eBook

How to Conduct a
Comprehensive L&D Audit
and Prepare a Strategic Plan
for the Future

By Asha Pandey
Chief Learning Strategist, EI Design
About the
Author

Asha Pandey is the Founder and Chief Learning Strategist

at EI Design. She heads the organization’s Solution
Architecting and Innovation mandates. Asha also heads EI
Design’s Learning and Performance Consulting practice.
She brings in her experience of nearly 2 decades to help
EI Design customers in their digital transformation of
learning, training impact measurement, and learning
culture transformation.

A regular writer for various global Learning forums, Asha

is one of the most recognized thought leaders in the
industry. She also shares her insights regularly on a range
of topics on her blog at
https://www.eidesign.net/insights/.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
2
Preface Companies who want to prosper far into the
future must compete on the speed of
learning. Clearly, L&D teams play a critical
role in this endeavor. In spite of this, they are
still considered as a cost center and not as a
value creator.

• So how can L&D teams remodel themselves

to be considered as a performance driver?
• Would L&D teams have all the capabilities
in-house to meet and exceed the growing
expectations from the business?

This exercise must begin with a

comprehensive L&D Audit. This analysis
combined with learnings from the current
year should be used to identify the focus
areas for next year. This approach will not
only help transform L&D from a cost center to
a performance powerhouse but also help
create a blueprint for future that will be well
aligned to help you meet the rapidly changing
dynamics.

This is the basis of my eBook where I share

insights on how to conduct an audit of your
L&D initiatives. Using cues from this analysis
as well as from the year-end review, I show
you how can you identify the focus areas for
preparing an effective L&D Strategy for 2022.

Read on!

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
3
 Table of
Contents

SECTION 1

How to Conduct an Audit of Your

Training and Development
Initiatives

SECTION 2

Year-end L&D Review - What

Worked, What Didn't, and Other
Key Lessons from 2021

SECTION 3

Focus Areas for Preparing a

Learning and Development Strategy
for 2022

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
4
Section 1
How to Conduct an Audit of Your
Training and Development Initiatives

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
5
Introduction
An L&D audit is a key tool in
understanding an organization’s L&D
needs in terms of engagement and
performance and productivity
benchmarks. In this section, I highlight
key thoughts, techniques, and strategies
for auditing your L&D initiatives.

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6
Why should you conduct an audit of your
training and development initiatives?

The rate of continuous change within organizations requires

matching levels of institutional transformation. L&D teams
are sometimes slow to embrace that change. The way to
successfully adapt, to ever-changing performance and
productivity imperatives, is to conduct a training audit of
your training and development initiatives. Here’s why:

• A training and development audit delivers objective

benchmarks and insights into the status of your L&D
programs.
• They’re imperative to evaluate the current performance
and provide recommendations on the future direction of
L&D strategies.
• In financial crises, training and education budgets are
often the first cost-cutting casualties. Ongoing audits
and assessments help change the senior management
perspective of L&D – from cost absorbers to
performance drivers.
• By shining light on hereto unnoticed productivity and
performance issues, a training audit serves as an
invaluable tool to highlight how instrumental L&D teams
are as value creators within the enterprise.

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What should be the key focus
areas for assessing your
training programs?

When approached with an overly broad

scope, a training and development audit
tends to lose its effectiveness. Additionally,
excessively broad scopes mire the audit in
tangential aspects that add no value to the
effectiveness of the L&D function.

The key areas of focus, when auditing or

assessing your L&D programs, must be:

1. Ensuring their (L&D initiative’s)

alignment with enterprise goals and
objectives.
2. Evaluating their effectiveness in
meeting committed training objectives.
3. Assessing the efficiency of the L&D
team’s ability to design and deliver
training. The key factors to keep in
mind, when auditing “efficiency”
include speed, agility, and cost
efficiency (budget utilization).
4. Objectivity in the evaluation of actual
accomplishments viz. the program’s
planned objectives.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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What are the key components you
should audit?
The five components, on which you must perform a training
and development audit, include:

1. L&D strategy: The organization’s L&D strategy is a key

component of the audit and must focus on separate
facets of building a strategy for learning and knowledge
within the organization, and the impact that the strategy
has on learners and businesses:
• Training Needs Analysis (TNA): As part of your training
audit to assess your L&D strategy, auditors must evaluate
whether the strategy adequately captures the gaps in
learning needs. To do this, auditors must ensure the
following:
• Gauge whether L&D strategies align with
organizational goals/performance and assess the
processes and procedures for capturing learner
needs. The objective is to identify learning gaps that
might need to be plugged.
• It’s vital to also evaluate prevailing practices to
integrate learner needs into the organization’s L&D
strategy.

