Learning and Development

A Practical Introduction

Rebecca Page-Tickell

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781398605831
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

How can learning initiatives contribute to employee and organizational success? This is a practical introduction to the principles of designing and delivering effective training and L&D programmes. Providing diagnostic tools, scenarios and case studies, Learning and Development demonstrates how to link learning to strategic business goals and explores both the benefits and complexities associated with L&D. This updated third edition features a new chapter on designing learning interventions, covering technology-led development and the impact of virtual learning. There is also guidance on making learning and development strategies accessible and inclusive for all employees, and information on metrics that can be used for measuring effectiveness. Learning and Development features guidance in essential areas including identifying L&D needs, selecting the most appropriate types of intervention and the processes of measurement and evaluation. Online resources include extended case studies, an annotated literature review and self-evaluation tools. HR Fundamentals is a series of succinct, practical guides featuring exercises, examples and case studies. They are ideal for students and those in the early stages of their HR careers.

Part One

Fundamentals of Learning and Development

01

Defining learning and development

Introduction

In this book, I will address learning and development in the workplace. This considers the challenge that every organization faces of how to make best use of its people resource both to capitalize on any opportunities that it uncovers as well as to gain a competitive advantage through the capability of its people. Learning and development (L&D) is the process used by both owners and employees in a business/organization to endow it with all the people capabilities and resources required for its ongoing success. It primarily involves the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes by both groups and individuals. It consists of a range of tools and techniques, typically combined into a programme following an overarching goal and philosophy linked to strategic business goals. This is typically coordinated through an organization to support the achievement of overarching strategic goals, at organizational, team and individual levels. In this way, a learning and development strategy is built to serve the current and emerging needs of the organization to build sustainable success.

In this chapter I will develop this definition further to uncover some of the fundamental principles of learning and development. Later on in the book I will discuss how to design and deliver effective learning and development. I will take account of the various stakeholders involved and identify what makes an effective learning and development intervention as well as how to identify its effectiveness.

The definition of learning and development above indicates that the focus is primarily on the outcome of enhancing people and organizational capability. It may be inferred from this that it involves a smorgasbord of perspectives and approaches for and from varying individuals and groups. Like motherhood and apple pie it is typically considered ‘a good thing’. However, closer analysis reveals that this multiple perspective and influence can limit its effectiveness. As anyone who has sought to deliver learning and development will attest, the conflicting requirements of each group, approach and perspective rapidly muddy the waters. It is therefore very important for an L&D practitioner to retain a clear focus on what they are aiming to achieve both within individual offerings as well as for the programme as a whole. They should also take care to respond to changes in their environment, including new technology, industry developments and any changes of leadership or ownership of the organization. These changes can often impact the specific capability profile of employees and so impact the L&D outcomes.

Figure 1.1 aims to represent some of the core factors impacting on successful delivery of learning and development. The book will expand upon this multiplicity of demands to enable the practitioner to identify a successful approach in their own context. With the rate of change being so rapid, these factors may morph into new issues quickly. Learning professionals need to be aware of the need to work at pace to provide learning opportunities when they are needed as waiting to build offerings can mean that the learning opportunity is missed.

Figure 1.1 Primary factors impacting on learning and development

Figure 1.1 details

The principles are as follows: national and international priority areas at a government level, strategic business goals, impact of national, international and varying cultural and legislative regimes, stakeholders perspective, from stakeholders, through CEO, board, manger, employee, customer, supplier and competitor, new developments in the understanding of people and organizations, industry and or professional-specific requirements, varying tools and techniques for learning and development and varying requirements b organization size, micro through to MNC.

I will also discuss the various constraints and influencing factors on the learning and development function itself. I will address a range of approaches to structuring the function, from embedding it within strategic business units, through to outsourcing it to external organizations, almost in its entirety. This review of the place and importance of the function is important in view of its place in the organization and the impact it can have on elements such as employee engagement and organizational commitment. I discuss issues around responsibility for learning, the history of training and development and also how the outcomes of learning and development can impact on an organization’s capabilities. The approach is not entirely uncritical and I will question the value that learning could add and seek to understand why it is not always leveraged to its fullest extent.

I will also view learning and development through the eyes of the organization. How does learning and development contribute to organizational capability and strategic development? In short, how does it help the organization gain and retain a competitive advantage? This discussion will incorporate a consideration of the impact of recent changes in the broader socio-economic environment, driven particularly by the Covid-19 pandemic. This has led to a rapid increase in online working and learning accompanied by an increase in hybrid patterns of working in which people work from a variety of locations in various patterns. These patterns vary from working entirely from home or from work, or combining the two. The longer-term impact of this on the efficacy of L&D interventions is not yet clear.

Finally, I will touch on some of the new developments in this area and I will consider a case study that demonstrates both the benefits and complexities associated with learning and development.

What is ‘learning and development’?

