How to build a corporate learning and development strategy

Hi all! I am Anna Khatsko, HR Director of Omega-R. My work is related to strengthening the learning and development strategy in the company, and I want to share my experience and knowledge on how to manage the professional and career development of employees in a way that supports other key business priorities.

According to KPMG research, 50% of Russian companies note a lack of qualified IT employees of the required profile and 44% - insufficient qualifications of candidates. Therefore, each employee is worth its weight in gold, and this is automatically reflected in the quality of products, to which we make a mandatory requirement to be developed on the basis of the most modern platforms and languages.

Initially, training at Omega-R was not a management requirement, but a market requirement. If an employee does not have the new IT technology required to complete a new order, the company will not be able to complete the order. Finding a new employee with the right skill can take months, and that's unacceptable. Quite real, convenient and profitably independently train existing employees who are already built into business processes. We adhere to the point of view that valuable employees are not only possible, but also necessary to grow within the company.

Omega-R is already a "forge of personnel", many of our employees have grown inside the company from interns to highly qualified specialists or even team leads, and are themselves mentors and examples for beginners. We are happy to accept students for internships, assessing the level of involvement, and help them adapt and become professionals. There are very talented guys among the students, and it is important to see them in time. No matter how much a company invests in training and development, it is these investments that guarantee success.

Why on-the-job training?

Omega-R's in-house training is not certification-focused, but part of a learning and development strategy focused on learning new technologies and delivering quality work. It takes place directly in the company's office and differs significantly from training by an educational service provider on the side.

In the process of training, the employee receives not only knowledge and practical experience, he simultaneously perceives the values, strategies and goals of the company.

Thus, training takes place according to the model "70:20:10":
70% of the time - learning in work processes and daily tasks: here the employee develops his own experience, makes and corrects mistakes, works on a project, trains colleagues, conducts self-reflection;
20% - social learning through communication with colleagues and management;
10% - traditional theoretical training: lectures, courses, books, articles, seminars, meetups, webinars, certifications.

Determining the level of training when applying for a job and planning a career path

The applicant first of all performs a test task to confirm knowledge and skills, and only then is invited to an interview for an expert assessment. Experienced middles and seniors can bypass the test task stage.

It is important for us that each of our employees has an understanding of their individual development plan in the company. The soldier who does not dream of being a general is bad. The picture of a successful future should be transparent and understandable from the first days of work.

Of course, career path planning is a process that goes from school through life, and not a result, so an individual plan sometimes changes. However, the choice of career path depends on how the training will take place. Usually the choice is between technical or managerial career paths.

To determine a career path, in my opinion, it is enough to go through 5 steps:

1. Establishment of the circle of persons providing an opinion on the employee;
2. Development, distribution and collection of questionnaires with a survey on the competency matrix to determine indicators for positions;
3. Analysis of questionnaires and coordination of the results of all employees with management;
4. Informing the employee about the results of his assessment;
5. Career planning and development of an individual plan.

According to Josh Bersin, founder and CEO of Bersin & Associates, an indicator of a bad career development system is the fact that companies invite employees to management positions from outside. Thus, following an individual career plan is important not only for the employee, but also for the company.

Systematic improvement of knowledge

The development, training and improvement of the level of competencies takes place systematically and regularly. Any professional passes 7 stages of development regardless of position and age:

Stage 1 - option phase: choice of profession by a student or professional in another field;
Stage 2 - adept phase: mastering a profession, from a short briefing to many years of training or work;
Stage 3 - adaptation phase: adaptant gets used to work, team, tasks, difficulties and forms a certain loyalty to the team;
Stage 4 - internal phase: the employee enters the profession as a full-fledged colleague and performs the main tasks independently;
Stage 5 - mastery phase: the employee receives the informal status of an indispensable or universal employee capable of performing complex tasks;
Stage 6 - authority phase: the master becomes well known in professional circles;
Stage 7 - mentoring phase (in the broadest sense): the master gathers like-minded people and students around him not only due to high professionalism, but also due to the education of the best professionals in his field.

In Omega-R, for a beginner, a specific mentor and adaptor is determined from among specialists highly loyal to the company with professional experience of at least a middle level and a certain length of service in the company. During the adaptation period, it is important not only to gain an understanding of specific technologies and the specifics of work, but also to absorb the features of the corporate culture, to become part of the team. Understanding the goals and mission is an important component of successful adaptation, long-term fruitful work and high loyalty to the company.

The more clear and structured the first days and weeks in the company are, the faster the newcomer joins the process and shows the result. On the first day, the newcomer is introduced to the mentor and given materials for study, a "newbie folder" with useful information, a plan for a trial period approved by the immediate supervisor. Zero certification is carried out after 2 weeks of the employee's work in the company, then the next control point is set.

