In the previous post (access it here), the Head of IT said he can provide Dave with more information to answer question four.  The leadership team (LT) members also gave Dave a list of managers and team leaders who can also help him with more detailed information. for the question. Dave was ready to close the meeting,  but before doing that he told them the two last questions which are:

• Question five: How will the learning and development function support people to know and be able to do what they need to?
• Question six: How will the organisation know that learning and development has successfully supported the achievement of the strategic objectives?

Dave reminded them that once the L&D team answered these questions he would discuss them with the LT and other relevant managers. Dave asked them for questions before he finished. They had one question:

• When will the learning and development strategy be ready?

Dave told them that the strategy would be developed like software. They will get a beta or version 1.0 in two week’s time, which we can start working on. It will then be improved continually. Dave closed the meeting and it was time to discuss what happened with his team. He met with his team, he also spoke to the Head of IT, Design Manager, Development Manager and a couple of team leaders who will be involved in the platform building project. He had now gathered enough information to answer questions 5 - How will the learning and development function support people to know and be able to do what they need to?

Firstly it was decided that the company would employer four new developers. Two to focus on the front-end and the other two the back-end. They would also act as mentors to the existing developers learning the new technologies.

The learning delivery strategy Dave came up in conjunction with other key stakeholders involves the following steps:

• Ensure mentors are in place and run introductory face-to-face sessions.
• Subscribe to online learning websites offering access to video tutorials and ebooks.
• Identify key question and answer websites for support.
• Set development goals and assign measurable tasks to every one.
• Meet each morning for 30 minutes to discuss progress and identify where people need support from mentors and other sources.
• Meet for 1 hour on Fridays to discuss learning
• Dave or one of his team members will attend all the meetings to collect information that will help them to gather progress of the project and how the learning delivery strategy is supporting the developers.

To answer question 6 - How will the organisation know that learning and development has successfully supported the achievement of the strategic objectives?

Information from the meetings covering progress on the project and impact of the learning support is gathered weekly. Dave sends an overview report of not more than one side of an A4 page to the leadership team every week detailing how the investment in learning and development is helping staff to build the platform. He also monitors the situation to identify any extra learning needed. If there is any challenge or impediment to the progress of the project Dave can quickly check with the managers whether it is a knowledge or skills issue which he can tackle or if it is a motivation, environmental or other issue which can be discussed with the managers and LT team who are better placed to tackle such issues.

David has now answered the six questions and has enough information for the learning and development strategy. He develops a version 1.0 and sends it to the LT. All done in under two weeks. 

The next and final post will show you Dave's Learning and Development Strategy 1.0.

Here are the links to all the previous paosts in the series:

• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/learning-and-development-strategy-not-again
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/what-is-a-learning-and-development-strategy
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/create-a-learning-and-development-strategy
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/six-strategy-questions-questions-one-to-three
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/six-strategy-questions-questions-four-to-six
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/creating-an-ld-strategy-with-the-questions
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/creating-an-ld-strategy-with-the-questions-part-2
• https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/community/blogs/bolaowoade/creating-an-ld-strategy-with-the-questions-part-3