that you start by answering the question, “why,” before proceeding to the “how” and “what.” Roy Pollock, one of the authors of “The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning,” agrees with that approach and specifies that Training professionals need to define the “why” as the achievement of critical business outcomes the organization needs to accomplish.

Similarly David Ulrich recommends an “HR Outside In” approach. At a recent SHRM conference, he advocated for understanding the organizational context composed of “social, technological, economic, political, environmental, and demographic considerations.” He also noted that the context needs to be combined with an understanding of “inside” stakeholders such as employees and line managers, as well as “outside” stakeholders such as customers, investors, and communities. These then define the business issues the organization faces. HR and Training need to be able to talk the language of the business and demonstrate that they can help the organization be successful.

A 2015 article in Sloan Management Review, “Aligning Corporate Learning with Strategy,” by Shlomo Ben-Hur, Bernard Jaworski, and David Gray, follows a similar prescription for action in order to resolve their core point: “Too many corporate learning and development programs focus on the wrong things. A better approach to developing a company’s leadership and talent pipeline involves designing learning programs that link to the organization’s strategic priorities.”

WE CAN SOLVE THIS

We know we must tie training to organizational strategy and business needs. Why can’t we figure out how to do it?

I think our dilemma is a result of the “Knowing vs. Doing” gap. Most of the profession intellectually knows what to do—the problem is turning an intellectual understanding into action.

How does the L&D professional close the Knowing vs. Doing gap and gain buy-in for the learning agenda?

Try this three-pronged integrated approach:

The first step takes advantage of existing structures and processes. Have effective governance mechanisms linking the business to the Learning function been put into place? Governance provides an efficient formal and sanctioned pathway for building partnership, responsiveness, and allocation of resources. When I was at GE, there was a series of meetings tied to running the business that provided an “operating rhythm,” pulling the HR and line functions together and giving them common goals. This approach is driven home by a 2015 McKinsey study, which found that linking learning to business performance is critical, and happens best when HR and the business co-own learning.

The second step requires selling and consulting skills. When I was an L&D director, team leader at Pfizer, we looked at our meetings with line managers as “sales calls” rather than “meetings.” An effective sales call required the L&D team to identify the issues important to that manager and decide what we might be able to do to resolve the need. Before the sales call, we practiced how to articulate our value proposition in ways that would make sense to that particular line leader. We also prepared “proof sources,” and identified senior stakeholders to support our point of view and help us achieve our objective for the sales call. Perhaps most important, we created a list of questions to help structure the discussion and explore the topic. This last point is critical, because almost all of us are action oriented. As L&D consultant Bob Pike emphasized in a recent Training magazine article, asking questions provides critical information if you are to add value and make a difference to your organization and clients.

The third step is to become a trusted advisor. Performance consultant Dana Gaines Robinson talks about the ACT Model: Access, Credibility, and Trust.

• Access means having “face time” with the line leader. You may make an appointment, work on a committee, or follow a range of activities that will give you access and exposure.
• Credibility is built on results. This is where being able to link learning to results is critical. Using business language and linking learning to key performance indicators demonstrates a knowledge of the business and how it works—which builds credibility.
• Trust is based on maintaining confidences and holding oneself accountable. In addition, ensuring that your deeds match your words will create a feeling of personal authenticity that helps to facilitate the role of trusted advisor.

A CALL TO ACTION FOR L&D PROFESSIONALS

The intellectual understanding is not enough. You know how to diagnose business issues, map these issues to learning outcomes, create the training design, and then measure the outcomes. Here’s what you have to add: good relationships and communication with line leadership. Understanding how to create relationships with senior leaders and demonstrate the business case for learning will increase learning’s impact and make learning indispensable to the organization’s success.

Ross Tartell, Ph.D., is currently adjunct associate professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University. Dr. Tartell also consults in the areas of learning and development, talent planning, and organization development. He received his M.B.A. in Management and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Columbia University. He formerly served as Technical Training and Communications Manager – North America at GE Capital Real Estate.

I’m sure more than a few of you read the recent MIT Sloan Management Review article. Since its publication in September, this iteration of a common-sense approach to corporate learning has grabbed a lot of attention. The piece emphasises the importance of aligning learning with corporate strategy, and calls into question those companies focusing on learning and development methods – rather than the knowledge they transfer.

At Cognology, we’ve always championed this approach. Our learning management system integrates seamlessly with our performance management system and wider performance tools for one simple reason; aligning learning and development (L&D) with corporate strategy drives organisational success.

The importance of alignment 

Corporate strategy charts the course for a company that knows what it’s there for, and what it wants to achieve. The link between learning and corporate strategy should be obvious. It’s a concept that has become increasingly relevant, at least in part due to a response to the changes in technology innovating the field of L&D (a subject I discussed recently in this post).

