Structured Approach to Learning and Development (L&D)

It is hard to debate the importance of learning and development (L&D). Yet from my experience, it is rarely done well in organisations. Why is that?

I have seen organisations hire an L&D professional after hearing employee feedback on the need to do better on this front. There is sometimes the assumption that an L&D professional will be the magic bullet, as a partner to all members of the organisation in making teams and its individuals better. Instead, those L&D professionals often come into organisations to discover misalignment on priorities and objectives, along with limited stakeholder buy-in.

If you are thinking about prioritising L&D, the first thing you should do is define it for your organisation. 

Defining learning and development

Personio defines L&D as “any HR-driven initiatives that foster employee growth, enhance skills and ultimately drive both individual and organisational success”. As is often the case, there is an assumption that L&D is HR driven.

I think a better description of L&D encompasses any activities that enhance employee growth and performance, intending to drive individual and organisational success. Learning and development is not only about developing new skills that are exciting, it starts with making employees better at doing their day-to-day job. This leads to the topic of L&D ownership.

Who owns learning and development?

There is sometimes the assumption that HR owns L&D. I have seen HR designated with figuring out how to “drive better productivity through L&D”.

I have come to think differently about L&D over the years, starting with the stakeholders involved.

1. Employee

L&D success is employee driven. The support provided by others can improve the probability of success but cannot be the main contributor. There has to be intrinsic motivation to learn and develop. This starts with learning and doing the job well. The employee needs to be invested in the learning and development process, while spending time and energy on it.

2. Manager

The manager often provides guidance and the framework or structure for the L&D of the employee. Different players need different types of coaching and the manager should adjust accordingly. The manager needs to drive alignment with the employee and support through the process. 

3. HR

The employee and manager should decide on the L&D of an individual employee. HR teams are often responsible for creating broader organisational programs that help support or enhance L&D. This can be anything from resources, formal training programs, a mentorship program, tooling, and more. 

4. Management team

The management team decides where the organisation should spend its time. If L&D is an HR team project with no management team buy-in, it will not succeed. If management invests time in communicating, supporting, and promoting L&D, programs have a much better chance of success. L&D is also an investment of every person’s time in the development of their teams and team members. To be successful, management needs to walk the talk.

Learning for the job vs. developing new skills

It is helpful to separate L&D into two parts, learning for the job and developing new skills that may not directly impact day-to-day work. The former is sometimes underappreciated, even though it is the primary function of the organisation and its employees. We all need to do the job at hand well, then we should start talking about growing beyond that. Learning for a job is often employer/manager driven while new skills are often employee driven.

L&D for the job

1. Onboarding Plan

Benjamin Franklin said that “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. When an employee starts at your organisation, have a clear plan for their first few weeks. Put meetings in their calendars. Define their job clearly. Help them succeed. Employee onboarding software can help standardise the onboarding process and ensure that managers are thinking about all the right pieces.

2. Defining milestones

Have clear 30, 60 and 90 day milestones. Align everybody on expectations. On what day should a salesperson be talking to prospects? When should a developer start writing code? These are things your new team members need to know when they start a job. 

3. Ongoing feedback

If a team member did something well, tell them. If they made a mistake, tell them. Feedback is easier when an employee is new to the organisation and should be made a habit early. Help your team and yourself by providing feedback.

4. Performance reviews and check-ins

L&D on the job does not stop at 3 or 12 months. It is ongoing. Performance reviews and periodic check-ins, along with feedback, are a great way to talk about L&D as a part of the job. Performance management software can help standardise the process. HR teams can support teams in the process. You should look to develop a rhythm that works well for you.

Developing new skills

If somebody on your team wants to learn Excel, improve their writing, enhance their leadership, learn SQL, or do something that doesn’t directly impact their current job, this applies. 

Almost a decade ago, I thought that learning SQL would help me and also save me time at work. I attended a work session on SQL. I read some online resources. I practised on two weekends. Then I got very busy with other projects. I still don’t know SQL.

My SQL story is how many such initiatives go. 

Growing through reading 

In my experience, books are the easiest and best way to learn from others' experiences. If there is an area I am looking to improve in, be it Marketing, Sales, Finance, Data, or something else, I try to dive into a book on it. Reading a book is a relatively easy first step to also assess whether you like the topic and are committed to it. Here are a few books I recently enjoyed in areas I am looking to develop in:

1. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
2. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
3. Scaling People by Claire Hughes Johnson
4. Atomic Habits by James Clear

Ask your manager or a colleague for a book recommendation on what you are interested in learning about. 

Internal projects, external impact

If you are looking to learn a skill that could benefit you and your organisation, ask your manager to see if there are internal projects you can work on. If you can learn new skills and drive impact for your organisation, it’s a win-win. There should be clear timelines and success criteria for the projects. 

Practise to improve

Whether learning for the job or brand new skills, there is no replacement to actually doing “the thing” you are trying to learn. Watching Noah Lyles run at the Olympics will only help you in theory. You need to actually get on the track to learn and develop.

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