Is it a dead-end for L&D professionals?

“Unless L&D professionals evolve to a more strategic role in the organization, it’s going to be dead end for them. L&D will always be treated as a support function to HR.”

It may be surprising coming from someone who has spent a decade and half in the area of learning and organizational development. But when you start talking to him, you realize that you have just about scratched the tip of the proverbial iceberg!

As he recalls his experience, you see the passion of the man who prophesizes the death of the lone L&D function unless it transforms to a larger T&D (talent and development) role.

“I started my career as an instructional designer.” This was pleasantly surprising since “instructional design” was a term relatively unknown in the domestic scenario in 1996 when Mathew began his corporate career.

Foundations of L&D started early in my career with technology-based learning. While learners have changed from aspiring university graduates to corporate employees, the principles and approaches still remain the same. However, the outcomes for the two endeavors might be significantly different.”

So, what was special about these initial instructional design days?
“Oh those were exciting times. From teaching university students to joining CMC as an instructional designer, I consulted with clients to design customized technology-based learning solution in those days and this was an idea ahead of its times. Clients often requested us to help implement these solutions, and I’ve set up systems and processes, implemented applications, configured hardware and implemented these solutions in manufacturing plants!”

In 2002, when Mathew joined Deloitte, it was just a 80 -100 people company. Over 3 years, he saw it grow to a 4000-5000 people company. An organizational transformation of this magnitude had a significant impact on his role as head of learning and organization development.

It set him thinking about the importance of L&D’s contribution to various aspects of an employee’s life cycle. “L&D is more than just learning and training. Today it has multiple touch points that impact the overall organization effectiveness. The remit of the traditional L&D professional is continuously growing and it is a wide canvas that lends to their creativity and innovation.”

“L&D is more than just learning and training. Today it has multiple touch points that impact the overall organization effectiveness.”

What was the L&D trend in early 2002?
Around 2000, the trend used to be pure L&D. L&D role involved assessing training needs, identifying training programs, creating the training calendar, selecting training vendors, and implementing “training” in the organization.” In certain cases, it also extended to performance management and allied activities.

How has L&D changed over the decade?
The significant change that I see over time is the shift of the L&D function to a Talent & Development function. Today, it is not good enough for L&D to just run the training calendar but move up the value curve. They must offer business solutions in areas such as performance and talent management, change management, succession planning, organization culture and diversity. This calls for a significant need for capability building for L&D professionals.

“They must offer business solutions in areas such as performance and talent management, change management, succession planning, organization culture and diversity.”

What is the key challenge for L&D professionals today?
“I personally believe it’s a dead end for L&D professionals today if they do not migrate beyond training. Organizations have transitioned to offer L&D professionals the bandwidth to do more. It is up to the L&D professionals to take up the challenge and explore the larger canvas of organization development.”

You can feel the conviction and passion in his voice as he recounts the newer challenges for L&D professionals.

How can L&D professionals move into the Talent & Development space?
The questions that all L&D professionals should ask are:

• How do we link the organization’s development investments – what are you doing to ensure the returns that the organization gains from investing in training?
• What are you doing to determine that the learner is taking back learning to his/her workplace?
• How do you ensure that the person you have trained today becomes a leader tomorrow?

Mathew’s quick tips to ensure L&D professionals have their seat at the table!

Are you a key participant in the talent management decisions of the organization?

Are you involved in the talent engagement and transformation process?

Are you able to predict the long-term macro-economic changes and their impact on the talent and capability needs of the organization?

Do you have processes or methods to demonstrate the value that your division is adding to the business?

Do you have clearly articulated processes for nurturing the organization culture and measuring overall effectiveness at the macro(organization-wide) and micro(team/division level)?

How can L&D professionals upgrade their skill sets?

“I recommend the 3E mechanism to every professional who has identified his or her career development goal.”

L&D professionals have access to online resources as well as peer groups to gather the required knowledge and awareness. Accordingly, they can go for certifications, attend seminars and workshops, or pick up specific journals for self-study. The bottom-line is to gain knowledge and mastery over these and apply them on their job.

What are your challenges and how do you overcome them?

1. Aligning stakeholders to participate in the development processes. This is critical because they provide sponsorship and support. Aligning can happen through various forms. Involve the stakeholders in delivering the program content or sharing real life business examples. They can also be involved during the design of the program.
2. Encouraging managers to utilize the learning. How do you encourage managers to think beyond “training nominations”? How do we involve them in their team’s learning process? What processes can we design that will engage the Manager in utilizing the learning of their team members so that it does not evaporate over time and lead to wastage of learning investments?
3. Ensuring learners are able to apply the learning. A 2-day training may not be enough to change habits or bring about behavior change. The learning intervention should be clear about the learning objectives of the program and how do they help learners focus on their development goals. It should enable learners to reflect on the learning they have gained and help them with action plans to implement them on the shop floor.

Ask him about the best practices that he wants to share and Mathew quickly outlines the 3-key inputs that he consciously imparts in all his training activities.

1. Try to make participants more reflective
   a. Why are you here?
   b. What are your expectations/goals?
   c. What do you need to get there?
   d. What obstacles exist and who can help you get there?
2. Focus on the content
   a. What is the content and experiences that you want to share through the learning intervention?
   b. What is it that will benefit all your participants?
   c. The focus is on synchronized delivery; broadcasting the content to all participants.
3. Narrow-casting to individual development needs through coaching intervention
   For example, if someone has individual needs like “how to delegate, or how to build business strategy, Mathew proposes narrow-casting down to individual needs through coaching interventions that are tied to the learning process. It may need 12 to 14 months of individual attention for those who have been identified for such intensive development interventions and especially those who have a potential to take on strategic roles. Such interventions could transform the top 15% of the organization handpicked by business leadership who have maximum impact on the organization through their decision-making.

“Coaching interventions could transform the top 15% of the organization handpicked by business leadership who have maximum impact on the organization through their decision-making.”

Rapid Fire Round

What’s the one book that you’ll recommend to your peers?
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M Senge

What’s your mantra for success?
Give your top management a view of what you are doing on a periodic basis.

When your chips are down, what keeps you going?
Books! I love reading all kinds of books. I’ve recently started blogging (Mat’s Blog) my ideas. People should maintain a journal to document what they are going through. You’ll be surprised clear answers will emerge from the process!

What’s one experience that you’ll never forget?
When participants come to me many days after the program is delivered and tell me that they have learnt something valuable, it’s a great experience.
Sometimes participants come back to say that the program did not help, that too becomes a memorable experience as feedback helps me design better.
Often, it’s the ‘Aha’ moment for participants either during or after the program that makes the experience memorable.

(Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of guests and authors, and do not necessarily represent those of their organization.)