Aligning for Success: Connecting Learning to Business Performance

How does the head of learning ensure that an organization’s learning strategy is aligned with its business strategy, particularly given the complexity and change that characterize the business world? In Aligning for Success, the Association for Talent Development (ATD) draws upon a wealth of survey data to explore this question. ATD also conducted interviews with heads of learning from leading organizations that have been able to align their business and learning strategies. Some of the questions ATD seeks to answer include:

• Are business strategies and learning strategies aligned in organizations?
• What is the value of alignment to organizations?
• Given that CEOs are responsible for the business strategy in organizations, how can the learning function build relationships with CEOs?
• Although the support of senior executives is critical to alignment, how can the learning function work with unit leaders to ensure alignment with their goals?
• How can the learning function maintain alignment through major organizational changes?
• What are some strategies for measuring alignment, given the difficulty of doing so and the resource limitations most learning functions face?

This Study finds that between half and two-thirds of organizations can be described as having high alignment; these organizations had better market performance than those with less alignment.

The full title of this report is Aligning for Success: Connecting Learning to Business Performance.