Creating a Corporate Learning Strategy and Ecosystem

Setting Up a Robust Learning Strategy and Ecosystem

Hey there. Thank you for tuning into the eLearning Champion pod. It's so good to have you back for a second episode today and thank you all for your appreciation for our previous episode.

If this is your first time here, well, how are you, welcome to you. I'm your host, UK, and this is the eLearning champion pod. This is your home to everything e-learning.

We discuss the ins and outs, bust various myths, and basically keep you on par with the eLearning world out there. Your success matters to us, and that's why we give you what matters to you.

0:0:43.590 --> 0:1:0.750
That being said, welcome to the second episode, and today we'll be talking about setting up a robust learning strategy and ecosystem to ensure that you can tackle the challenge of rapid employee upscaling and rescaling, which is the number one priority of organizations globally today.

0:1:1.800 --> 0:1:5.130
You were all praise for the speaker we had in a previous episode. Hence, we had to get her back. Yes, you heard that correct. We got Shalini Merugu joining us back for our second episode today. Welcome back, Shalini. It's great to have you again.

0:1:16.30 --> 0:1:16.700
Thank you, Ubaid. It's a pleasure to be here again. And I can't wait to get started.

0:1:21.600 --> 0:1:28.140
Before we get into the topic, let me just give a brief introduction about you to our audience here. Shalini is a versatile learning design professional with over 16 years of experience in instructional design, including instructor led training, virtual instructor led training, and e-learning. She's an expert in customer training, consulting, designing, learning, and user assistance solutions.

All that and still counting. She's got great hands-on experience in this domain, and that is exactly why she's the best fit to talk on this topic.

In the previous episode we talked at length about how learning and business goals go hand in hand and how important it is for all the business to incorporate these strategies into their work by ensuring our learning initiatives flow out of organization’s business goals.

Today, let's dive into the topic of where do we begin once we have the basic alignment in place. So let's start from that.

0:2:27.260 --> 0:2:27.550
What would you say are the next steps once we ensure our desired organizational results, desired performance and performance-based learning objectives, are all aligned?

Is it now a matter of designing and developing the required learning experiences or is there anything else we need to have in place before we dive into execution?

0:2:50.550 --> 0:2:52.240
That's a good question, Ubaid. Typically, we tend to dive right into the execution of specific learning experiences based on this preliminary step of being aligned with business outcomes and strategy.

But before going into the granular level, it's important we set the broader framework in terms of formulating a learning strategy and setting up the entire learning ecosystem. So I'd like to borrow a very interesting framework called the Academies Framework from McKinsey to help us see how we can do this.

This framework is a tool to conceptualize the learning strategy. It also touches upon all the various pieces of the learning ecosystem. So there are essentially 9 components, and I'll very quickly touch on each of them.

To go back to our previous podcast, we started with the business goals and the first one really is its continuation, the alignment with business strategy.

We saw this in the last podcast.

0:3:59.290 --> 0:4:9.120
While every leader acknowledges that it's very vital for the L&D function to be aligned with business strategy, only 40% of organizations that were polled said that L&D was aligned. This is critical because if your business strategy is say, digital transformation, then that is the area where L&D needs to step in to provide capabilities and build those specific skill sets in the workforce so that the business strategy or business goal of achieving digital transformation is met.

0:4:32.530 --> 0:4:39.570
As you know, businesses are always changing and the priorities of yesterday may not be relevant ones today. That surely has an impact on learning strategies. Can you share any example of changing business strategy being reflected in the learning strategy?

0:4:49.400 --> 0:5:26.970
Yeah, Ubaid, that's a very pertinent point you've raised here. You’re absolutely right in saying that these things are in a constant state of flux and once we have clarity on the business outcomes and the desired organizational results, we can't just sit back because a lot of times, because of the kind of agile environment we are in, businesses have to recalibrate and rethink very frequently. And what you said about this having an impact on learning strategies is very relevant, very true. I'd like to share a recent example.

In our experience of working with one of our top customers in the light of a reorganization or restructuring, it was essential for their teams to collaborate differently than how they were doing it earlier.

So with this increased focus on collaboration, part of the learning strategy involved setting up a collaborative platform where learners could finish their learning and engage with each other through group boards. All the learners were slotted into groups within the platform and could share insights and comment on each other's posts. All of this within the context of their learning experience.

