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How Do You Teach Innovation? - What to Know About Design Thinking - What Really Happens in Executive Education - Learning at McKinsey - Schoolhouse Stock
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EDITOR’S LETTER
It’s a Brand New Ballgame
S
ummer’s here and that means baseball season is in full swing in North America. But when it comes to baseball terminology, it always feels like July. No matter the season, workplace conversations are littered with sayings and expressions pulled straight from America’s pastime. Salespeople “hit it out of the park” when they land a big new client. Bosses congratulate a young colleague on a big promotion with “welcome to the big league.” Product managers make sure to “cover all the bases” in preparation for a successful launch. Bad quarterly results “throw a curveball” at executives. The list drags on and on, deep into extra innings. But arguably the most apt baseball-ism on that list for CLOs is: “It’s a brand new ballgame.” That particular phrase gets tossed around when a team rallies from behind to tie the score in dramatic fashion, usually when a player digs in at the plate, stares back at the pitcher and then knocks one out of the park.
to pull insights from it. You have powerful systems and platforms to drive change and do it fast. The incentive to change is there. Like a manager in the final inning of a tight game, business leaders feel the competition breathing down their necks and recognize how important talent is to their success. But a new ballgame calls for a shift in mindset and a change in tactics. “We don’t own content and aren’t managing learning,” Tamar told the audience in Atlanta. That power long ago shifted from the learning department to individual employees. So what does that mean for the work of CLOs? There’s a whole lot of fundamental baseball that still needs to be played, from administering learning programs to ensuring successful results. But there’s a compelling case made by Tamar and other forward-looking executives for learning leaders to focus on the bigger game — identifying top talent, creating powerful employee experiences, building a robust talent ecosystem that incorporates assessment, development and rewards, and building on company culture. Innovation and change are what’s on deck for CLOs. That’s also at the heart of our report on executive education. Traditional executive education rightly takes aim at the fundamentals of running a global business. Organizations need leaders schooled in business operaAs a CLO, it’s easy to feel like you’re up to bat in tions, sales and marketing, leadership and general manthe late innings, behind in the count and your team agement. But programs should also focus on the role down a couple of runs. Employees are on their feet executives play in driving innovation across the organiloudly clamoring for more development in increasing- zation. Concepts like design thinking can play a larger ly creative ways. Skeptical bosses are looking at you role in how companies prepare the leaders of the future. from the dugout, itching to signal for the squeeze play The growing role of CLOs at the center of the talon your learning budget. Armchair critics watch safely ent agenda is also at the heart of the Fall CLO Sympofrom the sofa at home, ready to relentlessly pick apart sium+PLUS taking place this October in California. your next move no matter the result. We’ve developed a program aimed squarely at the evoBut rather than let the pressure get to you, see it as an lution of learning executives into the broader realm of opportunity — a chance to achieve success, grow and talent management and organizational performance. simply have some fun. “Never let the pressure exceed It’s no longer just about courses and curriculum. the pleasure,” was one of the sayings of Joe Maddon, As Tamar told the audience in Atlanta: “Your job manager of the Chicago Cubs, as he led my favorite isn’t to track training.” Learning should drive the talteam to its first World Series title in 108 years in 2016. ent agenda. It’s integral to the employee experience. It’s Tamar Elkeles, chief talent executive at private equity a brand new ballgame for learning. CLO firm Atlantic Bridge Capital, made a similar point during a speech at the 2017 ATD International Conference in Atlanta. Talent is at the center of business growth, she said, and CLOs have a golden opportunity to lead the talent agenda. Mike Prokopeak You have unprecedented access to vast stores of em- Editor in Chief ployee and business data and powerful analytical tools mikep@CLOmedia.com
Changing conditions call for a new approach to learning and development.
4 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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JULY/AUGUST 2017 | VOLUME 16, ISSUE 6 PRESIDENT John R. Taggart jrtag@CLOmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT, CFO, COO Kevin A. Simpson ksimpson@CLOmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT, GROUP PUBLISHER Clifford Capone ccapone@CLOmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT, EDITOR IN CHIEF Mike Prokopeak mikep@CLOmedia.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Rick Bell rbell@CLOmedia.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Frank Kalman fkalman@CLOmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andie Burjek aburjek@CLOmedia.com Lauren Dixon ldixon@CLOmedia.com COPY EDITOR Christopher Magnus cmagnus@CLOmedia.com VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER Andrew Kennedy Lewis alewis@CLOmedia.com EDITORIAL INTERNS Ariel Parrella-Aureil aparrella@CLOmedia.com Marygrace Schumann
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PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Nina Howard nhoward@CLOmedia.com VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS Trey Smith tsmith@CLOmedia.com EVENTS MARKETING MANAGER Anthony Zepeda azepeda@CLOmedia.com WEBCAST MANAGER Alec O’Dell aodell@CLOmedia.com
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MANAGER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Brian Lorenz blorenz@CLOmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Cindy Cardinal ccardinal@CLOmedia.com DIGITAL MANAGER Lauren Lynch llynch@CLOmedia.com
CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Cushing Anderson, Program Director, Learning Ser vices, IDC Frank J. Anderson Jr., ( Ret.) President, Defense Acquisition Universit y Cedric Coco, EVP, Chief People Of ficer, Brookdale Senior Living Inc. Lisa Doyle, Vice President, Learning and Development, Lowe’s Cos. Inc. Tamar Elkeles, Chief Talent Executive, Atlantic Bridge Capital Thomas Evans, ( Ret.) Chief Learning Of ficer, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ted Henson, Senior Strategist, Oracle Gerry Hudson-Martin, Director, Corporate Learning Strategies, Business Architects Kimo Kippen, Vice President, Global Workforce Initiatives, Hilton Worldwide Rob Lauber, Vice President, Chief Learning Of ficer, McDonald’s Corp. Maj. Gen. Erwin F. Lessel, ( Ret.) U.S. Air Force, Director, Deloit te Consulting Justin Lombardo, ( Ret.) Chief Learning Of ficer, Baptist Health Adri Maisonet-Morales, Vice President, Enterprise Learning and Development, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Alan Malinchak, CEO, Éclat Transitions LLC and STRATactical LLC Lee Maxey, CEO, MindMax Jeanne C. Meister, Author and Independent Learning Consultant Bob Mosher, Senior Par tner and Chief Learning Evangelist, APPLY Synergies Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President, The Conference Board Allison Rossett, ( Ret.) Professor of Educational Technology, San Diego State Universit y Diana Thomas, CEO and Founder, Winning Results Annette Thompson, Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Of ficer, Farmers Insurance David Vance, Executive Director, Center for Talent Repor ting Kevin D. Wilde, Executive Leadership Fellow, Carlson School of Management, Universit y of Minnesota Chief Learning Officer (ISSN 1935-8148) is published monthly, except bi-monthly in January/February and November/December by MediaTec Publishing Inc., 111 E. Wacker Dr., Suite 1200, Chicago IL 60601. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Chief Learning Officer, P.O. Box 8712 Lowell, MA 01853. Subscriptions are free to qualified professionals within the US and Canada. Digital free subscriptions are available worldwide. Nonqualified paid subscriptions are available at the subscription price of $199 for 12 issues. All countries outside the US and Canada must be prepaid in US funds with an additional $33 postage surcharge. Single price copy is $29.95 Chief Learning Officer and CLOmedia.com are the trademarks of MediaTec Publishing Inc. Copyright © 2016, MediaTec Publishing Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of material published in Chief Learning Officer is forbidden without permission. Printed by: Quad/Graphics, Sussex, WI
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CONTENTS J
uly/August
2017
22 Profile Learning on the Line Bravetta Hassell CLO John Palmer is helping AT&T compete in a transformed telecommunications market by reskilling the workforce.
48 Case Study Learning Never Ends at McKinsey Sarah Fister Gale Ongoing learning aims to ensure consultants know the answer before clients even ask.
52 Business Intelligence Forget Me Not So Much Matt Bingham Productivity is impaired by a lack of information retention and companies aren’t giving employees the tools to remember. ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY STEWART COHEN PHOTOGRAPHY
8 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
July/August 2017
CONTENTS
38 28
30
SPECIAL REPORT: Executive Education
28
Experts 10 IMPERATIVES
Innovation and Executive Education
30 How Do You Teach Innovation? Sarah Fister Gale
Soren Kaplan
38 Why Executives Should Learn Design Thinking Sarah Fister Gale
41 Culture is Key to Sustained Design Thinking Kellye Whitney
Features
42
Elliott Masie When Learners Become Teachers
12 SELLING UP, SELLING DOWN
37 The Future of Executive Development is Here
18
48
Bob Mosher Trainers: Unsung Learning Culture Heroes
14 LEADERSHIP
Ken Blanchard It’s Time for a Different Leadership Model
16 ACCOUNTABILITY
Jack J. Phillips & Patti P. Phillips Let Design Thinking Drive Business Results
50 IN CONCLUSION
Schoolhouse Stock Marina Theodotou Investing in K-12 teacher development can lead to improved student engagement and defray corporate learning costs down the road.
What Really Happens in Executive Coaching? Madeleine Homan-Blanchard Coaches play different roles for different clients. But in most scenarios, the objective is to build self-awareness, get clear on priorities and work out how to get things done with and through others.
Heidi K. Gardner Collaboration: Necessary, Not Evil
Resources 4 Editor’s Letter
It’s a Brand New Ballgame
57 Advertisers’ Index
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IMPERATIVES
When Learners Become Teachers
Questions surface, steps are reinforced and confidence levels rise • BY ELLIOTT MASIE
L Elliott Masie is the chairman and CLO of The Masie Center’s Learning Consortium and CEO of The Masie Center, an international think tank focused on learning and workplace productivity. To comment, email editor@ CLOmedia.com.
et’s say your learners have successfully finished a course or learning activity. They have demonstrated their mastery of the content, skills and even behaviors in the educational environment, digital or face to face. Now comes the important element — transferring what they learned to the workplace. The literature is filled with important transfer tools, including managerial attention/engagement, practice opportunities and even remedial assets that will reinforce the learning objectives. Let me add “Now, teach it to someone else” to the list of transfer tools. There is significant research, including 40 years of work by doctors David and Roger Johnson from the University of Minnesota, that highlights the importance of learners taking their newly acquired knowledge and teaching it to someone else. The learner may be confident or uncertain about their new content, but once they are asked to teach, an internal process of cognitive rehearsal and self-listening occurs. The learner as teacher goes through these steps: • Restating in their own words: Transfer requires the learner to make the new information their own. When they have to explain a complicated theory to someone else, they will reduce, reframe and reword it to something that makes sense to themselves. • Listening to reinforce understanding: The learner hears their own words as they explain things to others. This listening is clarifying and will help them understand what they know clearly versus what gets stuck on the way out. • New questions surface as they reteach: The learner understands or surfaces questions as they explain the content to another person. Their own questions pop up as they explain it, and they hear good questions from other people. • Steps are reinforced: Learners often slice the complexity of the content into a simpler format. But during that process, key steps can be forgotten. Reteaching seems to increase a learner’s awareness of the complex aspects of the new information. • They do emotional framing: They may have learned a new process for safety procedures in a manufacturing environment. This process has both intellectual and emotional dimensions. As learner becomes teacher, they may get in touch with a more personal dimension of the behavior.
