Learning leaders in high-growth organizations should proactively support that growth by linking the department’s strategies to the business. Although there are no standardized approaches for accomplishing this, experts at the Center for Effective Performance (CEP) agree that learning leaders need a keen understanding of their company and its workforce before making the necessary critical decisions. These decisions should be made based on a thorough understanding of the growth strategy, an analysis of the organization’s current workforce capacity and an assessment of the workforce’s strength and weaknesses.
Atlanta, GA (HRMarketer/PRWeb) November 10, 2005 -- Learning leaders in high-growth organizations should proactively support that growth by linking the department’s strategies to the business. Although there are no standardized approaches for accomplishing this, experts at the Center for Effective Performance (CEP) training consultants agree that learning leaders need a keen understanding of their company and its workforce before making the necessary critical decisions. These decisions should be made based on a thorough understanding of the growth strategy, an analysis of the organization’s current workforce capacity and an assessment of the workforce’s strength and weaknesses.
In the ideal world, organizations should consider the learning strategy as part of the comprehensive organizational growth strategy, together with other key human capital considerations such as talent management. But even if that level of coordination does not exist, “there are still a number of strategies the learning and development leader can employ to support the growth,” explains Anthony Jaccarino, Senior Performance Consultant at CEP.
CEP recommends that learning leaders first gain a thorough understanding of the growth strategy, including:
· Whether the new strategy materially changes the business operations
· What the catalyst or driver for the growth strategy will be (such as new partnerships, acquisitions, or increased volume derived from increased marketing)
· What the business expects the scale and timeline of the impact to be
· What lessons can be learned from others (competitors or those in similar industries) who have employed this strategy in the past
Learning leaders will need this information in order to develop a learning strategy that links to the business strategy.
Next, learning leaders need to assess the capacity of both the workforce and the learning organization to meet the organization’s needs. Leaders must assess the current state of the workforce in terms of knowledge, skills, and ability. There are certainly talent management issues that must be considered.
“Organizations should determine if there are identified high performers who can quickly transition into management roles in the growth phase,” notes Jaccarino. “An important consideration is whether or not these new managers will be effective mentors for the staff, and if not, what other coaching options are available.”
In developing the linking strategy, the learning organization also needs to assess its own capacity, strengths and weaknesses. Decision points include whether the function should be centralized or pushed out into the business centers.
“In high-growth environments, it makes sense to embed the training in the business functions for maximum flexibility and rapid response. Organizations should outsource the development of any custom training rather than trying to build it with embedded staff,” says Jaccarino.
Learning leaders who are able to link the learning strategy to the business strategy will position the organization for successful execution, and will position themselves as a valued resource to company executives.
About CEP
The Center for Effective Performance (CEP) is the industry leader in helping organizations turn their workforce into a competitive advantage. For two decades, CEP has helped clients execute critical strategic initiatives, including sales performance improvement, customer service enhancement, ERP and proprietary systems implementations, best practice implementation, new product launch success, and address people issues resulting from mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring. With 26 international awards, and 800 years of collective experience, our expert consultants help align workforce performance to business strategies, create a performance-based culture, and develop training with guaranteed results.
For more information, go to www.cepworkforceperformance.com.
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