Learning organizations must develop employee-centric, business-driven learning strategies that guide the successful deployment of learning that is more contextual and more relevant to em
Trang 1High-Impact Learning Strategy
by Claire Schooley
for Information & Knowledge Management Professionals
Trang 2EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Training departments in companies of all sizes are revamping their training and learning programs Why? Learning organizations must develop employee-centric, business-driven learning strategies that guide the successful deployment of learning that is more contextual and more relevant to employees’ work Workforce quality and productivity remains one of the most vital areas where an organization gets significant competitive differentiation Over the past five years, we have helped learning, IT, and HR directors examine their training programs and infuse them with online learning Now, with Learning 2.0 — wikis, blogs, social networking and other tools — coming into enterprises, as well as new, young tech-savvy workers getting hired, information and knowledge management professionals (I&KM) must develop learning strategies that combine multiple learning methods and approaches — including classroom, online, and informal learning This approach will encourage workers to gain maximum proficiency in ways that best suit them and empower the workforce to drive business success
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why Develop A Learning Strategy Now?
How To Get Started Depends On Your Culture
And Organization
Don’t Miss The Nine Critical Elements Of A
Learning Strategy
RECOMMENDATIONS
I&KM Pros: Contribute Expertise And Drive
Consensus
NOTES & RESOURCES Forrester interviewed nine organizations, including Best Buy, blurgl, Harley-Davidson, Hitachi, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, SkillSoft, Subaru, TeleTech Holdings, and Wolseley N.A We also spoke informally to a number of other organizations with learning programs
Related Research Documents
“The Workforce Is Changing; What Are You Doing About It?”
March 4, 2008
“The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Learning Management Suites, Q1 2008”
February 12, 2008
“Learning Director: Are You Ready For Your New Role?”
April 10, 2007
How To Create A Comprehensive, High-Impact
Learning Strategy
by Claire Schooley
with Connie Moore, Erica Driver, and Jamie Barnett
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4
5
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Trang 3WHY DEVELOP A LEARNING STRATEGY NOW?
You may already have a training and learning strategy in place If so, you may wonder “Why do we need a new strategy for learning?” But think about it for a second Your organization is continually striving to meet changing market needs and rapidly evolving customer demands And your hiring plans may involve bringing in next generation workers who have vastly different IT experience than your current workforce Given all these changes, is your learning strategy keeping pace with the rate
of change in the business?
The business requires learning that is delivered to people in the context of their background
experience, the tasks they are trying to complete, and their business processes A clear, concise strategy for improving employee performance helps meet these needs, demands, and pressures In today’s world, the learning department must assume the responsibility and be held accountable for developing skilled employees who can meet daily and long-term challenges and help increase the organization’s market value But learning professionals need a well-articulated strategy to execute against For example, you must make sure your training staff addresses strategic businesswide goals
as well as day-to-day learning needs It’s a balancing act between tactical and strategic learning, and both are needed in a successful organization Here’s how training has evolved:
separately from other parts of the organization Training staff provided classes on standard topics like desktop skills, compliance, company-specific applications, and organizational
procedures C-level executives typically perceived training as a cost drain, often providing limited budget to support learning activities, and questioned the value of the training
department to the organization Generally, training experiences focused on tactical topics, answering the question “How?” As in: How shall we train employees on that application? What’s the best way to develop these lessons? How do we use technology to get the best learning results? These are functionally-oriented goals focused on an individual or a department
talent to meet organizational goals by providing learning experiences that will give employees the skills that they need to execute on specific objectives, not just this or that software
application For example, if a company goal is to have more satisfied customers who buy more products, then the training department must work with the sales department and develop specific sales learning modules or single concept, short learning experiences These modules give sales staff more product knowledge and selling skills within a set time period The sales staff evaluation includes a measurement component that determines the increase in product sales or customer satisfaction after completion of the learning module We spoke with a learning executive of a major business process outsourcing (BPO) organization who confirmed this approach with the comment, “I must run training as a business with a focus on ROI and direct business results.”
