When I took over Human Resources for a division of the global medical technology company Medtronic in the 2000s, I discovered they were spending a paltry sum on employee learning.
I asked them to engage with me in developing a strategic learning and development plan for the workforce to eliminate any chance of having a workforce with obsolete skills. And I promised them the return on investment for skill development would be high, and it would enable profitable growth.
I suggest you do the same, especially in the face of AI transformation and changing workforce demographics..
Strategic learning and development plans provide a significant return on investment.
As reported by Ardent Training, the research consultancy group Accenture has found that for every dollar invested in training, companies received $4.53 in return, which is a 353% return on investment (ROI). Learning and development initiatives can significantly improve your employee skills as well as your bottom line.
I know from experience that investing in your employees’ learning also improves their morale and lowers turnover. When your workforce tells potential future hires how the company invests in employees, it will also improve your organization’s recruiting.
Today’s compelling reasons for developing a strategic learning and development plan
Before identifying the steps taken to create a strategic learning and development plan, it is important to emphasize that reskilling the work force will be more essential than ever due to the need for AI transformation and changing workforce demographics. Consider this:
The World Economic Forum Job Report 2025 predicts that on average, workers can expect that two-fifths (39 percent) of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period due to AI transformation. Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential in 2025. This is followed by resilience, flexibility, and agility, along with leadership and social influence.
Two-fifths (39 percent) of existing employee skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period.
But there is more. Changing workforce demographics will have a compounding impact on skill obsolescence and the need for reskilling the workforce over the next five years. Again, consider the findings of The World Economic Forum Job Report 2025:
“As Baby Boomers and Gen X continue to retire and population growth continues to shrink in the Western economies and Asian economies, such as China, Japan, and South Korea, workforce shortages will continue, adding to the need to transition the workforce to digital skills.
“Given these evolving skill demands, according to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report, the scale of workforce upskilling and reskilling is expected to remain significant. If the world’s workforce was made up of 100 people, 59 would need training by 2030. Of these, employers foresee that 29 could be upskilled in their current roles and 19 could be upskilled and redeployed elsewhere within their organization. However, 11 would be unlikely to receive the reskilling or upskilling needed, leaving their employment prospects increasingly at risk.
“Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, with 63 percent of employers identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025- 2030 period. Accordingly, 85 percent of employers surveyed plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce, with 70 percent of employers expecting to hire staff with new skills, 40 percent planning to reduce staff as their skills become less relevant, and 50 percent planning to transition staff from declining to growing roles.”
Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation.
Learn more here about a human-centric approach to AI transformation.
Creating a strategic learning and development plan
Here is the seven-step process I used to help the Medtronic executive team develop a strategic learning and development plan.
Step 1. Conduct a needs assessment.
I invited them to review their workforce’s successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses by reviewing the performance of work teams and new product or software development programs. Was a skill shortage ever the cause of a failure or delay? They were instructed to quantify the skill shortage and calculate the number of employees affected. Or if the shortage was one of volume, how many qualified employees would be needed for the next year? I invited them to a two-hour meeting to share with the team their findings. Their shortages included these skills:
- Software programming
- Technical writing
- Silicon wafer design
- Quality engineering and inspection for new silicon wafer design
- Manufacturing engineering capabilities to transition new designs into production.
- IT system engineers
Step 2. Decide whether to reskill or hire
With the skills identified above, the executives were asked if the skills could economically be taught to targeted members of the workforce or if it was necessary to hire more skilled employees. We reviewed the economics of hiring new skills or upskilling the current employees working in these job families. Almost always, upskilling the current workforce was more economical. The exercise did lead to updating job postings and descriptions to ensure new hires had the requisite skill sets.
Step 3. Set goals
We meticulously identified the number of employees who need reskilling, by reviewing their performance and development plans and speaking with supervisors and developing learning goals for each required skill set. We wanted to know what new knowledge and skills the employee would be able to perform on their jobs after the training. This knowledge is critical in selecting training or internal trainers to conduct the training. It also was required for setting up accurate measures of the training.
Step 4. Determine resources
New training means new budget dollars. Part of our planning process was to identify what current training the organization offered that was no longer necessary. In our case, we stopped providing some legacy training that had declining enrollments, such as listening skills, that the executives felt were no longer needed, or training we found was offered more economically through external sources, such as Excel spreadsheet training. We redirected these resources to the new areas.
We still had a gap in training dollars needed. The executive team decided to fully fund the training because of the urgency of having these skills in the workforce.
Step 5: Set measures of success
In my view, all learning plans need measures to determine if it is successful. Many organizations use training class evaluations as their training measure. These are sometimes called “happy sheets” because most employees rate the training higher than the skill improvement and bottom-line results provided by the training. Class evaluations are a good first step, but more is needed.
As I stated earlier, strategic learning and development plans can provide a significant ROI. Often the first offering of a course needs to be adjusted to make the training more relevant and effective in upskilling employee skills. The measure of this is to test employee learning during the training and at the end to see that critical skills are being learned.
What many trainers know is that many skills learned in a class are not successfully transferred into the organization. One reason is the breaking of old habits to apply the new learning, which may require some oversite to put the new skills or behaviors into practice. The other main reason is that the organization’s culture may reject the new training or behaviors. According to a legendary Harvard Business Review article, only 12 percent of employees apply new skills learned in training programs on the job.
One way to improve this success is to have the trainees’ managers check to assure that the new software programming skills or other new skills or behaviors are being applied on the job. Another way is to have a follow-up meeting with the trainees, asking them how well they are applying their new skills on the job and what obstacles they may be facing.
And of course, nearly all training should improve results.
There is a highly regarded model for evaluating training. It is The Kirkpatrick Model. Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick introduced this model in 1959. It breaks down the evaluation process into four distinct levels: Reaction, Learning, Transfer, and Results. Each level provides a step-by-step framework to assess the impact of training from the initial participant reaction to the final results that affect the organization.
The model is shown below. Many online resources can walk you through the model. Just type in “The Kirkpatrick Model” in your web browser.
Step 6. Consider training program design
Training program designs include selecting the delivery model for the training, such as classroom, online training, coaches, simulations, in-person practice, or a blending of all of these methods.
The content of the training may be purchased and in some cases for proprietary training it may need to be developed. Content development may include the development of case studies, relevant examples, and practical exercises.
Step 7: Implement training
Implementing the training is the most work. It includes delivering the various training sessions to the targeted audience under the schedule and evaluating the results. It also includes strong executive and middle management buy-in for employee attendance and applying the newly learned skills and behaviors on the job.
I found it helpful to provide the executive team with quarterly updates on the training plan, including classes per training category, number of attendees, training evaluations, and budget compliance.
Annually update your strategic plan
Finally, the executive team was so delighted with the first year that we repeated this process annually, deciding what training had been completed, meaning we could discontinue it, what training needed to be improved or altered for new circumstances, and what new training needed to be planned.
In the face of growing transformation, all organizations should have a strategic learning and development plan. Much of this training may cover the vast set of skills required for AI transformation, but organizations will also need to improve behaviors and other skills for the successful leaning of the organization. Effective strategic learning and development plans can yield a significant ROI for your organization.
About Victor
Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic Human Resources Consulting and Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with organizations to transform HR and recruiting, implement remote work, and develop extraordinary leaders, teams, and innovation cultures. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Hack Recruiting: The Best of Empirical Research, Method and Process, and Digitization. He is quoted in business journals such as The Wall Street Journal, Workforce Management, and CEO Magazine. Victor has partnered with The Conference Board the Us Department of Energy on innovation research. Subscribe to his weekly blogs at http://www.VictorHRConsultant.com