1. By Shawn E. Merritt and George A. Wolfe
Who’s Afraid of the
Enterprise Learning Function?
40 | T+D | FEBRUARY 2011 Photo by Veer

2. Enterprise learning
has an important role
to play in creating a
competitive advantage
for organizations.
Most executives these days state
explicitly that their people are their
greatest corporate asset. And if
people are going to be a company’s
greatest asset, then they have to be
working in a way that enables the
company to gain a competitive
advantage in the marketplace.
A company with a competitive advantage is one that
leverages its strengths and overcomes its weaknesses fast-
er and more effectively than its competitors; the efforts
of all people working in all job roles within an organiza-
tion must translate into economic gain more effectively
than the competition. This requires change management
capability at mach speeds—identifying a business need
for change; determining behaviors necessary to make the
change; and accelerating the right behavior changes into
the performance of the workforce.
To gain competitive advantage in the current market-
place, a company’s current state has to be such that its
strategy, organizational performance, and human capa-
bilities are aligned and working together. To be ready for
tomorrow’s marketplace, some portion of the organization
needs to be focused on designing changes to the status
quo and then developing and implementing solutions
that systematically enable the future.
Such future focus demands a company’s internal ability
to enable business reinvention while simultaneously en-
suring that the organization’s talent will be equipped with
the right behaviors to effectively make change happen.
The enterprise learning function, which infuses enter-
prise goals into performance improvement learning at all
levels within an organization, serves this vital function.
Operating strategically with a C-level perspective, this
serves as an internal competitive driver for the company’s
greatest asset.
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FEBRUARY 2011 | T+D | 41

3. Aligning organizational strategy,
people, and performance
There are three critical success factors
for creating and maintaining a com-
petitive advantage (Figure 1):
1. the efficiency and effectiveness of
current organizational and worker
performance in winning in the
current market
2. the ability to predict future market
needs and behaviors, set appro-
priate goals, and develop a strat-
egy and performance system that
aligns with goals to create a future
competitive advantage
3. the ability to implement systemic
change from the current perfor-
mance to future state, while keep-
ing everyone fully engaged.
The first factor leads one to ask:
Does everyone—in every job role in
the organization—have the skills and
knowledge necessary to do their job in
such a way as to create competitive ad-
vantage today? If not, we need to take
action and get everyone up to speed
on the skills necessary for their current
job. The same question will be asked
about the future desired state for the
second critical factor.
What job roles are required for us
to be successful in the future, and do
we have enough of the right people
with the right skills to get there? Our
answers will ensure we have the skills
and knowledge for what is next. Con-
sider the third factor: Do we know how
to make the shift? We need leaders
equipped with the skills and knowl-
edge to make the transition, and who
have the confidence to take the bold
step of execution.
The enterprise learning function is
key to affecting each of the critical suc-
cess factors. Its purpose is two-fold:
• to provide effective learning
experiences to help individuals
develop the strategically impor-
tant skills necessary for them to
perform their job both today and
in the future
• to work with leaders to ensure
that these skills are being applied
within the performance system to
create a competitive advantage.
But do we really need an enterprise
learning function to do this?
Analytical sciences, applied to busi-
ness structure and practices over the
years, have told us there are opera-
tional efficiencies and effectiveness
to be gained by grouping together
individuals to bring about particular
outcomes. This is why organizations
have subunits called sales, marketing,
product development, research, op-
erations, and distribution. We expect
they will be focused, follow common
process, be held accountable, and
leverage their functional expertise for
the benefit of the enterprise.
It would follow then, that grouping
individuals who have expertise in the
methodologies needed to uncover and
understand the capability gaps—cur-
rent and future—would be a tremen-
dous strategic asset for an enterprise.
Investing in a enterprise learning func-
tion and the science it brings to perfor-
mance improvement (organizational
and individual) means leaders would
have a focused ally in implementing
systematic solutions and ensuring inte-
grated solutions that close performance
gaps, both immediate and in the future.
In addition to keeping an organiza-
tion performance-rich, in the face of
ongoing change, a well-run enterprise
learning function can:
• help attract and retain talent by
showing organizational commit-
ment to development
• help leaders discover and improve
environmental factors associated
with performance
• reduce siloed thinking that can
lead to costly redundancy, in
turn, identifying common cross-
functional needs, and sharing
solutions and efficiencies
• consolidate and focus spending
• provide accountability for the
investments made.
Linking enterprise strategies
to necessary skills or job roles
An enterprise learning function must
excel analytically if it is to help create a
competitive advantage for its enter-
prise. Focus should be on achieving
three primary outcomes.
First, it must be capable of identify-
ing the strategically important skills
of individuals in critical job roles for
today and tomorrow. This requires that
professionals within the enterprise
learning function have the ability to
determine and validate with lead-
ers what is strategically important at
the enterprise, division, department,
42 | T+D | FEBRUARY 2011 Photo by Veer

