The evolution of the L&D maturity benchmark

This question has been at the heart of the 20 year study: How can learning innovation influence business impact? From day 1, business impact (improvements to business performance and outcomes) was differentiated from learning impact (engagement scores and efficiency of delivery).

Initially technology and how it was applied was the innovation focus. Over the years the concept of innovation was extended to the way that learning is supported in the organisation.

Business impact success left us with clues – and we followed the trail!

The first study focussed on the e-learning practices of high performing teams validated through input from their learners. The insights were then tested with wider audiences self reporting against external digital maturity models (2007). However throughout the years, it was the L&D practices that consistently correlated with business impact, not the technologies used. The Towards Maturity Index , introduced in 2010 as an objective measure for organisations to compare practices, rather than budgets and headcount, with each other. And with it a new type of benchmark was born.

During the first 10 years, technology became mainstream (with LMS, mobile and live online learning showing the most growth) to support flexibility and access. Data from high performing teams consistently correlated to better business impact. By 2013, The New Learning Agenda and Modernising Learning studies were advocating for a learner-centric approach, strong collaboration, and a culture of continuous learning. These reports provided a roadmap for L&D professionals to become strategic partners in achieving organisational success.

Unlocking potential looked at the L&D behaviours helping us improve efficiency, fine tune process, support performance, improve agility and influence culture. It set the scene for a completely new approach to the L&D benchmark.

The Transformation Curve and Transformation Journey outlined a new maturity model for L&D.

Donald Taylor stated that ‘Towards Maturity created something which I believe will be invaluable to the L&D profession – a model of maturity that relates not only to the use of technology but to everything that L&D departments do supporting an effective organisation’.

This model remains at the heart of the L&D benchmark today.

High performing teams consistently demonstrated processes for tuning in and understanding the needs of both the business and the individuals before jumping to a solution for the business.

Engagement is a perennial challenge. Understanding and responding to the dynamic interplay of stakeholders is a theme within all of the L&D benchmark reports and we took a closer look at how to be more relevant here.

Our research directly with learners resulting in the Learner Voice Series 1 – 3 (Overton, Dixon 2014, 2015 and 2016) was also pivotal for us as a learning team – calling out the preconceived ideas that L&D have about the way millennials, new joiners, managers and sales people learn what they need to perform and do their jobs better and faster.

The Consumer Learner at Work 2016 (Overton, Dixon) took this one step further, investigating the motivations and experiences of individuals who had invested in their own learning. These Learning landscape studies were amongst the first to provide data around the learner voice back into the equation – a voice that many of us talk about but few listen to!

The role of L&D is to ensure individuals are equipped and ready – equipped to perform in the tasks they need to do today and ready for new opportunities in the future. The L&D Benchmark and Learning Landscape studies provide practical insights on how we do this.

One of the key themes of the benchmark research is application of new approaches and to change behaviour, shift habits and build skill.  

The following studies explore the lessons learned over the years:

Supporting performance has been an L&D benchmark theme since 2003. These two reports dig deeper into how high performing L&D teams enable learning as work and work as learning.

Over the years, we explored the data of both high performing teams and learners themselves to explore how we can design and support learning for the way that managers and leaders work. Reports included…

This 5 year research programme explored how rethink compliance learning from a tick in a box exercise to an experience that actually changes behaviour.

Whilst we did not find a correlation with technology and business impact over the first 15 years of the L&D benchmark, the application of new tools made the difference. These reports dug deeper into how technology could improve our insights, support learning on the move, address silos in talent management and improve the impact of formal learning.

This study has always prioritised business impact over learning impact, exploring how learning innovation allows us to add value over engagement. The benchmark reports track the strategies that drive business value. But here we take a closer look at impact and see that the potential has been there for many, many years!

A series of reports were created in collaboration with the CIPD to support the evidence-led decisions of L&D members seeking to be principles-led and outcome driven.

These reports included: