How Do You Build a High-Impact Learning Organization?
By Josh Bersin

Over the last five years, the training industry has been deluged with technology - learning management systems, development tools, blended learning, simulations, and much more. Our estimates show that as much as 20 to 30% of all training, by student hour, is delivered by e-learning in many organizations, a massive shift in delivery approaches in only the last few years.

As the e-learning and technology focus grows in training and HR organizations, we have seen a steady increase in concerns about how the training function is managed, organized, and governed. Over recent months, we have studied best practices in the management and operations of training to find common characteristics and trends within highly efficient and effective learning organizations.

Our research has delved into organizational models, standards, resource allocation, shared services, measurements and analysis, technology approaches, and governance. The findings have given us insight into what makes for a high-impact learning organization. What Does High Impact Mean?

We interviewed approximately 350 North American and global training organizations. Our goal was to understand what drives the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate training. In each of these areas, we scored companies on 11 measurements and compared them to peers:

• Effectiveness in corporate training means the ability for the training organization to quickly and effectively meet the needs of line of business managers. Effectiveness encompasses developing, delivering, and measuring training which is timely, relevant, and results-oriented. The learning organization and its training is aligned with corporate, HR, and business goals.
  
• Efficiency means developing and delivering training at an affordable cost. Efficiency encompasses sharing of best practices, vendors, and other resources, as well as supporting technologies.
  

Research Highlights

Centralization of training, while a trend, does not necessarily improve effectiveness. More than half of organizations studied use what we call a "federated" model. Similarly to the organization of government in this country, the federated model has some centralized functions and others that are distributed. The biggest driver toward centralization is technology: investments in a centralized LMS require a centralized budget, support infrastructure, and often content management and development team.

The role of a CLO directly improves the impact of an organization. Companies with strong CLOs have much higher effectiveness and efficiency measures than those without such a leader. The CLO has a dramatic impact on employee satisfaction in training as well. CLOs also create and force the use of meaningful measurements. Our research report details the characteristics of effective CLOs, as well as measurement details.

Organizations with centralized LMS systems perform at higher levels. The discipline and focus to implement and support a centralized LMS forces a learning organization to set in place other structures which improve performance and efficiency.

Alignment with HR has positive and negative impact. Training organizations which align too heavily with HR tend to suffer. Over alignment reduces the effectiveness of a learning organization and pulls it away from its line of business constituencies. However, certain programs, such as leadership, new hire, and compliance training, can be aligned effectively with HR.

Sound resource allocation is both a cause and effect of an effective organization. One of the biggest drivers of high impact is the establishment of an independent, outwardly-focused, performance consulting organization. This role, one of a business and learning advisor, is critical to success. A major indicator of a poorly performing organization is a large percentage of staff dedicated to customer support and service. Many high-impact organizations outsource these functions and establish standards which make support much easier. The report details this and other areas of staff allocation.

Use of shared services is critical to success. A well defined, outwardly focused shared service model is mandatory, no matter how the learning organization itself is organized. Organizations with such models can efficiently respond to business needs, create standards, and centralize budget decisions.

Conclusions

Our research verifies that organization and management have significant impact on a learning organization. Excellent technology, content, and instructional design are not enough. Training cannot succeed without strong business leadership, alignment, performance consulting, measurement, standards, and program management. These disciplines, coupled with a governance model that reaches out to business units, enables e-learning and other programs and investments to succeed. If you want to make e-learning a success, remember that organization and structure is critical.

Reprinted from LTI Newsline

Josh Bersin is president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning. This article is based on The High Impact Learning Organization: What Works® in the Management, Operations, and Governance of Corporate Training, published in 2005. For more details on the study and associated workshops, go to http://www.bersin.com/research/high_impact.asp.