Moving to the next level of development

To determine the moment of promotion of an employee, the main trigger for professional growth is the successful completion of certification.

There are certain time intervals between attestations, which are identified based on the results of the previous assessment, and each employee has information about the timing of the next attestation. The HR manager keeps track of these deadlines and initiates preparation well in advance.

Each employee has the right to independently apply to responsible persons for an extraordinary certification. Motivation in extraordinary certification depends not only on the very fact of the transition. Such reasons can be, for example, the complexity of the project or the level of salary. And, in fact, we value responsibility and interest in personal and professional growth - professional development is sewn into the corporate culture.

Each team leader is involved in the development of his employees - this is how he shows both the level of expertise, and interest in learning, and the advantages of the training and development system by his own example. Whoever initiated the certification, the team leader and other managers, based on the matrix of competencies and their own experience, determine the readiness of the specialist to move to the next level of professional development. If the employee failed to pass the certification the first time, then the exam can be retaken.

Goals of certification:

1. Determine the current level of the specialist;
2. Find out in which directions a person is interested in developing;
3. Give employee feedback
4. Determine growth areas;
5. Indicate the date of the next certification.

Everyone knows the situation on the labor market, so the point of certification is not to judge an employee, but to help him grow.

Performance reviews

Performance review is a systematic and periodic procedure that evaluates the performance and productivity of an individual employee in accordance with pre-established criteria and organizational goals. Performance review over a century of history has grown from the principles of scientific management by Frederick W. Taylor and first used by the US Army during the First World War to identify weak performers.

Performance review is useful for an employee in that it identifies the reasons for the lack of career growth and solutions. The company can transparently and objectively identify employees worthy of encouragement, increase or increase in salary. It is worth noting that this assessment tool is quite complex and has many pitfalls.

Performance review is carried out in several stages:

Stage 1 - Assistance with resumes writing. It is extremely important to discuss the whole procedure, its goals with stakeholders, managers. The process for collecting feedback and how to use it should be clearly communicated to all participants in meetings or mailing lists. As practice shows, without this stage, performance review can become a waste of time.

Stage 2 - self review. The employee must remember and write down what he did in the last months or year: the tasks and qualities expected from the employee, including when performing unusual roles; projects, basic activities and other activities; work achievements and successes; shortcomings, failures in specific tasks on the part of the employee and the department, self-criticism in facts. Since it is quite difficult to remember the details of a year ago, it is better to conduct a performance review at least once every six months.

Stage 3 - definition of respondents. The employee himself or the performance review managers write out those who will evaluate him: immediate supervisor; leaders of other teams involved or periodically involved in individual projects together with the employee, customers; peers (colleagues in the department, non-permanent or permanent project teams); subordinates, including those for whom the employee is only a mentor.

Stage 4 - distribution of questionnaires. One of the performance review managers, for example, the head of a department, analyzes the assessment given by the employee to himself, asks for clarification of the information if the employee indicated it vaguely, prepares a questionnaire and sends it to the respondents. Since each employee of the company receives several questionnaires, a reasonable deadline must be set for each sheet, which would allow time for thoughtful reading and completion.

Stage 5 - evaluation. Each respondent reviews the self-review of the employee, puts a certain general assessment of how he sees the compliance with the quality of task performance expected from the employee, gives a comment that reveals the specific reasons for the assessment, and possible detailed recommendations for development.

Stage 6 - data analysis. Discussing results can be confusing, so it is important to maintain some level of confidentiality, as each rating, whether positive or negative, is subjective and sometimes provocative. In any case, it is better for the organizer of the performance review to start discussing the results with the head of the department with generalized data on the company and department. The same scheme is used when communicating within the department. Moreover, for some employees, deliberately unfair assessments based on personal preferences may be found. This can be seen in the formality of filling out, the lack of specifics or the presence of excessive emotionality in the comments on the assessment in the questionnaire.

Stage 7 - development plan. Based on the results, a plan of specific actions should be developed that will lead each employee to growth: specific training, temporary or permanent transfer to another position, work on a new project, management by a new mentor, vacation, adjustment in time management, other activities.

Stage 8 - change tracking. In fact, this stage can be called the preparation and conduct of the next performance review, since in anticipation of it, employees begin to track in advance everything that they have to indicate in the questionnaires and be more attentive to their activities.

