LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

Investing in learning and development (L&D) can help bridge skills gaps, improve workplace culture, and increase employee engagement and retention rates. Moreover, it is increasingly being recognized as one of the most reliable ways for businesses to improve their ROI and overall profitability. According to Deloitte (2019), the development of new skills has become a top human capital trend.

What is learning and development?

Learning and development is a structured process designed to improve an employee's skills, knowledge, and proficiency, leading to better job performance. Learning involves acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes, while development entails expanding and enhancing one's knowledge in alignment with their developmental objectives.

The objective of learning and development is to improve the behavior of individuals or groups by sharing knowledge and insights that help them perform better at work or cultivate attitudes that enhance their performance (Lievens, 2011).There are subtle differences between learning, training, and development, which are shown in the table below.

Concept	Description
Learning	The acquisition of knowledge, skills, or attitudes through experience, study, or teaching. Training, development, and education all involve learning.
Training	Training is aimed at teaching immediately applicable knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be used in a specific job. Training may focus on delivering better performance in the current role or to overcome future changes.
Development	Development is aimed at the long term. It revolves around the broadening or deepening of knowledge. This has to fit within one’s personal development goals and the (future) goals of the organization. Development usually happens voluntarily.
Education	Education is a more formal way to broaden one’s knowledge. Education is often non-specific and applicable for a long time and is especially relevant when a person has little experience in a certain area.

Learning and development strategies

According to Dave Ulrich, the most important thing HR can give an employer is a company that wins in the marketplace. The question is, what are the learning and development strategies that help to do this?

                                                          van Gelder and colleagues (ENG)

A learning and development strategy can be guided by a useful model created by van Gelder and colleagues (ENG). The model, originally named 'Pedagogical Analysis', begins by assessing the organizational starting situation and the prior knowledge of the learners, based on which learning goals and objectives are defined. This information is used to determine the subject matter, teaching methods, and learning activities. The outcome is then monitored and evaluated, and based on the evaluation, the goals and objectives are updated.

Based on this model, we identify four phases required to create an effective learning and development process.

1. An analysis of training needs (starting situation)
2. Specification of learning objectives
3. Design of training content and method
4. Monitoring and evaluation

Methods of learning

We already mentioned some methods of learning – but there are many more. We will list a number of them below. However, this list is far from comprehensive.

1. Lectures and seminars. This is a more formal setting often used in universities with a lecturer and students. The setting inhibits interaction.
2. Discussion groups. Highly interactive setting aimed at sharing viewpoints.
3. Debate. Highly interactive setting aimed at convincing others of one’s viewpoints.
4. Case study and projects. These actively involve the participant and activate them to come up with solutions and answers.
5. Experiential activities. These involve active participation and are often used in team building

• Role Play. A role is acted out or performed, for example as a technique to train customer interaction.
• Simulation/Games. An increasingly popular and highly interactive way of experimental learning. With the rise of virtual and augmented reality, this can be made very realistic.
• Job shadowing. Working with another employee who has a different experience to learn from them. This is a good way to learn and exchange ideas                                                          

Learning and Development Effectiveness

One of the key themes when it comes to learning and development is learning effectiveness. A key question often asked to the L&D professional is: “What is the return on learning?”, or “How effective are our learning programs?”. These questions are hard to answer.

The image below shows part of this dilemma. However, the effectiveness of learning remains a contentious topic.

Examples of training and development in HRM

1. Etsy

Etsy follows a comprehensive approach when it comes to training and development of its employees. According to their official website, their learning and development process is based on teachings from sociology, adult learning theory, and organizational psychology, along with their own values and culture. The company also emphasizes the significance of employee feedback. In 2015, they went a step ahead and created their own feedback collection program, named Sonar, to gather feedback from their employees.

2. Amazon

Amazon has pledged to upskill over 300,000 employees for high-growth jobs by 2025.

Some of the programs offered by the company are as follows:

1. Machine Learning University

2. Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship

3. Amazon Technical Apprenticeship

4. User Experience Design and Research Apprenticeship

Additionally, Amazon provides over 750,000 of its operations employees with eligibility for fully funded tuition. In doing so, the company clearly values the education of its employees. It wants to prepare them for the future.

Indeed, Amazon is surely a model company when it comes to training and development.

3. AT&T

AT&T aims to cultivate a culture of ongoing education and skill enhancement. In pursuit of this goal, the company founded AT&T University, an internal training organization that has won accolades. The project offers customized training, mentoring, and career development programs to employees. Additionally, AT&T provides tuition assistance and external learning opportunities to help its staff continuously improve their skills and knowledge.

 Truly, AT&T's training and development programs are worth imitating.

Conclusion

Learning should be distinguished from training. 'Learning is the process by which a person constructs new knowledge, skills and capabilities, whereas training is one of several responses an organization can undertake to promote learning' (Reynolds et al, 2002).

Personal development planning is a process carried out by individuals with the guidance, encouragement, and help of their managers as needed. The purpose of a personal development plan is to establish specific actions that people propose to take in order to learn and develop themselves. While individuals are accountable for creating and executing their plan, they receive support from the organization and their managers throughout the process.

                                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPi4ETzn2A&list=PPSV

Reference:

Cat Symonds, (2023) https://factorialhr.com/blog/learning-and-development/ Accessed on 02/11/2023

Global Human Capital Trends   https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2019/reskilling-upskilling-the-future-of-learning-and-development.html/#endnote-sup-3  Accessed on 09/11/2023

Lievens, (2011) https://www.aihr.com/blog/learning-and-development/# What:~:text=van%20Gelder%20 and %20colleagues%20(ENG). Accessed on 09/11.2023 

Images for learning and development ((online)  https://www.google.com/search?q=images+for+learning+and+development   Accessed on 09/11/2023

Workhuman (December,2022)  Available at https://www.workhuman.com/blog/training-and-development-in-hrm/  Accessed on 02/11/2023

Reynolds, J (2004) Helping People Learn, CIPD, London 

Reynolds, J, Caley, L and Mason, R (2002) How Do People Learn? CIPD, London

Video Available at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPi4ETzn2A&list=PPSV Accessed on 02/11/2023