ROLE

OF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANISATIONS

Table of Contents
TYPICAL CHALLENGES FACING AN ORGANIZATION

T&D FULFILLING ORGANIZATIONS REQUIREMENTS

INTERACTION OF T&D INTERACTS WITH OTHER FUNCTIONS IN THE ORGANIZATION

5
Training Need Analysis

Training Design and Development

Training Delivery

Training Effectiveness Evaluation

Summary

ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCE T&D

10

T&D IN LARGE VS. SMALL ORGANIZATION

11

Typical Challenges facing an organization

An organization exists to meet objectives that it has charted out for itself. It
delivers some offerings (products and / or services) in order to do so. These
offerings are conceptualized, produced and distributed by the organization
through a workforce or human resources. Given the different kinds of activities in
an organization, there is a need to have a workforce that has the different
capabilities required to ensure that the organization meets its objectives.

Human Resource Management is the set of practices, programs, processes, systems
and policies that ensure that the most suitable talent is ATTRACTED to the
organization and their behavior and performance is influenced such that they are
ENGAGED to the organization thus delivering their best and their capabilities are
DEVELOPED in line with the organization needs.

An organization face multiple opportunities and challenges. Some of these are:
1. Changes in government policies and regulatory environment at a global
level. Emerging economies are the BRIC countries and changes here can
impact markets in other geographies
2. Changes in competitive scenario
3. Disruptive technology which completely changes the way business is
conducted and / or offerings are delivered to the marketplace
4. Changes in business practices such as offshoring

All these changes require that people are ready to perform the desired activities
in the changed scenario. Hence the organization needs to ensure that its
workforces KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND ATTITUDES are completely aligned to and
updated to match the changes in the organizations context.

Training and Development is the planned and structured approach that an
organization undertakes to facilitate employees learning and ensure that the
requisite knowledge, skill and attitude are present as per job and organizational
requirement.

Thus, in a nutshell the role of the T&D Department is as follows:
1. Define and identify the job-specific / role-specific competencies (K/S/A)
2. Identify the gap that might exist in people in their current competency
level as against the desired level
3. Define structured approaches embedded in Adult Learning Principles to
bridge the gap
4. Deliver and deploy the training, learning and development related
programs and inputs
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of the programs and inputs so as to change,
modify or continue the programs.

T&D fulfilling Organizations Requirements

For any Training and Development effort to fulfill organization goals, it should be
aligned to the organizational goals. The organization should have established a
culture of learning aligned with business goals and corporate performance, a
defined learning strategy, support of top management, T&D budget and a
centralized learning function to orient the T&D objectives with the organizations
goals.

Business Strategy determines the following from the T&D standpoint:
1. The kind and amount of training to be conduct to meet current and emerging
business needs
2. The method of training to be imparted role of technology, how to manage
training coverage given the spread of the organization, the pace of growth,
etc.
3. Extent of customization of the training to an employee or to the business
unit or division
4. The implications on training costs

What was traditionally the Training & Development department has transitioned
to Learning & Development. While Training is typically an event where a
programme is conducted to teach the participants some thing, learning is really
the acquisition of knowledge by individual participants who are willing to apply
the knowledge thus acquired to perform their jobs better in terms of a higher skill
level, higher awareness level and / or better decision making, etc.

FIGURE: STRATEGIC TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:

Business'Strategy'to'Training'Goals'

Business'
Strategy'
1. What'markets'
will'we'be'
present'in?'
2. What'will'be'our'
lever'of'
compe::veness
?'
3. What'will'be'our'
key'enablers?'
4. What'will'be'our'
technologies?'

Technology'
R&D'
Manufacturing'
Market'Impact'

HR''
Strategy'

L&D'
Strategy'

1. What'skills'do'we'
need?'
2. What'structure?'
3. How'will'we'
align'our'people'
to'the'business'
strategy,'vision'
and'goals?'
4. How'will'we'
retain'our'
people?'