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What are the key components you
should audit?
• Learning Needs Analysis (LNA): Typically, knowledge-
focused organizations plug learning needs through
adequate training programs. This is where the focus of
a training and development audit must pivot to
evaluate the company’s training strategy. Specifically,
auditors must:
• Learn more about metrics/KPIs used to monitor
and evaluate employee performance.
• Understand how the organization captures and
processes learner analytics data and feedback.
• Impact of L&D: Finally, the auditor must evaluate
whether the various L&D plans, tactics, and actions,
undertaken as a result of TNA and LNA, have delivered
what they had intended to. More specifically, the
auditor must:
• Gauge the impact of the organization’s L&D
strategy on learners and the business. They do
this by tying various L&D initiatives to employee
performance and how such performance
benefited organizational performance.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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What are the key components you
should audit?
2. Internal L&D process: As businesses evolve, so do
their L&D processes and procedures. If not
thoughtfully designed, developed, and implemented,
ad hoc L&D processes become bottlenecks. Specific
process audit focus areas include:
• Process documentation - Including policies and
guidelines as well as best practices.
• Cost-saving opportunities - Including justification
for continuing the use of certain processes or
potential benefits for reviewing, refining, or
discontinuing others.
• Opportunities to maximize L&D output - This
includes the potential to leverage strategic
partnerships, contract in-house processes, or
outsource L&D processes to maximize throughput
and turnaround times.
• Codifying internal knowledge - Focus your training
audit on your processes to capture and document
lessons learned, organizational best practices, and
other corporate L&D knowledge that contributes
to productivity and performance gains.

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What are the key components you
should audit?
3. Technology stack: As business operations evolve, so
too does L&D technology. Often, such evolution results
in non-integrated, disjointed tools and technologies
that impede, rather than facilitate, efficient training
and development initiatives.
• Communication and collaboration tools.
• Training design, development, and delivery tools.
• Learning data and analytics platforms.
• Other technologies, including project management,
content management, and LMS systems.

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What are the key components you
should audit?
4. Budget: With training budget cuts, an L&D assessment can
help justify the business case for continued investment in
training initiatives. Two critical components of any L&D
budget audit include:
• ROI determination - Highlighting the returns (financial
benefits) delivered from training outlays (costs). This
cost-benefit analysis forms the basis for justifying the
continuation of L&D investments, especially in the face
of a financial crisis.
• Planned vs actuals - Focus on objectively measuring
planned budgetary outlays against actual spending.
Remember, it’s important to do an honest audit of both
over and underspend, both of which may, potentially,
have L&D impact on productivity and performance.

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What are the key components you
should audit?
5. Learning offerings: L&D auditors must put the
organization’s entire learning offering under the
microscope – end-to-end. This includes:
• Repositories and libraries of all accessible learning
content offered through various media and conduits.
• Methods and options for building personalized
learning journeys, including choice of certifications,
personalized reskilling, and upskilling options, and
the unique additional certification/re-certification
needs of each learner.
• Training delivery platforms, tools, and technologies,
including those developed/delivered in-house, as
well as solutions available via third-party vendors
and partners.
• Methodologies, methods, and metrics for evaluating
and measuring the effectiveness of learning
infrastructure as well as evaluating the success of the
organization’s L&D strategies.