10 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
• Sketching counts: Often, a learner will draw or sketch a diagram as they reteach. These illustrations are quite powerful to help the new learner integrate and transfer new elements or processes. • Levels of confidence rise: The process of reteaching can move a learner from unconsciously competent to consciously competent.
The process creates a post-learning experience that actually cements new content. In elementary school classrooms, the concept of asking the students to learn and then reteach is used very effectively. The learners approach their learning differently when they know they will be asked to explain it to others. This process is so important for transfer because it creates a post-learning experience that actually cements new content into the learner as teacher. The other aspect of reteaching the content is that it can be leveraged into a new phase of course evaluation. Asking a learner about the class is quite different once they have had to teach the content to another worker. Learning leaders might ask the following questions: • What changes to the course structure would you suggest? • How do you rank the elements of the content according to your confidence in using and reteaching them to others? • What language, vocabulary or concepts continue to be confusing or complex for you? • What illustrations or job aids would have helped you implement the content or teach it to others in the workplace? • What frequently asked questions would you suggest we add to the content, based on your questions and questions from others? The learner can teach it to someone who already has the competency as part of their process to gain final readiness on the new content. I like that. CLO
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SELLING UP, SELLING DOWN
Trainers: Unsung Learning Culture Heroes You have master communicators at your disposal. Use them • BY BOB MOSHER
W Bob Mosher is a senior partner and chief learning evangelist for APPLY Synergies, a strategic consulting firm. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.
ith all the shiny new tools in our industry, the ones that remain, and will for the foreseeable future, are the trainers. They grace our classrooms with their knowledge, engaging personalities and remarkable presentation skills. Of course, I’ve known my share who didn’t survive. Many couldn’t adapt to the changing requirements and formats the classroom has taken on over the years. The classroom has been blended, flipped, virtualized and condensed. Adapting to those changes has been a challenge, but exceptional instructors remain a learning modality with a profound impact on our learners. With such a longstanding track record, obviously, they’re an integral part of our overall learning and performance strategy, right? Wrong. I’ve been part of a yearlong benchmarking effort tracking innovative new learning approaches. Change management and an effective communication strategy are key to these efforts being successful. When I and the other participants asked how well-versed key stake-
Trainers need to be included in the selection and design of new, emerging learning tools. holders were in this new initiative, trainers were the least informed. They would be brought in later since this learning strategy was targeted at post-classroom learning. With the many new learning and support approaches emerging in our industry, the strategy might not always involve the classroom at all. That’s not the right tactic to take. We need to be careful not to confuse usage with adoption and acceptance. Learning in a new way, especially ways we hope the learner will initiate on their own, takes a lot of practice and courage. Independent learning, for instance, is a learned skill, and many of the current learning ecosystems are based on a dependent model where learners wait passively to attend or login to an event, or waste vast amounts of time bothering others. Changing this 12 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
culture alongside emerging learning modalities is key to their acceptance and ultimate adoption. Who better to teach effective independent learning outside the classroom than those who are entrusted with it when learners are inside the classroom? Trainers are often a learner’s first exposure to an organization’s learning culture. How they view it, reinforce it and teach it can be critical to the success of most learning initiatives. You want performance support to be used in the workflow, teach it in the classroom. You want artificial intelligence to be feel safe and applicable, bring the headsets into the classroom. You want coaching and mentoring programs to integrate seamlessly and efficiently on the job, use coaches and mentors in the classroom. Why would a learner risk using any of the aforementioned learning modalities while trying to survive at work if their instructors don’t feel they’re helpful enough to be used when learning starts in a classroom? Trainers need to be included early and often in the selection and design of new or emerging tools. Even though these tools may be far removed from the classroom, their adoption will begin when they are taught, tested and even when they fail. Where better for that to occur than in the safety of the classroom with a gifted instructor guiding learners through it? For this to happen the classroom itself needs to be designed in such a way that introducing these new approaches aligns with the way content is taught. They can’t be an add-on or something demonstrated at the end of a class. They need to be an integral part of the learning experience. At times they should be seen as more important than mastery of the content itself. Content will be lost, forgotten and not applied immediately, but many support and independent learning tools live in the workflow. They can be the tie that binds the classroom experience to employees applying all that they’ve learned. That should take precedence, and the trainer needs to know and understand that. An effective communication plan is key to an effective change management initiative. Who better to be at the forefront of that plan than the master communicators themselves, your trainers? Let them lead the change and guide your learners to become more self-reliant with their initial and ongoing learning. Trainers are key to the success of these efforts and the adoption of new learning tools. CLO
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LEADERSHIP
It’s Time for a Different Leadership Model Traditional leadership hierarchies, you are officially on notice • BY KEN BLANCHARD
T Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and coauthor of “Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster.” To comment, email editor@ CLOmedia.com.
oo many leaders have been conditioned to think of leadership only in terms of power and control. But there is a better way to lead — one that combines equal parts serving and leading. This kind of leadership requires a special kind of leader — a servant leader. In this model, leaders assume a traditional role to set the vision, direction and strategy for the organization. Once the vision and direction are set, the leaders turn the organizational pyramid upside down so that they serve the middle managers and front-line people who serve the customer. Let’s take a closer look at what a servant leader does. All good leadership begins with establishing a compelling vision for your organization that tells people who you are (your purpose), where you’re going (your picture of the future) and what will guide your journey (your values). The traditional hierarchical pyramid is effective to set the vision and direction — the leadership aspect of servant leadership. Kids look to their parents, players look to their coaches, and people look to their organizational leaders so that everyone is aligned and working together toward the same desired end. While leaders should involve experienced people in this phase of leadership, the ultimate responsibility remains with the leaders themselves and cannot be delegated. Once people are clear on where they’re going, the leader’s role shifts to a service mindset for the task of implementation — the servant aspect of servant leadership. The question now is: How do we live according to the vision and accomplish established goals? Many organizations and leaders get into trouble during implementation. With self-serving leaders at the helm, the traditional hierarchical pyramid is kept alive and well. When that happens, who do people think they work for? The people above them. All of the organization’s energy moves up the hierarchy, away from customers and front-line folks who are closest to the action. When there is a conflict between what customers want and what the boss wants, the boss wins. Servant leaders know how to correct this situation by philosophically turning the traditional hierarchical pyramid upside down. When that happens, who is at the top of the organization? The customer contact people. Who is really at the top of the organization? The customers. Top management is at the bottom. As a result, when it comes to implementation, leaders serve
14 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
their people, who serve the customers. This change may seem minor, but it makes a major difference between who is responsible and who is responsive. I’ll never forget when my daughter, Debbie, was in college and working at Nordstrom. One day over lunch, she said, “Dad, I have a really unusual boss. At least two or three times a day, he asks me, ‘Debbie, is there any way I can help you?’ He acts like he works for me!’ ” I smiled and said, “That’s exactly right, Debbie. At Nordstrom, you’re able to say ‘no problem’ to a cus-
Combine both serving and leading to create great results and great human satisfaction. tomer without checking with your boss. That’s why they’re known for their great service mindset.” When servant leadership is in action, the vision and direction — the leadership aspect of servant leadership — is the traditional hierarchy’s responsibility. Implementation — the servant aspect of servant leadership — is about turning the hierarchy upside down, helping everyone throughout the organization win and creating raving fan customers. In “Good to Great,” Jim Collins sets up an interesting metaphor using a mirror in the corner office to explain the difference between a servant leader and a self-serving leader. When things are going well in an organization run by a self-serving leader, this type of leader tends to look in the mirror, beat on their chest, and declare, “Look at what I’ve accomplished.” But when things go wrong, this leader looks out the window to see who’s to blame for the failure. Servant leaders approach it differently. When things go wrong, they look in the mirror and consider what they could have done differently. When things go well, they look out the window to see who they can praise. What kind of leader would you rather work for? By combining equal parts serving and leading, a servant leader creates a balance that creates both great results and great human satisfaction. Leaders who serve are the leaders we need today. CLO
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ACCOUNTABILITY
Let Design Thinking Drive Business Results Value creation vs. value capture builds learning • BY JACK J. PHILLIPS AND PATTI P. PHILLIPS
W
Jack J. Phillips is the chairman, and Patti P. Phillips is president and CEO of the ROI Institute. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.
hen it comes to delivering results from learning and talent development programs, the key focus is on the business value for these programs. Unfortunately, not many organizations measure at this level. When measurements are taken, the evaluation team may face disappointing results. They discover that the process breaks down at various stages. In short, it wasn’t designed to drive business results. This is a persistent problem, but it can be corrected with design thinking. Design thinking is a relatively new concept for innovation. It empowers a team to tackle and solve complex problems using a systematic process with cost containment as a focus. A design thinking approach represents a change in how learning leaders initiate, develop and implement talent development. It places the focus on value creation, instead of value capture, because the learning is built for business value. The concept is very simple. At every stage in the process — as each stakeholder completes his or her part — a learning program is designed with the end in mind, and the end is business results. This transforms the classic learning and development cycle into a design thinking model for business results, with eight steps. 1. Start with why. Align programs with the business. The why becomes the business need, and the proposed program is aligned to a specific measure.
to push accountability to the business impact level. With reaction, learning, application and impact objectives, designers, developers, facilitators, participants and managers of participants know what they must do to deliver results. 4. Make it matter. Design for input, reaction and learning. This ensures the right people are involved at the right time, and that the content is important, meaningful and actionable. 5. Make it stick. Design for application and impact. This ensures a participant actually uses the learning and that it has an impact. Results are measured at both application and impact levels. Barriers must be removed or minimized, and enablers should be enhanced to drive results. 6. Make it credible. Measure results and calculate ROI. The first action is to isolate program effects in the impact data. If ROI is planned, the next action is to convert data to money. Then the monetary benefits are compared to program costs in an ROI calculation. This builds two sets of data that sponsors will appreciate: business impact connected directly to the program and the financial ROI, which is calculated the same way a CFO would calculate a capital investment. 7. Tell the story. Communicate results to key stakeholders — reaction, learning, application, impact and perhaps even ROI data form the basis for a powerful story. Storytelling is critical, and it’s a much better story when you have business impact. 8. Optimize results. Use black box thinking to increase funding. This involves improving the program so that the ROI increases in the future. Increased ROI makes a great case for more funds. When funders — executives — see the program has a positive return on investment, it will be repeated, retained and supported. So, there you have it, a simple system to use design thinking to deliver results. It’s not a radical 2. Make it feasible. Select the right learning solu- change, but it involves tweaking what we’ve been dotion. It will drive the business measure. ing. It shifts the responsibility to drive business re3. Expect success. Design for results. Learning sults to all stakeholders. It also redefines learning sucsuccess is now defined as, “Participants are using cess. It’s not just absorbing skills and knowledge, or the learning, driving important business impact even using them in your work. Learning is now demeasures in their work units.” Objectives are set fined as driving impact in the organization. CLO
At every stage in the process a learning program is designed with the end in mind, and the end is business results.
16 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
Schoolhouse Stock Investing in K-12 teacher development can lead to improved student engagement and defray corporate learning costs down the road.