1. What'skills'do'we'
need'to'build'in'our'
people?'Now'and'
in'future'
2. What'will'be'the'
best'methods'to'
build'these'skills?'
3. What'structure'
should'we'have'to'
ensure'that'L&D'
needs'are'best'met'

Key'L&D'
Ini5a5ves'
L&D''
Goals'

Measures'
and'Metric'
L&D'
Processes'

Recruitment'
Engagement'
Capability'
Building''

Strategic Training and Development Initiatives are those learning-related actions

that an organization undertakes to systematically develop the organizations
future competency related requirements in order to achieve business strategy

Develop a Learning Strategy
After charting out learning goals for the organization based on the strategic
direction into which the organization is heading, a learning and development
strategy for the organization has to be developed which integrates various
offerings and learning options across the organization to blend with one. The
roles and responsibilities for T&D, line managers, HR managers, employees and
other stakeholders (if applicable) have to be clearly defined. Every learning
experience should be in line with the Organizations philosophy and strategy of
learning.

Develop Employee Potential
Helping existing employees grow in their abilities benefits a companys ability to
perform and thereby reach organizations goals. Employees will be unprepared
for upward movement in the company or for meeting the organizations needs.
HR alongside T&D can encourage growth by developing employees for current
roles and future requirements - as employees knowledge and experience base
grows, the company grows as well.

Support in managing Performance
Performance of organization is a synergetic result of performance of each
employee. Managing the performance of the workforce is more than encouraging
high performers. Low performing and / or poorly engaged individuals can spread
negativity regarding the organization, potentially infecting others and bringing
down the potential of an entire organization. Without proper performance
management, employees may not meet goals in a timely manner and cause
organization-wide progress to slow, which can lead to higher than necessary
terminations and new hire training costs. T&D in association with HR managers
and line managers should attempt to build an understanding of the employees,
setting clear goals and maintain timely reviews to create clear communication of
what is required.

Nurture top talent
High potential employees are those who demonstrate an ability or potential to
contribute at a greater level than their currrent one. Structured methods are used
to identify these individuals, especially those hi-pots who, for whatever reason,
are not high performing employees currently. In a company whose product base
involves employee performance, such as sales, allowing high potential employees
to perform under their potential constitutes a monetary loss. Assessment tools
and methods help to identify top talent at different levels. Once this top talent is
identify the T&D functions must take over to nurture this talent as per their
individual needs in order to ensure that they meet the potential roles as
envisaged for them by the organization.

Engage Employees
Disengaged employees represent a distinct challenge to workforce productivity,
which can be costly for any company. Keeping employees engaged in their jobs
means keeping them comfortable in their positions, respected and engaged in
furthering their own personal goals as well as the companys goals. T&D can keep
the employees engaged by inculcating Pull strategy for Learning rather than Push
strategy. The perceived value of training amongst employees is very high and this
can be a great lever for engagement.

Interaction of T&D interacts with other functions in the

organization

Training & Development may take different shapes depending upon the size of
the organization, its presence local, national, regional or global, its offerings and
the business context it operates in.

Consider a large organization with multiple business divisions and functions,
where each division works as an autonomous business unit based on geographies
served and / or on the basis of products or services the organization offers. This
organization might have a decentralized structure each unit having its own
support functions such as Finance, Marketing, Legal, IT, HR etc. or may have a
centralized structure where the corporate functions cut across all business units
to provide support to each division. Here each unit may be large enough and have
significant enough competency building requirements to warrant a T&D team of
their own. Hence the T&D department will interact with each of the line function
such as Production, Operations, Supply Chain Management, Marketing, to
understand training requirements i.e. the key gaps in desired level of
competencies. It would also interact with Finance functions on Training budgets
and costs related to training. It would interact with Administration department to
rope in support on logistics and administrative arrangement such as travel of
participants, stay arrangements, etc.

Typically, even in a medium size organization, the functions are organized along
the line of products or services and the area of expertise that constitute the
center of excellence. The interaction on T&D team will be similar.

Interaction with other functions could be at the various stages of learning cycle -
from training need analysis, designing and delivering the training programme to
measuring the effectiveness of training.

Training Need Analysis

Training need analysis is the first step that sets the direction for Training and
development in the organization. Training need could be proactive or reactive.
Proactive training needs are identified when the organization wants to train the
employees for a project, which is yet to be scheduled and for emerging

competency requirements. The aim is to equip the employees with skills to be

used in near future for the growth of business. On the other hand, a reactive need
is to fill the gaps identified based on a triggering event. These gaps could be
between the expected level of performance and actual performance of the
employee.

