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24 January / February 2011 Elearning!

LEARNINGLEADERS:

of WinnersIs Changing

F CUSBY DIANE SIROKY

The 28 winning organizations in this year’sLearning Leaders Program sponsored byBersin & Associates have shifted their focus.

“In past years, participants were con-sumed with managing learning and talentneeds in the recession,” says Josh Bersin,president of Bersin & Associates. “Now, inthe face of the recovery, organizations arelooking at finding and nurturing talentwith the right mix of skills, global capabil-ities and leadership. As workplace bordersblur and evaporate, employees, candidatesand alumni all work together and interactwith HR through mobile phones, socialnetworking and online content.”

The research-driven program, now in itsfifth year, is designed to recognize innova-tion and excellence in critical areas of cor-porate training and talent management.Based on detailed criteria compiled overyears of research, the program includes sixcategories: operational training and devel-opment, learning and talent initiatives,leadership development, learning and tal-ent technology, learning organization andgovernance, and vendor innovation.

From its inception, the Learning Leadersprogram has recognized innovative learn-ing and talent-related solutions to businesschallenges. This year’s winning organiza-tions, selected from hundreds of applica-tions, span virtually all industry segments:technology, financial services, health care,transportation and management consult-ing. Winners also include providers oftraining and talent management solutionsand services.

Bersin saw several major themes amongthe 2011 winners: “They understand thatdeep skills specialization is a critical suc-

cess factor in this economy. Their pro-grams are designed for global, distributedworkforces and leverage social and infor-mal learning to drive value. Leadershipprograms focus on a new set of leadershipskills: collaboration, empowerment, inno-vation, and global awareness.

“Technology is an increasingly criticalcomponent of learning and leadershipdevelopment. Winners incorporate tech-nology in blended solutions that empha-size performance consulting and end-to-end change management to drive success.”

Read on for highlights about each win-ning organization.

ACCENTURE:Operational Training andDevelopment ExcellenceAccenture (www.accenture.com) is a glob-al management consulting, technologyservices and outsourcing company. It hasapproximately 200,000 professionals in 52countries and works with clients in nearlyevery major industry worldwide, including91 of the Fortune Global 100, two-thirds ofthe Fortune Global 500 and governmentagencies around the world.

Accenture faces recruiting challenges likethe geographic shift of supply and demandto developing and emerging countries andthe need to retain a credible, well-trained,professional recruitment capability in acompetitive market. These challenges andimperatives apply foremost to India — thecompany’s fastest growing geography withthe largest head count.

In 2010, Accenture needed to hire arecord number of people for an extendedperiod of time in India’s competitive mar-ket. The strategic imperatives were to growAccenture’s share of the world’s talentmarket, making it possible to identify andacquire 50,000+ people with the right skillset in a short timeframe and at a low cost.

The firm hired an India-based team thatneeded to provide the finest possiblerecruitment experience to candidates. Thisled to the design and implementation ofthe Recruitment Capability Developmentinitiative, a training program designed toallow Accenture to meet unprecedentedhiring targets in less than 12 months.

Recruitment Program GoalsBased on a needs assessment, a problemstatement from the India recruitment lead,and on-the-job observations of the Indiacapability development team, three pro-gram design principles emerged.

First, the program objectives had to bealigned to recruitment team goals. Next,given the high-pressure work situationfor participants, different learningmethodologies had to be used to ensureminimal time away from their core jobresponsibilities. Third, the content had tobe tailor-made for recruitment to enablemaximum learning.

The India recruitment lead was madeexecutive sponsor of this program andremained involved from the needsassessment to the evaluation stage. Hewas responsible for articulating theproblem statement, reviewing the solu-tion, and approving the program designand budgets.

Blended Learning Accelerates UptakeAccenture’s solution was based on a learn-ing model that incorporates on-the-job,classroom and experiential learning. Allnew hires and current employees in therecruitment team started with instructor-led sessions on Accenture’s ServiceDelivery Model to familiarize them withthe roles and responsibilities of differentteams and the operating model.