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Audit Techniques

There are several highly effective audit techniques to

choose from. Your choice will depend on various factors,
including the extent of your L&D program, and the scope
and objectives of the audit. Some techniques to consider
include:

1. Interviews: These may be structured (prepared

questions) or unstructured (exploratory, free format)
and may be conducted remotely or in person. The
advantage of interviews is that they allow auditors to
press for follow-up details.
2. Surveys: These are ideal for soliciting inputs from a
large, geographically dispersed population. They are
also a great tool to use after each L&D program.

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Audit Techniques

3. Focus groups: Using a small group of participants to

secure facilitated inputs/feedback is a good way to
conduct a focused assessment/audit of key L&D
initiatives.
4. Visual observations: Staff conducting the training audit
may glean much from personal observations of L&D
programs. These observations may occur throughout
the lifecycle of L&D initiatives – from needs assessment
to final delivery.
5. Internal documentation and reports: Instructional
Designers, Trainers, Managers, and HR professionals all
produce documentation related to various facets of an
organization’s L&D initiatives. Auditors can learn a lot
from reviewing such documentation.

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How to convert the audit into
actionable steps?

Conducting a training and development

audit is pointless unless the management
converts the results/findings into
tangible actions. Making a training and
development audit actionable is a 2-step
process:

• Assess and Identify

• Current State: The initial step
aims to assess specific problem
areas within training and
development initiatives that
require improvement,
modification, or major
revamping.
• Future State: Use the findings
from the audit to identify
detailed action plans, within
specific areas, to build further
organizational training and
development capacity.

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How to convert the audit into
actionable steps?

• Prioritize and Align

• This next phase involves
prioritizing low-effort, high-
impact actions that deliver the
best ROI for L&D investment. In
prioritizing those actions,
auditors must ensure that all
actions align with organizational
goals and objectives.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Key Takeaways
A training and development audit is a critical tool in the arsenal
of corporate managers seeking to expedite organizational
transformation. These audits don’t just help companies evaluate
themselves against industry L&D benchmarks, but they also
assist in identifying areas of learning and development
improvement and addressing learning and performance gaps
through training.

I hope the techniques and strategies in this section provide the

requisite cues on how to audit your training and development
initiatives effectively.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Section 2
Year-end L&D Review - What Worked, What
Didn't, and Other Key Lessons from 2021

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Introduction
As 2022 looms over the horizon, this is a
good time for L&D teams to pause and
take a retrospective look at what worked
for them and what did not. To help you do
that, we’ve assimilated key L&D review
lessons learned from 2021 in this section.

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Background
2021 was (and continues to be) a
challenging year for employees
and employers, and especially so
for L&D teams working to respond
to the new hybrid working model.
Many aspects of remote training,
and in-person L&D initiatives,
worked very well. However, an
objective L&D review may also
highlight some aspects that did
not work as expected for your
organization.

As 2022 approaches, organizations

need to review what they’ve
learned about their L&D plans and
strategies in 2021. Here are some
findings they’re likely to uncover:

“ 73% of workers surveyed want flexible remote work

options to continue, while at the same time, 67% are
craving more in-person time with their teams. To prepare,
66% of business decision makers are considering
redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate
“
hybrid work environments.

Source: Microsoft; Work Trend Index Report

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Here’s what worked:

• The transition from remote workforce training to hybrid

workplace training: As the hybrid workplace evolved into
a pivotal paradigm, that’s now here to stay, L&D teams
successfully implemented Blended Training programs to
pivot from primarily remote-centric training to
seamlessly training hybrid workforces.
• The focus on driving learning culture transformation and
its initiation: Scheduled learning and mandated training
is more challenging to implement in a hybrid workplace.
An across-the-board L&D review demonstrated that by
engaging off-premises employees (working from home)
and offering them continuous learning opportunities,
L&D teams successfully helped workers adopt a growth
mindset and embrace new learning habits to transform
organizational learning culture.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Here’s what worked:

• Building an inclusive workplace: In a hybrid workplace,

where not all employees work in the same place and on
the same schedule, building diversified teams,
engaging employees, and making everyone feel
included in key decisions, events, and activities is
challenging. Through targeted DEI initiatives, L&D
teams successfully implemented learning strategies
that precipitated organization-wide behavior change
that helped employees become more self-aware,
embrace diversity, and build an equitable workplace.

