1. The LMS
The Learning Management System (LMS) has introduced a
wealth of opportunities to the modern organisation.
It offers the ability to effectively create, deliver and track
formal learning, often in the form of blended experiences,
combining both classroom and e-learning.
In highly regulated industries, however, organisations are
finding that only a small part of an individual’s competence
acquisition comes through formal channels, such as
e-learning or classroom training.
is not enough

2. The LMS is Not Enough
The Learning Management System (LMS) has introduced a
wealth of opportunities to the modern organisation. It
offers the ability to effectively create, deliver and track formal
learning, often in the form of blended experiences, combining
both classroom and e-learning.
In highly regulated industries, however, organisations are finding that only
a small part of an individual’s competence acquisition comes through
formal channels, such as e-learning or classroom training.
Research suggests that as much as 70 per cent of learning takes place
through experience and practice, 20 per cent through conversations and
other social learning, while only 10 per cent of learning is a result of formal
training initiatives.
Organisations in highly regulated industries find that they can make
learning more timely and relevant, while at the same time reducing costs,
if they work with educational and training processes in line with this
reality.
This new perspective means new practices, resources and technologies are
needed. How can you manage and leverage learning when most of it
happens outside controlled learning environments?
Highly regulated industries, where organisations have no room for error,
are leading the way by bringing all types of learning together under the
broad umbrella of organisational capability.
They find that the LMS is not enough.

3. Why are organisations
looking for more?
Formal learning is only a small part of the picture
The need for audit readiness
Leaders need a way to explore the capability gap
As explained by the 70:20:10 model, competence acquisition is far more
often the result of peer-to-peer or practical learning than classroom-style
training. For example, a nurse in an accident and emergency department
may have to acquire more than 80 separate competencies in a six-month
period, including over 30 competencies relating to various medical devices
and instruments. Only a small number of these competencies rely on for-
mal learning, and most are the result of supervised on-the-job training.
Supervisors need a way to sign off that their subordinates have the actual
competencies required by observing them at work.
In highly regulated industries, critical competencies must be audit-ready,
at all times. This includes implementing digital signatures, document
control and audit trails. More and more accrediting bodies require
documentation that a competency has actually been acquired, not merely
that an individual has completed a training course. What’s more,
supervisors often need to see a competency demonstrated several times
before signing off on it.
Government agencies, certification bodies and major customers must at all
times be able to audit the competencies of a food manufacturer’s
production staff . And it is up to the quality manager to ensure that the
firm has internal mechanisms in place to enable them to do so.
The LMS does not offer a reporting interface at the level of organisational
capability. With learning being provided in many different ways through
many different channels, a unified record of the workforce’s capabilities is
missing.
“.. the capability of your people is your most important
asset. Once we appreciate this fact, the need to build
capability becomes an obvious priority.”
- Charles Jennings

4. Adjacent systems need a unified record of capability data
Middle-down and peer-to-peer learning requires a different
approach
Learning is the work
A similar problem arises vis-à-vis adjacent systems. Without a unified
record of workforce capabilities it is not possible to use employee
capabilitydatainrelevantsystemsandprocesses,suchasresourceplanningand
performance management.
The challenge is typical for airport staff such as mechanics, who must have
a number of different certifications delivered through a range of different
systems and partners before they can even physically access their
workplace. Managers need to be able to validate all this learning in one
place before they can start planning shifts.
The picture is further complicated by the changing nature of work and
organisations. Learning is not only top-down but also middle-down, i.e.
specific to the business unit/department. It can also be social, i.e. inspired
and led by peers rather than by managers.
Learning is not just delivered through the Learning and Development (L&D)
function, but by everyone. The ideal producer of learning plans and learning
content is quite likely to be the line manager or a line employee, rather than
the L&D function or an external course vendor.
Finally, learning is often no longer simply a part of work – it is the work.
While training was a relatively small part of the factory production-line
career, it is part and parcel of many jobs in the knowledge economy.
When a bank’s IT department hires a junior developer, what she delivers in
the first six months may not be very important. What she is able to learn in
this time, however, is critical to the future of her career as well as that of
the organisation. And what she will learn, she is unlikely to learn through an
LMS.