This was followed by “process walk-through” sessions by subject-matterexperts for new hires. Shorter versions ofthese sessions were run as refreshers forincumbents. These sessions were rein-forced by learning bytes — snippets ofinformation highlighting critical processsteps delivered through e-mail, job aidsand postcards.

Next, participants completed ImprovingCandidate Experience classes to familiarizethemselves with the nuances of interactingwith a recruiting candidate. Role playing,videos and case studies were used in thesesessions to make them experiential.

The Improving Candidate Experiencesessions were followed by “Synergy Week,”in which quizzes and various other com-petitions were run to bring rigor to theimplementation of the learning objectives.A testimonial week was also organized, in

Elearning! January / February 2011 25

‘Deep skills specialization isa critical success

factor in thiseconomy.’—Josh Bersin

which all testimonials received from candi-dates were displayed on large LCD screensin the team area to encourage the team,improve morale, and provide concreteexamples of success.

All middle-level managers participatedin a three-phase STAR Certification pro-gram. Phase One was composed of 40hours of instructor-led classes covering 24topics on operations management. PhaseTwo was a knowledge implementationphase, during which participants pickedtwo metrics from their job role processesthat they would improve. Support wasprovided to participants in the form ofweekly coaching sessions by the Phase Onetrainers and by their supervisors, to helpthem implement the tools and techniqueslearned during the program. In the lastphase, senior leadership verified improve-ments in performance through presenta-tions made by participants in a structuredformat.

Hiring Goals AchievedApproximately 600 employees participatedin the Recruitment Capability Develop -ment initiative, and approximately 25,000person-hours of training were delivered.

Accenture had several methods ofmeasuring program effectiveness.Midway through the program, itlaunched a survey to the participants andtheir supervisors to assess the effective-ness of the program. Participant feedbackscores were also captured after everytraining session. In addition to partici-pant satisfaction, Accenture tracked theoutcomes of key business metrics associ-ated with the challenges facing the Indiarecruitment team.

By the end of 2010, the India recruit-ment team had met 100% of itsdemand. Compared to 2009, there was a206% increase in joiners, cost per per-

son was 16% lower, positions filled perrecruiter rose 82%, and candidate satis-faction increased 1%. Offer acceptanceby candidates increased by 17%, reflect-ing the selling and negotiation skills ofthe recruitment team. In fact, the reduc-tion in cost of hire was multiple timesthe cost of the program, resulting in apositive return on investment in lessthan 12 months.

AIR PRODUCTS:Learning Organization andGovernance ExcellenceAir Products (www.airproducts.com),founded in 1940, serves customers inindustrial, energy, technology and health-care markets worldwide with atmosphericgases, process and specialty gases, per-formance materials, and equipment and

services. With 18,300 employees aroundthe world, operations in more than 40countries, and fiscal 2010 revenues of $9billion, Air Products is ranked 273 in saleson Fortune magazine’s 2010 list of the 500largest U.S. corporations.

According to Stacey Harris, principalanalyst for Bersin & Associates, AirProducts is a great example of how a largeorganization can manage the learningfunction with business-driven expectedoutcomes and goals. “This learning organi-zation has shown its ability to run effi-ciently, through process improvementtechniques that value the input of itsentire learning function, while still focus-ing on delivering a quality outcome thatuses resources most effectively,” she says.“The ability to think beyond the classroomto create collaborative knowledge environ-ments has allowed Air Products University

to take ownership not only of learningprograms, but true learning outcomes andsupport of a continuous learning culture.”

Enterprise AlignmentAir Products University was created fiveyears ago to deliver strategic, globally con-sistent and impactful learning solutions toemployees and business managers. Thedirector of learning manages the universityand has responsibility for learning initia-tives worldwide.

The university uses a federated learn-ing model, which consists of a Learningand Knowledge Management Center ofExcellence (CoE) and 11 colleges thatrepresent the businesses and functionsacross all regions. The colleges are led byleaders representing the business seg-ments and functions who are selected fortheir business expertise, passion forlearning, and ability to leverage influencein a global environment. A learning per-formance lead from the CoE partnerswith each college to provide expertise inhuman performance improvement,learning and development.

