Chief Learning Officer - September 2019

September 2019 | ChiefLearningOfficer.com

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A 50:50 Learning Model - A Map to Measure Learning Impact 5A Learning for the Digital Age - D&I Done Right - UG2’s Innovation Training Lab

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Memes Matter

W

hat do Rickrolling, Grumpy Cat, dabbing and Distracted Boyfriend have to do with learning? Quite a lot actually.

The silly, meaningless and fun little pictures and animations that zip around the internet are actually the building blocks of culture. Internet memes — from dancing babies to planking to LOLcats — are how we now learn at light speed.

Whether you find them amusing or irritating is beside the point. As a learning executive you need to think about how to use them.

The internet has given us the fastest, most powerful tool in history to collect, catalogue and share information. And what moves most swiftly across the internet highway? Here’s a hint. It’s not the 10,000word thinkpiece, 1,000-page how-to manual or 10page explainer or even the one-page job aid. For good or for bad, it’s internet memes.

designing or building, the small things matter the most.

They tried several tricks to fix the problem, including making one side shorter to bring it back in alignment, but nothing worked. In fact, it made matters worse.

They failed to account for the soft soil under the foundation that eventually caused the building to lean 16 feet off perpendicular. Today the result of their simple design flaw — the Leaning Tower of Pisa — is one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks.

Their great mistake somehow turned into a monumental success. Most will not be that lucky.

A small mistake or design flaw in the early stages can torpedo an important project and risk wasting millions of dollars and thousands of hours of effort. It’s important to get the moments that matter right.

There are several moments that matter in talent development. Onboarding, promotion and succession are examples of critical times where getting it right can mean the difference between success and failure for the individual. For the organization, it can also mean the difference between a culture that responds and adapts to change and one that withers and dies. For the learning professional, it’s critical to design successful experiences for those moments but also to make sure they are ripe for sharing.

That’s one reason that the theme for our Fall 2019 Chief Learning Officer Symposium is “Design, Build, Inspire.” The tools for success as a CLO include more than the ability to build and execute effective learning programs.

Clear and creative upfront thinking at moments that matter leads to success. Consulting, asking difficult questions, conducting needs analyses, reading between the lines and sometimes going against the grain are crucial. It also means designing and building with an iterative mindset, one that acknowledges each apparent ending is actually the beginning of the next evolution.

For three days, Oct. 14-16 in Chicago, we’ll explore the future of learning and what learning executives like you are doing to design the future of work. But perhaps most important, we’ll explore how it’s often the little things that matter the most in making big changes. CLO

The reason why, according to a theory called memetics, is that culture evolves a bit like genetics. Culture evolves through the sharing of memes, the individual units of culture such as an idea, belief or piece of information, that get passed from one person to another like a gene being passed from one generation to the next. Except in the case of memes, they move faster and quickly can take hold as part of the culture.

To bring it into focus for enterprise learning, people won’t always access your LMS or learning experience platform when they want or need to learn. But they will see and share memes.

Finding a way to make learning nuggets or moments go viral should be an essential part of the CLO toolkit. Keep on creating courses and comprehensive programs that address big organizational problems.

But also think about the little details and stories that when shared can have an outsized impact. In the big picture, it’s the small details that matter the most.

That’s a lesson a group of Italian architects and engineers learned the hard way in the latter part of the 12th century.

Shortly after beginning construction of a new eight-story bell tower for their thriving seaport town Mike Prokopeak they noticed a troubling problem. By the time they Editor in Chief got to the third story, the building had begun to tilt. mikep@CLOmedia.com 4 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

TALENT DEVELOPMENT - SKILLS GAP TRAINING - TALENT ACQUISITION

It’s easier to build the future when you have so much to work with.

Develop employee potential.

Engage and retain talent.

Activate leadership skills.

WHAT’S YOUR PLAN FOR ALL THAT POTENTIAL? ASK KEELY HOW TO HELP IT GROW. Keely Denenberg 630-515-7749 kdenenberg@devry.edu ©2019 DeVry Educational Development Corp. All rights reserved. 7/19

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You’ve got talent.

Bring out the best in it.

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SEPTEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 18, ISSUE 7 PRESIDENT Kevin A. Simpson ksimpson@CLOmedia.com

EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES Kerry Snider ksnider@CLOmedia.com

BUSINESS MANAGER Vince Czarnowski vince@CLOmedia.com

John Baldoni

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Francesca Mathewes fmathewes@CLOmedia.com

Marketing Director Greg Miller

Videhi Bhamidi

VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH & ADVISORY SERVICES Sarah Kimmel skimmel@CLOmedia.com

gmiller@CLOmedia.com

Ken Blanchard

MARKETING SPECIALIST Kristen Britt kbritt@CLOmedia.com

Sarah Fister Gale

VICE PRESIDENT, EDITOR IN CHIEF Mike Prokopeak mikep@CLOmedia.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Rick Bell rbell@CLOmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR Ashley St. John astjohn@CLOmedia.com ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Christopher Magnus cmagnus@CLOmedia.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andie Burjek aburjek@CLOmedia.com Elizabeth Loutfi eloutfi@CLOmedia.com

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DIGITAL & AUDIENCE INSIGHTS DIRECTOR Lauren Wilbur lwilbur@CLOmedia.com

VP OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTFOR EVENTS Kevin Fields kfields@CLOmedia.com

DIGITAL COORDINATOR Steven Diemand sdiemand@CLOmedia.com

EVENTS MANAGER Malaz Elsheikh melsheikh@CLOmedia.com

EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR Theresa Stoodley tstoodley@CLOmedia.com

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VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER Andrew Kennedy Lewis alewis@CLOmedia.com

EVENTS GRAPHIC DESIGNER Latonya Hampton lhampton@CLOmedia.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bonnie Beresford

Nivedita Kuruvilla Elliott Masie Lee Maxey Bob Mosher Christyl Murray Damodar Padhi Kasper Spiro

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS COORDINATOR Micaela Martinez mmartinez@CLOmedia.com LIST MANAGER Mike Rovello hcmlistrentals@infogroup.com BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Melanie Lee mlee@CLOmedia.com

CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Lisa Doyle, Vice President, Global Learning, Booz Allen Hamilton David DeFilippo, Principal, DeFilippo Leadership Inc.

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Maj. Gen. Erwin F. Lessel, (Ret.) U.S. Air Force, Director, Deloitte Consulting Justin Lombardo, (Ret.) Chief Learning Officer, Baptist Health Adri Maisonet-Morales, Vice President, Enterprise Learning and Development, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Alan Malinchak, CEO, Éclat Transitions LLC Lee Maxey, CEO, MindMax Bob Mosher, Senior Partner and Chief Learning Evangelist, APPLY Synergies

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CONTENTS S

eptember

2019 10 Your Career Christyl Murray of JPMorgan Chase shares her career experiences; Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Adri Maisonet-​ Morales says the face of corporate learning has changed drastically; and people share what they’re reading these days.

38 Profile Leading With Laughter and Passion

Elizabeth Loutfi Kraft Heinz CLO Pamay Bassey is reimagining corporate learning.

56 Case Study A Hands-On Approach

Sarah Fister Gale UG2’s innovation training lab aims solve the O&M talent gap.

58 Business Intelligence Bright Budgetary Horizons

Ashley St. John When it comes to learning budgets, the future looks bright.

ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY JEFF MILLIES

8 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

A

44

52

Features

22 44

Experts

The 50:50 Learning Model

14 IMPERATIVES

Videhi Bhamidi and Kasper Spiro Is the 70:20:10 model relevant to tech startup firms?

Bonnie Beresford Measuring impact must begin with alignment.

52

48

Elliott Masie Learning in China: Scalable, AI and Shifts

16 SELLING UP, SELLING DOWN

So You Want to Measure Impact. Now What?

48

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A

22

CONTENTS

A A

September 2019

Bob Mosher Instructor-Led Training 2.0

18 LEADERSHIP

5A Learning for the Digital Age Nivedita Kuruvilla and Damodar Padhi TCS’ 5A learning model strives to take learning where the learner is, transforming it from “push” to “pull.”

Ken Blanchard Reflections on Leadership

20 MAKING THE GRADE

Lee Maxey Higher Ed’s Changing Face

62 IN CONCLUSION

D&I Done Right

Elizabeth Loutfi When it comes to embracing D&I in the workplace, addressing unconscious bias is only the first step.

John Baldoni Leading With Grace to Fulfill Your Purpose

Resources 4 Editor’s Letter

Memes Matter

61 Advertisers’ Index

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YOUR CAREER

Career Advice From

Christyl Murray VP ACADEMY LEAD AT JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.

Christyl Murray, VP Academy lead at JPMorgan Chase & Co., shares her most valuable tips and experiences she has collected throughout her career.

How did you start your career in learning?

I grew up in the management consulting industry, working for strategy management consulting firms after undergrad and then continuing after obtaining my MBA from Wharton. As a consultant you are a professional problem solver, but you are also a strategic communicator, a facilitator of solutions delivery and a conduit for transfer of knowledge. As a senior manager, I delivered learning sessions to new consultants, such as strategy 101 and communications effectiveness. However, my first formal foray into learning was initiated when I was asked in as a subject matter expert to deliver a Foundations of Human Resources class for master’s students at New York University.

CLM Real Estate Group 2006–2013: Human resources director

LRN 2013-2015: Consultant, compliance and ethics practice

What attracted you to L&D? I’m inspired by helping people to become their best selves. As an L&D corporate executive, I have the honor and opportunity to help individuals focus on closing the professional skills gaps that slow career growth.

When you are more junior in your career and an individual contributor, the technical skills required to nail your deliverables are very important. As you progress in your career, a different set of leadership skills become imperative — as one begins to lead, motivate teams, inspire others and influence success. My current emphasis is on those leadership development skills.

What’s something every business can do to support an inclusive workplace culture and diverse workforce?

Supporting an inclusive workplace and diverse workforce takes intentional effort. First, D&I must be positioned as a business imperative. The business case should be designed to demonstrate how D&I will better enable organizations to meet their strategic and profit and loss goals. You also need visible commitment from the top of the organization that is driven by business leaders and not just L&D or HR. A culture that fosters courageous conversations and innovative

RGP 2015-2016: Human capital consultant

2013 2006

10 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

2015

JPMorgan Chase 2016–present: VP Academy lead

2016 2019

SM

S E T I B ALL

ns. questio e r fi id p s our ra answer y a r r u M Christyl

The most important part of learning is:

D&I Activations, which are inviting for all, makes a difference. It is important to have representation from various groups but equally important for all to come together to discuss allyship and how we can work toward a sense of belonging for all.

What lessons helped you get to where you are now?

No. 1: Work hard and be all in, every day! No. 2: In undergrad, I majored in business administration with concentrations in finance and marketing. From marketing, the notion of a brand value proposition resonated with me, but on a personal level. Just as organizations define and market their corporate brands, we as individuals must define our personal brands. What do you want to be known for? Define that brand, then market and deliver on your brand value proposition.

What career advice can you offer?

First, be your own boss. Approach every project as if you own it, focusing on value delivery. Next, build a personal advisory board of individuals whose opinions you value and whom you can consult to seek feedback and advice. Third, connect with people. Relationships power everything around us and you must build strategic relationship capital to be successful. Fourth, your individuality, creativeness, energy and authenticity cannot be replicated! Leverage your strategic differentiating factors. Last, lift as you rise — it is important to build the next generation of leaders and share your wins and losses so that others can benefit from those lessons. There is more joy in bringing others along on your success journey. CLO Know someone with an incredible career journey?

Chief Learning Officer wants to hear from you. Send your nomination to Elizabeth Loutfi at eloutfi@CLOmedia.com.

The transfer of knowledge that allows you to apply learning back to your work, and the support of a “learning culture” that encourages ongoing learning and the sharing and application of new knowledge and skills.

Learning is essential to an organization because: The pace of change and technological advancement is swift. Organizations must innovate and adapt and this is only facilitated by having top talent that is nimble and educated.

The biggest industry misconception is: That virtual learning is not as effective and engaging. When L&D professionals leverage technology and the learning is strategically designed, learners are engaged, connected and can even benefit from different levels of engagement not enjoyed in the classroom, such as connecting with colleagues from other offices and in different parts of the world.

I got into the L&D space because: It’s in my blood. I grew up in a family that valued learning; I was raised by a grandmother who was an educator and a mother who obtained her MBA at night.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 11

YOUR CAREER

What Are You Reading?

Generation Z Leads: A Guide for Developing the Leadership Capacity of Generation Z Students

By Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace I just finished “Gen Z Leads,” which is actually written for colleges to give ideas regarding how to develop leadership skills in Gen Z, but it is hugely eye-opening for me in designing leadership experiences for our next generation of leaders.

— Nanette Miner, managing consultant, The Training Doctor

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness

By Ingrid Fetell Lee I spend a lot of time reading about tactics and strategies to create better learning programs, but I don’t think our industry spends enough time thinking about how we design for experience. The best book I’ve read all year is “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness.” It’s a wellwritten love letter to joy by the former design director at IDEO, including some of the design principles and scientific research underpinning positive emotion. Why do we respond to color?

How do we leverage a sense of transcendence in our design?

Why are sprinkles so darned delightful? I think every learning designer and executive could do well to deeply understand how to create more joy in their workplace, and in the world!

— Jesse Harris, head of talent, Virgin Orbit

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

By John Carreyrou Even though I’ve watched the documentaries on Elizabeth Holmes and her Silicon Valley startup fraud, Theranos, this is a real page turner. The lies, deceit and delusion are unbelievable. She had some of the smartest people in America completely duped. A great beach read!

—A nn Heidingsfelder, leadership development and sales performance coach

Chief Learning Officer wants to hear from you: What’s at the top of your reading list? Send submissions to Associate Editor Elizabeth Loutfi at eloutfi@CLOmedia.com.

12 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

By Steven Pinker [It] takes a panoramic view of the reduction of violence in all human activities from the quotidian such as child and domestic abuse to workplace mores, judicial punishment to global warfare. Most of the world has experienced at least some of this lessening of brutality, but his focus is the West. It would at first appear a Panglossian endeavor, but he backs it up with an astonishing amount of research. Unsurprisingly, there are a number of cautions in terms of future trends and of course statistical outliers are never infinitely impossible.

— Judith Eastbrook, strategic client acquisition manager, Focus EduVation

Top of Mind Learning in the Flow of Work By Adri Maisonet-Morales Adri Maisonet-Morales, VP for enterprise learning and development at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, notes how the face of corporate learning has changed drastically.

