What Is a Head of Learning?

In the last years, after studying and reading on this topic, worked on learning-related executive projects, discussed with business partners, exchanged thoughts with experts like @CharlesLaBelle, Director, Head of Corporate Faculty, L&D Essilor, Luxottica (he will contribute in-depth in the following article about this matter) and @IulianaIsarescu, Global Talent Director at YNAP Group, I realised the impact of this role in the corporate world.

The Head of Learning will align learning strategy with business strategy and help adult learners by offering curatorship and discussion on how and why they will apply this new learning to improve their performance. Or at least, that’s the plan.?

The role, who the Head of Learning generally report to and internal Partners

The Head of Learning is the executive with clear stewardship over maintaining a skilled and knowledgeable workforce, a strategic business partner that will define goals, vision and metrics, implement the learning strategy/culture and measure it.

To ensure that people practices are aligned, they report to the Chief People Officer, will listen to and adopt the CEO’s vision, will be sponsored by the board and will be responsible and accountable for not only helping companies increase their productivity and profitability, but also help individuals become better professionals and learners and, as a consequence, help society as a whole.

‘They design the complete experience, rather than just an “event”, ‘ and the better the goal will be understood, the easier will be to design an effective strategy (The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning by Roy V. H. Pollock, Andrew McK. Jefferson, Calhoun W. Wick)

Working in partnership with the internal business leaders is a primary function of a Head of Learning. They have to make sure the business is supporting them and supporting the business needs. It is not just another HR process. It needs to be closely aligned to the business strategy, and it needs to be managed like a business.

SKILLS: Must be good collaborators with a sense of leadership and have business acumen, complex problem-solving, strategic thinking, consulting, entrepreneurship, communications and marketing, will demonstrate passion, excellence, and a commitment to continuous improvement.