5. A system for capability
development and
management
Against this backdrop, the LMS becomes only a small part of
the learning universe of the modern organisation. Yet
learning still needs a contextual and technological framework.
That framework is a solution which supports the development and
management of organisational capabilities.
No one at the senior executive level (the C-suite) is immediately concerned
about workforce planning, learning and development, or even strategic HR
as a whole. What the C-suite does care about, on the other hand, is the end
product of HR, which is organisational capability.
C-suite
capability
(LMS)
LEARNING
70 20 10
The missing link bewteen strategy and learning

6. A capability development system allows managers and staff to:
• Manage capability requirements at the organisational, team and
individual level
• Address gaps between current and expected capabilities through
70:20:10 capability development
• Leave a verifiable and detailed audit trail
• How soldiers are recruited and trained is a secondary issue for the
Ministry of Defence. The capability of the organisation’s personnel in the
face of specific threats is, however, always a top priority.
• The CEO of an airline does not typically want to know in minute detail
about staff induction programmes or safety training. She does, however,
want to be certain that all staff members have the capabilities required
to perform their duties and respond to situations, to the standard
expected.
• The leaders of home care services do not get personally involved in
how pharmaceutical training is delivered. They are, however, concerned
about being able to document the knowledge and skills of their staff
should they be audited.
Organisations do not rely on their LMS for this. This is the domain of the
capability development system.
And this is where the capability development system comes in, since it
offers executives the opportunity to develop and manage organisational
capability.
What does a
capability development
system look like?

7. • Interface well with any LMS
• Readily integrate with adjacent systems, e.g. resource planning, through
open application programming interfaces (APIs)
• Support the auditing process, e.g. digital signatures, document control
and audit trails
• Offer simple and usable any-device interfaces in order to drive adoption
Capability development dashboard - management view of employee competencies
Furthermore, a capability development system must meet a
range of requirements. In particular, it must:

8. Our experience
Based on the experiences which
our customers in highly regulated
markets have shared with us,
capability development and
management is crucial, and a
process that needs to be
supported.
Customers across high-
consequence industries as diverse
as aviation, healthcare and finance
have made it clear that there is a
missing piece in the HR strategy
and technology puzzle, and that
capability development and
management is that missing piece.
Capability development dashboard
- management view of employee
competencies

9. From Learning
Management to
Capability Development
Capability development is not a feature. It’s a paradigm, a
methodology and a starting point for HR technology
deployment that works for high-consequence industries.
Organisations in highly regulated industries that put capability
development at the core of their educational and training processes find
that they benefit much more than being audit-ready at all times.
Additional benefits include:
• Reduced risk and cost of errors
• Increased speed to performance through 70:20:10 learning
• Increased timeliness and relevance of learning
• Reduced learning costs
• Reduced auditing and compliance management costs
• Increased change readiness and organisational agility
• Data-based insights into organisational capabilities
“70:20:10 requires HR/L&D professionals to become
‘sherpas’ for capability-building rather than managers of
learning”
- Charles Jennings

10. HR Business Partners as
facilitators of Capability
Development and
Management
For HR Business Partners, capability development
and management may be the most exciting new
opportunity to come along in years.
Fundamentally, HR can deliver on only two variables: the will
and the ability of people to perform. Capability management
is a way of aggregating the individual employees’ knowledge
and skills to the organisational level, in a way that makes
sense to leaders at all levels and in all functions.
By taking organisational capabilities as a starting point, HR
can find a new role as a true strategic business partner.
Executives may not always really care about how learning or
competence development is organised or achieved.
But they do care about the capabilities they have at their
disposal to achieve their strategic goals.
www.dossiersolutions.com