Developing a Killer Corporate Learning StrategyÂ
Setup Your GoalsIn order to develop a corporate learning strategy, you will first need to establish a few corporate goals. To do this, you will need to look at your own company’s corporate goals and translate them into learning objectives. In other words, your corporate learning strategy must be established as an extension of your company’s long term interests, and more importantly, it must help train your company’s core personnel into effective assets for your company.Â
For example, let’s say that one of your corporate objectives is to establish a an optimum competitive strategy for your company relative to its key rivals. To convert this objective into a learning strategy goal, your personnel training programs will need to integrate various aspects of competitive strategy, such as dominant/dominated strategies, aggressive/cooperative commitments as well as structural and strategic entry barriers into its learning modules. By emphasizing competitive strategy to your personnel, they will have an easier time adapting to the overall corporate strategy of your company.Â
This is an exceptional example, but the idea should be quite obvious. By establishing effective corporate learning goals, your company’s employee training program will be able to bring in the necessary resources, specialists and trainers to create an effective employee training program, with measurable results.Â
Set Up A Process
After you have determined what sort of goals your corporate learning strategy needs to have, your next goal should be to establish a few processes for your company’s training program. In corporate training, processes usually mean a collection of repetitive and consistent activities which are designed to carry out certain tasks. In other cases, a process can also define a common set of actions which are designed to accomplish certain tasks in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. while reducing problems and inefficiencies in other tasks.Â
A good example of a process in corporate learning are tests. Tests may be designed to measure the proficiency of each trainee or determine the effectiveness of a particular training module. Furthermore, tests may be implemented over and over again, and to different sets of trainees and personnel. Because of these characteristics, tests can, therefore, be considered as processes.
There are, of course, other types of processes, but it’s up to you and your company to determine which are most suitable to your company’s training needs.Â
Analysis
Analysis is important in establishing products and services, but it can also be used for personnel development. In corporate training, analysis is typically used to determine the effectiveness of training activities and learning modules. It can, for example, be used to measure the learning development of each personnel, analyze the effectiveness of various course contents and measure the effectiveness of a particular learning program.Â
In short, analysis allows trainers and senior managers to determine and measure the effectiveness of their learning strategy in relation to its stated goals, which is important if you’re using experimental learning strategies on your company’s personnel. So in creating a learning strategy for your company, be sure to have several analytical parameters in place to monitor the effectiveness of your strategy.
DesignÂ
The design phase of a learning strategy involves the media selection process. What this means is that the trainers and managers in charge of the learning strategy will need to identify tools, learning materials, media and content which are most conducive for trainees and personnel.Â
It’s also worth mentioning that the design phase takes into account the learning preferences of the trainees, their geographical disbursement, the type of tools needed as well as the obstacles involved in the learning process. By looking at these various factors, your company’s trainers and educational staff will be able to implement a learning strategy that is most appropriate to your company’s needs.Â
Development
The development process is the most critical part of a corporate learning strategy and this is because it involves the production of all the necessary training materials and resources. Furthermore, the development phase also involves incorporating a new learning infrastructure into your entire company as well as the creation of new content that will serve the needs of the learning strategy. If, however, these assets already exist within the company then they will need to be modified to comply with the needs of the new learning strategy.Â
For example, if your new learning strategy focuses heavily on e-learning then the content development process will need to develop online learning tools and resources for the benefit of the trainees. An integrated database will also need to be developed in order to manage all accounts, reports and tests from both trainers and trainee online. Furthermore, multimedia and other learning technology components will also have to be created for distribution.Â
Once all of the necessary components, tools and personnel have been assembled, the learning process can begin, and you can start implementing your company’s learning strategy.Â
ConclusionÂ
In creating a comprehensive learning strategy for your company, it’s important to keep in mind that it is, first and foremost, a strategy, and like all strategies, it’s only useful as the goals that it’s designed to accomplish. Learning strategies are generally designed to help personnel and employees learn efficiently, but they are also designed to reflect long term corporate goals, and not just those that involve personnel development. Because of this, your company’s personnel learning strategy is more than just about learning, nor is it just a strategy. It also reflects the needs and objectives of your business as a whole, and this is why a corporate learning strategy is an important component of any company that values the skills of its personnel.