Lunch and Learns Aren’t Cutting It: Let’s Talk Learning and Development that Works
Did you know that 93% of employees say they will stay longer at a company that invests in their career development? Wow! Learning and development programs are directly related to greater employee retention and satisfaction.
Learning and development isn’t just about lunch and learns or a quick presentation on a Tuesday afternoon. So, how do we avoid those glazed over eyes and make programs that actually help our employees grow?
Let’s hear from Sabrina, the Culture Works L&D Specialist.
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Read on for more information about learning and development programs and how to implement these programs in your organization. Let’s dive in.
First, What Are Learning and Development Programs?
Learning and development (L&D), also known as training and development, is a part of HR that aligns employee goals and performance with that of the organization. Leaders of learning and development within your organization should identify skill gaps within teams and develop and deliver training to help bridge those gaps.
What Are the Responsibilities of Learning and Development Programs?
A learning and development team typically takes on a few responsibilities. These include:
- Evaluating organizational and individual employee development needs
- Ensuring alignment of proposed L&D programs with business goals
- Developing and implementing learning strategies and programs to meet the needs of the business and its employees.
- Designing or hiring the right team to provide eLearning courses, interactive group training, and a variety of other training content.
- Marketing the training programs to get management and employee buy-in.
We understand this list can seem a bit daunting and organizations may not be sure where to start. The good news? Leaders can use purposeful strategies to better implement L&D into their business. These strategies focus on creating an environment where employees can learn, practice, and apply their skills.
Let’s take a look at some strategies to implement L&D into your organization.
Successful Strategies to Implement Learning and Development Programs
Learning and development programs can be an excellent step toward improving retention. These programs can make employees feel valued, supported, and productive as well as build a strong company culture.
From our experience, we’ve found the biggest challenge for employers is creating a learning and development environment that helps their employees succeed. In order to create this environment, you need to know what you’re creating–a clear goal can help drive the process forward smoothly and efficiently.
Contextualize the Learning
Research has shown that learners are less likely to apply what they learn if it is taught in a different context than it will be applied.
One strategy to combat this issue is to create customized training programs. In these programs, instructors target specific topics on a team or individual level.
Break Trainings into Portions
Research suggests that dividing training into smaller increments can help learners retain and apply information. Leaders may experience more positive benefits of learning and development programs if they break up training into small, structured portions.
Measure Progress and Benchmark Performance
Your L&D strategy should include clear objectives and performance indicators. Leaders should consistently measure progress by utilizing these indicators. In reviewing the performance of the L&D strategies, leaders can review:
- Employee retention and satisfaction
- Cohesion among teams
- Employee growth
Provide Helpful Reminders
Leaders can offer short, helpful reminders for their teams to use the skills from the learning and development trainings. These reminders, which can take the form of an email or push notification, should be contextual, friendly, and just a few sentences. These nudges can be as simple as “this project would be a great opportunity to try this skill that we learned!”
The purpose of these reminders is to keep the ideas from the training at the front of the learner’s mind as they navigate their day-to-day responsibilities.
Follow Up and Reflect
To effectively employ learning and development strategies, leaders should encourage learners to reflect on how the skills and tools they have learned can be used in the workday.
Learn more about each of these strategies in our guide to implementing L&D into your organization, here.
Need Help Implementing L&D into Your Business?
At Culture Works, we value the opportunity to help businesses implement learning and development programs into their company culture. Our team of experts is ready to partner with your team to build greater organizational success.
Contact us today to learn how we can help your business implement these programs and contribute to positive company culture.Interested in more information? Read on to see how learning and development can transform your company culture here.
