How to Implement a Learning and Development Strategy

Learning and development (L&D) is the process by which a company empowers its employees with particular skills and knowledge to increase business performance. In general, the L&D process follows the 70:20:10 guideline, which suggests the ideal learning balance is 70 percent on-the-job learning, 20 percent collaboration- and interaction-based learning, and 10 percent formal training.

Learning and development strategies usually balance 70 percent on-the-job learning, 20 percent collaboration-based learning, and 10 percent formal training. This is known as the 70:20:10 guideline.

1. 1. On-the-job learning: The majority of an employee’s learning should come from on-the-job training, in which they learn the necessary skills and tools from team leaders and other employees. Organizations can facilitate this kind of learning by encouraging teams to prioritize instruction while working and having a robust offering of on-demand learning tools to answer employee questions as they arise.
2. 2. Collaboration-based learning: Collaboration-based learning should account for around 20 percent of an employee’s learning experience and be a mixture of mentoring opportunities, leadership shadowing, apprenticeships, and other activities that encourage cross-team and cross-department interaction.
3. 3. Formal training: Formal training should make up around 10 percent of an employee’s learning experience. These experiences may include real-time online courses, e-learning classes (especially through a learning management system or LMS, or a learning experience program or LXP), hands-on learning opportunities, and certifications.

Learning and development are vital for a company’s long-term success. It:

• Increases company-wide performance. With a strong talent development strategy, your employees actively improve their skills and learn new ones, which measurably increases work performance and reduces employee stress. In this way, L&D strategies are often cost-effective—you’re investing in your human capital to help generate more profits and an increased business impact.
• Creates a more attractive company environment. One of the top reasons people leave a job is that it didn’t offer growth or professional development opportunities. With a robust learning and development program, you create an environment of improvement, encouraging your current employees to stay (called “retention”) and attract new talent. Offering growth opportunities gives you a competitive advantage over other organizations that may not put as much effort into helping their employees grow. Employee development can also save you money because it’s much less expensive to offer skills training to a current employee than to hire and onboard a new one.
• Empowers your employees. With a learning and development strategy, you create an environment that shows you care about your employees and their future. As a result, your employees will feel empowered and more fulfilled in their work and as individuals.

Whether you’re running your startup or a newly hired L&D strategist with human resources, here are the basic steps to designing and implementing a successful L&D program:

1. 1. Assess the skills landscape at your company. To design a learning and development strategy, you’ll first need to identify and evaluate the skills and competencies the employees need most. Are there current areas in which employees can perform better? Are there skill gaps between teams or departments? Are there new skills for future roles that the company wants to fill? These are good questions to consider when designing a new learning and development strategy. In addition, think of a few key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you evaluate different programs—for instance, how well a program aligns with your business goals or how a program affects employee performance.
   
2. 2. Create a budget. Training programs aren’t free, so you’ll need to figure out how much money your company is willing to set aside for the training and career development process before you start reaching out to providers or designing programs.
3. 3. Find providers. Once you identify the skills you want to target and set your training budget, it’s time to start researching providers who can train your employees in these areas. Look online, talk with coworkers and leadership, and brainstorm programs. As you do this, find different learning methods that are interesting for employees with different learning styles and contribute to the 70:20:10 framework. Consider options like online classes, hands-on training, mentorship programs, certifications, leadership shadowing, or executive coaching.
4. 4. Implement the training programs. Let employees know about the programs you’re implementing, and hold sign-ups for mentorship programs or leadership shadowing. Schedule any date-based training throughout the year to avoid any major crunch weeks for any particular team. Drum up employee engagement in the programs by sending reminders and checking in. Participate in each training and development program yourself to ensure they’re well-designed and worthwhile.
5. 5. Measure and review. During or after each program, get employee feedback to see which programs they liked the most and what they’d like to see more of in the future. In addition, evaluate each program against your KPIs. You can also brainstorm new strategies for empowering new hires early on—for instance, considering which employee training programs you can implement right into the onboarding process.

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