{"id":19313,"date":"2021-03-08T15:49:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T15:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/?p=19313"},"modified":"2021-03-08T15:49:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T15:49:37","slug":"aligning-ld-with-business-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/aligning-ld-with-business-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Why aligning L&D with business goals means changing the process"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re really going to align your L&D strategy with business goals, it\u2019s going to take more than just a few fluffy tips like \u2018thinking more learner-centric\u2019 or \u2018changing your content\u2019. You\u2019re going to need to change the process and get involved in conversations much sooner, so you\u2019re not simply fitting your L&D strategy in goal boxes you\u2019ve had no input into.<\/span><\/p>\n

What if we told you that L&D can sometimes be its own worst enemy. Typically, the bigger business objectives come down the food chain, and we try our best to create a bridge between those aims and our learner ambitions. But is that really the best way of aligning learning with business objectives?<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, would you know the root causes of business problems? Would you truly understand the challenges of reaching our goals? And would you really have the chance to discuss where L&D can actually support success?<\/span><\/p>\n

Becoming partners and consultants in key conversations<\/b><\/h2>\n

The answer to those questions above is no. When L&D is following orders, we can align to a certain extent – but we can\u2019t help shape the business goals or get a true understanding of where the challenges and problems come from.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Armed with development data and an understanding of learners, L&D can play a really effective role as a consultant when they\u2019re involved earlier in the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Aligning<\/p>\n

Imagine the wider business goal is to improve customer satisfaction and stakeholders presume adding more staff solves the issue, L&D\u2019s role becomes one of onboarding and training those new reps. But what if we know that response times are the biggest customer pain point, and by integrating learning into the right tools and creating more microlearning, we can support reps in shaving minutes off that window?<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge difference between knowing a goal is to improve customer satisfaction and understanding the problems that have led us to that point. Until you really understand the challenge, you can\u2019t offer the right solution. L&D might not even be the answer! So, that\u2019s why you need those earlier conversations, where you ditch the jargon and just discuss the problems, solutions and goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another perk of getting involved in those conversations earlier is that you can discuss the performance results needed to reach those goals. A simple scenario might be that in order to achieve more revenue, we require more sales – wouldn\u2019t it be better to brainstorm together as you work out L&D\u2019s role in connecting the two?<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaborating with teams across the business<\/b><\/h2>\n

Sometimes, the business objectives might be too broad for you to see where L&D can really make an impact. But if you can support teams with their more specific goals, there\u2019s a fair argument that you\u2019ll drive their performance and that subsequently gets us all closer to the business goals. It\u2019ll also help you tangibly demonstrate the impact L&D has had on performance, so perhaps you\u2019re better off thinking small picture before the big picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s revisit that more revenue goal. For the sales team, it\u2019s important to understand whether the issue is creating more leads, closing more deals or something else. Having that discussion gives you a better sense of the role L&D could play, whether that\u2019s building confidence and competence or creating a mentoring program<\/a> where effective closers can impart wisdom for others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding the balance between the learner and business<\/b><\/h2>\n

Another challenge is connecting personal learner goals with those business objectives. <\/span>76% and 68% of employees<\/span><\/a> value career growth opportunities and training and development, respectively, so it\u2019s important that they understand the role their personal growth plays in driving the business forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s not simply enough to tell people what the business goals are and expect them to care. You\u2019ve got to create that personal motivation and path to progress to really light a fire in people. Who wouldn\u2019t want to build new skills AND help the business become more successful!? Skills is probably the key word too…<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

Working out your skills gap<\/b><\/h2>\n

When people think about aligning learning with business, there\u2019s a tendency to think in terms of which learning relates to which goal. But it would be better to ask where the business wants to be and which skills do we need to get there. The difference between the two is your skills gap<\/a>, and it\u2019s really where L&D can tie together a lot of the ideas we\u2019ve already spoken about.<\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, thinking in terms of skills probably makes it easier to communicate that benefit to individual learners. It also brings in that idea of becoming consultants in those goal-setting conversations, because you can provide that perspective on what talents you have and which you might need to build in terms of reaching the wider objectives.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a nutshell, once you know the skills gap, it\u2019s probably an easier sell to everyone. You\u2019re telling learners that by developing these new talents they\u2019ll progress and help the business progress at the same time. And you can also clearly demonstrate to business leaders that you\u2019ve got the development plan to support their goals while keeping people engaged too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding the metrics that matter<\/b><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • What metrics matter to business leaders and stakeholders?<\/span><\/li>\n
  • What are your hard and soft benefits of L&D?<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Which metrics are you collecting as part of your strategy?<\/span><\/li>\n
  • How often do you need to communicate them?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Let\u2019s pick up with that last point. If you wait until the yearly review to show people the impact of your L&D efforts, you\u2019ll hardly keep people engaged! But what if every month or two you could show them the progress you\u2019re all making together – that\u2019s a huge source of motivation for most people, and it\u2019ll encourage leaders to keep up their buy-in to your learning strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But, you need to have an idea about what metrics matter to them. There\u2019s no point showing them a metric you\u2019re proud of but means very little to them, it\u2019s the equivalent of showing someone a song you really love and them just staring blankly back at you. It\u2019s about striking the balance between singing L&D\u2019s praises and giving people the data they need to keep progressing towards a goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Managing expectations<\/b><\/h2>\n

    One final point, make sure you\u2019re not over promising and under-delivering when it comes to what L&D is going to help achieve. If there was one word to keep in mind, it would be clarity. Be clear on what you need from others to achieve goals, make sure everyone understands what you\u2019ll deliver and set a timeframe for what you\u2019re going to achieve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    And as part of that, don\u2019t be afraid to say no – it might help you say yes to the right things and deliver on what really matters. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you\u2019re really going to align your L&D strategy with business goals, it\u2019s going to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":19319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3118],"tags":[1595],"yst_prominent_words":[281,534,1462,1608,1075,817,349,274],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19313"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19323,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19313\/revisions\/19323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19313"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}