Every accomplishment starts with a well-thought-out goal. When it comes to business-specific goal setting, learning and development (L&D) departments play a critical role in bridging the gap between organizational goals and employee performance. In this article, we explore how to set effective learning goals by aligning them with the business strategy and conducting a skills gap analysis, to drive employee growth and organizational success.
Aligning with Business Goals
Learning initiatives must be directly connected to the organization’s strategic objectives to create value and make an impact. To start, businesses identify key business challenges such as digital transformation, market expansion, or compliance, and then L&D departments determine the skills needed to overcome these challenges. Ensuring this alignment from the start sets the expectation that an investment in training will ultimately contribute to those business goals such as revenue growth, operational efficiency, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
For example, a national retail chain decides to expand into e-commerce to reach a broader customer base and adapt to shifting consumer preferences. Their L&D department will work with the different departments within the organization to further understand the business challenges while transitioning from brick-and-mortar to an online marketplace and how their teams or customers will need support in that transition. In their discovery, they could find that their needs include digital literacy support, training on a new streamlined logistic process, or even scenarios of enhanced customer engagement approaches.
Conducting a Skills Gap Analysis
Once the L&D department understands the business’s goals, they can shift their focus to the employees and their skills to set targeted learning goals. L&D teams use surveys, performance data, job shadowing, and interviews to pinpoint the skill gaps. Methods such as competency frameworks, 360-degree feedback, and learning analytics help map required competencies against existing skills.
For instance, if a company finds that their engineers are slow to adopt a new cloud computing platform, it might invest in certification programs offered by that platform or other leading providers like AWS or Azure.
Considering Employee Career Development Needs
In addition to upskilling, modern L&D departments must balance organizational objectives with employees' individual aspirations. To do this, organizations can prioritize career pathing programs, leadership development tracks, and microlearning opportunities. For example, a tech firm might launch a “Future Leaders” program to prepare high-potential employees for managerial roles.
To gain more insight and inspiration into career development strategies, you can check out Deloitte University, Deloitte’s physical school, which aims to foster leadership qualities and more within its own people.
In Summary
L&D departments don’t set learning goals in isolation. They align them with business goals, conduct a skills gap analysis, and consider the employee’s career development needs. They do this while ensuring the impact is measured and refined.
L&D departments also don’t have to work on their learning initiatives alone. Exp.Design specializes in building customized learning programs that align with your business goals, bridge skills gaps, and support employee growth. Book a discovery call today using the Get in Touch link below to get the support you need to tackle the learning goals you have for your organization.
