Do You Know Your Business?

In June 2024, the Association for Talent Development surveyed industry leaders to better understand their top challenges and priorities for the months ahead. The data helped to inform ATD’s content agenda and contributed to trending information about the most pressing challenges leaders face from year to year. Reporting measurable business outcomes ranked among respondents’ top five challenges along with combating employee disengagement, scaling with few resources, leveraging artificial intelligence, and leadership development.

The need to effectively align TD goals with business strategy and prove the impact of learning on the business has been a perennial challenge for the TD profession.

But before you consider how to best report measurable business outcomes, ask yourself: Do I even know my business?

Many TD leaders often skip that key step to aligning business goals with learning strategies. Before senior leaders accept TD leaders as a business partner, you must learn the organization and know it inside and out—its finances, competitors, broader industry, and value proposition.

Using company information at your disposal and the business model canvas to guide your investigation, you will be able to plan, execute, and report learning’s strategic impact.

Where to look

Get a comprehensive view of a company from a variety of sources. The knowledge will enable you to make strategic decisions, identify opportunities for improvement, and effectively communicate your programs’ effectiveness to senior leaders and other stakeholders.

The company’s official website. Almost every website has an About Us page that provides an overview of the organization’s mission, vision, history, and core values. Press releases offer the latest news, updates, and announcements. Annual reports contain detailed financial statements, management discussions, and insights into the company’s performance and strategy.

Investor relations pages contain information on quarterly earnings reports, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and presentations. Explore transcripts and recordings of quarterly earnings calls during which company executives discuss financial results and answer analysts’ questions.

Financial news and business media. Find out which media organizations cover your company. Check business newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and Fortune. Review financial news websites such as Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, and MarketWatch. Almost every industry has its own industry-specific publications. Ask your marketing department or public relations director to send a list of media mentions and affiliations.

Reports from financial services companies such as Morningstar, Thomson Reuters, and S&P Global provide professional insights and forecasts about business performance. Reports from firms such as Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and Statista offer details about industry trends, market conditions, and competitive landscapes.

Social media. Official company accounts provide updates and engage with the community. Monitoring them can offer an understanding into the organization’s public image, customer interactions, and marketing strategies. Additionally, blogs and forums have unofficial insights and opinions from customers, employees, and industry experts, helping you gauge public perception and identify potential areas where TD will have the greatest leverage.

Competitor analysis. Examining competitors enables you to gain a better understanding of the business’s strengths, weaknesses, and strategic positioning. The analysis can reveal how your company measures up against others in the industry and highlight opportunities for growth or areas of improvement. It can also provide information about industry trends and best practices.

Customer reviews and feedback. Websites such as Yelp, Trustpilot, and Glassdoor offer customer and employee reviews, which can shed light on the organization’s reputation and internal culture. Analyzing that feedback can help you identify common themes, areas of concern, and opportunities for improvement. It can also provide valuable data regarding customer preferences and expectations.

Networking and professional associations. Attending industry conferences, webinars, and networking events can give you firsthand information by connecting you with insiders and keeping you up to date on trends, challenges, and opportunities.

Professional associations often provide resources, research, and best practices that can help you better understand your business and its environment.

Inside sources. As a leader in your company, you have access to various internal documents such as operations reports, department and individual scorecards, productivity reports, executive whitepapers, marketing plans, research and development projections, product quality reports, customer surveys, employee surveys, management financial statements, budgets, variance reports, balanced scorecards, job descriptions, specific job measures, new product releases, key meetings, and executive calendars and meeting agendas. Those sources provide a wealth of information about the organization’s performance, goals, and strategies, helping you make informed decisions and align your efforts with business objectives.

