Learning is the answer. But what is the question?

The need for learning itself is not in question. Learning is the answer, but what is the business question?

Vikas attends a team-building offsite. There is fun, laughter and engagement. The trainer gets a great score given the high-octane involvement; Learning & Development (L&D) gets great feedback; and business has some boxes ticked. Seems like a win-win all-round. Except that the BU head, extremely pressed for performance, quietly murmurs about how any of this ties-in with his business goals.

Does the unit head have a point? That organisations are facing a critical shortage of both, talent and skills, is a given. So, the need for learning itself is not in question. Learning is the answer, but what is the business question? This is no laughing matter, especially where 100s of billions of dollars are spent on workplace L&D, globally!

Wrong Question

With possibly the wrong question and an answer that misses the mark, it seems many companies are spending heavily into L&D without seeing tangible results. According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, only 8% of CEOs saw the business impact of L&D programmes, and even fewer than 4% had a clear ROI.

A common mistake with L&D when we look at creating a learning intervention is that we have a habit of looking at competencies and asking ourselves: “What is the behaviour we want to impact?” as a starting point. In the absence of linkage to business results, the Board might be forgiven for thinking that precious time and resources have been wasted. However, let’s check if we’re asking the wrong questions. We’re certainly not asking the right ones.

Not Our Business

We are basically not in the business of developing competencies. What competencies one person, group of persons or even an organisation needs to focus on is a byproduct of what the goal of the organisation is. It’s not the other way around.

Says Sandeep Budhiraja, Executive Director of the BYLD Group: “The reason we run into these challenges as learning professionals is because we forget we are not in the business of developing leaders; we are in the business of getting leaders to perform. We are not in the business of collaborating; we are in the business of getting output through collaboration. So, means and ends can often get confused.”

To add to this confusion, when you go to leaders inside the organisation and ask them what the developmental agenda should be, they start speaking this language: “Doctor, I am running a fever, can you please prescribe me a paracetamol?” So, if you know the problem and you know the solution, then why are you here? This happens a lot. And basically, that’s the problem right there.

The starting point has to be business challenges clearly articulated in the results sought: Low performance, high attrition, static growth, profitability, revenue, on time and in full, TAT, SLA or quality. We are not looking at teamwork, collaboration, communication etc., even though it feels all very right for Vikas at the time.

Begin With The End In Mind

You’ve probably seen the ‘Iceberg’ graphic – a very common principle. At the top of the iceberg graphic, you have ‘Results’, the visible.

A lot of times we make the mistake of designing programmes to change attitudes, the invisible, which you can’t do by the way. So, the design of any training intervention or learning journey is to teach people to adopt new behaviours or give up old behaviours. But people may argue, how will you maintain behaviour until attitude is taken care of? Simply said, says Budhiraja, “Stop being God’s gift to mankind. Attitudes will shape over a period of time when people get new experiences. The only way to create change using L&D is to focus on the leverage of behaviours.”

However, not all behaviours are equally relevant to the outcome. If the goal is improved performance, let’s establish the leverage we are looking at. What are the two or three behaviours the team must enact in order to lift their performance? Can we create learning approaches that are business-centric and not HR-centric?

Note: Remember this: We cannot impact results, we can only impact behaviour. Results change when relevant behaviour is changed. Also, a note of caution: L&D can largely create an up to 30 percent impact on business results, so we have to be careful on how much we commit. The rest is a function of strategy, right hiring etc.

The One Question

There is no better question in sales than to ask a prospect: “What is the one issue you lose sleep over?” Many a giant-slayer in sales has ignored this all-important question in a moment of self-confident assumption at their own peril, only to then witness a meeting implode. So also, at every level of leadership, cascading down from the CEO onwards, the all-important question in L&D can only be: “What keeps you awake at night?” The answer to this business question affords the billion-dollar alignment for L&D, and could bring L&D back to the high table of partnership with business.

Navin Tauro is a global leadership expert. Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.