F

irst coined by industry analyst and Bersin

by Deloitte founder Josh Bersin, the term “learning in the flow of work” is taking shape as arguably the most disruptive change that learning and development has ever experienced. We have all to some degree seen it in action, and to a larger extent, are living it in our personal lives. The question is: What does this mean for corporate L&D? Simply put, we have an exciting opportunity to change the very nature of our role in corporate learning.

Consider trailblazing digital innovations such as YouTube, Lynda.com, microlearning, AR, VR, MOOCs of every kind and how they’ve radically altered how people learn. Today, learning is truly ubiquitous. Powerful tools like the internet and smartphones give learners a new-found control over how and when they learn for knowledge, skill building and career development, independent from traditional training.

Now exceeding $200 billion worldwide, learning has become a big business, incontrovertibly regarded a critical success factor for individuals and companies alike.

From my vantage point, this means our evolutionary journey is accelerating. When you look at the tapestry of corporate learning, it is not hard to see the many variations and levels of maturity. Nonetheless, we have the same end goal in sight: to fortify the workforce with market-informed skills and capabilities that fulfill our organizations’ mission, vision and strategy.

The bottom line is that learning is changing at a dizzying pace and we have an opportunity to reinvent our role in ways to increase the value of corporate learning. While there is no silver bullet, there are some imperatives to consider: The new learner: With higher demands on their time, and more information than they can easily assimilate, their tolerance for content that isn’t easily consumed and applied is limited. Adjusting to LFW requires both micro (“I need to know something now”) and macro (“I need to develop”) assets

According to

Adri

What is an important lesson you’ve learned in 2019 so far?

that are presented in a variety of ways.

AI-enabled learner experiences: Tools like learner experience platforms and content curation platforms play an important role in LFW by integrating disparate learning paths into a learner-centric environment.

That subsequent data opens endless doors for learning leaders to continuously improve learning’s impact. This learner-centric environment helps today’s learners easily access and consume relevant content in the flow of work and immediately apply the necessary new skills.

Continuous learning: It’s essential to have a market​-​ informed line of sight on the pivotal skills of the future and approach them with an eye toward innovation. We know competition is stiffer as the workforce populates with higher-skilled, knowledgeable workers. Coupling this with ongoing process automation advancements, it’s estimated the shelf life for skills is about five years. With people staying in the workforce longer, there’s a growing need for dynamic solutions that target the right skills at the right time. This requires more than just content, but, rather, engaging opportunities that provide the experiences, education, exposure and environments to improve workforce performance.

Strategic partnerships: Focus on what you do best and let the experts do the rest. As LFW becomes more integrated, development pathways will become more complex. This increases the importance of cultivating strong vendor partnerships that can help you along your journey. Start first with a plan of action, and then build or refine an ecosystem that will help you execute your strategy while realizing a respectable ROI. LFW is the future and we have a collective opportunity to engage the workforce in a way that will forever change the value proposition of corporate L&D. CLO

Adri Maisonet-​ Morales Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina

Chief Learning Officer wants to hear from you: What are you thinking about? Send your thoughts to Elizabeth Loutfi at eloutfi@CLOmedia.com.

To use data as a guide to business agility. My ability to ebb and flow with the dizzying pace of change is essential. This requires spending less time in meetings and more time understanding the learner experience and which levers to pull for improvements.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 13

IMPERATIVES

Learning in China: Scalable, AI and Shifts The U.S. and China can learn from each other • BY ELLIOTT MASIE

I Elliott Masie is CEO of The Masie Center, an international think tank focused on learning and workplace productivity, and chairman and CLO of The Masie Center’s Learning Consortium.

He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

recently had the powerful opportunity to meet with 3,000 learning professionals in Suzhou, China. They were gathered for a conference on the role of the “internet of things” and workplace learning. After my keynote, I spent two days as a learner, journalist and colleague, probing for the learning trends and innovations in the rapidly changing country of China.

Here are a few of my notes and perspectives: It’s all about scale: One colleague was charged with growing the number of audiologists in China by 280,000 in the next few years. Scale of that nature requires a very different approach — beyond traditional campuses or curriculum. The ability to scale a learning program to tens of thousands or even millions of employees shapes the focus on the educational methods and technologies being developed in China.

Everyday learning: While we have all talked about lifelong learning, I heard buzz in China about “everyday learning,” where the learner is given a small task, assessment, challenge or content cluster each and every day. One company is building everyday learning into their timeclock system, bundling the process of logging into work with a five-minute learning activity.

Artificial intelligence is data-rich computing: AI and machine learning are primary objectives in Chinese government and industry. There are 30 new higher education institutions focused on AI and significant innovation and experimentation in how AI can be used to optimize, accelerate and scale learning. New learning systems, assessment frameworks and coaching models are being based on rich data analysis and prediction.

Facial recognition: Americans would be stunned by the extent to which facial recognition is being leveraged in China. Checking out of my hotel, there was a small tablet with a camera on the hotel counter. It scanned and recognized me at 6:40 a.m. and the staff member then said, “Hello, Mr. Masie. Your checkout is ready and the car to the airport for your 10 a.m. flight is on the way.” Facial recognition is being integrated into education and performance programs to analyze employee or customer stress, confusion and engagement levels.

Shifting certifications in learning and HR: The roles of HR and learning are also shifting in China.

There are new certifications, development programs and even “skill badges” in these focus zones for our colleagues in that changing country: When it comes to data analysis, it is assumed that the new learning

14 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

professional will be as skilled in the world of data handling and display (e.g., using Tableau as a dashboard) as instructional design. Additionally, scaling mentoring — the targeted shoulder-to-shoulder “on-the-jobtraining” process — by leveraging AI and data could be a culture shift in the near future.

Learning can happen between the U.S. and China, across culture and tradition.

Storytelling — beyond PowerPoint: There is a desire to move from a traditional model of PowerPoint lectures to a more active and engaging storytelling model. It’s not easy! Chinese schools have a “lecture and watch” tradition, but they want to engage and accelerate students, which requires a shift in the role of the teacher.

Study the world — but implement a Chinese learning approach: The number of Chinese learning colleagues I met who studied overseas (in the U.S., Europe, Australia and elsewhere) was amazing. But they don’t want to just “copy” our learning approaches and content. Instead, there is a deep desire to have a unique Chinese learning culture that reflects their traditions and AI innovations.

Mobile learning on steroids: During my keynote speech, more than 1,000 colleagues added me to WeChat, a Chinese online app for social connections that also serves banking and other financial purposes.

I received hundreds of questions, and ongoing challenging conversations continue to flow to my phone.

Learning and mobile are welded together in China.

Learning drives growth: Every corporate, higher-​ education and government official I met during my visit sees learning as key to the growth and evolution of China’s changing society. Learning is seen as an important driver for the future of China.

Our countries have much to learn about learning from each other, while honoring our different cultures, governments, privacy expectations and learning traditions. The Masie Center will continue our conversations with learning leaders in China on these issues. CLO

SELLING UP, SELLING DOWN

Instructor-Led Training 2.0 It’s time to take a hard look at the existing ILT model • BY BOB MOSHER

T

Bob Mosher is a senior partner and chief learning evangelist for APPLY Synergies, a strategic consulting firm.

He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

here’s never been a better time to offer instructor-​ led classroom training!

Yep, it’s really me, the person who was once called “The Classroom Hater Guy.” I’ve attempted to clear up that misunderstanding many times. The classroom is actually one of my favorite delivery mediums available to those we serve.

My issue has never been with the modality; it’s been with what it’s become — in many instances, a dumping ground for everything needing to be “learned” in way too short of a time and, because of this, in a format that’s instructionally broken.

Well, that might be where the Hater Guy nickname came from. With all that said, let me try and clarify my position: It’s time to take a hard look at the existing ILT model and introduce ILT 2.0.

I’m not talking about changing the logistics of delivering ILT. This isn’t about scheduling trainers or equipping a classroom with technology. It’s about a CLO’s role in helping redefine a paradigm that’s been a foundational tool in our toolkit since the dawn of time. That type of change starts with us, and if I’ve learned anything in my 36-plus years in L&D it’s that change doesn’t come easy, especially when it involves changing something as entrenched as the ILT model. I know, we’ve tinkered with it a bit with efforts like the flipped classroom and blended learning, but this is a much larger change. This is positioning ILT in a very different way.

We need to change three things for ILT 2.0 to be actualized. The first is to stop talking about it so much.

If the classroom is going to be allowed to do what it needs to do, it has to stop being what we always lead with. In most learning organizations, whether we want to admit it or not, ILT is still what starts the conversation and is the centerpiece on which everything else is based. If ILT remains there it will never be given the space it needs to evolve into a powerful new model.

We also need to remove the words “course,” “lesson” and even “training” from our daily vocabulary. Because we use these terms so frequently, we often predetermine our deliverables before we’re allowed to position all that’s at our disposal in the appropriate way. It puts our buyers in an “I’m getting five days of ILT” mindset and it makes it harder to reposition ILT in a new way.

Second, we need to strengthen our non-ILT deliverables’ design and technology capabilities within our learning teams. If ILT 2.0 is going to be actualized, it

16 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

needs to offload all it has been asked to deliver to other trusted and proven modalities. Building out these new capabilities is going to take leadership, time, money and, frankly, courage. The CLOs I’ve seen successfully champion these efforts are what I like to call “courageous leaders.” They have a vision, have learned these new approaches and are willing to lead their teams in a change-management initiative that may be difficult. It will involve guiding many stakeholders — IDs, trainers, our “buyers” and even the learners.

We need to remove the words “course,” “lesson” and even “training” from our daily vocabulary.

We need to introduce and build new deliverables that fall under another discipline — namely, performance support, and I don’t mean a simple job aid. I mean the robust discipline of performance support that involves tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, electronic performance support systems, learning experience platforms and social/collaborative learning platforms. These are the tools that will allow ILT to migrate from 1.0 to 2.0, and here’s the kicker: They need to be brought to the front of the line with ILT seen as a tool used in support of them, not built and positioned ahead of them.

This shift in focus is what allows the third change to occur. When we lead with performance-​enabling design and tools, ILT is allowed to take a new and powerful supportive and foundational role. It becomes the means, not the end. ILT 2.0 is a place where learners come to know just the critical content needed to begin the journey while being taught these other tools that enable them to make the rest of the journey.

ILT 2.0 is here to stay and plays a new and powerful role in the learning ecosystem, but it must be championed from the CLO level down if it’s going to be realized. The potential is limitless and gives ILT a new and invaluable position in our overall solutions. CLO

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LEADERSHIP

Reflections on Leadership What’s changed, what’s endured, what lies ahead • BY KEN BLANCHARD

I Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and co-author of “Servant Leadership in Action.”

He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

’m excited to celebrate two important milestones in my life this year: the 40th anniversary of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and my 80th birthday. This seems like a good time for me to reflect on what has changed in our industry and what has endured, how we’ve managed to stay resilient as a company, and what lies ahead.

First, what has changed?

The biggest change in leadership I see today compared to 40 years ago is the marked increase in servant leadership advocates and practitioners around the world. Top-down leadership is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. Today’s leaders have found that when they work alongside their people, they not only build great relationships but also get great results for their organization. To me, a culture that serves both internal and external customers is essential for companies everywhere today — period.

When leaders set the vision and direction for their organization, that is the leadership aspect of servant leadership. It is a mindset. Once the vision and direction are clear, the servant aspect of servant leadership begins. That’s where leaders work for their people to help them develop the skill set they need to accomplish the goals. This is all done within a framework of service to others. No matter what leadership approach you use today, keeping your valuable people happy is key — and that’s all about side-by-side leadership.

The best leaders know all the brains are not in their office. Companies survive tough times by trusting their people, keeping them informed and letting them bring their brains to work.

Here’s an example. In 2008 when the U.S. economy was in a downward spiral, our company — like many other organizations — suffered a significant drop in sales. As we had done a few years earlier during the post-9/11 slump, we opened our books to our entire staff so they could appreciate our dilemma. At our all-company meeting in February 2009, more than 300 of our people gathered at tables in a hotel ballroom for a huge brainstorming activity. Half of the tables focused on how to increase revenue and the other half generated ideas for cutting costs. With everyone aware of the problem and involved in the solution, we got through the recession without needing to lay off a single person.

When tough times happen — and they will — the best action leaders can take is to keep reminding everyone of the organization’s vision, picture of the future, values and goals. Let people know what’s going on, where they fit in and how they can help.

The biggest trend I see in the future is mentoring, though I shouldn’t call it a trend because that suggests it’s just a passing fad. The mentoring process has countless benefits for both mentor and mentee. Professional growth and learning take place on both sides, trust deepens and relationships — sometimes even lifelong friendships — are born. What’s more, cross-generational mentoring provides the added value of a meaningful bond between two diverse individuals who otherwise may have never connected, delivering enhanced growth and learning opportunities for both.

So, what has endured?

This past May at the Association for Talent DevelEven with the increasing number of servant leaders, opment conference in Washington, D.C., we hosted a the need for great leadership persists. Where can you well-attended celebration in our booth with chamfind people with strong leadership potential? That’s pagne, cupcakes, music and dancing to commemorate easy. They are found working side by side with their both our company’s anniversary and my birthday. The boss — a successful, service-oriented leader. Great lead- future is bright for our industry, with ever-growing ers would rather develop their people than promote numbers of leaders whose focus is on service and develthemselves because they know leadership is not about oping others, organizations whose people rally together them — it’s about the people they serve. These leaders during tough times, and endless opportunities to learn don’t focus their efforts only on running great compa- through mentoring. I am proud and grateful to be part nies; they spend much of their time recognizing, en- of an industry that develops learners into leaders who couraging and helping develop the leaders of the future. continue to make a difference in every corner of the How does a company stay resilient? world by serving their people at a higher level. CLO

Top-down leadership is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past.

18 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

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MAKING THE GRADE

Higher Ed’s Changing Face Beyond the college-age learner • BY LEE MAXEY

A Lee Maxey is CEO of MindMax, a marketing and enrollment management services company.

He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

ccording to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1970, 2.57 million 18- to 19-year-old students were enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions compared with 767,000 students age 35 years and older. In 2020, the NCES projects those same groups will total 4.24 million and 3.28 million, respectively. A number of things — including recessions, downsizing and the rapid development and application of technology — have served as a catalyst for people 35 and older enrolling in postsecondary study.

But not every 30-something wants (or needs) to enroll in a degree program to acquire skills they need to do their job, gain a promotion or switch fields. There’s a critical opportunity for higher education to serve students beyond the stereotypical college-age learner.

Some universities have already begun pursuing flexible options for educating traditional and nontraditional learners. Unity College in Maine, for example, bills itself as the first college in the U.S. to base its curriculum on “a framework of sustainability science.” The school’s approach educates students to help an earth and environment in crisis.