0:6:9.570 --> 0:6:27.570
So the learning strategy included social learning and this was of course a collaborative aspect, and it was entirely aligned with the business strategy of purposeful collaboration that this customer had defined in the light of this reorg.

0:6:31.740 --> 0:6:32.650
That's very practical, yeah.

And the second component of this framework that I mentioned is co-ownership between business units and HR, co-ownership of the learning academy, the learning function. I think this is something that we've seen increasingly happen in the last couple of years and to drive the best possible results, it's very important for L&D to establish a framework in which business leaders and leaders in HR can come together and drive the prioritization of learning, the overall strategy right down to the budgets and securing the required funding. With this co-owned initiative between the business units and HR, there's more skin in the game, so to speak.

0:7:29.460 --> 0:7:31.170
I just have one more question over here. What would you say are the tangible ways in which we can facilitate co-ownership of business units with HR?

0:7:39.610 --> 0:7:41.80
Well, to begin with, instead of having conversations in silos with business leaders and with HR, we can bring everyone together as equally invested stakeholders.

0:7:50.650 --> 0:8:2.370
One aspect of the learning strategy is activating the business leaders. For a learning ecosystem to flourish, the involvement of business leaders is key. So we can work with business units, the leaders of business units, and HR to ensure that together we create a robust learning culture.

I'd like to talk more on this later, but another aspect of this co-ownership is that leaders and HR can together lead by example and role modelling. This is where L&D can play a critical role through their recommendations, through their valuable inputs, through their toolkits that they can set up.

They can also work with leaders in business units and HR to set up credentials for learners, both external and internal. As you know, this is a very important aspect of motivating learners and getting their engagement and buy in.

This is where we can really actively partner and make sure that we're all conversing from the same platform to drive meaningful outcomes.

Another important component of this learning strategy and the learning ecosystem is assessing the capability gaps.

A lot of L&D interventions of course do start with the intention of bridging a skill gap. However, one piece that typically goes missing in a lot of places is that of the current capability level. We do assess this in various ways, but what we really do need is a very formal competency framework so that we can gauge the current competency level.

0:9:46.930 --> 0:10:11.130
That is a very important piece because unless we have this in place, taking people's job roles and their current responsibilities and mapping them to the skill sets, mapping where they stand, and then seeing where they need to be, it is only once we do this can we go on to the next step of how this capability gap can be addressed through learning interventions.

0:10:11.180 --> 0:10:21.830
And so this is something where there is increasing focus and there needs to be a very robust competency mapping model in place for this to happen. Sometimes you may need to build a new set of skills in existing employees because of a change in the way the business is organized.

0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:50.210
I mentioned this example of the restructuring that necessitated a complete rethinking of the learning strategy and to be able to assess the competency gaps and to see the impacts.

0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:59.700
We drove a lot of conversations with business leaders to see what the impacts on various aspects for various key teams in the light of this restructuring and reorg are. The impact mapping is not necessarily something that can be leveraged only during key game changers like reorgs and restructuring. This is something which we can leverage in principle to see how we can map people's jobs, their tasks, their responsibilities, to the specific skill sets and capabilities that we are trying to drive.

0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:47.190
To add to what you shared just now with people shifting into new roles or new people being hired, there are bound to be a lot of upskilling and reskilling requirements and as a result, plenty of learning programs line up for them. So how do you make sure the learner has a cohesive, meaningful experience rather than feeling that they have been hit by a flood of different learnings?

0:11:57.830 --> 0:11:59.260
Yeah, that's a good question. And I think we've all been at the receiving end of a flood of training initiatives at some point or the other in our careers, and we surely don't want our learners undergoing a similar experience.

One good way to ensure that this doesn't happen is to design relevant, meaningful learning journeys. I think by now all of us know for sure that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. The increasing number of formats available for training, the increasing number of platforms, all of these are variables are things that we need to factor for in this mix. So it's very vital that we design learning journeys that are personalized to learner groups, if not for specific learners.

0:12:47.240 --> 0:13:16.860
That is something that addresses learning journeys, something that addresses learning as a continuous learning process, and not how we used to sometimes look at them as standard standalone one-off events. Now there is a lot of investment being made in making sure that at every stage in the learning journey, the learner is supported with the required learning intervention or the required learning resources.