A comprehensive tool

Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur developed the Business Model Canvas as a strategic management tool to help companies visualize, design, and innovate their business models. The BMC provides a complete view of how an organization functions by breaking it down into 10 key building blocks:

• Key partnerships. Entities or individuals involved in activities

• Key activities. Actions a business requires to be profitable

• Value proposition. Practical relevance for customers

• Customer relationships. Type of interrelation to maintain with target customers

• Customer segments. Target users or buyers of the company’s product or service

• Key competitors. Entities that compete for customers, employees, and other resources

• Key resources. Assets in demand to keep the business running

• Channels. Communications with clients

• Cost structure. All expenses such as payroll and rent

• Revenue streams. Income-generating model such as subscription plans or direct sales

To use the BMC effectively, collect data on each of the 10 building blocks from the various sources noted above. Engage team members, partners, and other stakeholders in the process. Their perspectives will provide new insights and validate or correct assumptions.

Examine the relationships and interdependencies among the building blocks to identify where you may find critical measures of performance. Iterate and refine what the model reveals. The business environment is always changing and previously untapped measures may become critical.

Consider using a physical canvas, digital tool, or whiteboard to map out each building block. Tools such as Miro, Canvanizer, and Strategyzer offer online versions of the BMC.

For example, a company let’s call “EcoTech” specializes in producing eco-friendly consumer electronics. Using the BMC determines the company’s critical measures of performance.

• Key partnerships. EcoTech collaborates with sustainable materials suppliers, technology partners, and environmental organizations.

• Key activities. These include research and development, production, marketing, and customer support.

• Value proposition. EcoTech delivers unique value by offering high-quality, eco-friendly electronics that reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability.

• Customer relationships. The organization maintains strong relationships with its customers through excellent customer service, loyalty programs, and community engagement initiatives.

• Customer segments. The company’s most important customers are environmentally conscious consumers and businesses looking for sustainable technology solutions.

• Key competitors. EcoTech competes with other companies in the eco-friendly electronics market as well as traditional electronics manufacturers.

• Key resources. Critical assets include advanced manufacturing facilities, a skilled workforce, proprietary technology, and strong brand reputation.

• Channels. EcoTech reaches its customers through online sales, retail partnerships, and direct sales to businesses.

• Cost structure. Major costs include raw materials, manufacturing, marketing, and research and development.

• Revenue streams. EcoTech generates revenue via product sales, service contracts, and subscription-based models for software updates.

In analyzing the relationships and interdependencies among the building blocks, EcoTech discovers these areas:

• Customer satisfaction. Measure customer feedback, repeat purchase rates, and Net Promoter Scores.

• Environmental impact. Assess by tracking the reduction in carbon footprint and company use of sustainable materials.

• Revenue growth. Monitor via sales figures, market share, and revenue from new product lines.

• Innovation. Evaluate by the number of new patents, product launches, and research and development investments.

• Operational efficiency. Measure by production costs, supply chain efficiency, and time to market for new products.

By focusing on the above considerations, TD can identify critical measures of performance and ensure that its business model aligns with strategic goals and drives sustainable growth. And understanding what the company most values enables the TD function to choose measures for talent that best align with the company’s top concerns.

Consider the intangibles

When measuring organizational alignment based on vital business drivers, keep the following intangibles in mind and identify the unique drivers that contribute to your business’s success.

• Leaderships. How do people, internally and externally, regard company leadership? What is the ability of individuals or groups to guide and influence others toward achieving organizational goals?

• Culture. These include the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how employees interact and work within an organization. Is the culture strong and future oriented?

• Talent and skills. The collective abilities and expertise of the workforce that contribute to the organization’s success

• Innovation track record. The history and frequency of introducing new ideas, products, or processes that drive growth and competitiveness

• Technological capabilities and adoption rate. The company’s proficiency in using technology and the speed at which new technologies integrate within operations

• Intellectual property. The legal rights and assets, such as patents and trademarks, that protect the organization’s innovations and brand

• Organizational structure. The arrangement of roles, responsibilities, and communication channels within the company

• Effectiveness of cross-functional teams. The ability of teams comprising members from different departments to collaborate and achieve common goals

• Brand strength for customers and employees. The reputation and recognition of the business’s brand, which influences customer loyalty and employee engagement

Get the whole picture

Understanding your business inside and out is crucial for aligning TD goals with business strategy and proving evidence of the impact of learning on the business. Doing so enables you to be better equipped to plan, execute, and report learning’s strategic impact, ultimately becoming a trusted partner for your business.

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