Over the past five years, the universityhas been able to capture more than $30million in savings through targetedimprovement projects and global consis-tency, including:>>Migrating to a single global LMS to

register, track and launch learning, runstandardized reports for compliance,and provide self-service to managers,delivering a cost savings of approxi-mately $18.5 million;

>>Developing learning standards, tem-plates and rapid-development tools,which has allowed the university tocreate and deliver twice the amount oflearning content in 17 languagesworldwide with a 40% reduction intime and resources;

>>Synchronous and asynchronous tech-nology platforms, which have allowedthe learning organization to double itsuse of Web-enabled learning and cutparticipant and instructor time by50%, with an overall cost savings of $8million; and

>>Reducing redundancy by providingcentralized vendor management,resulting in cost savings over the pastfour years of $3 million.


learningleaders

Accenture wanted to identify andacquire 50,000+ people with the rightskill set in a short timeframe and at alow cost. By end of 2010, the recruit-ment team met 100% of its demand.

Knowledge Sharing, Continuous LearningMore than 100 communities of practice arealigned with the business and managed bythe colleges. These communities use onlinetools to post learning documents, job aids,Webcasts, discussions for action learningprojects, and project documentation. Theimpact of the virtual communities hasbeen significant, producing approximately$5 million in savings annually.

This environment also promotes thesharing of best practices. For example,employees at a plant site in Canada identi-fied a manufacturing best practice thatsaved $50,000. It was submitted to thecompany’s best-practice transfer processand released worldwide. Five sites adoptedthe practice, resulting in a net $250,000annual benefit that was realized in less thansix months. Similar best practices havebeen replicated worldwide, producing sav-ings in excess of tens of millions of dollars.

Quarterly Measures Effectiveness KPI’s are collected throughAir Products’ learning analytics partner,KnowledgeAdvisors. It measures 60% ofall learning programs for Levels 1-4 and10% of learning programs for return oninvestment through an automated surveyvia the LMS in six languages. These meas-ures, with established targets for each level,are collected and evaluated quarterly bycollege and for the entire organization.Each college reviews a score card for itslearning programs and has the ability todrill down in the data for improvements atthe class level, course level and program-matic level. By tracking across time thelearning organization has been able toidentify significant trends and respond.

According to Harris, keys to success ofenterprise learning governance at AirProducts are its foundational principles ofparticipative governance at all levels, glob-ally consistent learning and developmentof talent, and financial accountability.

AMWAY:Operational Training andDevelopment ExcellenceAmway (www.amway.com), launched in

1959, has more than 600,000 distributorsin more than 80 markets. Its businessmodel rewards independent business own-ers for selling products and sponsoringothers who do the same in the areas ofhome, beauty and nutrition products.

The majority of independent businessowners (IBOs) join Amway with no priorsales experience. The company has foundthat if new IBOs don’t learn quicklyenough to gain some level of success intheir first months, they typically drop outat the end of their first year. The resultingturnover and low productivity restrictsincome for their sponsors, the leadersmentoring them, and Amway.

The challenge for Amway is to providesales skills training that increases new IBOproductivity and retention rates. Toaddress this problem, a recent initiativefocused on the business goal of increasingproductivity and ultimately the first-yearrenewal rate of IBOs.

Early Success is KeyAmway analyzed the business need over a10-year period. In 2000, Amway built abusiness information warehouse andestablished an analytics department tomine the data generated by the company’stransaction systems that processed orders,paid IBO bonuses, and handled sponsor-ing and renewal activity.

The company gained great insight overthe next four years. For example, even aslight increase in first-year renewal rateshad a significant impact on the size of theIBO force. Not surprisingly, the IBOs whoearned the most income were also themost likely to renew. Additionally, IBO’sproductivity in the first three months wasthe factor that most influenced the proba-bility of renewing at the end of the firstyear. Consequently, improving the sales

skills of new IBOs became the focus of thisoperational program.

Based on statistical models, Amway’smost immediate goal was to increase IBOproductivity by 20% in their first threemonths in the business. The long-term

goal was to increase rates of first-yearrenewals to 73%.