0:13:17.650 --> 0:13:36.330
So creating pathways for learning really is very critical for the success of whatever we are trying to achieve in terms of learning. One way to do this is to come up with
role-specific learning journeys and give learners the big picture.

It's very important that learners have visibility into what is lined up for them, not just in the immediate present, but in the months to come, because this visibility is something that gives them the entire big picture.

0:13:59.390 --> 0:14:16.330
This is likely to get more buy in because they can start planning and they can start anticipating what is to come. It also acts as a motivation for them to finish their currently lined up learning experiences so that they are well prepared for what is coming up ahead.

0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:28.990
One thing I'd like to mention at this point is that we have leveraged blended learning extensively for creating these role-specific learning journeys.

And of course, with AI, which has really changed the face of learning, we can leverage it to create and deploy very valuable learning resources.

0:14:39.900 --> 0:14:43.620
But as I mentioned earlier, more on these aspects in our upcoming podcasts.

0:14:44.900 --> 0:14:48.350
I'd like to touch on a few more points about these learning journeys. It's very important that not only do we, as L&D professionals, setup and design these learning journeys and make sure that learners have visibility into them, but we also need to make sure that we are enabling learning by equipping managers with tips on how they can help their teams undertake these learning journeys.

0:15:17.780 --> 0:15:27.230
One way is to let managers know that they need to help their team members with their work schedules so that the learners in their teams can make time for learning journeys.

Some organizations, of course, give a dedicated one hour every week just for learning opportunities. Another way we can really make sure these learning journeys are weaved in meaningfully in the flow of work is leaders and managers making use of every available touch point with their teams, and role model their own learning, share aspects of their own learning.

0:15:59.100 --> 0:16:21.80
And one interesting example I'd like to share about leveraging learning journeys is do not just use them to build technical expertise. Use the various pieces in these learning journeys to touch on the other broader areas of soft skills. We did this for one of our customers. We built in aspects of collaboration, business etiquette because their engagement required collaborating with teams spread across geographies in new ways and also exploring brand portfolios in these various geographies. So we made it very interesting by weaving gamification and a cultural aspect throughout these learning journeys.

As I mentioned earlier, it's important for us to equip managers also to support their learning journeys. We did this by developing manager toolkits which would give managers very handy tips on how they could support their learners before they start their learning journeys, during the learning journeys, and after the learning journeys.

So we gave them very useful information on what they can say, what they can do, what they can ask, and so on.

0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:38.260
And such toolkits can become an integral part of how to use managers to build a learning culture, which is also one of the aspects of making sure that the learning ecosystem is thriving.

0:17:39.850 --> 0:17:49.950
Another best practice is, learning journeys, by definition, are something long term. They are a plan. They are a road map for the future and it's very important to, at regular intervals, act on the feedback that we’ve been receiving from learners and managers and take mid-course corrections as and when required.

0:18:10.290 --> 0:18:25.380
For instance, when we realized that learners were feeling a little overwhelmed in the light of the reorg and the restructuring and a lot of new things that they had to learn, we paused.

We set up a pause in the learning journeys and gave learners the opportunity of using catch-up weeks where pending learning experiences could be completed in time so that learners didn't feel they were lagging behind.

0:18:43.180 --> 0:18:58.120
So this is something where we have an ecosystem where various pieces are all impacting one another and informing one another, we really ensure that the chances of success go up.

0:19:2.0 --> 0:19:5.10
It's a very thoughtful and intellectual initiative.

0:19:15.290 --> 0:19:23.210
I mentioned the framework that we can use to formulate our learning strategy and the ecosystem.

Now, one of the important core components of that framework is our ability to execute. This is where finally we come into the execution and scale up effectively. So, typically we start with a pilot, we test it, and once we see the impact, then we scale it up.

It's very important to measure the impact of that pilot before we go ahead and scale it up because although budgets for L&D have increased a lot in recent years, and we are no longer fighting for better budgets, it is our ability to execute and scale up effectively which will determine L&D budgets in the years to come. Because unless we demonstrate here that the scaling is being done effectively, efficiently, there won't be any proof of the ROI.

So, a best practice many organizations use to scale effectively is to go in for external staff augmentation services to support them in their learning initiatives.