4. team, job role, and individual levels of
the organization.
Once this is understood and the
most strategically important skills are
identified, then the second outcome
becomes paramount: identifying or
creating effective learning tools that
develop skills in those who need them.
The third critical piece to creating
competitive advantage is ensuring that
the new skills are applied back on the
job, or are poised for application when
change occurs.
The two-by-two grid shown in Fig-
ure 2 illustrates the first two outcomes
and the interrelationship between
them. In the lower left quadrant, you
find strategically unimportant skills
and little to no investment in solving
them. In other words, very little time
or money is being spent on things that
don’t matter—this is a good thing. In
the upper left-hand quadrant, we find
skills gaps that are of high strategic
importance where there is no learning
solution available and fit for use—this
is a gap that needs to be addressed.
In the upper right-hand quadrant,
learning solutions are available and are
fit for use; they are solving strategically
important skill gaps. This is also a good
thing. Finally, in the lower right-hand
quadrant we find we have learning as-
sets (we may even be promoting them)
that solve for strategically unimport-
ant skill gaps. This is waste and should
be eliminated. Once we stop wasting
valuable resources on the lower right
quadrant, our focus should go into the
top two sections of the grid.
It is critical that the learning func-
tion first meet the two primary out-
comes discussed—identifying strategi-
cally important skill gaps and making
solutions available that are fit for use.
In other words, manage that skills grid.
Then, the third outcome becomes key:
new skills must be applied back on the
job (or be poised for application re-
sults). The enterprise learning function
plays a lead role in connecting learn-
ing and business results. It can provide
the knowledge content, and it can
help equip leaders with the skills and
knowledge needed to lead a transition
by helping new skills be applied within
their areas of responsibility.
The ability to infuse enterprise
goals into learning that truly affects or-
ganizational performance and human
capability at all levels makes the enter-
prise learning function an invaluable
strategic weapon in competitive times.
The learning function helps ensure a
company’s greatest asset—its peo-
ple—stays efficient and productive in
the current marketplace, and it helps
prepare for and drive the shift toward
future performance and results.
Shawn E. Merritt is managing partner of
SDI Consulting; smerritt@sdiclarity.com.
George A. Wolfe is former vice president of
global learning & development at Steelcase
University; georgeawolfe@gmail.com.
Corporate
University
Corporate
University
Human
Capacity
Organizational
Performance
Organizational
Performance
Organizational
Performance
Human
Capacity
Human
Capacity
Corporate
University
Current
Business
Results
Current
Business
Results
Future
Business
Results
Future
Business
Results
Current
Business
Results
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
1.
2.
3.
High
Strategic
Needs
Low
Strategic
Needs
No Solution
in Place
Effective
Solution in Place
GAP
WASTE
NO
WASTE
NO GAP
Figure 2 | Goal: Manage the GridFigure 1 | Critical Success Factors for Achieving results
FEBRUARY 2011 | T+D | 43
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