Do You Really Need a Training Matrix for Impactful Employee Development?
Most organization’s want to invest in their employees’ professional development (we would hope). It just takes a bit of work for them to keep track of what training programs need to be completed, by whom, and by when–especially if you’re keeping track of all that data manually.
A training matrix is a useful strategic tool to keep an organization’s training clear and manageable. Or is it, really? Too often, we see training matrices that aren’t having much of an impact on employee development, and we want to change that. In this blog, we’ll dive into the real reason training matrices fail and how you can use them for meaningful employee development instead.
What is a training matrix?
A training matrix is a tool that organizations use to visually track, plan and manage employee training. It’s a comprehensive overview of the skills, knowledge, and qualifications required of specific roles in the company, and highlights what training employees need to do. It differs from a training needs analysis, which identifies learner needs and capability gaps.
The problem with training matrices
We’re always talking about how the best way to manage, facilitate, and track training progress is through automated workflows, so it should come as no surprise that our biggest issue with the training matrix is that it’s so time-consuming to maintain. Every time employees complete training, move to new roles, or their training requirements change, the training matrix needs to be updated. This can be a huge administrative burden for your business’s HR or L&D teams, especially in larger organizations with a lot of employees (and that will just get worse as your organization scales).
This maintenance burden opens the door to potential inaccuracies in data if updates are missed. Business outcomes can’t be met if strategic decisions are being made based off outdated information, or data that was input inaccurately due to human error. And because there’s an over-reliance on spreadsheets to create a training matrix, they’re not very flexible or customizable for individual employee training, especially when it comes to informal learning experiences that contribute to employee capabilities.
The one-size-fits-all-approach ends up becoming more of a “tick-box” approach to learning where compliance is the special of the day instead of nuanced learning opportunities. It prevents your organization from effectively developing the skills, knowledge, behaviors, tools, and processes employees need to drive organizational objectives.
How to manage your training matrix
You might be asking what the purpose of using a training matrix is if it can’t properly support your training efforts. But just because manual processes traditionally hold the training matrix back from effective training management doesn’t mean that it’s literally impossible. You just need the right strategies in place to manage your training matrix effectively and efficiently, so that it can manage employee training and identify training needs.
We’ve identified four best practice strategies for you to use here:
- Leveraging technology
- Incorporating a capability-led approach
- Aligning training matrices with business objectives
- Conducting regular reviews.
Leverage technology for automation
Automation through some kind of performance learning management system (PLMS) is crucial for reducing the manual effort currently present in traditional training matrices. If you set up a workflow to automatically update the employee training matrix when training completion status changes, then your training data will be kept up-to-date in real-time.
Learning technology can also help you with data collection and analytics, which means you can use data from your training matrix to identify capability gaps and high-demand learning content. This kind of data is important down the line when it comes to making important L&D decisions in terms of budgeting and resource allocation. It’s the best way to ensure that your organization and workforce are properly supported to achieve future training needs to meet business goals.
And even if you don’t have technology that automates training matrices, you can still utilize reporting from technology to make it easier for you to build one on your own. You can use Capabilities reporting to determine where capability gaps lie in relation to different job roles (and therefore, what training needs to be done, where, and when).
Incorporate a capability-led approach
Training programs should look beyond skills alone and instead focus on capabilities, so it goes without saying your training matrix should do the same. Often, training matrices emphasize formal learning and technical skill development, but neglect soft skills. A capability-led strategy encompasses both soft and technical skills, so your training matrix will track and manage learning designed to improve employees’ capabilities.
And let’s not forget that capabilities act as the bridge between learning and performance management. Capabilities are measured in levels of competency, which managers can use to measure employee performance–and then link that to personalized development plans. For example, low competency means more development in that capability is needed, which your training matrix can record and manage.
Having a capability-led training matrix also makes it easier to identify and prioritize training courses for development. A training needs analysis can identify skill gaps, but you can use the training matrix to set contents’ training status as high-priority.
Align with organizational goals
This shouldn’t be too hard once you have a capability-led strategy. After all, capabilities are derived from business strategy, being the means to actually achieving your desired business outcomes. Use your identified capabilities to map role-based capabilities to specific positions and reflect that in your training matrix. Not only will your training matrix show the key capabilities needed for each job role (and the associated required training), but it will create a clear link between training activities and strategic outcomes.
Regularly review and update
No employee is going to stay in the same role with the same responsibilities forever, so your training matrix needs to be updated to reflect that. This is especially important for making sure training matrices line up with the evolving business landscape (and therefore set employees on the right path career development and performance improvement).
And, if you’re doing professional development for your employees right, they’ll have improved their capabilities anyway. Maybe you’ve developed employees from an “emerging” level of competency to “proficient”. You’ll need to provide different training if you want learners to develop capabilities beyond that.
And your business is going to adapt over time to changes in technology, standards, and processes in the industry. It goes without saying that your employee training matrix will need to be updated to reflect the required capabilities needed to support organizational goals, strategy, and capability gaps. This will help to drive a culture of continuous learning.
Key takeaways
A training matrix is essential to your employees’ career growth to ensure they’re equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, behaviors, processes, and tools to effectively perform their jobs. But too often, training matrices aren’t managed in a way that tangibly impacts business performance. Organizations need to implement a capability-led strategy to underpin employee training and performance management. It’s the only way to ensure that the right training programs are delivered to the right employees at the right time so they may succeed in their roles and contribute to business outcomes.
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