Blog: Advancing the impact of Learning and Development

A question that everyone in the learning and development industry may ask is, how can we further the impact of learning and development for many students, specialists, and organisations?

Learning and development is the business function which continues to educate, train and improve employee capabilities at an individual and team level and is recognised as a primary source of business improvement. It is also a contributor to market leading developments in businesses.

How is L&D measured?

• At an individual level: by Employee Engagement & Satisfaction

o    How valued does the employee feel in terms of investment, development, and recognition?

• At an organisational level: ROI (return on investment)

o    What impact did the training have to the business in terms of efficiency, cost saving, effectiveness and results from an individual?

Where are we now in the L&D industry?

• Spending has grown in double digits for 4 years in a row
• Leadership development spending grew by 14% year on year in 2014 which is the highest growth in a decade
• 500+ universities
• 18+ million students

High-impact learning organisations tend to understand that the purpose of measurement is to capture information in order to improve the efficiency, capability, and positioning of the entire L&D function. Comparing this information against the rest of the industry enables leaders to pinpoint potential problem areas and make better investments.

How can we improve?

• Many companies are desperately looking for ways to build leaders from millennials
• Changes in learning delivery

o    “Chalk and Talk” – known to many as formal classroom delivery, which has significantly reduced from 77% to 53% of training delivery method

o    Online learning solution has increased by 12% over the past year as a result of

• One of the strongest predictors of high-impact learning organisation is its capabilities

Individuals and organisations are striving to gain the most knowledge and expertise in specific areas to either make them more employable or ‘the best in the trade’. With the current learning and development strategies constantly changing, everyone in the industry will need to be able to cope with the extra pressure of millions of more students that want to learn on demand.