So you have a strategy, and an aligned one at that. So far, so good. Now you have to do something about it. If you aren’t worried, you should be. Because, as I have noted, there is something about what we are doing that is not producing the results that businesses want. The lack of clear, mandated strategies is likely to be part of the reason, but it is not the whole story. Indeed, in the search for what is at fault, any line-up of usual suspects is likely to contain the elements of development and design – how learning solutions are developed and put together. This seems reasonable, for as with any product you buy, if it does not do the job it is supposed to, then faulty design is a judicious assumption.

In this chapter we look at whether concerns about the development of learning solutions are justified and, if so, what is going wrong and what can be done about it. A framework is provided for learning leaders to examine the effectiveness of how learning solutions are developed in their own business and in doing so examine the process through which learning needs are identified. I also show that there is some confusion between methods/tools (delivery) and desired outcomes of learning solutions. I deal with the former in more depth in Chapter 4. In this chapter, as with the previous chapter, my intention is not to provide a detailed how-to guidebook filled with directions about which turns to take where, but to provide a framework within which the various challenges can be identified, options can be assessed and decisions made. And, as with the previous chapter, it is a story of the power of functionalism.