Secrets for Building a Business Aligned L&D Strategy: Commonalities and Criticalities
Business aligned L&D strategies don't start with brainstorming.
In my last article, I talked about the power of a scrap list. That means intentionally removing some of your great ideas from your L&D strategy so you can focus on what matters most. But maybe I jumped ahead a little.
Before you can cut stuff out, you need to know what belongs in the strategy to begin with. How do you decide what should be included in the strategy (and the scrap list), especially if you’re aiming for true business alignment?
This is where commonalities and criticalities come in.
What Are Commonalities and Criticalities?
Commonalities are the business themes that keep popping up everywhere. If you hear the same thing from multiple corners of the organization, pay attention. Repeatable themes mean it’s probably important.
Criticalities are the make-or-break items for business success. These usually fall into one (or more) of these categories:
Challenges that must be resolved for the company to move forward.
Problems or risks that could cause serious setbacks, unsafe conditions, or even legal action if ignored.
Goals so big they require participation from every part of the company.
Criticalities might look like skill gaps that need filling, stubborn problems that must be solved, or massive goals that demand everyone’s attention. Whatever shape they take, ignoring them means the business stalls… or worse.
Together, commonalities and criticalities should form the backbone of your L&D strategy. In other words, every piece of your strategy ties back to one or both of them. But how do you figure out what they are? I’ve had luck with the following three steps.
Step One: Gather Information (Not Ideas)
Here’s the trap many L&D teams fall into: we jump straight to brainstorming or throw up a SWOT or other tool. Fun? Sure. But effective? Not without gathering solid information first.
Here are the raw materials to pull together before you sketch a single idea:
Company-wide goals: What’s in the strategic plan? What are the main goals that must be achieved to realize this plan? Searching your intranet site and paying attention at all hands meetings can be a great starting point. But feel free to ask your leader (or others) if you’re unsure where to look.
Team- or function-level goals: If your L&D team works with a specific part(s) of the company like sales, IT, operations, contact center, manufacturing floor, etc., look one level deeper. What are the goals this area(s) is striving to attain? Ideally these will cascade from overall company goals, but with increased specificity.
Skill and capability gaps: What’s missing today or will be needed tomorrow? Pull from executive input, industry data, hiring trends, competitor analysis, or even AI as a starting point.
Stakeholder feedback: This isn’t just hallway chatter. This type of feedback is gathered more formally through surveys, interviews, engagement data, and even your own program evaluations.
Key business metrics: What numbers is the company watching most closely, and which way are they trying to move them?
Step Two: Find the Story
Once you’ve collected the info, start looking for patterns.
Spot the commonalities: Take a broad view across all of the info you gathered. Which themes show up again and again across data, goals, and feedback? Make note.
Identify the criticalities: Set aside your ego and your L&D expertise while you put on your business leader hat. Which items are truly mission-critical? Use the list cited earlier in this article if it’s helpful. That list includes business blockers, risks, or massive goals requiring everyone’s effort, to name a few.
Double-check with senior leaders if you need confirmation. This will not only validate your list, but start to build early buy-in.
Step Three: Prioritize and Brainstorm
Now you’re ready to prioritize. If something shows up as both a commonality and a criticality, it deserves top billing.
Next, begin your brainstorm:
How can L&D best address these priorities?
Which initiatives will have the biggest business impact?
Where do your team’s expertise and resources line up best?
This is where you’ll start shaping your real strategy and where you can begin to move the lower-priority items to your trusty scrap list.
A Few Pro Tips
Don’t go it alone. Invite HR partners, team members, or even key stakeholders into the process. Co-creation builds influence, and people are more likely to support what they helped create.
Start small if needed. If this is your first time building strategy this way, you might only align with one department or area. That’s okay. Measure results, prove impact, and expand next time.
Remember: creating a business-aligned strategy is a process. Bit by bit, you’ll get there.
What’s Next
This article focused on gathering the right information and uncovering the commonalities and criticalities that guide your business aligned L&D strategy. Throughout the fall, I’ll be covering tools to narrow this strategy, how to negotiate your tough choices, and strong partnerships for execution. The final outcome is a realistic, business aligned strategy that moves the organization forward.
So stay tuned… and bring your scrap list along for the ride.
