Since the launch of the L&D Maturity Model in March, I’ve been able to assess the collective maturity of the profession.
Since the launch of the L&D Maturity Model in March, I’ve been able to assess the collective maturity of the profession. Some results are surprising - and troubling. Here's a breakdown and my call to action for L&D leaders:
BACKGROUND
There are 7 themes in the L&D Maturity Model:
- Learning strategy
- Leadership alignment
- SME collaboration
- Learner engagement
- Learning needs identification
- Training processes
- Learning metrics
PROBLEM
Of these themes, L&D professionals have self-assessed their functions as the LEAST MATURE in:
- Learning needs identification
- Learner engagement
- Learning metrics
I'm not sure about you, but I see this as alarming because what this tells me is:
1. We don’t know if we’re working on the right things.
2. Learners don’t often engage.
3. We’re not able to measure our impact.
The relationship between each of these is fundamental to the success of our function and yet our maturity is lowest on them.
SOLUTION
Imagine L&D was its own business for a moment.
If that was the case, we would see its critical path as:
1) Align on the biggest challenges
Before anything else, we need to ruthlessly align to the biggest challenges facing our organisation and our employees. No more assumptions, we need to validate with data and before we spend any time (let alone money, effort and credibility), we need to ensure our intake process is robust.
2) Quantify the challenges and determine what success looks like
Put metrics to the problems at the outset and determine what success we’re aiming for, i.e. bake measurement into the initial planning stage and then measure milestones towards it. If it can’t be quantified, don’t do it!
3) Engage learners like problem-solving partners
Help learners understand what's at stake and the role they play in the solution. Share the data with them, understand their lived experience and co-create alongside them and their more experienced peers and colleagues.
Anything other than this would be a wild swing, the business would burn money and we’d go out of business.
TAKEAWAY
L&D maturity isn’t taking what we're already doing and just doing it a little bit better.
It's about transforming what we're doing entirely.
It’s about connecting with both the reason L&D should exist in the organisation and the possibilities that a mature and functioning department can bring.
We cannot stop at building an L&D storefront of generic 'solutions'.
L&D maturity starts with believing in more, creating a vision of a business aligned function, articulating the benefits and engaging all stakeholders.
This versus a shop front approach to L&D is a no-brainer. Often it’s our abilities to articulate the vision and sell it to stakeholders (including our own teams) that’s holding us back.
More on that topic in the future.... | 65 comments on LinkedIn
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