Learning and Development - doing more with less

A current CIPD update (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, ) is entitled On a tight budget?  How to do more with less ... .  It points (helpfully) to the CIPD's forthcoming Learning and Development Show (Olympia, London: 11th-12th May 2016), which will include a case study session on 'delivering L&D on a budget'.  I was reminded of a paper I wrote in April 2009 called L&D Budgets in Challenging Times.  The paper was written as the 'financial crisis' got its grip.  My challenge to L&D professionals then (and now!) is to be proactive, looking for both quantitative and qualitative approaches to deliver value to their organisations - even when money is tight.

Qualitative approaches

These are mostly about setting priorities - what learning must take place for the future of the business, which learners must continue to be supported - and focusing on key Talent Management issues.  This means keeping a broad view of what is meant by 'talent' (not just the top right-hand box of a 9-box model) and recognising the importance of maintaining leadership development at every level.  Identifying and focusing on the knowledge, skills and attitudes most critical to the organisation, and on building its leadership talent  (including change capability) are vital.

Quantitative approaches

This comes down to delivering effective learning at a lower cost.  The application of technology to learning is one approach to this which can be very effective, at least for some types of learning.  However it has high up-front costs and needs very careful design and testing to ensure high-quality learning takes place.  Formal training courses can be rethought - using in-house expertise and avoiding unnecessary travel - or rescheduled.  The design of events can use powerful simulation-based approaches to engage very large numbers at one time.  (The author has personally used simulated business environments to develop operational and leadership skills at a highly cost-effective facilitator:participant ratio of 1:50+.)  More attention to an individual's whole learning process (the 'learning journey', in the jargon) ensures that live work experience and good coaching greatly increase the value of learning without significantly increasing cost.

Summary

Good quality learning - arguably good-quality anything! - is not cheap.  But we can find creative and effective vehicles to deliver what our organisations most need in a cost-effective way.  And we can do so in a way that leaves the organisation well-positioned for the future.

A copy of the original 2009 paper can be downloaded here.