I spoke with Unity College President Melik Peter Khoury about the school’s new Terrain program, in which students are traditional first-year and transfer students who will acquire expeditionary learning across Maine with full-time faculty and professionals in lieu of taking five independent classes to fill a semester. With Terrain, students apply the skills they learn so they can solve real-world problems.

In addition to Unity College’s flagship campus, which is mostly made up of 17- to 22-year-olds, the school offers an online learning program, which Khoury referred to as “distance education.” With its distance education program, Unity serves up five-week undergraduate terms and eight-week graduate cycles.

According to Khoury, even the online programs are experiential, with field work tailored for the working professional in mind. The school also offers “low-residency” certificate courses, meaning students spend a few days or weeks at Unity College learning about, say, biology, and then visit a sometimes exotic locale to interact with the environment they’ve studied in the classroom.

Like Khoury, Rovy Branon, vice provost for the University of Washington Continuum College, told me his institution is changing the traditional definition and understanding of education. “We’re not an old-school

20 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

extension or continuing education program,” he said.

“We’re a comprehensive part of the educational ecosystem in Seattle, and we now serve more than 55,000 learners annually ranging in age from eight to 98.”

There’s a disconnect between the way higher ed delivers its product and what adult learners want.

One way that Continuum College is changing education for learners is with its Career Accelerator program. Working professionals have four paths to obtaining credentials that will advance their careers. Learners can earn, for instance, a data analytics certificate via: 1) a self-paced, online approach; 2) an accelerated classroom path lasting two months; 3) an online group class lasting five to nine months; or 4) a part-time class meeting once a week for nine months.

Additionally, to accommodate employers and employees, the college also offers some programs that allow for enrollment at any time.

Both Khoury and Branon said partnerships with business and government have been key to reengineering their respective programs and curriculum.

Branon’s approach has been creating a corporate advisory board for each certificate offered and pairing that board with faculty who have cutting-edge industry knowledge. If, for instance, line workers at Boeing need a course in composite manufacturing, the team comes together to decide what that course should look like; eventually, other manufacturers can enroll too.

Khoury and Branon acknowledged that academia doesn’t always make partnering easy. They recommend CLOs seek out people in charge of outreach, or a dean or vice provost overseeing adult or distance education.

These are people often trying to adapt calendars and curriculum to forge unconventional programs, open enrollments and institute rolling admissions. If a CLO articulates a desired outcome, school officials say they’re open to listening. CLO

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22 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

e

Is the 70:20:10 model relevant to tech startup firms?

BY VIDEHI BHAMIDI AND KASPER SPIRO

C

orporate L&D is a key component of any business’s overall strategy. It helps ensure employees are constantly engaged and grow along with the organization. Yet startup businesses may not have enough funds or resources available to make this learning happen for their employees.

Nonetheless, there are options to facilitate talent development within tight budgets and on small teams. According to our research, there are a variety of low-cost (or even free) and out-of-box training initiatives that startups can take advantage of and provide for their employees.

Structures in a startup are informal and agile. People, roles and responsibilities tend to change fast, and a default training program is not agile enough to keep up. Additionally, when you are in the startup phase there are not enough people to train to give you ROI on a formal course. Therefore, learning has to be ad hoc and informal.

In this context, is the 70:20:10 model (70 percent experiential learning, 20 percent social learning, 10 percent formal learning) still relevant to startup firms?

In our research conducted with participant startup entrepreneurs and consultants, we found that small businesses are invariably self-driven and social at work. They learn a lot on the job, but equally or even more from others, and hardly any from formal training. We want to make a bold hypothesis here based on our preliminary research, with no intention to undermine the power of formal training: The learning models in startup tech firms should be roughly distributed as 50 percent self-learning and 50 percent social learning.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 23

Before we delve into the details of what these two components entail, let’s outline certain ground rules that the startup firms followed while hiring their talent. These traits were closely connected to the learning habits and attitudes expected in a startup culture: •A ttitude to self-learn, be self-driven.

• Someone who accepts ambiguity and thrives in a setup with informal/agile structures.

•A ttitude to take on any and all kinds of tasks.

• Someone who not only excels at a technical level but with a flair to train/mentor others.

•A ttitude to network fearlessly and ask for help.

• Task-based job interview: Observe how they learn, explore and collaborate to finish the task at hand.

These traits indicate the need for the employees to be self-driven and social when they work for startup firms.

ing/performance needs through books, Coursera-styled mini e-courses, access to research journals, certifications and conferences. They sponsor the employees to venture into any of these off beat modalities and use the knowledge gained back at work and also to guide others.

Social Learning: Shadowing, Coaching and Knowledge Sharing:

One of the best low-cost and easy-to-implement training solutions is social learning. An employee can shadow a more experienced team member to better understand their role, day-to-day responsibilities and processes. Benefits include real-time and direct feedback, and knowledge sharing helps teams level up and reinforce a culture of learning.

In our research with startup founders, we found a Self-Learning: Trial and Error, variety of social learning interventions being impleResearch and Plenty of Questions mented by them, which follow: Self-learning is the de facto expectation from startMentoring: A mentoring program can help new up employees in order to keep pace with change. employees learn more quickly about an organization They are assigned to work on projects from day one and how to meet the expectations of their job. Many and they learn the ropes on the job with a lot of self-­ startup founders encourage setting up mentor-mentee inquiry and use external resources to finish the job at pairs, where existing employees help the newbies or hand. And this repeats. juniors learn, grow and develop their capacity to take Self-learning covers a wide spectrum. The follow- on new challenges. ing are a few types of self-driven approaches shared by “Besides shadowing seniors in projects, we encourour participants: age newbies to observe the senior to learn the company On-the-job training: Employees are assigned culture,” Murugan said. “For instance, if they notice a low-priority tasks on existing projects and allowed to senior sharing or saving the lessons, they get the explore to learn deeper. For instance, when they are idea-sharing culture of a firm.” onboarding, they start by working on bugs, allowing Coaching — internal experts: Training need not them to understand the existing codebase and get fa- be a costly affair if your employees are involved in your miliar with the environment. They get support when training strategy. Your top performers are quite skilled needed and learn everything on the job. and might be capable of hosting many soft skill and One of the startup founders shared a self-learning technical sessions, as well as mentoring and coaching approach to onboarding. While onboarding new em- junior-level employees. Among our participants, there ployees, they are often tasked with an assignment to was a common pattern to leverage internal talent to interview colleagues. This exercise acts as a means to coach fellow employees. introduce the newbie into the system while allowing For instance, Lalitha Potukuchi is a director and them to experience the nature of tasks. communication expert at Lava Infotech, a software deRead, research and reflect: In order to learn on velopment provider. She guides her employees both on the job, a certain level of preparation is advised, which optimizing the code for a fix and also on etiquette and can be instilled through constant research and keeping client conversations, drawn from her own experience. a tab on trends. Access to innumerable internet and Inculcate a direct and open feedback culture — this digital resources allows the employees to observe the is key for a successful coaching culture. trends and learn. Besides research, startup entrepreCoaching — external experts: Talking to externeurs recommend employees inculcate a few habits nal experts is one of the most interesting and effeclike code reading, questioning seniors, following tive models to implement in a startup. Nearly 80 trends, etc. percent of our participants indicated that they rely “If research (Google) takes more than 30 minutes, on their network of friends and colleagues to help ask someone!” advised Bala Murugan, co-founder and their team upskill. They believed that many known CEO of Guvi, an online technical learning platform. outsiders are willing to help and it goes a long way Sponsorship: Due to the low cost requirement, because the guidance is coming from an industry exmany startups are investing in facilitating their train- pert, which is a lot more realistic and cuts to the 24 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

chase to actualize a project. Here are a few examples of how this is being implemented.

At Guvi, Murugan said friends from other companies review their code. This way, perspectives from outside environments add to their strategy.

Lava Infotech also relies on external expertise. “We hire a consultant and ask him or her to guide the team to execute the project,” Potukuchi said. “This brings in a practical insight.”

Varun Reddy, who heads HR for a confidential management consulting firm, said they encourage employees to network meaningfully. “LinkedIn is the No. 1 source not only for networking, but also for learning,” he said.

Finally, at e-commerce company Flipkart, employees plan and host industry meetups once a quarter and also attend conferences to find the industry guides, said consultant Deepa Gopalakrishna.

Peer review: A similar concept to internal coaching, the peer-review model operates at the project level yielding specific results and focused feedback.

Our participants indicated that 1:1 peer review is a very common intervention happening in person or remotely in startup organizations.

Coaching from external experts

Mentoring

Coaching from internal experts

Self-learning

On-the-job training

Peer review Read, research and reflect

Knowledge sharing

Social learning

Sponsorship

There is nothing new about peer review; it exists as part of the project life cycle. However, due to time and budgetary constraints, startups began perceiving the review sessions as focused coaching moments for employees. Many opinionated that each on-the-job review session is worth a training class, where seniors correct and help improve the work done — like training in action.

Few peer-review models include on-the-job peer reviews. Showcasing your work, show-and-tell sessions, open-house discussions on the subject of work, and retrospectives, as part of the Agile method, help in better planning and learning from experience, 26 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

thus enabling the best results for the next release of the product/process. (For those unfamiliar, the Agile method is an approach to project management used in software development to assist teams in responding to the unpredictability of constructing software.

It uses incremental, iterative work sequences known as sprints.)

“Lessons from project reviews must be stitched back into the corresponding project summary for it to be useful in the future,” Gopalakrishnan said.

Knowledge sharing: “It’s not just about the work and delivery, it is also about sharing what you know and what you learned,” Murugan said.

According to research by software company Panopto, sharing what you know can save up to five hours per week of your colleagues’ time. Sharing the knowhow will save them from repeating the cycle and enhances productivity.

This idea of knowledge sharing highly resonated with our participants because they tend to encourage their teams to host weekly sessions, internal tech meetups, symposiums, seminars and lunch-and-learn sessions, basically creating a safe social space for employees to reflect and share what they know.

Collaborative learning, self-driven attitude Lack of funds or structure is no barrier to learning in tech startups. In fact, this may enable and encourage more powerful and engaging social and self-learning strategies. Social collaborative learning with a self-driven attitude is the overall learning strategy to survive in a startup world. It becomes more important for employees to realize the power of knowledge sharing in social environments.

After having schooled in a teacher-student classroom-​style setup, it may be a challenge for some to liberate themselves to self-learn or co-learn. The key then is for workplaces to incorporate knowledge sharing in the company culture and practices. This begins in the hiring process. Employees need to be self-driven and social when they work for startup firms. This then extends into the everyday ways of operating. By using Agile development models, for example, employees must work, learn and explore together to make projects successful. The organization must then facilitate growth needs wherever possible, such as through mentorships or sponsorship.

Ultimately, passion for work and a drive to continuously learn forms the impetus for a successful social learning model within the startup environment. CLO Videhi Bhamidi is a product consultant and Kasper Spiro is CEO for Easygenerator. They can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

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Three Critical Factors of Business Strategy

By Jared D. Harris and Michael Lenox, Professors of Business Administration, Darden School of Business The strategist’s challenge is to simultaneously manage three critical factors: values, opportunities and capabilities. In order to devise and execute a successful strategy, you need to analyze each of these factors to understand how your organization can create and sustain value.

stakeholders. To define them:

DEFINE YOUR INDUSTRY What is the arena in which you are competing with others? Who are your competitors? What customer needs do they satisfy?

Step 1: Define Your Values

ANALYZE THE MARKET STRUCTURE

Values refer to the mission of the organization.

Understanding and establishing your organizational values is a critical first step in devising a successful business strategy and understanding how you can create value for others. Your values define your ambitions and the competitive space in which you operate. They help delineate what you will and will not do to achieve your mission.

What competitive approaches prove superior?

How does the structure of the market in which you are operating affect that competitive dynamic?

DEFINE YOUR MISSION What is the organization’s purpose, its reason for existing?

ESTABLISH YOUR SCOPE In which markets do you operate — in terms of product and geography?

IDENTIFY YOUR ASPIRATIONS What does success look like now and in the future?

KNOW OTHERS’ EXPECTATIONS Who are the organization’s stakeholders, and what do they expect of the organization?

DECLARE YOUR VALUES What do you expect of the organization? What values and beliefs do you want the organization to hold?

Considering these questions will help you begin to identify competitive positions that create value for stakeholders. Your mission and values define your opportunity set and help you understand how to leverage and build your capabilities.

Step 2: Explore Competitive Opportunities Opportunities refer to the possible competitive positions in the market to create value for

IDENTIFY MARKET TRENDS How is the industry evolving? What are customers demanding now and in the future? You need to think clearly about the economic, technological and societal environment in which your organization operates and consider the activities and capabilities of your competitors.

Defining your industry and competitors is deceptively simple, but it can be greatly informed by a full competitor analysis, environmental analysis, five forces analysis and competitive life-cycle analysis.

Step 3: Identify Your Capabilities Capabilities refer to the organization’s existing and potential strengths, which fuel the organization’s strategic efforts. To evaluate an organization’s strategy, you need a clear picture of what makes the organization distinctive and a sense of the organization’s ability to marshal resources and leverage capabilities toward desired organizational objectives.

DEFINE YOUR VALUE CHAIN How do you deliver value? What capabilities do you (or your organization) currently possess?

What makes them distinctive?

ASSESS ALIGNMENT Do your capabilities complement one another?

Are your capabilities aligned with your external value proposition?

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IDENTIFY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Are these capabilities unique, and do they provide the basis for a competitive advantage?

Are they easily imitated by others?

ANALYZE SUSTAINABILITY Are your capabilities durable over time? What capabilities does the organization need to possess in the future? How can they develop them?

Tackling these questions can be informed by an extensive capability analysis, which can help you identify sources of competitive advantage and highlight critical gaps in your current capabilities.

Other tools such as strategy maps can be useful in highlighting your position versus rivals and to answer whether your capabilities are unique.

Step 4: Integrate Your Insights These three factors converge in the organization’s competitive position, where value for an organization’s stakeholders is created and sustained.

Ultimately, developing effective business strategy is an integrative exercise. It involves looking through a wide lens at the organization. Whereas the functional areas of an organization — finance, marketing, accounting, operations, human resources — often bring specific paradigmatic views to bear on organizational problems and considerations,

business strategy is about how all the underlying insights of these disciplines are brought together.

Business strategy success involves value creation for its investors, employees, customers, suppliers and support communities. Commonly invoked business axioms like “maximize shareholder returns” can be useful to the extent that such shorthand phrases imply value creation for investors by way of creating value for all key stakeholders — creating goods customers want, work environments that energize employee contributions and so forth. Maximizing shareholder value is not a strategic direction, nor is it exogenous to creating value for customers, employees or communities. Strategy involves putting these considerations together to align stakeholder interests and create value in an integrative and sustainable way.

