In my last entry "What's the Secret Ingredient" I wrote about how important the learning strategy is to the success of a learning organization. I asked the question on "What would a learning strategy look like?". In this entry I will discuss this question and provide some recommendations on where and how to begin.
Where should we start? Should we start with how we organize the learning team? After all we could then ensure we have the right resources and technology and processes in place to create the needed learning. Sound good? Probably not the best place to start as this could lead to the same results as before, and that could be the wrong results, or at least not the results we are looking for. No business today can afford to make a learning investment and not have reasonable assertion that it will lead to success. The business needs to know that you have all the necessary ingredients in place that will lead to the expected results and success, every time.
Let's instead first start by asking a few questions:
- Why is the learning organization in place?
- Why does it exist or is it being created?
- What is the business trying to accomplish?
- What work are you being asked to do?
This should help us understand that learning is not in place to just for the sake of existence. It is and should be in place to support the business, and not just one area or champion but all causes leading to the business' success.
So how do we begin to formulate this strategy? Based on the answers to the questions above, and maybe a few others, you should have a fair idea on what the business is trying to accomplish strategically and how it is organized to accomplish its objectives. This should help you determine how learning can best support the business.
So how do we begin to formulate this strategy? Based on the answers to the questions above, and maybe a few others, you should have a fair idea on what the business is trying to accomplish strategically and how it is organized to accomplish its objectives. This should help you determine how learning can best support the business.
1. Curriculum - based on the business strategy/goals what skills are needed to support the business. This can be looked at function by function as it is certain to vary. Then you will need to look at what skills already exists, these will be the ones that you would include in the curriculum but do not need to focus on delivering. Then and most importantly you will be able to outline the necessary courses and delivery plan needed to build the skills in the organization and drive the new business!
2. Organizationally - if the business is geographically dispersed either globally or even domestically you need to consider how you organize your learning organization to support this. A central approach will not enable the learning team to really be a part of the business and become an integral team member. A totally dispersed learning team will not lead to efficiency or effectiveness in growing performance.
3. Resources - now that you have an idea of how you want to be organized you need to figure out what kind of people and skills you will need to enable and support the learning organization.
4. Process - how will things be done to ensure completeness, quality and efficiency especially over time. Will you need to meet ISO requirements or some other internal or external quality requirements. Best to know that now and formulate your strategy accordingly. In any case, make sure you define or adopt a closed loop process even if not required by external forces. It takes a bit of effort up front but in the end it will make your life much easier when it leads to quality and efficient solutions, along with being able to answer questions from your sponsors.
5. Measurement - right from the start you want to clearly identify what success means and gain agreement on this from your sponsor. This is very important as you want to report your achievements against this each step of the way and have the visibility for all interested parties to recognize when you reach success.
There are more things that can and in some cases should be included in a Learning Strategy and that is dependent on how large or complex are the goals. However these are a few of what I have found to be very important elements that are commonly overlooked in formulating an effective and efficient learning strategy. I hope you have found this helpful and I would be very interested in any comments you have about this article.
Thanks for reading!
