A learning and development (L&D) strategy sets out the workforce capabilities, skills and competencies the organisation needs, and how they can be developed to ensure a sustainable, successful organisation.

Organisations need to adapt to changing external pressures and our Creating learning cultures report highlights L&Ds pivotal role in this. The L&D strategy must reflect the overall business strategy and drive progress towards that. It must also align with the people strategy including talent and recruitment. When developing a strategy, it’s useful to adopt the financial and operational language of business. This helps L&D to be understood widely across the organisation. With good financial and operational ‘savvy’, L&D professionals can also challenge decisions that risk damaging organisational value and employee engagement.

The core of an L&D strategy will show how the organisation’s performance needs are met through the development of its employees. Listen to our podcast on evidence-based L&D.

Explore different elements of L&D strategy and policy in our Profession Map.

Business strategy

An effective L&D strategy recognises the internal and external context of the organisation. Some examples might be:

• The unique business offer and it's competitive advantage.
• Changes predicted in the business environment – the rate of growth or decline, the competition and the technological changes.
• The need to adapt to changes such as economic circumstances.
• How customers are served and the nature of their expectations.

Our 2023 Learning at Work report showed that global challenges remain uncertain across economic, social and cultural, and technological dimensions.  These are having a profound impact on organisations. Evaluating the impact of these trends is vital when building an effective L&D strategy.

Operational factors and the learning environment

The L&D strategy must align with organisational culture and address operational realities and constraints. Our research on learning cultures explores this and offers actions to embed learning at an organisational, team and individual level to create a positive learning environment. 

Keeping strategy updated

The L&D strategy and the associated policies and programmes must be kept up to date as the business environment changes and as data is gathered on the effectiveness of learning activities. Our Learning at Work report shows that L&D strategies have had to evolve to ensure they embrace a range of learning methods.

Without aligning to the organisations strategic goals, L&D may not achieve senior stakeholder support. Equally important is engagement with line managers, as well, of course, with the learners themselves.

Three key tests for an L&D strategy aligned to the business and organisational outcomes are:

• Relevance: how the strategy will meet opportunities and challenges for the business
• Alignment: how the strategy aligns to other strategies in the business , for example HR and finance
• Measurement: how the strategy will be evaluated effectively and consistently.

Our Learning at Work report shows L&D is getting closer to aligning with organisational priorities, and has role-modelled agility in its provision, but there’s still a gap in these three areas.

Responsibility for learning

Only individuals can learn, and only they can choose to apply their new knowledge, skills and behaviours to their work. However, the organisation has a responsibility to set out the aim (or purpose) of learning. It needs to give support via investment in time and resources to allow learning to happen. The L&D strategy may be managed by the HR team, by a specialist L&D team or an operational lead, but it needs managers and individuals to execute it.

However, not all the investment in learning will be managed by people professionals (especially in smaller organisations).

The role of line managers

Line managers are crucial as the gatekeepers to individual learning and development so it's imperative they have support for their own development in developing others. People development is a fundamental part of any manager’s role. Where there’s recognition for these responsibilities, it’s more likely that line managers will give high-quality time to developing their teams. Involving line managers is most effective when L&D responsibilities are a core element of leadership expectations.

While an L&D strategy is a statement of intent, detail is needed to provide guidance on how it’ll be implemented and who will turn it into practice. To do this many organisations have a separate L&D policy that sets out some broad parameters for accessing L&D resources.

Policy outline

Organisations need to decide how evolving organisational, team and individual learning needs are analysed against performance gaps and planned goals. Priorities will emerge to address these gaps and be set out in a learning policy showing how the strategy will be implemented. Typically, an L&D policy covers:

• Responsibilities for L&D.
• Personal Development Plans.
• The range of methods used to facilitate learning and development.
• Access to a range of learning opportunities and resources (both formal and informal).
• Equality of opportunity in L&D.
• Internal and external provision.
• Booking formal training and enrolling on qualifications.
• Travel, subsistence and hotels if learning involves interventions carried out elsewhere.
• Cancellation issues.
• Evaluation and monitoring of L&D.

The policy needs to be effective for the whole organisation, not just the L&D team. It needs regular reviews in line with organisation changes.

Performance management

Using performance management and performance reviews effectively can be key to line managers achieving business targets and ensuring their teams have the right level of capability to deliver performance.

Individual development needs may be included in appraisal or development reviews and be based on learning goals and personal development plans. Be sure to factor the agility to respond quickly and appropriately to regular manager meetings with staff.

Resources for L&D

Budgets and resource planning are clearly critical to implementing an L&D strategy. Be open minded to what can be achieved with little or no budget. Learning strategies can benefit from harnessing the knowledge that already exists within an organisation. 

Different learning methods

Questions that may help determine the nature of L&D include:

• What methods and modes of delivery will be used for example, face to face, digital or a blend, formal or informal, coaching, mentoring, curated resources?

• What relationship is there between L&D and formal qualifications, for example, is learning accredited by educational institutions?

• Are any government-backed and regional funding programmes appropriate to meet learning needs?

• What can learners do in their role to enable them to apply their learning?

Read our Methods of delivering learning interventions factsheet.

Impact, engagement and transfer

Given that effective alignment and implementation of the L&D strategy is critical to an organisation’s success, it’s essential to regularly review and assess the use of learning activities. The impact of the strategy and policy must be measured. Deciding how engagement and transfer will be recorded and assessed before the learning takes place is part of any L&D strategy. Find out more in our factsheet on Learning evaluation, impact and transfer.

Fairness and equity

The L&D strategy and policy needs to ensure there’s no discrimination in accessing learning resources. Some organisations offer extra resources to develop the skills of under-represented groups. Creating an ethically sound L&D strategy will encourage all to engage with learning and is sound business practice. See more on equality issues in our factsheet on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace.

Books and reports

Ahmetaj, G. and Daly, J. (2018) Driving performance and productivity. London: Towards Maturity.

Beevers, K., REA, A. and HAYDEN, D. (2019) Learning and development practice in the workplace. 4thd ed. London: CIPD and Kogan Page.

Hoyle, R. (2015) Informal learning in organisations. London: Kogan Page.

Lancaster, A. (2019) Driving performance through learning. London: Kogan Page.

Nicholl, S. (2023) Learning Habits. London: Kogan Page.

Parry-Slater, M. (2020) The learning and development handbook. London: Kogan Page.

Shackleton-Jones, N. (2019) How People Learn. London: Kogan Page.

Silvingham, N. (2013) Learning at Speed. London: Kogan Page.

Visit the CIPD and Kogan Page Bookshop to see all our priced publications currently in print.

Journal articles

Ben-Hur, S., Jaworski, B. and Gray, D. (2015) Aligning corporate learning with strategy. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol 57, No 1, Fall. pp53-59.

Edie, W. (2022) L&D’s challenges in the hybrid workspace. Training Journal. September.

Faragher, J. (2018) Why fresh approaches to L&D are presenting new problems. People Management (online). 25 October.

Lewis., D. (2017) Quarter of workers ‘receive no training’.People Management (online). 6 November.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.