Rethinking Organizational Learning Strategy with Dani Johnson

Too many L&D strategies rely on hope. You hope that training will stick, that stakeholders will engage, and that impact will follow. But as RedThread Research Co-founder and Principal Analyst Dani Johnson explains, hope isn’t a plan.

And despite knowing this for decades, it appears that L&D’s strategic influence in organizations hasn’t grown. In fact, based on a recent RedThread Research report, it seems to be declining. 

I spoke with Dani about why this is occurring, and what leaders must do to reverse the trend. She breaks down the five essential elements of a progressive L&D strategy, from organizational alignment and stakeholder engagement to tech, data, and operational discipline.

Dani also explores the tension between consistency and adaptability, how to move beyond training requests to real business conversations, and why outdated approaches to learning persist despite their lack of impact.

Listen to the full episode, or keep reading for the biggest takeaways from this fascinating discussion. 

The 5 key elements of a modern L&D strategy

The research by Dani and RedThread highlights five core areas that every good L&D strategy must address: 

• Organizational alignment
• Employee impact
• Operations and governance
• Tech and data
• Stakeholder engagement

While some of these have always been a key focus—employee impact and operations, for example—Dani explained that certain themes have been coming up more and more frequently of late. 

“Data and tech are increasingly important. Not just buying the right technology, but making sure it works in the ecosystem of the entire organization. Not just gathering information on your specific learning operations, but gathering data that can be used more broadly in the organization. The connection of tech and data into the rest of the organization is just getting started.” 

Stakeholder engagement is also becoming more silent. “We’ve been navel-gazing for a long time. Communications and marketing about what learning means in the organization, strategic partnerships inside and outside the organization—these are things that we really need to do, and haven’t done in the past.”

Build your L&D strategy with intention

Traditionally, Learning and Development teams have been largely reactive. This is now the expected and requested version of L&D, and many stakeholders simply won’t buy into strategies that go beyond training requests.

So how do we shift this mentality and build strategies that actually make a difference?

“The first thing is to create it intentionally,” says Dani. “Don’t just fall into your L&D strategy—it’s got to be an intentional push. We spoke to one leader who actually went through all the financials. They found all of these things being used to develop employees but being attributed to different business units. He convinced the organization to give him all of that money so he could build a clear strategy.”

The other key element is to spend more time actively in strategic discussions, proving you know how to help the business.

“Get out from behind your desk. L&D often sits in an ivory tower, and uses different language from the rest of the organization. You need to break down walls and integrate with the rest of the organization. You should use the same language and have the same KPIs as everyone else.”

Strive for organizational alignment

The ability to marry Learning and Development strategy with overall business goals is vital. It’s both the best way to get other teams excited and engaged in our work, and also to prove our value and impact to the organization. 

But while most L&D professionals know that alignment is important, not enough can actually explain what that means in practice. 

“I’ve heard for years about how L&D needs to align with the business,” says Dani. “But when you ask leaders what that actually means, it’s amazing how many can’t actually answer the question.” 

So what does better alignment look like? “More advanced leaders mention business strategy, talent strategy, skills strategy, tech strategy, and the vision for L&D as part of the organization. It’s not just a strategy that we think is right for the organization, it’s one that fits in the context of all those other strategies.”

The tension between flexibility and stability

It’s an overused cliché at this point, but the business landscape really is changing faster than most can remember. “The idea of a five-year roadmap is laughable. Changes are happening overnight. And business functions are now in a place where agility is incredibly important.”

But overindexing on agility and adaptability may not be the best move for your L&D strategy. In their research, Dani’s team found that “people crave stability. So providing it in the way we communicate and build our house around development is really important. If we do it right, it also gives us license to experiment more and be as agile as we need to be.

“There’s the balance between flexibility and stability. Understand the parts that can and should be easily moved, and aren’t going to cause mental anguish. And then those that need to be more stable, to provide a long-term view of learning in the organization. 

Securing the right tools and tech

Learning tech has come a very long way. L&D teams now have an incredible range of solutions and features available, making everything from course authorship, to delivery, to tracking and analysis faster and more effective. 

But it’s not as simple as selecting the best in class platform. As Dani explains, “this decision is no longer just L&D’s. Often it involves Finance, it almost always involves IT, and more frequently it’s involving the Data team. 

“To get the tools you want involves: 

1. Making friends with all those people and helping them understand your needs
2. Speaking their language
3. Clearly articulating what data will flow into the system, and what data it will provide to the rest of the organization to make decisions”

Learning and Development platforms are part of an intricate ecosystem, connected to HR and talent management systems, business intelligence and finance tools, sales CRMs, and plenty more. Make friends with those people now, because it’s going to be a joint decision eventually. And you’re going to have shared needs.

About Dani Johnson

Dani Johnson is Co-founder and Principal Analyst for RedThread Research. She has spent the majority of her career writing about, conducting research in, and consulting on human capital practices and technology. 

RedThread is a human capital research and advisory firm with a passion for questioning the status quo when it comes to people management practices. Their research focuses on DEIB, employee engagement, learning, people analytics, performance, and the technologies that support them, to provide talent leaders with high-quality, unbiased, and actionable insights to inform their decision-making.