Use an integrative, enterprise perspective to think clearly and to exercise sound judgment that creates long-lasting value. When successfully implemented, an effective business strategy can help an organization fully realize its potential.

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Compliance Training Cannot Succeed without an LMS. Protect your company and reduce long-term costs with an effective LMS. By: Adina Sapp “Compliance isn’t sexy, but it’s important,” says Michelle Sullivan, senior director of marketing at Meridian Knowledge Solutions. “Organizations in every industry must deliver some level of compliance training — whether to comply with government regulations, meet industry standards or to earn and maintain certifications and qualifications.”

Compliance is particularly important in highconsequence industries such as health care, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and finance.

These industries face a high level of regulatory requirements and the very real threat of penalties for noncompliance.

For most organizations, research shows that the cost of noncompliance is typically 2.71 times the cost of maintaining or meeting compliance requirements.1 But in extreme cases, violations can result in fines of millions or billions of dollars. 2 3

The cost of noncompliance is typically 2.71 times the cost of maintaining or meeting compliance requirements.

Reduce Costs with a Comprehensive LMS “A learning management system (LMS) is a critical component of any organization’s ability to ensure compliance and minimize risk,” Sullivan continues. “It’s also a worthwhile investment from a budget perspective.”

Organizations can be at risk for loss of life, loss of revenue, stoppage of operations or regulatory fines when they are out of compliance. “Compliance failures often expose organizations to significant reputational

damage, turnover of staff, loss of customers and substantial fines from regulatory bodies.” 4 While the risks of noncompliance can be costly, they are also completely avoidable. A comprehensive LMS will reduce the complexity of compliance management and focus your resources on innovations that make compliance training more effective and impactful.5

Choose a Good Service Partner “When choosing an LMS, you’ll want to pick a partner who will stay involved past the sale, through postimplementation and beyond,” Sullivan advises. One of Meridian’s differentiators is that it can provide implementation and administration services when needed, because unlike many of its competitors, it has not outsourced support to third parties. “We focus on long-term customer relationships,” 6 Sullivan explains.

Organizations planning to change their LMS need to ensure their service provider will be able to pull historical records into the new system and create a migration plan that meets industry requirements for record retention and version control. And while some service providers have this ability, some don’t.

For example, training records that have version control are not included in all systems and may not be addressed in the migration plan. To meet compliance requirements, it is important that the LMS be historically auditable, keep a record of e-signatures and prevent users from being able to go back and change data — even after a migration.

Include the Right Decision-Makers It’s also important to include all the right decisionmakers when choosing a compliance solution.

1 The True Cost of Compliance with Data Protection Regulations. The Ponemon Institute.

2 Leu, E. (2018). The Highest Compliance Fines in History. EU GDPR Compliant.

3 Merle, R. (2018). “Wells Fargo Fined $1 billion for ‘Reckless Unsafe or Unsound Practices’.” Washington Post.

4 Compliance for High-Consequence Industries: Strategic Compliance Management. Meridian.

5 Compliance for High-Consequence Industries: Strategic Compliance Management. Meridian.

6 Who We Are: Improving People and Organizations with Learning. Meridian.

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“This isn’t just for HR or L&D,” Sullivan says. “The legal/risk/compliance team should be a part of the effort. They will have different questions.”

up to date and consistent with standard operating procedures (SOPs). A good compliance LMS such as Meridian can meet all these requirements through:

IT leaders should also be included in the decision.

Although some solutions such as Meridian are intuitive for admins to set up, the ongoing administration level depends on the organization.

• Highly detailed, defensible training records.

There may be other questions to consider as well, such as integration, security, firewalls and the ability to perform single sign on (SSO). “A lot of organizations will attach their LMS into their physical security system, or have personnel records updated upon achieving training compliance,” Sullivan explains. “Some organizations have their LMS behind a firewall, in a multi-cloud or private cloud, or have a long history and depth of functionality that require special considerations.”

Meridian’s implementation and support team will work with IT and other contributors to provide guidance on these issues.

Effectively Manage Your Organization’s Learning Inspections and regulatory audits typically include the review of compliance training records.

Organizations need to ensure training records are

• Dashboards with the flexibility to drill down for

further details and analysis.

• Real-time training data for proactive compliance

reporting.

• Records of staff certifications and accreditations.

• xAPI support and a learning record store (LRS) to

track learning wherever it occurs.

• Auditing, versioning control, e-signatures and

reporting to meet 21 CFR Part 11 and EU GMP Annex 11 compliance.7

Meridian also helps ensure compliance is achieved in advance of the due date. “Out-of-date training can cut off access to facilities, which is a good kick in the pants,” Sullivan says. Meridian’s reports and dashboards will give managers a good view of their team’s level of compliance to ensure they stay on top of it.

Learn more at https://www.meridianks.com/ lms-solutions/compliance/.

Meridian’s award-winning learning management system allows organizations to personalize learning, share knowledge, increase revenue and manage compliance requirements for their employees, customers, partners and suppliers.

Meridian has been chosen by leading organizations including U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Johnson Controls, K12 Inc., HAI Group, and The Society of Actuaries. Meridian is headquartered in the Washington DC metro area. For more information, visit http://www.meridianks.com or follow @MeridianKS on Twitter 7 Compliance for High-Consequence Industries: Strategic Compliance Management. Meridian.

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Democratizing Leadership Development Opening the leadership silo to greater opportunities.

By: Adina Sapp Traditional leadership development has been structured in a regulated and limited way that targets top performers. The dangers to that approach include siloed leaders and stagnant organizations resulting from performance-based restrictions and merit-based training.

Training also must be offered on a more timely basis. The average age when managers first receive leadership training is 42 — 10 years after most begin supervising people.3 “It’s time to support both future and current leaders,” Shimkus says.

Traditional programs have historically been very prescriptive. As opposed to fostering individual ownership, the traditional model encourages people to believe someone else is responsible for their development.

Pillar 1: Building the Learning Culture

In a recent interview with Darren Shimkus, president of Udemy for Business, CLO explored the importance of creating democratized learning programs aimed at developing and empowering high-potential and emerging future leaders.

The Case for Change “Our world is changing dramatically,” Shimkus notes.

“With the rapid pace of change and technological innovation, 71% of organizations don’t feel their leaders can lead their organization into the future.1” Additionally, in a time when organizations are fiercely competing for talent, younger employees are demanding development from their workplace.

A 2016 study found that 63% of millennials feel their leadership skills aren’t being developed, and as a result, 71% would leave their job within two years to fix the deficiency.2 “We’re in the midst of a leadership skills gap and it’s becoming increasingly evident we must begin to democratize leadership development across levels and roles,” Shimkus says.

“When Udemy began prioritizing its own leadership democratization a few years ago, we rolled out our program with four key pillars, the first of which is to build the culture,” Shimkus says.

“We knew we had to build the culture to ensure lasting change and impact.”

Udemy did this by actively fostering a culture of learning to serve as a foundation for career and leadership development. It worked closely with the executive team to ensure every employee knew the value and acceptance of learning at work. With programs like “DEAL Hour” (Drop Everything and Learn), Udemy made learning a priority, not an afterthought.

Pillar 2: Creating a Network Effect Udemy’s next priority was to work across every team, creating a network effect of development.

Long gone are the days where HR and L&D could film and facilitate every training needed for the entire company.

“At Udemy, we’re focused on scaling development by making every employee a teacher to their peers or direct reports,” Shimkus says. “No matter the level, we believe all employees have something to teach one another.”

1 State of Leadership Development 2015: Time to Act is Now. Brandon Hall Group.

2 HR & Millennials: Insights Into Your New Human Capital. Human Resources Professionals Association.

3 Leadership Development: Are You Starting Too Late? Zenger Folkman.

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Udemy leverages its own platform, Udemy for Business, internally for online learning course consumption. With its “Smart Recommendations,” the Udemy for Business platform can help employees connect with meaningful learning experiences that drive continuous learning, deepen subject matter expertise and expand employee knowledge and development.

Pillar 3: Opening the Gates “Once we created the culture and evangelized leadership development across the company, we worked to open the gates and make it clear that this was for everyone,” Shimkus continues. “There is no manager supervision required for trainings, and every development opportunity we offer is open to any individual at the company, regardless of tenure or level.”

Financial strain is a top reason many organizations typically haven’t extended development opportunities more widely. Since off-site leadership programs or bootcamps can be costly or time consuming, organizations are increasingly turning to platforms like Udemy for Business to save on travel costs while deriving the same value from quality leadership content taught by realworld experts.4 In a recent report, Udemy customers shared that they were able to develop three times more employees than before, thanks to the cost-effective licensing of Udemy for Business.5 With access to online courses and experts, Udemy for Business customers can open the gates and offer training traditionally reserved for high-level executives to their entire workforce.

Pillar 4: Making It Social Lastly, Udemy socialized development. It rolled out a program called “coffice hours” where employees could receive casual mentorship over a cup of coffee from anyone in the organization. It also leveraged internal messaging systems to socialize leadership trainings.

For many employees, learning at work often occurs through informal learning driven by interactions and conversations with coworkers. In fact, research has found that 75% of the informal learning that occurs in the workplace is due to this type of social learning.6 Udemy utilizes a Slack integration for employees to easily share course information with colleagues.

“Our Slack and Udemy for Business integration allows employees in any role, and at any level, to share valuable content across the broader organization and truly democratize development to peers, managers and executives,” Shimkus says.

To successfully navigate the future, it’s essential to open the gates of leadership development by expanding training programs and revising the criteria used to identify potential leaders. Organizations need to take all employees out of the passenger seat and into the driver’s seat of their development. With a sense of ownership, not only will they feel more responsible for the outcome, they will also develop more quickly.

Udemy for Business curates content from online content creators on Udemy.com, the world’s largest learning marketplace. To learn more about its leadership development programs, visit business.udemy. com/request-demo.

Udemy for Business is a curated learning platform that offers organizations subscription access to a collection of 3,000 business-relevant courses on the most in-demand skills. With flexible plans and pricing, Udemy for Business offers options for companies of any size, from large enterprises to individual teams. Udemy for Business is powered by Udemy.com, the world’s largest online learning marketplace, with the freshest and most diverse content taught by real-world experts. For more information, visit business.udemy.com.

4 A culture of learning drives innovation at Malwarebytes. Udemy for Business.

5 How Udemy for Business Delivers 869% ROI. Udemy for Business.

6 Smart Companies Support Informal Learning. The eLearning Guild.

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Transformational Leadership: It’s Not What You Think Don’t be fooled by the name; transformational leadership is charismatic leadership with a fancy title

By Scott Gregory The idea of transformational leadership sounds good when taken at face value. A transformational leader is someone who instills pride, respect and trust in its followers.

They inspire and motivate people beyond expectations, sparking innovation and change.

And, if you look up “transformation” in the dictionary, you will see it defined as “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.” So, what organization wouldn’t want to introduce some form of transformational leadership to respond to the disruption caused by the current digital revolution?

Although transformational leadership seems like a good idea in theory, it is nothing more than charismatic leadership with a different and more appealing name. A recent study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that there is plenty to dislike about charismatic leadership. In fact, there is little evidence to show that there is a strong correlation between charisma and effective leadership. So, because charismatic leadership and transformational leadership are essentially the same thing, it’s important to understand how this style of leadership has been so widely adopted across the globe.

According to another study published by the Academy of Management, “there is a widely shared consensus that charismatic– transformational leadership is a particularly effective form of leadership.” However, there are some major issues with this assumption, given that this leadership style is fundamentally flawed. There should instead be a shift towards a new and more empirically defined form of leadership, where leaders are appointed based on capability and skill as opposed to charisma.

First, it is widely assumed that leadership is defined as “a person who has a leadership or managerial title.” The problem with that definition is that it doesn’t address how that person assumed the leadership position in the first place. Organizations across the world are notorious for promoting charismatic and politically savvy employees into leadership roles because they seem leaderlike. Some people can charm their superiors into thinking they would be effective leaders. They tend to be confident, creative, charming, and flashy, which helps them stand out in comparison with their peers.

However, although their personality makes them seem “transformative,” in reality they are often ineffective leaders.

Second, there are several inconsistencies when it comes to measuring leader effectiveness. In a 2008 study conducted by Robert B. Kaiser, Robert Hogan, and S. Bartholomew Craig, the authors outlined these inconsistencies.

For example, some organizations measure leadership effectiveness through manager evaluations. Others measure it through subordinate evaluations. Some are based solely on financial results. This diversity in methodology has delivered mixed results, essentially making any conclusions on leader effectiveness inconclusive. Therefore, there is often no real evidence connecting hiring or promoting charismatic-transformational leaders with improved organizational results.

Third, because charismatic-transformational leadership has been deemed by so many to be an effective form of leadership, there is a presumed “fear” among researchers to debunk this myth, which is ironic. If there is evidence to suggest that this leadership style is ineffective,

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yet nobody wants to go against popular consensus, wouldn’t calling out these “experts” be transformative in and of itself?

The bottom line is that charismatictransformational leadership is prevalent in

“

There is often no real evidence connecting hiring or promoting charismatic-transformational leaders with improved organizational results.”

organizations on a global scale, but there is little evidence to suggest it is effective. This leads us to one crucial question that organizations everywhere should be asking: How successful could we be if we did not assume that charismatic-transformational leadership leads to leadership effectiveness?

This is a complex problem with a simple solution: Define leadership correctly and then identify effective leaders through the use of valid personality assessments.

You cannot define leadership as someone who is in a managerial role or someone who has been promoted simply because he or she is inspiring and socially confident. You have to define leadership as a person who builds and maintains a high-performing team. When organizations do that, they have a completely different view of what makes for an effective leader.

Then, through the use of valid and reliable assessment measures, such as those provided

by Hogan Assessments, they can better identify those who will be successful. One of the characteristics that organizations need to look for in leaders is humility. Effective leaders are more modest; they focus on team performance and are willing to admit mistakes, share credit and learn from others. These are the type of leaders that can inspire true positive change and innovation.

As Hogan’s CEO, Scott brings years of expertise in executive selection, development, and succession to his leadership and vision for all aspects of Hogan’s domestic and global business.

He is a frequent speaker on personality in the workplace, has provided executive coaching to CEOs and a U.S. senator, selection research for the U.S. Army and other government agencies, organizational consulting for half of the Fortune 100 list, and worked extensively with personality assessment in North and South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

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Communication as a Growth Strategy Why the world’s leading companies are using communication to grow their bottom line.

By Scott Weiss, CEO of Speakeasy Study after study ranks communication among the most critical skills gaps in today’s workforce. The LinkedIn “2018 Emerging Jobs Report” calls soft skills like oral communication the biggest skills gap, while “Bridging the Soft Skills Gap,” a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Education and Workforce, states that finding new hires who possess these skills is becoming an increasingly challenging task for employers.

