Assessing Learning & Performance Readiness

In my initial alignment efforts with new and prospective clients, I always start by asking if they have a Learning & Performance Strategy, and I consistently receive a positive response. As we pursue further discovery, it becomes clear that, in many of those cases, what they truly have is a Training Strategy, and elsewhere there is a disconnected Performance Management Strategy. That's not a bad thing; at least they have something in place. It does, however, support an old, out-dated learning paradigm that rarely aligns business results (outcomes) with the continuous learning necessary to enable human performance to produce them.

Here are some other findings we see:

• Businesses typically have "pieces and parts" of a Learning & Performance (L&P) Strategy. The pieces missing represent strategy gaps preventing continuity of process and effective implementation across the organization.
• New methodologies and competencies are often required to effectively support L&P across mutually exclusive, unique business applications.
• Governance is most often loose and informal, or it’s totally MIA altogether.
• L&P decisions are made independently across siloed training groups, including decisions to apply specific technology and/or applications related to content creation, archival, access, and delivery. Collaboration is spotty at best.
• The organization has not embraced the new cultural paradigm of continuous learning, and it is dependant upon traditional formal training curricula and delivery methods to enable effective human performance.
• The organization typically has a repeatable model to support Change Management activity, but it does not have a consistent, repeatable methodology to integrate critical attributes of Change Leadership.

Human Performance Outfitters (HPO) offers a unique State of Learning Readiness Assessment to define gaps and enable prioritization to address them in alignment with current and future strategic business needs.

Before making the investment in new technology or even attempts to maximize what is already deployed, the organization must accurately identify their "pieces and parts" before they can start putting the strategy puzzle together effectively.

Not surprisingly, resources to accomplish this effort are likely in-house already. HPO may be utilized as an "outfitter" to equip those with internal familiarity with the knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to gather critical stakeholder data before analyzing and collaborating with HPO to generate findings. These findings are used by leadership to prioritize gap closure.

HPO uses an Action Learning approach where internal resources learn as they work through the SLRA process, equipping themselves with the ability to reassess readiness as business strategy evolves.

Additional details can be found under SLRA at the HPO Website