“ More than 200 studies show how diversity in

business leads to greater levels of innovation,
customer service, employee engagement, and
long-term growth. McKinsey, who has studied
this for more than a decade, found that various
forms of diversity directly drive up to 25%
greater financial performance.

Source: Josh Bersin Elevating Equity; The Real Story of

Diversity and Inclusion
“

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Here’s what worked:

• L&D's strategic role is growing: Over the past year,

L&D’s role has evolved from a purely training-centric
one into one that now delivers strategic value to the
organization. L&D teams have demonstrated that,
especially in times of crisis, by keeping learning and
development strategies aligned with broader
organizational goals, they (L&D teams) help keep
employees engaged, motivated, and performing to
deliver higher levels of productivity.

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Here’s what didn't work:

• An increasing amount of training initiatives added to

employee stress/burnout: Clearly, the rapid evolution,
from remote to hybrid learning, required the
implementation of additional training initiatives.
Already stressed employees, therefore, felt the burden
of this additional layer of learning.

“ Nearly 1 in 5 global survey respondents say

their employer doesn’t care about their
work-life balance. 54% feel overworked. 39%
feel exhausted.
“
Source: Microsoft; Work Trend Index Report

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Here’s what didn't work:

• Inability to integrate learner needs into training

programs: As hybrid workplaces evolved, L&D teams
initially struggled to fully comprehend employee
training needs in the changing workplace. As a result,
many training initiatives didn’t specifically match
learner needs with training programs.

“ Over 70% of workers look for increased

flexibility.

Source: Josh Bersin; The Big Reset Playbook

“

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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Here’s what didn't work:

• Failure to adopt agile learning strategies: The rapid

transformation of a new work paradigm took many L&D
teams by surprise. As workers adapted to their new
work realities, they needed appropriate training to
support them in the transition. By not being agile and
iterative in their response, learning and development
teams were slow to react to this change.
• Lack of innovation/experimenting in L&D: In
conducting an impartial L&D review, one aspect that
received a failing grade is innovation and
experimentation. While the disruption of 2021
presented many L&D challenges, many in-house
training teams failed to turn to external partners – to
leverage their innovative skills – and experiment with
new learning approaches and technologies. This
severely impacted their response to the challenges
they faced in engaging, developing, and motivating
their hybrid workers.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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What are the key lessons from
2021?

As we get ready to plan for 2022, and

prepare L&D strategies for the coming year
and beyond, let’s not forget the lessons
we’ve learned from 2021:

• The need to adopt agile learning

strategies will continue to play a key
role: Learning by experimenting. Quick
pivots. Fail early. Incremental
successes. We’ve learned that these are
key features of agile L&D strategies
that’ll mark the coming year.
• The role of L&D will continue to
broaden:
• While good learning and learner
experiences are still critical, expect
L&D's role to transcend beyond
those key pillars. That expanded
role will include delivering end-to-
end employee experiences – from
designing engaging courses, to
building Performance Support Tools
(PSTs), to offering personalized
learning journeys.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
29
What are the key lessons from
2021?

• To demonstrate its true value to the

organization, L&D must redefine its
focus on demonstrating stronger
correlations between learning and
performance. A key lesson learned,
to do this, is to align L&D objectives
with organizational goals.
• Leading learning culture
transformation: As part of their
ongoing L&D review, learning teams
have come to realize they need to
lead organization-wide shifts in
learning culture. The shift must now
be from supporting incremental
performance improvements through
“routine” L&D initiatives to building
a culture of continuous growth
through ongoing learning.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
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What are the key lessons from
2021?

• Understanding and integrating learner

needs will be a critical factor:
• The need to transform
upskilling/reskilling: We all learned
that rapid pivoting, re-tooling, and
re-invention characterized our
workforces in 2021. To continue in
that vein in 2022, businesses must
upskill and reskill their workforces,
not so much as to refine existing
skills, but to deal with skills needed
in the future.
• Integrating learning into the workflow:
L&D experiences in 2021 taught us that
employees in the new hybrid workplace
learn best in the moment and at the
point of need. The future lies in
providing Performance Support Tools
(PSTs) so workers can access just-in-
time learning.

