Learning Strategy and Business Alignment Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Learning and Development Managers, Learning Business Partners and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-LD-172

Before you join: Participants should have experience coordinating, designing, commissioning or managing workplace learning programmes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Learning functions are often asked to demonstrate value but receive requests framed as course titles, attendance targets or urgent skills gaps. Without a disciplined connection to business priorities, workforce data and operating measures, investment can be spread across attractive but low-impact activity. Learning leaders need a repeatable way to identify performance needs, choose the right intervention, define success measures and explain the contribution of learning to senior stakeholders.

This course equips participants to build learning strategies that support organisational goals, workforce plans and functional priorities. Participants examine strategic planning inputs, stakeholder analysis, capability mapping, performance consulting and learning-needs analysis. They use tools including the Balanced Scorecard, SWOT, PESTLE, Kirkpatrick Model and logic models to convert business requirements into prioritised learning portfolios, measurable objectives, delivery decisions and evaluation plans. The course also addresses governance, resource allocation, vendor decisions, learning technology and reporting for executive audiences.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with practical cases from banking, public services, manufacturing, NGOs and multinational businesses. Participants work with realistic business plans, performance data and stakeholder requests to diagnose root causes and make defensible learning investment decisions. Throughout the course, they develop a learning strategy blueprint for their own organisation or business unit, including a strategic alignment map, capability priorities, measurement framework and 90-day implementation plan.

The course is suited to L&D professionals who already coordinate programmes or manage learning portfolios and now need greater influence over planning, investment and business outcomes. It is equally relevant to HR business partners, talent managers and operational leaders responsible for workforce capability.

What you will be able to do

  • Analyse business strategy using SWOT, PESTLE and Balanced Scorecard perspectives
  • Conduct performance consulting conversations to distinguish capability gaps from non-learning causes
  • Create a capability map linking critical roles, skills and business outcomes
  • Prioritise learning investments using impact, urgency, reach and feasibility criteria
  • Design a learning strategy with governance, portfolio and resource allocation decisions
  • Write measurable learning objectives using Bloom's Taxonomy and performance evidence
  • Build an evaluation plan using logic models and the Kirkpatrick Model
  • Present a business-aligned learning strategy and 90-day implementation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Stronger credibility in conversations with senior business stakeholders
  • Clearer diagnosis of training requests before committing resources
  • Practical structure for building a defensible learning strategy
  • Better confidence presenting learning value through business measures
  • Reusable approach for prioritising competing development requests

For your organisation

  • Learning investment linked more directly to strategic and operational priorities
  • Fewer courses commissioned for problems unrelated to capability
  • Clearer capability priorities for critical roles and workforce segments
  • More consistent governance over learning portfolio decisions
  • Better evidence for reporting learning contribution to leaders

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can interpret strategic priorities and identify their implications for learning investment.

  • Business model components linked to workforce capability and performance requirements
  • Balanced Scorecard perspectives translated into learning and capability questions
  • SWOT analysis identifies internal constraints affecting learning strategy choices
  • PESTLE factors assessed for changing skills, compliance and operating demands
  • Strategic objectives converted into observable workforce performance requirements
  • Value-chain analysis locates roles influencing customer, cost and quality outcomes

Participants can diagnose stakeholder requests and determine whether learning is an appropriate response.

  • Performance consulting separates training requests from underlying performance problems
  • Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model diagnoses environmental and individual influences
  • Stakeholder interviews structure questions around outcomes, evidence and constraints
  • Root-cause analysis using five whys tests assumptions behind capability requests
  • Process maps reveal handoffs, delays and performance barriers
  • Non-learning interventions compared with training, coaching, tools and process changes

Participants can map critical capabilities and identify priority skill gaps.

  • Capability maps connect strategic outcomes, roles, skills and behaviours
  • Critical-role analysis identifies positions with disproportionate business impact
  • Skills matrices record required proficiency against current workforce evidence
  • Competency frameworks distinguish technical, behavioural and leadership requirements
  • Gap analysis ranks capability needs by business risk and performance impact
  • Workforce segmentation targets investment toward priority populations and roles

Participants can plan a learning-needs analysis using valid evidence sources.

  • Learning-needs analysis combines organisational, task and individual evidence
  • Data sources include performance dashboards, audits, surveys and customer feedback
  • Task analysis identifies decisions, standards, tools and error consequences
  • Observation protocols capture work behaviours under normal operating conditions
  • Survey design avoids leading questions and unsupported self-assessment claims
  • Triangulation compares qualitative accounts with operational and people data

Participants can prioritise learning initiatives using transparent decision criteria.

  • Prioritisation criteria assess strategic fit, impact, urgency, reach and feasibility
  • Weighted decision matrices compare proposed learning initiatives consistently
  • Risk-based prioritisation addresses regulatory, safety and control requirements
  • Cost-benefit assumptions distinguish mandatory activity from discretionary development
  • Portfolio maps balance enterprise programmes, functional needs and local requests
  • Stop, start and continue decisions remove low-value learning activity

Participants can structure a learning strategy with clear choices, ownership and governance.