Learning and development is an internal function whose purpose is to build the capability of the organization. The CIPD notes that ‘A learning and development (L&D) strategy is an organizational strategy that articulates the workforce capabilities, skills or competencies required, and how these can be developed, to ensure a sustainable, successful organization’ (CIPD L&D strategy factsheet). L&D sits within the wider HR function and recognizes that we are all involved in a constant, ongoing process of learning and development. It happens consistently in our homes, during our leisure time and in our workplace as well. It is said that as humans we either change or die! Well, the process of learning and development is changing, adapting and growing to meet and overcome challenges and change. Every stage of life involves change and we could profit from reviewing how we have adapted to some of the major changes in our own lives. How did we predict the change? To what did we attribute it? One of the fathers of psychology, William James (1890), noted: ‘Whilst part of what we perceive comes through our senses from the object before us, another part (and it may be the larger part) always comes out of our own mind.’ That is, we do not perceive reality directly, rather we mediate it through our expectations and experiences. So, if we have benefited from a learning intervention such as coaching in the past we will approach it with a far more positive frame of mind than someone who undertook coaching reluctantly as part of a redundancy package.

This process of attribution impacts how I understand what is happening around me and how I engage with it. It also impacts the choices that I make, for example: What resources have I had access to and have I gathered to overcome the challenge? I probably had some prior experience that I could adapt to the new experience. Consider that the first day in your first job is not a million miles from the first day in your most recent job. You probably discussed it in advance with friends or a partner or other supporter and whilst you were travelling this change you probably reviewed what was happening and what it meant with those same people. Then, once the change had become established and predictable you could look forward to the next developments.

In our home life this may be focused on personal relationships, a move across the country or having children. In the workplace it may be a change of market conditions, a new manager, a new role within an organization or redundancy. Each of these are changes for an individual to predict, meet and deal with.

The same process applies to an organization; however, the added layer of complexity is that the number of attributions and perspectives is roughly equal to the number of employees. Therefore, there is a clear need for organizational management of the process of learning and development, focusing on the learning from each situation to draw out and share the learning points. This enables a more focused and coordinated response across the organization to the change.

Is this training, learning and development, organization development or human resource development?

This function has a number of different labels, which reflect the specific focus of those who historically developed the function. An early term was training. This remains a very important part of the development process. Tim Baker notes ‘The fundamental difference between training and learning and development is that the latter takes a multi-dimensional approach to human resource development (HRD). Training, on the other hand, is one-dimensional and based essentially on what has been referred to as the “production-centred” approach’ (Baker, 2014). Learning therefore involves many different approaches and opportunities for learning. It focuses on knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours to consider the whole person. Training however focuses primarily on skills and building a shorter term productivity. In this book I will address training as part of L&D.

You will also see this area referred to as human resource development. O’Toole (2010) notes that L&D typically ‘generally has longer-term aims. Development activities harness existing roles and the process of observation and reflection on real world situations. Examples of development activities can include buddying, coaching, mentoring, shadowing, action learning and immersion experiences’ (p. 422). HRD ‘ensures people have the competencies to meet their current and future job demands. HRD involves organized learning experiences provided by employers within a specified time with the aim of improving performance and of personal growth’ (p. 424). Each of these approaches can also be aligned with organizational development (OD) which O’Toole notes has a ‘focus on organizational change, building the capacity of teams, and on organizational communication channels and processes’ (p. 423).

Each of these terms concerns different approaches to building the responsiveness and capability of the organization. They emerge from specific challenges and together provide the practitioner with a rich set of resources. While you are studying this area you will find each of them to be of value and in many ways to be very overlapping in the real world of building employee and organization capability.

The emphasis here is on the active learning on the part of the employee, with them taking responsibility for their learning in partnership with the employing organization. The organization may be one among a number of bodies who additionally collaborate with the employee, for example, professional bodies such as:

• Royal College of Nursing;
• Solicitors Regulation Authority;
• Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

It may also include voluntary organizations such as:

• Sea Cadets;
• Scouts;
• Rotary International.

The organization will ideally act as a resource guiding the individual employee as well as teams and various groups to develop in line with the organization’s strategic aims. In this way the organizational capability can be built simultaneously with individual skills, knowledge and attitudes.

Why is learning and development valuable?

The pace of change in today’s world is increasing and is becoming less predictable. What we knew as children is not what our children know now. Our expectations are dissimilar to their expectations. Who could have guessed that generations following the baby boomers would experience reduced standards of living? Until very recently this was completely unimaginable. Yet, it is the reality that we are slowly starting to face. The vote for Brexit has also changed the whole playing field for our nation. The lack of clarity and confusion in the Brexit negotiations has caused angst for both individuals and organizations. This disconcerting fluidity in our environment is not entirely unrecognized. Indeed, in our society we are experiencing repeat shocks to our economic and sociological systems, including the recent Covid-19 pandemic. The potential to respond to this has varied across organizations with Li et al suggesting that it will be more difficult for SMEs, who often lack the capital and resources to maintain business operations in the face o...