Learning and Development - What it means in the Workplace.

Source: Freepik

Investing time and energy to learn and develop oneself is key to growing as a person and reaching new heights. This is a universal theory, despite what it means for HRM. However, if you take this universally understood theory and apply it to your workplace, it will undoubtedly play a vital role in driving your organisation's success. 

In the context of HR and your organisation:  

"Learning and development is a systematic process to enhance an employee’s skills, knowledge, and competency, resulting in better performance in a work setting. Specifically, learning is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. 

Development is the broadening and deepening of knowledge in line with one’s development goals."

(Vulpen, 2020)

Most tend to use the terms training, learning and development interchangeably. However, if you spend some time reading about the aims associated with these activities and their nature, you will find that they are unique concepts. 

"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. 

If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

Training vs. Learning and Development

My view of the discussion on 'training vs. learning and development : are they the same or different?' can be summed up by my interpretation of this quote. Training to me is like giving the man, the fish. It is giving your employees the basic skills required to perform some job tasks.  A one-off transfer of skills. Learning and development activities on the other hand is like teaching the man to fish. You are extending to him new skills and preparing him to support himself and others in the long run. 

Different people analyse these terms in various ways. Knowing the different interpretations of these terms are useful when building programmes for workplaces. 

The Academy to Innovate HR finds subtle variations in each of the four terms that are often used synonymously, shown in the table below.

Concept	Description
Learning	The acquisition of knowledge, skills, or attitudes through experience, study, or teaching. Training, development, and education all involve learning.
Training	Training is aimed at teaching immediately applicable knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be used in a specific job. Training may focus on delivering better performance in the current role or to overcome future changes.
Development	Development is aimed at the long term. It revolves around the broadening or deepening of knowledge. This has to fit within one’s personal development goals and the (future) goals of the organization. Development usually happens voluntarily.
Education	Education is a more formal way to broaden one’s knowledge. Education is often non-specific and applicable for a long time and is especially relevant when a person has little experience in a certain area.

Source: Academy to Innovate HR 

Another simple, yet impactful distinction between training and learning and development is Hinton's take on it - 'training is about the organisation, while learning and development is about the person' (Hinton, 2013). This is a crisp and concise capturing of what each of these activities contribute to the workplace - learning has individuals acquiring new knowledge and skills that are relevant to the workplace based on their own individual experiences, whereas training includes teaching and transfer of skills which an organisation uses to carry out learning. 

"Learning is the process by which a person constructs new knowledge, skills, and capabilities, whereas training is one of the several responses an organisation can undertake to promote the learning"  (J. Reynolds 2004, cited in Ihenaco, 2022).

       

Why does understanding this distinction matter for HR?

Training puts your employees back in school. Most often, trainings are not holistic development activities which employees need, but rather take a surface-level, technical outlook. While this is effective in teaching foundational skills such as first aid or how to use new applications or software, trainings are simply a checkbox on your to do list. Trainings must be complemented with learning and development efforts to reap the best results. 

It is important that HR and Organisations take note of the distinction between training, and learning and development to also understand that training is not the be all and end all of methods to improve your employees. Approaches such as coaching, mentoring, and job shadowing as opposed to training are far more effective in uplifting your workforce (Ihenaco, 2022).

HBR reports a small figure of just 12% of employees applying new skills acquired during learning and development programs to their jobs (Glaveski, 2019). This is an important statistic that compels you to rethink your organisation's learning and development initiatives such that they will contribute to the skills employees actually acquire and apply in their everyday job roles. 

 Key Learning Theories 

Two recognised theories in adult learning are presented by Knowles and Kolb and discussed in brief below.

1. Theory of Andragogy by Knowles (1984)

Knowles researched and came up with the conclusion that in contrast to pedagogy which is the approach to teaching children, in Andragogy, adults tend to be effective learners when they find themselves in self-directed learning environments, which require them to take responsibility for their own learning. Bouchrika analyses that this also means that they need to be allowed opportunities to learn things that are relevant to their lives and be highly participatory by nature (Bouchrika, 2021). 

Kenyon and Hase (2001) outlined the six main assumptions arising from this theory. Bouchrika lists them in his article on Andragody. They are cited below:

"Self-concept - This means that adult learners are autonomous, independent, and self-directed. 

Learning from Experience- Experience as a rich resource of learning. Adults learn from their previous experiences. Thus, it is a good repository for learning. 

Readiness to Learn - Adults tend to gravitate towards learning matters that matter to them. Their readiness to learn things is highly correlated with their relative uses. 

Immediate Applications- The orientation of adult learning is for immediate applications rather than future uses. The learning orientation of adults tends to slant towards being task-oriented, life-focused, and problem-centric. 

Internally Motivated - Adults are more motivated by internal personal factors rather than external coaxes and pressures. 

Need to Know - Adult learners have the need to know the value of what they are learning and know the why’s behind the need to learn them."

