It’s increasingly common to hear about how people should be doing a job they love. This means bosses needs to give candidates a good reason to want to work at their business, and they must make use of a learning and development strategy if they want retention to improve.

Our recent study with IDC also outlined the clear, positive connection between employee collaboration and business performance. A learning and development strategy is important in aiding this, but a strategy is only useful if it’s put into action. Here’s our tips on how to action your plans and ensure effective delivery.

1) Start with outcomes in your mind

Consider the objectives of the three key layers – the individual, the team and the organisation – and be clear about what you are trying to accomplish at each level. From there, define these objectives and ensure there’s a clear plan of action to achieve them.

2) Find pain points and look for gaps

Where is the greatest need for change? Where are the skills gaps and key competencies today and how will these change over time? Be sure to think of the current issues, as well as the gaps, to make your chosen development areas align with your long-term business goals.

3) Make it central and consumer-oriented

To drive the best engagement, you’ll need the simplest user experience possible. You’ll get greater user adoption and faster results if all your learning content is in one place and as easy to engage with as the sites people are used to using daily, like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Don’t just compare features – compare the user experience.

4) Get tech-savvy

Understand what new technologies are out there and what they can do for developing talent in your organisation. This could be anything from video on mobile platforms, to games done through virtual reality. Think about how you could apply these in the context of your own learning and development objectives to help simplify platforms.

Read on for points five to ten.

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