18 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
BY MARINA THEODOTOU
T
PHOTO: STOCK IMAGE
here is a recurring worry in the corporate business community — how to distill learning into skills and how those skills align with what employers need talent to be able to do in the workplace. And talent, CEOs say, is what will distinguish an organization from its competition, according to the 2017 PwC “CEO Survey.” However, the best way to develop the right employees may be to go beyond corporate learning in the workplace. Learning and development leaders spend nearly all of their time and effort developing talent, concurrently managing the cost of learning per employee and optimizing learning ROI. But this talent development activity only happens after an employee sets foot into a specific organization. What about all the learning and skills this individual receives before arriving in the workplace? What impact could learning leaders have if they weighed in as far back as K-12 where the foundations of all learning and skills take place? The key learning metric in the K-12 environment is student achievement. It is defined as the amount of academic content a student learns in a determined amount of time. One
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of the key motivators for student achievement is professional development programs for K-12 teachers. Let’s unpack that. If misalignment of learning and business strategy is a great challenge for the corporate learning community, it is gargantuan for the K-12 professional development arena. Worse, there is a pronounced lack of data and research from which to make strategic improvements. One of the most recent research studies, “Reviewing the Evidence on How Teacher Professional Development Affects Student Achievement,” was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2007; it shows a significant metric that is still relevant today: Teachers who receive quality professional development can positively impact student achievement by 21 percentile points. Look at it like this: A K-12 teacher in the United States typically impacts 25 students in every class. During a career, that teacher touches about 4,000 students’ lives. Thus, the ROI is 25 times greater when investing in K-12 teacher professional development. That doesn’t reflect that teacher’s impact on how those students perform once they are in the workplace, but the two are certainly not unrelated. Corporate learning leaders traditionally focus on developing and delivering quality learning and development programs for their organization’s talent; the goal is to increase performance, productivity and profitability. In the K-12 world, school administrators focus on developing and delivering opportunities for quality professional development programs for teachers who educate the K-12 students who become the talent pool CLOs care about most. Today, CLOs and corporations collaborate heavily with universities to strengthen their talent pools, but they do not seem to engage much — if at all — with K-12 teachers. Yet, that is likely where the conversation and the collaboration needs to begin for a credible and sustainable workforce development debate. One organization, the Computer Science Teachers Association, has embarked on a journey to begin such a conversation. [Editor’s note: The author works for CSTA.] CSTA has more than 25,000 members globally and was developed by the Association for Computing Machinery to engage, empower and advocate for K-12 computer science teachers.
In reviewing the research, CSTA found that a lack of formalized professional development for K-12 computer science teachers endangers the U.S.’ ability to compete in the global economic arena because it results in limited or lagging digital learning for K-12 students. Further — and this is specific to K-12 computer science teachers’ needs — research data released this year from Stanford University, “Recommendations for Designing CS Resource Sharing Sites for All Teachers,” shows that K-12 computer science teachers are facing four key professional development challenges: • It’s difficult to locate and access high quality professional development programs and resources. • They spend a lot of time searching for resources to use in class. • It’s difficult to search for and adapt computer science related content to student needs. • They lack guidance, especially teachers who are new to computer science curriculum. To address these challenges, the CSTA built a professional development pipeline for K-12 computer science teachers. The pipeline will provide every K-12 computer science teacher with access to professional development resources, the ability to earn microcredentialing badges, connect with other computer science teachers anywhere and access and track their professional development. After weeks of research and discussions with several learning and development vendors, CSTA partnered with Degreed, in part because of the analytics their system offered. “But during the initial conversations … we realized that we had to rethink the whole situation,” said Mark Nelson, executive director, CSTA. “Our problem wasn’t in simply providing quality training, it was a workforce development problem. We needed to make sure our workforce was continually learning, growing and had the skills that matched the current market needs to be able to grow talent.” This resonates with the challenges learning and development leaders grapple with in the corporate arena. CSTA’s continuing professional development pipeline addresses the key challenges K-12 computer science teachers face today in their quest for professional development. Specifically, it offers curated pathways for professional development resources across relevant areas specific to computer science, including coding, cybersecurity, data analysis, gaming, mobile and robot-
Since their methods and means are so similar, why don’t more K-12 educators partner with learning leaders to share resources?
20 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
ics, as well as teacher leadership. The pipeline also focuses on a secondary challenge around time consumption with a daily and weekly feed of professional development and computer science-related resources such as books, articles and videos geared toward the teacher’s interests and needs. To deal with the third challenge of adapting content to classroom needs, the CSTA pipeline offers multimodal resources from more than 1,300 providers including universities, Khan Academy, TED Talks and Big Think. Lastly, to tackle the fourth challenge of teachers new to computer science who are seeking guidance, the pipeline offers self-assessments and development pathways for teachers to build their confidence teaching the unfamiliar material in the classroom. Having access to professional development resources enables teachers to enhance their students’ learning experience and subsequently better prepare them for the workplace. This helps to alleviate much of the burden learning leaders face downstream in their often-costly and time-intensive efforts to nurture and develop that same talent. The learning structure and professional development resources offered to the aforementioned K-12 computer science teachers closely mirror solutions corporate learning leaders put together to meet workforce
development needs. Since their methods and means are so similar, why don’t more K-12 educators partner with learning leaders to share resources? One hand washing the other would create better outcomes for both. Further, consider the other side of the demand for professional development for K-12 computer science teachers: the supply of professional development programs. Currently, professional development providers operate in limited geographies, and they face significant challenges in reaching K-12 computer science teachers and administrators. Many are not scaling because they are unable to afford the marketing and communications costs required to reach their intended audiences. The CSTA pipeline will address those challenges by inviting professional development providers on board, after a content and technological readiness vetting process. Then, those vendors can offer their professional development to thousands of K-12 computer science teachers at scale. Partnerships like this, that enable learning vendors to focus on K-12 teacher professional development programs, will have a role to play in the broader learning challenge of upskilling the incoming K-12 continued on page 56
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Profile
Learning on the Line As AT&T transforms its business, John Palmer is ensuring that learning plays a central role in the move to a fully digital future. BY BRAVETTA HASSELL
W
hen John Palmer finished his bachelor’s program in 1999 at Baylor University with a degree in communications, he didn’t know where his career would take him. The Colleyville, Texas native heard promising things about what was then Southwestern Bell Corp. and how the regional phone company treated its people. So, he took a job at its Texas call center in Odessa. Palmer said the West Texas oil town wasn’t his first choice. But there he got to work with people who spent much of their professional lives with the company. These people — a number of whom had spent as many as 20 years at the call center — had a passion for the telephone company and the work, he said. “That immediately solidified my hopes that I would have a lifelong career here at AT&T,” said Palmer, who today is the senior vice president and chief learning officer for AT&T, which emerged following SBC’s acquisition of the company in 2005. Over the course of his career with the company, Palmer has watched products and services like caller ID and voice messaging emerge. He was part of the planning, launch and support for AT&T’s multiservice product U-verse in 2006. In all, he’s been there as the company moved from landline to wireless and digital, and all the while, the company’s learning evolved to meet and deliver on its new capabilities. “When I look at where we are today versus where we were 20 years ago, we have taken leaps and bounds to change the way people learn,” Palmer said. 22 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
Previously, training was longer and more often than not it was instructor-led and not nearly as engaging. Today, training at AT&T exists in many forms. Palmer said that a decade ago, leaders realized that in order to grow and compete, they would need to reenvision how they taught employees. When Randall Stephenson became CEO and chairman of AT&T in 2007, he brought with him a focus to align the workforce around a common culture, strategy and priori-
“Our goal is to make sure our employees understand that their skillsets are continuously transforming as our technologies, our networks and our products and services are transforming.” — John Palmer, CLO, AT&T ties. By then the company had doubled in size following the acquisitions of AT&T, BellSouth and Cingular. About five years ago, with data usage on the company’s network skyrocketing, it embarked on an ambitious plan to further transform what historically
PHOTOS BY STEWART COHEN PHOTOGRAPHY
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Profile was a phone company into a digital-first enterprise. As or get out of the way. AT&T thinks quickly. They Senior Executive Vice President of Human Resources lead the charge. They transform industries. Then Bill Blase and Chief Strategy Officer John Donovan other companies follow them.” found that the workforce lacked the skills needed for the transformation, the vision ignited an organizationwide effort, Workforce 2020, to retool the comPalmer said reskilling work isn’t confined to AT&T’s pany’s nearly 265,000 employees. Coding capabilities technology-focused roles. It includes people in every were just some of the skills needing development discipline at the company, including marketing, fiamong AT&T’s workforce. nance and human resources. Workforce 2020 touches “We knew that engaging and reskilling our current all lines of AT&T’s business, and it approaches reskillemployee base to bring them along was the right thing ing in a variety of ways: With a new learning manageto do for many reasons — ment system that centralizes not least of which was proall of the company’s e-learnviding those who have helped ing; through a portal that to build AT&T an opportuhelps employees map out nity to grow and succeed their careers and understand along with the company,” the skills and training needBlase said. ed; and via partnerships with The vision — to transe-learning companies like form AT&T into a fully digiUdacity and institutions such tal company using cloud as Georgia Tech. technology to deliver many Or, there’s the Personal of its services like internet, Learning Experience platTV and phone — goes to form, which launched this — John Palmer show the distance telecomyear. The platform allows emmunications has traveled. ployees to plan, access, view, “Telecom today means much more today than it did manage and track their learning. It also allows them to 20 or 30 years ago,” said technology analyst and author search for jobs based on their current competencies. Jeff Kagan. Using the company’s Career Intelligence tool, workThe marketplace continues to expand into areas ers can plot out their career, Blase said. Through it, emlike artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, ployees can find out which jobs are experiencing incloud technology and virtual reality. Kagan said Dal- creasing demand, where they are located, the potential las-based AT&T is a leader, doing what it has to in for the role, what skills are needed for it and what steps order to thrive in a market where its competitors in- they need to take to close any learning gaps. Palmer and creasingly look less like traditional phone companies his team have mapped training curriculums to every role and operate more like Amazon. “Companies have a in the organization, so an employee will know exactly choice,” he explained. “They can either lead, follow what learning is needed for a specific job. With that in-
“There’s two huge motivations as to why employees would engage in reskilling … to be more relevant in their existing job or to get that next job that they’re seeking.”
From left: Maryann Albert, AVP of training; Dahna Hull, VP of AT&T University; Gary Gadson, AVP of training; John Palmer, SVP and chief learning officer; Eliska Paratore, VP of AT&T University operations; Ryan Stafford, AVP of training.