0:20:23.350 --> 0:20:34.390
This way they can select the specific skill sets they want, for the duration they want, without having to add internal resources for which they may not have a budget or even a long term need.

So that is one of the aspects which I found very useful in our ability to scale up effectively. Closely related to measuring the impact, and we touched upon it in our first podcast where we talked about business goals, unless we have clarity on the business goals and clarity on the kind of impact we are hoping to achieve, we can’t measure it.

:21:6.730 --> 0:21:9.920
So this is where your KPIs play a big role. The key performance indicators, of course.

At a theoretical level, we all know that it's important to measure the impact. There are different levels at which we can see the KPIs.

One is at the level of excellence of the business, which really begins with ensuring the L&D function is aligned with the business strategy, with the business goals of the organization. The other is to do with the set of KPIs that relate to learning excellence, which is where we evaluate whether our learners have been able to demonstrate application, a change in behavior on the job.

Has it made a tangible difference?

And traditionally, we've measured our impact at Kirkpatrick levels 1 and 2, but there really is a very urgent and compelling need to go beyond it to demonstrate the impact, and overall, whatever we have done as an L&D function that has contributed to helping the business, to helping our organization meet its business outcomes.

0:22:19.330 --> 0:22:28.440
Yeah, I think measurement is something that's very crucial that we touched base in the last episode as well, cannot agree more to that.

0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:50.110
Now another aspect to make sure that we succeed in our learning strategy, in the setting up of a robust ecosystem is to make sure that L&D is not only aligned with the business leaders and the business units, but that it is very closely integrated with HR as well.

0:22:51.400 --> 0:23:4.690
I think we can all recall a time when it was a little more compartmentalized than it is today, but now there is a more seamless way of working together with HR and at L&D, our role has expanded.

We play a critical role right from recruitment, designing the onboarding experience, the subsequent skill building, the performance management, the talent management part of it, right down even to the succession planning and the career progression.

So, basically at every step in the learner's engagement or their employment at a given organization, we have a critical role to play. As we work very closely with the HR function, and as I mentioned earlier, we also work with HR to create a learning culture with the active involvement of leaders to drive it. And other ways in which we can help HR work with us is in making sure that learners are rewarded and recognized for their learning.

And this is something where HR can highlight it, communicate it by way companywide newsletters and town halls, and maybe even highlight key significant learning events.

And if there's some change happening in an organization, touch upon which learning interventions to highlight during this change management phase.

And so that's something where L&D can work very closely with HR and make sure we can add value to the HR function. We can be valued partners, not just with business unit leaders, but also with HR.

0:24:38.0 --> 0:24:43.240
Alright, you mentioned L&D needs to be integrated very closely with HR. Creating a vibrant learning culture by partnering with HR is one aspect. But can you share any other example or examples?

0:24:53.280 --> 0:25:5.950
Umm, another example that I can share off the top of my head is L&D working with HR and being a part of their HR agenda. Let me explain what I mean by this.

When we understand major HR management practices and processes, we can collaborate closely with HR. For example, when it comes to our annual performance reviews, most learners have the official HR communication on it, but L&D can partner with HR to ensure that learners are prepared for the HR processes involved by touching on the softer side of the process.

0:25:36.320 --> 0:25:50.150
For instance, if there is a performance management that's happening mid-year in a given organization, L&D can make sure that we roll out something which helps managers have these kind of conversations and they learn from each other. We can set up something where they are not only learning, not only do they know the official HR communication part of it, the HR process part of it, but they're also engaging with each other to share insights and best practices and also preparing for the mid-year and end of year reviews.

This is where L&D can help managers ensure that informal feedback is being given all year long so that people are not surprised at the end. So we can do this by building up our team sessions with managers, by building focused discussion groups with managers, and making sure that we are partnering with HR to ensure that these HR processes happen very smoothly, and that people are well equipped in terms of what they need to be doing. And L&D can also partner with HR by using high level feedback that comes out of performance reviews, because this kind of feedback that is shared by HR at a very high level, of course I do understand that we can't have access to confidential information at the learners’ level, but there can be high level insights that are shared by HR based on the annual performance appraisals which can in turn help us in L&D inform our decisions going forward in terms of the kind of learning initiatives we come up with for upskilling and rescaling.

So that is another thing that we can leverage.

