Learning and development (L&D) is one of the core areas of Human Resource

Management.

The reading material focuses on, what learning and development is, how to create learning
and development strategies, how to evaluate L&D effectiveness, and the list the different
jobs that make up the L&D field.

Learning and development is a systematic process to enhance an employee’s skills, knowledge,

and competency, resulting in better performance in a work setting. Specifically, learning is
concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Development is the
broadening and deepening of knowledge in line with one’s development goals.
The goal of learning and development is to develop or change the behavior of individuals or
groups for the better, sharing knowledge and insights that enable them to do their work better, or
cultivate attitudes that help them perform better (Lievens, 2011). 
Learning, training, and development are often used interchangeably. However, there are subtle
differences between these concepts, which are shown in the table below. 

Concept Description
The acquisition of knowledge, skills, or attitudes through experience, study, or teaching.
Learning
Training, development, and education all involve learning.
Training is aimed at teaching immediately applicable knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be used
Training in a specific job. Training may focus on delivering better performance in the current role or to
overcome future changes. 

Development is aimed at the long term. It revolves around the broadening or deepening of
Developmen
knowledge. This has to fit within one’s personal development goals and the (future) goals of the
t
organization. Development usually happens voluntarily.

Education is a more formal way to broaden one’s knowledge. Education is often non-specific and
Education applicable for a long time and is especially relevant when a person has little experience in a
certain area.
Learning and development strategies
According to Dave Ulrich, the most important thing HR can give an employer is a company that
wins in the marketplace. The question is, what are the learning and development strategies that
help to do this?

A useful model that guides a learning and development strategy is created by van Gelder and
colleagues (ENG). Its original name translates to ‘Pedagogical Analysis’. The model starts with
the organizational starting situation and prior knowledge based on which learning goals and
objectives are defined. This information is used as input for the subject matter, teaching methods,
and learning methods and activities. These lead to a certain result, which is monitored and
evaluated. Based on this evaluation, the goals and objectives are updated.
Based on this model, we identify four phases required to create an effective learning and
development process.

1. An analysis of training needs (starting situation)

2. Specification of learning objectives
3. Design of training content and method
4. Monitoring and evaluation
An effective learning and development strategy relies on a process in which one continually
moves through these four phases. Let’s examine them one by one.

Phase 1. Analysis of training needs

The first step is an analysis of the starting situations and prior knowledge to identify
training needs. We don’t want employees to learn for the sake of learning. Otherwise, we
would be happy to send them on a pottery course. Instead, we want employees to acquire
new knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are relevant for their (future) function. This way
learning is a way to create new business capabilities.

In other words, learning is a means to an end – it has a goal. Example goals could be the
development of digital capabilities in an analog firm that needs to transform, building analytical
capabilities to create more business value through analytics, or simply making sure that everyone
gets their mandatory certification in time so they can continue to do their work. 

Identifying the learning goal requires you to analyze where the organization wants to go and
what skills are missing to get there. This happens in three parts.

1. Organizational analysis. In this phase, the short and long-term goals of the organization
are analyzed. The goal is to define the training needs that will help the company realize
its business goals. These goals need to align with the organizational climate in order to
be effective in the long term. For example, an assertiveness training in a very hierarchical
organization with a culture in which personal initiative is not appreciated may not be
effective – it may even be counter-productive!
2. Function, task, or competency analysis. Besides the identified organizational need, it is
important to look at a function or task level. What are the competencies and skills
required to be successful in one’s job? The goal here is to identify the most important
knowledge, skills, and attitudes for employees to be successful in their jobs, and to
identify which of these are the easiest to learn.
3. Personal analysis. In this analysis, job performance is evaluated. Current competencies
and knowledge, performance, and skill levels are identified. The key source for this
analysis is oftentimes the employee’s performance evaluation. The outcome of the
analysis serves as input for the definition of the training needs.
Using these three analyses, training goals can be specified. However, it is important to ensure
there is sponsorship and support within the organization for the initiative. 
Sometimes, gaining support is easy, especially if there is an urgent organizational need for
learning and development. This makes building support easy. Other times you will have to put a
lot more effort into specifying the case for learning in order to free up budget and ensure that
employees get time off for learning. 

Phase 2. Specification of learning objectives

The training needs need to be translated into learning objectives. These objectives serve as the
starting point for the design of the training’s content and method.

According to Lievens (2011), a training objective consists of three elements.

1. The ability to realize specific objectives. For example, “as an HR business partner, I
need to be able to identify a manager’s strategic people needs”.
2. The conditions required for effective behavior. For example, “during the 30-minute
check-in with managers, I need to be able to identify their strategic people needs and be
able to summarize these to them to check if I identified these needs correctly”.
3. A specific and measurable training goal. For example, “after every check-in with a
manager I have a double-checked the top 3 of this manager’s strategic priorities”.
This way training goals become highly specific and measurable. This helps to create an effective
learning and development intervention aimed at improving these skills. 

