Addressing the top 5 pain points faced by L&D leaders

Research shows that 94% of employees would stay longer at their current organisation if they were offered learning and development opportunities.

Plus, 35% of Millennials and Gen Z view training and development, including mentoring, as top employer benefits.

So, with a clear appetite for employees to develop and progress in their careers, how can organisations proactively respond?

Establishing effective learning programmes that deliver at scale for all can offer complex challenges to L&D leaders. But this is where the magic of technology comes in. Let’s explore further.

1. Building an organisational learning culture

How do I foster a digital-literate culture of knowledge and shared learning that supports the mission and goals of the organisation? How do I embed learning at an individual, team, and organisational level?

Firstly, it’s important to recognise the learning needs will differ across your organisation.

In a recent article by The Learning and Performance Institute’s CLO, Cathy Hoy, she explains why this is such a big challenge:

“Every company is different (values, culture, strategy, organisational needs, learning needs, employee needs…) and so every company will need to take a different approach. And every organisation will be starting from a different point – some will already have strong elements of a learning culture, while others will have further to go.”

However, despite a diverse range of needs, there are some common solutions that enable L&D leaders to maximise their people’s learning experience and develop an agile culture that supports progression, retention and belonging:

• Delivering mentoring programmes with a purpose that enables employees to own their own development and progression
• In the modern workplace, leveraging technology to deliver at-scale learning and progression, wherever their people are located
• Connectr has been designed to help businesses build their learning cultures wherever they are on their path, The platform enables L&D leaders to evaluate and develop their learning strategies and transform the capability and performance of a company’s workforce.

Employee progression and development can be tracked within Connectr’s platform – the success of people is measured at the touch of a button.

The LPI’s CEO, Ed Monk, comments:

“The combination of an unrelenting rise in digital information available to us, and exponential growth in remote working has undoubtedly created a need for human context. This is why we are seeing large organisations around the world investing a significant percentage of their L&D budget on mentoring. The humanisation of digital content and specifically digital learning is best represented by mentoring, and it is no surprise then that technology which facilitates successful mentoring and mentor/mentee matching is also proving to be invaluable to the corporate sector.

2. Supporting learning in a hybrid workplace

How do I ensure that remote workers enjoy a learning experience that’s as good, if not better, than those who have returned to the office? How do I find the right balance between face-to-face and digital learning?

With hybrid working now the norm for many, L&D leaders need to deliver learning programmes that reflect modern working patterns and preferences.

This is where the power of technology comes in. Digital learning platforms, when leveraged as a force for good deliver learning at-scale, for all talent. Tech also removes the geographical barriers to not only enable learning but also connection and collaboration in a virtual workplace.

The businesses prioritising connectivity and learning for their most critical asset – their people – are the most successful. See how Heathrow has rolled out an effective mentoring programme using Connectr’s technology.

3. Embedding learning into the flow and culture of work 

How do I engage people enough so that learning isn’t seen as an interruption? What’s the best way to motivate people to incorporate regular learning into their work routines?

Mentoring technology enables agile learning in the moment of need, in a way that suits the employee – from having a quick question answered to a more in-depth mentoring programme schedule and goal-setting.

Connectr’s mentoring technology enables personalised learning programmes to be delivered at scale to all. This enables L&D leaders to remove the manual and small-scale impact that often comes with traditional programmes and deliver meaningful development and progression to their people when it suits them. Great for people, even better for businesses.

4. Leadership development

How can I implement effective leadership training using technology – and how do I balance this with executive buy-in, impact measurement, and succession planning?

Evidencing the value of learning programmes is key, and L&D leaders must take a data-led approach to prove productivity, progression, and retention. Mentoring and reverse mentoring play a crucial role in ensuring senior leaders across the business are trained and aware of their people’s needs.

So, how can L&D leaders meet these objectives? Leveraging technology means engagement, progression, and retention can be easily benchmarked – as can participation in mentoring and reverse mentoring schemes. This will be based on anecdotal evidence alongside meeting commercial goals.

Connectr’s reporting functionality helps L&D leaders track employee belonging, progression, and retention. This can range from an analysis of the whole workforce or on a more granular level, by specific diversity group.  This is key to ensuring L&D leaders track and evidence the successes of learning, development, and mentoring programmes.

Of course, the most successful L&D programmes will directly involve and benefit business leaders by creating opportunities for them to share their knowledge and experience with wider team members.

Reverse mentoring – where junior team members mentor more senior leaders to share insights– are also key in defining senior learning and overall organisational evolution and success. Connectr delivers mentoring programmes that enable learning for all.

5. Mental health and wellbeing

How can I strengthen wellbeing and engagement using learning? What learning and development initiatives can I use to motivate employees to achieve personal and organisational goals?

There’s no doubt that the pandemic has seen a surge in the number of people suffering from poor mental health. Modern ways of working often result in isolation and disconnect.

Mentoring programmes can play a key role in restoring a sense of belonging and connection, through a virtual community of learning, networking, and engagement with those across the organisation

Connectr’s Belonging Index establishes and tracks employees’ sense of belonging throughout a mentoring programme, so Learning and Development leaders can implement and optimise their employee experience – resulting in happy people that want to remain in the business

LPI Resources for Learning and Development leaders

The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) is a global membership body that has promoted, empowered, and supported best practices in workplace learning for more than 25 years.

• The Learning and Performance Accelerator – the world’s first dynamic benchmark for learning leaders
• The LPI Capability Map – assess your L&D skills in 25 key areas

To find out how Connectr can drive your people strategy forward and drive the learning, progression, and retention of your talent, chat with us.