7

Strategically Aligning the L&D Function

The more closely employees that perceive solutions are aligned to the strategic direction of the organization, the more likely these solutions are to be incorporated on the job, resulting in a stronger commitment to organizational strategy. This represents a fruitful avenue for learning and development to demonstrate its strategic influence to the organization (Montesino 2002). Chapter 2 made the distinction between the reactive and proactive alignment of learning and development, in which it is responding to performance problems—or it is preemptively designing the L&D function through underlying structures, supporting mechanisms, and activities that make it operate as an organizational strategic execution function. Strategically aligning the L&D function provides a way to proactively integrate what it does to generate strategic value.

While some L&D functions have been successful in achieving alignment, it is rare. L&D strategic alignment may not be clearly understood because the underlying elements and factors associated with facilitating successful L&D strategic alignment aren’t clearly articulated. L&D functions that assume the responsibility of stewardship of human performance in organizations take a proactive position in linking performance data, decisions, actions, and results. The learning and development function may not only improve the perceptions of its strategic value, but also contribute to its purpose of developing human capital by modeling how and why such practices are critical to strategy development and execution. L&D performance may then be derived from the degree to which it achieves alignment and, ultimately, delivers strategic value to stakeholders.

L&D Functional Alignment and Organizational Performance

Continuous performance improvement requires timely, accurate, and actionable performance data to support organizational decision making. To aid decision making, L&D professionals must set out to understand in what ways its work may directly or indirectly affect organizational performance. The relationship is measured by the direct effects of L&D operations and outputs on organizational outcomes, reflecting current evaluation trends of program measurement for training and nontraining solutions. While useful for specific program feedback, it does not take the integrated, synergistic influence of learning and development into account, and it has been challenging to isolate the effects of training and its impact on performance (ASTD 2009).

A measurement approach used to remedy this limitation is the indirect, dynamic approach to measurement, which looks at the fit between the L&D function and organizational strategy. As an example of an indirect measure, training has been demonstrated to influence outcomes such as employee turnover, ultimately affecting the organization’s financial results (Singh et al. 2012; Van Iddekinge et al. 2009).

As argued throughout this book, strategic alignment may be viewed as a process that enables companies and functions to be more effective. For learning and development, the examination of alignment can yield valuable, predictive information regarding the relationships between L&D systems and business performance (Chan et al. 1997). For example, it may identify the strengths and weaknesses of L&D, and the utility provided to stakeholders. So while achieving strategic alignment does not guarantee improved organizational performance, it does mean organizational leaders will consider alignment as one of many tools that can be used to gain and sustain competitive advantage.

Thus, the goal is not to strive for perfect alignment, but rather to engage in the processes that facilitate ongoing alignment, beyond strategic planning to ongoing strategic execution. Alignment is thus not only an end state but also an ongoing process. Reaching an ideal state of strategic alignment requires constant pursuit to keep pace with changes as shifts in strategic priorities require different employee behaviors, skills, and knowledge.

L&D Alignment as a System Change

Both proactive and reactive approaches to alignment are critical, complementary, and rest on system change methods because everything within the organizational system exists as it does due to the complex set of recurrent patterns of cause and effect. Therefore, whether you are trying to fix a specific performance problem or your aim is to position the L&D function to support new strategic opportunities, how you go about it has to reflect a system perspective of change.

While we recognize that organizations are part of a broader societal system, at this point we are focusing specifically on the organization as the target system. System change takes place in multiple dimensions and may involve:

•   shifting the components of the system or their sequence

•   shifting interactions between the components of the system

•   altering the whole through shifts in underlying choices and routines

•   shifting how the system generates and uses feedback to improve itself.

As with everything in a system, these dimensions are interconnected so that change in one supports changes in all others. System change is a journey that can require a radical change in people’s attitudes as well as in the ways people work. The L&D function aims to bring about lasting change by altering underlying structures and supporting mechanisms that make the system operate in a particular way. They can include expectations, policies, routines, relationships, resources, power structures and values, feedback mechanisms, skills and behaviors, and incentives and rewards, among many other mechanisms.

L&D Functional Alignment Framework

Geary Rummler and Brache (1995) identified nine performance variables that account for the multiple levels and dimensions of performance that exist within a system, all of which are critical to analyzing issues of alignment within organizations (Table 7-1). The three levels of performance are organization, process, and performer. To effect change in organizations, it is necessary to address the effects of the change on all three levels. For example, implementing change to drive the strategic alignment of the L&D function could mean significant changes to the job responsibilities and the skills of L&D members required to execute the strategic alignment efforts. Not accounting for these interrelationships may result in failed process implementation. Clear goals, at each level, are required to allow for appropriate alignment with an organization’s desired results. Design refers to how the structure is arranged in ways that facilitate achievement of the goals. And management refers to the various practices performed to ensure goals are being achieved.

