All organizations have to face the problem of measuring the value of training. When they send their employees for training, the costs are measurable but the benefits are unknown and not as quantitative. When it comes to the ability for organizations to sustain high performance, the odds against it are high. As a result, learning is becoming a key driver towards attaining competitive advantage over competitors.

Accenture Learning has carried out a survey involving numerous organizations to ascertain what the best Learning Organization was made of. The results revealed the seven characteristics of a High Performance Learning Organization (HPLO) and showed that only 23 of the participating 285 organizations had achieved the level of a HPLO.

HPLO helps to drive revenue and profit growth by improving productivity. The HPLO companies had all experienced a significant rise in productivity, revenue growth and net income growth, compared to their competitors and their peers.

I shall now concentrate on the seven elements or characteristics that must be in place to create a HPLO. The first two, Measurement and Alignment, are the foundation of the HPLO. Alignment is more than just a governance system. It involves the creation of a strong model that defines the roles and responsibilities towards implementing a learning strategy. It is important that the learning strategy is aligned to business needs.

There is a need to develop a system that measures and correlates training to actual business impact. Information on business impacts and job impacts are the two elements least tracked when training is conducted and evaluated. We thus see that spending on tracking and on measurement of training is small compared to the overall learning expenditure.

Another element required for HPLO companies to exist is Competency Development. The Competency Development framework includes four key areas: Learning and Development, Knowledge Management, Performance Management and Resource Management.