The pace of business has accelerated over the past several years, and core people management processes like performance reviews are changing as a result. Since learning and development (L&D) is a business-critical priority for increasing skills, staying competitive and improving employee engagement, training and development professionals need to ensure these programs are as fluid and agile as today’s workplace environment. This approach involves understanding “the business” of business and working closely with company leaders at every level to continuously improve performance and maximize talent.

Rather than viewing L&D as a company-owned, event-driven process, it’s necessary to see learning as a cultural function that is owned by everyone within the organization, including HR, managers and employees. What’s needed is a cultural realignment to achieve a proactive, forward-thinking approach to learning.

The Changing Pace of Business

Agility and speed are the hallmarks of success in today’s business environment. Look at Apple as an example. Despite a recent earnings slide, Apple is still the world’s most valuable company, and it sets the pace for competitors. In the opening weekend of the company’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus launch, Apple sold about 3,000 iPhones per minute, demonstrating how fast a business can move in the modern era.

To match the need for a more fluid and agile workforce, companies are moving away from annual performance reviews and traditional rating systems. The once-a-year approach to performance management is too infrequent to meet the needs of a fast-paced business environment. It also tends to position employee development as an afterthought, or a one-off activity with no direct link to long-term growth and success.

This approach has led to an employee view that “development” is a negative, punitive tactic, rather than how it should be viewed: an engaging, ongoing and forward-focused strategy to improve individual, team and organizational performance.

In the new workplace dynamic, performance management and learning systems must converge since the rapid acquisition of skills is vitally important to support organizational agility. Furthermore, employees expect their employers to invest in their development and provide them with the skills they need to succeed. Without a commitment to developing their employees, companies risk losing key talent they need to compete.

Building a Culture of Learning

Companies that merge development and performance create a culture of learning that constitutes a genuine competitive advantage in the form of a more knowledgeable workforce.

However, it’s not uncommon to find performance management programs administered by HR, while learning and leadership development programs are administered by other divisions such as L&D or organizational development. Or perhaps even more disconcerting is when L&D is administered in one silo, while leadership development and succession planning are in another. This approach to talent management can only result in inefficiencies and resources overlap for the organization, while resulting in a potentially frustrating employee experience.

Today’s changing landscape demands a holistic view of talent management, where all talent programs are integrated and drive business outcomes. As such, learning and development can no longer be viewed as just a once-in-a-while activity. Instead, it is ongoing and owned by everyone within the organization:

• HR is responsible for creating high-impact learning and development programs that combine on-the-job training and continuous coaching with more formal learning activities, and linking all components directly to the business strategy to maximize results.
• Managers are responsible for enabling employees to learn though stretch assignments and team collaboration, and by delivering regular coaching and feedback.
• Employees in turn must demonstrate responsibility and accountability for their own career development.

Looking Forward Instead of Backward

Leading organizations today favor ongoing, regular performance conversations rather than an outmoded annual process that focuses primarily on last year’s results. Now, it’s about looking forward and, with this change in perspective, employee development can come to the forefront.

When companies build a culture of learning, the organization as a whole becomes more competitive and less likely to lose key talent. But something else happens too- employees see that the company is consistently investing in their development and building their skillset. This leads to a truly engaged workforce, which is the best competitive advantage of all. That’s a great reason to rethink learning.