A pillar in Talent Strategy - Continuous Learning and Development

How many times have you taken a course on a subject you needed to be proficient in only to forget most of what you learned by the time you had to apply the newly attained knowledge and skill? More than ever, today’s rapidly changing business world with its related skill shortages requires real-time training, and learning and development (L&D) must be continuous and available in case we forge or our skills obsolesce against evolving industry skill requirements.

Analysts say classroom learning is still a reality, but cost and practicality can create damaging delays because today’s business climate demands the ability to move quickly toward a pursuit. Traditional learning approaches are far too sluggish to address this need for continuity, speed and real-time reinforcement. Classroom training, while still mainstream, requires advance notice, travel and instructor time, and it’s expensive and cannot accommodate every individual’s schedule, especially in distributed, multinational organizations. For this reason, the nature of L&D is changing through the concept of self-directed learning, which employs digital technology to offer learning programs or short tutorials when traditional sessions typically are not available, or when your personnel in the field can’t access their desktop computers.

What good is self-directed learning, however, if the content we learners require isn’t expansive, detailed or focused enough to cover situations that might come up in our fast-paced jobs? Or what if our organization’s learning curriculum cannot adapt or grow in time? This is where the notion of integrated talent and learning management systems becomes appealing. It gives you the captured and shared expertise of your entire workforce, the ability to gauge L&D needs at a strategic or an individual level, and the ability to easily fortify employees with the tools and content they need to self-direct their careers, no longer hindered by the fixed nature of scheduled classroom and online courses.

Integrated Learning and Talent Management

Learning has long been considered a component of the talent management discipline, and the following downloadable white paper shares plenty of arguments as to why L&D is an essential piece of your talent management efforts. L&D is an engine and driver for performance.

I personally talk about a goal of integrated talent management with learning based smack in the center, which makes me think of learning as the main gear for the other important talent management/corporate performance spokes, including onboarding, performance management and succession planning, with the system “cycling” back to workforce planning and event recruiting. Yes, L&D matters to recruiting, too.

L&D integrated with your talent management system empowers you to:

·       Continuously fortify your organization with the skills needed for corporate performance and strategic forays. This can be achieved by tying fluid L&D plans into business intelligence, strategy and short- and longer-term corporate objectives.

·       Tailor L&D program to personalized employee needs via integrated talent database information about each learner, and through AI, automation, an intuitive user interface (UI), and secure application programming interfaces (APIs) connecting to third-party providers.

·       Catalogue and categorize for easy adoption and use by employees. You don’t want your engaged learners discouraged by having to search deep for what they need to develop their careers. Like with employee portals, the learning interface must be organized and customizable to meet diverse, multinational workforce needs. Curation will be particularly important as you grow your L&D and training library because it will aid in cost-effective reuse of effective L&D content.

·       Make your L&D offerings ubiquitous, continuous, shrinkable and potentially viral. Today’s learning requirements are not confined to points in time, space or matter. L&D should be able to leave the physical world at times, to meet the needs of your distributed global workforce. Give your field workers and mobile warriors a chance to connect and get the real-time information they need to accomplish a task and self-develop rapidly through quick and efficient learning doses.

·       Make the interface smart, so when your employee visits the portal a history of learning achievement and logical next steps are there to greet him or her. The better the UI the better the user experience, continued adoption and collaborative and productive potential of the tool.

·       Measure learning efficacy and provide continuous feedback. L&D management should be fluid, helping to regularly determine what’s working and what is not  .

·       Connect learning progress into career development and succession planning. As the engaged learner develops skills, his or her name and qualifications will show up for new roles in the organization, including promotions. Conversely, the organization can drive the process as part of a plan in which it develops individuals with the skills needed to meet succession needs or future strategic roles.

·       Fuel recruitment, too. Authentic L&D as part of talent management can represent a recruitment strength. Ambitious and talented people will join your organization because they crave new skills, career possibilities and personal development opportunities.

·       Last, but not least, ensure your learning management system provides strong mobile support for a distributed and active workforce. It’s the same “anytime, anywhere” access we are accustomed to in our daily lives so why not for corporate learning as well?

More than ever, modern companies rely on the skills, innovations, and creativity of its people it’s one of the reasons why “talent” has become synonymous with the word “employee.” Most companies experience intense pressure to innovate and demand a rapid pace of change. In fact, the half-life of many skills learned on the job is five years. This means that employers and employees alike have begun to realize that in order to stay ahead of the curve, they have to focus on learning and development (L&D).

In today’s tight labor market, L&D can play an important role in the recruitment process, particularly as candidates increasingly look at the kinds of programs companies offer to help them grow. Based on my experience designing effective HR and L&D programs, here’s why L&D matters in recruitment and some of the key features you should consider offering in your learning programs to attract, retain, and develop your people.

Why L&D matters in the recruiting process?