The question then becomes whether soft skills like communication are desires or requirements for success.

According to a The Hamilton Project study, which was reported on by The Wall Street Journal, soft skills give workers a big edge while concurrently improving business results. Similarly, economist and Nobel Laureate James Heckman notes, “We now have very hard evidence that you have to have soft skills in order to succeed.”

Furthermore, there exists a global crisis around acquiring quality talent. The talent pool is not growing at the same rate as the economic environment, which means there are not enough qualified candidates to fill companies’ needs. As a result, those that have traditionally recruited from the world’s top business schools are facing a paradigm shift: leadership now must be developed from within.

The CLO Solution From a Chief Learning Officer’s perspective this critical combination of circumstances may seem daunting but approaching the development of programs that nurture talent and drive the company’s growth and mission must begin with addressing the top identified need: communication.

If effective communication capabilities verifiably lead to greater success but are in short supply, then the first logical move to improve results is to focus on communication training for all employees. According to Heckman, “Programs that enhance soft skills have an important place.”

Many of the world’s largest companies recognize that filling middle and senior management positions is their greatest challenge. They realize the chief competency that is missing is spoken communication. As a result, they engage Speakeasy to help fill this gap and many have been working with us for decades.

Compounding matters, larger companies are increasingly becoming matrix organizations. This means employees must communicate and build relationships with many bosses. Further, the need to increase communication and collaboration skills is especially profound among larger, more mature companies where the vast number of people in differing geographies create barriers to collaboration and effective information sharing.

Transferring Data vs. Communicating It’s important to note the difference between electronic and spoken communication. Within the walls of any given company, regardless of size or geography, there has been a proliferation of software that is designed to help us “communicate.” Unfortunately, while electronic communication is wonderful for transferring data quickly, it is not proxy for authentic communication. It is important to understand that data does not communicate, people do.

“We’ve been partnering with Speakeasy for over 20 years and they continue to exceed our expectations with superior results.”

Tal Goldhamer - CLO, EY Americas

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Karl-Erik Sveiby, a pioneer in intellectual capital, noted communication as a major factor influencing the effectiveness of data.

The business world is flush with a veritable data gold mine and we know that transferring that data is easier than ever. However, it is essential to take the final step to ensure that value – in the form of truly connecting with a broader team of decision makers, influencing decisions that drive effective results, and inspiring overall growth – is created in the transaction.

The CLO’s Action Plan Data transfer is tactical and can be performed in an impersonal way but communicating data in a way that prompts action requires more. The issue is that an overwhelming majority of those in the workforce simply do not possess the skills to motivate and inspire others through communication.

The Data Differential It is no surprise that businesses today generate exponentially more data than ever before. Data informs decisions, but it does not dictate them. Regardless of how informative and easy to transfer your data may be, converting it into actionable, strategic capital that guides business growth requires collaboration and communication.

Recognizing that communication development is critical to company success – from filling open positions with qualified talent, to driving top-line growth, to ensuring you have the leadership in place to execute – is only the first step.

Identifying a communication development resource with the experience, expertise, and reputation to deliver tangible results will propel one’s company exponentially in the right direction.

To learn more about how Speakeasy can help your organization improve authentic communication across all levels of professional experience, visit www.speakeasyinc.com or call 1-833-SPKEASY (1-833-755-3279)

Speakeasy, a 46-year-old global communication consultancy currently serving 350 of the most respected companies in the world, has earned its reputation through the use of a highly credentialed and tenured full-time faculty, delivering a superior development experience. They deliver eight to ten communication workshops every week at their global offices, as well as providing customized programs at client sites around the world.

PROFILE

Leading With Laughter and Passion At Kraft Heinz, Chief Learning Officer Pamay Bassey is reimagining corporate learning.

BY ELIZABETH LOUTFI

E

kpedeme “Pamay” Bassey, CLO of The Kraft Heinz Co., has held many different personas, both in her career as a learning and development professional and beyond.

Born in New York, she studied psychology and computer science with an emphasis on artificial intelligence at Stanford University. She later earned her master’s in computer science from Northwestern University with the goal of working toward a career in technological development.

At Northwestern, she was selected to be an Andersen Consulting Corporate fellow, which was her introduction to L&D. The program, sponsored by Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) focused on applying technology as a tool for the L&D industry. It demonstrated to Bassey how technology could be used in L&D, which ignited a passion in her for individual learning. Although she is a bit more agnostic about the way learning is delivered now — through technology, face-to-face or a blend of both — she’s remained in L&D ever since.

“One of the things I love about Kraft Heinz is that it’s a company that is really hungry for learning.”

— Pamay Bassey, CLO, Kraft Heinz As she progressed down her newfound career path, Bassey launched her own e-learning design and consulting company in 2003 called The Pamay Group. More recently, she was the global head of learning for investment management corporation BlackRock in New York. Now, after coming on board as CLO for Kraft Heinz in Chicago last December, Bassey is reimagining the company’s approach to corporate learning.

38 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

“As a learning designer, you should think about what you want when you’re creating learning,” she said. “You don’t want to be sitting in a room, bored to tears because you’re listening to something that’s totally irrelevant to your job. One of the things I love about Kraft Heinz is that it’s a company that is really hungry for learning.”

Bassey is bringing a new energy to the learning space at Kraft Heinz, said Lisa Alteri, the company’s chief people officer for the U.S. and Canada.

“Kraft Foods and the Heinz Co. were two amazing legacy companies, and together The Kraft Heinz Co. has been really focused here on our agenda internally,” Alteri said. “What she’s done for us in the short amount of time she’s been here is to really bring the outside in.”

Learning Like an Owner Alteri said Bassey is good at paying attention to mega-trends that are happening across the learning landscape and is apt at tailoring them to Kraft Heinz’s own learning platforms. For example, in February, Bassey decided to commit herself to learning something new and relevant to her job and professional career every day and share it on the company’s internal networking mobile app, the KetchApp. In four months, Bassey’s daily commitments, which she tags using the hashtag #LearnLikeAnOwner on the KetchApp, have become a companywide movement.

“When I travel for work, people recognize me as the lady who’s learning every day and posting to the KetchApp,” Bassey said. “It’s a great conversation starter. I like to reach out to those who are engaged in the movement.”

Bassey also shares a lot on the KetchApp from the company’s own corporate learning platform, Ownerversity, which was launched in 2017 using terminology from Kraft Heinz’s core values, which are ownership and meritocracy. Organized into different

PHOTOS BY JEFF MILLIES

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 39

PROFILE

academies, Ownerversity has lessons in exercising functional skills, such as sales and marketing, as well as academies on leadership and methodology training for its entire global workforce.

One of Bassey’s areas of focus as the company’s CLO is developing the framework for new academies in Ownerversity. She and Alteri are also bringing their teams together to build out the company’s diversity and inclusion agenda. In the United States, they recently launched new Ownerversity learning sessions on both inclusive — Lisa Alteri, chief people officer leadership and identifying for U.S. and Canada, Kraft Heinz unconscious bias.

Alteri, who worked for Kraft Foods nearly two decades before it merged with Heinz, said Bassey’s “by example” leadership style works well in the company’s fast-paced environment.

“As leaders, of course we’re all time-crunched, but we still need to make time for learning,” Alteri said.

“And it starts with the leaders. She’s been doing an amazing job setting the tone with simple reads and courses available on our Ownerversity platform. She shows people how they can incorporate them into their daily commute on the train or [while] sitting in an airport.”

“What she’s done for us in the short amount of time she’s been here is really bring the outside in.”

An Unconventional Background Bassey has used her background in computer science to her advantage. But she is also a trained comedian and improviser through The Second City Conservatory program in Chicago, and she feels strongly that it gives her an advantage at her job. While she doesn’t perform as much anymore, Bassey said she remains close with the people she met through the program and brought many of the lessons she learned during training with her to a professional setting, especially the power of laughter.

“Comedy is my first love.

When I was in college, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian,” Bassey said. “I still process things through comedy, and I think laughter is a superpower.

40 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

That is actually something I bring to my role every day. When you are someone who is constantly at the front of the room for an instructor-led training, or if you’re creating a digital learning experience, being able to make people laugh is always a good thing.”

Bassey also has her own passion project surrounding cultural and interfaith diversity, which she based off a year of traveling to different places of worship in North America, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom in 2010 after experiencing a series of personal losses in 2009. Bassey called the project “My 52 Weeks of Worship” and released a book about the experience. In 2018, she was invited to give a TED Talk about her journey.

“It’s amazing to me how relevant it is [to my life] even though initially you might not think it is,” Bassey said. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving, even nearly 10 years later.”

Selena Cuffe, an entrepreneur, co-founder of Heritage Wines and strategic developer for Oh My Green, met Bassey in 1997 through their sorority at Stanford, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., when Cuffe was finishing up her last year of undergrad.

A year or two later, when they both ended up in Chicago for their jobs, the two women shared a peerto-peer mentorship and became close friends.

“While we never worked together, we did develop a mutual mentorship where she would mentor me at my job at United, and vice versa for her at Curious Networks,” Cuffe said, referring to Bassey’s then posi-

Pamay Bassey, chief learning officer at Kraft Heinz, understands that comedy, variety and diversity all complement learning.

PROFILE

restatement of its financial reports for 2016, 2017 and the first 9 months of 2018, according to Reuters.

Bassey said her department is working closely with Kraft Heinz’s new CEO, Miguel Patricio, in aligning the company’s business strategy with the training and learning opportunities they currently have or want to provide. She added that together they are also evaluating their L&D mission, vision and value proposition to see where it works and what adjustments they need to make.

“An effective approach, from a learning and development perspective, is to invest in our people and provide them high-impact opportunities to learn, grow and develop personally and professionally,” Bassey said.

A Perfect Match Bassey looks forward to leading by example and breaking through walls by advocating for and empowering others.

tion as vice president of experience management at the software company. “We became compadres really in trying to navigate the space of being the only woman, and the only black person, all at the same time in our work environments.”

Bassey’s 52 Weeks of Worship project and subsequent book left a lasting impression on Cuffe, who was experiencing loss in her personal life at the time.

Cuffe found lessons from it useful in a professional setting, as well.

“I’ve always felt, as a professional, that the beauty of teamwork is being able to rely upon others who have strengths where you have weaknesses,” Cuffe said. “And so I think that [Bassey’s project] tells that same story, but in a way that is actually hilarious and feels good.”

Teaching Others to Teach Themselves Bassey is looking forward to leading by example and showing what it means to be a lifelong learner at Kraft Heinz. Her role gives her the opportunity to do something she really loves: empower others and be an advocate.

A lot of the focus in L&D right now at Kraft Heinz targets the company’s managers and leaders. Bassey said this is a business imperative for the company because a leader can make or break employee excitement and engagement.

As a learning leader, she said she is also doing her part to provide employees at Kraft Heinz with what they need following the company’s tumultuous couple of years in the stock market — shares dropped by 60 percent in the past two years, according to published reports — and a recent investigation into employee misconduct that resulted in Kraft Heinz announcing a

When Bassey joined Kraft Heinz, the company had just started tracking the impact of its L&D initiatives using satisfaction surveys and skill growth assessment.

“From the launch of Ownerversity through the end of 2018, when I joined Kraft Heinz, our measurement of learner impact primarily fell under Kirkpatrick level 1 — reaction,” Bassey said. “Through surveys, we measured satisfaction with courses. We are now moving into Kirkpatrick levels 2 and 3 — measuring learning (skill development) and behavioral change. We are also asking questions that give us an indicator of level 4 (organization performance) results, both predictively post-event and later via follow-up survey for our key programs.

This expansion beyond level 1 is part of the upgrade to our measurement approach that is happening this year.”

She’s already seen in a span of less than a year how much employees at Kraft Heinz value learning opportunities. With the data, Bassey said they can ensure employees are learning in ways that are both engaging and that will advance them professionally.

“If you are a proactive learner, and you seek out learning, what impact does that have on your success at the company, or professionally?” she said. “That’s a fun thing we’re trying to create a business case for.”

Bassey said the growth measurement project has been a resurgence of her self-proclaimed “nerdy” core nature. After leaving AI, she didn’t think she would return to the space, but so far her role at Kraft Heinz is proving to be a professional step that culminates everything she has learned from her past roles, including her travels for her 52 Weeks of Worship project.

“When I took this job, I was really giddy at the fact that there was so much potential for impact at a company that has such amazing history, amazing brands and really motivated people,” Bassey said. CLO Elizabeth Loutfi is a Chief Learning Officer associate editor. She can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 41

Leland Melvin is an engineer, educator, lifelong learner, former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver. He shares his stories of determination and excellence to inspire communities for lasting positive change.

Symposium Where did your path to becoming an NFL player begin? And how did it take a turn to journeying into space? From athlete to spaceman — how did these worlds collide/interact?

You met Katherine Johnson, whose story is captured in the film “Hidden Figures,” while working at NASA. Can you list three things you learned from Katherine?

My path to the NFL began when I started getting noticed by the professional scouts when we turned a 0 – 10 University of Richmond Spiders football team into a winning and playoff bound team my Junior year in college. My senior year the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, and the Denver Broncos all sent scouts to time me to see if I had the “right stuff” for the NFL.

1.

Work hard with dogged determination.

2.

Katherine was always kind but was very deliberate at the same time. Kindness is not a weakness.

3.

To be confident in your skills and not allow anyone to make you second guess yourself, especially if you are sure of the answer.

You’ve mentioned in plenty of interviews and in your book that you grew up in a family of educators; obviously learning is a big part of your life. How would you characterize the value of learning in your life?

Experiential learning is critical to putting into practice what can be learned from books. Many times during my childhood there weren't books or YouTube videos for learning how to convert a Merita bread truck into a recreational vehicle. You just had to do it. Try and fail until you got it right. These lessons lead me to be a life long learner to this day.

Who was the biggest influence in both of your careers?

My mother and father have always been my biggest influences because they taught me very valuable lessons about grit and perseverance at a young age. When times got tough they always sat down and analyzed the problem and figured out a solution. My mom’s name was Grace and she showed me how to live a life with purpose but especially with grace.

Day 3 Oct. 16, 2019 11:30 AM

Closing Keynote: LELAND MELVIN Moments in Silence

You have embraced change throughout your career. What advice do you have for others looking to make a change or accomplish something new?

Change and the unknown can be scary but adopt a growth mindset (“Mindset” Carol Dweck) and learn everything you can about the new opportunity and master it.

A couple of reasons to hear Leland's keynote speech: Leland is the only NFL player that has traveled off-planet twice on Space Shuttle Atlantis to help build the International Space Station.