Consultative Curriculum In 2005, Amway engaged a consultingfirm to conduct primary research tounderstand the realities of the IBO expe-rience. Through focus groups and surveyresearch, two realizations emerged: noconsistent sales methodology existedwithin the field, and, while IBO leadersrecognized they needed help engagingthe new IBO, they did not believe thecorporation understood what it took forIBOs to succeed.

Consequently, Amway formed TheLearning Lab (TLL), sponsored by the vicepresident of sales and marketing. In addi-tion to full-time team members, high-potential employees from multiple func-tional areas including sales, marketing,finance, customer service and communica-tions devoted up to 10 hours a week tothis endeavor. Resembling an anthropolog-ical study, TLL required extensive fieldwork with a small number of IBO leaderswho agreed to experiment with newapproaches. Success was defined as thereplication of positive results with threeIBO leaders.

At the end of the study, Amway had asales training model for the field, andTLL members learned how successfulIBOs sold product and taught others todo the same. Amway executives created atraining department and hired a director;the TLL lead became the manager ofinstructional design, and the company


The impact of Air Product’s virtualcommunities has been significant,

producing approximately $5 million in savings annually.

hired a vendor to develop the introducto-ry sales curriculum based on the proto-types developed in the lab.

Blended Learning Suits Different StylesGiven that Amway IBOs are geographicallydispersed and not accustomed to attendingAmway training, the company wanted todevelop e-learning curricula in addition totraditional instructor-led training (ILT).This would give IBOs the option of takingthe training that best accommodated theirlearning styles and schedules.

Amway developed training materialspackaged into 10 modules for both the ILTand e-learning curricula. The moduleswere organized by three major functions— preparation, make the sale, and follow-up — and covered a variety of topics fromfinding and connecting with customers tocreating a script and closing the sale. Themodules were short, easy to understand,and intuitive for learners. To use thestrengths of each training method, the ILTprovided an environment that promotednetworking and skill sharing while the e-learning ensured easy-to-follow moduleswith clear navigational buttons that couldbe taken in any order.

While Amway did not expect its IBOs totake both forms of training, the e-learningwas referenced in the ILT as a refresher thelearners could use when they returned tothe field. Comments from individuals atthe ILT sessions indicated that more IBOswanted to take advantage of this optionthan Amway originally anticipated.

Keeping it SimpleTo assess the impact of the sales training,Amway’s customer analytics departmentused a matched control group, based onattributes such as time in business at pointof training, number of customers, first-month revenue, and number of individu-als sponsored in the first month. The pro-gram was highly effective. The averageproductivity of the IBOs participating inthe training was 27% higher than thematched control groups. Renewal rateswere 76% — 46% higher than previousoverall first year renewal rates.

According to Josh Bersin, keeping it sim-ple was a key to Amway’s success. “Thecompany knew that helping IBOs get that

‘early win’ was key,” he says, “and they werelaser-focused on only the skills and infor-mation absolutely necessary for the newIBO to achieve early success.”

BJC HEALTHCARE:Learning Organization andGovernance ExcellenceBJC HealthCare (www.bjc.org) is one ofthe largest domestic non-profit health-careorganizations, delivering services to resi-dents in the greater St. Louis, southernIllinois and mid-Missouri regions. Withnet revenue of $3.2 billion, BJC includes13 hospitals and multiple communityhealth locations.

Launched in 2003, BJC’s central learningfunction — The Center for LifeLongLearning (CLL) — aligns its efforts withkey business initiatives to reduce hospitalrisk, save budgetary dollars and increasehiring opportunities. A learning and devel-opment staff of 18 serves a learning com-munity of more than 26,000 employees.

In 2008, the CLL proposed to seniorleadership a structural shift that moreclosely aligns the group with functions suchas performance improvement and clinicalexcellence. The company created the BJCLearning Institute, a high-impact, cross-functional team focused on transformation,innovation and process improvementefforts throughout BJC. In 2009, a buildingwith three floors of classroom and eventspace opened as the nucleus for learning.

