As the year comes to an end, chances are you’re reflecting on what worked for your organization and what didn’t. With all of the recent industry chatter focusing on tactical things like virtual reality and microlearning, it’s easy to lose sight of what fundamentally makes for a successful corporate learning program – getting results. As you think about how you can improve the value you receive from learning and development in 2018, here are three fundamentals to keep in mind.
Learning and development in support of company goals
Change and adaptation are necessary for sustainable growth to occur in any organization. This requires an assessment of current performance and a clear understanding of where your organization wants to go. The gaps that emerge from this assessment should be priority one to address. Too often, organizations fail to prioritize learning and development efforts toward strategically valuable initiatives.
Calling your shot
With the amount of time, money, and effort that organizations pour into training, it is far too common to hear the question “Did we really gain anything?” asked in the end. Without an effective method of monitoring, measuring, and analyzing the impact of training, there is no way to gauge its impact, and more importantly its value. To accurately assess training value and impact, having a clear baseline of the individual capabilities of participants prior to the training is crucial. This baseline informs a performance progression to help organizational leaders and participants understand the process, and align expectations regarding the path to success. Being able to consistently “call your shot” will build credibility with leadership and instill confidence in future learning and development investments.
Rethinking Delivery and Implementation
After aligning priorities with the goals of the organization, it’s time to rethink the ways you’re delivering learning experiences. Adapting how you deliver learning can include several things including revitalizing older learning experiences through user experience-based design. By transitioning from outdated methods of training to more sensory-rich, engaging experiences, users are much more likely to take ownership of their learning and development. It might also require you to re-evaluate the delivery platform to determine if it is able to support your training transition. Access to content, feedback aggregation, coaching, and peer mentoring are all necessary in a modern results-driven training program.
Fundamentally changing the way you drive performance through learning and development requires different strategies and execution. As you look ahead to next year, focus on aligning your L&D strategies with the needs of the business, then determine tactically how you can execute based on your capabilities, resources, and future state needs.
Is 2018 the year that you are finally ready to transform your corporate learning but you not quite sure where to start or how to get it done? Contact SDI to learn more about how we can help!
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