Training Need Analysis should accurately identify the organizations performance
needs. For this, interaction with the strategic leadership of the organization in the
various departments is absolutely essential. Conducting a well-structured task
analysis helps to identify the role specific skills required to perform the job. For
this, various Line Managers have to be involved. The essence of the role has to be
captured through elaborate behavioral interviews and critical incidence methods.
Thus, this exercise demands that Line Managers, HR Managers and Training and
Development professionals sit together to have detailed discussion on the needs
identification process. Need analysis at a person level should be carried out to
cater to the specific needs of the individual. Thus, this involves talking to the
person incumbent on the job.

Conducting an exhaustive need analysis helps to understand the profile of
audience. It also helps to answer whether the performance lag can be improved
through training or not. The typical issue is to identify the accurate training need
out of the laundry list of trainings available in the training catalogue and to
customize that training for the team or individuals so that the training adds value
and is aligned to the goals of the individual, team, department and thereby
organization. Many a times, there is a training programme available in the
catalogue, but it does not address the exact need.

Also, the criticality of the training for the individual has to be assessed. For
example, an employee may not be great in business communication, which is a
personal training need. If the task of the employee does not involve frequent
meetings with executives where business communication skills are necessary,
that need might not be a priority for the job and hence for the organization (in
case of a Sales executive who meets with local store owner and is fluent in local
language). Thus, training to improve business communication skills of the
employee may not be necessary and hence not taken on priority by the
organization.

Training Design and Development

Designing a Training programme starts with articulating the training objectives.
The essential elements of training objectives are the desired outcome, conditions
and performance standards. In order to develop these objectives, Training and
Development professionals have to clearly understand the purpose of training.

For example, certain trainings are aimed to generate awareness about corporate
policy for leaves, sexual harassment, information security etc. Certain other
programmes are to impart a skill like Java, Object Oriented Programming etc.

Another category of training is aimed at behavioral change like increasing cultural

sensitivity, telephonic conversation etiquettes etc. Also, there are longer-term
trainings, which are actually developmental activities carried out for a longer time
period to inculcate Leadership skills and build succession grids. Certain other
trainings like induction have to be an ongoing process to be rolled out year on
year for the new employees. The needs for all these kinds of training differ
significantly.

In order to define the training objectives accurately, T&D department interacts
with other departments; specifically those for which the training is supposed to
be conducted. For example, for awareness training on Sexual Harassment policy,
Training and Development needs to interact with Legal and Regulatory
department, HR department and Corporate Policy departments of the
organization. Typical issues are to articulate the training objective and design the
broad outline of training taking inputs from the business stakeholders.

Typically the development a training programme takes place after the training
calendar for the year is finalized. First step is scheduling the various training
programmes appropriately to the right audience at the right time of the year
keeping in mind the business schedule. Then, deciding the content and flow of the
programme as per days schedule.

This involves interaction with line managers to find out the specific contexts in
which the participants will utilize the training inputs. E.g. if the training program is
on Influencing Skills, then the program should be contextualized to the
participants specific work context who are the people that the participants
typically need to influence, over what matters, etc. These instances are then used
in activities to be used during the program such as role play, group activities etc.

This also involves interacting with external trainers or experts (if the training is
outsourced). For example, training and development team may need to hire an
Executive Coach for Leadership Development Programme and schedule training
based on mutual availability of trainer and trainee.

Thee training should not be kept in business heavy time of the year. For example,
a training programme for a bank executive scheduled in the month of March in
India will typically record a very low attendance.

Principles of Adult Learning and Motivation Theories have to be kept in mind
while developing the content of the training module with ample use of blended
learning and technology to make sure that the audience is engaged and various
learning styles are accommodated.

A major stakeholder in this phase is the department that approves of the Budget
for the training programme. Typically, the business unit that requires the training
is billed or the Finance department approves (as the case may be). So, the
Training and Development department has to interact with the Budget Approval

authority to prove the worth of training. It becomes a key challenge many a times
because several factors affect the productivity or performance; training being one
of them. Unless the T&D team proves that the training will improve performance
by a noticeable standard, budgets for training are not approved. Arrangements
for stay, food and beverages, training equipment, technological tools etc. have to
be done in association with the Administrative department.

