LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

 

Learning and development strategy…

A learning and development strategy outlines employees’ capabilities and how they can be cultivated to help meet company objectives. It forms part of the overall business strategy. It is influenced by factors like company goals, stakeholders’ needs, current skills gaps, designing and choosing the appropriate learning methodology and measuring L&D’s effectiveness. When employee performance would increase, this will lead to the organization effectiveness (Champathes, 2006).  Employee development activities are very important for the employees, as the activities are performed, it indicates that organization cares about their employees and wants them to develop (Elena P. 2000).

The role of HR in learning and development 

More often than not, L&D initiatives are often the responsibility of HR, 

More often than not, L&D initiatives are often the responsibility of HR, especially within smaller companies. However, larger organizations will have an L&D department responsible for these activities. 

• Identifying the skills needed for hiring new staff
• Use for internal hiring and promotion opportunities
• Managing performance for low-performing individuals

Types of learning and development

1.      Onboarding and new employee training

It aims to integrate a new employee into the company. It starts right after the job offer or on the first day of work and can last up to a few weeks or months when the employee is fully integrated into the position and the organization. 

Onboarding covers the following items: 

• Setting expectations about employees’ roles and responsibilities
• Completion of necessary paperwork (forms, benefits)
• A brief discussion of the organization: history, background, goals 
• Touring the office or work premises
• Introduction of the members and employees of the organization
• Discussion about learning and growth opportunities

2. Technical skill development

Technical skills training refers to learning specific skills necessary to perform tasks or using job-related tools. It could be learning different systems, new softwares and etc. Provides voluntary training to assist nontechnical employees in developing their existing skills and provide them with the ability to move into software engineering careers. Helps train employees who fulfill customers’ orders to develop the skills that will enable them to move into technical roles. It’s also crucial to consider employees learning styles and preferences for technical skills training to be effective. Use different methods and be consistent.

3. Soft skills development

Soft skills focus on developing characteristics enable employees to communicate effectively and collaborate with their coworkers. Examples of soft skills are:  

• Communication
• Conflict resolution
• Time management
• Teamwork 
• Leadership
• Interpersonal skills

Soft skills are essential in building a respectful and collaborative work environment.

4. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging training

Diversity and equity related training can help address workplace biases and discrimination. These programs foster psychological safety for employees, so everyone feels safe and empowered and feels they belong to the organization. 

• Building an inclusive work environment
• Trust building 
• Hiring diverse candidates 

5. Managerial training

Untrained managers pose a considerable danger to the organization. They won’t be able to manage conflicts among their teams, provide effective coaching or motivate their direct reports. If you want to have productive teams, you need to train your managers.

Managerial training encompasses: 

• Managing conflict
• Performance management
• Promoting teamwork 
• Delegation 

Key areas that learning and development strategies can improve

1. Attracting and retaining top talent 

2. Employee engagement

3. Employer branding

4. Workplace culture

 

How we can develop a learning and development strategy?

While every organization has different professional development needs, the following steps will help you build a strong foundation for developing an effective learning and development strategy: 

1. Align with business strategy

We can use L&D strategies like this;

• Your employees’ skills and determine which are most vital to support the implementation of the company’s various business priorities
• Your unique proposition as a business and your competitive advantage
• Your customers – what they need and how it changes over time 
• Business changes – competition, growth, and decline of your business and how technology impacts your business
• Agility – how your company stays resilient and adapts to changes dictated by economic and technological developments

2. Define and design with business leaders

3. Determine employee capabilities and identify skills gaps 

The next step is to align the business strategy with the current employee capabilities and determine where there are skills gaps. 

4. Design learning journeys 

5. Implementation of L&D initiatives

6. Track performance

7. Analyze effectiveness and make changes

 

Application

According to my perspective it is a must to evaluate employee performance and understand their actual needs. Then after that we can cater those things by using different strategies. Here we need to apply varieties of learning and development methods to improve our employee capacities then we can face the competitive advantage and organizational performance up to the expected level.

Conclusion

With technology advancing rapidly, investing in learning and development is more important than ever in developing and sustaining an organization’s competitive advantage. Managers need to use strategies that align with business objectives and address employees’ skills gaps to stay agile and have the human talent necessary to compete in the new world.

References

Abbas Q. and Yaqoob S., (2009). „ Effect of Leadership Development on Employee Performance in Pakistan‟ Pakistan Economic and Social Review

Agarwal, R., C. M. Angst and M. Magni (2006). „The performance effects of coaching: A multilevel analysis using hierarchical linear modeling, Robert H. Smith School of Business Research Paper Series.

Champathes, M. R. (2006), Coaching for performance improvement: The coach model. Development and Learning in Organizations

Elena P. Antonacopoulou, (2000). „ Employee development through self-development in three retail banks‟ Journal of Personnel Review