24 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
formation, employees can use the portal to actively manager their careers. In 2013, AT&T teamed up with Georgia Tech and Udacity to offer an online master’s degree in computer science as a means to develop future tech talent but also to equip its own employees with critical skills for their business. AT&T invested $2 million to help launch the program, and this spring more than 4,000 students were enrolled in the program — a tenfold increase since its 2014 start. That includes 400 AT&T employees. The program costs about $7,000. AT&T offers tuition to its own workers who enroll. Palmer said that in 2016, the company spent roughly $250 million on employee training and delivered 20 million hours of training to workers. It also provided nearly $34 million in tuition aid for employees pursuing learning outside of AT&T. With the industry in an almost constant state of transformation due to technological advances, learning and development remains a top focus at AT&T, Blase said. Workforce 2020 is simply the latest and perhaps the most expansive manifestation of the company’s belief in the value of learning. “This has been a huge effort and a huge partnership across our entire corporation. It’s not just an HR program,” Palmer explained. “Our goal is to make sure our employees understand that their skillsets are continuously transforming as our technologies, our networks and our products and services are transforming.” Further, Blase said AT&T is doing everything it can to ensure people who want to advance their careers at the company have the tools they need to do so. “Reskilling is not mandatory, but we value it highly. Those who do not participate may be limiting their career options.” Employees who engage in the program can apply their new skills in their current positions or use them to transition to a new one. Palmer and his team also launched what they call a skills pivot program to help facilitate the career advancement some employees seek. If an employee meets certain requirements, they are deemed a skills pivoter — a label the company’s staffing team considers as it recommends candidates for jobs across the organization. Palmer said that a year into executing the skills pivot program, he’s found that employees with this designation are two times more likely than non-pivoters to get new jobs with the company and four to five times more likely to receive promotions. “There’s two huge motivations why employees would engage … to be more relevant in their existing job or to get that next job that they’re seeking,” Palmer said. Ensuring that learning and development at AT&T continues to deliver for the company and its workers
Palmer at AT&T’s Dallas headquarters.
requires Palmer to prioritize program usability, content relevance and training accessibility. He said he’s thinking about how to drive effortless engagement with content, understanding that employees have limited time outside of work. Driving that kind of engagement has involved auditing and simplifying the company’s suite of learning products to make sure the targeted curriculum suggested to workers is what they need. Putting learning in one place also will help. Before the Personal Learning Experience platform launched — Palmer calls it a one-stop shop for training — employees had more than a dozen places to access learning. He is also making sure that learning is accessible to workers wherever they are, at all hours. In addition to efforts to virtualize all instructor-led training, AT&T’s learning function is focused on making training more digestible — taking traditional, web-based courses that may be hours long and breaking them down into smaller video training modules, for instance. As Palmer prioritizes content curation, he said his team is ensuring learners consume the most relevant information by monitoring how they rate content. “If learners are going to commit their time, then we have to make sure that it’s as relevant and effective as possible.” Two things drive his continued commitment to AT&T. Palmer calls them “the what” and “the how.” “What we do has always been extremely exciting and extremely innovative,” he explained. The “how” is an even greater part of that loyalty. “It’s how we treat employees on a daily basis, how we communicate to them in a transparent manner to let them know how our company’s changing and how much they’re valued, and how much we’re willing to invest in people.” CLO Bravetta Hassell is a former Chief Learning Officer associate editor. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com. Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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industryinsights The Ambitious Leader Competitive Advantages of Social Capital By Tim Harnett
“At some point, being good at what you do is going to require more than just being good at what you do. When you reach the point where everyone at your career level is playing for the same table stakes, successful employees will need to bring more to bear — namely an understanding of social capital.” – Dr. John Burrows Social capital, a concept pioneered at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business by professor Ron Burt, Hobart W. Williams professor of sociology and strategy, has fast become a core concept in business as it helps leaders optimize different parts of their organization. Organizations are complex systems that rely on a lot of moving parts to survive. No organization can function without equity (financial capital), employees (human capital) or relationships (social capital). While it might be easy to grasp the necessity of financial and human capital, the benefits of social capital might not be as clear. “At its core, social capital is about the many ways people are tied together,” says Dr. John Burrows, adjunct assistant professor of behavioral science and organizations and strategy at the Booth School of Business.
The Office Fulcrums
Traditional office hierarchies are quite familiar; in a top-down model, the CEO oversees directors, managing managers who manage line-level employees. Social capital argues that organizational
influences aren’t so linear — and staff with more informal connections might have influence in the workplace that otherwise would go unseen. Social capital explains that these nonlinear relationships result in a diffusion of information shared unequally, culminating in highly connected employees having an advantage over others. It is important to understand these relationships so organizations will be able to better harness the collective intelligence of teams and better prepare employees for success.
Applications
Understanding and applying social capital to the workplace has tremendous advantages for employers and employees. “Social capital awareness gives you the tools to lead your team and interact with other departments and organizations differently,” Burrows says. “Because social capital helps us understand how people are connected to one another, in turn, this helps executives lead their teams more effectively.” Social capital can also contribute to identifying decision-makers in more complex organizations. Pinpointing such high-potential targets is essential for the future as older workers retire and highpotential employees move into management and executive roles. And just as social capital helps identify employees, those who understand how to efficiently and ethically manage their social capital will, in turn, be able to help others do the same. Social capital also helps identify decision-makers and influencers in external corporations — often a pain point during negotiations. “As a tool, it provides a means for executives to begin the consideration and how to nudge the formation of social capital to optimize outcomes,” says Burrows. Social capital is also a vital part of the business toolkit later in an employee’s career when executives
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need more than just skills to lead effectively. “At some point, being good at what you do is going to require more than just being good at what you do,” says Burrows. “When you reach the point where everyone at your career level is playing for the same table stakes, successful employees will need to bring more to bear — namely an understanding of social capital.” Helping senior-level executives become more effective leaders is a goal for Chicago Booth Executive Education. In the Strategic Business Leadership program, executives are provided with the tools and frameworks to manage cross-functional, crossorganizational relationships, build social capital and
leverage its competitive advantages, and bridge communication gaps between departments. At the end of the five-day program, executives will put their learning to the test and participate in an interactive digital training module to practice organizational strategy within assigned groups. Participants will experience firsthand the complexities of their group dynamic and decision-making while attempting to identify key players. Strategic Business Leadership will be held on November 6-10, 2017, at the Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago. To learn more about this program, and to watch a preview of Dr. Burrows discussing social capital, visit www.chicagobooth.edu/sbl.
Chicago Booth Executive Education programs are centrally located at Gleacher Center — in the heart of downtown Chicago.
28 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
SPECIAL REPORT Innovation and
Executive Education For most companies, workforce development needs center on building a competitive edge. Leaders want to find that next big product or service that will launch their company to the front of the line. Leaders want to innovate and they want their workers to do the same because it’s necessary for their survival. But to innovate requires a systemic way to consider and to solve problems. This special report will discuss how organizations are developing those creative, problem-solving skills and promoting that innovative mindset among executives. Leaders — and to a large degree their direct reports — have to be well-versed in business experimentation, design thinking and a coterie of related skills to help them drive a culture of innovation throughout their organizations. CLO
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How Do You Teach Innovation? Give executives the tools and space they need to solve realworld problems with new and different solutions.
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BY SAR AH FISTER GALE
I
n a marketplace where consumers expect every brand experience to be as easy as hailing a Lyft, and as delightful as a Unicorn Frappuccino, companies must be constantly ready to adapt to the ever-changing whims of their audience. To do that they need a workforce that has the skills to solve customer problems by creating new and more innovative products and services. This need is changing the way business leaders think about talent development and the core skills they need in the workforce. Where companies once achieved success by being efficient and effective, in the future
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success will be defined by companies that prioritize in- The Right Combination of Skills novative thinking to meet customer needs. If companies want to deliver these kinds of It’s not just about teaching people to create great game-changing products and services they need to products, said David Robertson, senior lecturer at the provide executives with the skills and the opportuMIT Sloan School of Management on innovation and nities to innovate. It is harder than it sounds, Robproduct design. ertson said. You “It’s about teachcan’t just send ing them to idenexecutives to a tify real problems self-paced online in the customer innovation class value chain, then and expect them to build solutions to start churning that solve them,” out new product said Robertson, ideas. Innovation also host of the on its own is not SiriusXM weekly a skill. Rather it’s — Sergio Flores, electronics engineer in the Next radio show “Innothe outcome of a Generation Product R&D Lab, Samsung Electronics vation Navigablend of skills tion.” Companies that can do it have the potential to that includes lateral thinking, problem solving, become leaders in their industries — while those that collaboration, communication, risk taking and recan’t risk joining the likes of Kodak, Blockbuster and silience to obstacles. other formerly successful companies that ultimately Building this skillset requires training, mentofailed because they did not evolve in response to ring and real world experiences that together changing times. teach employees how to figure out what customers want, and then think strategically about how Customer Comes First to give it to them. In Deloitte’s 2017 “Human Capital Trends” report, To do that, Robertson said learning leaders 94 percent of executives reported that “agility and col- should bring customers and executives together laboration” — two key skills at the core of innovation as part of the learning process. Then executives — are critical to their organization’s success. Yet only 6 can talk to real end-users about the challenges percent say they are “highly agile today.” they face, and use that feedback as a starting This is likely because creating an agile workforce point to effective and fruitful brainstorming. and corporate culture with a continuous eye on in- “They need to learn to ask questions in context, novation isn’t easy. It requires employees who are and to build solutions that address how the prodmotivated, empowered and trained to brainstorm uct will be used.” solutions to problems their customers may not He said part of the problem — why there is a even know they face, or that they aren’t facing yet. lack of innovative thinking and practice in the work“Making that connection to customer need is the place — is related to the academic system, which key to real innovation,” said Robertson. As an ex- rarely requires students to collaborate to solve reample, he pointed to the difference between Sony’s al-world problems. “It’s hard to get students who Action Cam video cameras and GoPro action cam- have never worked to listen to and reflect on user eras. While Sony may deliver better quality video, challenges,” he said, noting that even MBAs spend he said GoPro has been far more successful because more time memorizing complex formulaic equait was designed to address customers’ desire to film tions than they do learning the empathy skills needthemselves in action. ed to come up with a better approach. By giving users ways to mount the camera on helTo close this gap, companies should consider mets, bikes — even on their dogs — and to rapidly integrating more real world projects into their edit and share footage, GoPro solved a real problem, learning curriculum, said Liz Glaser, director of fulfilled a marked customer desire and subsequently integrated talent management for Pitney Bowes, won massive customer market share (48 percent to So- the e-commerce solutions company headquarny’s 8 percent in 2015, according to investment re- tered in Stamford, Connecticut. This is especially search and analytics company Market Realist. “Sony important for millennials, who like to underhad every advantage in the marketplace,” Robertson stand the context of the work they do, and don’t said. “But GoPro started with what the customer want to spend hours listening to lectures and wanted, and that’s how they came out ahead.” looking at slides, she said.
“You can’t solve problems purely through inspiration. You have to have a system in place that helps you apply that knowledge in new ways.”
32 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
empowering adj. \əm∙`pou∙(ə)riNG\
“The moment I realized my organizational goals were Wharton’s priority.”
Define your Wharton partnership. When you partner with Wharton Executive Education, you have the full force of our world-renowned faculty and innovative learning methodologies behind you. It starts with a needs assessment of your objectives and results in customized learning solutions that drive an immediate, measurable impact for your employees—and your organization. And throughout the process, we are committed to helping you meet your goals and dedicated to your success.
