How to Build an L&D Strategy That Aligns with Business Goals In 2026

A lot of people still treat learning and development like a cost.

Whereas those that understand and experience the true difference it makes on people and teams, treat it like an accelerator for growth.

Therefore, if you are responsible for performance, it really matters to be in the latter.

Because when people are given learnings that do not align to their own goals and the goals of the business, it will not earn the buy-in you are looking for.

So, you will be spending a budget and filling calendars and making very little impact or difference besides causing people perceived inconvenience.

With this in mind, reflect on your learning and development strategy, and ask yourself… Are we actually developing people or just delivering training?

This blog is designed to give you a clear, practical and simple to implement framework for building an L&D strategy that drives the attainment of your business goals, rather than one that just works entirely or somewhat independent of them.

By the end, you’ll have a blueprint ready to test on your organisation.

What Is The Real Problem With Most L&D Strategies

Upon first glance, it is incredibly rare for learning plans to look too outlandishly misguided.

Unless of course, you have got your team of executive leaders out of office for a month completing a candle making course, or maybe an intensive programme to give them fluency in morse code.

Disregard that though if your business is in the 0.01% in which this would actually be a productive use of time.

Likelihood is, your courses are mapped out, competency frameworks are referenced and needs analyses are completed.

However if we dip our heads beneath the water and see what hides below the tip of the iceberg, we might see a familiar sight.

Training decisions that are based on opinions rather than performance and actual data, learning activity that is disconnected from outcomes, and an assumption that ROI is being achieved, rather than any actual proof of it.

Training fails when it is not anchored to results.

The Rule of One For L&D Strategy

Remember, your learning strategy is supposed to do ONE job. Improve business performance.

Obviously, there are several elements within this, however they are all geared toward this end goal.

Once you begin to focus your mind on performance being the end result from any training you are looking to run, your strategy becomes much sharper, simpler and easier to justify.

It avoids the chances of people picking up a cup and dipping it into the punchbowl of learning activities you are doing that contain no unifying purpose.

Why This Matters Now

Learning and development has always been crucial in building capability, however nowadays, the impact of your trainings has to be even more visible.

We live in a world where skills have a smaller use-by date on them, as roles evolve continuously and traditional career pathways are nowhere as predictable as they once were.

Whilst all this is happening, budgets remain under pressure which means the senior leaders require clear evidence that paying for training is paying off in an improvement in performance, all whilst employees expect relevant, personalised and implementable sessions and content.

Failure to align learning to business goals is not just inconvenient, it categorises as a commercial risk.

That is because it can lead to critical skill gaps going unnoticed potentially until it becomes painfully obvious, high performers deciding to leave for an organisation that will make the correct choices in regards to their growth, management submitting reactive training requests as they are blind to the root cause of performance issues, and learning budgets spent on just doing things to look busy, rather than upgrading individual and team performance.

Companies that get this right find that learning becomes to fuel for performance, retention and future proofing, rather than just some kind of emergency support or something that changes the rhythm of a certain day.

They are less likely to ask “What training do people actually want?” and much more likely to ask “What capabilities does the business actually need now, and what will it need next?”

Check out the framework below to answer this question for your organisation.

What Is A Learning And Development Strategy?

A learning and development plan is not a list of courses.

It’s an action plan that links learning directly to business goals.

At its best, it answers six simple questions:

• Why development is required
• Who needs development
• What they need to learn
• When it needs to happen
• How learning will be delivered
• Where it will take place

The goal is not learning for learning’s sake.

The goal is to:

• Improve performance now
• Build future capability
• Strengthen leadership and management depth
• Support retention and internal progression

When a learning and development strategy does this, it stops being a cost, and starts being an investment.

The 5 Components of an Aligned L&D Strategy That Drives Performance

1- Business Goals (Start With the Destination)

Before you think about training, you need absolute clarity on this:

What does the business need to achieve?

This might relate to:

• Productivity
• Quality
• Sales performance
• Customer outcomes
• Engagement and retention

Only when the destination is clear can learning be designed to support it.

Ask yourself:

• What does “good” actually look like?
• Which results matter most right now?

Learning should never guess its purpose.

2- Current Performance (Know Where You Are)

Once goals are clear, you need to understand current capability.

It can be easy to view this stage as criticism, but rather than seeing this as an analysis of current limitations, we need to see this as the ideal time to be honest in our reflections. Assessing current performance allows you to:

• Set clear expectations
• Recognise existing strengths
• Benchmark effectively
• Protect critical capability

Importantly, it also stops you training people in things they already do well… a surprisingly common and expensive mistake.

3- Gap Analysis (Define the Real Need)

Only now does the gap question make sense.

Ask:

“What must change to move from today’s performance to tomorrow’s goals?”

This typically falls into three areas:

• Knowledge - what people don’t yet know
• Skills - what they can’t yet do consistently
• Attitude - what beliefs or mindsets are holding performance back

A clear gap analysis prevents generic solutions being applied to specific problems.

4 - Resources (Choose the Right Tools)

Different gaps require different learning methods.

• Knowledge may be best supported through digital learning
• Skills require practice, feedback, and repetition
• Attitude often needs coaching, reflection, and ongoing support

Blended approaches work because they mirror how people actually change, not how we wish they did.

Learning should not look like a one-off event, it should be viewed much more long-term than this. 

5 - Implementation Plan (Turn Strategy Into Action)

This is where many plans quietly fail.

Keep it simple and specific:

• What learning is required?
• Why does it matter?
• Who is involved?
• How will it be delivered?
• When will it happen?

Treat the plan as a living document, reviewed and refined as business priorities evolve.

Making Learning Stick

Implementation is not the finish line.

To protect investment and prove value:

• Review progress quarterly
• Build evaluation into the design
• Measure impact before, immediately after, and several months later

This is how learning earns credibility at senior level.

To Conclude

When learning is aligned to business goals:

• Performance improves
• Capability strengthens
• Investment makes sense

You now have the blueprint, now the only thing left is to get started!

Many thanks,

Alex & The Excel Team

P.S. If you would like to discuss any of your other learning & development challenges, book in your discovery call.

About Excel Communications

Excel Communications is a learning and development consultancy based near London in the U.K. For more than 30 years; we have been collaborating with clients across the globe.  

Partnering with Excel empowers you to evolve your people and business by fuelling a love for learning.   

We work with you to create unforgettably, customised learning experiences to achieve your vision of success and growth, with tangible results.   

View our case studies here.