Align Business Goals with Learning and Development Strategy

One of the biggest challenges for learning and Human Resources professionals is making the case for development programs. Jonathan Kettleborough, Senior Lecturer of Information Systems Strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University, wants to show people how to flip the script. He encourages leaders in the space to name the challenge, look at relevant data, and then make a learning and development plan. 

To learn more about Kettleborough's approach to L&D, join the Corporate Learning EMEA online event, where he will be a speaker covering how to use data to deliver effective learning programs.

WATCH: Corporate Learning EMEA

HREN: What is preventing people from aligning their business objectives with their learning and development programs?

JK: There's actually nothing that's preventing them from doing it. They're preventing themselves from doing it. In my 30-plus years of experience of working in learning and development, people tend to pick up a tactic and wave it at a strategic issue. For example, people say, 'We must have neurodiversity or the 70-20-10 plan or microlearning. It doesn't matter what it is, there's a new set of buzzwords that come out every year.

To be honest with you, there's nothing new out there. It's just stuff being repackaged. Instead, they should be saying, 'There's a strategic problem. What do I need to do to fix it?' Once you investigate and understand what the strategic problem is, you immediately start to align what you're doing with the needs of the business as opposed to offering them something they don't need.

Now, the way I described it to somebody is this. I don't like trifle. Your restaurant may make the best trifle in the world. But no matter how many times you offer it to me, I'm not interested. At a restaurant, they say, 'Hello, what would you like to eat today?' And you say, 'This is what I like.' Then, they serve it to you. I know that sounds so straightforward.

What people need to do is sit down with their senior leaders, and they need to say, 'Tell me what's keeping you up at night? Some of those won't be learning or HR issues. Some of them will, and that's where you start. Immediately you're aligning to the needs of the business as opposed to throwing stuff at it and hoping some of it will stick.

I spoke to somebody at a major investment company. They said they measure how happy employees are with with their training. I asked if they assess whether it's made any difference to their performance. He said no. There you go.

Then, people wonder when there are budget cuts why they lose money. It's because the senior people look at them and say, 'I have no idea what you do for me.' If you participate in a sport, you have performance coaches, and people know exactly what they do and the value they add. Would you get rid of a performance coach? No, you wouldn't. But when you can't demonstrate impact, then you're just throwing money at stuff. 

HREN: What are a few best practices for using data to execute learning design?

JK: You must start by understanding the true issue you're addressing, and get the true data. Say you're trying to improve the sales team. You may learn by analyzing data that the better salespeople are those who have had previous sales experience. One of the things you will  do is change your hiring strategy.

For example, many years ago, in an organization, where I worked, we had low staff turnover. People were leaving at five years, and again at 10 years. We employed a lot of women, who left for marriage or for raising children. We called it the camel's humps because we had this same pattern for years. Then, we started to see a pattern where people were leaving within six months of joining.

Clearly, something was wrong. We investigated it, and we found out that we weren't interviewing properly. We were not doing structured interviewing. We were not welcoming people to the business properly. You name it. We were doing it wrong. We got that data, and we knew exactly what we needed to change

At one point, we were getting a 20% rejection at the offer stage. You would send out the job offer, and 20% would reject you. We restructured on a laser-like level. If a managers could not be there to greet people on their first day, they had to write to their senior leader and explain why. We knew that if we got the first two weeks right, they would stay with us. We made a video we sent with our offer letters. Our number of rejections went from 20% to 0%.

We could measure because we had the data. I had no issue with talking to the chief executive about the return on investment. As far as he was concerned, for a small amount of money, we had fixed the problem. Surprise, surprise, in the years that I was was head of training, my budget almost doubled. At a time when other people were struggling, I got more and more because I could prove what I was doing with it. 

HREN: Why should people tune into your session? 

JK: If you're in a position within either learning and development or HR, and you feel like you're beating your head against the wall trying to prove your worth, then this is a great session for you. You can understand how to lead with data and strategy. It is not instantaneous, but the results will come. People will then start to look at you differently. You will have conversations in business and strategy rather than, 'Let's train everybody in hugging or whatever it might be.'

Don't miss Kettleborough's session or the others at the Corporate Learning EMEA event. It's free to join. Those who participate in the live event are eligible for SHRM credits.