Aligning Learning Initiatives with Organizational Business Strategy

Training and learning provides an opportunity for your talent to grow within the organization and really become an integral part of the business. While developing these opportunities for growth and development, it is imperative that the learning objectives are directly aligned with the corporate strategy and business challenges. By connecting your workforce with the overall business goals, successful organizations will remain ahead of their competitors.

Horizon House, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that supports adults with disabilities and their families, has developed their learning organization in a manner where all of their 1,200 employees have the opportunity to continue their learning and take part in the growth of their career and the success of the organization.

The learning function is designed to reflect a diverse workforce and community, where employees must undergo the culture and organizational value orientation program followed by a 60-90 day onboarding process. Once the employees complete their initial training with the organization, they obtain the ability to enhance their learning via informal and formal means offered by Horizon House, Inc.

According to Damian Salas, Director of Training for Horizon House, Inc., in order to have a successful learning organization, you must involve many individuals in the process. The key to linking strategy to learning initiatives is to make sure that C-Level executives are involved as much as possible. By including the executives along with the employees, together they can develop a learning curriculum that identifies the organizations objectives, provide timely training to accommodate these and find ways to reduce the cost.

Salas discusses with Human Resources IQ the objectives, execution and benefits of the learning organization within Horizon House, Inc.