Learning & Development (L&D)

What are the objectives of employee learning and development?

The process of employee learning and development is an ongoing activity in every organization. As a manager, it is your responsibility to provide the right platform for your employees to acquire new skills and capacities to perform well in their jobs.

The objectives of employee learning and development vary from organization to organization, but the main objective remains the same. The following are some of the objectives:

• To ensure the pursued success of the organization.
• To keep employees updated with the newest skills and knowledge.
• To ensure that employees are well aware of the organizational goals and objectives.
• To help employees develop leadership qualities.
• To create new ways for improving the productivity and efficiency of the organization.
• To contribute towards increasing employee retention in the organization.

What's the difference between training and development vs. learning and development?

Training and development focus on the job. Training is what it says – teaching employees about a specific product or service. Development is about giving employees opportunities to learn about other products, ideas, or ways of working. However, all training should be helping to develop the individual.

Learning and development focus on the employee. It’s about giving them opportunities for personal growth and encouraging them to take an active role in their learning.

How can you develop learning and development in the workplace?

There are three main ways to develop learning and development in the workplace.

• Creating a good work environment that is suitable for learning.
• Planning the work and its objectives in a way that will make employees be able to learn from it.
• Making sure that learning is achieved.

The primary step would be to create a good working environment where people can engage their potentials, have motivation in their tasks, and use their skills on the job. Managers also need to plan how they want the tasks to be done so that there’s room for flexibility in decision making and learning. The third step would be to ensure that they are getting what they want by verifying what has been learned and, if necessary, encouraging employees to learn more things or helping them with their works.

Do learning and development programs help our employees perform better?

Learning and development programs are helpful for the employees in the long run. For example, a program may help employees overcome weaknesses and improve their overall performance. Learning and development programs will allow them to solve problems they encounter during their job.

Learning and development programs can also be helpful for new hires or new employees. Some companies have structured learning and development programs for new hires and new employees. These programs are helpful because they give further employee information about the company’s products or services, how to perform tasks better, behave in certain situations, or even just information about the company’s culture. Usually, these programs are structured based on the employees’ roles to know more about the product they are working on them.

How does employee learning and development contribute to employee engagement?

Learning and development is an investment in people. The primary objective of learning and development is to improve employee engagement. Learning and development help employees to feel valued, appreciated, and encouraged.

The organizations invest in the employee’s learning and development to develop the skill set required for the job position; therefore, the employee can contribute his best in his work performance. Self-confidence among the employee’s increases which further helps in improving their engagement.

The continuous flow of training sessions helps the employees be aware of the latest trends and updates in the industry. The organization also sends a message that they are committed to their employees’ professional growth and development, which encourages them to remain more engaged with their jobs.

Learning and development play a crucial role in improving employee engagement because it gives a sense of self-worth among the employees. The continuous flow of learning programs makes them feel valuable to the organization. Also, self-growth opportunities make them feel like they’re not stagnating at one place but moving ahead with time. It plays a vital role in making employees feel connected by knowing each other’s roles better through various cross-functional sessions.

Why learning and development are essential for employees?

Learning and Development (L&D) is all about improving the performance, competencies, and potential of an individual. It also helps cross the gap between what an organization has to offer and what the employee can derive from it. It is a vital part of any organization.

Learning and development provide growth opportunities for employees, enabling them to develop their skills and abilities. Learning and development also enhance the employee’s knowledge and help build his confidence to handle work situations with more ease.

It also enables employees to assess their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of assistance. Employee development is a crucial aspect of any organization as it helps improve productivity, reduce attrition, enhance morale, develop leadership qualities, improve communication skills, develop creativity, etc.

Many companies have started allowing this fact that employee development is essential for their growth and success, which in turn will help them build a successful business by providing better services to their customers, helping them achieve their goals.

Where do companies go wrong in their learning and development strategies?

Companies increasingly realize that the key to their survival is employee learning. However, very few companies realize that they repeatedly make mistakes that they can easily avoid.

There are three significant problems with the traditional development approach:
1. Learning at the wrong time
2. Learning the wrong things
3. Fewer retention skills

What are your best methods to track employee learning and development?

The most effective way to track employee learning and development is to have a training tracking solution in place. Unfortunately, some organizations are still trying to develop their tracking solution. That is most likely a lack of knowledge about existing solutions on the market. Another reason might be internal politics or a simple lack of time.

What do learning and development mean to HRM?

Human resource management teams carry out learning and development activities to help the employees develop their skills and strengthen an organization’s human capital. The purpose of learning and development at the workplace is to ensure that all employees can be competitive in their roles and improve their performance and skills, ultimately leading to better profits.

Tasks performed by the HRM department include:

• On-boarding new staff.
• Evaluating employee performance.
• Training existing staff and providing them with necessary skill sets.
• Coaching employees.
• Conducting staff assessments and appraising individual performance.

To carry out these tasks successfully, an organization needs to have a sound learning and development strategy. Such a strategy should include provisions for hiring only the best candidates. They match the organization’s criteria and provide them with the necessary training to prepare them for their role.

Who benefits most from learning and development?

The organization will benefit from learning and development as the employees are allowed to learn new skills and knowledge about the organization, leading to better ways of working in day-to-day activities. The employees will handle situations with more confidence and make suggestions for improvements to help the organization achieve tremendous success and productivity. And also, the employee will benefit from learning and development as they are given a chance to learn new things, which will surely enhance their skills and knowledge, which would, later on, help him get a better career and lead towards a successful career path.