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Learning Solutions for Organizations:
CUSTOM PROGRAMS OPEN ENROLLMENT ONLINE LEARNING
How to Choose an Executive Education Partner Executive education is one of the most important learning programs that organizations offer. It’s also one of the biggest challenges. According to Deloitte’s 2017 “Human Capital Trends” report, 80 percent of respondents said leadership development is an important or very important issue, said Bill Pelster, principal with Deloitte Consulting in Seattle. “Yet, we see companies struggling to find effective leadership training, particularly at the most senior levels.” Not every vendor or university will offer the best executive development. Before choosing a partner, learning leaders should consider the following: Define what leadership means for you. Know what you want before evaluating your options, said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan. “Be specific,” he said. For example, to tie learning to company values, define those values. “A lot of companies go looking for executive training options with no idea what they want.” Think about executive development as a pyramid. If a company wants to teach basic leadership skills to the masses, there is a lot of publicly available content to choose from, Pelster said. But as leaders move up the pyramid, look for targeted development, which requires a more tailored approach. Decide how much customization you want — and can afford. “A lot of vendors and faculty have a suite of lectures and case studies they will try to fit to customer needs,” Thornhill said. That’s not bad, but some companies may prefer a partner to dive deep into the company and culture to build custom content. Treat them like a partner. Even if vendors or consultants do most of the training, don’t just sign the papers and hope for the best, Pelster said. Learning leaders should view vendors as an extension of their department. Collaborate with them to transform the company’s leadership vision into a program designed to meet those needs. “Leadership is the most important thing a company does,” he said. “You can’t outsource that.” — Sarah Fister Gale
34 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
To accommodate these young learners, Glaser’s team worked with The Growth Engine Co., an innovation agency in Norwalk, Connecticut, to develop an Early in Career leadership development program for high performers. All of the activities in the 18-month course are hands-on, including workshops on design thinking and problem solving skills, mentoring sessions and a final six-month project where teams of learners solve a real-world challenge submitted by a client, and eventually present their solution to the CEO and leaders from across the company. “It’s a way for them to apply their new skills in a real-world context, and to take pride in the result,” said Bryan Mattimore, co-founder of The Growth Engine Co.
Merge Culture and Innovation Building links between learning and the business also can help create a culture where employees feel empowered to be innovative, which can be challenging, particularly in large companies where innovation often gets strangled by red tape, said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan. “You can teach employees all the skills they need to be innovative, but if they don’t feel encouraged to share their ideas, or fear others will take credit, it won’t work.” This is where executives play a critical role. To avoid crushing innovative thinking, Thornhill believes companies need to train leaders in how to nurture innovative behaviors, and provide them with resources and reward structures — including acknowledgment and ownership of great ideas — that will incite more creative thinking. “Great companies are the ones where people can’t wait to share ideas,” he said. One such company is 3M, the Minnesota manufacturing company where an engineer famously turned a failed airplane adhesive into the basis for Post-it notes. This innovative transformation wasn’t an anomaly, Thornhill said. It was a reflection of a culture
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Helping Graduates Close the Skill Gap Young recruits come to the workplace with few practical skills or experiences. “They’ve read a lot of books by academics who’ve never built anything,” said Charlie Camarda, an American astronaut and senior adviser to NASA’s engineering development group. Camarda was in Russia preparing for his first mission in 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up. He returned to the U.S. to figure out what happened, and realized the culture at NASA was so focused on following rules, people had stopped questioning their processes. So, he developed a training program for young NASA engineers to refocus their approach to problem-solving. The program, Innovative Conceptual Engineering Design, was designed to infuse creative problem-solving and innovation into NASA’s team environment, by actively working to solve difficult problems. The first group of 30 engineers were challenged to figure out how to safely land a landing capsule. “They came up with dozens of ideas,” he said. One of them — use air bags in the capsule — was ultimately incorporated into the Orion space-capsule design. The ICED program was so successful, Camarda took it to universities where NASA recruited engineers. The course later evolved into programming and is now used in colleges and K-12 schools across the U.S. and Finland. “The idea is to create a collaborative environment where kids are taught how to try new ideas, and to learn from their failures,” he explained. “The ability to iterate, optimize and problem-solve is very important,” said Michael Richey, associate technical fellow at the Boeing Co., in Everett, Washington. “These skills are generally not taught in school.” Like NASA, Boeing works with universities to teach engineering skills through real-world challenges. The skills range from how to manage a budget and work with stakeholders, to the benefits of trying lots of ideas quickly to identify the best. Academic partnerships require time and money from corporations, but capacity-building is an important part of maintaining an organization’s future success. Camarda and Richey said any big organization concerned about skills gaps in the workforce should consider developing educational outreach programs. “It’s a small investment that can have a big impact,” Richey said.
— Sarah Fister Gale 36 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
that was consciously designed to give employees the space and incentive they need to be creative. Along with fostering innovative thinking through customer field trips, R&D labs and online forums where employees are encouraged to share ideas, 3M adheres to a 30 Percent Rule, which mandates that 30 percent of each division’s revenues must come from products introduced in the past four years. “Generating innovative solutions is part of their cultural DNA,” Thornhill said. “Employees are expected to generate new ideas and to turn them into new products.” Sergio Flores understands the pressure of being expected to innovate all the time. As an electronics engineer in the Next Generation Product R&D Lab at Samsung Electronics in Seoul, South Korea, his team is constantly developing innovations that haven’t yet been invented, including virtual reality cameras and the next iteration of wearable devices. This means his team is constantly being pushed to test the limits of their knowledge and ability to problem-solve. To ensure they succeed, all of the engineers in the lab are trained on the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, which provides them with a set of tools and principles to solve traditional problems in innovative ways. The theory relies on three skills: • How to systematically identify problems and ideal solutions. • How to concentrate all the resources available to get the most out of less and optimize solutions. • How to overcome obstacles in imperfect solutions by applying approaches that have worked in other disciplines. The training includes development of core problem-solving skills and a review of 40 inventive principles, which are essentially different ways to think about problems. For example, “segmentation” solves a problem by dividing a product into individual parts; this has led to innovations such as Venetian blinds and modular furniture. “Nested doll” involves stacking elements inside each other, which is how we got zoom lenses and seat belt retractors. “These fundamental skills and principles help our people apply creative thinking to their work,” he said. His team also has dedicated members who focus on researching innovation in other industries. Then they share that knowledge with the team during weekly meetings. This helped Flores’ team look beyond the lab for answers, and recently helped them solve a problem with a set of circuits in a motor that kept overheating. Rather than using traditional cooling techniques, they copied a design from the cell phone industry, which uses holes in phone cases to naturally draw air toward the battery to keep it cool. “By looking at the problem through the lens of another industry, we were able to solve it,” he explained. When teams systematize the way members tackle problems, and make knowledge-sharing a formal part of the project culture, it naturally leads to more innovation, Flores said. “You can’t solve problems purely through inspiration. You have to have a system in place that helps you apply that knowledge in new ways.” CLO Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in Chicago. To comment, email editor@ CLOmedia.com.
The Future of Executive Development Is Here at NBCUniversal By Soren Kaplan
Today’s leadership imperative is clear: Uncover new market opportunities, define new business models and drive top-line revenue growth on a sustainable basis — or risk obsolescence. It makes sense. All products, services and even business models become commodities over time. Constant invention and reinvention is the everlasting leadership imperative. Some forward-thinking organizations recognize that executive development itself needs reinvention. These organizations are quickly moving away from traditional executive education into the realm of business innovation. For instance, NBCUniversal is explicitly linking professional development to strategic business growth. Widely known for its successful television networks, motion pictures and theme parks, the company is facing massive change in the media and entertainment landscape thanks to Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and the like. Disruption is everywhere. So, NBCUniversal is investing in its people — strategically. Led by Rebecca Romano, vice president of talent development, and a small team of learning professionals, they have created NBCUniversal’s Talent Lab. The talent lab represents the company’s new mindset regarding the interplay between talent and innovation and includes a high-tech physical space to match. The talent lab isn’t the typical corporate university. It includes tiered programs specifically designed for all levels of the organization as well as key phases of employee and professional development.
That involves everything from the company’s 80-year-old NBCUniversal Page Program for early-career media professionals to programs for senior leaders who are close to transitioning to the executive suite. It’s called a lab because it’s just that — a space where people come together, cross-fertilize ideas, and contribute to one another’s learning. In addition to facilitating professional development, the lab is a mechanism to promote NBCUniversal’s strategy of fostering a “symphony” — or strategic business synergies — across its various businesses and brands. To promote new mindsets and behaviors to grow the top line, the talent lab provides programs specifically geared to senior leaders whose role it is to shape both business strategy and culture. These programs focus on high-potential internal talent viewed as game changers, culture carriers and pioneers for their business. Individuals are recognized by their management and invited to participate based on their current and anticipated strategic roles. Participants in the talent lab’s six-month-long DRIVE program, for example, comprise 25 top executives from across the company’s business portfolio. The group is divided into five cohorts, all focused on a specific enterprise business challenge that requires rethinking the company’s — and industry’s — business model. Cohorts visit parent company Comcast’s Silicon Valley incubator, meet with strategic partners, and share their observations and recommendations with executive management to conclude the program.
Along the way, participants gain new mindsets, strategic frameworks, and tools to use in their day jobs. The result is a one-two punch of real opportunities to transform the industry, and a talent base that returns to drive individual businesses with a more strategic lens focused on business-model innovation and growth. More and more, competitive advantage comes from innovative business models. Leadership development programs that prepare people to shape emerging business models in their industries instill the competencies that can proactively shape the future. Most learning and development leaders have realized successful careers based on highly structured approaches with predictable outcomes. It was the recipe for success. But executive education focused on innovation requires embracing the same principles and practices as the innovation process itself. That means getting comfortable with uncertainty. Iterate. Viewing setbacks as learning. Trusting the process. Those who infuse innovation into the DNA of their models, approaches and the experiences they deliver to emerging leaders in their organizations effectively shape the future of their companies and industries. That is strategic impact. CLO Soren Kaplan is an affiliated professor at USC’s Center for Effective Organizations, founder of InnovationPoint and author “The Invisible Advantage.” Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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Why Executives Should Learn
38 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
Design Thinking Don’t be fooled by the Post-its. Design thinking is more than just colored pencils. Here’s a primer on how it fits into executive education.
BY SAR AH FISTER GALE
D
esign thinking is a problem-solving strategy that encourages the use of imagination, intuition and systemic reasoning to explore new possibilities for solutions. It’s also a lot more fun than a traditional brainstorming session, said Liz Glaser, director of integrated talent management for e-commerce solutions company Pitney Bowes; she teaches design thinking in its Early in Career high performers program. In these workshops — and in many design thinking courses — participants are likely to find piles of
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colored pencils, play dough, toys and white boards covered in colorful drawings, and they are encouraged to use them all for inspiration. “Giving people the ability to be creative is how you find answers,” Glaser explained. “It’s a lot less confining than a traditional learning environment.”