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31
Key Takeaways
An objective L&D review can unlock the secrets that 2021 shared
with us, about all aspects of our learning and development
plans and strategies. In this section, I have shared thoughts on
what worked well for some organizations and what didn’t.
Hopefully, these findings will help you better plan your own L&D
strategies for 2022 that are captured in the next section.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
32
Section 3
Focus Areas for Preparing a Learning
and Development Strategy for 2022

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
33
Introduction
2020 was about virtual training evolution,
and 2021 about better engaging and
training virtual teams. The signs are clear -
Focus 2022 is on training hybrid
workforces. In this section, I delve deeper
on planning L&D strategies for 2022.

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 How has L&D's role changed
in 2021?
In 2020, learning-focused organizations
grappled with the challenge of rapidly
delivering virtual training to their
workforce. But, as 2021 rolled around, we
saw a paradigm shift to remote work, with
L&D teams pivoting to implementing
strategies that train and engage remote
workers using a Blended Learning
approach. These changes have
transformed how employees now work –
from a 100% remote model into a hybrid
on- and off-site working model.
Consequently, L&D’s role has evolved too.

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How has training evolved in the
last 2 years?

Over the past 2 years, L&D’s focus has

changed from being just narrow “training”
focused into a broader one that includes
building more inclusive and dynamic
teams. The focus now is to deliver greater
employee experience, so employees feel
included and engaged. And that means
L&D strategies must now focus on both
learner experiences – what learning
aspects learners like or dislike – as well as
learning experiences – their overall
experience during a learning journey.

To better serve the new “work order,” L&D

teams can no longer only develop
strategies that focus on just training
employees to do specific jobs. Instead, a
changed hybrid work environment
requires strategic rethinking of L&D’s role.
And that requires strategies that make
inclusivity and engagement a central
pillar in a hybrid workplace.

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What are the key aspects to consider when
building a learning and development
strategy for the future?

As hybrid workforces further evolve in the coming months,

into a more decentralized model, so too must training
structures transform to support them. Here are some key
aspects to consider when building a learning and
development strategy for the future:

• Maintaining a connect: Disconnected workers often feel

excluded. Given that hybrid work is the new “normal,” to
better foster inclusivity, L&D strategies must consider
building and maintaining ongoing connections and
contacts between learners/trainers/mentors.

• Driving collaborated learning: Hybrid workers

collaborate with each other and offer real-time
feedback to further their learning experiences. They’ll
therefore expect L&D strategies to support these
collaborative learning experiences. That means greater
focus on peer learning and Social Learning strategies

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What are the key aspects to consider when
building a learning and development
strategy for the future?

• Driving autonomy among learners: The new hybrid

workplace will force corporate learning strategies to
provide greater autonomy to learners. This means L&D
strategies must consider leveraging self-paced and Self-
Directed Learning.
• Understanding and integrating learner needs: The
hybrid environment is a brand-new work paradigm with
a different set of learner needs. That calls for a new
learning and development strategy, requiring L&D teams
to understand and integrate those needs to better train
a new generation of learners.

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What are the key aspects to consider when
building a learning and development
strategy for the future?

• Room for continuous learning: The workplace is constantly

evolving, and so is the need to learn and apply new
knowledge. Busy workers - especially in a hybrid
environment, however, don’t want to log on to the
corporate LMS each time they have learning opportunities.
Making continuous learning, through both push and pull
options, Social Learning, Performance Support Tools
(PSTs), and other Self-Directed Learning support, helps
employees chart a continuous learning journey.
• LIFOW resources: Employees learn best when at work and
at the point of need. As part of your learning and
development strategy, make resources available to
support learning in the flow of work (LIFOW). And that
means including strategies for learning that’s on demand
and accessible to all, especially to remote and mobile
workers. Make it selective and searchable, so they can get
the exact information they need, when they need it, and at
the point of need.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
39
What are the key aspects to consider when
building a learning and development
strategy for the future?