By working on such high-stakes teams, Leland developed a deep understanding of effective team dynamics.

44 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

Measuring impact must begin with alignment.

T

he learning industry’s wellknown four-level model of evaluation, introduced by Donald Kirkpatrick, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, so it’s time to reflect on just how far the industry has come during that time.

Industry reports, including 2016’s “The State of Learning Measurement” from Bersin by Deloitte and “Measure Up or Shut Down: The Importance of Measuring Business Impact and ROI” by Training Industry, show that learning leaders believe they are quite adept at measuring enrollments, completions, learner satisfaction and test scores. Yet, after all this time, learning organizations still struggle with determining job and business impact. Why, after 60 years of effort, are learning and development professionals still stuck? Why are people still struggling with measuring impact?

A recent survey by LEO Learning and Watershed, “The Pressure Continues to Rise: Measuring the Business Impact of Learning in 2019,” found that 96 percent of learning leaders want to measure impact, and 67 percent are feeling pressure to

do so. The study asked leaders why they are not measuring the effects of learning, and results revealed that leaders struggle with competing priorities, not knowing how to start and not having access to data.

These reasons share a common root cause: a lack of confidence in the ability to measure impact. The traditional measurement framework does a good job of providing a structure, but it is time to expand the framework to enable L&D professionals to build confidence in their ability to measure impact. It is time to add a foundational element to the model: alignment.

It Starts With Alignment There is buzz in the learning community about the need to “align with the business.” Yet much of the buzz remains simply noise because what that alignment looks like often remains fuzzy and ill-defined. All too often, L&D teams fail to clearly define the link between training and business goals. Instead, training gets developed and everyone hopes it makes an impact. What is needed is a repeatable process L&D can use to explicitly describe the links between training and business goals. It means adding “alignment” as the first step in the measurement process.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 45

doesnt fit.

FIGURE 1: A MEASUREMENT MAP FOR SALES TRAINING Investment

Leading indicators

Selling success Performance Objectives: • Prospect for customers • Identify customer wants and needs

Number of customer contacts Appointments (# and %)

• Master product features and usage • Present and demonstrate the product

CSI: product knowledge

• Manage customer expectations • Negotiate and close the deal

CSI: build rapport

Business results

Appointment “show” rate Product presentations (# and %)

Closing ratio

Increase gross profit per sale

Proposals presented (# and %)

Customer satisfaction index

Number of referred customers

Increase repeat and referral sales volume

Number of repeat customers

Increase gross profit per sale

Building a Measurement Map is a great way to illustrate alignment and hypothesize about the causal chain of evidence between a learning program and business goals. L&D and business stakeholders collaboratively engage in a measurement-mapping process and create a map that logically depicts, in measurable terms, how a learning program is expected to affect the business.

What Is a Measurement Map? The format of a Measurement Map is intentionally straightforward. Its goal is to clearly communicate alignment, typically on one sheet of paper. It consists of four logically connected sections.

Investment: This is the training program or other initiative intended to drive business impact. A Measurement Map defines what success would look like.

Leading indicators: These are nonfinancial mea-

Stakeholder engagement Benefits • Demonstration of L&D’s interest in stakeholders’ business.

• Shared understanding of targeted business KPIs.

• Evidence chain agreement.

• More focused solution.

• Better access to data.

• Joint ownership of the results.

46 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

Increase new customer sales volume

Increase total sales volume

Strategic goals

Increased market share and profitability

Increase total gross profits

sures that provide insight into whether the investment is on track. Leading indicators often include evidence of behaviors and outputs. The logical argument posits that if these indicators are moving in the right direction, then the investment is on track to realize desired business results. A Measurement Map typically includes several progressive leading indicators, starting with such measures as adoption or training penetration rates and satisfaction scores, and leading to such things as employee engagement scores, number of appointments, number of new accounts and so on.

Business results: These measures carry a financial value, expressed either in dollars or easily translated into financial terms by the business. Common examples include employee turnover rates, sales volume, production run-rates and workers’ compensation costs.

Strategic goals: These represent the organizational imperative that the initiative is trying to impact, such as profitability, market share or customer loyalty.

The map uses the terms “leading indicators” and “business results” to provide a common lexicon for thinking about alignment and measuring impact.

An organization may use different terminology for their metrics, but the concept of progressive metrics resonates across organizations. In a map, these metrics are all key performance indicators.

How Does a Measurement Map Look?

Before getting into how to build a Measurement Map, consider a few examples that help illustrate the value of the map in creating alignment. The straight-

FIGURE 2: A MEASUREMENT MAP FOR MENTORING Investment

Mentee satisfaction with mentor

Mentoring program Objectives: • Engage, develop and retain employees • Improve individual performance • Improve company financial performance

Business results

Leading indicators

Number of mentees

Mentee perceived value of mentoring

Number of mentors

Percentage of mentees who become mentors Percentage of mentors reengaging

forward example shown in Figure 1 depicts the causal chain of evidence between sales training and improved financial performance.

Suppose a sales department wanted to improve bottom-line results and believed that improving the selling skills of its salesforce could contribute to that goal.

Before building any training, the L&D team asked the vice president of sales how she measured success. She answered, “Improved market share and profitability.”

The L&D team probed further, asking specifically how the salesforce would be expected to contribute to that goal. The VP explained that her organization holds salespeople accountable for sales volume, which leads to market share, and for gross profits, which lead to profitability. Other members of the sales team quickly pointed out that sales are tougher to new customers than among repeat and referral customers, and profit margins are different between the groups. They also have different quotas for repeat versus referral customers.

The L&D team kept digging, asking what evidence might indicate if a salesperson is making progress toward the goal. After identifying a closing ratio, the team asked the VP how she knows if a salesperson is on track to improve their closing ratio. The answer revealed that appointment show rate and product and proposal presentations provided solid indicators of closing ratio.

The VP quickly pointed out that the first things they wanted to see from their salespeople included more customer contacts and definitely more appointments.

In the discussion of repeat and referral customers, the VP of sales voiced the importance of a good customer experience — without it, there would be no repeat or referral sales. She pulled out a recent customer satisfaction report and pointed to two key elements

Performance ratings Improved performance

(increase in base pay)

Strategic goals

Reduced recruiting costs Promotion rate (hire from within) Engagement score

Reduced turnover rate (mentees)

Improved profitability

Reduced turnover rate (mentors)

WIP, “Increase in base pay” doesnt fit.

she holds the salesforce accountable for: product knowledge and building rapport with the customer.

As the map in Figure 1 depicts, several layers of leading indicators and business results exist. The former provides quantitative evidence of early progress toward the goal, but not financial metrics. Sales volume and gross profits are readily recognized as financial measures, and thus are business results. The map arranges them to show the logical link between the performance objectives of a new sales training program and an organization’s market share and profitability goals. As the map shows, the L&D team clearly knows what the new program is expected to deliver — and how its success will be evaluated. An important aspect of this map is that the sales department was involved in creating it and defining success in well-articulated business outcomes, generating buy-in to the causal model. All elements on the map are measurable, and with an engaged stakeholder, gaining access to this business data becomes much easier.

The sales example illustrated building a Measurement Map from right to left. The map also works from left to right. A second example, shown in Figure 2, tackles a more nebulous investment: mentoring. In this case, the initiative is already in place and the organization is questioning its value. In other words, “Is it working?”

The L&D team pulled together the human resources sponsor and key business stakeholders who had employees participating in the mentoring program. HR described the objectives behind the program: developing and retaining employees and improving both individual and company performance.

MEASURING IMPACT continued on page 60 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 47

A

A 48 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

5A LEARNING FOR THE DIGITAL AGE TCS’ 5A learning model — for anyone to learn anytime, anywhere, using any content on any device — strives to take learning where the learner is, transforming it from “push” to “pull.”

BY NIVEDITA KURUVILL A AND DAMODAR PADHI

T

he dramatic impact of digital technologies is disrupting businesses and business models across industries. The “consumerization of IT” ushered in by the five digital forces — social, mobile, big data and analytics, cloud, and AI and robotics — has changed the way we work, interact and learn. What began as a technological change has swiftly transformed into a sociological change that has had an impact on almost all aspects of our lives and work. These digital technologies are revolutionizing the very nature of business processes of enterprises globally, leading them to adopt new business models.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, describes the technologies powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a range of new technologies that “combine the physical, digital and biological worlds. These new technologies will impact all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenge our ideas about what it means to be human.” According to Deloitte, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, is about more than just advanced technologies: It is about the ways in which those technologies are brought together, and how organizations can harness them to drive operations and growth.”

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 49

The Business 4.0 framework, conceptualized by our company, Tata Consultancy Services, identifies four critical business behaviors that can help organizations use technology as a foundation to move to the next level: • Driving mass personalization: Personalizing products and services to a market of one customer, often even of one transaction, and at scale.

• Creating exponential value: Adopting business models that leverage value from transactions at multiple levels and address new markets.

To be a global organization and drive growth in the VUCA world, it is important to drive a culture of continuous learning.

• Leveraging ecosystems: Collaborating with partners inside and outside the supply chain to create new products and services.

• Embracing risk: Moving beyond rigid planning and operational barriers with an agile strategic approach.

Learning in the New World To be a global organization and drive growth in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, or VUCA, world, it is important to drive a culture of continuous learning. While the technology landscape in the pre-digital era was simple and limited to web technologies, learning was essentially proprietary in nature and restricted to formal classroom training. However, in the post-digital era, the explosion of technology has revolutionized learning. Web technology has now become increasingly more complex and is continuously evolving, impacting the way we learn.

The fundamental technologies behind the digital world can never be definitive because they are evolving every day. Learning has to be continuous in the ultra­ competitive world of digital services. Learning design and deployment have to be rich, personalized and persuasive, available anytime, everywhere.

In a world where the shelf life of knowledge and skills is rapidly shrinking, and constant change and flux are the new normal, learning solutions must evolve constantly and rapidly to keep pace with the multigenerational, digital workforce.

Global learning trends point to an increasing focus on machine learning, AI and hands-on embedded experiences through adaptive learning to make mass­ customized training available to a diverse and geographically spread workforce. Democratization of content is changing the way we design learning solutions.

In today’s hyperconnected business climate, such 50 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

tried and trusted methods of the past have given way to a reimagined talent development strategy, which addresses the problems of speed, scale and spread.

To be sure, traditional teaching methods still have a place in learning leaders’ toolbox. To meet the demand of a global workforce, multinational organizations must make learning and development fast, mobile and sensitive to the learning methods, characteristics and capabilities of their workforce. This means adopting an agile and lean model: • Do more with less: less time, resources and funding.

• Deliver customized, just in time, easily accessible learning and support on a continuous basis.

• Enlist business and customers as learning partners.

Designing a successful learning strategy can be a key enabler in a successful and growing organization.

C-Suite Buy-In Getting C-suite buy-in is at the heart of building a successful learning strategy for the digital age. This includes getting sponsorship for renewing and reimagining the learning approach of the organization by supporting the strategic organizational goals and engaging key stakeholders to develop relevant programs and initiatives and strategically map talent development plans to career growth and aspirations of the learners.

In the words of TCS CEO and managing director Rajesh Gopinathan: In the era of Industry 4.0 that is disrupting businesses and business models, going agile in a machine-first world has been our philosophy that has fueled our Business 4.0 vision. The Business 4.0 framework has been resonating strongly with our customers as they move forward in their Business 4.0 journeys and has clearly positioned us as thought leaders and the preferred growth and transformation partner to our customers globally.

Talent 4.0 enabling Career 4.0 envisioned by our talent development team has become the strategic differentiator in our Business 4.0 strategy, resulting in wide-scale adoption and application of the digital skilling initiative. The rapid progress we are making in the agile transformation journey, both in training our people into agile practitioners and adoption of the location-independent agile methodology into our projects, has helped in organizational transformation and growth. The success stories of our contextual masters and digital champions have motivated our employees to participate whole-heartedly in these programs and has emboldened us to set our sights high and completely reimagine our talent strategy.

Learner-Centric Learning Learning strategies for multigenerational and multicultural workforces should incorporate digital approaches and provide intuitive and personalized learning experience that include a number of considerations.

First, embrace learner-centric design. This can build deep engagement with the learner through fluid

and flexible design to accommodate continuous changes, including media (video, quiz, games, etc.) based on need and time.

Experiential learning is also a valuable tool — focused, on-the-job learning, expert talks, technology collaboration, peer challenges and other mechanisms can embed practical hands-on skills more than theory.

Learning should be contextual, allowing learning at the point of need, in real time and to the extent desired.

It also should be simple and intuitive, revealing only as much as is required in the moment to the user, providing just enough choices to incrementally move ahead.

Learning should be intrinsically motivating, combining several methods to make a paradigm shift from compliance-driven learning to excitement within the learner. Immersive, engaging content (quizzes, assessments, scenarios, hackathons) can create pull factor.

Finally, it should be frictionless. Try to remove hurdles in the way of a successful learning experience.

Leveraging Social Media Leveraging internal social media platforms for learning is an effective tool to hook learners. Building and supporting learning communities where all employees can connect, query, collaborate and contribute can go a long way in creating learner engagement. Private and public communities within the platform can allow employees across nationalities, business accounts and seniority levels to engage in an exchange of ideas.

Apart from bringing together all employees, an internal platform can be used for issuing announcements of new courses; launching and running communication campaigns; hosting live chats where experts and senior leadership interact directly with all; content co-creation; and collection of qualitative feedback and crowd-sourcing of ideas, as well as sourcing of faculty.

Running peripheral and primary activities of a workshop through this platform is an emerging trend.

Finally, leveraging social media enables talent development teams to cut faculty and participant hours.

Group Learning Learning is best done in groups, especially when associates want to do just-in-time learning specific to an immediate goal. Providing group learning opportunities is a great way to encourage collaboration and foster a culture of continuous learning.

One way this can be done is through group hackathons: teams can form groups and hackathons could be conducted.

Gamifying group learning can also help drive greater accountability in learners. This can be done by setting ambitious targets and milestones, comparing team scores, leaderboards, contests and so on to make it fun and competitive.

You can set multiple levers and strategies to help teams score higher. For example, the larger and more diverse the team, the greater the points. The more complex or ambitious the targets, the greater the points.

Participation in hackathons and sharing challenge briefs, as well as articulation and amplification of company stories, could also add points to the team score.

The 5A Learning Strategy — Building a Culture of Continuous Learning As a global company, TCS has reimagined its learning strategy to build a global workforce through 5A learning — that is, for anyone to learn anytime, anywhere, using any content on any device — to take learning where the learner is and transform learning from “push” to “pull.” This transformational approach has paid rich dividends and become a benchmark globally.

Deeply embedded learning solutions must be integrated into every stage of the employee life cycle.