The Institute organizes learning acrossfive tracks: business skills, clinical profes-sional skills, leadership development,process improvement and personal devel-opment. The CLL provides curriculumdevelopment, logistical support, instruc-tional design, content development, facili-tation, faculty training, classroom logistics,learning management system administra-tion, and communications/marketing sup-port for all five tracks.

Effective Governance ModelsA governance council ensures the CLL’salignment with the organization’s strategicdirection, identifies high-impact initia-tives, decides where the CLL will focus itsother resources, and prioritizes assign-ments. Membership of this council is com-

posed of the CLO and sen-ior executives from IS, HR,finance, process improve-ment and clinical opera-tions. Each executive isresponsible for prioritizinglearning within his or hertrack. The CLO leads thepersonal developmenttrack and serves as a coachto the other learning trackexecutives. The group pres-ident for innovation chairsthe council.

For each approved proj-ect, the CLL and councilmembers agree on meas-ures of success and budg-

etary constraints. Regular reviews are heldto assess the effectiveness of learning inter-ventions. Success measures includeemployee engagement impact, informationretention, and process improvement meas-ures such as variance reductions. Costreductions and industry benchmark dataare also scrutinized. Effectiveness data ispresented in a dashboard format similar tothe organizational scorecards used toreport clinical quality and patient satisfac-tion scores.

In addition, a learning cooperative —composed of hospital managers and clini-cal educators across BJC’s multiple hospi-tals and service organizations — bringsforward more immediate needs from thefront line. For example, this group recentlyrequested a curriculum to equip nurses


learningleaders

acting as shift leads to handle the ambigui-ty of assigning tasks to their peers withouthaving formal managerial authority.

Since 2003, the focus of the CLL hasexpanded from its focus on entry-levelemployee and mid-level managers to culti-vating programs for all employees at alllevels. Academic partners provide degreeor certificate programs ranging from anonline high school diploma to a doctoratedegree. The learning group offers custom-developed work and life skills courses oneffective communications, service excel-lence, personal and team effectiveness, andbusiness acumen. The spectrum of oppor-tunities is a significant differentiator forthe organization when applicants comparehealth systems in the surrounding area.

Operational EfficiencyCLL also supports other system-wide ini-tiatives. For example, in 2009, the CLL leda project to consolidate four learningmanagement systems into one. It nowprovides a learning map for employeesand managers to find appropriate learn-ing opportunities within all five tracks,link to available courses and enroll direct-ly. The LMS consolidation was completedon time and 32% under budget. Annualcost savings for one system versus four is$185,000.

As soon as the LMS implementationwas complete, the CLL began a project tostandardize nursing competenciesthroughout the hospitals to allow nursesto pick up open shifts at any of the sys-tem’s hospitals. Previously, each hospitalhad a slightly different set of require-ments. As a result, a nurse wishing to pickup extra shifts in a hospital outside ofhis/her home hospital was required tocomplete the requirements again.

The CLL worked with the LMS vendorto help design an online performanceobservation checklist that is specific tohealth care. The functionality debutedwithin the LMS in August 2010, and theCLL is currently working with the nursingeducation groups to develop a standard setof observable behaviors to build out thisnew functionality. By assigning a centralset of education requirements and a stan-dard performance observation checklist,the CLL expects the cost of using agencynurses to cover open shifts to decline by

$3.7 million annually.According to Stacey Harris, “BJC’s

efforts not only serve patients, but helpenrich employees’ lives with a belief thateveryone can become critical talent whengiven the opportunity. In the midst ofthese noble goals, BJC has also managed torun an efficient and business-focusedorganization that aligns its efforts withenterprise goals to reduce hospital risk,save budgetary dollars, and increase hiringopportunities.”

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BANK OF CANADA:Leadership DevelopmentExcellenceBDC (www.bdc.ca) is Canada’s businessdevelopment bank. From more than 100business centers across the country, BDCpromotes entrepreneurship by providinghighly tailored financing, venture capitaland consulting services to entrepreneurs.

In the early 2000s, BDC was facing somesignificant workforce challenges:>>50% of its first-level leaders had fewer

than three years of management expe-rience;

>>Often promoted for their technicalskills, these leaders were not preparedadequately to make smooth profession-al transitions;

>>A major wave of retirements and lossof expertise was expected in 25% ofkey positions; and

>>An employee engagement survey andHR exit interviews revealed that lead-ership skills and opportunities werelacking.