• How to innovate and experiment within L&D: As training

teams evolve their L&D strategies for 2022, they’ll need to
innovate and experiment with new methodologies and
approaches. The need of the hour is for learning models
that continue to evolve with transformations in the hybrid
work model. Working with external partners and
outsourcing critical L&D functions, that in-house resources
might not adequately handle, is one aspect of the new
work paradigm learning and development strategy.

“ 66% of L&D professionals globally now agree

that they are focused on rebuilding and
reshaping their organizations this year. “
Source: LinkedIn; 2021 Workplace Learning Report

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40
What are the focus areas for L&D
planning in 2022?

As you begin planning your 2022 learning and

development strategy, it’s important to stay focused on
some key areas. These include aspects that demonstrate
the value of your team to the organization in building high
performance, fully engaged, inclusive hybrid workspaces.
• Designing effective learning experiences and learner
experiences: There’s a subtle distinction between
“learning” and “learner” experiences, and these require
highlighting in your L&D plans for 2022. While a
learner’s experience encompasses every aspect they
encountered in the act of participating in learning, a
learning experience covers interactions between
learners and their learning environments. Make sure
you highlight both these experiences along a learner’s
learning pathway.
• The need to adopt agile learning strategies: For 2022,
the key remains in building flexible, agile learning
strategies that include frequent iterations of training
design and development.

“ 59% of L&D pros globally recognize upskilling

and reskilling as their top priority in 2021.

Source: LinkedIn; 2021 Workplace Learning Report

“
How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
41
What are the focus areas for L&D
planning in 2022?

• Transforming upskilling and reskilling for the hybrid

workplace: The new hybrid workplace paradigm
requires a new set of skills. Make sure your learning
and development strategy focuses on delivering
workers the skills they’ll require for the future – and
not enhancing skills they used in the past.

“ 60% of employees globally believe that

learning makes them more capable of adapting
to change. “
Source: LinkedIn; 2021 Workplace Learning Report

• Driving learning culture transformation: The learning

and development strategy for 2022 must embrace the
transformation of learning culture across the
organization. This includes building effective learning
frameworks that support a culture of continuous and
lifelong learning.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
42
What are the focus areas for L&D
planning in 2022?

• L&D's transition from cost centers to performance

drivers and value creators: The “traditionalist”
business leader views L&D as a cost center. As you plan
your 2022 hybrid L&D strategies, it’s important to focus
on the business impact of your training. It’s vital to not
lose focus of L&D’s role as a function that creates value
that drives performance. To do this, make sure your
training metrics align with key organizational Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). Focus on high-value
metrics, such as revenue generation, performance
enhancements, higher compliance to mandates, and
improved performance.

“ Nearly two-thirds (63%) of L&D pros said that

they still have a seat at the C-suite table —
almost exactly the same amount we reported
back in June (62%), and a big lift (39%) from
“
what they reported at the beginning of 2020.

Source: LinkedIn; 2021 Workplace Learning Report

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
43
What are the focus areas for L&D
planning in 2022?

• The L&D function’s ability to measure the impact and

demonstrate the impact of training will be critical:
Though many business leaders accept the value that L&D
brings to the organization, L&D leaders must continue to
demonstrate that value – both in terms of fiscal impact
as well as the impact on building a more inclusive,
engaged, and high-performance hybrid workforce.

“ Brandon Hall Group’s Learning Measurement

Study found that fewer than 16% of organizations
are very effectively able to identify and track a
series of metrics, including items such as
participation, satisfaction, knowledge transfer,
behavior change and business impact, for any of
their learning; formal, informal or experiential.

This inability to properly measure learning is not

an academic challenge; nearly 60% of companies
say that an inability to measure learning’s impact
is a significant challenge to executing the
organization’s learning and development
strategy. Because of this, the space between
learning and performance is widening.

Source: Brandon Hall Group; Learning Measurement Study

“
How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
44
Key Takeaways
2021 has seen paradigm shifts in working models, notably an
enhanced focus on the hybrid workforce. That trend, along with
greater emphasis on inclusivity, participation, engagement, and
performance, will define learning and development strategies
for 2022. I hope the information provided in this section will
help you plan and craft L&D strategies for 2022 by highlighting
key focus areas to consider when building those strategies.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
45
Summary

Over the last 2 years, successful L&D teams

have changed their focus from being just a
narrow “training” provider into a broader
one that enables them to align better to
their organizational goals.

