The lack of recognition for the role of learning isn't a cost issue or a technology issue...

The need to be seen and respected.

This is a perennial L&D question that surfaces every year usually around February or March.

Coincidentally, the Havard Business Review released a report this February entitled 'The Leaders Guide to Corporate Culture'. Here they interviewed 1,300 senior executives to understand their leadership styles and analysed the cultures in 230 companies across a range of industries. Corporate culture types were grouped into eight different flavours.

89% of executives ranked a "Results culture" as their first or second placed aim for their organisation. By "Results culture" they defined consciously creating an environment where targets, execution and delivery is the focus for everyone.
(In the 'Industrial economy' value in a business was created by producing faster and cheaper than the competition. Employees were viewed by leaders as simply interchangeable parts of the system).

Just 7 (seven) % of the executives interviewed ranked a culture of "Continuous learning" as their first or second placed aim for their organisation.
(By prioritising learning for work, business value is created very differently. The organisations' social structures are deliberately developed to fuel the ability to adapt and respond to ambiguity and disruption. Differentiation comes from better connections and the capacity to move ideas and knowledge faster than competitors. This is leadership thinking for today's 'Connection economy').

The traditional 'results first' mindset and it's unshakeable link to 'training' as the go to means to drive compliance is the basis of the disconnect between most corporate leaders and 'L&D'.

This lack of recognition for the role of learning isn't a cost issue or a technology issue. The disconnect comes from the inability to link enabling the curiosity, adaptability, connectedness and capability of employees directly to business value and results.

Tackling this prevailing culture is the work worth investing in for L&D leaders and teams. The leadership of changing the conversation inside these organisations. Demonstrating a different way, one interaction, one manager, one team, one project and one performance gap at a time. This is the only route to the 'top table'.

(In the meantime as the status quo persists, much of the L&D agenda can only ever be tactical, reactive, marginalised, 'niche', 'order taking' or on the 'any engagement is better than nothing' path of least resistance).

Paul spent many years in a complex corporate organisation working to change the learning culture. (Some strategies worked and some didn't).