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Special Advertising Supplement to Workorce MANAGEMENT S3
Best Practices in Training and Development
Tying Training and Development to Competitive StrategyASSESS SYSTEMS
Every organization has a specialized value chain consisting of
unique activities that make products and services beneficial tocustomers. Knowledge of the value chain and its accompany-
ing strengths and deficits is essential. The process of gaining such
knowledge is known as value chain analysis, a concept popularized
by competitive strategy guru Michael Porter.
Value chain analysis is a powerful tool for business leaders, partic-
ularly those who oversee training and development (T&D). Best-
practice T&D, along with other human resource (HR) functions,
supports the primary activities of the business. In difficult financial
times like these, support might be considered non-essential to
business processes and therefore subject to cost-cutting. However,
activities that sustain the primary value-creation engines of a busi-
ness always require investment, in good times and bad.
Critical Business Support
Top T&D professionals first seek to understand how value is created
by the business they support. They then translate this thorough
understanding of the value chain into the knowledge, skills and abil-
ities of the people involved in mission-critical activities. The next
step is to organize these key capabilities into competency models for
each level of the organization. Competency models define successful
behaviors that ultimately make the products and services of the busi-
ness valuable to customers.
Competency models drive not only T&D activities, but also other
HR activities. Upstream activities, such as talent sourcing, anddownstream activities, such as performance management, work in
concert with T&D to provide the HR capability to the value drivers
of the business. Companies that hire the right people for the job and
reward them for top performance get the most return from their
T&D investments.
T&D professionals can avoid common training pitfalls by build-
ing their programs around the business value chain, incorporating
overall business strategy and coordinating their activities with other
HR practices. A business leader might say, Sales are down, so we
need better sales training. The savvy T&D manager should be able
to help pinpoint the constraint leading to lower sales, find a more
effective solution and respond with something like, If we targettraining to the order-fulfillment process, we can reduce delivery time
and errors, which are the primary causes of declining sales.
Well designed, expensive training programs risk becoming the
flavor of the month when not intimately tied to business strategy
and tightly woven into the fabric of other HR practices. The skilled
T&D professional proactively offers the fundamental activities that
lead to value creation in the business and thereby avoids the latest
fads and trends in T&D, which quickly give way to the next wave
of fads and trends and always involve additional expenditures.
T&Ds Value Chain
An organizations value chain yields products and services with
competitive advantage. The concept of value chain analysis can also
apply to the business of T&D. At this level, the primary strategic
objective of T&D activities is to provide more valuable employees
to the company.
Activities in the best-practice T&D value chain precede employ-
ment and extend beyond termination:
Pre-employment:
Community, governmental and educational outreach programs
Sourcing and recruitment activities
Employer-of-choice branding and realistic job-preview activities
Pre-employment assessments and interviews
During employment:
On-boarding activities
Enculturation, reinforcement of values and basic operational
training
Career guidance and management activities
Functional, professional, management and leadership training
Assessment for promotion or individual insight and develop-
ment
Safety, compliance and regulatory training
Post-employment:
Exit interviews and surveys
Outplacement support Employee alumni groups and networks
The T&D professional conducting the value chain analysis exam-
ines each activity and asks, Where does the development of people
add the most value to our enterprise? Where are the constraints to
adding that value? For example, some high-tech companies take a
proactive, strategic approach by directing significant T&D efforts at
middle-school students who have an interest in a technology career.
On the post-employment side, many consulting companies recog-
nize ex-employees as a profitable source of increased business. By
making every effort to ensure a positive experience for all their people,
these organizations now have numerous former employees who are
ambassadors of the company brand, involve the company in con-sulting contracts and sometimes return with even more experience.
The Bottom Line
Value chain analysis is a tool business leaders use to lay the foun-
dation for executing on business strategy. It is also a tool that helps
define best practices in T&D. By adding value to the business, T&D
investments yield significant returns and become a key driver of
competitive advantage. I
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The online hub for everythingand everyone you need to know in
Training and Development.
Use the Training and Development channel on the workforce.com Web site
as your information hub for this topic, 24/7. Read the most current stories,
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might have missed. Find archived in-depth features. Click on the Commerce
Center for a list of directories on different segments within the category,
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> Go to: workforce.com/training
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Special Advertising Supplement to Workorce MANAGEMENT S5
Best Practices in Training and Development
Linking Learning and Talent Management fora High Performance Workplace
HALOGEN SOFTWARE INC.