In the continuously emerging complex business and technological environment, organizations (especially IT) face the unique challenge of skilling employees in different geographies in technology areas that are fast changing and diverse. As the speed of change in new technology areas is skyrocketing, employees need to be trained at a faster pace. This calls for a complete reimagination of the way employees learn and operate.

The need of the hour, therefore, is to create a learning management system that is an integrated ecosystem of content, experience, collaborative spaces and different kinds of classrooms and leverage technology to deliver business-aligned targeted learning and outcomes in real time. The focus should be on: • Access: In a time when learning is democratized, moving away from physical learning spaces to enable anytime, anywhere and any device learning.

• Varied content: A content ecosystem that keeps the content engaging, fresh and relevant at any point.

• Delivery: Where all programs are digitally delivered to a global audience with a rich mix of technology and domain skills.

• Infrastructure: Enabling global collaborative upskilling with virtual labs and connected classrooms provides personalized, immersive learning experiences.

5A STRATEGY continued on page 60 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 51

52 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

D&I Done Right When it comes to embracing diversity and inclusion in the workplace, addressing unconscious bias is only the first step.

BY ELIZ ABETH LOUTFI

E

arlier this year, on the morning of June 5, Sephora closed all of its U.S. stores, distribution centers, call centers and its corporate office to host hourlong “inclusion workshops” for its employees.

This was following backlash the makeup giant received after American R&B artist SZA tweeted about Sephora employees accusing her of stealing and calling security on her while she shopped at a California store. In May 2018, Starbucks shut down more than 8,000 U.S. locations so its 175,000 employees could complete a four-hour anti-bias training program, also following a racial profiling incident in a Philadelphia store.

Over the past few years, it’s been effectively proven that a diverse and inclusive workforce gives businesses a competitive edge and leads to higher profitability. Consequently, millennials and Generation Z rank D&I high among what they value in employers, according to Deloitte’s 2018 and 2019 “Global Millennial Survey” reports.

D&I trainings and workshops are useful tools for businesses hoping to change workplace culture and retain a more diverse workforce, but the remaining question is how to deliver the intended message in a way that resonates with individuals in a sustained and impactful manner.

Diversity consultant, career strategist and motivational speaker Stacey A. Gordon said the answer lies in asking a simple question: Why?

D&I efforts have now become some kind of PR exercise, she said. “It’s being looked at as something you do to save face, something you have to do because competitors are doing it.”

While working as a recruiter in the early 2000s, Gordon found herself having to spend a lot of extra time convincing companies to hire women and African Americans for various positions.

“It was frustrating because I wasn’t encountering those roadblocks with other people. I thought, ‘Why is this happening?’ ” Gordon said.

At first, she thought it had something to do with the specific individuals she was coaching, but she realized this wasn’t the case. The underlying issue was unconscious recruiter bias against the applicants.

This experience led her to launch Rework Work, a training and consulting organization focused on the advancement of women and professionals of color.

The name comes from the idea that companies need to consider reworking their onboarding, recruitment and training strategies to attract diverse job seekers.

“We operate in the intersection of workforce and workplace. The workplace needs training and the workforce needs development,” Gordon said.

“And if you do both, you end up with an organization that has a good culture, great productivity and great profitability.”

As acting CEO of Rework Work, Gordon said she’s seen firsthand how her coaching and similar D&I education methods can improve a workplace.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 53

“People are actually happy to come to work. The number of people taking time off or using sick days goes down. You don’t always think about the importance of coming to work, and actually wanting to be there,” she said. “When employees feel their employer is listening and actively trying to do better, productivity goes up.”

Unconscious Bias: A Decades-Old Problem D&I training for the workplace is an ongoing topic of conversation surrounding a decades-old problem in corporate America. Unconscious bias leads to rigid workplace culture and recruitment strategies, which are barriers for people of color and women, and make it difficult for them to get hired or receive promotions and raises.

As a result, there’s lack of diverse representation in the modern workforce and an urgency shared by business leaders and recruiters to alter recruitment methods to attract more diverse applicant pools.

LinkedIn’s “2018 Workforce Diversity Report” revealed approximately half the U.S. workforce is white, 39 percent is Asian, 5.7 percent is Hispanic or Latino, 3.3 percent is African American and 2.5 percent identified as two or more races. Less than 1 percent identified as “other.” To put this in a national perspective, more than 13 percent of the U.S. population is African American, and 18 percent are Hispanic or Latino, while about 76.6 percent of Americans identify as white, according to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Brynne Hovde, manager of operations and co-founder of The Nova Collective, said it’s important for companies to be intentional and ask questions that reveal what representation is lacking. The Nova Collective is a women- and black-owned strategic communications organization that partners with businesses to build inclusive cultures rooted in social identity and conscious of biases.

“Bias is one of those big abstractions that makes a lot of people feel bad, and you don’t really know what to do about it,” Hovde said. “It really helps to understand that your biases form across those lines of difference among identities. They’re not just random.”

In addition to offering training and workshops, The Nova Collective’s production and graphics team also creates comic strips, memes and short animated videos that support dialogue or e-learning programs.

Hovde said these assets can be embedded directly

into a curriculum or shared internally through an organization via its own email, intranet or learning management system.

The Nova Collective also produced the D&I Compass, a train-the-trainer toolkit that includes 15 digital videos, 30 behavioral scenarios, three bundled discussion guides and pre-/post-engagement surveys surrounding D&I. These materials have set guidelines, but are also meant to be broken down and used by companies as they see fit. Some companies even use Compass materials in their onboarding sessions, Hovde said.

The idea behind Compass and the group’s other content represents Hovde’s and the other three co-founders’ original intentions with The Nova Collective. Prior to launching the organization, Hovde and her fellow co-founders noticed that many companies’ D&I initiatives started with an “army of one.”

“We wanted to create a company where we can really be a resource for that one person who is essentially trying to do this by themselves,” she said.

It’s important for companies to be intentional and ask questions that reveal what representation is lacking.

54 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

D&I Shouldn’t Be an Island

Understanding unconscious bias is only the first step. While D&I trainings return a mostly positive response among attendees, a meta-analysis published in 2016 by the American Psychological Association suggests current D&I training practices do little to actually change the attitudes of attendees long-term.

Global D&I consultant, author and speaker La’Wana Harris suggests businesses begin treating D&I as any performance goal, similar to sales. Setting the goal of having an executive board of 40-50 percent women by 2020 is great, but only if there’s an accountability component.

“It shouldn’t be OK that we set goals [but] that we are still looking at this a decade or more later,” Harris said. “If [businesses] put out a sales goal or a financial report in which they didn’t hit something, you better believe there’s going to be tons of analyses and a fix put in place. But with D&I it’s like, ‘oh well.’ ” Harris said D&I programs and trainings shouldn’t be part of an initiative, but instead be viewed as part of a shift in workplace culture. Conversations need to go beyond the HR office, because they affect “every person, at every level, every day.”

Harris recently published a book titled “Diversity Beyond Lip Service: A Coaching Guide for Challenging Bias.” Along with an accompanying workbook,

Harris said these are just the first steps in her journey to change narratives surrounding D&I work. She’s created an online learning system of microlearning and case scenarios for businesses to use for their own respective teams, including a self-assessment tool.

With a systemic approach to culture changes and resources that focus on processes and people, Harris said companies can commit to better D&I in their workplaces, as long as everybody has a seat at the table, from talent management and acquisition, to HR, to the chief learning officer, to the CEO. “Everyone should be working in tandem, handin-hand, on the overall human capital management strategy,” she said. “D&I shouldn’t be on an island somewhere.”

From Recruitment to Culture Integration

male engineer working at Continental and her young son. The idea behind the film, said Tanya McNabb, head of continental HR communications for both the U.S. and Canada, is to promote STEM in a way that everybody can relate to, whether the viewer relates more to the woman or the young boy, who represents the next generation of “makers.”

To maintain an inclusive workplace culture, Reardon said Continental’s talent management and organizational development team offers various trainings and opportunities throughout the year for professional and personal development. She added that companies don’t necessarily need to put a lot financially toward D&I improvement, especially if the budget isn’t available.

“A lot of these things can be holistic and grassroots within the company,” Reardon said. “I think to really ensure any type of initiative is successful, you need to have that senior leader buy-in to have them understand why it’s so important, whatever it is.

Speaking on diversity and inclusion here and why it’s so important for the livelihood of a company and its employees.

So being able to provide that and then to have them support that is really the step one. Because from there, you can do a lot of inexpensive or even free initiatives with the support of your leaders to be able to cascade down through the organization.”

D&I workshops shouldn’t be part of an initiative, but should be viewed as part of a shift in workplace culture.

While auto manufacturing company Continental AG is already fortunate to be a large global organization with natural diversity, with more than 244,000 employees spanning 60 countries, the company still puts a strong emphasis on D&I. Continental’s head of talent acquisition for the U.S. and Canada, Mary Reardon, said their D&I efforts usually begin in the recruitment stages, but they have been well-integrated into workplace culture. Being a STEM organization creates a stronger incentive for Continental to be highly invested in top-notch diverse recruiting methods.

“We cast our net far and wide,” Reardon said.

“Additionally, we work to ensure all our hiring managers and individuals who lead an interview team have gone through unconscious bias training and understand … how important it is that we are looking from a diverse perspective.”

Continental, which was recently named one of Forbes’ “Best Employers for Women,” announced a new partnership with women’s career community Fairygodboss and plans for increased participation in diversity conferences, namely through the Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers and Women of Color STEM. “We know an inclusive workplace is one that ensures the employees are feeling a strong sense of belonging and feel welcome,” Reardon said.

The company also released a short film, “The Safety of His Dream,” that demonstrates its commitment to promoting STEM among youth, women and minorities. The two-minute film features a fe-

Where We Go From Here In July 2018, Starbucks announced it was continuing its anti-bias training efforts with 12 training modules it created for its associates and managers with outside resources and help. Some of the training topics include cultural perspectives, engaging with empathy, gratitude and building diverse teams. Following its June 2019 inclusion workshops, Sephora said it, too, would conduct more training in the future for employees, but did not elaborate on what would be taught or by whom.

But to achieve true workplace change and build the kind of D&I program that is fully ingrained into company culture, the efforts of organizations going forward will need to move beyond that first step, focusing on ongoing, honest conversations; a combination of various learning efforts delivered via different modalities; and accountability for true change. CLO Elizabeth Loutfi is a Chief Learning Officer associate editor. To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 55

CASE STUDY

A Hands-On Approach

BY SARAH FISTER GALE

I

n the war for talent, experienced tradespeople are among the hardest candidates to find. As more high school students pursue four-year college degrees and apprenticeship programs become less common, teenagers have fewer avenues to launch a career in plumbing, HVAC and other trades. Fully 62 percent of organizations in these industries say they are struggling to fill key roles. At the same time, a large portion of the existing workforce is nearing retirement, with more than half now over the age of 45, according to data from staffing agency Adecco.

This growing talent crisis is forcing commercial operations and maintenance companies to rethink their talent development strategy or risk an inability to support future growth. “Today’s tight labor market combined with an aging skilled trade workforce means that we need to invest in building our team,” said Jim Lane, senior vice president of operations and maintenance for UG2, a privately held facility services organization based in Boston. And he’s got just the plan to do it.

The grand opening of UG2’s Training and Innovation Lab.

Training Drives Sustainable Growth UG2 is just 7 years old but already has 3,300 employees in 17 states with new clients coming on board all the time. It’s exciting for the company, but this rapid rate of growth puts constant pressure on the team to attract, retain and develop operations and mainte56 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

SNAPSHOT UG2 has built a Training and Innovation Lab to solve the crucial operations and maintenance talent gap.

nance professionals who can meet the needs of its expanding customer base for the long term. “If we are not preparing our people for three, five and 10 years out, we are always going to be behind,” Lane said.

Rather than scouring the country for experienced tradespeople, UG2 is taking a more proactive approach to building its workforce from within.

Lane was brought on board in 2017 to help develop a long-term business plan that could support sustainable growth. That includes a talent strategy that is built around UG2’s philosophy of hiring “PHDs” — people who are “passionate, hardworking and dedicated to the industry,” then training them to succeed. “Once we find them, my job is to give them the tools to get there,” Lane said.

He believes that if UG2 can provide new hires with training on skills that are needed across different roles in the company, recruiters can open hiring to a broader pool of candidates who may not have specific experience but who have the passion to learn. The training will also make it easier for people to move up through the ranks, from basic janitorial roles to more high-tech maintenance and operations positions.

The key to all of this agility and growth was construction of a state-of-the-art innovation training lab at the company’s headquarters in Boston where employees can learn all the skills they need to thrive on the job. Along with running an apprenticeship program to train local high school students on operations and maintenance roles and then hire them upon graduation, in 2018 the company built the lab to close the talent gap and give new and existing employees the tools to build a career at UG2, said Lauren Lanzillo, director of organizational development. “This lab is an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves from other service providers in the ongoing war for talent.”

Hands-on Crash Course The lab is an open space with multiple shared work tables and screens to support videos and presentations. It also features working equipment donated by customers and vendors, including a ductless split air conditioning unit, soldering tools and a functioning control board that trainees can use to practice maintenance and operations tasks. “Our guys can become familiar with the technology so they can learn to do that work,” explained Tom McKenna, operations and logistics manager.

UG2 will bring in outside experts to teach a variety of courses, which run from one day to six weeks.

All of the content is built around specific UG2 customer needs. The current lineup includes courses on pumps, seals and alignment, building automation systems and tools, and HVAC and Multistack systems. They will also teach soft skills courses on customer service excellence, business writing and time management to help employees develop the service skills they need to move up through the ranks.

Because these courses are specifically designed for UG2 employees and customers, they are more valuable than a typical trade school crash course, Lane said. “In trade school programs there is no hands-on work,” he said. Whereas in the lab, his team gets to practice soldering, pipefitting, fixing circuit boards and troubleshooting equipment.

“We are able to tailor the training to the sites where they will work, so they can become familiar with what they are likely to see before they get there,” said Louis Lanzillo, UG2’s CEO. This hands-on approach serves multiple goals for the business. By customizing the content to the needs of specific clients, UG2 ensures its staff know exactly what each building needs and how to respond if equipment malfunctions. “If our guys can do that work, our clients don’t have to call in expensive subcontractors to fix it,” McKenna said. That saves them money and builds client loyalty.

At the same time, these courses are giving new and existing employees a way to develop new skills and acquire industry certifications so they can see themselves having a long-term career with UG2.

The courses fill an important training need for today’s operations and maintenance workforce, McKenna said. When he got his first job in this industry, his manager, who had been on the job 40 years, spent a month taking McKenna into the field every time he had a service call to show him the ropes and let him watch other techs on the job. “He did that so I could learn,” he said.

