Learning in today’s business world can feel like drinking from a fire hose. The rise of remote and hybrid work has cut down on commutes and endeared employees even more to their screens. Between social media feeds, YouTube videos, LinkedIn certifications, and now the AI boom, the flow of information has never been faster. Without focus, however, that content can easily distract from the work to be done.
Like outer space, the internet only continues to expand. As a talent leader at your organization, you have an opportunity to narrow that scope and curate high-quality education for your employee base. To capitalize on that opportunity, however, you’ll need the right strategy—starting with a firm commitment to corporate learning and development.
But what is corporate learning and development, and why does it matter so much to talent management? In this piece, we’ll explore the benefits of L&D and equip you with the tools you need to build a culture of continual improvement at your organization.
What Is Corporate Learning and Development?
Corporate learning and development is the process of educating and training employees to help them deepen their knowledge, expand their skill sets, and perform their jobs more effectively. While corporate learning and development is often designed to drive greater business performance, it can also serve to help employees advance in their personal lives and careers.
Why Are Corporate Learning Programs Important?
Far too often, businesses approach their goals as a matter of Xs and Os. If a revenue team misses its quarterly target, it’s because the sales reps didn’t make enough calls or because the marketers didn’t generate enough leads. If customers are slow to adopt a new product, it’s treated as a fundamental design flaw or a go-to-market failure.
But the reality is likely more nuanced than that. Ask yourself: Did an employee “fail,” or were they not set up for success? If a project team misses the mark, it doesn’t mean they lack insight, grit, or creativity. Statistically, it’s more probable that they lack the resources needed to hit their goals. According to Gallup, only 47% of employees strongly believe they have the skills needed to excel in their roles. That leaves more than half facing a talent delta.
In this AI-powered age, it isn’t enough to hire based on current abilities. Roles are constantly evolving, requiring new knowledge and skill sets while putting pressure on employees to adapt. According to PWC, 72% of employees are excited to learn and grow in the face of these changes; in the same breath, 47% believe their jobs may be in jeopardy.
Amid such trepidation, your corporate learning program can be a pillar of stability and engagement for your employees. By investing in L&D, you help employees bridge skills gaps, develop core competencies, and make themselves indispensable to your organization. The more you nurture and invest in these education efforts, the lower the churn you’ll experience and the greater the efficiencies you’ll reap.
Examples of Corporate Learning and Development
We’ve covered the “why” behind corporate L&D, but what exactly does a potential program look like? The answer depends on your organization, your people, and the goals both parties share.
At the heart of L&D is the idea that business goals should be addressed, not in corporate speak, but in people speak. Any objective your organization faces—whether that’s revenue growth, customer retention, or account expansion—can be broken down into the core competencies needed to see that objective through. By identifying the skills critical to these goals, you can then create a content strategy that upskills your people and empowers them to succeed.
There’s no “one size fits all” approach to corporate learning and development. You’ll likely rely on a wide range of content, ranging from guided trainings to self-serve eLearning. That said, here’s a quick look at what corporate L&D may look like from one organization to the next:
Employee training
Odds are, your organization already invests in employee training; you just might not think of it as “learning and development.” Whether you’re onboarding customer service reps, ramping up with a new project management tool, or mitigating legal risks through a quick compliance training, these teachings are tried-and-true resources for any corporate education program.
From an L&D lens, it’s important to view training materials not as one-off exercises, but rather as continual investments in a broader employee training and development strategy. Every lesson, course, quiz, or certification helps build competency (and confidence) as an employee. With the right training, your workforce can turn from generalists into specialists—protecting them from potential job erosion due to AI.
Leadership development
As employees mature at your organization, so does the need for high-quality leadership. You could have a team of the sharpest marketers, programmers, or mechanical engineers, but without leaders to organize their efforts and map everything back to your business goals, it’s easy for the train to speed off the tracks.
At a time when adaptability is at a premium, great leaders should specialize in their team but be strategists at large. When developing leaders, prioritize training programs that promote not just the critical fundamental leadership skills (performance management, delegation, business acumen, finance basics, strategy mapping), but also leadership values that help with the “how” you expect leaders to lead (honesty, integrity, curiosity, humility, etc.). An investment in well-rounded leaders will pay dividends.
Professional development
As you mobilize your workforce around the mission, remember that your people have missions of their own. Employee development is about more than just driving business goals; it’s about driving personal goals, too.
Professional development is an important addition to any L&D program. As the world embraces new technology, take the opportunity to help employees prioritize the areas they’re passionate about. Set aside a quarterly or annual budget for employees to prioritize their own career development. They could use the funds to enroll in a course, attend a conference, or earn a new certification.
