HR Field Guide discusses 3 methods for developing employee skills through performance-driven learning: 1. Soft skill development through e-learning modules and social learning. 2. Functional skill development using diagnostic assessments, targeted learning programs, and mobile learning for on-the-job training. 3. Compliance training via e-learning to ensure regulatory requirements are met and records are maintained. Integrating learning and talent management systems allows organizations to link skills development to performance goals and drive business outcomes.

1. HR Field Guide
Performance-Driven Learning
3 METHODS
to Develop Employee Skills

2. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
Introduction
E-learning is already known to be the most efficient and cost effective
way to deliver training to a workforce. However, the best way to
truly prepare employees for meeting organizational objectives is to
focus the training on three major areas of skill development. Using
a learning solution that is capable of delivering optimal training on
each type of skill and checking for comprehension by examining the
outcomes from other HR processes will drive performance within the
company as employees develop their soft, functional and compliance-
based skills.
Organizations that want to avoid the fruitless efforts of learning for learning’s sake
instead consider the strategic vision of developing talent to drive overall organizational
performance. The concept of “performance-driven learning” is key to effective employee
development, which impacts your organization’s bottom line and gains the highest
return on your learning and development investment.
E-learning is the right tool to deliver those skills that will enable your company to align
human capital resources with organizational objectives. Today, forward-thinking human
resources (HR) executives are viewing learning as a strategic component of their overall
strategic HR mission and leveraging integrated talent applications as the vehicle to drive
optimum employee performance. This field guide details the e-learning approaches to
developing the three major skill areas necessary for a fully functioning workforce and
the performance approaches behind that development.
This field guide explores three critical steps to ensure that you get the most out of your
e-learning investments.
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3. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
#1: Soft-Skill Development
Soft skill development targets the improvement of an individual’s competencies and
behaviors. These encompass the communication, negotiation, conflict resolution,
personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking and team building
skills that govern much of the interpersonal actions inside and outside of a company.
While these skills tend to be regarded as less essential than functional skills, they can
be much more difficult to grasp and generally form the basis for anyone in a sales or
customer-facing position.
E-learning is an optimal training method for soft skills because of the variety of training
sessions that can be created. Using short, self-paced learning modules, employees can
view typical interaction scenarios and engage in periodic check points that asses their
personal choices.
Soft skill development can be as simple as educating Such trainings can
employees on expectations and company culture, or can be accompanied by
focus specifically on techniques and scenarios related to the
following highly sought skills: a dynamic repository
of frequently asked
Communication skills Time management Mediation
questions and best-
Interpersonal skills Self-management Goal management practice answers on
Rapport building Conflict resolution Memory enhancement the subject matter.
Innovation & creativity Negotiating skills Anger management The newest and
Leadership People skills Coping skills most influential way
Emotional intelligence Decision making Train the trainer
e-learning can aid in
the development of
Management skills Personality development Interviewing skills
soft skills is with social
Motivation Business etiquette Presentation skills
learning capabilities.
Stress management Attitude & skill building Team building Because soft skills
Business communication Art of delegating Assertive skills rely on social
Language skills Change management Art of influencing interaction, using
a learning system
where employees
can contribute to discussion forums and blogs with other employees and experts about
the training materials and real-life situations means they will gain more from the initial
training and see how these skills are being applied in the field.
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4. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
Using HR solutions that integrate talent and analytics can help your organization
link sales and customer satisfaction ratings from the field to soft skill development
initiatives. These metrics will help your company determine which employees have
high competency in certain areas and which should supplement their skill sets with
more training. Because soft skills are crucial in management situations, competency
in courses could be one indicator for future promotion consideration within a career
development solution.
#2: FUNCTION SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Functional skill development targets an employee’s improvement of “hard skills” such
as software skills or accounting. Companies cannot sell or provide products or services
if the workforce doesn’t maintain the appropriate tactical skills to efficiently carry out
tasks. Often, companies concentrate heavily on such skill development in the time
directly following the execution of a new job or task. However, because these jobs and
tasks are generally on-going, e-learning courses can provide a variety of functional skill
training to supplement experience and stage in the project.
Using e-learning to train on functional skills, you can adeptly identify the level of
knowledge of a learner with diagnostic assessments and screenings. Then you can
assign a special learning program for that employee that may be a series of courses
to help refresh existing or develop new functional skills. Because you will be training
employees on how to carry out certain
tasks, you will easily be able to check
Your company probably expects for comprehension on what they have
employees to posess or train on a
learned with interactive exercises or post-
variety of functional skills, particularly
if there are several different divisions training assessments.
or activities within the company.
The following is a simple list of the One of the best ways to provide on-the-
aspects a functional skill may cover: job functional skills training is with mobile
learning. Mobile devices can store and
Communication skills Time management
deliver job aids and abbreviated courses,
Interpersonal skills Self-management anywhere and at any time. Giving
Rapport building Conflict resolution employees the option of mobile learning
Innovation & creativity Negotiating skills will help reinforce the methods that
should be used in completing specific
People skills
tasks, eliminating stressful situations that
arise from uncertainty.
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5. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
These skills are not only important for the smooth flow of daily operations in a company,
but they make it easy to identify employees that have a mastery of one or a variety
of skill sets that would qualify him or her for promotion, succession or a move into
other areas of the business. Because functional skills are quantifiable, companies can
test their employees during hiring and recruiting and at regular intervals thereafter for
improvement. As part of the performance review process, companies will be able to
compare an employee’s knowledge of certain tasks on the job and their comprehension
based on testing as recorded in your learning solution.
Integrating a workforce system with skill information from an e-learning solution means
that only the people with the necessary skills to complete a task would be scheduled to
work on that task. This integration allows managers to avoid unproductive or disastrous
working conditions stemming from a lack of functional skill development.