BDC needed to improve bench strength,reduce skill gaps, attract new talent, and

grow and retain leaders. To address thesechallenges, BDC formed a team of 10cross-functional employees at differentlevels who made a commitment to spend ayear developing and perfecting their lead-ership skills and collaborating to helpdefine the leadership competencies neces-sary to drive business goals.

After an extensive analysis that includedbenchmarking and visits with leading-edgecompanies with reputed leadership devel-opment programs (Johnson & Johnsonand Weyerhaeuser, among others), theteam proposed that BDC develop a leader-ship development program focused onimproving success of professional transi-tions in the organization. With the supportof an external consulting firm, BDC estab-lished a blended learning leadership devel-opment program called the TransitionalLeadership Program (TLP). To date,approximately 400 individuals have partic-ipated in either:>>The Leading the Future path, available

to directors and above across theorganization; and

>>The Emerging Leader path, availableto newly appointed managers andpromising individual contributorswho are viewed as having the poten-tial to move into a management posi-tion within a year.

All program elements were developedaccording to BDC’s leadership competen-cy profile while taking strategic objec-tives, values, skills and culture into con-sideration.

The TLP is a concrete example of blend-ed learning as it offers numerous formaland informal activities. These includeonline leadership potential assessments;personality inventories; feedback andcoaching by managers and external con-sultants; cohort training sessions delivered


BDC’s leadership program, a concreteexample of blended learning, offers numerous formal and

informal activities.

by external facilitators; customized casestudies; role playing and simulations; spe-cial projects, developmental and rotationalassignments; opportunities for peer net-working; and pod-coaching. In addition,participants have access to the HarvardManageMentor online management toolto build on concepts they have learned in areal-time mode. In April 2010, BDClaunched an evolved platform of its learn-ing management system that includessocial networking capabilities to which allemployees and leaders have access.

Executive Support and IntegrationAfter the pilot of the TLP, the newly-appointed president of BDC asked HR toaccelerate the implementation of the pro-gram and increased the budget envelopeaccordingly. The leadership developmentinvestment has since remained high, evenduring the financial industry meltdown of2009 and 2010.

The program is supported by champi-ons, including the president, the seniormanagement team and senior vice presi-dents of the business units. As a result, it isnot seen as an HR initiative but as a cor-porate initiative. The champions makesure that the participants play an activerole in their own development and live upto their personal commitments. In addi-tion, the TLP is tightly linked to other tal-ent processes, including succession andperformance management, career develop-ment and learning plans.

Participants for leadership developmentare identified by senior leadership afterassessment of their succession and per-formance management data. BDC alsolinks leadership development competen-cies to individual learning plans and careerdevelopment plans.

High Impact on ProgressionNearly 75% of former and current partic-ipants have been promoted to a first-levelmanagement position or a more seniorposition after taking part in the TLP. BDChas also experienced improved level onethrough three results, lower turnoverrates and improved employee engagementsurvey results. More than a retention tool,the TLP also serves as a strategy forattracting new talent and is a key brand-ing component.

Barb Arth, senior analyst for Bersin &Associates, says that BDC stood outamong Learning Leaders candidates forits very strong executive engagement androbust alignment of program content tobusiness goals. “BDC showed a tight link-age to other talent processes includingsuccession and performance manage-ment, career development and learningplans,” she says. “It also was able todemonstrate strong business impact ofthe TLP program both qualitatively andquantitatively.”

CISCO:Leadership DevelopmentExcellenceCisco (www.cisco.com) is the worldwideleader in networking that transforms howpeople connect, communicate and collab-orate. Cisco’s growth expectations are todouble the revenue and global footprint ofthe company, from $40 to $80 billion.

