There are several perspectives from thought leaders regarding role of learning and development (L&D) as we move into this post-pandemic world. In “Workquake,” Steve Cadigan argues that as organizations incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into the workforce, employees will face heightened anxiety, and employers will turn to certification programs and eLearning solutions to upskill their workforce. As technology destroys work industries, it creates new ones. In addition to AI, the changing nature of jobs, adapting to hybrid work, the need for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the migration to a new human-centric role of leadership are critical issues impacting L&D and human resources (HR) professionals. In its report on the education industry, the Bank of Montreal believes total spending on education and L&D will reach $1.65 trillion in 2023. The case for investing in L&D is clear, and thought leaders and researchers are very overt about the role of L&D in supporting and retaining talent.
However, the opportunity for L&D professionals having a seat at the table with organizational decision makers has been, often times, less overt. In the book “Talent Wins,” Ram Charan makes the case that an organization should consist of a “G3,” which is an alliance between the CEO, the chief financial officer (CFO) and chief human resources officer (CHRO) in the strategic planning and organizational decision-making process. The G3 will help to ensure that finance and talent (and technology) will be aligned in all mission critical decisions, operations and future planning. Further, in this period of labor scarcity, the successful development and deployment of talent is driven by creating environments where interests, ambitions and innovations of the workforce constantly shape the strategy and future of the company.
In my job, I provide training solutions to our employees in the federal government. In my career as a training provider, I have found this job to be easier when I participate in the strategic planning conversation with my organization leaders. A few years ago, I was not involved in the budget formulation process for my training budget. I was told the type of training our employees needed, provided funding and tasked to deliver it. Later, in an all-hands meeting, our leader stressed that customer service was one of our new values, and the quality provided to stakeholders needed to increase. However, customer service was not included in the training budget I was tasked to deliver, and we were not able to substantially improve the quality of customer service provided because there was no plan to address the gap between the desired and current states. In this simple scenario, not being included in the strategic process had a major impact on strategy implementation.
While speaking to a larger level of HR beyond L&D, consider summer airline travel. I was flying home to Washington, D.C. from Amsterdam. The Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport staff was recommending people not check luggage and warned the time to get through security could last up to five hours due to lack of manpower of both airline and airport staff. As airlines worked to salvage their balance sheet due to COVID-19 and reduced consumer travel, they shed staff and retired older planes. However, they were caught flat-footed because they planned for a six-year turnaround instead of the 18-month recovery period. These staffing issues also affected the individual airlines, and other operational areas, such as baggage handling and ground crews, causing long waits for luggage and missing and unclaimed suitcases. In my situation, we arrived at Schiphol over five hours before my flight to try to beat the traveling crowd.
If you are an L&D professional, the first step is to make sure you stay up-to-date on reports and data regarding the future of work and The Great Resignation. Use this data to help shape industry workforce planning trends. The next step would be to talk to the CHRO, or possibly the CEO, to be included in strategic planning conversations of the organization, and tailor your specific workforce planning trends in a way that aligns industry trends and organizational strategy. The goal is for L&D professionals to position and brand themselves in a way where they are seen as critical to being part of the strategic planning conversations.
By doing the tactical work needed from an L&D perspective, it is imperative for L&D professionals (via CHROs and CLOs) to make a stronger case or way to insist they are included in organizational planning conversations. They have to push for the creation of the G3 where they can have a voice in explaining the training and workforce planning impacts of all organization strategic decisions.