  • Learning strategy architecture defines purpose, scope, principles and strategic themes
  • Strategic themes organise initiatives around measurable business capability priorities
  • Governance models assign decision rights, escalation routes and review cycles
  • RACI matrices clarify sponsor, owner, contributor and approver responsibilities
  • Resource plans allocate budget, specialist capacity, technology and vendor support
  • Operating rhythms schedule portfolio reviews, stakeholder forums and performance reporting

Participants can select learning and non-learning components suited to performance needs.

  • 70:20:10 frameworks position formal learning within workplace development
  • Solution architecture combines training, performance support, coaching and communications
  • Modality decisions compare classroom, virtual, digital and on-the-job approaches
  • Performance support tools address infrequent tasks and point-of-need guidance
  • Vendor selection criteria assess expertise, quality controls, cost and transferability
  • Accessibility requirements inform inclusive learning materials and delivery choices

Participants can create an evaluation plan that links learning evidence to business measures.

  • Logic models connect inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and intended impact
  • Kirkpatrick Model defines reaction, learning, behaviour and results evidence
  • Evaluation questions specify decisions each measurement activity must inform
  • Leading indicators track participation, practice, confidence and manager reinforcement
  • Business measures include error rates, sales conversion, cycle time and compliance
  • Data collection plans define baselines, comparison groups, owners and timing

Participants can communicate learning priorities and investment recommendations to senior leaders.

  • Executive summaries state business issue, recommendation, evidence and required decision
  • Business cases quantify costs, assumptions, benefits, risks and dependencies
  • Storyline structures move from strategic problem to recommended action
  • Dashboard design highlights indicators, trends, exceptions and management actions
  • Objection handling addresses cost, time away and competing operational priorities
  • Sponsor briefings establish accountability for reinforcement and outcome ownership

Participants can prepare a practical implementation plan for a business-aligned learning strategy.

  • Roadmaps sequence quick wins, capability foundations and longer-term initiatives
  • 90-day plans define milestones, owners, dependencies and decision points
  • Change impact assessments identify affected groups, behaviours and communications needs
  • Implementation risks managed through assumptions logs and mitigation actions
  • Review cycles test strategy relevance against changing business priorities
  • Personal application plans commit next actions, stakeholder meetings and evidence gathering

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Business-to-learning alignment map
  2. Performance consulting question guide
  3. Critical capability mapping template
  4. Learning portfolio prioritisation matrix
  5. Learning evaluation logic model
  6. 90-day learning strategy implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Learning and Development Managers — align learning portfolios with business priorities and investment decisions
  • Learning Business Partners — convert stakeholder requests into performance-focused learning solutions
  • Talent Development Managers — connect capability development with workforce and succession plans
  • HR Business Partners — advise leaders on skills needs and appropriate development responses
  • Learning Designers — design interventions from measurable performance and capability requirements
  • Operational Managers — sponsor learning initiatives linked to team performance measures

Skills and tools covered

Strategic learning alignmentPerformance consultingCapability mappingLearning portfolio designLearning evaluationExecutive communication

Tools and standards

Balanced Scorecard, PESTLE analysis, Kirkpatrick Model, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by case work based on realistic business plans, performance reports and stakeholder requests. Small-group exercises apply performance consulting, capability mapping and portfolio prioritisation methods. Participants practise executive conversations, evaluate competing learning proposals and simulate investment decisions under resource constraints. Individual application planning links each method to a current workplace issue. Facilitated peer review helps participants test assumptions, refine measures and strengthen their final learning strategy blueprint.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience coordinating, designing, commissioning or managing workplace learning programmes. Familiarity with basic learning-needs analysis, stakeholder engagement and organisational planning processes is helpful. Participants should be able to discuss a current business challenge, capability concern or learning portfolio from their own workplace. No prior qualification in strategy, finance, data analytics or instructional design is required. The course does not assume responsibility for an enterprise-wide learning function; participants may work at team, department, regional or organisational level.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical exposure to workplace learning, talent development, HR partnering or workforce capability planning. They do not need formal strategy qualifications or prior responsibility for a full learning function.

Bring a current business plan, learning request, performance issue or capability challenge if organisational policy permits. Sanitised examples are suitable where internal information is confidential.

It is designed for L&D managers, learning business partners, talent managers, HR business partners and operational leaders with learning responsibilities. It is most useful for people moving from programme delivery into strategic planning and advisory work.

Instructional design courses focus on designing individual learning experiences, while this course focuses on deciding what learning should address and why. It deals with strategic alignment, capability priorities, investment choices, governance and evidence of results.

Participants can use the templates to challenge training requests, map priority capabilities and prepare investment recommendations. The 90-day plan provides a starting structure for stakeholder discussions and strategy implementation.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from business diagnosis and capability analysis through portfolio design, measurement, executive communication and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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