The proactive charge of the L&D function is to drive and develop performance within. To fulfill this charge, Rummler and Brache’s performance variables may be applied as a lens to guide the strategic alignment of the L&D function in your organization. They have also been used as a framework for a diagnostic tool to determine the level of alignment of the L&D function.

Adapted from Rummler and Brache (1995)

L&D Alignment Diagnostic

Linking the L&D function to organizational strategies requires a list of specific processes and behaviors. The L&D Strategic Alignment Scale (Hicks 2016) is an empirically validated scale that consists of the most significant elements for L&D strategic alignment. The tool has been validated by L&D practitioners and experts with a wide range of expertise and levels of experience.

The diagnostic questionnaire lists the L&D skills and behaviors identified as most critical to the strategic alignment and contributions of learning and development (Table 7-2). The questionnaire is followed by a thorough discussion of its contents and their importance to L&D strategic alignment.

Strategically aligned L&D teams are perceived to have a firm grasp on what the emerging needs of the business are, and can communicate how their decisions for solutions meet those needs. They communicate this message confidently using business language, both in written and verbal communications with stakeholders. They know the company’s value chain and how their work connects and demonstrates value to the business.

The L&D team must also be able to speak confidently with line managers about the emerging business needs and discussions of how to best to meet them, effectively and efficiently. Business skills also play a role in how the L&D strategy is communicated. The L&D strategic plan is written in business language and offers strong evidence for the business case for learning decisions. Members of the L&D function must be able to perform gap analysis and synthesize the results to form connections at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels of the organization. Making these connections throughout the performance system is the key to a strategically aligned L&D function.

Learning and development must strike a balance of value to be delivered to its internal customers and external stakeholders (Rummler and Brache 2010). When considering making value connections to the organizational performance system, L&D must begin with the value that is delivered to the external customer and then consider the value to be delivered to the internal stakeholder. This is where the strategically driven links start—outward, then inside the organization. This focus shifts the attention away from short-term gains that may be delivered to internal stakeholders (at the expense of other parts of the system). Learning and development must move its attention beyond functional preferences, ad hoc requests, or silo approaches to work to make connections beyond the activity or output levels.

L&D teams are perceived to understand the context in which the business operates. As such, they should be shaped according to organizational needs rather than L&D needs. L&D practitioners must have the skills necessary to perform the critical internal strategic processes, which places them in the position of having current, working information of the emerging needs of the business. With this information, L&D can form a theory of impact by reverse engineering value from the external view of the customer and working inward from impact, outcomes, outputs, and activities. Rummler and Brache (2010) describe this approach as a necessity to “think differently about the contribution of work.” In other words, learning and development must plan the design and management of the function toward the value creation system with effective and efficient use of resources.

The communication of how learning and development approaches its work is also an essential ingredient in the perception of its strategic alignment. Learning and development can share their value creation opportunities and successes in verbal and written forms of ongoing communication. Strategically aligned learning and development has the skill and ability to speak confidently in business terms with line executives and managers about business issues; for example, the gap between the capabilities of employees and the requirements to meet strategic priorities. Where are you now? Where do you want to be? These L&D functions monitor critical organizational issues such as the current priorities of the organization, and the future desired state of the organization (Anderson 2008). Strategically aligned learning and development can describe this gap in results and offer human performance solutions that make sense for the business. They demonstrate an awareness of what it will take to execute strategies and offer vivid descriptions of what the company will look like once the priorities are carried out. They will also proactively seize opportunities to provide ongoing communication about the business case for their decisions. They recognize that these decisions are investments in the organization and—like any other company investment that requires a commitment of funding and resources—can offer credible evidence of the soundness of the decision.

Cooperation also has a significant presence in this diagnostic questionnaire. A cooperative relationship specifies that the L&D function is proactive and purposeful when developing trusting relationships with line managers. It needs an internal climate of cooperation to exercise its role in creating strategic alignment within the organization, which requires support from line managers. Cooperation allows L&D to plan for how learning solutions will be integrated throughout the organization and to provide just-in-time solutions aimed at current business needs. The cooperation factor describes the type of relationship internal customers require from the L&D function. Strategically aligned L&D functions take the lead in the relationship to develop trust and to identify what measures the stakeholder uses to determine value.

