Lets imagine the story of 2 L & D managers called A & B in companies A and B. Company A has a structured Training Needs Analysis for individuals or at least every role. Company B on the other hand has a very dynamic work environment where the needs keep changing tactically. A classic strategy vs tactics conundrum by definition but at its root there are a number of different dimensions of the company culture, approach towards training, drivers of training. Bottomline, the pros and cons of the 2 approaches manifest in various ways.
This blog is an effort to capture some of the dynamics of these choices – Company A with a classic “ Learning Journey “ approach for each role and Company B with a tactical problem solving “Specific Intervention “ approach for a recognised problem area.
What is a Learning Journey?
Lets first define the Learning Journey for the purposes of this article. A learning journey refers to a structured, long-term process of skill development. It is a continuous path that an individual follows over a period, typically incorporating a blend of learning techniques such as e-learning modules, in-person workshops, mentoring, assessments, and practical applications. The journey is customized to fit the learner’s needs, fostering gradual growth and a deeper understanding of the subject matter. It involves mapping of skills and competencies to an individual or a role and identifies certain path or a sequence of interventions.
For instance, a company might develop a six-month learning journey to help customer service associates build role based skills or for senior management to go through a leadership program based on the changing competencies required for senior management. .
This journey could include a combination of multiple learning approaches including mentorship, online courses, webinars, interactive simulations, peer-to-peer learning, and leadership assessments. The key here is the approach is integrated.
What is a Specific Intervention?
A specific intervention, on the other hand, is a targeted, short-term approach aimed at addressing an immediate skill gap or performance issue. These interventions are typically one-off training sessions or workshops or online courses designed to solve a particular problem quickly. They are often deployed when a skill or competency area has been identified and requires immediate attention.
An example of a specific intervention could be an online course on on conflict resolution for a team struggling with communication issues. The goal is to address the problem, equip the employees with the necessary skills, and return to normal operations as soon as possible.
Key Differences Between Learning Journey and Specific Intervention
|
Aspect |
Learning Journey | Specific Intervention |
| Duration | Long-term (weeks, months, or years) | Short-term (hours or days) |
| Scope | Broad, focuses on holistic development | Narrow, targets a specific issue or skill gap |
| Learning Approach | Multi-modal (e-learning, mentoring, workshops) | Focused and media specific (workshops, hands-on training, online) |
| Objective | Long-term role-based behavior change and skill development | Specific competency building |
| Customization | Highly tailored to the learner’s needs | Standardized and less flexible |
| Goal | Continuous learning and application in real-world scenarios | Quick resolution of an identified problem |
| Use Case | For meeting role-based competency needs |
For addressing urgent or well-defined problems |
The underlying story behind the Contrasts
While the underlying contrasts behind the 2 approaches are obvious, what is interesting is why companies or L & D managers choose approach A or B,
The Learning Journey: Fundamentals
A or the Learning Journey requires a lot of support infrastructure.
Human Resources : It takes significant resources to focus on a TNI and then work out a journey. In short the L & D team needs to be suitably staffed.
Time and Effort: the organization must be willing to make significant time investments for a proactive approach to the learning problem.
Learning Culture: This is where the focus and importance of learning within the organization makes a difference. For instance, organizations with strong learning cultures integrate this journey as a process within the larger operations of the organization.
Business Buy-in: a common problem in organizations is there is a limited availability of resources and time and this is where the short term priorities of business clash with the long term priorities of L & D. This is where Learning Culture can play a huge role.
Learning Infrastructure: The company needs a strong learning ecosystem – a robust Learning Management System, Identified trainers for specific training needs, learning partners with the right skillsets etc.
Flexibility: While learning journeys can be comprehensive but business environments change with time. How do organizations incorporate this flexibility? This is a classic conundrum with L & departments having worked out budgets and then having to wait the entire year for the next set of initiatives even though a specific learning need has arisen.
Specific Interventions: Fundamentals
This brings us to a great starting point for Specific Intervention approach:
Flexibility: This is probably the biggest pro of this approach. It is tactical and dynamic and comes directly from business and market feedback. A typical online or offline program may be worked out
Core Needs: This approach does target big business problems – for instance with one of our client organizations, teamwork and collaboration was identified as an important business need across functions and levels. Knowlens did create a series of videos on this – this certainly created a buzz across the entire organization. Alternately we have created programs for the sales process for sales people. While these may not cover all competencies required but definitely help the business move forward
One size fits many: However with this flexibility there is a tendency to bracket multiple employees into the same learning program. Imagine a 15 year experienced finance employee and a 3 years marketing executive both going through a common course on AI for business. The use cases and applications may be vastly different and this is where the limitations comes in.
Implementation Ease: In terms of human resources, time and effort, these certainly take less time and roll out can be quicker.
Learning Maturity Stage of Organization: Organizations at an early stage of maturity like start ups, or very rapidly changing structures and business models may find this approach more feasible to implement.
Conclusion
While the learning journey and specific intervention serve valuable purposes in corporate training, the right choice depends on a complex set of factors as highlighted above, There are no easy answers and sometimes a hybrid approach may evolve. At Knowlens we have attempted to serve both the segments with larger scale comprehensive programs as well as support for immediate goals. Both approaches have offered deep insights and helped orient our products to meet these needs. From migrating entire induction programs and mapping learning paths on the LMS or running specific online or film-based classroom programs have worked for different kinds of organizations and diverse needs.
Finally one size does not fit all and there seems to be a space for both Learning Journeys and Specific Interventions in the learning lexicon.