How to Align Learning and Development With Business Strategy

Recent research from Indeed Hiring Lab indicates that while GenAI is unlikely to fully replace human workers, it will provide significant augmentation to human capabilities. Their analysis of over 2,800 skills shows that GenAI best handles repetitive and knowledge-based tasks, allowing humans to focus on core skills requiring ingenuity, hands-on application, and interpersonal interaction. In a separate analysis, Kyla Scanlon introduces the concept of "friction" as a lens into the AI landscape. She states that while the digital world seeks to eliminate friction for the user, it often transfers that friction to the physical world (underfunded infrastructure, overworked labor). This redistribution of friction potentially devalues traditional skills and credentials. I've been digging into a concept I refer to as skills flux -- a period in which workers will use their existing skills while needing to learn new ones as their jobs change due to automation and AI. Both the Indeed research and Kyla's paper illustrate this transitional period as an opportunity to redefine the basic tenets behind "reskilling" or "upskilling" (I would love to retire those two words from our lexicon). Our focus in L&D needs to be on deeply understanding how automation and AI changes the nuances of jobs (yes, to the task level) and to then develop training that facilitates the workforce to learn new GenAI-specific skills as complementary to their existing skills. L&D's role is to drive a programmatic approach to rapidly develop the workforce while balancing the tension of this period of skills flux. If we do this right, we relieve the company from large workforce displacement and enable the metrics important to the business as the integration of automation and AI evolves -- it's expensive and time-consuming to continually buy skills. This means we change our focus from traditional "reskilling" and "upskilling" programs to enable more dynamic skills strategies. I recommend these two steps to get started: -- Identify the enterprise critical roles across the company -- Conduct a job architecture inventory in alignment with the business to excavate how automation and AI changes the jobs (and, yes, AI can be used to scale this process) This enables a strategy for L&D to be in service of the most critical aspects of business continuity. For the first time in L&D's history, we face the daunting task of simultaneously preparing the workforce to execute strategies resulting from automation and AI while preventing the instability that a skills flux brings to the business and the workforce. Here are links to these two reports: -- Indeed Hiring Lab: https://lnkd.in/grF2C2-E -- Kyla Scanlon: https://lnkd.in/gAkcj4Qi

Demonstrating the value of learning is easier than you think! In a recent workshop with The Institute for Transfer Effectiveness, I demonstrated how! One workshop participant was designing safety training to help employees use Microsoft 365 strategically to prevent data breaches. She was struggling to capture the value of the program for organizational leaders to understand. I used an alignment framework that incorporates Rob Brinkerhoff’s 6 L&D value propositions and mapped out how to connect her learning program with metrics that matter to organizational leaders. Here’s what that looked like! Aligning learning activities, initiatives or programs to strategic business outcomes is like looking for the through line between disparate things: learning, human performance, departmental key performance indicators, and organizational metrics. This can feel nearly impossible. The glue that holds these seemingly disparate things together are Brinkerhoff’s 6 L&D value propositions. In the safety training example we started by identifying the most relevant value proposition for the program. In this case, it was Regulatory Requirements: a learning program designed to ensure employees are complying with industry specific rules and regulations. Then we connect the L&D value proposition (Regulatory Requirements) with the most relevant outcome for the organization. In this case, it was Net Profit. If employees are complying with industry-specific rules and regulations, this consistent practice will save the organization money in fines, lawsuits, or dealing with the unpleasant consequences of safety challenges (like a data breach). Then we must do the hard work unpacking what people will be doing to support the targeted departmental KPIs. If you’re struggling to figure out the KPIs, you’ll likely find them by asking department leaders what problem they are experiencing on a regular basis that they would like solved. In this case it was too many data breaches and too many outdated files on the server causing misinformation and inconsistent practices. I discovered that what people could be doing differently to support the desired KPIs was adhering to updated protocols on how to manage data and documents within the 365 suite. If people followed the protocols with 100% fidelity, departments would experience a reduction in data breaches. Now … we have the behaviors to target in our training program and the data to use to show the value of learning: Learning metrics: Training attendance and completion rates. Capability metrics: Percentage of fidelity to data and document protocols before and after training. KPI metrics: # of documents on the server that are outdated (being at 20% of lower), # of data breaches per department being at 1 or less annually. Organizational metric: Net Profit How will you use the 6 L&D value propositions and alignment framework to tell your learning value story? #learninganddevelopment #trainingstrategy #datastrategy