11 reasons why performance review can fail

During the performance review, you can make small mistakes, some of which can be corrected only during the next performance review. Therefore, the first stage of preparation is as important as all the others. So, the most common shortcomings and failures are:

1. Inappropriate survey questions. A large survey of 10+ questions that touches on issues that are common to the company should be located separately from the key performance review survey regarding a specific department or employee.
2. Manager avoidance of difficult topics. Self-reviews may show perspectives for an employee, department, or company that needs a heated argument, but their manager's assessment misses that. In this case, we can conclude that the leader needs training on the hot spot.
3. Lack of specificity in answers and comments. This may indicate incorrectly formulated questions, a lack of explanatory work with participants, which needs to be corrected. Persistent psychological attitudes of the respondent, which influence the marks on all the questionnaires he filled out and force him to put down similar marks and comments, should reduce the relevance of the marks he gives in the analysis.
4. Lack of assessment of the immediate supervisor. It is he who knows literally everything about the formal and unwritten duties in the department and can give the most rigorous and objective assessment. In addition, in the case of unconditional informal leadership of one of the employees in the horizontal of the department, one should not fully rely on the assessments of his colleagues in the department.
5. Intentional or unintentional bias. In the mass of estimates compiled per employee, there may be out of the ordinary, which is not always worth trusting, therefore, the average estimate is mainly taken into account. Moreover, the assessment can be based on personal likes and dislikes, the desire to avoid conflict, which can be seen in the absence of facts and quantitative indicators in the comments.
6. Legal nihilism. If a trade union has been created in a company, then it makes sense to coordinate with it the performance review procedures and its consequences for employees, since the personnel effect, for example, dismissal, transfer to another position, increase or decrease in salary, is regulated by labor legislation and by-laws.
7. The inconsistency of the goal of increasing productivity with the goals of performance review. If the goal of increasing productivity leads to violation of the rules of ethics, the requirements of the law or the quality of the product and services, then it will definitely interfere with the training that follows the performance review.
8. Non-serious/serious questioning. If employees are not told the whole essence and purpose of performance review, then they may take it not seriously enough and formally, or too seriously for fear of losing their job or salary level and try to artificially improve their grades.
9. Wrong translation of grades into awards. The grading system should not guarantee that small or large awards are mandatory. If the bonus becomes for everyone, then the performance review will be a signal for employees to relax.
10. Partial list of respondents. An employee may deliberately not include in the list of respondents those with whom he worked periodically or constantly. In this case, it should be clarified that if there is justification, anyone can sign up for the list of respondents.
11. Directive style. Some managers are so afraid of being in an uncomfortable position that they do not discuss the results of the assessment, but simply directively tell subordinates what and how to do. Performance review is about two-way communication for the sake of efficiency.

Performance review is a preparatory part in the formation of a training and development strategy. Each company creates its own strategy, in any case, the main task of the training and development strategy is to manage the development of employees in such a way as to support other key business priorities. The learning and development function of an organization plays a strategic role in five areas:

1. Development of the potential of employees;
2. Attracting and retaining talent;
3. Motivation and attraction of employees;
4. Creation of an employer brand;
5. Creation of corporate culture values.

Thus, the learning and development strategy involves the creation of 8 main components of a closed cyclic learning and development ecosystem in the company, the construction of which should be started by bringing learning and development in line with the business strategy. As shows McKinsey study, only 40% of companies confirm the alignment of the learning and development strategy with strategic goals, and 60% of companies do not clearly match the learning and development strategy with business goals. That is why training programs should not be developed by the HR department on its own, but by units under the organizational supervision and in cooperation with the HR department.

It can be assumed that the introduction of a training and development system will take not only the financial resources of the company, but also the working time of employees. In fact, the costs of training and development are much less than the real benefits for the company:

1. Improving employee performance: training builds his self-confidence and helps the company to take a leading position.
2. Increasing employee satisfaction and strengthening team morale: the company shows employees that they are valued, invested in and give them access to training that they would otherwise not even know about.
3. Working with weak points: in any team there are weak links, be it individual employees or business processes. Training and development raises all employees to the same level, where each of them is interchangeable and independent.
4. Increasing productivity and meeting quality standards: constant training of colleagues brings up internal responsibility for the processes in the company and motivation to increase labor productivity.
5. Increasing innovation in new strategies and products: in the course of advanced training, a search for new ideas occurs, a creative approach is nurtured, attempts to look at situations differently are encouraged.
6. Decreased staff turnover: Employer contribution retains employees and reduces recruitment costs.
7. Strengthening the profile and reputation of the company: Having a strong learning and development strategy strengthens the company's brand, attracts students, graduates, colleagues from other companies and gathers a queue of applicants, allowing you to select the most promising ones.

A corporate learning and development system cannot be implemented overnight. Many mistakes can be made during implementation. The main one is the discrepancy between the development strategy and the mission of the business. With proper implementation, healthy rivalry and a brand of leadership are cultivated in the company, which develop into an increase in the company's profit, strengthening its position in the IT services market, inclusion in real external competition with market leaders and strategic flexibility.

Source: habr.com