Now with a huge variety of cutting-edge learning approaches, linking them with corporate strategy helps ensure businesses achieve corporate outcomes, through increasing available skills and capability in areas of strategic importance.

Alignment means you can, and should, use corporate strategy to influence learning investment. Providing the team with learning designed to facilitate a specific, profitable or behavioural outcome is common sense. It validates both the time and financial investment the learning program necessitates, gives employees a sense of ownership, and shines a spotlight on your people’s importance to organisational success.

If you read my last post you will know how I feel about promoting brilliance in individuals. People drive organisational growth – providing they have the right set of skills. Aligning learning with strategy ensures that you can target learning outcomes with the potential to facilitate meaningful outcomes.

The benefits of alignment

1. Highlighting corporate strategy

‘Corporate strategy’ is far from an exact term. It can refer to long-term goals, short-term objectives, considered milestones or vague plans.

Aligning strategy with learning brings it into sharp focus. If you are going to invest time developing skills that promote one goal, that goal must be immovable. It has to offer quantifiable benefits in some form or another. And it must be identified and locked-in far enough in advance to implement learning strategies that support it.

When learning outcomes become integrated into corporate strategy, it makes it difficult to avoid scrutinising that strategy. It brings each goal to the attention of numerous individuals, requires objectives to be thoroughly researched and justified before their implementation, and commits multiple resources to achieving one clearly defined outcome.

2. Finding more useful ways to measure L&D

The ‘method versus content’ argument doesn’t mean we should lose sight of the importance of delivery. If learning forms an integral part of your corporate strategy, any weaknesses will have a negative impact on growth and profitability.

A 2014 report by Deloitte found that, when assessing learning through online courses, social, mobile or advanced media, at least 60% of executives considered their organisation’s efforts ‘weak’.

New technologies, online assessments and a move towards gamification and ranking provide metrics on individual performance, but they give us little feedback on its value to the wider organisation.

The good news is that, by aligning learning with corporate strategy, you can effectively measure the learning function. If people can contribute to strategic goals, the connection between learning and application of that learning in the workplace stands a much stronger chance of becoming clear to everyone. That’s the time to review and strengthen strategy.

3. Identify current and future challenges

Thanks to alignment, anticipating challenges and assessing current weaknesses is no longer the sole province of corporate strategy. A good learning program takes into account the capability analysis of the organisation (based on current capability and delivery) and where that capability needs to progress to, based on the needs of the corporate strategy. Knowing where you stand today and how you’re tackling current challenges is one thing, but you also need a plan for anticipating future challenges. A close look at corporate strategy and regular scanning of the wider commercial environment will give great insights into what skills and capabilities your business will need in the future.

If businesses are going to achieve their strategic targets, L&D programs need to anticipate and identify future challenges associated with hitting those targets, and to make sure staff have the resources and training to overcome them.

4. Improve ROI 

Learning represents a significant financial investment for plenty of businesses. There’s always been pressure to qualify the ROI for L&D spend but, without benchmarks, it’s difficult to calculate.

When it comes to increasing ROI, alignment is an approach that the multinational reinsurer Swiss Re has proved works. The organisation’s key talent development plan, overhauled in 2011, operates across all management levels. Participants submit a range of learning initiatives to the CEO, who chooses those with greatest strategic value for implementation. Focusing on areas of strategic importance streamlines the entire learning process. Since the implementation of this new approach, nearly three-quarters of staff make use of new skills within a week of training, and 94% cite training as a worthwhile investment for their employer.

5. Increase employee engagement

Organisations that treat learning as a box-ticking exercise rarely get any real value from it. The skills imparted are either too broad to offer a strategic benefit, or have such little relevance to individuals that they view it as a waste of time.

On the other hand, when organisations encourage employees to take on skills essential to business growth, they’ll often notice a sense of ownership over the outcome. A recent article suggested that retention and engagement is now the second biggest concern for business leaders, and I’ve blogged about this recently too. Targeted learning that’s of real use to both the business and the individual increases their engagement, and encourages long-term commitment.

To sum up…

Corporate strategy sets a vision or direction for an organisation. When learning is aligned with corporate goals, L&D programs support the organisation to deliver capabilities and skills needed for current challenges and the hurdles of the future.

When looking at L&D in the context of business strategy, you automatically target learning budgets at areas of strategic importance. As managers and leaders in business today, we’ve really got to ask ourselves “If our L&D program isn’t aligned with strategy, why not, and at what cost?”

Reference:

Organisations that integrate L&D KPIs with senior management are 13x more likely to report profit increases. HR Review