Survival of the fittest: Training Foundation Director to outline key priorities for L&D Leaders at HRD 2008

Thursday 17 April 2008, 12:15-12:45, Topic Taster session, Exhibition Hall, 2008 HRD, ExCel, London

Chris Sutton, development director at The Training Foundation, will explore three key priorities for L&D leaders who want to make and a leave a positive footprint in their organisations, when he leads a topic taster session at HRD 2008.

“Firstly, it may sound obvious, but L&D strategies, design, delivery and evaluation must be aligned to business objectives,” he says.  “Secondly, there has to be business recognition of the need to invest in the development of L&D professionals for maximum return on L&D investment.  Thirdly, investment in the competencies of people needs to be prioritised over brand and technology and line managers have a critical role to play here.”

 Sutton believes that too often L&D leaders focus on the ‘exciting’ stuff like talent management and succession planning, to the detriment of the core competencies that are the lifeblood of customer service and professionalism.

“Line managers have a pivotal role in embedding these core competencies into the fabric of the organisation – or not – yet adequate preparation for this developmental role is often lacking,” he says.  “L&D leaders need to convince the business of the importance of building the people development skills of line managers and in doing so they will be far better positioned to demonstrate the value they add to the business.”

Sutton will urge L&D leaders to be more creative in their approach and more strategic in creating a climate of continuous improvement, which meets the needs and expectations of employees and business stakeholders.

The session is open to all event visitors .