1.1 Identify the key purposes of the L&D function in organisations, what value does it offer the organisation and how can it help the organisation achieve its objectives?

Assessment Guidance

Unit 5LBF – Managing the L&D business function

Method of assessment

Presentation

Your presentation should follow recognised good practice, the slides should be professional in appearance (they should be of a standard you would be happy to present to key stakeholders in your organisation) and cover key points/areas of the information to be presented. A typical presentation structure would include: title slide, aims of presentation, main content areas to be covered, key information points/main content, conclusions/summary slide. Text on slides is not covered in the overall word count, however please keep content succinct and relevant. PowerPoint would be regarded as the most appropriate software to use for this presentation.

Notes pages

The notes pages should develop the key points on the slides and make reference to relevant academic literature, theory or models and the word count is 1500 words. Unit 5LBF – Managing the L&D business function

Assessment activities broken down

Activity 1 (this covers the following assessment criteria 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.1 3.1 3.2 3.3

Unit 5LBF – Managing the L&D business function

1.1 Identify the key purposes of the L&D function in organisations, what value does it offer the organisation and how can it help the organisation achieve its objectives? How has the L&D function evolved over time, e.g. paradigm change from training to learning, the emergence of science to help improve the learner experience e.g. neuroscience and learning, the continuing growth of coaching, the change from traditional ‘chalk and talk to blended learning methods, the alignment of the function with other key areas such as finance and HR, the importance of building capabilities to support the achievement of business objectives, the need to be aware of VUCA.

1.2 Identify at least three L&D activities which can help improve the business, you need to comment here on activities (methods) for example the importance of progression planning and anticipating future skills requirements, implementing coaching and mentoring to support individuals and teams, support and facilitate the link between teams/individuals performance and the achievement of business goals. You need to comment on why it is important for L&D to be regarded as a credible contributor to the achievement of business objectives and how it can demonstrate value for money and return on investment on L&D activities.

1.3  Compare and contrast at least three different roles in L&D e.g. manager, adviser, training officer, administrator, business partner, digital learning specialist - commenting on similarities e.g. the need for business and context acumen, versatility and flexibility, excellent communication skills, professionalism, understanding of the business objectives and KPI’s and examples of differences may be :- direct delivery of content, analysis of data post training event, discussion with business partners around strategy, production of annual development plan. You could use a table here to present your findings.

2.1 Critically assess at least three different L&D delivery models, explaining the merits of each. This should be included in your presentation and clearly illustrate how you have assessed these models. You could compare the delivery model you use within your own organisation as long as you state which model is used or models such as a centralised delivery model, a devolved model with L&D teams out in business units, a shared service model where L&D are with other HR services used by the business, or an outsourced delivery model.

3.1 Explain at least four of the key roles and responsibilities of an L&D manager, for example, setting the L&D budget, devising operational plans, setting L&D strategy with short, medium and long term goals aligned to organisational goals.

3.3 Give at least three examples of how you have or would provide leadership, guidance and support to members of an L&D team. You could draw examples here by reflecting on previous models such as Tuckman (group formation), you could also describe key skills such as coaching and mentoring, influencing, assertiveness, is there a robust performance management system in place, motivation theories and how you have used them such as Maslow, Herzberg, etc. What key management concepts have you employed to support your team to be effective?

Activity 2 (this includes assessment criteria 3.2)

Unit 5LBF – Managing the L&D business function

You have also been asked to devise and provide to the panel, an example of a one-year L&D plan. Your plan should include:

At least three L&D objectives and key activities with timelines for achieving these (if you wish you could use a Gantt chart to illustrate this although this is not compulsory). The plan can be based on your own organisation (please anonymise it) or it could be hypothetical and should be 1500 words.

It may be useful to establish what the organisational goals are first which will then help you decide what to you include in your plan. You may wish to comment on how you have identified objectives to include in your plan for example a Training Needs Analysis, performance review data, information based on external audits by regulatory bodies (CQC, Ofsted, Local Authorities, HSE for example).

Success indicators for each objective and plan for monitoring and evaluation

The objectives you have identified can be used for evaluation purposes in addition to other success indicators, such as numeric data (attendance records) evaluations, hit rates for the intranet, pass rates for e-learning quizzes, benchmarks against industry standards, awards (IiP). Whilst numeric data is important and may be required by stakeholders as an indicator of ROI, consider other methods of evaluation too, perhaps behavioural change and impact to the business.

A timeline is also needed to illustrate where you are and where you plan to be, key milestones could be included to evaluate progress against target. As the plan is to cover a 12-month period, you may wish to break it down into monthly activities to establish and illustrate progress.