The hands-on courses being developed by UG2 are giving the current generation of employees a similar experience. By providing them with a safe

space to become familiar with commercial equipment, and to practice tasks together, it closes a gap in their training.

Free For Everyone To make training as easy as possible, UG2 has opened every course to every employee, though they target specific groups who stand to benefit the most.

Employees don’t need permission to participate and there are no costs associated with signing up. The courses are also scheduled to occur at the end of shifts and on weekends to make participation easy. “They just need to show up and learn,” McKenna said.

“You can’t get so tied to the bottom line and driving performance that you forget to innovate.”

—Jim Lane, SVP of operations and maintenance, UG2 Employees have been extremely receptive. McKenna noted that the first classes filled up immediately, and many of his team have asked to have them run again.

Younger workers in particular are excited about the training because it means they can develop skills without having to attend expensive off-site trade schools, Lane said. “We’ve gotten a great response from our younger folks, which is one of our biggest goals for the lab.” Although he’s equally excited to work with midcareer professionals who aspire to more senior roles, or to move from maintenance to operations.

It’s still in its early days, but UG2 believes that the courses they are offering, in combination with other training, mentoring and apprenticeship programs, will ensure the company can attract and retain top talent to support its ongoing growth. “When you have a happy workforce who can see a path to success it helps with retention,” Lane said. “And they will tell their friends.”

Lane added that many of UG2’s clients are surprised that other firms are not taking the same proactive approach to training as a way to manage the talent shortage in the industry. “You can’t get so tied to the bottom line and driving performance that you forget to innovate,” he said. “Even if you have the best people you have to do your part to give them the knowledge and skills they need to be successful or you can’t continue to grow.” CLO Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in Chicago.

To comment, email editor@CLOmedia.com.

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 57

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Bright Budgetary Horizons

BY ASHLEY ST. JOHN

D

uring the past several years, learning leaders have maintained an overall optimistic outlook about the growth and funding of their organization’s learning function.

That optimism continues to grow, according to data from the Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board’s “2019 Learning State of the Industry” report. A whopping 71 percent of those surveyed said their outlook for the next 12-18 months is more optimistic than last year (Figure 1). Twenty-two percent said they feel about the same, and 7 percent feel less optimistic.

The Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board is a group of 1,500 professionals in the learning and development industry who have agreed to be surveyed by the Human Capital Media Research and Advisory Group, the research and advisory arm of Chief Learning Officer magazine. This survey was conducted from January to March 2019.

This year’s favorable outlook is the latest in a multiyear pattern of overall optimism. Last year, 65 percent reported being more optimistic than the previous year, 25.5 percent felt the same, and 9.5 percent were less optimistic. Since 2015, a majority of learning leaders have expressed optimism about spending plans, with only a small dip in 2017, when those reporting a more optimistic outlook than the previous year fell to 59 percent.

As of July 2019, the U.S. economy has been growing for a record 121 months, which undoubtedly is at least part of the reason for growing optimism among learning leaders, a majority of whom anticipate an increase in organizational spending on L&D during the next 12-18 months (Figure 2).

The No. 1 investment priority remains the same as reported last year, with 63 percent saying L&D

58 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

strategy is either essential or high priority (Figure 3).

This is fairly consistent with 2018, increasing by only 3 percent. As the pace of change accelerates around us, it’s no surprise that a solid learning strategy aligned with business goals is considered essential.

Notably, content delivery and technology saw the most significant increase in investment priority. A majority of learning leaders (57 percent) now say content delivery is essential or high priority, up from 49 percent last year. And those ranking technology as essential or high priority grew to 49 percent, up 6 percent from 2018. This certainly is tied, again, to the accelerating pace of change, but also to the range of ways in which people want to access L&D and the immediacy they demand.

Changes in expected investment align with these priorities: 56 percent of surveyed learning leaders expect to increase investment in learning technology (up from 51 percent last year), 55 percent anticipate increased investment in content development (up from 50 percent) and 51 percent foresee more investment in learning strategy — almost unchanged from 52 percent in 2018 (Figure 4). Notably, 42 percent expect more investment in learning personnel, up from 36 percent last year.

For the time being, the economic picture looks promising, and the future looks bright for learning leaders. The first quarter of 2019 registered a 3.2 percent growth rate, and inflation remained well under control. However, as is noted in a June 2019 United States Economic Forecast for second quarter 2019 from Deloitte Insights, “What happens when Goldilocks wakes up?” CLO Ashley St. John is Chief Learning Officer’s managing editor. She can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

Figures’ source: Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board’s “2019 Learning State of the Industry,” N=537. All percentages rounded.

When it comes to learning budgets, the future looks bright.

FIGURE 2: ANTICIPATED SPENDING PLANS FOR NEXT 12-18 MONTHS

FIGURE 1: LEARNING OUTLOOK FOR NEXT 12-18 MONTHS More optimistic

3%

Increase

Same

No change

7%

Less optimistic

10%

Decrease Don’t know

22%

54%

34%

71%

FIGURE 3: INVESTMENT PRIORITIES Essential

High priority

Medium priority

Low priority

44%

Not a priority

40% 36% 30%

29% 26%

25%

23%

27%

26%

26%

25%

22% 16%

15%

7%

L&D strategy

16%

15% 11%

12%

11%

10%

8%

7%

5%

23%

21%

13% 10%

36%

35%

33%

9%

7%

4%

Learning technology

Content delivery

Performance consulting

Content library

L&D personnel

Learning administration

FIGURE 4: INVESTMENT CHANGE OVER NEXT YEAR Increase

No change

56%

Decrease 51%

50% 45%

39%

58%

57%

55% 49%

42%

37% 33%

32%

29%

18% 11%

9% 5%

Learning technology

12%

7% 4%

Content development

Learning strategy

Learning personnel

Outsourced learning services

Learning administration

Performance consulting

Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 59

5A STRATEGY continued from page 51

MEASURING IMPACT continued from page 47

• Continuous innovation: Invest in ongoing innovation and incubate solutions that can result in disruptive transformation for the industry and customers.

Leveraging the experience and expertise of subject matter experts with invaluable contextual knowledge of the customer’s products, services and processes is important in making learning relevant. In large organizations, one of the biggest challenges may be converting this contextual knowledge into a shareable digital format. Enabling the 5As of learning will be the key differentiator in translating the contextual knowledge to reach a larger audience, thereby enabling speed, scale and spread of competency building.

While digital learning can be the key driver of the learning strategy, instructor-led classroom training for behavior science programs, experiential technology learning using labs and activity-based learning enhance learning retention and enrich the learner experience.

Building a learning organization needs a focus on continuously emerging learning trends, an agile approach to learning design and deployment, investment in a robust digital learning framework and an understanding of learner needs.

Therefore, to enable learning across large organizations, it is important to: • Understand resistance and drive inclusive change by reaching out to all stakeholders.

• Engage learners by providing multiple accessibility platforms and engage them on enterprise social learning platforms in addition to mobile learning.

• Create short learning modules. These are more effective and acceptable to employees.

• Design content in such a way that learners identify opportunities to apply learning to real situations.

• Have strong, visible support of learning initiatives from leadership.

• Put rewards and recognitions in place to help reinforce new behaviors and motivate people to change.

With the digital reimagination of industries from banking to travel and health care, it is important that enterprise learning solutions adopt technology-driven solutions to create a culture of continuous learning.

Learning policies need to keep in mind evolving learning requirements and address issues of accessibility to technology-based learning solutions to stay relevant.

Most important, deeply embedded learning solutions must be integrated into every stage of the employee life cycle to help build a successful learning organization. CLO

L&D started by clarifying the ultimate business goal and then took stakeholders back to the objectives, pushing the group to describe the evidence they would expect to see if the mentoring program were successful.

The team quickly noted the importance of having enough mentors for all the hand-raising mentees.

From there, they moved to satisfaction with the relationship and value of mentoring, noting they would need to develop a survey to gather some of this data.

Stakeholders agreed that re-engagement of mentors — and mentees becoming mentors — would speak volumes to the value employees find in the program.

They then posited that if employees had a good mentoring experience, performance would improve. L&D pushed on this one, asking how performance should be measured; after all, mentoring was happening across departments, each with its own business results.

With a good understanding of the company’s performance management process, stakeholders landed on ratings and pay increases. They continued building out the logic that these, plus a good mentoring experience, would lead to more internal promotions and better employee engagement. These in turn would lead to reduced recruiting costs and turnover. By impacting these costs, the mentoring program would be positively contributing to the company’s financial performance.

These two examples demonstrate how a Measurement Map guides the deconstruction of a strategy down to observable and measurable inputs, activities and outputs. Whether starting at the left or the right, the map provides the logical framework to align people strategies with business strategies.

Nivedita Kuruvilla is head of talent development branding and communication at Tata Consultancy Services. Damodar Padhi is vice president and global head of talent development at TCS. They can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

60 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

Engage Stakeholders to Build a Map The best format for building a Measurement Map involves a stakeholder meeting with L&D and business partner representatives. Stakeholders need to be sold on the value of the process, as they may traditionally come to L&D simply requesting new training programs. The intent of the measurement-​mapping session is to align all parties around the business problem to be solved, determine what success would look like and explain how a learning intervention can support that. In other words, the session defines the expectations of the learning intervention in observable, measurable business terms.

This roughly two-hour facilitated session works a bit like a brainstorming activity yet follows a structured measurement-mapping process. It begins with discussion and refinement of the business problem, the potential intervention and the intended audience for the solution. This flows naturally into outlining some hypotheses of what stakeholders hope the intervention will achieve.

After laying this groundwork, the session shifts focus to the metrics — the observable, countable evidence

of what early and ultimate success looks like. This part can get challenging and a bit uncomfortable while also being thought-​ provoking, as participants likely have not thought about learning and outcomes in this fashion. By asking a series of probing questions, the facilitator drives for observable outcomes, challenging participants to push out of their comfort zone and think about workplace performance, looking for evidence of the learning taking hold. During this discussion, no distinction is made between leading indicators and business results, as that can stall the brainstorming. Making that distinction comes next with the sequencing of all KPIs into the map.

At the completion of the brainstorm, each KPI gets written on a Post-it. As a group, participants start arranging the notes on a wall, building their map and creating a causal chain of evidence. To test the logic, participants practice telling the story from right to left and from left to right.

When business stakeholders give the map a thumbs-up, L&D knows they have alignment. They also likely have the attention of the business in designing a sound solution and measuring its impact.

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A participant summed up the process well: “By engaging the business in this process, there has been a huge shift in how they think about ‘training’ and the value of appropriate, instructionally sound solutions.”

Clifford Capone Vice President, Group Publisher 312-967-3538 ccapone@CLOmedia.com

Filling the Void Learning leaders struggle with measuring business impact, often because they do not know how to start. Using a tool like the Measurement Map fills a void in learning’s traditional measurement framework by bringing alignment into focus. The map also provides the foundation for designing and executing a credible measurement plan. One learning leader commented, “This is a truly tangible tool that takes the ‘scary’ out of tying back to business impact.”

Creating a Measurement Map is both art and science. No two maps will be alike. As long as all parties agree to the logical argument and all items are measurable, it’s a good map.

Start mapping, and enjoy the process! CLO

Daniella Weinberg Regional Sales Manager 917-627-1125 dweinberg@CLOmedia.com CT, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Europe

Kevin M. Fields Director, Business Development 312-967-3565 kfields@CLOmedia.com Melanie Lee Business Administration Manager mlee@CLOmedia.com

Bonnie Beresford is director of performance and learning analytics at GP Strategies. She can be reached at editor@ CLOmedia.com.

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Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 61

IN CONCLUSION

Leading With Grace to Fulfill Your Purpose Purpose is the why, grace is the how • BY JOHN BALDONI

P

John Baldoni is a globally recognized executive coach and leadership educator. He is the author of 14 books, including “Grace: A Leader’s Guide to a Better Us.”

urpose is what gives people, as well as organizations, the get-up-and-go they need to move ahead. Purpose is what sparks what you wish to become (your vision), as well as what you do (your mission). Achieving that mission takes drive, determination and no shortage of gumption.

You push ahead, and often pull people along for the ride. However, there is something that could make the pushing and pulling easier, more compatible and a lot more comfortable: values.

Values are the core beliefs that we hold dear, and within an organization, they are the glue that binds us to one another.

Values determine the ways in which we connect.

Values that reflect respect and dignity are those that emerge from grace. Grace, then, becomes our how, just as purpose is our why.

Put another way, you can use purpose to get what you want, but you employ grace to do it the right way — that is, with people rather than in spite of them. Leaders with grace look at people as contributors; they evaluate them with an open mind and, better yet, an open heart. They look to the good side and assume the best. They look at life as one of abundance rather than scarcity. There is much good to go around, if only we look for it.

But what does it mean to lead with grace? Using grace as an acronym, consider: Generosity is the spirit of openness and sharing.

When leaders give of themselves, others feel it. Generosity is generative. The more you give, the more others are given the opportunity to respond in kind.

Respect is the ability to assume the best intentions in others. Invite divergent views. Be inclusive. It is the willingness to show trust and expect it in return.

Action is the power to mobilize. A leader’s job is to pull people together for a common cause and to make things happen.

Compassion is the ability to care and to love.

You care about how people are doing at work and outside of it.

Energy is the drive that teams need to have to succeed. It falls to the leader to pull as well as push people forward in order to get the job done.

Each of these attributes harmonize with the concept of grace as a whole in order to orient leaders

62 Chief Learning Officer • September 2019 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com

Leadership is not about an individual; it is about collective purpose. Grace becomes the grease that enables people to smooth over the rough patches in pursuit of a common goal. toward service. In keeping with the notion of servant leadership, it falls to the person in charge to put the needs of the whole ahead of the wants of one.

Leadership really comes down to example. It’s not what a leader says as much as what they do. When it comes to the development of others, people remember those who helped them learn and grow their skills. They also recall, sometimes with a wince, the times when a boss called them out when they were in the wrong. Those errors may have been less about the quality of their work but more about how they had treated, or mistreated, a colleague. If they paid attention, they learned from their mistakes, and even better, became more adept themselves at managing and leading others.

Leadership, therefore, is not about an individual; it is about the collective purpose. Grace, then, becomes the grease that enables people to smooth over the rough patches as well as the glue that holds us together in pursuit of a common cause, our purpose for what we do and why we do it.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. “It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Grace enables us to live such a life. CLO

Great talent starts with great learning DELIVER A PERSONALIZED, CONTINUOUS LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH SABA Visit Saba.com to learn more about how we can help you give your people the personalized, interactive and collaborative experiences they need to grow and develop, feel valued, and create value for your business.

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