Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Career developmentLatest NewsLearning & developmentTraining deliveryTraining needs analysis

BridgeCon Europe: The role of L&D in creating ‘purposeful’ work

by Ashleigh Webber 25 Nov 2019
by Ashleigh Webber 25 Nov 2019 Alan Slavik, head of strategic development, EMEA, at Instructure speaking at BridgeCon Europe.
Image: Instructure
Alan Slavik, head of strategic development, EMEA, at Instructure speaking at BridgeCon Europe.
Image: Instructure

The idea that employees value work that offers them a sense of “purpose”, and the importance of offering work that aligns with this purpose, has frequently been highlighted by academics and business psychologists.

But it is often an area that employers struggle with, especially if employees believe their aspirations and personal development needs are at odds with an organisation’s goals. The speakers at last week’s BridgeCon Europe conference, held at King’s Place in north London, explained how learning and development could support the alignment of employee and employer purpose and foster a more engaged workforce.

Kenny Nicholl, general manager, EMEA at Instructure – supplier of learning, engagement and feedback platform Bridge – began the conference by suggesting that organisations needed to move from their current company-focused model to a more employee-centric arrangement.

Learning and development

Employees rate learning and development over salary

L&D teams pressured to report on learning impact, but don’t know how

Integrate learning into jobs, say L&D experts

He said: “Something that employers should think about is how can they help their people bring their best selves to work every single day? How do I and how do my teams help them build and develop their skills so they can develop their careers?

“How do we give them real mentoring opportunities and how do we introduce and facilitate really rich and meaningful conversations between them, their managers and their teams? And, ultimately, how do I ensure that our organisation has a culture which is focused on learning and development?”

He highlighted the significant contrast in the value employers and employees placed on learning and development. A survey commissioned by Instructure found that three-quarters of organisations did not believe they had a learning and development culture, while 98% of employees said L&D was the deciding factor in whether to stay or leave an organisation – suggesting development opportunities seen as a major part of a “purposeful” career.

A key facet of L&D culture involved providing managers with the tools to enable their staff to be successful, Kenny said. More than half of employees who responded to the survey did not consider their organisation to support true learning and development unless managers were given such tools.

This was also suggested by Alan Slavik, head of strategic development for the EMEA region at Instructure. He told Personnel Today that managers needed to create environments where employees felt able to ask for opportunities to develop their skills and define their purpose.

“It doesn’t have to be too formal, but it’s important to make sure that time is dedicated to having those sorts of conversations,” he said. “At an individual level, it’s really important that [employees] seek and ask for opportunities if they have the desire to.”

Slavik said there were three less obvious trends within L&D that organisations should be aware of if they wanted their learning strategy to be a success. These are:

  • Making sure that employee development initiatives are “tethered to” business results and making sure there is a clear link between L&D and business goals
  • Offering an “inside hustle” – the idea that employees are given the opportunity to do something they wouldn’t normally do in their role while at work. “It’s a great way for leaders to identify and tap into that talent,” he said
  • Raison d’être relevancy – defining an individual’s purpose within an organisation and ensuring that purpose is aligned with the organisation’s goals.

He said an employee’s purpose at work was no longer limited to what their job title suggests they did. “Job descriptions used to be rigid, but now that’s changing; people need to take on board what’s in their job description and what they’re expected to do, but employers also need to also help them identify future areas to grow into, areas of interest to them, which will hopefully align them with the organisation’s purpose too.”

We should be able to craft work around what we find interesting and that we’re able to personalise it to our strengths” – Dan Cable, London Business School

Dan Cable, a professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, highlighted a study at US healthcare group Novant Health, which looked at how job titles affected staff engagement and how they viewed their purpose within the organisation.

A group of employees were allowed to set their own job titles based on the work they actually carried out and how they saw themselves. After eight weeks the group that created their own job title were less likely to feel “burnt out” than those who were not able to choose a title that suited their position.

Cable said that by giving employees a title decided by the organisation, staff feel they have to align themselves to the firm, rather than feeling that their skills were reflected by their role.

He agreed that purposeful work was an important consideration for employees. “There seems to be a division between work and life. Work sometimes feels like a commute to the weekend. The idea that we’re touching on is that we should be able to craft work around what we find interesting and that we’re able to personalise it to our strengths.”

The importance of aligning learning and development needs to company goals was emphasised further by Dr Hannah Gore, head of talent development, EMEA business school, at car insurance risk management firm Solera Holdings. She said she studied the company’s business plan each time it is updated and looks at how workplace learning can support the delivery of business goals.

“It’s really important to understand where our fit is and that gives us a seat at the table,” she said.

Gore concluded her presentation by debunking the myth that some staff are simply too busy to develop their skills. “There is no such thing as being too busy to do your job, otherwise you’ll just get busier,” she said, suggesting that skills development was vital for continued success.

The consensus among many of the speakers was that enabling purposeful work helped employees “bring their best selves” to the workplace.

Tim Threipland, OD practice lead, UK, at consultancy FranklinCovey, said employers needed to consider how they supported employees to bring their best qualities and their “uniqueness” to work every day.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“Bringing your best self means sharing more about what makes you tick and keeps you excited.

“I might be skilled, but I might be holding back on my skillset. Think: do I bring my uniqueness and diversity to work every day? Or do a lot of us leave that at home and say ‘I’m not worthy’ or ’I’m not able to do that’ and we miss bringing our full capability into play,” he said.

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
LibDems aspire to modernise gig economy and increase worker incomes
next post
Men have £78,000 more in pension pot at retirement

You may also like

Investing in skills when budgets are tight

12 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

High-level apprenticeship spend doubles in five years

16 Apr 2025

Number of SMEs hiring staff in decline

10 Apr 2025

Gen Z and ‘conscious unbossing’: how can HR...

7 Apr 2025

How to build a commercially-minded workforce

3 Apr 2025

Why the apprenticeship shakeup is good news for...

20 Mar 2025

Scrapping NHS England could affect critical training, warn...

14 Mar 2025

Employee engagement: Growing disconnect between effort and recognition,...

13 Mar 2025

Schneider Electric doubles ex-military green skills scheme

13 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+