Trang 4· Training departments take a higher level view of learning within the organization Your
training staff must step back from day-to-day content development and training schedules and
answer the question “What?” As in: What should we be doing to support the organization’s
goals for improved performance? What succession plans are in place to keep the organization
competitive? What overarching design for learning best matches our situation and our
workforce? What software capabilities do we need to best solve our learning and training
challenges? What is the best way to deliver informal learning into the Information Workplace?”1
Training activities must support the overall business strategy (see Figure 1) Tactical learning
will not do the job alone — strategic learning must lead the way
Figure 1 Learning Becomes More Central To Company Processes
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
Executive management
IT Marketing, PR
Finance
Operations
Classroom training and learning
New employee training
Desktop computer skills
Compliance Basic company applications
PAST
Executive management
IT
Marketing, PR
Finance
Operations
PRESENT
Management and leadership
Business skills
Legal compliance
IT skills Desktop/
company application skills Sales
Learning
Onboarding
Trang 5HOW TO GET STARTED DEPENDS ON YOUR CULTURE AND ORGANIZATION
There is no one “right” learning strategy and there is no one right way to develop a learning strategy The best approach depends on your organizational structure, existing learning program, organizational learning culture, and the value executives place on employee development The most powerful approach for your organization may be some combination of several options (see Figure 2) For example, an organization could develop a powerful learning program by combining a top-down, business-driven learning strategy with a bottom-up, IT-driven learning strategy, creating significant workforce advantages over competitors And of course, each approach comes with specific challenges
Figure 2 Learning Strategies
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
HR-driven learning
strategy:
This learning strategy as part of
HR’s overall human capital
management (HCM) initiative
Business-driven learning
strategy:
This learning strategy is
developed by a corporate
learning group that is
centralized within the business
Department-by-department
strategy:
A bottom-up approach that
addresses the learning needs of
each department in a more
decentralized or federated
model
IT-driven eLearning strategy:
A technology strategy that
incorporates online learning
and offline approaches into a
blended solution
• Aligned to performance, onboarding, succession planning, and career development
• Prevalent in organizations that have a strong HCM initiative
• Supported by VP for HR
• Aligned to larger company goals like improved brand recognition or improved sales of Product A
•Prevalent in top-down hierarchical organizations
• Supported by a C-level executive (e.g., CEO, COO) who becomes the driving force behind development and implementation of strategy
• Aligned with individual department needs
• A more tactical learning approach
• Prevalent in flatter and bottom-up empowered organizations with local control
• Supported by manager of the specific business unit
• Aligned with IT and HR, an IT-driven eLearning strategy is focused on using technology tools for learning
• Prevalent in organizations where CEO
is a strong proponent of learning and the ability of technology to aid learning
• Supported by C-level executive as a separate unit or owned by HR and IT jointly
• May become so employee- focused that larger business issues and strategic goals are not addressed
• Business units that need specific training sometimes do not feel supported
• Difficult to get buy-in from all business units for the learning program
• If CEO does not support the program, you face an enormous challenge
• A long, slow process to reach companywide implementation
• Difficult to get companywide buy-in for an organizationwide learning management system (LMS), especially if individual units already have their own LMS
• Danger of using online tools because they are new rather than because they are the best way to learn particular material
• eLearning staff may be marginalized from more traditional learning unit that may exist in HR
• IT inexperience in eLearning strategies and technology may lead to the procurement of ineffective and unwanted eLearning tools
Strategy driven by Characteristics Challenges
Trang 6DON’T MISS THE NINE CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF A LEARNING STRATEGY
The bottom line: the training plan you develop, the varieties of learning approaches you integrate
into the offerings, and the communication process you create must show results in the form of better performing employees This is an ongoing journey rather than a process that you start and complete
in a few months The order in which you approach the following learning strategy components will
differ depending on your organization’s characteristics For example, the CEO may already support
a strong learning program or the business drivers may be so clearly defined that you don’t need to
spend time identifying them No matter what your situation, make sure you address, in the order
most appropriate, each of the following nine key elements in a comprehensive learning strategy
including: 1) business drivers; 2) C-level support; 3) vision; 4) needs assessment; 5) business case;
6) plan and scope; 7) technology infrastructure; 8) marketing; and 9) evaluation and continuous
improvement
Aligned Business Drivers Best Practice No 1: Highlight Learning Issues That Align With Goals
As one retail learning leader we spoke with succinctly stated, “Your success is based on a learning