Learn with Toys Sham Desai, director of telesales and digital linkage at Pitney Bowes, completed the EIC course last year. He said at first he was surprised by the toys and coloring tools, but he later found them to surprisingly helpful. “A three-day course can be grueling, but having something simple to play with frees your mind to pay attention,” he explained. He has since applied the philosophy to his own team, providing them with colored pencils and pads of paper at every meeting. “It helps them stay engaged.” A lot of the reasoning behind using these seemingly childish tools has to do with giving people permission to work visually and collaboratively without a predefined outcome, said Shelley Evenson, San Francisco-based managing director of organizational evolution at Fjord, a design and innovation consultancy acquired by Accenture in 2013. “When people are having fun, they think more broadly about solutions, which gets ideas flowing.” Of course, design thinking is more than just fun and games. It is a scientifically tested approach to problem solving that brings together three core elements that are critical to innovation: business needs, technological possibilities and the human element, Evenson said. Her team is dedicated to teaching Accenture employees and clients how to master — Shelley Evenson, managing director design thinking. of organizational evolution, Fjord Combining all three facets — business, technology and human — is how you avoid coming up with innovations that only solve part of a problem, she said. “United Airlines is a great example. They had a solution (removing paying customers to accommodate traveling employees) that ignored the human need.”
“Design thinking is a team sport, so learning how to do it alone online isn’t likely.”
Learn by Doing It’s also helpful when learning occurs within the context of business needs, which is why Evenson’s team is more likely to participate in workshops and team meetings, where participants are trying to solve real-world problems, rather than hosting stand-alone learning sessions. “We want to foster learning by do40 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
ing, and that happens naturally when teams are already working together on a goal,” she said. “We speed the process by embedding people onto these teams who know how to apply design thinking.” While most of these design thinking workshops happen in face-to-face environments, it can be done with online technology — as long as there is a collaboration component, Evenson explained. “Design think-
Design thinking brings together three core elements critical to innovation: business needs, technological possibilities and the human element. ing is a team sport, so learning how to do it alone online isn’t likely.” She points to a recent workshop with the Accenture HR team to envision how the group would enable a new performance achievement culture; it’s a dramatic shift in how the company provides career planning and feedback. To wrap their minds around how the new system would work across the global company, which has almost 400,000 employees, the group designed a blueprint. The blueprint featured all of the dependent business units, technology systems and people involved in the performance achievement process to identify touchpoints and sketch out how they would integrate these otherwise siloed groups. “They had never been able to visualize it before,” Evenson said. “Now they have that blueprint in their limbic systems, and they can picture it every time they make a decision.” Further, teaching employees design thinking in the context of a single project doesn’t just solve that one identified problem or project goal. By giving employees the tools to think more creatively, and guiding them on how they can immediately apply them on the job, those skills become embedded into the work flow, said Bryan Mattimore, co-founder for The Growth Engine Co., an innovation agency in Norwalk, Connecticut. “Once they see how it works, it spreads like a beneficial virus to the rest of the team.” CLO Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in Chicago. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.
Culture is Key to Sustained Design Thinking-based Practice By Kellye Whitney
The concept of testing new ideas is simple — talk to actual customers. But that’s difficult for a lot of companies to do, particularly in the digital age. We want to do online surveys and have digital feedback. But talking to actual customers is one of the cornerstones of design thinking. Seek validation at all levels — when you identify the initial problem or opportunity, to looking at co-design through the solution or Paul Reeder ideation process and then ongoing Innovation is about more than dialogue as a preemptive process to creating something fresh and popular customer service. in the marketplace. It can mean CLO: Are there low-risk ways to adopting a new way of thinking test drive potential innovations about process, collaboration and idea generation, and that’s a cultural before making formal project investments? exercise that touches the entire organization — not just the executives learning about design thinking practices. Paul Reeder, executive director, Ohio State Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ohio State University, shared some of the techniques that make design thinking an excellent tool with which to teach executives about innovation. Chief Learning Officer: How do you teach executives to test new ideas? Paul Reeder: It’s important that executives recognize the value of design thinking. But without driving the cultural consistency through all people who touch a new idea or execute a disruptive plan, without that consistent collaboration across the organization, it won’t really have impact.
Reeder: Something that might have been very difficult to test in the past — like a new product — now with rapid prototyping and 3-D printing you can get a testable product within a couple of weeks and put that in front of your customer to get feedback. In the service industry, Wendy’s is offering up limited time offer products and services every month. They’re doing ongoing testing with probably not a significant amount of cost other than keeping a consistent and safe product; but they’re able to make really quick operational changes, with digital being the fastest. Because of these new technological processes, plus Facebook and Twitter, we’re able to get a much lower risk, much higher quality of
validation than we were ever able to before. So, get your customer involved as early as possible, and keep them involved throughout the process. CLO: How much is the executive’s ability to learn design thinking affected by organizational or learning culture? Reeder: It is paramount to the success of any organization using a design thinking or user-centric approach. If you’re not implementing that into the culture of your organization whether you’re a startup, a university or a corporation, your customer will not buy your product or service. In our center of innovation, we have five corporate members. This is something they think about every day — how do I change the culture within my company so that every person is beginning to look for opportunities, efficiencies, ways we can increase our customer experience and provide us with a differentiation point that’s not just reacting to our competitors? A lot of executives have seen other companies taking advantage of it; they want to know how is design thinking different than critical thinking or operational excellence. First, set the vocabulary. When they understand the words, move to an educational, four-hour activity where you go through an active, experiential design thinking exercise to put things into practice. Then you go to the transformational. If you believe this is valuable to your company then our exec ed program can put in place a [customized] program to support changing the company’s culture not just at the executive level, but at multiple levels. CLO Kellye Whitney is associate editorial director for Chief Learning Officer. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com. Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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What Really Happens in Executive Coaching? BY MADELEINE HOMAN-BL ANCHARD
Coaches play different roles for different clients. But in most scenarios, the objective is to build selfawareness, get clear on priorities, and work out how to get things done with and through others.
E
lite athletes, dancers and singers all have coaches. It would be inconceivable to expect a person to go it alone in professions like those without one. They require consistently high performance and support. The business world is no different. Executives interact in an equally demanding environment leading people in today’s complex, competitive global marketplace. Therefore, being offered a professional coach is often seen as a perk on most jobs; it’s a sign that an organization is investing in a leaders’ success. “We offer internal coaching for employees going through the Emerging Leader Program,” said Jill Clark, group vice president
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of talent management at JDA Software Inc. “[It’s] a combination of internal and external coaching for VP-level executives going through the Fearless Leader Program; and external coaches for executive-level folks who want to be more effective.” What can organizations expect when their employees receive coaching? Clark, a certified coach herself, said the area that receives the biggest impact from coaching is self-awareness. “Any opportunity for people to understand themselves better is a good thing,” she said. “Our job is to make sure people continue to develop personally as they hone their technical skills. Managers need to understand how they come across to others. Not only do they learn how to become more effective, they discover the negative impact of not changing.” Clark said that when coaching is succeeding there are observable shifts in the coachee’s behavior. Conversely, people who don’t take coaching seriously tend to give themselves away when they exhibit fewer visible signs of change. The true value of coaching is difficult to measure, but since JDA added coaching sessions to its Emerging Leader Program, work project quality has been higher and outcomes have improved. Further, 75 percent of folks who go through the program are promoted at least one level or more. Clark is planning to continue JDA’s coaching investment specifically to increase bench strength and to make sure future leaders in the organization are prepared.
for Hehman’s successful transition as CEO and firm leader. As a coach, he held Hehman accountable while offering support and candid feedback. “My coach was always asking me, ‘So what are you going to do?’” Hehman said. “He wouldn’t let me duck when things got difficult.” The coach as lamplighter. A coach is often the only person in an executive’s life who will hold the lamp high enough for the client to see beyond immediate commitments and goals. Sloane Perras, chief legal officer for The Krystal Co., has worked with several coaches over the years. “My first coach helped me deal with an enemy at work. I was able to understand my own part in the situation and to mitigate the effects of the drama. I learned so much from that situation that now I use my coach to facilitate and focus me on setting goals. If I didn’t have a coach, I would never take time out to think about my future and navigating my way forward.” The coach as gap filler. A coach can help identify and close skill gaps. Most people have a sense for where they lack skill, but a coach can quickly get to the pain point. “Our executives ask for a coach when they realize that even though they are really good at some things, they may have a couple of edges to smooth out,” Clark said. Shawnte Mitchell is general counsel and vice president of human resources, legal affairs and compliance at Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. At her previous employer, she was offered a coach, Suzi Pomerantz of Innovative Leadership International, to address certain internal team challenges. “[Pomerantz] helped me define the things that were contributing to those challenges — and sort out which of those things were mine.” She also helped Mitchell expand her awareness of how she connected with others. Mitchell learned how to moderate her communication to suit each person, and she said by using a coach she got to the next level more quickly and smoothly. The coach as context builder. Every environment has qualities that may not be immediately apparent to the client. The coach will have experience from many different environments — and the benefit of an outsider’s perspective.
A coach is often the only person in an executive’s life who will hold the lamp high enough for the client to see beyond immediate commitments and goals.
Why Coach? It’s rare for an organization to offer coaching to someone who doesn’t offer enormous promise and potential. For the uninitiated, the resistance to working with a coach is often rooted in not knowing what to expect. So, what should a manager or an executive expect from a coach? The coach as map maker. Coaching helps people get from point A to point B. It sounds simple enough, but the exact terrain between the two points is often obscure. Eric Hehman is CEO and principal of Austin Asset, a financial services firm in Austin, Texas. When Hehman was tapped to succeed the founder as CEO, he turned to Larry Fehd of Human Performance Strategies for guidance. Fehd offered a blend of consulting and coaching. As a consultant, he offered a road map 44 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
C-SUITE COACHING continued on page 56
3 Signs that Leaders Need Coaching By Diana Jones
There are three signs that leaders would benefit from executive coaching: 1. They take feedback or setbacks as personal attacks. 2. They respond aggressively, blaming, accusing and being defensive. 3. They’re quiet in meetings and don’t back themselves. Essentially these leaders are reflecting a glitch — a default behavior possibly triggered by events, or people reminding them of an experience earlier in their lives. When this happens, leaders focus on themselves and how they feel, rather than on their relationships and the task at hand. If their default response has become habitual, coaching can help. Having leaders setting outcomes for coaching engagements is important, but it requires specificity. Initially, executives may choose ill-defined outcomes such as, “to have greater confidence,” but greater refinement is possible. To dig deeper, the coach can ask, “What would you be doing if you had greater confidence? What would others see?” In answering these questions, leaders may be forced to go beyond what they already know. By imagining fresh possibilities, they move into new territory. Things that once held them back or tripped them up are no longer top of mind. Consider the following examples. Each represents a common coaching scenario, and in each, probing is necessary to uncover what is behind the behaviors in question and what
actions may be necessary to affect behavioral change. Beth: Beth was talented and forthright, but she could be abrasive under pressure. Her outcome for coaching was to be perceived as helpful, personable, knowledgeable and collaborative, so “people want to work with me.” Early in a group coaching session, the coach asked, “Who here looks approachable?” To her astonishment, Beth was highly chosen. She reflected on this new perception as she worked in high-stress settings. Dan: Each time Dan was challenged, he explained the background to his decisions. His boss and peers experienced Dan as defensive, verbose and out of touch. The coach asked, “Where did you learn to do this?” “My dad died when I was 14,” Dan explained. “As the eldest of four boys, I became the family spokesman.” Using metaphors, the coach encouraged Dan to be “less Paris, more Berlin.” Less Paris, more Berlin means less verbose, more succinct. Dan learned to respond succinctly rather than saying what he thought his superiors needed to hear. Ben: Ben was a senior executive; technically brilliant, but shy and quiet in meetings. His manager wanted him to have greater impact and presence. When Ben worked with a coach he looked away and took several minutes to respond to questions. The long silence was strange, prompting the coach to ask, “Are you aware of looking away
while you think of your response?” “No,” Ben said, surprised. The coach helped Ben become self-aware of his impact by mirroring what occurred when he lost impact. Ben practiced looking people in the eye as he thinks, and subsequently found that, “I have better relationships, and I connect better.” Coaching helps executives expand their capacities for relationships while under pressure; it also can generate curiosity and alternative thinking, and prompt the executive to choose different responses to familiar situations. But a trusted mutual relationship between coach and executive is core to any successful coaching engagement. This activates a holistic learning process enabling the coach to access the leader’s experience, intuition, insight, creativity, courage, grit and imagination. Achieving coaching outcomes gives executives a sense of mastery over what was previously amorphous feedback. Explicit results from coaching are visible when people want to work with coached executives as they share their vision, direction and expectations simply and clearly. They are perceived as astute, inspiring, results-oriented and helpful. Staffs enjoy their work more, producing exceptional results. CLO Diana Jones is a leadership coach and adviser and author of “Leadership Material: How Personal Experience Shapes Executive Presence.” To comment email editor@ CLOmedia.com. Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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The professor at Harvard Business School and author of “Sidetracked� talks about why we should let people be rebels at work.
