Building a Robust Learning and Development Strategy: A Guide for 2023

4 mins read

The rapid evolution of technology over the past several years, along with external factors such as the global pandemic, have reshaped how business organizations function. Technological advancements have automated business processes while making them more streamlined and integrated.

But these advancements are also causing skills gaps in the workforce. 

Adding to this challenge is the pressing issue of plummeting employee retention. Per a recent PwC survey, one out of every five employees intends to switch to a new job in the next year. This attrition trend and a shortage of skilled candidates underline an immediate need to adopt a culture of learning and upskilling in the workplace. The survey further mentions that only 45% of all employees say their organizations prioritize upskilling employees, highlighting a glaring need for improvement. 

For organizations that want to address this issue, a robust learning and development strategy to upskill employees is the need of the hour. The focus must be on devising a result-oriented skilling strategy aligned with a business’ key objectives. 

Developing and Launching an L&D Strategy in 2023

How do you go about planning a learning and development strategy? Follow these tips and critical steps to formulate a robust L&D plan. 

1. Analyze Skills Gaps  

The first step in devising a learning and development program for your organization is identifying employee skills gaps. Performing a skills gap analysis, both at the individual employee level and organization-wide, will help you identify where you need to focus your L&D efforts.

You can gather meaningful data for this purpose through employee surveys, performance reviews, external customer feedback, and other methods. Once you have a clear idea about the gaps that exist, you can work toward creating targeted learning experiences. 

2. Adopt a Flexible L&D Framework 

Implementing agile and flexible learning frameworks is essential when building an upskilling culture in an organization. You should aim to engage employees in a culture of relevant learning and evaluate the ROI of your efforts from time to time. 

That’s where Emeritus can help. Our online cohort-based learning structure extends opportunity and flexibility to working professionals looking to upskill. The time-bound, group-learning approach also ensures higher accountability, allowing students to motivate each other in a deadline-driven environment. The 2022 Emeritus Global Career Impact Survey  found that 94% of Emeritus learners see a positive career impact due to their program which indicates the effectiveness of this educational approach.

3. Align Individual and Organizational Learning Goals 

When learning programs are ineffective, a significant reason is the lack of alignment in individual and organizational learning objectives. 

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An L&D strategy must address organizational priorities while also meeting employee learning requirements. In other words, your training strategy should conform to well-defined organizational development goals while ensuring employee satisfaction. In developing our enterprise solutions, Emeritus works with companies to select public courses or develop private learning cohorts that address company priorities in addition to individual employee learning objectives. 

4. Communicate Your Efforts to the Workforce

Communicating to employees that you care about their career growth is the key to attracting and retaining the best talent. In fact, according to the Global Career Impact Survey results, 89% of Emeritus learners said they feel more engaged at work when they are learning something new. 

You will have to convey to your workforce the benefits of the L&D program and how it can help them advance their career. Otherwise, they may not comprehend the full benefits of the programs and fail to draw value from them. 

5. Showcase Your Brand

Your learning and development strategy should aim, in part, to build your brand internally and thus improve employee engagement. With curated, company-branded employee training programs (like those Emeritus offers), you can help your organization meet its goals while engaging your workforce. By extending the courses through custom-branded portals, you can showcase your brand to your workforce.

6. Design Contextual L&D Strategies for Different Roles 

When it comes to L&D strategies, remember that one plan doesn’t fit all. It can help to have separate L&D efforts for diverse members of the workforce based on their current skills and job responsibilities. This means you may have to develop individual training plans for different sets of employees or teams. The aim is to develop skilled employees who can perform to their maximum potential and drive ROI.

7. Track Performance and Adapt Accordingly

Tracking the success of your training programs is essential to determining your ROI, whether you are focusing on employee engagement and retention, tech implementation and usage, or other key metrics. 

Measuring your ROI will help you assess your training efforts’ impact and enable you to identify areas for improvement. This will help you fine-tune your learning initiatives to better meet your business objectives–and direct investments in a way that ensures maximum impact for the business and learners.

Organizations must take practical steps to close skills gaps and avoid risking their future growth, employee satisfaction, and the ability to innovate and stay competitive. Once they launch their learning and development strategy, they should continuously measure their success, adapt accordingly, and repeat.

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