strategy that not only has C-level support but has linkages to the company’s strategic business
plan Without the latter, you fail.” The most powerful drivers for developing a new learning strategy
relate to people engaged in practices or processes that are not working well and could benefit
from a learning program For example, if you are a retail organization and the sales force does
not understand the products it sells, improving product knowledge is a strong business driver for
increasing product sales It also aligns with the organization’s goal of increasing the bottom line
Focus on the most significant business issues that learning programs can address, and list them in
order of importance to senior management (see Figure 3)
To assure business alignment, the learning executive must have direct communication with C-level
executives to understand the company’s strategy and highest-level goals and then work with the
learning staff to translate these goals into effective employee learning experiences In organizations
that have strong autonomous departments with their own budgets for learning, the learning
executive needs continual communication with department VPs to understand each department’s
needs and to suggest ways that learning can assist
Trang 7Figure 3 Examples Of Business Drivers And The Learning Implications
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
Business drivers
• Compress time to competency or proficiency The
time required to get employees up to speed in their
job takes too long and is too costly The company
needs to streamline its processes
• Reduce cost The high cost of current training
methods is not sustainable
• Integrate dispersed workforce The business’
success depends on breaking down cultural
barriers and getting employees across the
organization’s different geographies to
collaborate, share information, problem solve,
and inform others about successful processes and
procedures
• Create quick and consistent response to constant
changes in information Employees need to stay
up-to-date with the constant changes in the
organization to be effective in their work
• Eliminate organizational silos to create a positive
organizational culture Communicate across lines
of business to eliminate duplication of efforts and
drive innovation
• Develop an efficient, high quality workforce The
organization needs easy-to-use tools, contextual
learning, communities, and the ability for
employees to learn informally
• Reverse the trend toward flat — or even
declining — customer satisfaction The business
needs a stronger relationship with customers
• Change the dynamics that make a skilled
workforce difficult to attract and retain With Baby
Boomer retirements and the recruitment pools
getting smaller, the enterprise must attract new
employees as well as retain existing knowledgeable
employees
Learning implications
• eLearning presents consistent content to learners
in a short time and adapts the pace and level of content to suit an individual’s learning needs
• Repeated use of online learning carries fewer additional costs
• Collaboration tools, especially those using video, break down barriers and allow employees to learn informally
• User generated content increases employees’ abilities to share knowledge and participation in the learning process
• Learning objects allow easy swapping of new content for old content Rapid authoring tools allow quick and easy content creation
• Online communities, such as communities of practice (COPs), focus on specific knowledge- building activities in the context of day-to-day work activities to promote idea generation, community knowledge, and professional identity
• Intranet-based resources that employees can access informally and on-demand help learners keep up-to-date and provide information they need to do their job
• Online customer service training provides an opportunity for employees to apply learning immediately — on the phone, via email, etc
• Excellent opportunities for learning and career growth attract new employees, especially young workers looking for advancement
Trang 8Top Level Support Best Practice No 2: Secure Sponsorship From An Executive Champion
Without top-level sponsorship, your learning strategy will not be successful because you will have
no budget and no executive encouragement for managers to value and support learning within their
departments The two most common executive support scenarios we see are:
COO) understands the importance of learning and is the motivator behind the learning strategy The executive believes that a comprehensive learning strategy makes a difference in employee
attitude and skills, job satisfaction, and retention Most likely he or she believes in the intrinsic
value of learning and wants to know the results that indicate if employees are taking the training,
if they like it, and if they are more effective in their work But this champion will expect some
cost analysis from the learning team before signing off on investments
If learning is managed as part of human capital management (HCM), the HR executive
advocates for learning’s role in the talent management system that he or she directs Learning,
performance, compensation, and recruitment are the four pillars of strategic HCM that drive
bottom-line business results, with the HR executive both the champion and a member of
the C-level management team Some components of the HCM initiative include onboarding,
employee performance, career development, succession planning, and pay for performance The learning component is the glue that makes the system whole (see Figure 4).2
Figure 4 Learning Is A Part Of All People Development Activities
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