Traditionally, learning management systems (LMS) havebeen used primarily in large enterprises where the HR andlearning teams operate in isolation from one another.
However, recent research in talent management points to theunion of learning and performance management as a growingbest practice.
Bersin & Associates 2008 Corporate Learning Factbook identified
that more than 25 percent of corporate learning and development
(L&D) managers rate integration with performance management as
one of their top two priorities. In theory, all L&D programs, inter-
ventions, activities and resources should support this performance
management process.
However traditional learning management software was devel-
oped as a standalone solution. It focused on improving the efficiency
and operational effectiveness of the training organization; provided
tools for employees, trainers and content developers to more easily
build, administer and deliver training programs. But it lacked a key
functionthe ability to create a development process between
manager and employee that helps employees improve their personal
performance in conjunction with organizational goals.
As a result, stand-alone LMS offerings didnt meet expectations.
This was in large part due to the lack of integration with other HR
functions. This resulted in LMS offerings being time consuming to
administer and resulting in significant duplication of data and
effort. One of the biggest issues with traditional LMS systems is that
improvements in performance from training could not be measured.
Why Integrate Performance Management with Learning?An integrated learning and performance management process
enables organizations to align enterprise-wide learning programs
with corporate and individual goals. After looking at the best prac-
tices of over 750 corporations, Bersin & Associates discovered that
aligning training with the development goals of individuals and the
organization is a leading talent management practice that drives
business impact. The power of an integrated LMS is that it enables
learning managers and HR leaders to use the same system to link
and track employee performance and learning, thus gaining action-
able intelligence about their learning investments.
An effective LMS seamlessly integrates learning activities into
the performance management and succession planning processmaking it easy for HR, employees and managers to access informa-
tion; identify and assign development plans; even register for learn-
ing activities and track progress on achievementall in a single user
interface. They can also identify skill gaps and measure the success
of learning programs in terms of improved corporate performance.
Using Integration to Drive a High-performance WorkforceResearch shows that employees perform much better when they
have a clear picture of the development needs and opportunities for
their jobs. When they realize that they may not be proficient at a
task or process, most people want to improve.
With an integrated performance and learning system, the L&D
organization can publish all internal and externally validated pro-
grams, and align them directly to competencies and job descriptions.
Employees and managers can then easily find the right training at
the right time without guessingor ignoring the process. This
gives employees the ability to plan and implement their own career
and performance growthwhich ultimately improves morale,
retention and succession rates.
Filling the Leadership PipelineSuccession planning is a key part of most organizations talent
management strategy as they face increased pressure when it comes
to attracting and retaining highly skilled workers. Management andsenior-level positions require many critical skills, including deep
knowledge of the organization, strong skills in people management,
and higher-level skills in planning, administration and financial
analysis.
Often organizations promote employees to higher-level positions
based on a gut feel of management potential, or recent project-
based successes. Some succeed and some do nota costly exercise
in trial and error. With the integration of performance management
and learning management, a robust assessment and integrated
development planning process can clearly identify and develop
employees and managers based on longer-term performance and
big-picture organizational goals. For example, managers who are
slated for promotion can attend well-designed development pro-grams. The result is a much higher level of performance and success
in the mid-level manager population, and a rich pool to draw from
for executive-level succession.
Making an Integrated Platform a RealityFor the HR department who is championing an integrated
performance and learning management approach, its important to
secure executive buy-in by make the discussion one of strategy
communicating the business benefits. This includes aligning talent
improvement investments with corporate priorities and demonstrat-
ing how managing talent from a holistic view will ultimately improve
competencies across the organization and drive corporate objectives.
Summary: Performance and Learning ManagementBelong Together
In the current climate, it is imperative for organizations to link
the performance and learning processes together. In doing so there
is greater potential for organizations to drive even higher levels of
performance, better utilization of training resources, and new levels
of employee engagement and business impact. I
For more information please visitwww.halogensoftware.com
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Special Advertising Supplement to Workorce MANAGEMENT S7
Best Practices in Training and Development
The Value of Learning and Performance IntegrationSILKROAD TECHNOLOGY INC.
Traditionally, learning has been pushed into its own corner of
the office. If you have a learning management system, thattoo may be functioning in a stand-alone fashion. Currently,
one of the biggest trends in the talent management market is the
tight integration between learning, training and development with
ones overall strategy, a key part of which is performance. In
Aberdeen Groups 2008 report, Achieving Real Business Value
with Learning and Development Aberdeen states that one action
an organization must take to achieve Best-in-Class status in the area
of performance is to, integrate learning with performance manage-
ment, make it readily available and aligned with development
plans. Its safe to say that learning has inched its way to the very
core of talent management.
