CREATING A POSITIVE L & D EXPERIENCE THAT GENUINELY HELPS PEOPLE AND BUSINESS DO DIFFERENT

The truth is there is no end date to people’s learning and development in the workplace.

It’s continual from the time a person begins to research a potential organization to work with, from the time they are onboarded to the time they leave.

Often an organization’s investment in workplace L & D falls to deliver any real outcome and impact because it is not viewed holistically.

Rather than look at learning as a disjointed, piece meal activity my latest article focuses on the nine steps of the employee experience from a L & D, continual growth perspective.

Continual growth not just in terms of a person’s growth but also as a organization. And joining the dots in the process.

As you’ll see there’s much more to this work then simply gaining new knowledge and skill.

4 KEY REASONS TO ADOPT A CONNECTED END TO END EXPERIENCE

1. It allows you to increase ROE ( return on education) within learning and development and reduce unnecessary costs, wasted resources and workforce frustration.

2. It allows you to identify vulnerabilities – skill gaps, threats and risks ahead of time and introduce changes.

Remember those most prepared will always be best placed to win.

3. It makes you think differently about how you can leverage the business to attract future talent by owning a new end to end employee experience.

In a sea of sameness.

4. It creates the conditions for an approach I’ve developed as the Founder of Kiikstart which is referred to as “the circular workplace”.

This approach closes the existing loops that exist between building capability, project and role delivery and the sharing of expertise and lessons learnt across the workplace.

THE COST OF NOT INVESTING IN THIS APPROACH IS FAR REACHING

-??ROE is poor.

-??The business continues to deliver outdated and irrelevant “training” and career “opportunities” to employees.

-?Workforce disconnection and poor morale increases.

-?Employees have a negative experience due to a lack of growth/stretch opportunities – they talk about it amongst family and friends.

- Over time damage to brand reputation builds – this impacts the ability to attract the right talent.

SEEING THE EMPLOYEE L & D EXPERIENCE IN 9 PARTS

1. RECRUITMENT AND BRAND EXPOSURE

Think deeply about the following:

-The communication strategies you use to tell your employee value proposition to your ideal employee.?

- Where are the areas to do different/new methods to embrace?

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CREATING THE EMPLOYEE PROPOSITON

- The purpose and mission of the business in the next two to three years.

- The values of the business as it relates to people/workforce growth via it’s learning and development.

- What specifically you offer your workforce in terms of growth/stretch opportunities inside and outside of the business.

2. APPLICATION PROCESS – SETTING THE SCENE

This will set the scene for prospective employees so think about the methods you want to use to attract the right talent in the application stage.

Be as creative as you can while also being relevant. Actions may include:

-?Video introduction as to something they are most proud about their career or current role.

-?Video presentation on a relevant topic.

-?How they have used knowledge and talent to make a difference in their current role and solve a problem.

- Short presentation around what a great workplace environment looks like in terms of learning and development opportunities for them.

3. INTERVIEWING – MAKING THE CONNECTION

Again, what type of story are you wanting to communicate to prospective talent at the interview stage.

How do you want talent to perceive you and the business at this stage?

Hopefully you are wanting to hire people that are able to think differently and tackle complex problems.

As such the interview experience needs to reflect this.

4. ACCEPTANCE/ PRE-BRIEFING

This process is a forerunner to the onboarding /welcome experience and fulfils a number of purposes:

-?Sets up what to expect within onboarding beforehand.

- Includes virtual introductions and links to bios of relevant team members who will be facilitating the onboarding process.

?5. ONBOARDING / WELCOME EXPERIENCE

What is critical is to clearly establish the metrics of what great looks like in the role before commencing – both from an employer and employee perspective.

This means as part of a different onboarding experience:

-??Allowing employees the ability to co-design how impact will be measured in the role.

-??Having buy in regarding the impact and outcomes that'll be measured in the role.

-??Gaining agreeance as to how and when changes will be made to measuring impact of the role based on future challenge and change.?

6. PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS WITH ONGOING "STRETCH" OPPORTUNITIES ?

There is next level learning on this topic within our personalized learning but let me say some key points around this.

You need to deliver co-designing personalized employee plans that include opportunities for stretch learning and development inside and outside of the business.

This can include the following depending on what is relevant to the person and the organization:

-?An opportunity to join/observe a team with an external supplier or partnering organisation for a month.

-?Speaking at an event or conference of interest.

-?An opportunity to lead an internal team session and facilitate on an area of insight and talent.

- Being part of a podcast or live panel discussion.

?7. QUARTERLY DESIGN/CHECK INS – MEASURING IMPACT AND OUTCOMES (NOT SIMPLY PROGRESS)

Check ins ideally need to happen each quarter, due to rate of transformation and change.

Key areas to include in these plan check ins:

-?The current and potential skill gaps, threats and risk relevant to their role and L/D plan.

-?Identifying why these skill gaps, threats and risk exist to their role and personalised L/D plan.

-?Potential solutions and actions.

-?Timeframes/ Follow Up and Measuring what “great” looks like for all parties.

?8. YEARLY REVIEW INCLUDING ROLE DESIGN AND POTENTIALLY RE-DESIGN

This requires looking specifically at the role with a critical mindset and asking:

-?What is having the greatest impact when it comes to the role and how it is being delivered/ why?

-?What needs to be change about the role – both in its focus and how it is delivered?

-?Is there anything no longer relevant to the role or lacks impact?

-?How are we measuring the value of your role to the business and other key stakeholders? Is this still helpful to you and what you need to deliver? If not what needs to be done differently?

?9. EXIT/FINAL DEBRIEF

In any type of communications we remember the first and last messages we are exposed to.

The exit or debrief employee experience is not a dump fest or a time to say everything you wanted to.

For this to be a positive and useful experience for all areas of focus need to include:

-?Gaining feedback and recommendations based on each end-to-end element of experience as outlined.

-?Identifying what was most valuable and impactful about the approach to learning and development and why.

-?Understanding if there were any elements of the end-to-end learning experience that was wasteful – so the business can plan to do different.

Remember we are designing this debrief/exit experience so it allows for the sharing of ideas and insights that will guide the business in making different decisions into the future.

?So next time you are planning the end to end employee experience adopt a holistic mindset to your L & D approach.

One that is able to look at the workplace as the connected ecosystem it is rather than disconnected silos working independently of one another.

And close the L& D leaks in the process.

Written by Ali Uren Founder of Kiikstart ?and Creator of The Circular Workplace– ?continuous learning designed for purpose led brands that solves workplace brain drain.

Please follow me @AliUren and subscribe to my newsletter The Experiment if you’re want original L & D content inspired by real world experience.

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