Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/134584
Businessof Learning In Level 3, a decision is made that an ongoing training function is needed, and an investment is made in a rudimentary learning or talent management system (LMS/TMS). But it's not until Level 4, when we start to expand our organization's reach that we start to move into the realm of a "Tactical Training Partner." More formal measurements of the department's utilization and learner satisfaction begin to appear, and we start to fnd ways to move some of the training out of the classroom and into the learner's hands. It's at Level 5 where we cross the threshold from a "Tactical Training Partner," to a "Valued Learning Partner." We begin to discover and document best practices, deploy social networks to enable collaboration and informal training across the enterprise, embed training into our applications to move learning into the workplace, and provide ways of mentoring or sharing an expert's knowledge across the entire enterprise. And fnally, we have arrived at the proposed sixth level, which is where we begin to truly align with and impact the enterprise's strategies. At this level, more formal approaches to ROI are developed and vetted, customer and partner learning goals are defned to augment the enterprise's missions and goals, and a very formal linking of top level strategies to the learning and development team's goals are mapped and measured. It is at that point, in my mind, where we become a "Strategic Learning Partner." As an example: At this level, enterprise revenue goals will formally cascade down into the learning department's revenue targets, which are then further translated into regional revenue targets; curriculum development objectives in support of that activity are then defned and assigned; classroom and virtual platform needs to support that level of activity will be determined by the technical team; and so forth, throughout the department. Every person in the organization should be able to clearly see the relationship between what he or she is doing, and how individual eforts impact the company's overall strategy. Perhaps it's the point where management by objectives (MBO) or similar goals kick in that allows us to measure our individual and departmental achievements against the company's strategy — whether that be revenue, market penetration, cultural shifs, time to market, or mission readiness. And with that fnal thought, I will stop and turn to my colleagues in the feld to challenge and criticize, or further enhance the evidence we should strive for that would validate our organization as a "Strategic Learning Partner." Let me know your thoughts at jdidonato@2elearning.com. L&D; should re-focus eforts from counting courses to measuring performance results…to achieve 'strategic business partner' status 22 June / July 2013 Elearning!