#3: Compliance DEVELOPMENT
Compliance training includes safety training, harassment training, and/or diversity
training. While compliance-based skills may include soft or functional skills at the roots,
these skills tend to be particular to a company or industry and supports regulatory, as
well as legal, requirements. E-learning tracks compliance training and keeps a record
for future reference. For some organizations, management of compliance needs is
justification alone for automating learning.
In many highly regulated industries where compliance training is typically ongoing,
e-learning is extremely helpful for creating and reminding employees to take new
courses in the allotted time or for versioning existing courses to reflect slightly new
materials. A learning management system that tracks compliance training completions
can ensure that the company has taken the proper procedures to prevent costly mistakes
and breaches of law.
Because compliance training is so important to many companies’ legal ability to operate,
managers can use goal and benefits administration to tie completions directly into
employee expectations and rewards. Part of keeping employees motivated to finish
their tasks is to enable them and incentivize them.
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6. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
Several industies find themselves facing particularly detailed and stringent
compliance regulations that require sufficient training and training
management to prevent breaches of acceptable standards.
Financial Public Auto
Services Sector Manufacturing Technology Dealerships
Healthcare Non-Profit Leisure / Trucking / Pharmaceuticals
Hospitality Transportation
The Ideal Scenario for Developing Skills
The strategic view of nurturing talent includes prioritizing and defining development
plans based on the needs of both the individual and the organization. The ideal scenario
takes into account the following:
•• Key organizational objectives are cascaded across the enterprise
•• Individual performance goals are linked to organizational objectives to
ensure focused direction
•• Competencies are defined and used as the basis for job profiles
•• 360 feedback from peers and managers highlight competency gaps and
additional focus for individual development
•• Skill gaps identified from job profiles and talent profiles highlight other
potential deficiencies
•• Learning priorities and development plans are based on these jointly
developed performance goals from the identified skill and competency
gaps
•• Learning includes blended solutions (e.g., webbased, mobile, social) to
meet the diverse development needs of different roles
•• Learning content management enables subject matter experts across the
organization to easily contribute to learning courseware
•• E-learning includes personalized learning paths to provide the most
needed development on demand (just in-time)
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7. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
Taking the cycle a step further, learning and development objectives can be tied
directly to compensation and incentive programs to further reinforce the importance
of development programs as they relate to key organizational objectives. Learning can
also be linked to succession planning to ensure future successors are ready and bench
strength is adequate to meet the future leadership needs of the company.
The holistic view of organizational learning must be considered a key integrated
component of a talent solution and incorporate a variety of components for learning to
play a strategic role in organizations.
•• Development priorities must be linked with performance goals and
organizational objectives.
•• Courses need to be aligned with competencies for effective learning
automation.
•• All behavioral assessments should be linked to individuals and their
positions and related through a competency framework.
This competency framework is the common thread that provides the basis for various
talent systems to support an integrated process. For example, employees can sign up
for courses that relate to the skill gaps identified from 360 feedback assessments or
recognized during the hiring process. Managers can then monitor the effectiveness of
learning in meeting the organization’s goals.
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8. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
Conclusion
Functional skills are skills where the rules stay the same, regardless of which company,
circumstance or people you work with. In contrast, soft skills are self-management skills
and people skills where the rules change depending on the company culture and
people you work with. Further, companies, industries or agencies may enforce certain
rules with which your employees must stay in compliance. Each of these skills needs to
be assigned, taught and measured in different ways to achieve the desired performance.
Simply tracking learning participation and effectiveness is not enough to meet the CEO’s
and other executives’ goals of driving business performance, impacting the bottom line,
and increasing shareholder value. Successful organizations are leveraging strategic
human capital management solutions to link strategic functions such as goal alignment,
performance, competencies, compensation, development and succession planning.
By linking these critical components, your organization can better manage, motivate,
reward and improve the skills of every individual employee across your organization.
E-learning maximizes the training dollars spent by ensuring that courses represented in
the course catalog are relevant to the objectives of the organization and are delivered
in the optimal format for employee consumption, such as on-the-job training activities,
publications, audio and video materials, online courseware, virtual classrooms, video
conferencing, online coaching and mentoring, online collaboration, and other online
resource libraries.
This is an exciting time for learning technology. Critical workforce needs and advances in
technology mean that learning professionals are at the forefront of the most important
talent challenges. With the right technology, you can know that you are up to the task
and ready to deliver.
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9. HR Field Guide: Performance-Driven Learning: 3 Methods To Develop Employee Skills www.sumtotalsystems.com
As the market leader in enterprise learning, SumTotal can help you address your
learning challenges and make the most of the latest industry innovations.
Why choose us?
1. We offer an industry-leading learning solution, next-generation mobile technologies,
and cutting-edge delivery of content and extended-enterprise solutions.
2. We’ve taken a different approach to product and technology integration. While
everyone else is still talking about product integration, it’s a reality with us today.
Our learning solutions are completely integrated with a suite of talent and workforce
solutions.
3. Our professional services teams are committed to your success — before, during and
after implementation.
4. We put your people first. We’re all about learning and development. We’ll help your
people be their best.
contact us today
We’re ready to partner with you for new learning solutions. For additional information,
send an email to: connect@sumtotalsystems.com
About SumTotal
SumTotal Systems, LLC, the largest independent provider of integrated HR solutions,
is increasing the performance of some of the world’s most successful organizations,
including AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN[ADR]; London: AZN), Amway (KUL: AMWAY), and
Seagate (NYSE: STX). Providing the industry’s only Talent Expansion Platform, SumTotal
helps organizations improve and expand their employee talent and become great places
to work. SumTotal’s people-focused applications, available on premise and in the Cloud,
enable in-context, just-in-time development designed to advance employees’ skills and
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