Career growth Onboarding development Job skill
Succession planning
360º evaluation
Achievement rewarded
Learning Recruiting Performance Compensation
Training
Trang 9The Vision Best Practice No 3: Paint A Compelling Picture Of The Future State Of Learning
A vision statement helps stakeholders understand the depth of the learning strategy and gives them
a context for their thinking At the highest level, the vision statement communicates the desired future state of learning When creating the vision statement, position the vision in the future
tense, and keep it short and simple Tie the vision statement to any high-level business vision or corporate mission statements and make sure it is in concert with any HR performance management vision statement The training group should craft a vision statement and test and refine it with the executive champion and other key business stakeholders to make sure that it is realistic The vision statement may continue to evolve as you begin your needs assessment and business plan development (see Figure 5)
Figure 5 Some Examples Of Learning Vision Statements
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
We will provide effective, efficient, and easily accessible learning resources to our organization’s employees Our learning products will be so embedded into employees’ work that work and learning will become one Learning will be a way of life in our organization
We will provide a people-centered approach that allows employees to access the learning they need at the time they need it
We will provide learning experiences in short, contextual bursts rather than in long, boring classroom
settings
Learning and talent management will be integrated with learning experiences tied to identified
performance gaps
Both formal and informal learning will become an expected part of our learning fabric with the learning mode determined by the individual and the job
Employees will have the ability to learn and share knowledge and develop relationships within and
across the extended enterprise
Our workforce will gain knowledge and skills through use of collaboration and informal tools such as wikis, communities of practice, serious games, and 3D immersive environments
Our learning program will meet the diverse needs of our distributed workforce
We will accurately target and disseminate information to the correct audience, at the right time, in the
right amount, and in the desired format for performance improvement across our organization
Trang 10Needs Assessment Best Practice No 4: Analyze Your Current Learning Situation
The training team must: 1) collect data on the current state of learning within the organization;
2) determine what learning expectations employees have; 3) analyze how well learning supports
the goals and direction of the business; 4) determine if the learning methods in use (classroom,
mentoring, online, etc.) are appropriate for the employee culture; 5) find out what kinds of training
content employees access; and 6) determine what technology and tools they are using (see Figure 6)
As a learning executive or learning professional, you must have a rock-solid understanding of your
organization’s short- and long-term goals, but you must also know your culture and the day-to-day
employee experiences with learning throughout the organization Use a variety of one-on-one and
group discussions, questionnaires, focus groups, and survey instruments to gather information from
a cross-section of employees including line workers, supervisors, managers, and executives
Figure 6 Analyze Your Environment
Source: Forrester Research, Inc
45598
Questions for gaining learning insights:
• What is the perception of learning by management and directors in different departments?
• What is the support for learning among line managers, directors, and senior management?
• Do employees perceive learning as a resource that helps them with work, a chore to get done, or an
opportunity to learn new skills?
Questions about how well learning is related to the business:
• How is the direction of your business changing?
• What are the causes of this change (technology, new workforce, international competition, etc.)?
• How are these changes affecting the learning requirements of the business?
• What is the flexibility and responsiveness of learning to changes within your business?
• What do your employees need to do differently or better in order to achieve those goals?
Questions about learning methods currently used for instruction:
• What learning methods are used (classroom, eLearning, blended, mentoring/coaching, on-the job,
internships, etc.)?
• What is the usage of learning (online and offline) throughout the organization?
• What is the perceived level of success or failure of existing learning?
• What are employee preferences for accessing learning?
Questions about the characteristics of the learning culture:
• What are the employees like at all levels of the organization?
• What is their openness and hesitation to engaging in learning experiences to reduce pain points
associated with their work?
• What are the different generations of workers? Are their learning expectations different?
• How does gender, race, language, etc., impact your learning needs and environment?
• Are yearly individual learning goals tied to the career development process?
Questions about the current state of learning content:
• What kind of formal courses exist in leadership, management, and other business skills?
• What regulatory and/or compliance courses are taught?
• What IT and desktop technology courses are standard?
• Is any informal learning provided (information aggregated in a knowledge bank, expertise location
wikis, blogs and discussion forums, podcasts, communities of practice, virtual worlds, etc.)?