The essential components of a
successful L&D strategy PART III
6.
Measurement of impact on business performance
A learning strategy’s execution and impact should be measured
using key performance indicators (KPIs). The first indicator looks at business
excellence: how closely aligned all L&D initiatives and investments are
with business priorities. The second KPI looks at learning excellence: whether
learning interventions change people’s behavior and performance. Last, an operational-excellence
KPI measures how well investments and resources in the corporate academy are
used.
Accurate measurement is not simple, and many organizations still
rely on traditional impact metrics such as learning-program satisfaction and
completion scores. But high-performing organizations focus on outcomes-based
metrics such as impact on individual performance, employee engagement, team
effectiveness, and business-process improvement.
We have identified several lenses for articulating and measuring
learning impact:
Strategic alignment: How effectively does the learning strategy
support the organization’s priorities?
Capabilities: How well does the L&D function help colleagues
build the mind-sets, skills, and expertise they need most? This impact can be
measured by assessing people’s capability gaps against a comprehensive
competency framework.
Organizational health: To what extent does learning strengthen
the overall health and DNA of the organization? Relevant dimensions of the
McKinsey Organizational Health Index can
provide a baseline.
Individual peak performance: Beyond raw capabilities, how well
does the L&D function help colleagues achieve maximum impact in their role
while maintaining a healthy work-life balance?
Access to big data provides L&D functions with more
opportunities to assess and predict the business impact of their interventions.
7.
Integration of L&D interventions into HR processes
Just as L&D corporate-learning activities need to be aligned
with the business, they should also be an integral part of the HR agenda.
L&D has an important role to play in recruitment, onboarding, performance
management, promotion, workforce, and succession planning. Our research shows
that at best, many L&D functions have only loose connections to annual
performance reviews and lack a structured approach and follow-up to
performance-management practices.
L&D leadership must understand major HR management practices
and processes and collaborate closely with HR leaders. The best L&D
functions use consolidated development feedback from performance reviews as
input for their capability-building agenda. A growing number of companies are
replacing annual performance appraisals with frequent, in-the-moment feedback.7 This
is another area in which the L&D function can help managers build skills to
provide development feedback effectively.
Another example is onboarding. Companies that have developed
high-impact onboarding processes score better on employee engagement and
satisfaction and lose fewer new hires.8The L&D function can play
a critical role in onboarding—for example, by helping people build the skills
to be successful in their role, providing new hires with access to
digital-learning technologies, and connecting them with other new hires and
mentors.
8.
Enabling of the 70:20:10 learning framework
Many L&D functions embrace a framework known as “70:20:10,”
in which 70 percent of learning takes place on the job, 20 percent through
interaction and collaboration, and 10 percent through formal-learning
interventions such as classroom training and digital curricula. These
percentages are general guidelines and vary by industry and organization.
L&D functions have traditionally focused on the formal-learning component.
Today, L&D leaders must design and implement interventions
that support informal learning, including coaching and mentoring, on-the-job
instruction, apprenticeships, leadership shadowing, action-based learning,
on-demand access to digital learning, and lunch-and-learn sessions. Social
technologies play a growing role in connecting experts and creating and sharing
knowledge.
9.
Systems and learning technology applications
The most significant enablers for just-in-time learning are
technology platforms and applications. Examples include next-generation
learning-management systems, virtual classrooms, mobile-learning apps, embedded
performance-support systems, polling software, learning-video platforms,
learning-assessment and -measurement platforms, massive open online courses
(MOOCs), and small private online courses (SPOCs), to name just a few.
The learning-technology industry has moved entirely to
cloud-based platforms, which provide L&D functions with unlimited
opportunities to plug and unplug systems and access the latest functionality
without having to go through lengthy and expensive implementations of an
on-premises system. L&D leaders must make sure that learning technologies
fit into an overall system architecture that includes functionality to support
the entire talent cycle, including recruitment, onboarding, performance
management, L&D, real-time feedback tools, career management, succession
planning, and rewards and recognition.
L&D leaders are increasingly aware of the challenges created
by the fourth industrial revolution (technologies that are connecting the
physical and digital worlds), but few have implemented large-scale
transformation programs. Instead, most are slowly adapting their strategy and
curricula as needed. However, with technology advancing at an ever-accelerating
pace, L&D leaders can delay no longer: human capital is more important than
ever and will be the primary factor in sustaining competitive advantage over
the next few years.
The leaders of L&D functions need to revolutionize their
approach by creating a learning strategy that aligns with business strategy and
by identifying and enabling the capabilities needed to achieve success. This
approach will result in robust curricula that employ every relevant and
available learning method and technology. The most effective companies will
invest in innovative L&D programs, remain flexible and agile, and build the
human talent needed to master the digital age.
These changes entail some risk, and perhaps some trial and
error, but the rewards are great.
By
Jacqueline Brassey, Lisa Christensen, and Nick van Dam
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-essential-components-of-a-successful-l-and-d-strategy?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck&hlkid=609edfa945254ceeac7a25092f5ce385&hctky=1627601&hdpid=4a586936-e25d-452d-83b4-969eb0daa091
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