Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2019 - 37

what types of information flow through
your organization and how to best utilize
it in your program.

CULTIVATE THE RIGHT TEAM OF
DATA-DRIVEN LEADERS
Once you've organized and assessed
your data, it's time to turn to your
most important asset - your people.
Organizations must choose the right
people to lead their transformation to
a data-driven culture. While hiring data
scientists might seem to be the obvious
answer, it's not.
With data analysis technology becoming
more available and user-friendly, human
data skills will become less important in the
future. Instead, you should work to identify
subject matter experts who possess the
inherent context, personality and curiosity
(fueled by learning), necessary to take
on the challenge. These individuals can
come from various backgrounds as long
as they are detail-oriented, conscientious
and can draw the right insights from the
data in order to create meaningful stories
for the business and, as a result, help drive
transformational, data-driven change.
Once these leaders are in place, there
needs to be open communication
between them and the rest of the
organization. For data-driven projects
to be successful, it's critical that the L&D
team communicates with other company
stakeholders from the outset to align on
processes and expected outcomes from
the start. This can be challenging due to
business pressures and priorities and, in
some cases, misunderstandings about
the role and goals of the L&D function.
However, with proper communication,
you can ensure everyone is working
toward the same goal: establishing a datadriven learning culture.

LOOK TO EXISTING DATA-DRIVEN
PROCESSES AS THE GUIDELINE
FOR SUCCESS
As companies embark on their datadriven L&D journey, they should look to
existing departments that practice strong
data-driven processes for inspiration.
For example, marketing and operations
teams are usually built on a data-driven

mindset. Marketing relies on data to gain
insights into customers' buying patterns
and brand experiences. Operations
leverages data in every move they make
to optimize people, tech, and product
functions across the organization.
L&D can leverage these processes and
strengths to achieve success.

ADOPT THE TECHNOLOGY AND
PROCESSES NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS
A data-driven culture can only truly
flourish with the right technology in place.
Data-driven leaders should consider the
benefits of next-gen technologies such as
augmented reality (AR) to provide richer
and more cost-effective options for onthe-job training, experiential coaching and
collaboration for employees. Additionally,
the 2018 Training Industry Trends Report
found that artificial intelligence (AI) and
machine learning are being used to help
companies better understand employee
learning behavior. By looking at past and
real-time behavior along with the adoption
of intelligent technology, organizations
can predict specific training needs and
gain insight into the recommended
content, and learning methods, for
individual employees. Ultimately, the
powerful partnership of data and new
technology will help improve learning
proficiency across your organization.

NOT ALL DATA ARE CREATED
EQUAL AND RECOGNIZING
THAT IS THE FIRST STEP
TOWARD SUCCESS.
IDENTIFY KPI THAT ARE RIGHT FOR
THE ORGANIZATION
If the agreed upon goal for both L&D and
stakeholders is creating a better customer
experience, data can help organizations
by verifying what is working throughout
the entire customer journey. When
it comes to setting key performance
indicators (KPIs) and goals, approaches
vary by organization. An organization's
goals can broadly range from waste

reduction in a shipping company to
increased customer satisfaction for a
consumer product. Before embarking on
data analysis, the company should clearly
articulate the problem that needs to be
solved on an enterprise-wide level.
Indicators such as Net Promoter Scores
(NPS) can provide a good benchmark for
organizations to understand how your
customers feel about your products and
services. If the score is low in one particular
area, companies know they need to
change something and if it's high, they
can feel comfortable in continuing their
current strategies. Once a clear objective
is put in place, L&D leaders can truly
understand the success and necessary
adjustments to their program.
For an industry with remote or deskless
workers, such as restaurants, the data
and KPIs that are tracked can measure
process efficiencies. This includes factors
such as customer wait time, or even the
number of cups left at the end of the day
compared to the number of soft drink
sales. Any significant deltas captured in
these metrics can tell an organization
a great deal about the effectiveness,
or ineffectiveness, of specific learning
interventions - if measured properly. The
lessons learned from these efforts can be
applied more broadly and may very well
affect multiple facets of business.

LOOKING AHEAD
As businesses look to stay relevant and
competitive, L&D professionals are
central to the conversation and need
to incorporate data-driven training to
support company goals. By developing
a learning culture that is built on data
analytics, organizations will see improved
employee satisfaction and output.
In the coming years, data-driven L&D
leaders will play even more of an
important role in creating organizational
success. Therefore, they should consider
how to implement goal-based learning
and strategies, including leveraging nextgen technologies, in order to create a
data-driven learning culture - and, as a
result, lasting success.
Jon Green is the operations manager at CGS.
Email Jon.

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Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2019

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