Align your L&D Efforts for Business Success
This blog is part one of a three-part series based on a talk titled "Unleash the Power of L&D: Align, Adapt & AI Your Way to Success," delivered at the NZ HR Leadership Summit in November 2024. The session explored three strategies to unlock the potential of Learning and Development (L&D): Alignment, Adaptability, and AI. Each post in this series dives deeper into one of these strategies, offering practical insights to elevate your L&D initiatives.
Alignment is one of the biggest keys to success. If your L&D efforts don’t directly support the business’s goals, you risk wasting time and resources. Ideally, alignment can be achieved during the needs analysis stage when working through a classic ADDIE process. But figuring out how to achieve that alignment isn’t always straightforward.
I’ve spoken with many L&D practitioners who feel uncertain about needs analysis—what it is, how to do it, or even what to call it. Should it be a Training Needs Analysis (TNA)? A Learning Needs Analysis (LNA)? To me, it’s less about the name and more about approaching the analysis in layers. That’s why I’ve developed my own method for tackling this challenge: a three-part framework that breaks needs analysis into manageable steps.
To ensure alignment between L&D and business goals, I recommend addressing three distinct layers of needs analysis:
Business Needs Analysis
The first and most crucial step is understanding what the business is trying to achieve. When someone says, "We need training!" my first response is always, "How do we know?" This question helps uncover the underlying business problem and ensures we’re solving the right one.
The goal at this stage is to answer: What problem is the business trying to solve?
Here are some examples of the kind of clarity you’re aiming for:
Prevent shoulder dislocations when assisting elderly residents after a fall.
Reduce the number of complaints about the presentation of stations or staff by 80%.
Ensure all warehouse staff can read and follow their Traffic Management Plan.
Enable IT staff to use the new ITSM tool on day one of rollout, with SLAs impacted by less than 5%.
Ensure hiring managers consistently follow the recruitment process when hiring new staff.
If no data is being collected to measure these problems, this is a great time to start. Take a snapshot before the training intervention, then more again afterwards. These metrics will help confirm whether your L&D efforts are working.
Training Needs Analysis
Not every problem requires a training solution, and it’s important to figure that out early. I’ve seen situations where a client initially requested training, but after some digging, we realised the real issue was environmental or process-related. One colleague even avoided an entire training programme by suggesting a tweak to the software causing the problem. The tweak was a costly customisation by the software provider, but it was still cheaper than developing training and leaving the potential for human error.
My go-to tool here is Cathy Moore’s "Will Training Help?" framework. It’s a fantastic resource that breaks down performance gaps into environment, motivation, knowledge, and skills. Training is best used for practising skills or embedding critical knowledge that learners need to memorise—not for addressing issues better solved by fixing processes or improving motivation. You can find her guide here.
Learner Needs Analysis
Finally, it’s essential to consider the people who will engage with your training. What do they need to succeed? I always ask about factors like:
Existing skillsets and habits
Contexts
Mindsets
Literacy levels
Access to support and resources
Technology access and familiarity
For example, designing a programme for a workforce with limited literacy and access to devices might lead to hands-on team-based activities rather than digital modules.
Finding existing habits staff have that new habits can hook into is a wonderful thing. In this example, we tied learning about the staff/student ratio tool to a celebration for a child graduating from kindergarten.
Tailoring the solution to your audience ensures the training truly works.
Demystifying the Process
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by needs analysis, you’re not alone. It can feel daunting to ask the right questions or push back when stakeholders already have a preferred solution. But breaking it into these three layers—business, training, and learner—makes it much easier to approach systematically.
Here’s a simple exercise:
The next time someone requests training, challenge yourself to ask them "Why?" Keep digging with further questions until you understand the business problem, how much of it is truly a training issue, and what the learners need to succeed. You’ll not only build stronger programmes but also enhance your credibility as an L&D professional.
