Being an L&D professional comes with its challenges. As a core foundation of your organization’s growth, an effective L&D strategy can improve employee retention, engagement, performance, skills proficiencies, etc. But, sometimes, mistakes can happen, hampering the L&D processes. However, if you have clarity on these mistakes beforehand, you can review and resolve them quickly.
This blog will walk you through some common mistakes L&D managers must avoid. So, why don’t we get into the details?
It's not about the number of L&D programs conducted annually. It's the result achieved through these initiatives that matter. Some L&D professionals fail to consider this while creating organizational learning and development plans. Moving forward with achievements, one of the primary reasons for conducting L&D programs is attaining business growth.
For that purpose, it is essential to have your L&D programs aligned with your business requirements and goals. If not, it would impact your employees’ performance, hamper their learning experience, and, most importantly, cause concerns in attaining business targets.
As per Brandon Hall Group's 2020 Learning Strategy Study, 87% of the participants in the survey mentioned that L&D and business goal alignment need to be a priority. However, only 13% of them said they had acted upon them. Similarly, Josh Bersin has said only 10 to 15% of companies have L&D programs well-aligned with their business strategies.
As per a recent survey that involved 1500 managers, 75% stated that they were dissatisfied with the L&D programs provided by their companies. This can be further substantiated by a Gartner survey involving 7,101 employees, where only 29% of the participants agreed that their company's L&D initiatives offer relevant learning solutions.
To cut a long story short, there are different reasons, ranging from lack of alignment with career objectives and learning needs to concern with the practical workspace application of these learning programs, that make employees unsatisfied with their company's L&D initiatives.
When things like these happen, it increases employee turnover, impacting retention. It is because, in today's world, employees are much more concerned about career advancement opportunities than salary. This is decipherable from a study published in Forbes, where 55% of employed participants stated they value career growth over income.
By adopting these measures, L&D managers like you can identify your employees' learning needs and align your L&D strategies accordingly.
In 2022, 49% of organizations increased their L&D budgets compared to the previous years, as per an HR leaders survey conducted by Capterra. While making such hefty investments in L&D, measuring these activities' return on investment (RoI) is vital.
But, one of the common mistakes made by L&D professionals is that they fail to measure the ROIs of their L&D programs. It is mainly because there is a lack of clarity on measuring these programs, as each training program is unique in its own way.
Previously, organizations measured the ROI based on the number of attendees, surveys, etc. As per a research survey including 4000 respondents published by Statista in February 2018, 43% of the participants replied that their organization opted for qualitative employee surveys for measuring L&D activity's ROI. Other metrics adopted include:
Another way to measure ROI is based on setting Key Performance Indicators or KPIs, including business, learning, and operational excellence. You can also rely on skills validation and skills intelligence to analyze and measure the results unbiasedly and accurately.
Flexibility and agility are crucial in upskilling, reskilling, or other L&D activities. For instance, consider your company intends to have a training program for your employees and provide them with two options.
So, what would a majority of your employees choose?
Undoubtedly, most employees would prefer flexibility and an opportunity to learn independently. This can be further substantiated by a research study by FinanceOnline, where 58% of the respondents stated that they prefer to learn at their own pace.
You can do so via:
Besides this, it is essential to bring functional flexibility to your L&D initiatives. As per Gartner, only 36% of employees who participated in a survey of 7,101 employees said that their companies facilitate easily accessible L&D measures.
According to Gartner, you can overcome this functional issue by:
Following a decade-old L&D strategy can harm your organization more than benefit you because skills, jobs, and the way of work are changing drastically. Therefore, reviewing your L&D strategies regularly is one way to stay up-to-date and relevant. While doing so, here are a few things to consider to ensure its effectiveness:
Most of us learned about remote and hybrid work cultures with the shift brought in by the pandemic. But, in reality, it was a concept that evolved in the late 1900s. Today, there is a drastic increase in the adoption of these two work cultures, and organizations have to develop their strategies, including their L&D plans, to ensure that it's inclusive.
Using the same L&D strategy for remote and on-site employees is a common mistake made by L&D professionals. For instance, consider that your organization has on-site and remote employees, and your company conducts a leadership training program for all your employees. In this scenario, the remote employees would watch the on-site program live streaming. This would hamper the effectiveness of the program.
To overcome such a pitfall, organizations must curate specialized learning plans and adopt technology to make learning inclusive for all learners.
Internal collaboration and knowledge-sharing platforms are two effective ways to enhance peer-to-peer learning and institutional knowledge within your company. Failing to consider these two measures as priorities can be two grave mistakes made by L&D professionals.
With increased remote work culture, internal collaboration can reduce the chances of employees working in silos, impacting business growth. Employees collaborating in L&D practices can help them interact, communicate, and learn better.
Knowledge sharing is also a collaborative peer-learning initiative where you can retain and build institutional knowledge. By conducting internal knowledge-sharing sessions, your employees can better understand your company’s positioning, values, products, or services. Apart from these internal training sessions, you can preserve institutional knowledge through personal mentorship programs.
Several innovations are happening within the world of Learning and Development, from cloud-based learning platforms to deep learning through Artificial Intelligence. As an L&D professional, being unaware of these developments and failing to incorporate them into your L&D strategies could impact the effectiveness of your L&D programs.
You can reap these benefits, especially when popular HR technologies are incorporated within your HR functionalities.
Thus, if you are an L&D professional, it is time to make the best out of technology to stay ahead of your competition and to be on par with the changes happening within the skills landscape.
Thus, by avoiding these L&D mistakes, you can future-proof your talent and build a skill-fit talent pool aligning with your business goals and requirements.
So, why not improve your L&D strategies and programs to optimize your employees' learning and development activities and attain sustainable business growth?