Through this, L&D can establish the value expectations of internal stakeholders and offer solutions that meet those expectations. These L&D functions work closely with line managers—who are looking for quick learning solutions that are well integrated throughout the organization—to establish ongoing dialogue and perform a gap analysis at the functional level. In other words, line managers participate with learning and development in gathering the data required for method-means analysis. And with learning and development’s focus on integrated talent management, a shared results chain may be collaboratively created, managed, and evaluated. This practice helps L&D overcome challenges in conducting evaluation by reframing it as an intelligence gathering endeavor with the purpose of organizational learning and improvement. (See appendix B for more information on how to use the L&D Alignment Diagnostic tool and interpret its score.)

Further Recommendations for Improving the Strategic Alignment of L&D

While using the L&D strategic alignment tool generates precise information about where the L&D function should improve its alignment efforts, there are other ways of integrating strategic alignment into your daily business, and, in turn, improving the impact you have on the organization, the customers it serves, and the society to which it contributes. Table 7-3 provides some examples of what these changes might look like.

Consider the adoption and integration of this process as a way to go about increasing the strategic alignment of your work and also as a continuous effort of transforming the way you and your organization go about selecting and implementing solutions to business problems or opportunities. This is a long-term effort, and you can start with any project you are currently working on or are about to start. You can start with any of these desired changes in your work—a change in individual skills and behaviors, a change in the team’s responsibilities or work processes, or a change at the division level that addresses topics such as strategic direction and resource allocation.

That said, many alignment efforts do not start at the corporate level. Instead, you may begin at the division or functional unit level to pilot the alignment efforts. Starting here allows you and stakeholders to gain knowledge, experience, and credibility before extending alignment efforts enterprise-wide. Such an approach sheds light on not only the potential of the performance improvement unit (and its practitioners) to position itself as more strategic and central to the value of the organization, but can also serve as a leader in promoting strategic alignment among and between other units. Such leadership demonstrates an approach to aligning and reinforcing the value being created to a common value proposition. Functional level employees can gain an understanding of how their team and individual efforts contribute to shared goals with employees as owners of capturing strategic value. Thus, the goal of those in performance improvement roles is to facilitate an ongoing synergistic relationship in which learning and development and other business units coordinate their strategies.

Changes in Individual L&D Skillsand Behaviors

Using the strategic alignment process may require that you acquire new skills and behaviors, modify existing ones, or eliminate particular skills or behaviors all together. As chapter 1 demonstrated, the roles in training, organization development, and human resource divisions and departments are evolving. And with that, so are the skills and behaviors necessary to carry out transformational work and results. As individuals in the performance improvement profession, you can expect to continuously evolve with the needs of the business and, with that, continuously adapt your skills and behaviors to reflect aligned work, relationships, and results. The following are some ideas for addressing the development of these skills and behaviors:

•   System Thinking Skills

        Investigate the system thinking habits of mind and standards.

        Practice using the system thinking tools in this book.

        Collect data about system thinking behaviors in your organization and track it over time. What does system thinking look like in your organization? In what ways is it being applied? By whom? What are the feedback loops?

        Identify the system thinking tools that are being used in your organization. Which ones could you adopt or modify so they applied to your work?

        Map the structure of your organization. How does this structure influence the behavior within the organization?

•   Strategic Thinking Skills

        Design a logic model for your next performance improvement project. This will help develop your thinking in terms of timeframes and their associated, planned consequences. Design for these consequences (that is, outcomes) to the impact level. This will keep your focus on the long-term consequences to customers and society.

        Follow up with a recent client and ask about the intended and unintended consequences of the project or work. Discuss potential solutions that have produced similar or different results.

•   Critical Thinking Skills

        Map the assessment plan for an upcoming project.

        Design a data collection template for compiling data for a current project.

        Analyze the data you’ve compiled for a current project.

        Discuss your conclusions from a data-driven assessment with colleagues and stakeholders. Incorporate the diverse perspectives.

        Practice using the root cause analysis tools to dig deeper into the factors that are influencing performance in your organization.

•   Collaboration Skills

        Increase the use of face-to-face and telephone communications to redesign your relationships with stakeholders from transactional to transformational.

        Seek out collaborative opportunities, such as interdepartmental projects.

        Practice asking new types of questions with your colleagues.

        Practice negotiating through conflict in work groups; for example, competing approaches to problem solving and decision making.

        Increase your use of interviews and focus groups, where applicable and aligned, to your methods of data collection.

