ADDRESSING A
KEY L&D DILEMMA
THE PERFORMANCE FOCUSED DEV MODEL
BY NEVILLE PRITCHARD
Why do business managers have issues with L&D departments? What is the problem that L&D
professionals have with business Managers?
In recent research, conference content and client activity I have found an alarming level of disconnect between business leaders, line managers and central HR; in particular the Learning & Development functions. In a ‘C’ Level report by the American Society for Training & Development (now Association for Talent Development) there were distinct differences in priority and expectations of L&D between the C level respondents and the CLOs or Heads of L&D. We have also seen this dilemma of difference enhanced by confusing the needs of learners with the drive to justify the management of learning & L&D as a whole.
The issue is deeply hidden in the ‘end of the telescope’ being looked through. I have interviewed a number of Heads of Learning, corporate learning professionals, also L&D consultants and self- employed trainers who believe they are acting with the business in mind. They understand the business priorities; they are still looking at them through the functional lens.
Organisation management express dissatisfaction in responsiveness, with overly crafted events, with expensive e-learning lacking ‘punch’ and a shortage in real issue resolution. The L&D functions are accused of being too slow, too expensive and too inflexible. Even with the increased awareness from the use of ‘Learning journeys,’ continuous learning, the AGES design principles, advances in learning technology and 70:20:10 conceptual approaches, all are strongly biased to the Learning end of the telescope.
With this in mind I have developed three models to help distinguish the real need for
ORGANISATION/BUSINESS focus in L&D thought processes. Within these models the capabilities required of a Learning and Development or Talent Professional may be encouraged within a 21st Century professional development framework. In this issue we set the stage with an overview of the three models. In future models we will explore each in more detail and finally conclude how L&D can transform from being valued to being valuable.
There is an underpinning issue; Training, L&D, Talent, Leadership development and all people development functions speak a different language. We have been speaking it for so long we believe it is the common language of everyone else. Like the English abroad, we believe everyone can understand us and appreciate our desire to be aligned with the business.
I have found that there are three essential foundation strands to L&D strategy and operational implementation.