Aligning Blended Learning With Business Goals

🚨 Most L&D programs start with learning objectives. But the most effective ones? They start with business strategy. Here’s the truth ↓ When L&D teams ask: ❌ “What should employees learn?” They often miss the mark. But when they ask: ✅ “Where is the business going—and how can we prepare people to get us there?” Everything changes. Learning becomes a growth engine—not just an expense. Here’s a simple 5-step formula to align L&D with business strategy: 1️⃣ Business Strategy Alignment Understand key business goals, not just training needs. 2️⃣ Capability Mapping Identify what people need to do—not just what they need to know. 3️⃣ Skill Gap Analysis Find the delta between today’s talent and tomorrow’s goals. 4️⃣ Learning & Enablement Plan Design experiences that drive action, not just attendance. 5️⃣ Impact Measurement Measure time-to-competency, internal mobility, retention, and business KPIs—not just completions. 💡 Real example: A tech company expanding to APAC. Instead of launching generic cloud training, their L&D team collaborated across departments to create just-in-time learning paths tied to product readiness and market-specific needs. The result? Faster ramp-up, better performance, and real business impact. 📣 If you're ready to stop checking boxes and start enabling outcomes... 💡 Want the full breakdown of these 5-step formula? ⬇️ Read the full article 🎯 Let’s transform learning into your competitive edge. --- ♻️ Did you enjoy this post? Repost it so your network can learn from it, too. For more content like this, follow Christina Jones, StackFactor Inc.! #LearningAndDevelopment #BusinessStrategy #FutureOfWork #SkillsGap #HRTech #StackFactor #WorkforceTransformation #LMS #LeadershipDevelopment #CapabilityBuilding #Upskilling #TalentStrategy #LandD

Many L&D professionals grapple with demonstrating how growth in knowledge and capabilities translates into tangible improvements in KPIs and business impact. What if there was a simple tool to bridge this gap? I’ve been using a learning strategy tracking document for a while now to help me connect the dots between my learning initiatives and business outcomes. I thought this might be a useful tool to share! Here’s how to get started… Select a program you are currently working on or have recently completed. Open excel and write the following titles in Columns A-E: Column A: Program Name Column B: Target Audience Column C: Capability Growth Goals Column D: Short-term Performance Growth Goals (aka relevant KPIs) Column E: Longer-term Business Growth Goals Here’s an example: Program Name: New Sales Leader Onboarding Target Audience: Newly hired sales leaders Capability Growth Goals: Demonstrate 80% or higher competency practicing the sales closing process Short-Term Performance Growth Goals: Close 15% of sales calls within their first 90 days Longer-Term Business Growth Goals: 100% of new sales team members achieve a 90-day time to value (consistently closing 15% or more of all sales calls). Ideally, you’ll input these data points for all your flagship and regularly occurring learning initiatives. The value of this tracking document is that you can sort by KPIs (short-term outcomes) and business outcomes to easily see what programs are aligned with different business goals and strategies. When goals and strategies change, you can quickly find the programs that need to be adapted or sunset. And … this helps me easily identify what performance and business metrics I should be tracking alongside training completion and competency growth. The one challenge you might discover in doing this exercise is that your capability goals need to be more clearly refined in order to make the dots between learning, capability growth, short and long-term outcomes make sense. What tools or strategies do you use to create your hypothesis of how learning influences performance and business goals? What challenges do you face in demonstrating L&D's impact? Share your thoughts in the comments! *** If you’re looking for help identifying any piece of the learning strategy puzzle, join Deb Arnold and me for our Winning Fundamentals LinkedIn Audio Series - unpacking the fundamental practices of award winning learning teams. Our first session begins this Thursday at 10 am EST. Mark your calendar here: https://lnkd.in/gKcjWWAs *** #LearningAndDevelopment #TrainingImpact #OrganizationalLearning #LDStrategy

Only 40% of companies say their learning strategy is aligned with business goals. Meaning 3 of 5 companies have learning strategies with little of no connection to business objectives. Here are some L&D tips: 1. Align with Business Strategy: 🔶 Shape learning strategies based on the business and talent strategies. 🔶 Strategy should support professional development and build capabilities. 🔶 This should be done company-wide and in a cost-effective way. 🔶 Use Learning strategy to enhance culture and reinforce values. 2. Co-ownership Between Business Units and HR: 🔶 Be agile and ready to adapt to business processes and practices. 🔶 Enhance HR partnerships with business leaders. 🔶 Leadership from both groups must share responsibility. 🔶 Define, prioritize and design capability-building programs together. 3. Assess Capability Gaps and Estimated Value: 🔶 Verify that employees can deliver on business priorities. 🔶 Continuously assess employee capabilities... deliberately and systematically. 🔶 Identify essential capabilities for various functions or job descriptions. 🔶 Measure how employees rate in each of these areas. 🔶 Proactively seek to close capability gaps. 4. Design Learning Journeys 🔶 Combine digital-learning and in-person sessions. 🔶 Be aware that leaders have very busy schedules. 🔶 Create a space where people can learn in a safe environment. 🔶 Reinforce that failures won't affect anyone's career path. 🔶 Move away from stand-alone programs by designing learning journeys. 5. Scale-up: 🔶 Establish an agenda of strategic initiatives that support capability building. 🔶 Help leaders develop high-performing teams. 🔶 Maintain an ongoing discussion with business leaders about initiatives. 🔶 Keep initiatives realistic given the limitations of funding and budget. 🔶 Scale if possible - program cost per person decline with scale. 6. Measure the Impact on Business Performance: 🔶 How closely aligned are L&D initiatives with business priorities. 🔶 Are learning interventions changing people’s behavior and performance. 🔶 How well are investments and resources in L&D being used. 🔶 Focus on outcomes-based metrics. 7. Integrate of L&D Interventions into HR Processes: 🔶 Corporate-learning activities need to be aligned with HR strategy. 🔶 L&D affects every other aspect of HR from recruiting to succession planning. 🔶 Understand HR strategy and processes and work closely with HR leaders. 🔶 Help managers build skills to provide development feedback in real time. 8. Enable of the 70:20:10 Learning Framework: 🔶 70% of learning takes place on the job. 🔶 20%of learning happens through interaction and collaboration. 🔶 10% of learning through formal-learning interventions like classroom training. 🔶 These stats are general guidelines and vary by industry and organization. Great read: McKinsey & Company The Essential Components of a Successful L&D Strategy