To better serve the new “work order,” L&D

teams can no longer only develop strategies
that focus on just training employees to do
specific jobs. Instead, a changed hybrid work
environment requires a strategic rethinking
of L&D’s role.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
46
Summary

In this transformation, the focus is on

delivering greater employee experience so
that the employees feel included and
engaged. With this change, the L&D
strategies include both learner experiences
(what learning aspects learners like or
dislike) as well as learning experiences
(their overall experience during a
learning journey).

I have designed my eBook to serve as a

guide for organizations as they plan their
L&D audit, year-end review, and identify
strategies for the next year. I believe it
would be a great resource to leverage
during the planning for the upcoming year.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
47
 Read More

1. eBook: Creating Value Through Outsourcing -

How L&D Teams Can Leverage Strategic
Partnerships to Meet the Enhanced
Expectations from the Business
2. eBook: How L&D Teams Can Lead Learning
Culture Transformation and Help Build a
Learning Organization
3. Case Studies
4. Demos
5. Insights
6. Learning Consulting Services

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
48
 About EI Design
As a learning experience design
company, we partner with customers in
their Digital Transformation journey.
We help our customers deliver high-
impact Learning and Performance
Support solutions that offer:
• A high engagement quotient.
• Drive employee performance.
• Create high ROI for the learner,
business, and organization.
We are certified as a Smartchoice®
Preferred Provider by Brandon Hall
Group. This is a testament to our
expertise of nearly two decades in
helping L&D teams deliver trainings
that boost employee performance,
impact business KPIs, and trigger
behavioral change.
Our Virtual and Self-paced Online
Trainings offer the “triad of value” to
our customers by:
1. Creating “sticky” learning
experiences.
2. Enabling effective application on
the job.
3. Driving change in thinking and
behavioral change.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
49
 The “triad of value” is achieved through
a wide spectrum of meaningful,
relevant, thought-stimulating, and
action-oriented learning interactivities.
• These high engagement
interactivities are designed to
capture the learner’s attention and
drive greater learning depth and
length of retention.
• Through interactivities for practice,
we help learners apply learning
faster and effectively to their role
and responsibilities.
• We have unique learner
interactivities and techniques that
trigger critical changes in how
learners think about their approach
to work.
We offer Learning and Performance
Consulting services - Our
comprehensive portfolio enables
organizations to develop and execute
strategies that drive individual, team,
and organizational performance.
Our training strategies have consistently
won stellar accolades over the last five
years. Our effective training makes your
workforce well-equipped and your
business ready to succeed. With our
expertise, you can also improve
employee performance and leverage
learning strategies that impact your
business objectives.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
50
Thought Leadership - Testimonials

Michael Rochelle
Chief Strategy Officer and Principal HCM Analyst
Brandon Hall Group

EI Design offers a unique value proposition that is rarely seen in

the market. EI Design assists organizations in optimizing the impact
of learning on individual, team, and organizational performance
and maximizing the ROI on learning.

By leveraging their impressive expertise and experience,

EI Design can lead an organization through the transformation of
their learning from strategy to execution. EI Design sets the bar in
the industry for what an organization should expect from a
learning provider.

• 2 Golds for Best Advance in Custom Content.

• Gold for Best Learning Program Supporting a
Change Transformation Business Strategy.
• Silver for Best Advance in Custom Content.
• Silver for Best Advance in Competencies and Skill
Development.
• Silver for Best Advance in Talent Acquisition
Process.
• 2 Bronze for Best Use of Games and Simulations
for Learning.
• Bronze for Best Advance in Custom Content.
• Bronze for Best New Hire Onboarding Program.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
51
Thought Leadership - Testimonials

Christopher Pappas
Founder
eLearning Industry

We've been working with EI Design on a day-to-day basis since April

of 2015. Our smooth collaboration is based on trust. EI Design goes
above and beyond to help evolve the world of eLearning with its
expertise, strategies, and innovative ideas.

