The Missing Link Between Learning and Performance Management

Every other month, we pose questions to Chief Learning Officer magazine’s Business Intelligence Board on a variety of topics to gauge the issues, opportunities and attitudes that make up the role of a senior learning executive. One of the most meaningful connections that can be made is between the learning experience and its effect on business outcomes. There are two parts to this. The first is the connection between learning and employee performance. The second is between learning and the overall performance of the business. This article addresses the learning-employee performance linkage.

The Technical Connection
The first area addressed was the extent to which learning and performance systems are linked within the organization. In many enterprises, employee performance is owned by the human resources function, whereas learning and development may not be connected to human resources organizationally. The second area of exploration was whether the linkage between the two is formal or informal. The third connection explored pertained to whether the linkage is automated. Interestingly, 48 percent of respondents indicated that the two areas are somewhat linked, but are neither formalized nor automated. This implies an informal exchange of data across the cubicle walls without much in the way of integration of the two functions. Twenty-three percent of respondents said that performance and learning are linked and formalized, but not automated. This is likely due to the fact that the majority of enterprises have not yet updated their older paper-based performance appraisal systems. Only 7 percent of respondents said that employee performance and learning are linked, formalized and automated. This indicates that there is ample opportunity for growth in the areas of both automating and routinizing the learning-to-performance value chain. (See Figure 1.)

Speaking of Paper...
To fully understand the connection between learning and performance, and to learn about the degree to which the link might be automated, survey respondents were asked specifically about how performance is managed. If the link between learning and performance is manual, the culprit might have been likely to reveal itself as an under-automated performance management process. Responses bore this out. Of the respondents, 57 percent indicated that they still use a homegrown performance management system with little automation in place. Seventeen percent utilize either an HRMS or an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that is separate from learning. Another 9 percent use a best-in-class performance management system that is distinct from learning. Only 5 percent of respondents have a single, integrated system in place that automates both learning and performance management. (See Figure 2.)