The software demo went well. There were three people from a marketing agency exploring our client’s software for their people, contractors and their clients. They have some interesting ideas on how they want to implement the software to support their growth strategy and I hope our client has the chance to work with them.
About 10 minutes after the software demo, my client had a call from the ‘HR’ person and my client hesitated for a second and then answered the call.
“Thanks for the demo, Calum. There is just one thing. Our partners have asked me to create a learning strategy for our employees initially and then one to include the contractors. I am not really sure where to start. Can you help us out?”
This topic is one of my ‘hot buttons’ and I will not dwell on my opinions and philosophies here. My client was on the back foot responding to the call but indicated he has a partner who specialises in strategy (me), and he would introduce us. I welcomed this opportunity and so began an interesting and rewarding process of helping a good sized marketing agency develop a learning strategy for their people. This also solidified the relationship between my client and the marketing agency.
When you take a high level view of learning strategy, what do you see? What are the primary strategic roles that learning and development should play in an organisation? There are 5 that seem to be the most common regardless of the business or the type of organisation.
Attract and retain talent. People need personal and professional development to grow and remain employable and individuals are largely in charge of their own growth. Learning opportunities are a big factor in people accepting roles and the lack of learning opportunities is a big factor for losing talent.
Create a great culture aligned with the organisation’s values. Culture helps build and maintain community and camaraderie and especially so when the workforce may be remote or working from home. People are interested in working for values based, sustainable businesses.
Building capabilities of your people. We are in a time of transformation in so many areas including the workplace. People are working remotely, new technologies are evolving and organisations must embrace change to remain competitive. The best way to build capabilities is offering learning opportunities that are keeping pace or ahead of the changes impacting your people.
Engage your people. Engagement is fostered with learning and opportunities to build new competencies. When people can see how their learning is aligned with the organisation’s strategy, you will support a sense of purpose and encourage engagement and motivation.
Employer branding. Investing in learning and development is one facet of building a brand as ’employer of choice.’ Organisations need to work hard to compete for talent and having a strong brand backed up with a value proposition of learning and development will attract talent.
These are 5 strategic roles that learning and development professionals contribute to their organisations. Each of these 5 pillars are essential to build sustainable growth in highly competitive markets.
When developing strategy, many businesses overlook learning. This is particularly common in technology firms that tend to have their focus on growth and operations. Many of my clients are small to medium MSPs and software businesses that see big dollar signs when they consider investing in learning. This is definitely not the case.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss learning strategy for your tech business. It is an essential part of your overall growth strategy.
