How Advanced Analytics Can Help L&D Leaders Do More with Less

Common Misconceptions About the Analysis Process

Especially during times of business volatility, L&D leaders may face fewer resources to get work done or complete business training requests from other departments. Given these limitations, they may be tempted to jump straight into system design and development without prior analysis, thinking it will save time and money—that they may have to revisit the solution later because they didn’t meet the right needs.

Have you ever faced a similar situation? Unfortunately, skipping the pre-design analysis can sometimes end up being more expensive in the long run. You may miss opportunities to create a better, more holistic learning experience based on the results of the analysis. On the other hand, if you can master the art of even a little quick analysis, you can set yourself apart as a busy L&D professional who specializes in making effective decisions and doing more with less.

Let’s dive deeper into common misconceptions about the analysis process, and how to make this process work for you—not against you—as you prepare to clarify the importance of pre-design analysis for better student and business outcomes.

Pre-Design Analysis Doesn’t Have to Be Long or Expensive

When time is short and budget is tight, even a simple, small analysis will help reveal details that inform a better overall product design. Ask a few important questions, such as:

1. What is working now?
2. What doesn’t work?
3. What are our pain points?
4. How do people feel about our solutions?
5. What results do we need to see?

For larger initiatives, it can help to look at your team size and current resources to determine if you could benefit from additional support. External learning experts are a great option to augment your team as needed. By partnering with a specialized L&D staffing agency, you can scale back your team as analytics work begins to wrap up, then increase speed during development if you need to fill specific roles, cover skill gaps, or add more hands.

Collaboration with external experts comes with another benefit: unique insights into the problems that similar organizations face, and how to turn these challenges into opportunities during the early stages of the project. They also bring ideas that may differ from those in your group. This can help encourage innovation and foster a culture where creativity thrives, as well as help guide decisions that will lead to better productivity and prevent the need to re-establish the system later.

Key Considerations in Developing Pre-Design Analysis

Not sure where to start? Here are some ideas for how you can start doing more with forward-looking analytics over the next few months.

Organize and Prioritize

Check out the upcoming programs and find out where you need more information or help from other participants. Gather information early so you have time to make a plan of action rather than being put in a situation where you have to react later.

Know that it may not be possible to cover everything you want with the resources you have, so focus on prioritizing the most important training needs that will make the most impact. Contact stakeholders, senior designers, and other experts in various business departments to get their input. Planning ahead can help you complete incremental analysis based on collaborative discussions.

Solve the problem further

Stakeholders and leaders in other departments are busy, so part of problem solving programs is learning to be sensitive to their time. Learning may be a second priority for some managers, so by coming up with strategies to make the most of their limited time, you may be able to find a better way to proceed. For example, instead of trying to email back and forth with everyone, you might ask to meet anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours for a one-on-one interview or Q&A session to gather information.

Do It Systematically

Once you find the right type and depth of their step analysis, you can start gathering information and use it to inform the design. This involves holding input sessions and facilitating discussions to find out what is directly important to the business and the behaviors that will move the needle. The information gained from these sessions can help you rationally adjust the program design to target specific outcomes and goals.

During this fact-finding process, you may also uncover information to help reduce costs going forward or be more successful with investments. For example, instead of rushing through a potentially ineffective one-hour training session, you may find that a 40-minute module is sufficient, with 20 minutes of post-training resources to help reference or create ongoing learning opportunities. over time, based on the most important skill gaps.

Looking Back and Forward

Consider a strategic review of past efforts that didn’t go well, where perhaps you or other leaders didn’t get the desired results or went over budget. Use this information to improve the design and development of future learning programs, including your approach to the evaluation process.

For L&D leaders looking for a more comprehensive analysis, consider partnering with a learning services provider (LSP) like AllenComm that has extensive experience in program and strategy analysis. An LSP can help strategize, plan, and design custom roadmaps to meet specific L&D goals, and be a long-term partner in development, implementation, and measurement.

Whether pre-design assessment is limited or broad in scope—and whether it is done with or without help from an outside source—is an important part of the development of any successful learning program. The insights that can be gained by asking the right questions can ultimately make the difference in the effectiveness of your training program.