Is Your Learning & Development Functioning? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1030

Is Your Learning & Development Functioning? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1030

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1030 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing our contributions here.

Credit: Christina Morillo

Credit: fauxels

Preamble

Learning and Development – L&D – is among the cardinal functions of HR. The reason is simple; it is about people/ human resource/ human capital. 

In many pharma companies, L&D is either available as Training department, or worse still, as Sales Training Department. Which seems to signify that only salespeople need training which is done for products and selling skills, and no one else is a candidate for learning. Sometimes, Training department arranges external trainers for certain topics which might have come out of the standard TNA – Training Needs Analysis, as part of performance appraisal. Still fewer people may be sent to specific courses outside. 

Having attended several courses run by esteemed institutions like LUMS, I realize that their content is compressed to include too many things, the delivery is forced, and there is little time for interaction or interactive learning. 

Sales training had been present in most pharma companies since the beginning. For long, MNCs had a tradition of inducting salespeople after training, or providing training to new inductees as soon as possible. Then self-perceived business ‘exigencies’ took precedence and things started to crumble. It is a catch 22 situation I understand. Learning & Development needs time and investment and focus; all of these are short supply. And the constant looming threat of people leaving after getting trained is real and tangible.

With all these limitations, I would like to share that L&D is important from many angles, however, it needs change of orientation. Given below are some benchmarks that should be applied to make L&D a real companion to business growth.

Aligning with Business Strategy and Objectives

First and foremost, all L&D planning must be aligned with the corporate and departmental goals. And L&D must design their strategies to support the organization in achieving its goals and not follow the TNA if it does not align. 

The whole purpose of a business organization is to do business. All activities must support the central purpose, which sadly is not the case at this time. Every function is engrossed in its own priorities, many of which have no relevance to corporate goals, or they may antagonize it. For example, if the goal is to achieve 30% growth in one year, and the finance does not make adequate finances available for production materials, the growth effort shall be stunted and the money spent on promotion will be wasted. Similarly, if the organization needs top talent to advance its agenda of rapid growth, and the HR does not work to build the brand of the company to attract talent, the corporate goal shall not be achieved. If L&D is not developing staff in terms of capability and capacity building, it is not aligned with the corporate objectives. If the strategy is to open couple of new therapeutic segments, and the staff assigned with it is not developed accordingly, the strategy will not be executed effectively.

Secondly, L&D does not work for sales teams only, it works for the whole organization. It should consider all departments’ staff and help them contribute to the achievement of corporate goals.

Holistic View

Expanding on the second point above, L&D must develop and global and holistic view, which is a hallmark of HR function anyway. Following points may be considered.

Building Organization Image

Company image is built through merit-based hiring, transparent dealing, comprehensive policies, and well-defined processes. Most of it belongs to HR and may be executed through L&D. 

First benefit of company image is that it helps to attract better people. Staff that is already developed do a better job, adapt quickly, and develop their own staff. 

Second benefit is that it helps to retain people. People would like to move from an unknown employer to a better-known employer because job is our identity, and we like it if it is better.

Third benefit is that it motivates people to perform better and prolong their stay while growing also. People working in better companies attach greater value to their jobs and take stress without complaining. 

Creating a Culture Defined by Values

People bring their own cultures to workplaces which are always diverse and may not be favorable for creating and maintaining a defined organizational culture. It is the job of HR through L&D to create a culture which is values-based and which everyone is trained on and obliged to follow. 

Most companies either have a people-driven culture, or no defined culture, or a weak culture that anyone can manipulate to his own advantage or to create disadvantage for others. Though in most companies, certain values are printed and displayed in public areas, but few understand it, fewer practice it, and no one remembers it; so much for displayed values.

Creating and maintaining the organization culture is a process which needs commitment first; everything else comes later. The vision comes from the top and HR/L&D execute it employing various methods.

Developing Capability and Capacity of People

Every organization is facing two major issues. One, the new people who come to work are not capable because the education standard has deteriorated, and if they have worked prior to coming here, the learning in most places is poor. Two, the knowledge and skills are becoming outdate fast due to a cascade of new developments. 

The organizations have done both experiments: they retained and grew their own people over the years; and they kept doing lateral hirings to add capability. The second proved to be of temporary benefit and even then, had consequences. It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that retaining and developing people for taking up bigger responsibilities is a better option. Lateral hiring at the top may still be considered.

Sum Up

HR function in most companies has degraded into a clerical place for collecting CVs, organizing interviews, issuing letters, maintaining files, and processing resignations. The vibrancy, purpose, and spirit has largely dissipated, and has been replaced by colorful, purposeless programs, and empty slogans. HR has also become subservient to line managers. It is time to make HR a hub of corporate learning and leadership.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.