A learning intervention can have multiple learning objectives. Another example objective for this
training could be that the HR business partner is able to relate each of the manager’s strategic
objectives to HR policies that can assist the manager. Because these objectives are closely
related, they can be part of a single training that will make the business partner a lot more
successful in their role. 

Phase 3. Design of the training material and method

In this phase, the teaching material and learning method are determined. This is where the
choices about the training material, teaching method, and learning activities are made. This is
often done together with an external trainer or training provider, and ideally also with
involvement from the trainee.

In addition to learning methods, techniques, pacing, setting, and many more factors are
determined.

Training can be trainer-centered or trainee-centered. Trainer-centered methods include seminars,

presentations, lectures, keynotes, and lessons. Trainee-centered methods are more interactive and
include case studies, role-playing, self-directed lessons, on-the-job training, simulation, games,
and so on. Effective training usually includes a mix of methods.
Phase 4. Monitoring and evaluation
The last phase of the learning process is monitoring and evaluation. In this phase, the learning
objectives are evaluated and learning effectiveness is assessed. A very useful model for
evaluating learning effectiveness is Bloom’s taxonomy.

In addition, student evaluations are collected and reviewed and improvements are made for
future learning interventions.

When the training is seen as effective, it should result in a change in behavior. This means that
the starting situation and knowledge in the organization will be changed for the next learning
design.

Methods of learning
We already mentioned some methods of learning – but there are many more. We will list a
number of them below. However, this list is far from comprehensive.

 Lectures and seminars. This is a more formal setting often used in universities with a
lecturer and students. The setting inhibits interaction.
 Discussion groups. Highly interactive setting aimed at sharing viewpoints.
 Debate. Highly interactive setting aimed at convincing others of one’s viewpoints.
 Case study and projects. These actively involve the participant and activate them to
come up with solutions and answers.
 Experiential activities. These involve active participation and are often used in team
building
 Role Play. A role is acted out or performed, for example as a technique to train customer
interaction.
 Simulation/Games. An increasingly popular and highly interactive way of experimental
learning. With the rise of virtual and augmented reality, this can be made very realistic.
 Job shadowing. Working with another employee who has a different experience to learn
from them. This is a good way to learn and exchange ideas.
 Outdoor management development (OMD). A form of experiential activities. A 2001
study by Hamilton & Cooper showed that this could be effective. I couldn’t resist
including this quote from their paper: “50 percent of the participants were experiencing
high levels of pressure and reported low levels of mental wellbeing pre and post
attendance. It was concluded that a greater impact could be achieved if the participants
were not over‐pressured and/or not experiencing low levels of mental wellbeing.” Those
poor managers…
 Coaching. Coaching focuses on hands-on skill development. The coach is often allocated
and is the driving force. The coachee follows and learns.
 Mentoring. Mentoring is more strategic. The mentor is chosen by the mentee and the
process is also driven by the mentee. Mentoring goes beyond skills.
These are some of the most common methods of learning in an organization. There are, however,
many others. If you feel like we forgot an important one, feel free to mention them in the
comments and we’ll add them!

Learning and development effectiveness

One of the key themes when it comes to learning and development is learning effectiveness. A
key question often asked to the L&D professional is: “what is the return on learning?”, or “how
effective are our learning programs?”. These questions are hard to answer.

The image below shows part of this dilemma. However, the effectiveness of learning remains a
contentious topic.

A method to evaluate learning effectiveness is Bloom’s taxonomy. Benjamin Bloom edited

the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Education Goals, which was later
adapted by Pohl (2000).
The taxonomy captures different levels of information processing, starting at knowledge
recollection, going on to comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and creation (the
synthesis of existing knowledge to create new knowledge). The assumption here is that to
analyze information, one needs to be able to remember it, understand it, and apply it.

This taxonomy is often used to specify what level of information processing is relevant to do a
job, for example in training development, and to evaluate learning effectiveness. If someone has
to be able to create or synthesize knowledge (e.g., an academic writing a paper on a topic), the
approach to mastering the relevant information will be different than if someone only needs to
understand (e.g., remembering Latin words) or apply the knowledge (e.g., conjugate Latin
verbs). 

The same holds true for work. Creating new and effective HR compensation policies requires a
different level of information processing than simple salary administration. The training (and
experience) required to create new policies versus understanding compensation and benefit ratios
will therefore also be quite different.

Learning and development jobs

 L&D specialist. The L&D specialist often occupies an operational role, focusing on
analyzing learning needs, specifying role competencies, L&D budget distribution, and
providing learning advice to employees.
 L&D manager. The Learning and Development Manager has a more tactical role,
focusing on analyzing learning needs at a higher level, specifying core organizational
competencies, L&D budget allocation, and distribution between departments and teams.
 L&D director. The L&D director has a strategic role, focusing on analyzing
organizational needs for development, aligning L&D activities with organizational
strategy, drafting the L&D strategy, and ensuring budget to execute this strategy.