Most learning programs and LMS systems were designed tocentralize learning, maintain compliance (especially if youre in a
regulated industry), and reduce the extensive administrative and
financial burden of these programs. While such benefits are still
immensely valuable, organizations must take steps to integrate learn-
ing with employee development planning and performance, as well
as overall business strategy, in order to stay ahead in todays market.
Define Competency Models
One of the first steps to getting started after a firm understanding
of your companys talent strategy has been established (more on this
below!), is making sure you have a solid and accurate competency
framework in place. One example of this can be found in the Bersin& Associates Talent Management Framework, which identifies 4
critical tiers of competencies: core, career path, functional, and lead-
ership. Incorporating a similarly efficient competency framework
into your performance management process is necessary in order
to ensure youve got the right people in the right positions now for
current and future training.
Align Learning with Individual Skills Gaps
Identifying skills gaps will allow you to align learning activities
and development plans targeted at bridging these gaps and allowing
employees to take responsibility for their own success. Knowing
where the gaps are in your talent base is critical to understandingwhere your organization should focus its training efforts. Having
identified skills gaps and aligned training accordingly, you can more
successfully lead employees down their designated or desired career
path. In addition to improvement in the performance of your talent,
youll realize cost savings by ensuring the training programs you use
are the ones that yield the most benefit.
Align Learning with Corporate Strategy
For lasting success, organizations need to offer long-term, blended
training programs that are tied to overall corporate and talent strategy.
This can be challenging as it requires your management team, at all
levels, to have a clear understanding of the companys short and long
term needs, goals and benefits. Its critical that those responsible for
creating training and development programs align the programs to
meet the needs of corporate strategy, in addition to that of the
employee, and ensure that theyre rooted at the core of the process.
AutomateAutomation of the learning management process with software
solutions is the final key to merging your performance and learning
processes. Just as your process of learning and performance should
be tightly integrated, so should your technology solutions. This type
of closely-knit automation provides you with a clear vision into
which training programs are working and how development is
affecting performance. You can also launch learning programs
based on performance assessments, competency/skill gap analysis
and business strategy. A few other benefits of using performance and
learning software include:
Employees can easily manage their development and training via
one destination
Ease of staying in compliance, especially for organizations in
regulated industries
Ensure consistency across all your processes
Tracking and reporting for HR and management
Virtually eliminate paper from the process As appropriate, reduce costs by utilizing on-line learning options
rather than costly classroom training.
Summary
With new challenges facing the marketplace, a highly engaged,
motivated and productive talent base is more important than ever.
As discussed, by taking the time to strategically align and integrate
your performance and learning management processes through:
competency models, identification of skill gaps, learning programs
tied to corporate strategy and talent management automation, youll
be able to derive greater benefits from your workforce, reduce costs
and provide outstanding bottom line business results.
About SilkRoad technology
SilkRoad technology inc., is a leading provider of a full suite of
talent management solutions that significantly improve the talent
within its more than 1000 customers across the globe. With a suite
that includes solutions for recruiting; onboarding and life events;
performance; learning; and employee intranets, SilkRoad offers the
most comprehensive talent management suite on the market. To
learn more, please visit www.silkroad.com. I
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S8 Special Advertising Supplement to Workorce MANAGEMENTS8 Special Advertising Supplement to Workorce MANAGEMENT
For more information on the companies thatcontributed to this white paper, visit their web sites,
or contact them directly at:
SILKROAD TECHNOLOGY, INC.
102 West 3rd Street
Suite 250
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101
Phone: (866) 329-3363
www.silkroad.com
HALOGEN SOFTWARE INC.
495 March Road
Suite 500
Ottawa, Ontario
K2K 3G1 Canada
Phone: (866) 566-7778www.halogensoftware.com
For information on participating in upcoming Best Practice White Papers, contact:Jason Asch, Advertising Sales Director
(212) 210-0112 I [email protected]
WorkorceM A N A G E M E N T
WorkorceM A N A G E M E N T
Irvine Headquarters4 Executive Circle, Suite 185Irvine, CA 92614-6791(949) 255-5340
www.workforce.com
ASSESS SYSTEMS(FORMERLY BIGBY HAVIS)
12750 Merit Drive
Suite 300
Dallas, TX 75251
Phone: (800) 283-6055www.assess-systems.com