Ensure that your development initiatives build better knowledge, skills, and experience to improve performance and raise engagement in the new business landscape.

1. DDI LEARNING
JOURNEY
DESIGN
Ensure that your development initiatives
build better knowledge, skills, and
experience to improve performance
and raise engagement in the new
business landscape
Leadership is a journey of learning opportu-
nities, in which individuals face transforma-
tional challenges that help them grow with
time. For this reason, no two journeys are
alike. A Learning Journey must be a unique
creation that is perfectly tailored to your
organization’s leadership style and culture,
and designed to deal with the realities of
execution.
Learning Journeys are a strategic develop-
ment approach anchored in business strategy,
but with practical application. Intended for
groups, cohorts, or communities of leaders,
a Learning Journey takes place over time.
It incorporates multiple formal and informal
development components into a unique
design, which optimizes your training invest-
ment and maximizes learning stickiness and
behavior change.
Clearly, the HOWs of training—the design,
delivery, and implementation—matter. We
must manage our training initiatives in the
same way that other areas of the business
manage their initiatives. Research from
HR.com and DDI reveals that only 9 percent
of HR professionals rate their development
as very high when their organizations
offered open enrollment programs with
a curriculum of classroom-based courses.
In contrast, 91 percent of HR professionals
rate their development as very high when
their programs utilized a journey-based
approach, with continuous learning and
a mix of methods.
Consider the following questions to gauge
the quality of your organization’s leadership
development initiative:
> Does your organization utilize a cookie-
cutter approach to leadership develop-
ment? Is your approach personalized for
your organization and your learners?
> Are you simply sequencing development
components aimed at building leadership
competencies? Do these components
consider the before and after elements
surrounding training to ensure sustainable
development?
> Do you have a graphic learning map to aid
in the marketing of your approach within
your organization? Does this design con-
nect your leaders to your business and
your business to their development?
THE BENEFITS
> Ensures alignment between development
solutions and your organization’s strategies.
> Fuels individual, group, and organizational
transformation via a combination of
70:20:10 learning applications (instruc-
tion, coaching, post-session application,
and leadership involvement).
FACTS—DDILEARNINGJOURNEYDESIGN
1
FACTS
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved.

2. > Spans boundaries, promoting networking
and relationship-building.
> Produces new perspectives, self-aware-
ness and insight, a common leadership
language, and mastery of leadership skills.
> Helps optimize the innovations and
flexibility built into DDI’s leadership
development systems, Interaction
Management®
: Exceptional Leaders
(IM: ExLSM
) and Business Impact
Leadership®
—to expand, refresh,
apply, and track learning.
> Provides clear pathways of action
for immediate application by your
organization.
THE DETAILS
Learning Journey creation requires a
methodology rooted in instructional design
and organizational development principles.
It is based upon the strategic and cultural
challenges facing the organization, and the
actions leaders need to take to drive the
business forward.
“My expectation for the Learning Journey
design session was that we would use a
sound design methodology that would
result in a good outcome ...[Still], the
Learning Journey design session
exceeded my expectations.”
“The session was compelling, efficient,
and we were pleasantly surprised by the
rigor of the approach. The best part was
that WE drove the outcome of our design.”
– Deb Sinta, Director of Talent, Hillshire
Brands (formerly Sara Lee)
DDI utilizes a collaborative design process
to create a Learning Journey. In working ses-
sions,key stakeholders,program managers,
and a DDI Learning Journey design expert
work closely together throughout a series of
phases to gain a common understanding of
your organization’s unique business needs.
Phase 1: Organizational Landscape
Exploration
During this phase of the Learning Journey,
stakeholders and design experts engage in
fact-finding to:
> Understand Your Business: Key strategic
priorities for the organization, competitive
challenges, cultural issues, leadership
competencies, objectives and benefits
of the program, expected challenges and
barriers, and the support leaders need to
make the journey a success.
> Analyze the Audience: Development
gaps for the target audience, past develop-
ment experiences, and the context for
development investment.
> Confirm Parameters: Timings for the
initiative, audience size, delivery modali-
ties (e.g., instructor-led, virtual and
web-based options), alignment with
other systems and processes, and
customization requirements.
Phases 2 & 3: Configuration
Framework & Learning Journey Design
Armed with the results of Phase I discussions,
designers and stakeholders investigate the
implications of incorporating new design
elements into existing talent management
and development initiatives. New learning
components from DDI’s Interaction
Management®
and Buiness Impact Leadership®
are explored,including:
> Formal Learning: Instructor-led and
self-study courses, and knowledge gained
through reading, webinars, and other
sources of information. This category
includes traditional and virtual classroom
courses as well as web-based training.
> Informal Learning: Activities that are
incorporated before, during, or after for-
mal development. These activities include
FACTS—DDILEARNINGJOURNEYDESIGN
2
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved.

3. learning from others and learning from
on-the-job experience. Many learning
activities fall into this category, including:
– Development Accelerators (part of the
Interaction Management®
system).
– Virtual or in-person sessions to deter-
mine what is and isn’t going well.
– On-the-job assignments/
work experiences.
– Simulations and games in the context
of real-world leadership situations.
– Learning 2.0 and social media options.
– New content to extend learning.
– Executive speakers.
– Peer learning groups to increase
learning accountability and strengthen
networks.
– Manager meetings.
> Diagnostics: Initial assessments (group
and individual) and measurement after
the formal learning component. Activities
in this category can be used to evaluate
the effectiveness and impact of a Learning
Journey. Diagnostics tools include:
– Self-assessments to promote
learning insight.
– Feedback surveys around critical skills.
– Behavioral assessments.
– Program evaluation and measurement
of impact.
The product of the design session includes
a unique Learning Journey design map,struc-
tured in accordance with the principles of
70:20:10. Additional supporting materials
provide documentation of the organizational
landscape discussions and design implica-
tions that emerged during the design session.
Last,but not least,we gauge the appropriate
level of project management support you’ll
need as your journey moves from design
through implementation.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Program managers and senior stakeholders
for leadership development initiatives.
RELATED SOLUTIONS
> Business Impact Leadership®
: Mid-Level
Leader Series.
> Interaction Management®
: Exceptional
Leaders Series (IM: ExLSM
)
> Interaction Management®
:Exceptional
Leaders ...Extraordinary Results®
(IM:EX®
)
> Interaction Management®
: Exceptional
Performers (IM: ExPSM
)
DDI’s many assessment options gauge
strengths and needs to guide development.
TO LEARN MORE
Contact your DDI representative or visit
www.ddiworld.com.
FACTS—DDILEARNINGJOURNEYDESIGN
3
MKTIMFS18-0713 © Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved.
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