The global business landscape is continually evolving, with remote working, learning and development, and client communication channels at the forefront of change.
Shrouded in uncertainty, cautious employers looking to keep up with employees' expectations and rising business costs are increasingly branching into remote and hybrid working models and exploring new employee retention methods.
With talent available around every corner and new job opportunities at the fingertips of anyone with a stable internet connection, learning and development strategies are at the heart of any successful business more than ever before. Upskilling has proven significantly more effective than hiring a new team, but the employer and employee are both responsible for ensuring learning and development lead the charge with any training plans.
What is a learning and development strategy?
A learning and development strategy, often referred to as simply an L&D strategy, is the blueprint that aligns employee skills and training with the overall business objectives.
An L&D strategy aims to provide learning frameworks that ensure employees remain competent in their existing roles, grow skills at a rate to improve job performance and, ultimately, achieve organisational goals, and learn new skills to encourage internal promotion and growth. In an increasingly remote world, autonomy is vital for achieving learning goals, and accountability systems are a great way to ensure success.
Benefits of an L&D strategy
Build an enticing brand image
Allowing professional development to play a critical role in an organisation is a sure-fire way to develop a desirable brand image. This approach leads to high employee retention rates and the ability to draw new talent without investing so much as a cent since eager job seekers are flocking to the recruitment inbox. With most current employees and upcoming generations being thirsty for knowledge and made up of lifelong learners, the kind of brand that puts talent development at the top of its benefits list is highly-sought after for employment.
Avoid money pitfalls with cost-effective solutions
The soaring inflation rates in Australia have reached 6.1%, the fastest growth in 21 years. This challenge can mean something other than failure or the inability to move forward. A robust learning journey is another way a company can overcome this blockade by investing in existing team members and building skills from within. This approach is more cost-effective than maintaining a high employee turnover and continuously recruiting new staff.
Transform human capital into the competitive edge
For the same reasons a new entourage is waiting in the wings to start working on their career paths, the existing workforce is intrigued by professional development opportunities. Offering possibilities of career progression, salary increases, and learning workforce skills is an effective way to engage employee interests. Senior leaders must engage employees and monitor employee performance to understand the business impact of their growth. More employee engagement brings more job satisfaction, resulting in higher productivity overall.
How to create successful learning experiences
There are several ways to tackle the task at hand when developing effective learning solutions in the workplace. Building training programs for all employees to maintain current skills would be the bare minimum for an employer. Developing leadership skills allows guidance to filter into individual groups for more efficient learning and faster growth. Setting initiatives for management teams will elevate the learning function for inclusivity and yield more significant results. A better approach would include exploring the learning and development of new skill sets within the team's abilities while upgrading the quality of existing skills.
Alignment with corporate goals
The most fundamental component of effective work-based learning is how it aligns with the company's goals. For example, if a company aims to expand digital service offerings in the health industry, the training program will centre on producing the necessary people capabilities to make that viable.
The learning framework needs to be cost-effective and time-efficient to ensure the team has the ability and skill to support meeting milestones. A learning plan can streamline the company's culture and values as the team works toward shared goals. The learning and development team must annually review employee capabilities and identify the essential skills required to improve business outcomes consistently.
A flexible learning and development team
Adapting to emerging technologies is an invaluable skill in an ever-growing agile world. Flexibility must be a consideration in any talent development as new tools may rapidly launch throughout a short period, and staff may require immediate training to meet changing business needs. The more dynamic the learning program, the more successful. Static training plans will not deliver the speed or fluidity required to maintain industry standards of new knowledge.
Managers must regularly analyse the relevance of the training content to ensure the correct allocation of time and skill focus for optimum business performance.
The delivery method of development strategies
Corporate training is usually delivered online, in virtual classrooms, in formal training, or in an informal learning setting. However, many professionals have stated they prefer sharing knowledge in a 'safe environment', thus avoiding public failures and strict learning schedules that cannot be committed to as quickly as self-paced learning online.
Selecting the right platform for employees to acquire skills and monitor their workplace learning within the overall strategy is imperative to implement the program successfully. UTS Plus offers a B2B service for employers looking to upskill employees through university-level training.
Assessment of benchmarks and futureproofing professional development
As learning plans are implemented across the team, gaining insight into employee experiences and preferred learning methods is crucial for hr professionals. Career development does not have a one size fits all approach, and each staff member will have a different preference in their learning styles and most effective learning method.
Preferences could include online self-paced learning programs, live online workshops, face-to-face classroom learning, reading, practical exercises or something entirely different. Feedback from employees on what is and isn't working for them will help the learning and development team to develop the programs and ensure plans on a personal level are effective.
A step-by-step guide to developing an L&D strategy
Each organisation will have a unique approach to training, so providing a comprehensive guide is a very tailored experience. However, the basic steps to implementing skill development are:
- Understand the business strategy and all business objectives for at least the upcoming year.
- Identify the vital skills required to support these goals and their strategic role. Prioritise upgrading existing skills and acquiring new skills in these areas.
- Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and learning goals with the team and ensure a shared vision within the company.
- Determine the most suitable tool for the execution and sharing of knowledge within the company.
- Establish processes for the implementation of the strategy.
- Managers obtain employee feedback and assess relevance regularly to ensure the most efficient allocation of resources.
The winning formula for successful professional growth is aligning performance management with business strategies. With only 40 per cent of companies aligning learning plans with business objectives, there is a significant opportunity to get ahead of the competition and build a brand that puts employees first.
Utilising the top tools and services on the market, such as UTS Plus, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel will save a considerable amount of time and resources.
Combining a focus on lifelong learning and working towards achieving business goals will set a company apart from key competitors and gain a reputation for being a desirable workplace and employer of choice.
PLUS UTS has tools that can help you analyse the skills your people have, employee by employee, and the ones you'll need in the future. Ask us about it and we'll organise a demo!
