L&D - A message to the board

Industry was already facing digital disruption and the uncertainty of a no-deal Brexit before Covid-19 appeared and accelerated the need for organisations to change the way they work. Evidence shows that those organisations supporting their staff through digital learning have found adapting to new ways of working much easier. But it is not the case of every business choosing to increase their investment in learning, despite intuitively understanding the importance of supporting their staff through these times. Why is this?

L&D budgets are not immune to the cuts many businesses are now being forced to make in the context of the incredible shock the economy has just suffered. Some industry colleagues have suggested that along with Marketing, L&D can often be the first budgets to get cut, and maybe this is partly because L&D is not often represented in the board room.

Part of the solution is for L&D professionals to present to the board about the tangible benefits of learning using the business language they understand. Fenturi has been working hard with our clients to navigate opportunities in this complex area known for having challenges of imperfect data. We are convinced that the benefits of measuring training effectiveness far outweigh the challenges of framing and recording the data.

We need to build the evidence and make the case that L&D is more than a discretionary spend by proving the value of digital learning. When communicating with the board there should be an effort whenever possible to focus on quantifiable metrics that demonstrate how learning has improved the behaviours and capabilities that in turn have driven business performance. A good example is a client who tracked their Customer NPS as a key performance indicator. By running a regional burst of training, in addition to tracking a regional control sample, it was possible to compare the relative Customer NPS of the two regions. The region that had received staff training showed an incredible 17% improvement in Customer NPS. This led to further investment for full national rollout.

There are also business performance metrics to be captured in looking at employee wellbeing. Far from being a soft measure, there is a correlation between talent recruitment and staff retention with access to good learning. When organisations are faced with the terrible decision to make redundancies, investment in this space is important to help support staff who have the job of rebuilding whilst make sure to retain the needed talent.  

L&D can win board-level support and further investment in tough times, by focusing on the business benefits and finding compelling stories to share that illustrate this potential. Below are Fenturi case studies which focus on specific and measurable learning outcomes: 

• Compliance training – Reduced compliance course duration from 45 to 15 mins and saved the business £500K in time and cost savings
  
• Onboarding training – Saved BA over 50,000 hours of face-to-face training. The new process improved staff competency and efficiency, saving BA time and money
• Sales training – 90% of the team feel more comfortable discussing products with customers and over 99% are more familiar with the capabilities of their unique offering

Work will not go back to the same as before, organisations are now digitally-driven and L&D has been placed in a business-centric position. As L&D professionals we must remain focused on the impact of the learning and help overcome the challenges facing the business.

We are key to driving the business, company culture and employee experience. Together we can build the capabilities for the future, but first, we must build relationships and showcase our value. We are often the one touchpoint every employee has with their company, so we are perfectly positioned to support staff as they help build back better.

Get out there and prove your value. To speak to us directly, you can call on 0117 440 1000, email at hello@fenturi.com or fill in the contact form below.