Now I think one essential part of our learning strategy and the overall ecosystem is to enable the 70-20-10 framework. For those of you who are familiar with it, I think we've all been doing this to some degree.

The 70-20-10 refers to 70% of learning happening on the job, 20% happening through social or peer learning, and 10% happening through formal training.

These are just rough guidelines and I'm sure the exact percentages vary from organization to organization, but we have begun to notice, even in our own interactions with our customers, that there is an increasing shift to roll out more formal training. So that has gone up by a huge 10%.

So now it's more of 20% of formal training. What we can do is be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to integrate all of these aspects into the learners’ learning journeys, not just the 20% of formal training, but also the social learning and the
on-the-job learning.

And there are various channels and formats that we can leverage, not just the typical VILTs and ILTSs but the eLearning, the fireside chats, the video-based learnings, we can really leverage multiple platforms such as Teams channels and the communities of practice, both inside the organization and outside of it, and set up mentoring and coaching systems in place.

0:29:17.860 --> 0:29:22.350
And like I mentioned before, be very purposeful about the way we use Team meets. Start using them from a learning perspective, and so on.

0:29:31.120 --> 0:29:32.550
I just have one question over here. To what extent do you think that the organizations have really realized the 70-20-10 framework?

0:29:43.130 --> 0:29:46.720
So it really depends on organization to organization. And as I mentioned earlier, this is not something carved in stone, the 70-20-10.

I think we've all deployed it to varying degrees, but I think you will agree that we've gone beyond just focusing on the formal training aspect.

Now we’re making sure we integrate formal training very meaningfully with the on the job learning experiences which could involve learners monitoring something, analyzing, troubleshooting, conducting experiments, shadowing someone.

As part of the 70-20-10 framework, we can make sure that learning resources are available at the learner's point of need, and that the social aspect which is really the peer-to-peer learning and the team-based kind of learning is integrated within the learning journey.

And like I mentioned before, we can be more deliberate about enabling learner engagement across multiple channels.

0:30:45.290 --> 0:31:1.650
Now the biggest advantage of doing all this is that we are in a sense creating continuous learning pathways. And so there are multiple touch points for learners to engage with each other, to engage with mentors, or to engage with industry experts.

And when it comes to the formal learning aspect of it, we have digital learning in its many avatars. We have ILTs and VLTs being repurposed in the form of E-learnings or digital learnings, by dividing them up into relevant pieces, adding the required engagements, interactivities and assessments, and so on.

This really brings me to the last point, because that is something which enables all of this. And I think we can all agree that learning technology is really the game changer for the training function, without which all of that which I shared here today wouldn't really be possible.

0:31:55.790 --> 0:32:3.930
So technology platforms and applications that enable just in time learning, these are just some of the things that every organization is investing in. We have next generation learning management systems, we have virtual classrooms, we have mobile learning apps that also include micro learning apps, which are a significant growing trend.

0:32:17.280 --> 0:32:34.170
We also have these embedded performance support systems, polling software, learning video platforms, assessment platforms, and all of this is possible only with learning technology.

0:32:35.420 --> 0:32:56.950
When it comes to the nitty gritty of getting down into designing and developing our learning experiences, then we have AI, artificial intelligence, and AI based tools which are now our new best friend. We will explore the why and how of it in subsequent sessions.

0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:3.30
And to just bring it all together, the various components of this framework that I talked about today, I would like to say that these are the few aspects that we need to keep in mind when formulating our overarching learning strategy and building and nurturing our learning ecosystem.

Our success depends on how effectively we integrate all of these into a seamless experience for the learners.

0:33:32.700 --> 0:33:33.310
That's great. Thank you, Shalini. That was a very useful framework, and from all that you have shared, the various pieces of the learning ecosystem and strategy are all interconnected, with each component impacting the other. When we tackle it comprehensively, the success of a learning initiative actually goes up.

0:33:55.900 --> 0:33:57.750
And yeah, thank you for your time. It's been great talking, and I look forward to have you again in the future.

0:34:2.730 --> 0:34:3.500
Thank you, Ubaid. My pleasure.

0:34:5.140 --> 0:34:5.950
You're welcome. And thank you everyone in the audience for listening to us so patiently and I hope it was beneficial for you to as well.

Please subscribe to our podcast if you haven't yet.

And yes, I'll see you in the next one.