- (Bouchrika, 2021)

This provides HR with a few indications pertaining to curating L&D programs for their employees. Programs need to take account of the specific need to learn in a way that is relevant to the work they are doing. They also need to ensure that learning is not limited to theoretical bits, but rather that it takes the form of 'learning by doing,' such as engaging in case studies and group projects. Further, it would be impactful to frame learning as responding to a problem that requires solving. This could be complemented by having facilitators as opposed to lecturers to conduct these L&D programs. Moreover, it could be used to tailor future-centric and purpose driven L&D programs. Internal brainstorming and ideating competitions at workplaces, whereby winning entries are used by the organisation as solutions for organisational issues or as campaigns of the organisation can be cited as examples for this. 

2. Learning Style Inventory by Kolb (1984)

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."

This age old saying captures the essence of Kolb's model of learning.  Here's why.

Kolb presents a four-stage cycle of adult learning.  

They are:

1. Concrete experience

2. Reflection

3. Abstract conceptualisation

4. Active experimentation

It promotes a method of experiential learning whereby, to learn most effectively you must follow the steps in this cycle - i.e. to touch all bases. However, it is interesting to note that there is no hard and fast rule to commence at step 1 and follow the cycle in order. It may be suggested that usually, experiences may lead to reflections. However, it does not prevent a person from experiencing something and jumping straight into experimenting on it, all the while engaging in conceptualisation that may or may not lead to new experiences. You can enter the cycle of learning at any stage and still find yourself learning with ease. 

The model also provides for learning styles, outlining how different types of people prefer to learn new things: 

1. Diverging (CE/RO)
2. Assimilating (AC/RO)
3. Converging (AC/AE)
4. Accommodating (CE/AE)

These learning styles are combinations of the four stages to Kolb's cycle. I will however not be discussing them in this article. 

This video by EPM provides an excellent round up and detailed explanation of the cycle, its characteristics, learning styles, and pros and cons, should you wish to find out additional information:

Source: Youtube Thumbnail of the EPM Video on Kolb's Learning Cycle (EPM, 2020)

Honey and Mumford (1989) developed four learning styles on the Kolb Cycle. We may find such learners in our workplaces (Denis, 2020). They are: 

• ‘Activists’ - these are learners who learn best from their experiences
• ‘Reflectors’- these are learners who learn most from observing and pondering upon them
• ‘Theorists’ - these are learners who prefer learning at the abstract conceptualisation stage
• ‘Pragmatists’ - these are learners who learn best from experimenting with new skills or knowledge acquired by them, in actual work situations.

Kolb's theory and the variety of learning styles that have emerged based on it, provides a few indications to HR and Organisations. 

First, adult learning needs to have the learner's personal development and perspective in focus. Second, it needs to provide opportunities for experiential learning. This is important because like the old saying that I cited at the beginning of this section - "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand," allowing the employee to engage, review, draw insights and apply the findings of such a learning and development activity in everyday work situations, is the best form of true learning any organisation could provide. The third, would be to take cognisance of the fact that each employee is different by nature, their learning style and pace. It would do good to have L&D programs that cater to their uniqueness, to get the best benefit, for the employee and the organisation. 

Conclusion

The World Economic Forum and PwC in their 'Upskilling for Shared Prosperity Report' states:

"Half of all employees around the world will need reskilling by 2025 – and that number does not include all the people who are currently not in employment."

                                                (World Economic Forum and PwC, 2021)

It raises a call to action, no doubt, to build a strong workplace ecosystem that is committed to the upskilling agenda, develop a people-centric plan where your organisation enters long-term commitments to employee growth and development, invest in learning and development programs as opposed to trainings alone, and provide support for self-learning opportunities that can be applied in the workplace such as building or providing a fully funded MOOC platform for employees to access and learn skills in their free time. 

Reference List

Vulpen, E. (2020) Learning and Development: A Comprehensive Guide. Academy to Innovate HR. Available from https://www.aihr.com/blog/learning-and-development/ [Accessed 8 March 2023]

Hinton, S. (2013). Training versus Learning and Development  [online mailing list] Available from https://www.boyceca.com/boyce-newsfeed/training-versus-learning-and-development [Accessed 8 March 2023]

Ihenaco, S. (2022) Is Training the Same as Learning and Development? [blog post] Available from https://www.growlearnconnect.org/blogs/training-same-learning-and-development [Accessed 8 March 2023]

Glaveski, S. (2019) Where Companies Go Wrong with Learning and Development. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available from https://hbr.org/2019/10/where-companies-go-wrong-with-learning-and-development [Accessed 8 March 2023]

Bouchrika, I. (2021) The Andragogy Approach: Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory Principles. [online] Available from https://research.com/education/the-andragogy-approach [Accessed 8 March 2023]

EPM (2020) Kolb’s Learning Cycle Explained with Example. YouTube. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rycjUldMl3k [Accessed 8 March 2023]

Denis, G. (2020). Honey and Mumford learning styles. [online] Expert Program Management. Available from https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2020/10/honey-and-mumford/ [Accessed 8 March 2023]

World Economic Forum and PwC (2021) Upskilling for Shared Prosperity. [online] Available from https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Upskilling_for_Shared_Prosperity_2021.pdf [Accessed 8 March 2023]