Gamification, Microlearning, Blended Learning, and training ROI are

only some of their greatest strengths!

Companies can leverage their expertise to embark on a meaningful

digital transformation journey. They deliver high-impact learning
that focuses on a high engagement quotient. EI Design has a massive
impact on how training makes a business reach success. They
accomplish that by helping organizations drive employee
performance. I trust that their methodologies and training needs
analysis experience can lead companies to choose the proper
training solutions.

EI Design has a constant flow of article publications, eBooks, and

webinars on the eLearning Industry. Through their content, they
offer valuable insights and solutions to Corporate Training buyers.
Their assets are some of the most successful content marketing
campaigns we've had. The above indicates that they are an
established authority in several fields.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
52
Thought Leadership - Testimonials
I'm grateful that we've found such skilled partners. They always give
excellent directions/feedback and know what they want. We
constantly set realistic deadlines with realistic expectations when
working together. EI Design's assets exceed expectations most of
the times because eLearning Industry's community is a big fan of
their work.

The customer feedback we get for EI Design is excellent! Apart from

the hundreds of thousands of eBook downloads, webinar
registrations, and article page views, they've managed to collect
90+ reviews for their directory listing on eLearning Industry.
EI Design's team shows incredible dedication. Above all, their high-
quality product offerings, creativity, and timely delivery are evident
in every project they get their hands on. They never miss a deadline
and put their heart and soul into their work.

I am humbled to have worked with a team of such high integrity and

commitment to our mutual success—a truly great business partner.

31
rankings over the last 6 years

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
53
Thought Leadership - Testimonials

Ken Taylor
President
Training Industry, Inc

EI Design’s focus on the combination of learning and performance

strategy with a specific attention to effective measurement of the
business impact of their programs sets them apart from many of the
vendors in the custom content segment of the market.

EI Design demonstrates comfort leveraging either the best available

technologies or customer selected technologies to develop
impactful Blended Learning experiences.

EI Design has established a very competitive pricing structure, which

will support both long-term margin protection and perhaps, if
leveraged correctly, growth that should outpace the general market.
They have also built a business model where they can sell their
services to both the end customers and other training and
development companies.

2
rankings over the last 2 years

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
54
Contact Us

Looking at adopting new ways to enhance your Learning

Strategy? EI Design can help you with that and more!
EI Design’s comprehensive portfolio of services is not limited
to Formal Training alone but will enable you to drive
employee performance and bring in behavioral change.

Training Delivery Continuous Learning

• Mobile Learning. • Performance Support Tools.
• Microlearning. • Informal Learning.
• Virtual and Blended • Social Learning.
Training. • Self-Directed Learning.
• Mobile Apps for Learning. • Content Curation.
• Personalized Learning.
• Localization. Learning Technologies
• eLearning Accessibility • LXP Expertise.
Considerations. • LMS Expertise.
• Learning Portals.
Immersive Learning • VR Framework.
• Gamification. • Interactive Video
• Scenario Based Learning. Framework.
• Video Based Learning. • Rapid eLearning.
• Story Based Learning. • Flash to HTML5 Migration.
• Branching Simulations.
• Virtual Reality. Training Impact and ROI
• Augmented Reality. • ROI Determination.
• Next Gen Strategies. • Predictive Learnability.
• Learner Analytics.

How to Conduct a Comprehensive L&D Audit and Prepare a Strategic Plan for the Future
55
Contact Us

Training Needs We Address Key Learning Consulting Offerings

• Compliance Training. • Virtual Training Transformation.
• Induction and Onboarding • Measuring Training
Training. Effectiveness and Business
• Leadership Training. Impact.
• Sales Training. • Technology Migration.
• Application Simulations
Training.
• Product Training.
• Soft Skills Training.
• Professional Skills Training.

Contact Asha Pandey

email: apandey@eidesign.net

Contact EI Design
Stay connected on EI Design’s social platforms for regular
updates.

email: solutions@eidesign.net | www.eidesign.net

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