Strengthen the strategic value of your academy

What makes an academy high-performing?

A High Performance Academy is not defined by the volume of courses it delivers or a fixed maturity score. Rather than acting as a reactive course provider, its true strength lies in its ability to continually align learning and capability development with evolving business strategy.

To understand how business schools achieve and maintain this strategic alignment, François T. Walgering conducted research at leading organizations at Nyenrode Business University. The findings show that this alignment depends on how well four types of core capital are interconnected:

At the centre is alignment capability: the ability to keep these Capitals working together as priorities and technologies change.

Evaluating and reconnecting these assets is what turns a traditional corporate academy into a High Performance Academy. L&D leaders continuously navigate tensions between personalisation and standards, centralisation and co-creation, stability and flexibility, and automation and judgement.

The framework draws on qualitative research by François T. Walgering at Nyenrode Business University

Would you like to take a look at the scientific methodology behind the model?

View the HPA Research Digest

When the Capitals reinforce one another, L&D can focus its resources on the capabilities that matter, build shared ownership and make its contribution more visible across the organisation.

Based on this framework, we designed the HPA programme for Heads of Academy and senior L&D leaders.

How the HPA Program Works

The HPA programme helps your academy to create greater value for the organisation and makes that contribution more visible and recognised.

Throughout the programme, Next Learning Valley supports implementation, evaluation and recalibration: combining strategic advice with expertise in learning, data, AI and technology.

What You'll Get Out of It

You gain a shared roadmap backed by the executive board, ensuring your team’s time and resources are focused directly on the capabilities that drive your strategy forward.

We have built digital learning solutions for large organisations across government, financial services, healthcare and higher education for more than 10 years

Why this is important for your academy

Even strong academies can lose relevance when learning is disconnected from business priorities. Without ongoing alignment:

The HPA programme helps your academy address these challenges with executive involvement, shared ownership and focused action.

HPA scan: discover where your academy stands

The HPA-scan is an organisation-wide diagnostic that brings together perspectives from executives, managers, employees and academy professionals into one clear dashboard. Rather than ranking your performance or acting as a rigid audit, the scan highlights where expectations align and where they drift apart. It gives the executive board and the academy an honest, common picture, so you can stop guessing and focus budget on what actually needs resolving.