Why is it important to be a rebel at work?
Being a rebel at work leads us to be more engaged in our job. No one shows up on the first day of work feeling unmotivated and uninspired. Yet, within just a few months the honeymoon period typically comes to an end. One recent Gallup survey of 230,000 employees in 142 countries found that only 13 percent feel engaged by their jobs. Across the globe, work is more often a source of frustration than fulfillment for almost 90 percent of employees. For most organizations this lack of engagement hinders productivity and innovation. Being a rebel at work leads us to be more engaged in our job. We also end up being more productive and creative in our work.
What are some examples of positive rebel behavior?
Being authentic more often and using our strengths at work are examples of what rebels do on a regular basis. Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarotti described sculpting as a process whereby the artist releases an ideal figure from the block of stone in which it slumbers. All of us possess such ideal forms: our signature strengths such as being social connectors or being able to see the positive in any situation. When we conform rather than rebel, we hold back from sharing our signature strengths and valuable ideas. Our engagement, creativity and performance suffer as a result. Regularly questioning the status quo is an example of positive rebel behavior.
How do you balance being a rebel with the need to get along with others in a teambased environment?
To strike the optimal balance between conformity and nonconformity, they must think carefully about the boundaries within which they are free to deviate from the status quo. For instance, the way a manager leads her team can be up to her as long as her behavior is aligned with the company’s purpose and values and she delivers on that purpose.
nonconformity: behavior that deviates from organizational norms, others’ actions or common expectations to the benefit of the organization.
What’s the connection between this kind of nonconformity and long-term learning?
Many standard practices, processes and traditions we follow almost mindlessly in our jobs endure out of routine. Because we feel validated and reassured when we stick to our usual ways of thinking and doing and because, as research has consistently found, we weigh the potential losses of deviating from the status quo much more heavily than we do the potential gains, we favor decisions that maintain the current state of affairs. But sticking with the status quo can lead to boredom which in turn can fuel complacency and stagnation. And it also hurts our interest and willingness to learn. We stick to the familiar rather than exploring new possibilities and ways of accomplishing our work.
What You’ll Learn: Improve commitment, satisfaction, engagement, and authenticity in employees by encouraging what Gino calls “rebel talent.” Receive six key strategies for those looking to instill constructive nonconformity. Explore inconsistent decisions — from our roles as consumers and employees to the choices that we make more broadly as human beings.
What needs to change in how we develop managers to encourage more “rebellious” behavior?
First, we need to change the way managers think of rebels. Usually we make negative associations with the words “rebels,” “rebellion” or “breaking rules.” We think of people who are stubborn, annoying or unwilling to comply with norms or even legal rules. But rebels often bring about change by fighting conformity pressures and questioning the status quo. So managers need to think about when conformity hurts their business and allow and even promote constructive
Register today at www.CLOsymposiumPLUS.com
Case Study
Learning Never Ends at McKinsey BY SARAH FISTER GALE
M
ost companies struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of change. New regulations, global competition, economic shifts and rapidly evolving technology can make it feel impossible to stay ahead. For McKinsey and Co., the global management consulting firm headquartered in New York, the pressure is even greater. When other companies need help to understand the trends affecting their industries, they rely on McKinsey’s 10,000 consultants and 2,000 research and information professionals to help them navigate these changes. That means McKinsey talent need to have all the answers before the questions are even asked. “The world is changing at an extraordinary pace, and our clients expect McKinsey to be ahead of the curve,” said Nick van Dam, global chief learning officer for McKinsey. McKinsey has a reputation for being a leading learning organization, but in the past few years, the demand for more learning at a faster pace has driven a transformation at the firm. “The bar keeps rising, and if we want to remain preeminent in our learning offering, we have to constantly evolve,” said Ashley Williams, deputy chief learning officer and chief operating officer at McKinsey’s Atlanta office. “Our clients need more from us,
SNAPSHOT The global management consulting firm has transformed its learning strategy to ensure its consultants have all the answers clients need.
own analysis that people who develop a deep expertise stay longer with the firm, and that helps us strengthen our expertise.”
New Content, Shorter Formats
Over the past four years, the learning and development team has been making changes in the format and content of its offerings across three learning pillars: improving mind-set, enhancing consulting and leadership skills, and developing new knowledge and skills. “Our consultants need expertise in all of these areas to be successful,” said Tim Welsh, senior partner and chair of the company’s learning and development council. At the core of the company’s transformation are several new centers of excellence, focused on key learning functions, including design and development, learning digitization, and content delivery, as well as specific content themes. Each CoE is made up of focused teams that work with internal business advisers and external experts to translate the latest thinking and design strategies into new content and delivery platforms. The CoEs help McKinsey stay ahead of the curve in terms of the knowledge offered and the format it comes in, — Nick van Dam, global chief Williams said. “It has been extremely learning officer, McKinsey helpful to professionalize these and we need to continuously upskill our consultants to groups and unlock innovation that we didn’t originally remain effective.” have on the team.” Providing employees with ongoing learning opporThe CoEs are focused on several projects across the tunities not only improves client engagements. It helps learning organization. To address the need for more McKinsey retain its best people and build a stronger easy-to-access content, the learning team is developing a bench of talent, van Dam said. “We know from our catalogue of bite sized, digital videos and mini-courses
“When you invest in something you want to make sure it is having the desired impact. Learning is no different.”
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that consultants can consume on demand via mobile apps while they sit in an airport or before heading into a meeting. The catalog includes a series of quick start courses that highlight a specific client and key trends in that industry. When consultants are given a new client or project, they can be automatically assigned these quick start courses as part of their preparation, or they can access them on their own through the knowledge portal. “It helps them get up to speed
desired effect, McKinsey constantly tracks results. “When you invest in something, you want to make sure it is having the desired impact,” van Dam said. “Learning is no different.” These measures range from counting how often content is viewed and tracking test results, to surveying consultants about whether they felt like the training got them up to speed faster, whether they spoke with clients about the material they learned and whether they have applied the information in
“We are on the front line every day talking to practice leaders and clients, so we can find out what’s on their mind. It allows us to be more responsive to their needs.” — Tim Welsh, senior partner and chair of McKinsey’s learning and development council quickly, at the time of need,” van Dam said. The development team is creating new longer-form content and curricula to help consultants develop deep expertise in a topic or industry. One highlight is a digital and analytics training program through McKinsey’s Partner University, which is a combination of online collaborative content followed by in-person training events at Harvard and Oxford, where partners build on what they learn. By level-setting with online self-paced training, McKinsey can make the most of in-person time for networking, problem solving and sharing real world client challenges. “There are no PowerPoint decks at these events,” van Dam said. “When we are together it is all about reflection and practice.” Williams said finding the balance between online training and live events is always a challenge, especially as consultants have little time for in-person, off-site training but still value the opportunity to learn in groups. “We know butts in seats is not the most effective model, but we see the importance of giving them time to be together.” This realization led to a new pilot program where learner cohorts follow a curriculum track together over time. These learning journeys are developed with input from business unit managers on what these groups need to learn to meet clients’ needs, and may include selfpaced assignments, collaborative online learning, coaching and virtual sessions via phone and video conference. “This blended approach still gives them time to be together, but it is more accessible,” Williams explained. “It is one more way we are trying to bring a full learning experience to the learner.”
the 100 days immediately following the course. The learning team also speaks informally to trainees during and after class to get anecdotal feedback on new content. Van Dam said the numbers and feedback consistently show employees like the new content, that it is improving their skill levels and they are applying it on the job. “We are very pleased with where we are on this journey, and the response we are getting from our people.” However, not every new program and format has been a home run — nor should it be, Welsh said. With demand for new content coming so fast, the learning team doesn’t have time to hone and tweak every new program for months before rolling it out. “We try a lot of things, and refine as we go,” he explained. The key to this rapid rollout model is to sample lots of options, then create a feedback loop to figure out what’s working and what isn’t. “It takes an adaptive mentality to get it right.” Welsh said having strong links between the business and the learning teams is crucial to staying on top of what new content employees need. “We are on the front line every day talking to practice leaders and clients, so we can find out what’s on their mind,” he said. “It allows us to be more responsive to their needs.” Having these connections with business units and learners will be vital to continually evolve learning at McKinsey. “It’s not a process you can ever stop,” van Dam said. He and his team are always looking toward what the company will need to meet client needs. CLO
Expertise Drives Retention
Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in Chicago. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.
To make sure that all new programs are having the 50 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
Business Intelligence
Forget Me Not So Much A recent study shows how severely productivity is impaired by poor information retention and how to leverage learning to help. BY MATT BINGHAM
ore than three-quarters (77 percent) of Amer- Forgetting Information Hurts icans own a smartphone in 2017, according With these data points in mind, it’s no surprise to January data from Pew Research. Multinational this trend of aloof memory loss is creeping into the networking and telecommunications equipment and workforce. Workers find it difficult to remember all services company Ericsson expects the world to have of the information necessary to successfully commore than 6 billion smartphone subscriptions by plete their jobs, and to avoid wasting precious time 2020. Basically, online access via mobile devices is looking up information previously taught and disomnipresent and will become more so, leaving hu- cussed. mans with constant contact to information in just a In “The Employee Forgetfulness Index,” a Janfew swipes of a screen. uary survey of more than 1,000 employees across Though the internet connects humanity in many the U.S., Bridge by Instructure uncovered some useful, quotidian ways, it also affects the way people compelling insights about how often employees retain information and how hard forget what they learn in trainthey exert their memory. A May ing. [Editor’s note: Author FIGURE 1: 2015 study from cybersecurity works for Instructure.] Of the company Kaspersky Lab showed employees surveyed, 43 percent that a majority of people use the were Generation X, 35 percent internet, frequently accessed from millennials and 19 percent baby their smartphones, as an extenboomers; most respondents were sion of their brains. The study, either midlevel employees or Employees who use calendar reminders to retain which surveyed 1,000 Americans managers or supervisors. information at work ages 16 to 55, split evenly beIn performing this study, retween men and women, found searchers sought to assess how the internet serves as a large comwell employees retain informaponent of people’s memory, holdtion, where they look for resourcing all facts and figures they need es to retain information and how to recall. Calling it “digital amnefrequently they are trained on imEmployees who use sticky notes to retain information at work sia,” researchers found that when portant company knowledge and asked a question, more than half skills. This examination found of respondents would look to the that employees lack important reEmployees who use corporate internet before trying to rememtention tools, are not trained frelike % materials ber. Even more disquieting: alquently and desire more in-depth employee handbooks to most one-third (29 percent) retention programs than the curretain would forget a fact as soon as they rent corporate environment proinformation at used it. vides. work The study also found that com-
9
52 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
47
%
46
%
Figures’ source: Bridge by Instructure
M
pany productivity can be severely impaired by a lack of adequate information retention. For instance, the study found that in a company with 1,000 employees, workers spend nearly 6,000 hours annually looking up information they were already taught. At the same organization, workers spend at least 10,000 hours per year answering questions or explaining concepts they’ve already discussed.
