This guide is part of a progression set comprised of Core, Advanced, and Emerging Learning & Development practices.

What it is 

The Learning and Development (L&D) function is a highly sophisticated and direct contributor to business success, growing in strategic importance to support organizational transformation as evolving technologies, work methods, and employee expectations continue to change. It can become a trusted and proactive partner for performance improvement, offering solutions tailored to the specific needs of targeted audiences at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Consultation with the L&D function becomes standard practice, with new offerings closely aligned to achieving specific business goals. A formalized and structured process is followed, applying a disciplined approach to identifying issues, analyzing root causes, creating and testing solutions, and measuring results, which clarifies the extent of improvement.

Leading companies use advanced technology solutions that tailor learning more closely to the individual learner's needs, identifying knowledge and skill gaps and adapting as the learner becomes more capable. In addition, they leverage learner-centric processes that respond to knowledge, skill, and ability shortcomings more quickly with custom solutions that drive improved performance and productivity. Emerging technologies that promise more direct and on-the-job preparation, or embedded/in-situ learning, become part of the learning landscape, creating opportunities for a more significant learning impact through proactive experimentation and innovation. Similarly, utilizing advanced solution generation methodologies that directly engage the learner and quickly create test prototypes enables the organization to offer fast and responsive learning solutions.

Why use it 

Leveraging new and emerging techniques and technologies enables the organization to respond to rapidly changing work environments and demands as automation, AI, and the information explosion transform individual roles and responsibilities. With the ‘war for talent’ and anticipated shortages in available talent intensifying, learning and development are increasingly taking center stage as internal skill developers and key factors in employee attraction and retention. Especially critical is tailoring learning solutions for key talent segments of the business—those roles that disproportionately impact the advancement and achievement of the business's priority goals and objectives. By understanding and addressing their needs while prioritizing the development of their learning requirements, we can enhance their ability to drive business-critical results.

Similarly powerful is the use of design thinking and rapid prototyping methodologies to create new and highly responsive learning solutions that meet the needs of specific targeted employee groups or test concepts that can be applied to the broader employee population. In either case, the agility that enables the L&D team to exercise its unique combination of capabilities only increases its relative value to the organization.

The fundamentals of this premise are the shift to a formal and consultative approach to understanding where the organization needs to go, where it currently stands, where the gaps exist, and why these gaps exist. In such a rapidly changing external environment, the ability to accurately assess lower productivity and performance situations and then quickly deliver learning where and when needed represents a competitive advantage. Such a capability will arise from advanced human judgment and cognitive technologies. This significantly enhances the credibility and trust of the L&D function, creating solutions that directly address business and operational needs and challenges.

Outcomes

Adopting these practices brings broadened and impactful capabilities to the L&D function, with a mix of emerging methodologies and technologies. The function significantly gains credibility and support by embracing disciplined approaches to building better tools and offerings that are closely aligned with and easily recognized as linked to specific business objectives and initiatives. Developing more customized solutions targeted at specific, strategically prioritized employee groups or segments increases the likelihood of achieving a business impact. Implementing new technologies creates more individualized solutions that can adapt to any organization member, personalizing training content or learning portfolio suggestions to their current level of knowledge or skill, preferred topics and subject matter, and career ambitions. Such responsiveness simultaneously promises to meet employee desires and organizational capability growth needs, driving employee engagement and satisfaction.

Practice guides at this level

Conducting performance consulting-based learning needs assessments for specialized solutions.

Resolving workplace performance shortcomings using a disciplined approach to learning needs assessments, looking beyond the immediate causes of issues and traditional L&D solutions.

Tailoring learning offerings to critical workforce segments for increased impact on the highest value roles.

Identifying current and evolving knowledge, skill, and ability requirements of critical workforce segments to prioritize and meet their needs through learning and development programs quickly.

Deploying emerging technologies to boost learning content and delivery for richer and more robust skills acquisition.

Evaluating the latest technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality, to change how learning and development is delivered to best meet individual needs. 

Leveraging “design thinking” and “rapid prototyping” for fast, more employee-centered, and responsive learning and development.

Gaining an enhanced understanding of the needs of learners and how to design learning and development programs that best suit those preferences and needs.