Training Delivery
For training delivery, T&D has to interact with the Trainer, employees, managers
and HR Managers, e-module developers and designers.

Attendance in training is an issue faced by many T&D professionals. Many
registrations and low attendance are not uncommon. Few reasons include
scheduling training during business heavy hours, uncooperative managers who do
not permit employees to attend trainings (because they dont see real value add),
lack of motivation in the employees and unpopular trainers. These are the typical
issues that T&D professionals face.

T&D professionals have to convince the managers to send the employees to
trainings, which are essential to them. For example, if a team faces issues that
cause loss of customers due to missing deliverables. T&D professionals can step
in, do a team diagnostic and find out that whether it is a technical issue or a team
dynamic issue. With the manager on their side, they can conduct a training to
improve team dynamics or technical skills, whichever is required, and turn things
around for the team. This requires rapport building by the T&D professionals with
the Line managers to understand their problems. Also, it requires them to build
credibility so that the managers understand that the time employees are spending
in training is not loss to the business but to add value to the business.

With the growing trend of digital practice, T&D professionals have to interact with
the e-learning module designers and developers to deliver purely web-based live
online training, as well as for self-based training programs using e-modules.

Training Effectiveness Evaluation

Measurability of training has become a lot more specific. For example, when we
train customer service front tellers in a bank for customer service, wherein part of
their job entails up-sell and cross-sell through cold calling, we emphasize on
improvement in quantity as well as quality of cold calls and improvement in
number of conversions in terms of up-sell and cross-sell. This helps the
organizations to figure out whether the employees have been able to go up the
curve or not.

Thus, for Effectiveness Evaluation, T&D professionals have to talk to a lot of
experts from the industry to determine accurate metrics for a fair evaluation of
trainings conducted, buy-in from Line Managers and more importantly from the
budget approving authorities that demand to know how the training investment
has added value to business.

Summary

Training Stage
Training Need Analysis

Training Design
Develop
the
programme

Typical Issues
Narrowing down to specific
training requirements which
are in alignment with the
organization strategy
Articulate the training
objective and design the
broad outline of training
training Build training content, check
for availability of timing of
the trainers and trainees

Functions Involved
Line (marketing, production
etc.), HR
Line (marketing, production
etc.), HR

Line (marketing, production

etc.), HR, Finance (or other
Budget
Approving
Authority), IT or e-
developers and e-designers,
Administration
Training Delivery
Use of various modes of Line (marketing, production
learning channel
etc.), HR, Finance (or other
Budget
Approving
Authority), IT or e-
developers and e-designers,
Administration
Training
Effectiveness Finding out metrics to Line (marketing, production
Evaluation
effectively evaluate training etc.), HR, Finance (or other
outcomes
Budget
Approving
Authority), IT or e-
developers and e-designers,
Administration

Organizational Characteristics that influence T&D

1. Top Management Support:

A culture of training and development needs to be clearly driven from the
top. When the head of the organization and its strategic leadership sets
the vision and direction for training, provide visible support to T&D,
support T&D by actually delivering programmes and serve as a role model
themselves, then the people down the line emulate this behavior.
However if the senior leadership treat T&D as a non-value adding effort or
a mere formality that needs to be done because others say it is important
to do so, then there will never be adequate support to the function.

2. Involvement of Employees and Managers in T&D:
The degree to which the managers are involved in identifying needs,
designing programmes and delivering them can increase ownership and
the value of training initiatives.
The degree to which employees are involved in charting out their own
development needs as well as being responsible for their own
development also enables the T&D function and outputs. In many
organization T&D works in isolation without any connect or inputs from
managers or employees. This can severely reduce the effectiveness of the
T&D efforts as well as its acceptance in the workforce

3. Global versus local presence
This has been described further in the section on T&D function in large
versus small organizations

4. Business conditions:
In a condition of economic downturn, T&D function is amongst the first
few functions to face a slashing of budgets. When there is a period of
uncertainty such as during mergers and acquisition, training may be
abandoned as the future business situation is ambiguous.

