Yes....but this ain't the Matrix!

There have recently been a lot of articles and posts on LinkedIn denigrating the historical habit of counting 'completions' and 'attendance' at training events.

"We need to measure 'impact' on the bottom line" is the universal to be the message.

And they are not wrong! More content is not the answer. Slicker, prettier content is not the answer. Neither is content that is quicker to create (i.e. AI created content).

To reiterate: "L&D needs to focus on interventions that change behaviour!"...."L&D needs to focus on learning that impacts the bottom line!"

YES, YES, YES it's all true!

But there are implications...and guess what? They are not implications for L&D. They are implications for line managers and business heads.

Because:

• People don't change their behaviour because they read a single one page PDF.
• People don't improve their performance because they watched a 5 minute video.
• The bottom line won't improve because people listened to a whole 45 minute podcast.
• A manager won't actually start leading people because in their own time they read a book by a millionaire.

"Interventions that change behaviour" and "learning that impacts the bottom line" actually require line managers to be prepared to support their people to invest time in real learning. This means that people need to be actively encouraged to take time.

They need to be able to reinforce what they learn.

They need to be made to put it into practice - in a safe environment or a real environment if failure or less than perfect performance is not going to destroy the organisation.

They need to be able to practice under different realistic conditions.

And this applies to managers as well as team members.

Until managers accept that you cannot improve performance by simply plugging in a software update, L&D departments will be really struggling to have the effect on the bottom line that they could have....and that they, and everyone else, want!