FIGURE 2:
57% Entertainment
Employees Need Help Remembering To recover productivity and curb any future losses in valuable time, companies need to significantly reexamine and revamp the tools they use to help employees remember essential information and increase the frequency in which they deliver training. In the current corporate landscape, employees are using inefficient ways to remember information and are, collectively, not receiving the tools they need to effectively tap into their personal memory palaces. The survey found that calendar reminders (47 percent) and Post-it notes (46 percent) are the most popular tools responding employees use to retain information at work (see Figure 1). In contrast, corporate materials such as an employee handbook are one of the least frequently used tools (9 percent). “Remembering important information is difficult under any circumstance, but it’s especially challenging when you don’t have the right tools to help it along,” said Ken Jennings, memory master and 74time Jeopardy champ who was involved in the study. “Organizations have an explicit opportunity to use more advanced technology than paper notes and calendar notices to help their employees with their memory. It’s time they use them.” It’s an intuitive thought that more training would help employees retain information. Yet, 78 percent of respondents reported only participating in training quarterly or less. The frequency of corporate training varies by industry (see Figure 2). Of respondents working in the restaurant/food services industry, 47 percent participate in training annually or not at all. Of those who work in education, 40 percent of respondents said they participate in training annually or never — for an industry that revolves around teaching and training others, this statistic is surprising. “So much effort goes into creating trainings; but if not delivered in an intermittent cadence, all the hard work evaporates when employees forget information,” said Jeff Weber, senior vice president of people and places at Instructure. “Investing in fol54 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
42 Retail
Percentage of respondents who work in different industries that participate in training annually or never.
%
47% Restaurant and food services
40
%
Education
low-up refresher trainings is a simple way that companies can increase productivity and ensure their staff remembers information crucial to their jobs.”
Retention Programs Work “Companies need a learning strategy combining training and memory tools that focus on retention, for any content on any subject,” Weber said. A combined program of training, retention tools and information reminders can deliver the best results for a memory-enhanced corporation; 72 percent of respondents in the study said they would benefit from receiving email reminders about topics covered in company trainings. Improved knowledge retention programs are essential to modern organizations, as they help corporations better leverage their training programs, boosting productivity and saving time and resources. These kinds of programs affect the entire company, down to the individual employee, while simultaneously enhancing job performance and developing stronger minds. CLO
Matt Bingham is vice president of product for Instructure. Comment below or email editor@CLOmedia.com.
K-12 continued from page 21
C-SUITE COACHING continued from page 44
workforce. They help to ensure that learning is distilled into the skills necessary to advance corporate organizations’ strategic goals. The cost for each K-12 teacher’s professional development ranges between $8,000 and $18,000 per year. That cost divided by 25, representing the number of students typically accounted for in each classroom, translates into an investment of up to $720 for each student. If the $18,000 investment in K-12 teacher professional development is not made, it robs the student of an enhanced learning experience. Again, this has a direct impact on the costs learning leaders and their organizations expend each year on workforce development. According to LinkedIn’s 2017 “Workplace Learning Report,” a few years down the line the cost of disengagement — a common side effect when learning and development falters — can balloon up to $50,000 per employee. That disengaged employee is yesterday’s unattended-to K-12 student, who now has neither the skills nor any interest in acquiring them through their organization. Therefore, the K-12 professional development space is of notable importance for the corporate learning leader. There are vast challenges and key opportunities for further analysis and growth. Corporate learning leaders and learning technology executives are well-positioned to begin this specific conversation with nonprofits and associations engaged in K-12 teacher professional development. The goal for those kinds of conversations should be to identify specific skills employees need in the workplace today and leading to say, 2020, then work backward to map these to K-12 teacher professional development programs. Such mapping could be game changing at many levels including best practice sharing, articulating learning and specific skill needs for tomorrow’s talent pool and identifying gaps in professional development for K-12 teachers. Chief learning officers, learning technology executives and learning vendors need to work together to look at learning and skills as early as K-12 in their efforts to tackle current and recurring corporate talent development challenges. Such proactive engagement can reorganize the educational and learning journey, starting with K-12 teachers’ professional development. It could unlock the gridlock brought on by a lack of access and equity, which ultimately hamper learners’ opportunities at the micro level and social and economic growth at the macro level. CLO
Dorian Denburg was in-house counsel for a public corporation when she became president of the National Association of Women Lawyers. She said she immediately realized the not-for-profit environment was radically different from what she was used to. She was going to have to make some shifts. Her coach helped her understand the big picture and the importance of context. “Volunteers are driven by completely different motives than employees are,” Denburg explained. “I had a habit of rolling in and expecting people to keep up and jump into action. With this job, I had to learn to be more intentional about setting the stage to engage people.” She made the shift from leading through accountability and authority to leading through influence. The coach as mirror. The coach will often be the only one to reflect brutal reality and remind the client who they are and what is most important to them. Ajay Jagtiani, a principal with Miles and Stockbridge, had just hired a coach to help him navigate the environment at his new law firm when he had a heart attack. He had planned to use the coach to adapt to the new culture, decode political factions and crush it on the way to becoming managing partner. The heart attack changed everything. “I was young enough to survive it, but old enough to appreciate it,” he explained. His coach challenged him to identify what was important and align his behaviors accordingly. With his coach’s help, Jagtiani redesigned his life. “I’ve been asked to join the senior partner ranks several times, but I’ll only consider it after my daughter is in college, and I have a year to support my wife in finding her next chapter.” For the first time, Jagtiani said he feels aligned. “I can feel the difference in the way clients trust me. They know what they see is what they get.” Coach as champion for one’s best self. Coaches are trained to focus attention on what is working and on the client’s strengths. They will always challenge the client to go beyond what they think is possible. Austin Asset’s Hehman said his coach encouraged him to find his own voice, to form his own opinions, advocate for himself, and act on his ideas. “My coach challenged me to play bigger,” he explained. “He gave me permission to shine and step up.”
Marina Theodotou is the director for professional development at the Computer Science Teachers Association. Comment below, or email editor@CLOmedia.com. 56 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
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using words effectively and gracefully to impart ideas. An exchange of thoughts, messages or information that is effective and clear. Impact and influence. This is the ability to define and communicate an objective or idea in a compelling manner that rallies support. The ability to think analytically and communicate effectively with an awareness of context and others’ styles, knowledge, interests and preparedness. Goal setting. This is about meeting objectives. A goal must have a deadline and be specific, measurable and compelling. Partnering for performance and clear agreements. Tied for fifth place, which makes sense because they are similar. Partnering for performance is described as: a relationship and agreements among indi-
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57
IN CONCLUSION
Collaboration: Necessary, Not Evil
Is it worth the trouble? Is it really necessary and worthwhile? Yes • BY HEIDI K. GARDNER
C Heidi K. Gardner is a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession, a lecturer on law, faculty chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program, and author of “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos.” To comment email editor@ CLOmedia.com.
ollaboration can be painful. Most people have had a bad team experience. Perhaps someone needed to work overtime to compensate for a free-riding colleague, or sat in a meeting convinced they could be doing a better, speedier job on their own. Others hesitate to even start a collaborative project, worried that teammates might make mistakes, fail to deliver on time or steal credit for the project’s success. Is all that trouble really necessary and worthwhile? In short, yes; at least it is when we’re trying to tackle today’s most complex and multidisciplinary issues. From cybersecurity to global warming to innovation, we need subject-matter experts who are deeply immersed in their own disciplines to integrate their unique insights and tackle their companies’ and customers’ toughest issues, challenges that none of them could solve alone. If you think collaboration is a soft skill, think again. My empirical research analyzes hard data to show that when specialists collaborate across internal boundaries: companies earn higher margins, inspire greater customer loyalty, attract and retain the best talent, and gain a competitive edge. I’ve analyzed millions of data records — a decade of timesheets, personnel files and financial data — spanning dozens of knowledge-based organizations ranging from engineering to software, accounting and health care. Consider the risk of losing a customer when one of your key salespeople departs. Results show that probability drops from 72 percent to 10 percent if the account is served by a pair of co-leaders, rather than a solo account handler. Another finding: On average, when product development specialists teamed up across three different business units, revenue from their customers was 160 percent higher than the sum of their individual sales in the prior year. Profits climbed even faster. Why? They were able to offer more holistic solutions to more vexing problems, and the owner of those troubles was a higher-up executive with more spending power. Customers valued the integrated, sophisticated answers and were willing to pay. As the CFO of one Fortune 100 company told me, “Margins rise with complexity.” But delivering integrated solutions means that individual employees need to collaborate across internal silos, which are often reinforced by P&L structures, geography and differing microcultures. The benefits of collaboration might seem obvious, but they tend to ac-
58 Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2017 • www.CLOmedia.com
crue slowly. In contrast, people bear the initial risks and costs almost as soon as they start trying to collaborate. To bridge the gap between initial investments in collaboration and their positive outcomes, play up the learning benefits. Recognize and reinforce them. Working across organizational silos to solve complex problems exposes people to surprising insights about
If you think collaboration is a soft skill, think again. how others facing a similar challenge can see such a different set of root causes and solutions. They can translate those new perspectives to help reframe problems within their own work; the enhanced creativity can save costs, increase efficiency, and generate much-needed adaptation — even in the near term. Developing internal networks also builds employees’ capacity to access information vital for ongoing learning. The relationships developed through collaboration provide familiarity and trust, which underpin knowledge seeking and sharing. Further, getting employees to collaborate across units makes it easier to spread and leverage technology and other investments, because adoption jumps once people understand how those tools are used elsewhere. The widely documented benefits of employee engagement translate into tangible financial rewards associated with talent retention and productivity. Further, the benefits from collaboration-induced learning typically flow in faster than external commercial outcomes. If leaders celebrate them, it’s easier for employees to see the value in collaboration. Small wins help to build collaborative momentum. Also, integrate new hires into existing learning networks within and across organizational boundaries. Develop explicit learning plans for them, and hold at least two incumbent managers accountable to help deliver those team-based plans. Redefine individual performance metrics so that people are rewarded for collaborative success. Finally, use technology as an enabler, but don’t expect it alone to drive collaboration. CLO
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