Learning and Development

Vocabulary flashcards covering core learning, training, and development concepts, including instructional design models (ADDIE, SAM, Action Mapping), adult learning principles, career management, and leadership development strategies.

Training

The process of providing knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) specific to a particular task or job. (ex. A sales manager is trained on how to develop high-performance teams.)

Developmental Activities

Activities that prepare employees for future responsibilities while increasing their capacity for performance in their current job, possessing a broader scope than training. (ex. a sales manager is identified as a potential leader in the division and is provided with additional learning opportunities to develop leadership capabilities.)

Push Model

A training approach where content is pushed based on a set schedule, success is measured by the number of attendees, and which is generally used for required or compliance training.

Pull Model

A continuous, easily accessible learning process where employees pull training as needed, directly linked to acquiring the KSAs and competencies necessary for their jobs.

HR’s Role in L&D

Development of the organization’s workforce by ensuring that learning and development functions align with the organization’s strategic goals.

Accomplished by participating in the strategic planning process and incorporating input from stakeholders such as corporate leaders, learning and development specialists, managers, and employees. In addition, HR professionals may be involved in initiating, facilitating, and interpreting workforce analytics used to guide decisions on workforce development needs.

Global L&D

Cross-cultural training, international assignments, mentoring, and coaching help develop global leadership skills. Training also covers global teamwork, virtual teams, laws, ethics, and organizational values.

The Learning Organization

A concept described by Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline referring to an organization that adapts quickly to environmental changes by altering organizational behavior, driven by systems thinking, mental models, personal mastery, team learning, and shared vision.

Systems Thinking

is a conceptual framework that makes patterns clearer and helps one see how things interrelate and how to change them.

Mental Models

are our deeply ingrained assumptions that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.

Personal Mastery

is the high level of proficiency in a subject or skill area.

Team Learning

is aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members desire.

Shared Learning

is a look into the future that fosters genuine commitment and is shared by all who need to possess it.

Organizational Learning

Learning that begins through shared insights and knowledge of individuals and groups, building directly upon past organizational memories.

Individual Learning

Learning that occurs mainly through personal experience and what is acquired from others and formal training.

Group Learning

Learning that occurs through an increase in skills, knowledge, and abilities accomplished collectively within groups or teams.

Knowledge Retention Strategies

Organizational practices that evaluate what knowledge may be lost, identify the consequences of that loss, and implement technology-based or softer systems to retain essential knowledge.

Adult Learning Principles

The characteristics distinguishing adult learners from children: adults are self-directed, draw on experience as a resource, are ready to learn, focus on real-world problems, possess internal motivation, and are willing to "unlearn to learn."

Learner Participation and Retention Rate

A learning model demonstrating that retention increases with active participation, ranging from passive methods like lectures ($10\%$) and reading ($20\%$) to active methods like practice by doing ($75\%$) and immediate use of learning ($90\%$).

Obstacles to Learning

Resistance to change, lack of trust, peer pressure, negative past learning experiences, and lack of organizational support. HR can overcome these by demonstrating training's value, involving employees, and securing management support.

Learner Styles

Visual, Kinesthetic, and Auditory

Visual Learners

Learners who assimilate information best from seeing, particularly through images, diagrams, and graphics.

Auditory Learners

Learners who acquire knowledge most effectively by hearing rather than reading and are especially sensitive to speech patterns.

Kinesthetic Learners

Tactile learners who absorb information best by hands-on doing and physical engagement, who may easily become bored by inactivity.

ADDIE Model

A standard cyclical instructional design framework consisting of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

Needs Analysis (ADDIE)

The diagnostic phase of ADDIE that investigates training needs across three distinct levels: Organizational (location and constraints), Task (skills and actions required for effective performance), and Individual (target audience and specific training needs).

Bloom’s Taxonomy

A hierarchical ordering of cognitive educational objectives composed of six levels: Knowledge, Recognition, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, and Creation.

ADDIE Implementation Phase

The operational delivery stage of the ADDIE process that involves pilot testing and revisions, instructor selection, and logistical coordination.

Successive Approximation Model (SAM)

An agile, iterative instructional design model that gains feedback and builds prototypes earlier than ADDIE, consisting of Preparation, Iterative Design (initiating with a "Savvy Start"), and Iterative Development.

Action Mapping

A visual approach to instructional design that connects a measurable business goal directly to specific employee actions, practice activities, and essential information within an activity stream.

Blended Learning

A training delivery approach that combines multiple instructional formats—such as self-directed, instructor-led, and experiential activities—tailored to the content and audience.

Career Planning

The individual-driven component of career development in which an employee takes primary responsibility for assessing skills and planning their career path.

Career Management

The organizational component of career development that establishes structures, programs, and pathways to prepare and advance employees.

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

A comprehensive document detailing an employee's profile, career goals, development objectives, training interventions, and target outcomes, optimized when using SMARTER goals and aligned with organizational needs.

Leadership

The ability of an individual to influence another individual or group to achieve a goal or result.

Leader Development

An organization's training and professional development programs targeted at building executive and managerial capabilities to influence others and adapt to diverse, challenging situations.

70-20-10 Leader Development Strategy

A development guideline proposing that leader capability is built through $70\%$ challenging assignments, $20\%$ developmental relationships, and $10\%$ formal coursework and training.

Action Learning

A leader development method where participants develop critical leadership competencies by collaborating to solve real, consequential business problems.