By incentivizing people to pursue what’s important to them, you establish a culture that rewards curiosity and constant learning. Let that culture grow, and you’ll see a difference in everything from participation rates to knowledge retention.
Upskilling and reskilling
As critical as it is to specialize in today’s world, it’s also important to stay agile. As generative AI rewrites the script for what good looks like across entire industries, a stagnant approach to skills won’t get businesses—or their people—very far. As LinkedIn puts it, 91% of L&D leaders believe continuous learning is “more important than ever” for career success.
To protect your people from attrition, find the right balance between upskilling and reskilling. When employees feel they’ve plateaued in a given role, help them identify new opportunities, even if it means moving laterally for a time. By transferring skills to a new team or function, employees can unlock potential new career paths they may not even know existed.
Benefits of Corporate Learning and Development
If there’s one barrier to education that nearly every L&D team faces, it’s funding. Building learning resources takes time, tools, and people—all of which come at a cost. The faster you gain buy-in from leaders with buying power at your organization, the easier it becomes to build out your L&D efforts.
When making the business case for corporate L&D, center the conversation around your products and services. Ask senior leaders what they view as the organization’s greatest pains, then cite relevant employee training statistics that position L&D as an invaluable asset.
Here are just a few value-driven stats to get the conversation started:
- 43% of businesses see increased revenue after implementing an education program.
- 56% of companies with formalized education efforts experience improved employee retention.
- 27% of companies see reduced support costs after establishing an education program.
Tip: Learn more about the benefits of corporate L&D by reading our State of Education-Led Growth Report. We’ll equip you with the data you need to secure L&D funding and prove ROI when it matters most.
How to Build an L&D Program at Your Organization
Corporate learning and development is a steady journey with few shortcuts. To promote great L&D at your organization, you’ll need to be intentional about what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it.
Here are some steps you can follow to build a clear and confident L&D program:
1. Align on corporate L&D goals.
Every L&D program is unique; after all, every company has its own products to build, services to sell, and customers to serve. The types of education you’ll want to design will hinge predominantly on your business and its current objectives.
So, discuss those goals! Host a listening tour in your organization, during which leaders can voice what’s top of mind for their teams. Once you’ve gathered the feedback, summarize the biggest trends. This will serve as your starting point.
2. Perform a skills gap analysis.
Once you have an understanding of your business’s pains, turn your attention to the people tasked with solving those issues. As an HR leader, this is your chance to gauge the landscape and see how well your talent stacks up to the needs of the business.
Take inventory of the most common competencies among your employee base. For instance, you could look for the following factors:
- Soft skills
- Specialty skills
- Past leadership history
- Prior roles or responsibilities held
- Fluency in certain software tools
- Cultural values
As you conduct this audit, you’ll begin to see where employee skills map back to your business goals—and where there are talent gaps. Note the most common workplace skills gaps as your biggest educational priorities.
3. Draft key content (and iterate later).
Now for the fun part. With a firm grasp of where your talent needs lie, you can craft learning experiences that are designed to close the gap.
Education is an art form. To build a fully functioning L&D arm, you’ll need writers, designers, web developers (if you’re hosting content online), and trainers (if you’re facilitating in person). There are plenty of other roles to be played as well, ranging from strategic to tactical.
The point is this: It’s easy to get overwhelmed, especially when understaffed or underfunded. To start, focus on a few critical content needs and create a minimum viable product. Depending on your resources, this MVP may be a presentation deck; it may also be a scrappy video. Don’t sweat the details, as you can always iterate later.
4. Measure results and show ROI.
Once you’ve created an MVP, test that content. You may find it helpful to start with a small pilot group, or you may prefer to gather as much feedback as possible. Whichever route you take, have a clear way to measure results, so you can iterate, improve, and ultimately create value.
The better your education becomes, the more it’ll show in the raw numbers. Track a few key education metrics, such as completion rate or satisfaction score, and show leaders how your L&D efforts are creating tangible ROI.
5. Acquire tools that help you scale.
L&D is a constant cycle of creation, iteration, and growth. More success leads to greater funding, which in turn yields the possibility of additional headcount and new tools.
Given how expensive new talent can be, tools will often be your best bet for scaling early on. Look for tried-and-true software platforms, like an eLearning authoring tool or a learning management system, that are designed to help you build quality education quickly and easily.
Develop an Effective L&D Strategy With Our Free Ebook.
Creating the perfect education program takes time—but we have your back. Download a free copy of our Education-Led Growth for L&D ebook, and get tips to drive revenue, retention, and other business outcomes through learning and development.
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