Learning and Development Strategy Planning
In a business, the most important asset is its human resource. Two same organizations can have same material resources, equipment, etc. but not the same human resource. They can compete with each other on the basis of human resources it possesses. In a business, there are number of employees who are working in the organization for the fulfilment of the organizational goals. Regular improvement is required in the behaviour and attitude of the employees. A large scale business organization aims at providing the continuous training to the employees. There are many different kinds of learning sessions available for the employees for their development. Learning and development Assessment tools are formed in the organization for the development of the employees.
Many companies even form the learning and development strategy in the business to achieve some important objectives. The separate department is maintained for the enhancement of skills of the employees. Contributing to the employee’s development will indirectly contribute to the achievements of the organization. If we fulfil the needs of the employees then they will also contribute towards the needs of the organization. There are so many development programs initiated by the business organization for the betterment of the employees. There are various tools available for the learning and development of the employees. Some examples are training program, coaching, workshops, events or seminars etc.
Learning and development strategy of the organization may aim to fulfil some important objectives like:
- To meet the employees development needs
- Human resource development
- Building various skills in the employee’s personality like, leadership skills, negotiation skills, team building skills etc.
- Finding and assessing the performance level of the employees
- Performance appraisal and fulfilling training needs etc.
The business environment is changing continuously and so rapidly. It is very important for the businesses to keeping in flow with the changing environment. Business environment is changing not only at the local level but also at the global level. There are so many changes or improvements occurring at global level which affects the behaviour of employees here. Now a days, employees are the ones to whom all the importance is given. Their behaviour and attitudes are directed towards the achievement of organizational goals. There are so many strategies undertaken in the business organization. But the most essential one for the employees are the development and assessment strategy. Learning and development strategy aims at providing the training, etc. to the employees etc. to enhance their various skills required in the organization.
In order to form a learning and development strategy you have to consider so many other factors. In order to fulfil the requirements of the business profiles, managers need training for more support. This will enhance more skills and talent in the business. There are various tools which can be used for the development of the employees. You need to examine the training needs of the employees to take the decision of the training program. To need to examine the gaps in skills in your workforce which is to be improved for the betterment of their performance? In order to undertake a training program proper planning is required. Some simple questions to be kept in mind while deciding about the development and learning of the employees:
- Identifying the training needs of the workforce: the first step is to identifying the need of training in your workforce. This can be examined with the help of the gaps in the required and present skill of the employees. You need to keep in mind the further questions like,
- Why to train: in order to develop the key competencies in the employees.
- Whom to train: every employee may have different lacking competencies and to be trained accordingly.
- What to train: what core competencies they need to learn. Like, skills based or behaviour based.
- Effectiveness of training program: calculating the effectiveness of the training program is the difficult task. There are so many costs involved in undertaking the training program. Many other factors that need to take into consideration are as follows:
- Understanding life cycle of training: how to start, when started, where to start and end.
- Identify training needs: who to train, why and what are answered here.
- Pre- training assessment: factors to be undertaken before training.
- Post training program: post training assessment of the employees.
- Succession planning: this planning means preparing your current employees for the potential achievements in near future. It aims at developing and identifying the right and potential candidate for its further future growth. They are to be trained for the future requirements that may arise or be required by the employees in near future. You need to assess the core competencies and weaknesses of the potential employees. Try to prepare them as per their strong and weak competences.
- Development of leadership skills: businesses are changing so rapidly, managers need to be trained in such a way that they can handle the future scenarios. Companies must invest in their employees for the development of various skills in them, particularly leadership skills. In order to achieve business goals with the help of the organization as a whole leadership is required. To maintain the working environment and the culture of the organization managers should be trained. Not only the technology but the people, scenarios and technology are changing so rapidly. Managers in the organization have to look after all the major or minor changes occurring in or outside the organization.
There are so many assessments which are used by businesses to assess their employees. These tools and techniques are available online. They help in reducing the cost of assessment. There are so many comprehensive tests and tools available online to measure or evaluate the competencies of employees. Learning and development Assessment tools are used by the business organizations as a measure of assessment. These assessments can be in the form of virtual assessment, blended assessment and offline or online assessment centre. This will adds to direct increase in productivity of the business organization.