However companies are waking up to the reality that this is also a time
when one needs to retain and engage its top talent. Training plays a key
role in engaging and motivating employees. Also many companies use the
time where adequate work is not available to train its employees on new
skills which will certainly be called upon when the economy changes gears.
5. Recruitment Strategy:
The desired mix of home-grown talent and lateral hires impacts T&D
significantly. When a company hires from outside then typically it seeks
ready-made talent. Hence the effort train such resources is more in the
area of proper induction and aligning them to the organizations culture,
processes, ways of doing things, etc. However for home-grown talent

there is a need to train and develop such a workforce in technical /

functional areas as well as develop their leadership skills.

T&D in large vs. small organization

The difference between T&D function in a large organization of thousands or
even tens of thousands of people across multiple locations and with multiple
divisions versus a T&D department of a small organization of a few people in a
few locations in the country can include differences in:
1. Structure and composition of training teams
2. Investment in T&D function
3. Responsibility of the managers
4. Use of various learning platforms and e-Learning
5. Treatment of High Potentials and effectiveness vs. efficiency of training.

Structure of the Learning and Development Team
Selecting the structure of the T&D function has a wide-ranging impact, from how
T&D interacts with line leaders to the efficiency of training processes. To identify
an effective T&D structure, T&D executives must ensure they understand the key
decision criteria when structuring their function as well as the advantages and
disadvantages of different types of T&D structures. Three typical Learning and
Development team structure are centralized, decentralized and hybrid structures.
Centralized T&D Structure
A centralized T&D function typically handles all learning workflows centrally
and collaborates with HR business partners in the line to conduct needs
analysis.
Decentralized T&D function:
Such a structure divides T&D staff across a central T&D team and unit-specific
T&D teams, with most T&D staff sitting in line units
Hybrid Structure
A hybrid T&D function divides T&D staff across a central T&D team and unit-
specific T&D teams. Here, HR business partners manage the relationship with
the line and act as the liaison between the central T&D function and the

A large organization will typically have either a decentralized structure or a hybrid
one. Considering the fact that employees may be spread across the geographies,
various training programmes which are targeted to impart a specific skill or a
specific content may need to be designed centrally and imparted at different
locations using certified training delivery partners or leveraging technology
(WebEx, etc.). Such trainings have to be provided by experts at the site of
requirement. Thus, the trainer either internal or hired from outside has to be
present near the employees to provide the training. This is more decentralized in
nature.

However, certain programmes modules, for example, module on Health and

Safety, HR policy etc. can be provide using the e-channel and maintaining track
using Learning Management Systems (assuming that the organization of this size
has a functioning LMS). Since it is planning to enter new countries and grow in
size, e-learning channels become even more important to ensure consistency in
communicating the core-values of the organization. Those modules can also be
designed in local languages to help the new employees adapt better.

By contrast, for a smaller organization with a few hundred employees and a
presence in a few locations in the country, may adopt a more centralized and thus
localized approach for structure of T&D will work. In fact in many small
organizations, there may not even be a separate T&D function. 1 person who is
responsible for other HR functions carries out this role. Or the Operations Head
may even carry it out.

Investment in T&D function
The size of the organization and its turnover also determines the investment in
the T&D function. A larger organization will make more investment in T&D
enabling tools such as Learning Management System, technology-driven learning
delivery mechanisms (such as Gaming, e-learning, Immersive Learning, mobile /
digital technology, etc.). This in turn impacts the kind of people who man the T&D
function, the number of people as well as their roles.

A smaller organization typically would neither invest in these areas of T&D nor
actually have a need given the small numbers of people.

The cost of establishing a robust Learning Management System may outweigh
the benefits a smaller organization may effectively derive out of that. However, it
makes sense for a larger organization, which is planning to go global to have a
well-organized and maintained Learning Management System that acts as a One-
Stop Learning Solution to its employees. A well-developed LMS can be integrated
with Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Performance Management
Systems to provide a comprehensive HR solution to the organization. In many
organizations the HR ERP integrates different HR modules. E.g. Performance
Management and Learning and Development are integrated in such a way that a
lot of training needs are derived from the Performance Management records and
the results of training are fed into the system that tracks performance.

