A person who examines the development needs of a company and its employees, builds a training strategy, takes care of the quality of training, and finally – checks if all of the above translates into the business. Who are we talking about? A Learning Partner. You may have not yet heard of such a role but here’s why you should consider having one in your organisation.
Your company probably has an HR Business Partner who supervises the communication and relations within the team. You are also familiar with the concept of Talent Success Lead, who supports employees in developing their careers. You might have had the opportunity to work with a training specialist as well, and you are wondering is there room there for yet another person? What value would they actually bring?
Let’s think about the situation that many of us have encountered in our companies. We have a project team consisting of ten people: developers, a tester, a business analyst, and, of course, a Project Manager. Each of them has different development needs. So are we going to organise ten different training courses? Theoretically, yes. A resourceful manager with a little help (and budget) will certainly manage to do that. Now let’s go one step further. Suppose we have ten such teams and each of them has ten different training needs. This sums up to a total of 100 training courses to be conducted. On top of that, we should consider different initial levels of knowledge and experience. Does this mean that we need 100 or more separate courses? Or maybe some of the needs are similar, and they can be addressed together? If so, how does that work if we take into account, for example, different experiences? What format should be applied, a training course or totally different solution? And finally, who will take charge and responsibility of the task? Will the entire burden of organising training courses fall on a Project Manager?
Such situation is very common in organisations. A company obviously understands that employees want to develop professionally. But how to make it happen? The solution is simple – a whole training package, a typical benefit/cafeteria plan. “Dear Employee, here is your budget for your development, and here is the menu – pick what you like!” We know straight away that this cannot work. To succeed, there must be someone who verifies the effectiveness of given solutions, ensures the quality of training, limits the menu to the options addressing the real needs of employees, and supporting the objectives of the company. Otherwise, there is no real system of training and talent development.
And here comes a Learning Partner.
A Learning Partner is a T&D (Talent & Development) expert. They have the knowledge and practical experience in developing people’s skillset. They combine the competencies of a leader and a strategist who can carry out a deep, comprehensive analysis of development needs – not only at the individual and team level but also for the entire organisation. They can then create and implement specific development projects.
1. A business partner expert (they consult, advise, analyse)
A Learning Partner supports the business by working closely with it. Such specialist is close to employees, leaders, and so-called support roles. They analyse the company’s business strategy, have an insight into the competencies that the organisation plans to develop in the near future, verifies the development or training needs and, based on that, advise on the best training solutions for the situation. An effective Learning Partner can identify a development need from a problem/challenge and knows how to address it most effectively.
2. They engage internal experts and enhance the exchange of know-how
A Learning Partner builds relationships and creates opportunities to exchange know-how within the company. Such specialists engage internal experts in creating communities and organise internal corporate meet-ups and webinars. They recruit, train and prepare trainers, speakers, and in-house mentors. As a result, the process of exchanging knowledge is smooth and the quality of its transfer increases across the company.
3. They check real (present and future) development needs (expert meta-analysis)
A Learning Partner is a good analyst, who knows and uses tools to collect information about development needs, not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. They look at data from many different perspectives and compares it with the company’s strategic goals, career paths, and global trends. They can identify current development needs and anticipate future ones and thus meet them in advance.
4. They match methods and solutions to needs and conditions (tailor-made)
What works for one company will not necessarily work for another one. A Learning Partner takes care of the personalisation and effectiveness of the T&D activities. There’s no training that would be suitable for everyone (and therefore not suitable for anyone). A Learning Partner plans various solutions and development methods through analysis and knowledge of their clients (aka employees). They also ensure the proper allocation of resources, effort and time and thus help to increase the ROI of an organisation.
5. They remove blockers
A Learning Partner makes sure that the existing solutions and the T&D strategy work efficiently and effectively. They care about user experience and act as helpers and innovators. They continually verify whether the existing processes work properly. If they notice a need, they implement improvements and innovations, ensuring flexibility of the development strategy in response to changing conditions, needs or business vision.
6. They define strategy and direction for T&D
A Learning Partner analyses development needs in an organisation at many levels and then compares them with their knowledge of human development, as well as with the latest training methods and trends. On this basis, they develop a short and long-term T&D strategy. As a result, development activities are targeted, planned and effective.
7. They take the burden from Project Managers saving their time
Finally, a Learning Partner provides support to leaders who can focus on their tasks, knowing that the development (training) needs of their team members will be met and that a Learning Partner will come up with a solution that suits them.
8. A Learning Partner saves money and brings the right investment
In the case of training, ROI is a subject that keeps many organisations awake at night. Although indeed it is challenging to define the ROI indicators for development, there is still a lot of room for improvement in this area. Knowing what competencies are needed and what solutions/methods will be most effective for a company/team, it is possible to effectively plan the budget for development activities. Simply, this translates into higher ROI and savings, because you only invest in what has real value and supports the goal.
Very often employee development is managed by several different persons/roles at the same time or even is fully outsourced (as a benefit in the form of training budgets). Training courses are organised without a more profound strategy and preferably in response to an existing requirement. They are also seen as more of the fulfillment of employees or team individual needs, than of the entire organisation. A Learning Partner helps to look at the subject from a completely different perspective and understand that a comprehensive approach to employee development is also (and perhaps above all) conducive to business development. This is a function that ensures the quality of training and makes sure that the knowledge gained through it is up-to-date and useful. So, knowing all of these, are you going to add a Learning Partner to your organisation?
Learning Partner, Senior T&D Specialist w SoftServe. Od 8 lat działa jako trener i coach biznesu, pracując z bankami, firmami przemysłowymi i branżą IT. Współtwórczyni największej polskiej konferencji dla trenerów „Trenferencja”. W SoftServe odpowiedzialna za strategię T&D w Polsce, projekty rozwojowe i szkolenia. Zakochana w backpackerskich podróżach i stolarstwie.