🚀 How do you maintain your competitive advantage and ensure you don’t fall behind? To keep pace with rapid tech advancements, organizations must ensure their Learning & Development (L&D) programs are tightly aligned with company strategy. As a Leadership and Team Coach, I’m passionate about helping organizations build resilient, high-performing teams. 💪 In my doctoral research, I aim to create a roadmap for reskilling workforces in the AI era. 🤖 Here are five transformative insights from Anand Chopra-McGowan from Emeritus, shared in a recent Harvard Business Review article: 1️⃣ Adopt Agile L&D Approaches Accelerate learning with cross-functional, feedback-driven teams such as with a "learning sprint." 2️⃣ Prioritize Strategic Skills Focus on capabilities that drive enterprise success, not just role-specific training (i.e., start with the end-in-mind). 3️⃣ Encourage Hands-On Application Create engaging, practical learning experiences to foster real-world adoption (i.e., connect the dots to actual work projects). 4️⃣ Shift to Outcome-Based KPIs Evaluate L&D success through business outcomes like productivity or customer engagement—not just participation (i.e., balance between outcomes and engagement/learning). 5️⃣ Build Strategic Partnerships Cultivate strong ties between L&D and business leaders to ensure alignment. With the rise of generative AI, remote work, and shifting consumer behaviors, these strategies can make L&D a powerful driver of business transformation. 🌍💼 How is your organization aligning learning with strategy? Please share in the comments below! 👇 #LeadershipDevelopment #LearningStrategy #Upskilling #FutureOfWork #Careers #Leadership #Thinkers50 #Coach #Professor #Advisor #MG100 #BestAdvice #JennyFernandez https://lnkd.in/dB8HrHxC

Effective learning programs don’t start with content. They start with context. Strategic L&D begins by understanding what the business needs, where the talent gaps are, and how to design for impact. This set of tools, included in Wowledge's Learning & Development program, helps you do precisely that. 1️⃣ Focus Group Summary Tool Consolidate outputs needed to support decisions on L&D programs to create. https://lnkd.in/gHgGUjqs 2️⃣ Business Needs-To-Learning Requirements Conversion Tool Define learning objectives for L&D Programs. https://lnkd.in/gdp4qJZ2 3️⃣ Learning Plan Outline learning objectives, skills, delivery methods, and evaluation criteria to guide effective development programs. https://lnkd.in/gpvtuUex 4️⃣ Learning Council Chapter Template Define a governing body to guide and oversee the L&D function. https://lnkd.in/guQsJmQa 5️⃣ Performance Consulting Assessment Tool Uncover workforce challenges and supporting data for L&D solutions. https://lnkd.in/gvNw9DRE 6️⃣ Strategic Objective–Critical Role Development Flow-down Diagram Map business objectives to team-level actions and L&D responses. https://lnkd.in/gXRV-htJ 7️⃣ Persona Template Define different types of learners, their preferences, and requirements for L&D. https://lnkd.in/gfUmggXX 👉🏽 The downloadable tools and step-by-step guidance are available at Wowledge. ~~~ Click Carlos Larracilla and follow me [+🔔] for daily resources from Wowledge. ⤷ We’re ending the cycle of reinventing the wheel in HR by providing a shortcut to amplifying HR impact with: ✔ A scalable system of best practices. ✔ Expert-built guides and execution-ready tools. ✔ A customizable Strategic HR Roadmap.