Written by

Karol Kerr

Topics

August 02, 2017

7 Roles Essential to Your Learning Organization

Business roles, executive roles, learning and development roles
New job titles for Learning and Development appear to be multiplying. As I sit listening to one of my peers define himself as the ‘’Leader of Change Management’’ in an ‘’All Hands’’ meeting on needed productivity changes, I ask myself, ‘’why doesn’t he just say he is the ‘’VP of Learning and Development?’’ Then I remember last week sending an email inviting employees to a ‘’Culture and Diversity’’ seminar in which I called myself ‘’Leader of Culture and Diversity.’’ And, shortly thereafter, I introduced myself as "Leader of Organization Development." Then, for speaking in a seminar and training program a couple of days later, I defined myself as the ‘’VP of Employee Development.’’ So, I'm as guilty as everyone else who shifts their personal job titles according to the task at hand. 
 
Why are there so many occupations associated with Learning and Development? Perhaps it’s because as businesses grow, the scope of job functions in our work also expands. It could also reflect the shifting roles L&D must play in forward-thinking companies as they navigate fast-paced transformations to remain competitive.
 
There are many different facets to Training, or Learning or Development. Let’s briefly discuss seven of the most critical Learning and Development tasks, their related job roles and compare them.
 
change management, business transformation, management consulting, strategy planning
 
1. Change Management is a well-known project-based function in most companies because continual ‘’change’’ is now an imperative in our super-competitive world. Unfortunately, employees, and therefore companies, do not always accept change easily; seldom understand the necessity of the change or the related needed improvements. Since change is not an intuitive process, both learning to accept change and carefully planned change processes become critical for success. OCM (Organizational Change Management) is normally utilized for the Change framework because it focuses on employees understanding, learning and utilizing Change. This scope of learning is not directly related to other Learning and Development areas but is often tied to revised technical training when technical processes must be changed or improved in tandem with the change.
 
company culture, diverse employees, diversity and culture, business culture
2. Job identifiers such as Culture and Diversity, Cultural Leader, Diversity and Inclusion Leader and Diversity Leader all seek to attain the same goal: help employees understand and endorse people differences as important to improved positive outcomes for both employees and company. This, in reality, is part of the soft-skills program, Emotional Intelligence. 
 
3. Many successful companies, such as Google, believe high levels of Emotional Intelligence are critical for continuing company success. These companies understand the necessity of empathy and understanding emotions, and they spend a lot of time and effort training employees in these areas. Consequently, these soft skills normally drive promotions and determine access to management positions.
 
employee engagement, human resources, training and development
 
4. The Employee Engagement Leader owns a critical ‘’enabler’’ program that, if successful, encourages employees to become productive, high performing employees who actually enjoy coming to work. The results of Employee Engagement include increased company profitability, performance, customer service, employee retention and bottom-line improvements. The major success factor of Employee Engagement is Leadership Development, which determines success or failure of Employee Engagement. And, tied to both programs is also Emotional Intelligence.
 
5. The Director of Leadership Training has responsibility for training leaders, managers and supervisors to be more humanistic and influencing of employees. ''Managers from Hell'' are no longer tolerated by employees and companies realize greater success when effective Leadership programs are in place. Leadership training is part of the soft skills and Employee Engagement programs that are so necessary today. 
 
technology training, team training, technology learning
 
6. Technical Training for employees continues to be some of the most important training for all companies and will likely increase in importance as technology becomes as, or more important, than employees. Line-of-business leaders will always have a need for this training, and it is usually a standalone program not directly related to other training programs.
 
7. Organization Development roles co-exist with Learning and Development roles. Both have goals of improving the overall development of employees through job knowledge and skills, change management, and employee engagement, but OD ensures that the business is performing a range of activities that help it run more efficiently.
 
disengaged employee, unhappy worker, dissatisfied worker, frustrated team
 
Most Learning and Development functions are inter-related, and all exist to develop employees, which improves business. Above all else, employees want to participate actively in helping their employers become more successful, and they will do so when asked, supported by their managers, recognized for their efforts and trained in their jobs. Without necessary training, they can become bored, uncaring, and negative. This is commonly known as employee disengagement, and results are slowly improving, but continue to be grim. For example:
 
51% of the U.S. workforce is not engaged (Gallup)
• Disengaged employees cost organizations between $450 and $550 billion annually (The Engagement Institute)
• 34% of employees say they plan to leave their current role in the next 12 months (Mercer)
• 27% of employees change jobs each year, 17% are actively job-hunting, and 46% are passively looking (ADP)
 
training and development, human resources training, classroom teaching, business training
 
The solution to this problem is owned by all 7 key functions and roles in L&D and once implemented, the statistics are amazing:
 
• Constantly improved new technology development is forcing companies to re-evaluate employee technical abilities and train them accordingly.
• Employees are currently in high demand and expect their employers to provide educational reimbursement and training opportunities for their chosen career development selections.
68% of Millennials who expect to stay at a job more than three years expect their managers to be mentors who help train them. 
• Employees are aware of possible negative employment results as Artificial Intelligence overtakes many jobs and they expect their employers to provide training and job placement in more advanced skilled positions.
 
In summary, Learning and Development is becoming more flexible. This is evident from the various job titles we carry with us. Flexibility is now a company standard for success. As technology improves, we will need even more flexibility to learn new technology and the associated job tasks. It's readily apparent that those Learning and Development Leaders who are flexible, and move quickly from one task or project to another, will continue to widen the scope of this often-misunderstood profession. After all, as Trainers, we will always be helping others learn and, regardless of our titles, we must have the skills and flexibility to move frequently from one business transformation to another. 
 

About the author:

Karol Zerr's twenty-five years as a Learning and Development Leader and Human Resources Expert clearly indicates her passion for helping others learn and develop their skills. She often reminds both executives and employees that: ''Learning creates Change and without Change, Progress is impossible.''

Karol is a natural leader with a multitude of successes and experiences in seven Fortune 50 companies and owner of three consultancies.  She moves flexibly within various industries, including: Oil and Gas, High Tech, Nano Technology, Logistics & Distribution, and Aerospace & Defense, because she's '' always learning.'' 

Written by

Karol Kerr

Topics

enterprise learning & development 2022 report