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Consultant's corner
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development recently released
the findings of their Learning and Development Survey. The survey
of 2006 has strong resonance but raises some interesting conundrums.
More than 600 responses from L&D Managers in the private (62%)
public (29%) and voluntary sectors provided some significant indicators,
across several themes, the most interesting of which are highlighted
by these four:
- Demonstrating the value of learning and development
- Changes in workplace learning
- Developing a coaching culture
- Involvement in organisational change
Demonstrating the value of learning and development
Value is demonstrated and underpinned by the vast majority (91%)
undertaking some form of evaluation of their learning interventions.
However, only a small minority (18%) actually try to show ROI and
a large percentage (80%) believe they are providing more value to
the business than they can demonstrate – lack of time and
resource being cited as the prime barriers.
Another trend from the survey, that firmly underpins the conversations
we often have with our clients, is that to be a respected entity
in the organisation L&D has to be intimately connected to the
strategy of the organisation and clearly demonstrate the impact
they have upon it. The need to agree metrics and measures should
be the starting point for any intervention plan.
I believe this is evidenced by the fact that in many organisations
HR still struggles to establish its credentials as a valued business
partner and, I believe, the challenge for L&D is to not be tarred
with the same brush. It also seems to highlight that there is still
a credibility gap about the focus and nimbleness of L&D to really
support, add and show value to the business which it should do,
for example by identifying workforce trends and ensuring a proper
response, rather than just responding to business requests to fulfill
training needs.
Changes in workplace learning
It seems that on-the-job training is considered most effective
(39%) and that only 26% consider e-learning has altered the typical
interventions. I would question whether that is evidence that workflow
learning and EPSS solutions still have a long way to go before they
have really gained their rightful place in the learning toolkit?
I believe that greater levels of workplace learning means less
dependence on ILT, less generic learning and making more use of
coaching and bespoke and informal learning solutions.
Interestingly, several of the findings (see the table below which
highlights changes over the past three years) under this heading
actually seem to counter my concerns above. But if it is true that
credibility and business connection is so much better why is it
that surveys of other business directors highlight they still want
more transparency of the year on year productivity benefits brought
about by training?
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Developing a coaching culture
The topic of the year seems to be coaching – 79% of the respondents
claim to have a coaching initiative and want or have a coaching
culture. Barriers are cited as other work pressures and just over
half say that a lack of the skills is a problem. Clearly, all this
points to a real opportunity to provide blended coaching courses
and ensure blended solutions are designed to include appropriate
levels of coaching and support activities.
However, coaching cultures seem to be constrained by training;
a case study of the Children’s Society highlights that “one
of the main barriers to coaching is understood to be the dominant
‘training culture’ where employees assume they must
attend a training course to be able to do something.”
The cultures of coaching and learning (rather than training) therefore
have to prevail before the full performance potential can be realised.
Equally, the power of learning designs that include more supportive
devices and of learning technology like virtual classrooms can have
key roles to play in facilitating such cultures.
Involvement in organisational change
One of the most significant conundrums is highlighted by an almost
unanimous (93%) agreement that L&D implications are critical
in any change initiative but only 29% of organisations consider
them important when planning the initiatives. Further, only 27%
of L&D managers were involved during the planning stage of such
initiatives. All this points to the lack of inclusion L&D has
in change programmes – a further indicator of their level
of business connection!
All of these findings provide ratification for Epic's own learning
DNA model that fundamentally assesses and demonstrates the value
of L&D to the organisation. Through our approach to learning
audits - which defines the level of impact, the effectiveness of
interventions and the overall learning culture - we are able to
establish the launchpad for more powerful blended designs, more
effective implementation and evaluation procedures and so continually
improve the performance of your people.
Click
here to see the CIPD survey results
 Martyn
Sloman, CIPD Training, Learning and Development Adviser, commented,
"What the survey underlines is that there are huge challenges
facing the training function - but a huge opportunity beckons. Learning,
training and development are recognised as important but we cannot
dwell in the training room and hope that someone appreciates our
efforts. We must become better aligned with organisational priorities
and demonstrate value in all we do."
Epic Consulting is focused on building the capability of our clients
by providing practical advice on all aspects of learning strategy,
interactive design, blending, implementation and evaluation processes
as well as the wider needs for integration with IT systems and other
business processes. For an initial discussion on how our consulting
service could help your organisation, please contact: consulting@epic.co.uk
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