Corporate training often becomes visible through programs on a calendar. How these programs connect and which behaviors they are expected to change at work are questions for the learning system. Corporate academies can provide the framework for this system.
From training to a learning system
When competency maps, learning journeys, and work-related opportunities for practice are designed together, training's place in organizational strategy becomes clearer. Connecting each competency to a business outcome is part of this design.
Development lives within the work
Teams working on real problems can try what they learn that same day and see the results. When designing a development journey, I first ask which behaviors will carry over into work. The answer shapes the program's structure and how it is measured, as well as the subjects to be taught.
The competency map can record which business outcome each behavior connects to. Once learning journeys have been built around real business problems, the behaviors put into practice can be observed in the following quarter. The map is then updated with these observations.
