Learning and Development (L&D) can be a great tool forClose skills gaps, improve workplace culture, and increase employee engagement and retention rates.In addition, investing in L&D is increasingly seen asone of the most trusted ways for businesses to increase their ROI and overall profitability.So much so that accDeloitte, the development of new skills has become one of the most important trends in human capital.
In this article we will show you the basics of L&D. We will see what it consists of and what is your role as a HR professional. We'll also share some examples and best practices to help you create a HR development and learning strategy that will set your teams up for success.
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What is L&D?
Learning and development, also known as L&D,It is an ongoing process to foster the professional development of its employees.It involves analyzing the skills gaps in your organization and creating training programs that equip employees with specific knowledge and skills that improve performance. You can do this usingOffer training, online learning, mentoring and development activities.You, too, can thrive by developing individual behaviors, sharing knowledge and ideas, and cultivating attitudes that help employees perform better.
L&D typically focuses on upgrading or retraining employees to take on new roles in the organization or to perform better in their roles.Training can also provide employees with new leadership skills that prepare them for possible promotions within the organization.This helps companies acquire, nurture, maximize and retain talent. It also increases employee satisfaction, improves the employee experience, and reduces turnover.
Or what is L&D in HR?
Learning and development is one of the main tasks of the human resources department of any organization.The implementation of T&D initiatives, which involve development at all levels of the company, is usually the responsibility of the human resources manager.In larger organizations, theemployee development planit may be managed by a specific L&D position or department. Some companies even choose to involve the COO or Operations Manager.
Regardless of how you choose to coordinate learning and development in your organization,HR and L&D must work in parallel.There is some overlap in both areas. For example, both tryleadership, performance management, succession planning and change management.
The biggest difference between HR and L&D is that HR professionals take on a number of responsibilities, including processing payroll, recruiting, and managing employee relations. By contrast, the Learning and Development department focuses on a single specific function:professional growth and skill development of employees.This includes recognizing training gaps and continuing to developEmployee Training Programsaligned with the general commercial strategy established by Human Resources.
Creation of a learning strategy and development of human resources
There is no "one size fits all" strategy.when it comes to learning and development. What works well for one company may not be as effective for another. The strategy you implement depends on the training needs of your industry and the roles in your organization. It also depends on the size of your business.
For example, in larger companies, L&D is often highly structured and training is often delivered in more formal settings. Conversely, smaller companies with limited budgets are less likely to have a dedicated L&D department. This means that training is often informal and unstructured.
However, regardless of the industry and the size of the business, there are a number of best practices to keep in mind when developing and implementing your L&M strategy.
Let's see the main points to consider.
Analyze your training needs
The first and possibly the most important step in any employee learning and development initiative is to analyze your training needs.The goal is to identify what skills your organization is lacking and what knowledge will help your employees fulfill their roles.You need to consider where you are now and where you want to be as an organization. This will help you develop new business skills that will help you grow as an organization.
Learning and development programs must be relevant, useful, and beneficial to you and your employees.
Design your learning and development materials and methods
The next step in fostering learning and development at HRM is deciding how to deliver the training. What teaching methods and learning activities will you use? What materials and resources do you need? Do you use an external training provider or do all the L&D in-house? And will your courses be aimed at trainers or apprentices?Effective training often involves a combination of learning methods.
Trust mobile learning
If you use an online learning platform,Consider offering courses on mobile learning.Mobile access gives employees the ability to access learning material anytime, anywhere, increasing the impact of L&D.
Using technology to personalize the learning experience
You can also use technology to personalize the learning experience. For example, you can createautomated, intuitive and interactive learning workflows that adapt to employee behavior. They can also take regular online surveys to better understand individual needs. You can use this information to customize any employee development training opportunity.
Measuring the impact of L&D on business performance
You should also make sure that the L&D programs you offer arepositive impact on business success.After all, that is your ultimate goal in learning and development. Create KPIs to measure business excellence and monitor the alignment of your L&D initiatives with your business priorities. Does training have an impact on individual behavior and performance? What about employee retention?
Monitor and assess learning and development.
You should ensure that you regularly monitor and evaluate your employee training and development program. How effective is your training over time? Are people achieving their learning objectives? Are they using their new abilities?
A very useful model for evaluating the effectiveness of learning is Bloom's taxonomy.You can use this training template to organize your employees' training goalsand analyze and close the gap between learning and application.
Make learning and development a continuous process
Finally, you need to make sure you view L&D as a continuous development approach that embeds learning into everyday work processes.Instead of forcing employees to take training on their off time, encourage it to be a part of their daily work activities.This will increase engagement rates and motivate employees to continue on their journey of continuous learning and development.
Examples of learning and development.
When designing a learning and development strategy for the first time, you may be wondering where to start.
Let's take a look at some L&D examples from industry leaders to inspire you.
amazonas
Amazon has committed to investing $700 million to retrain 100,000 employees in 2019. The goal was to upskill team members while providing non-technical employees with access to technical skills training. Amazon offered training programs for employees at all levels of the company. With this initiative, the e-commerce giant managed to fill the skills gap. It also increased the motivation of the employees and encouraged them to follow their career dreams.
Etsy
Etsy also places a great emphasis on employee learning and development. The company has created the “Etsy School” where employees can learn a variety of topics focused on developing technical and behavioral skills. Employees are also encouraged to share their own skills, teach others, and support the professional development of their colleagues. This, in turn, helps them further develop their own organisational, leadership and perseverance skills. It also helps the company cultivate a culture of shared skills and collaboration.
Optoro
Reverse logistics company Optoro is another great example of a successful L&D initiative. Optoro encourages respected employees at all levels of the company to participate in conferences, organizations and learning programs. Employees and leaders work together to identify the right development opportunities that will help keep the team on top.
Learning and development for new employees.
The best time to start working with an employee on their learning and development is when they join your company.. This helps reinforce the concept that your organization prioritizes and encourages learning and human resource development.
Instead of focusing solely on training a new employee for the role they'll be taking on, take this opportunity to assess their skills and identify what areas of professional development they need to work on.
A good way to keep track of the training and development needs of all your new and existing employees is to use a competency matrix.A skills matrix is a grid or framework, usually created with Excel, that you can use to map and assess the skills of all your employees and track L&D progress. You can use it to manage, plan, and track existing and desired skills for a role, team, department, project, or the entire organization. It's a great way to understand what skills are missing in each area of your business.
If you don't have it, you can download Factorial for freeskills matrix templateto track the learning and development progress of your entire team. Just fill out the form and we'll send the free template straight to your inbox!