Total Talent Development
Ever wonder why some institutional learning is ineffective and boring? Perhaps it comes off as disconnected or meaningless "check-the-box" training?
When an organization is ready to create or overhaul it's learning and development offerings, it should form a holistic approach, bringing together all stake holders so that design matches up with need and desire. Absolute buy in is critical.
After all, what's the point in creating training by throwing a bunch of courses into an LMS, as if throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping something sticks?
Below are the supporting pillars of the Total Talent Development approach. It creates a more effective, measurable, and relevant training creation road map. As a side effect, people tend to enjoy it more as well. Happy Employees, Happy Life.
Workforce Mapping
It all starts with a joint venture of HR and Operations.
First, they must create, identify, and agree to a role-based development plan. Both the learner and their leaders need to be aware of their location on that plan, what responsibilities they have to one another, and what the next steps are.
Without a clear upward mobility plan for employees, they become lethargic homesteaders in an endless rinse and repeat cycle that makes the workforce grow stale, losing all desire to learn new things.
This is because, in adult learning theory, why something needs to be learned is the motivation above what is actually learned. In order to inspire the adult learner, they must see the value of information relative to their personal goals.
Additionally, there are multiple studies that show self development eclipses company loyalty, financial compensation, and even PTO as the most important factor driving high performing employees. Professionals desire a professional development path.
No path, no goals. No goals, no motivation to learn and time is wasted.
Skills Assessments
Once the foundation has been laid and we know where everyone is and where we want them to go, step two is to answer 3 questions:
- What do employees need to know to be effective in their role?
- What is common core and what is role-based training?
- Does content exist to correct any deficiencies?
All too often, organizations spend a pile of money on skills testing, only to be left holding a very informative, albeit ineffectual, document showing skill or knowledge deficiencies. Then the employee is told to correct something that has nothing to do with their current position and has no idea how it relates to doing their job or how to correct it. Step 1 focuses the scope of step 2.
Learning Experiences
Only now do we get to actual creation of the learning experiences which can range from formal course offerings, certificate acquisition, and proprietary trainings, to mentorship programs, lunch and learns, OTJ training, and cultural osmosis.
Which one is the most appropriate and effective medium will be best left to your instructional designer, who will work to understand the raw information, audience and desired outcome and create a learning experience to match.
It is worth noting that some of these educational experiences can be monetized, turning a traditionally overhead cost into an additional revenue stream. Content creation should keep this in mind and I will go over how to do that in another article.
Bottom Line Impacts
Ultimately, we want results and measuring those can be tricky when it comes to learning experiences. If you want to geek out about this stuff, there is plenty of articles on the final stages of the ADDIE and Kirkpatrick models and how they interact.
Key take away is that learning is not created in the business world for the sake of learning. The real world effects can be broken down into Measures Of Performance and Measures Of Effectiveness, each with their own value.
When applied, the Total Talent Development model links all stake holders and picks up where each of the individual functional areas leave off. It also preps an organization for monetization of training and creates equal learning opportunities for a forward leaning, diverse workforce.
If you would like to know more about the Total Talent Development model, or discuss how I can help build or join your team, please connect or reach out.
Happy Hunting.
