The New Learning Paradigm

The Changing Structure of Organizational Learning
Organizational learning is moving away from being solely focused on programming issues and learners’ needs. It is becoming an interdependent environment that must respond to new talent identification needs. As talent is drained from the organization due to retiring boomers, and as a more competitive environment for qualified applicants grows, HR, talent management departments, and learning and development, must work together.

In response, learning and development is being recognized for the value it can bring in this shift, and is gaining footing in the organization.

Learning, training, and organizational development have begun an integration into a more recognizable strategic area of the organization .Learning and development now identifies protocols to create a continually innovative organization as new staff resources come on-board, and as the competition for them increases.. By identifying new parameters and rules around how we learn, and how we manage individual and collective knowledge, learning and development will become a strategic partner in the organization’s success.

Working Together
At what point in the process does talent management, performance management and learning and development merge? The best answer is, at the beginning; but where and what is the beginning of orchestrating the search for the right staff resources?

Talent management, like learning and development, is becoming a strategic focus of an organization’s success. It’s being recognized that talent management and learning and development help an organization be competitive and to become a long term presence in the market. A talent management or a learning and development function that comes and goes when budgetary resources dictate, will not serve as the strategic foundation it can be.

To define talent management, it needs to be broken into three parts, where the interrelationship with learning can clearly be seen:
1. Search = assessment of organizational goals and challenges and what skills are needed to respond to it
2. Retention = ensuring talent satisfaction through a process of rewards and personal growth based on professional success
3. Performance Management - tying performance expectations to identified job competencies that result in recognition and rewards

Talent management, like learning and development, is an ongoing process. It identifies and recognizes organizational needs based on outlined goals. In response, it manages a flow of available resources capable to fulfill those needs and reach desired goals.

With this in mind, it becomes clear, how talent management mirrors learning and development, and how each function operates independently, but for either to be successful there must be interdependency.

Summary
Talent management goes beyond the initial process of identifying, recruiting, and hiring the best individuals for the organization. The pursuit of the right talent, must define the organization’s needs and translate these into what type of talent with what skills, knowledge, and leadership qualities are needed to respond to identified challenges and strategies.

Talent Management must work with HR, or L&D to understand how to secure those hires through training, and learning programs that provide individuals with a personal reason, and professional success for not leaving the organization.