Changes in L&D Team Responsibilities and Work Processes

Applying the strategic alignment process to your team will require changes to the work products and services they are responsible for delivering and how those work products and services are provided to clients. The work products and services of an aligned performance improvement team are continually changing. This is in response to changing business needs. As the business grows and changes, it is necessary for L&D practitioners, teams, and its division to continuously evolve, and do so at a pace quicker than the business. Performance improvement practitioners, teams, and divisions may then serve as models, coaches, and educators of adapting the products and services they offer and how they go about doing that.

Aligned performance improvement teams apply strategic alignment processes to the majority of their work. However, in reality, not every performance improvement initiative will be informed through the use of documented evidence—some projects just have to be done, but they should occur fewer and farther between. In an aligned state, projects are taken on based on need, rather than order or influence. This requires a strategic plan to be developed in advance, along with work agreements with stakeholders. By doing so, your team is connected to specific strategic initiatives, your resources are communicated, and your influence is directly aligned to strategic outcomes. The aim here is to facilitate the alignment of the majority of the work products produced by your team. The more that are aligned, the more the team will earn a reputation as a valued strategic partner. Some changes that may be considered for the team include:

•   Replace or modify existing needs assessment processes.

•   Modify current work agreements with internal clients.

•   Adjust the project management schedule to increase time and resources on the front end.

•   Modify how your team’s performance results are communicated.

Changing what work is done and how it is done is a process that will take some time, but the investment will reveal strategically valuable results. It will be well worth the journey. Just as with other performance improvement initiatives, this change in the approach to work on the team should be approached methodically.

The following steps will help you get started:

•   Step 1. As a team, complete this sentence: “I will know our team is strategically aligned when …” These are your goals.

•   Step 2. As a team, determine your desired outcomes—identify what your anticipated results will be at multiple levels.

•   Step 3. As a team, determine which strategies will meet your desired outcomes. How will you go about meeting those outcomes?

These first three steps get everyone on the team into a shared agreement about the question, “What are we trying to do?”

•   Step 4. As a team, design a long-term assessment plan. Think about how you will collect, analyze, and interpret data that tells you how you are progressing toward your goals.

•   Step 5. As a team, negotiate who will take on what role in the assessment plan.

•   Step 6. Carry out the assessment plan. Continuously monitor and track your data to gauge how close or far your team is from its desired outcomes.

Steps four through six get everyone on the team to participate in the design and implementation of an assessment plan. This tells the team how well they are doing it.

•   Step 7. As a team, share your assessment results with stakeholders. Keep everyone up to date on how the team is progressing toward its goals of facilitating strategic alignment to the business.

•   Step 8. With your team and stakeholders, modify and improve the process using the information you’ve gathered in steps four through six to keep improving. Keep your stakeholders involved in the process. You continue to share in the accountability and the results of your alignment efforts.

These final steps are an opportunity for transparency, shared accountability, and shared results. In these steps, you are keeping your stakeholders involved and informed as your relationship and work changes over time.

Changes at the Divisional Level

When the strategic alignment process is applied at the divisional level of the organization, it influences the processes and identification of the strategic direction and methods for applying resources to performance improvement problems, opportunities, and solutions.

Changes at this level require buy-in and participation from the work groups and teams that fall within the responsibility of the division. Changes to the way work is approached and relationships with stakeholders can represent a fundamental shift for some practitioners, teams, and organizations.

Some changes that may be considered for the division include:

•   allocating resources based on documented need

•   allocating a smaller percentage of projects to “have to do” versus “should do”

•   acknowledging and reward strategically aligned projects and participants noting the specific links to outcomes

•   applying results from aligned projects in resource allocation decisions

•   modeling the critical skills required of current and future performance improvement practitioners

•   mapping the anticipated growth over the next several years and design an assessment plan to monitor and track progress toward those goals.

To facilitate a shared understanding of the new way of going about work, collaboratively consider and negotiate responses to the following questions:

•   Why are we doing it? Collaboratively negotiate a shared understanding of the purposes of a strategically aligned workplace, work, and person.

•   What guiding principles will we apply to it? Collaboratively negotiate and define shared values that will be applied in a strategically aligned state. How do your values support this endeavor?

•   What will be gained from doing it? Collaboratively determine your shared alignment goals. When will you know your division is strategically aligned?

•   How do we agree to use it? Collaboratively determine how assessment findings and results will be used. With transparency comes trust. You should agree in advance how the data will—and will not—be used to support these changes.