Learning and development (L&D) is a systematic process that improves an individual’s skills, knowledge and competency. It helps bring about a change in behaviour, cultivation of attitudes and sharing of knowledge that enables employees to perform better.  
 
The benefit of learning and development for employees is more marketable skills and for organisations, it’s a newfound market advantage. One of L&D’s primary outcomes is to manage people development in a way that supports other key business priorities.  
 
To tangibly improve employee learning and development, consider these steps for a clearly defined strategy:  

• Identify Skills Gaps: Use a skills gap analysis to determine the skills and/or knowledge an employee needs to perform their current or future job effectively. This analysis allows you to create a database of skills for recruitment AND aligns them with organisational needs.
• Pinpoint Learning Objectives: Without outlining desired outcomes, you won’t be able to effectively plan any development programs. Being transparent about learning objectives will root individual development in a larger purpose, giving employees a real reason to invest.
• Design Methods of Assessment: A learning management system (LMS) will help you create interactive and engaging learning assessments that can be easily accessed and tracked. The two main modes of learning are instructor-led and learner-centric. The most effective development programs combine both to appeal to all learning styles.
• Value and Evaluate: Without evaluating the learning process, it’s impossible to know if learning objectives have been achieved and whether the process needs adjustment. Assigning value to certain tasks or activities before implementation is the best metric for assessing its impact on business performance. The depth of the evaluation depends on the depth of value assigned to L&D.

 
While it’s all well and good to design and implement a new training program, the real challenge is reaping the benefits long term. Effective L&D aims for continuous learning. Consider these tips to ensure your programs last:  

• Support employees’ desire to learn: Employees should choose to learn rather than being forced into it. That’s why it’s important for them to see that their performance can be better with training, as well as how.
• Weed out workplace toxicity: It only takes one negative employee – particularly one in a leadership position – to express discontent in an L&D program for the whole thing to come crashing down.
• Reinforce new skills: Old habits die hard. Expecting employees to immediately enact new skills in areas an organisation itself is unfamiliar with is poor practice. It communicates the organisation is unsure what L&D is even for.

 
For a more in-depth look at learning and development, consider having a read of the full article.