Responsibility of the managers
A managers involvement is imperative for the development of the employees.
This involvement can be recorded and analyzed across various phases of learning
and also across the hierarchy of the organization. Effective manager- led
development leads to increased employee performance, engagement and
retention.

In a large organization, assuming a good level of formalization, managers sit with
their employees for planning the various phases of learning which include need
identification, nomination, providing opportunities to learn on-the-job, post-

training evaluation and post-training follow ups to see the improvement in

learning. The mechanisms to gather data on training are more robust and
structured in a large organization because the T&D is more mature. The
involvement of line managers from needs assessment to delivery of programs and
to evaluating effectiveness is high.

In a smaller organization, learning happens on-the-job most of the times. T&D
executives arrange for formal training sessions only when managers request to
provide training for employees. Thus, managers have a greater sense of
responsibility to ensure that employees do attend the trainings and enhance their
skills. Oftentimes, managers themselves take up the responsibility of training the
employees in the team to boost the performance.


Use of Learning Platforms and e-learning
The learning landscape is changing fast, the lines skill needs are becoming more
complex, and how employees want to learn is evolving. Advances in learning
technology and learning methodologies provide new opportunities for T&D to
design and deliver impactful learning experiences. It is important that the T&D
navigate the increasingly complex learning landscape understand the nitty-gritty
and deliver training that matches the learning styles and intelligences of the
employees.

Charles Jennings, the father of 70:20:10 learning principle and framework
elucidates that 70 +20 = 90% of your Learning Experience Design should be on the
job with leader led support and just 10% should be formal (Classroom + E-
learning). Thus, a larger organization has to adapt their usage of learning
platforms in alignment with the learning strategy. They can maximize the use of e-
learning modules and Learning Management Systems to provide a comprehensive
learning solution to the employees.

The company has to make some clear strategic choices about what they will do
themselves versus what they should buy from vendors especially in the area of
learning content development. A smaller organization with a less mature T&D
may want to hire experts from external environment to provide training to the
employees for various needs behavioral, leadership or technical. Whereas a
larger organization may plan to have a panel of experts internally developed to
take up initiatives to design world-class training modules thereby having internal
resources for crucial behavioral trainings like conflict management and more
important leadership development programmes to develop young talent for
succession planning endeavor.

Treatment of High Potentials
A high-potential employee is an employee who has been identified as having
the potential, ability, and aspiration for successive leadership positions within the
company. Often, these employees are provided with focused development as
part of a succession plan and are referred to as HiPos.


HIPOs are twice as valuable as non-HIPOs and organizations with strong
leadership benches can deliver twice the profit growth. Unfortunately, today's
HIPO programs are failing. According to reports, only one in six HR professionals
is satisfied with their HIPO program, 50% of identified HIPOs will drop out of their
program within five years and less than half of HIPOS are engaged.

In a large organization, responsibility for high potentials development is typically
shared by line / reporting managers. For an organization that wants to enter into
new geographies, it becomes feasible to offer opportunities to HiPos to develop a
growth projecta new product, service, or business modelintended to create
value for their individual units.

For a smaller organization, providing ample opportunities for HiPos become
important if they want to tread the path of growth story. The HiPos today if well
developed, can take up responsibilities tomorrow. However, in smaller
organizations, HR Managers may find it more difficult to produce a steady stream
of learning opportunities. One option is to encourage high-potentials to master
skills and gain transferable experience outside of work.

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency
Several factors influence the average spend per employee on training, including
company size. Small companies typically spend more per employee on T&D than
their larger counterparts. The most obvious explanation for the difference is that
the cost to develop and administer an hour of training at a large corporation is
spread among many more employees than at a small organization with fewer
employees.

The effectiveness of training, however, is not measured for each and every
training intervention in either small or large organization. Typically, when
Leadership Development programmes that cost a hefty bill, the top brass of the
organization gets interested in measuring the returns on investment. This is fair
for any size of company. More often than not a larger organization has more
resources to record, track and calculate the return on investment. However, a
smaller organization may actually need to ensure that for each dollar spent on
employee training, there is significant value add.