By investing in L&D, you’re making a commitment to your employees’ professional development. This contributes to engagement and retention among your current employees, and it can be a competitive advantage in your approach to recruiting as well. Here’s why.

·       L&D is a priority for millennials

According to my personally research, more than one in three American workers are millennials, which makes this group the largest percentage of the American workforce. And 59% of millennials say that opportunities to learn and grow are extremely important to them when applying for a job. So if you want to reach the largest segment of workers during the recruiting process, it makes sense to focus on what matters most to them.

·       Prioritizing L&D shows candidates you’re invested in their future

Millennials sometimes get a bad rap for job-hopping, but one of the main reasons they choose to leave companies is because they don’t have enough growth opportunities there. By the same token, "opportunities to learn and grow" are one of the top three factors in retaining millennials. Leaving generational differences aside for a moment, all employees can benefit from L&D initiatives. By promoting this aspect of your values during the recruiting process, you’re also more likely to attract candidates who value continued learning and embody a growth minds which is an important trait in today’s era of rapid change and innovation. You can offer career development programs that help employees think through their next career move and then help them achieve that goal through learning whether it’s a horizontal or vertical move.

·       L&D can be a competitive advantage for your employer brand

As you develop your employer brand, focusing on L&D opportunities at your company can be a key way to differentiate yourself from other companies. Most attractive employers already have an employer branding strategy in place and believe that their employer value proposition is clearly linked to their HR/talent development strategy. Plus, found that candidates evaluate job offers holistically beyond compensation and specifically look for companies that will invest in their career development.

There are a number of ways to share your L&D offerings with candidates: on your company website, careers page, and even in individual job listings. You can discuss these opportunities with candidates during phone screens or on-site interviews, and even share online courses they might want to take. This shows your commitment to their learning and begins to build a relationship with potential hires. And, you can get as creative as you’d like ask current employees to share their L&D stories through your company blog or social media channels. Don’t be shy to get the word out there!

The key features of leading L&D programs

Now that we’ve covered some of the reasons why L&D can be a significant part of your recruiting strategy, let’s look at the features of a next-generation L&D program that will help you attract, develop, and retain your talent.

·       Agile learning that’s accessible

In today’s fast-paced working environment, L&D programs must be available at precisely the right time. Employees need to be able to quickly learn new skills to keep up with rapidly changing roles and project requirements. Millennials also expect that L&D opportunities will be available without needing to “earn them.” Next-generation L&D programs don’t simply reflect millennials’ expectations they also reflect the agile nature of our workforce. “training is going to have to be just as agile as the workforce where speed, flexibility, and innovation are key. It means that more learning will happen in teams, and on platforms where training can be delivered any time, any place, at the user’s convenience.” As a result, organizations will need to offer an on-demand agile learning platform that provides relevant content updated in real-time. Learning should also be easily consumed by employees on the job or on their commute.

·       Personalized learning

Another element of next-generation L&D programs is that they are adapted to the unique needs and learning styles of your employees. Don’t assume that your employees all want the same thing. When people can choose their learning conditions—what they learn, when they learn it, and from whom they’re learning—they’re much more likely to stick with an L&D program and recommend the experience to others. Artificial intelligence and machine learning embedded in digital learning platforms can offer personalized learning recommendations on what to learn next, similar to the way Netflix or Amazon serve up recommendations based on user experiences and previously consumed content.

·       Culture of learning

Creating an organic thirst for learning should be part of your culture. Leverage savvy marketing techniques to promote your upcoming sessions and keep learning top of mind.

You’ll also want to build your learning programs around your employees’ priorities. In order to design an L&D program that’s relevant for these growth-focused employees, you can work with your HR/People team to encourage managers to assign stretch assignments and enable horizontal and vertical growth opportunities within your organization. On the other hand, if you have employees who are more motivated by external change (and potentially more reluctant to pick up new skills), you can create experiences that encourage everyone to make time for learning, like company-wide “Learning Hours” every month.

·       Executive support

The good news is executives are beginning to understand the importance of learning & development not just for recruitment and retention, but more importantly to keep their workforce and business competitive. As technology innovation and automation disrupt jobs and businesses, L&D’s role is to train employees for jobs that don’t exist yet. L&D must become a well-oiled "reskilling machine" and provide the tools to constantly help employees grow. 

Tying it all together

Next-generation L&D programs are not just a nice thing to have they’re the key to attracting, developing, and retaining your talent. By building programs that help current employees learn, you’re strengthening your existing workforce and laying the foundation to attract candidates who also value continued development. It’s a win-win!

Adoption is almost never 100 percent when you put a toolset in front of a large, distributed workforce. As users, we already have a dozen or more different log-ins to remember and dissimilar environments in which to work. L&D inside your talent management system can help reduce this complexity, and in the following white paper you’ll see why leading analysts prescribe integrated learning and talent management for the future.

Regards,

Arif Aulia Rahman