Welcome to the Top 10 series Powerful Practices: Strategy

These next few Powerful Practices will highlight top Learning & Development challenges, their criticality, best practices for resolution, and how they and Meridian Learning Management System can position you for success.

strat e gy stradəjē noun: a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

Strategy is one of the most important pillars of success in learning and development. With a well cultivated strategy, the learning ecosystem will be clearly defined, well organized, aligned, and primed to develop a well-qualified talent pipeline. Without strategy and clearly defined goals, the business of learning becomes an a la carte service where training is provided on-demand, without proper vetting for organizational and business goal alignment.

From a Learning and Development (L&D) perspective, strategy is essential in building the relationship and alignment with the organization’s overall mission, vision and goals. Strategy is the glue that ties the overall direction of L&D to the organization as a whole. Business leaders may need to start with the current strategic goals of the organization. As a general rule, this involves alignment of business goals, meeting strategic initiatives, gaining market share, allocating resources appropriately, utilizing the budget appropriately (probably by hiring a firm for Accounting San Francisco), and, most importantly, strengthening the profitability of the company overall.

How to build a successful learning strategy

The following key areas of success will help you craft and execute a well-aligned learning strategy for your organization.

Know Your Business
- What this means for you is to take the time to meet with your executive leadership team to fully comprehend the core business goals and objectives for the organization as a whole
- Set up meetings with business unit or division leaders to better understand their goals, objectives and business drivers
- The more knowledge you can arm yourself with – those business goals, objectives, and leadership vision for the future – the better equipped you will be in designing a successful and well aligned L&D strategy
Design for Organizational Alignment
- Once you have a firm grasp on the business, you can align the L&D mission, vision and goals to meet the needs of the larger organization
- For example, if one your organizations 2020 strategic goals is, “Increase sales with an omnichannel and customization-focused approach,” you could design a learning goal of, “Create a customer-focused L&D approach through heightened advocacy and collaboration efforts”
  - In which you could design a customer-centric blended curriculum for leaders which defines the organizational approach to customer focus, and how to use heightened advocacy to build relationships and a sustainable sales pipeline.
Gain Executive Leadership Buy-in/Sponsorship
- To ensure alignment and corresponding leadership direction, executive leader buy-in is equally critical as a strategy. To find a capable leader who can drive your company effectively, you can conduct an executive search with the help of a headhunting company.
- This stakeholder group can gain buy-in by making them part of the process to guarantee acceptance and momentum. Loop back around for follow up meetings with the stakeholders after you have designed your plan.
Allocate Budget and Resource Alignment
- To execute on time, resources must be allocated appropriately. This means you must have the staff and other necessary sources to support the growing needs of both operational and strategic needs. Creating a new learning strategy would also cost money. This would mean that the company must manage its finances better so that it has enough funds to implement new tactics such as the one mentioned above. To do this, they could consider utilizing applications such as financial forecasting or cash flow software to track and oversee processes that involve the company’s economic situation.
Incorporate Expansive Offerings
- Modern learning offerings should include blended learning approaches to meet the needs of all learners in the organization
- Blended in terms of adult learning strategies to include visual, auditory and tactile strategies
  - Internal offerings may include a tiered, leader certification program covering the fundamentals of leadership, best practices, scenarios, job aids and assessments
  - External offerings may include a host of courses offered to a preferred group of customers as a possible revenue stream such as:
    - How to create a total customer experience
    - Executing the perfect market strategy
    - Reducing ACT (After Call Time)
Manage/Deliver via Modern LMS Technology
- Meridian LMS™ offers a variety of tools and workflows that can help you create a successful learning and development strategy which is perfectly aligned with the overall goals of your organization.
- Curricula and bundles can be created for leadership teams on:
  - Creating effective organization strategies including knowledge transfers
  - On-the-job training
  - Collaboration spaces
  - Professional development scenarios

In summary

To operate as a cohesive, strategic, business entity, all units must collaborate in a healthy, open arena for sharing, communicating, living and breathing the mission, vision, and strategic goals of your organization.

Meridian Knowledge Solutions is the leading provider of enterprise, web-based learning management software. Meridian’s powerful, easy-to-use solutions are leveraged by organizations dedicated to building world-class learning enterprises. Meridian has over 7 million users worldwide, and believes that learning is first, learning is yours, and learning is without limits.

Meridian also offers a built-in integration with the OpenSesame eLearning Marketplace that allows you to purchase relevant, aligned content which can then imported right into Meridian LMS for seamless transactions.

Discover modern learning the Meridian way!