Concurrently, the organization is under-taking three massive shifts in its technolo-gy, business model and organization. Itsstrategy is to build a “Dynamic Network ofLeaders” prepared and positioned to leadCisco’s transformation. The goal is tobring an innovative and replicable talentmodel that mines global talent reservesand develops sustainable pipelines, posi-tioning the company to fully seize marketopportunities. To achieve this goal, Ciscocreated the Center for Collaborative

Leadership (C3). C3 serves to establishglobal talent strategy and create leadershipneeded to effect this transformation.Additionally, C3 serves to provide thoughtleadership to Cisco’s largest and mostimportant customers and partners.

Executive EngagementA C3 Advisory Committee, composed ofseven of Cisco’s highest potential seniorexecutives, serves to accelerate the visionand strategy for Cisco’s executive talentplanning and development efforts. Thecommittee ensures business relevance andbroad-based executive engagement acrossthe enterprise. These leaders provide busi-ness, industry and market intelligence tothe C3 Team.

Cisco’s leadership development model iscollaborative by design and in implemen-tation. Three foundational elements inter-act with each other: C3 solutions, prod-ucts, and services; executive/functionalaccelerators; and key rotations andboard/council assignments. Within the C3solution set, executives are offered busi-

ness-aligned developmentopportunities, including robustand customized executiveassessments, action learningforums, the C3 LeadershipChannel, and the CEO forum.

The C3 LeadershipChannelIn May 2010, Cisco launchedthe C3 Leadership Channel.The Channel is a dedicatedlearning environment leverag-ing the best of Web 2.0 socialnetworking technology, video,and 24x7 on-demand globalaccess to create a unique expe-rience for executives to learn

from and engage thought leaders on thetopics of strategy, innovation, globaliza-tion and transformation. The goal is tochange the way executives are developedwhile building a platform that could radi-cally change education throughout theworld.

The launch featured change-manage-ment expert John Kotter. Other participat-ing experts include Madeline Albright,Deepak Chopra, Warren Bennis and otherworld leaders, emerging entrepreneurs,


learningleaders

university professors, consultants and cus-tomers. Additional thought leaders andexecutives regularly host online officehours in order to provide just-in-timeconsultation on important questions,issues and situations. Participants can seewho is online (and the subject-mattercapabilities that they have) in order toencourage networking and discussionsbetween executives who do not normallywork in proximity.

In addition, leaders can network andshare best practices using Cisco’s socialnetworking solution, called IntegratedWorkforce Experience. An internal direc-tory helps connect people, communitiesand information. Users can easily access afull list of all leaders who share a specifictag, thereby creating an instant networkfor a common interest.

Comprehensive, Integrated ApproachThe leadership development processbegins with a customized 360 assessment,which leads to a tailored learning plan.Relevant C3 Leadership Channel contentis mapped to this plan. This couldinclude participating in live events,watching videos on demand, and partici-pating in chat room discussion withother executives.

While the C3 Leadership Channel tar-gets only executives and high potentials,Cisco’s leadership strategy includes pro-grams and resources that support thedevelopment of every layer of manage-ment. For emerging leaders, theseresources include: grass roots efforts tobring communities together aroundcommon career topics; mentoring andsponsorships for specific groups; compa-ny-wide portals and by-job categories forsocial networking, blogging and sharing(internal versions of YouTube andFacebook); and technology-enabled “cof-fee rooms” to casually connect leadersaround the globe.

Remarkable ImpactThe C3 Leadership Channel operates on amarket economy. Executives subscribe tothe channel through their own budgets, ata cost of $3,500 per year. Although execu-tives are not required to enroll, the pro-gram is on track to reach 100% executive

subscription.“This is Cisco’s third year in a row to be

named a Learning Leader,” says Barb Arth.“The company demonstrates outstandingexecutive engagement and focus on busi-ness alignment, and it uses state-of-the-arttechnology with a focus on collaborationand innovation. This year, Cisco showed

remarkable business results with billionsin value creation and millions in savings.”

For example, C3 has produced $25billion in proposed value creationthrough the action learning forum; $87million saved by reducing the cost oflow capacity performers; and $30 mil-lion give-back through cost reductionsand productivity gains. The C3 initiativehas succeeded in enhancing its leader-ship pipeline and increasing the confi-dence of its board of directors in thedepth of its succession pipeline.

DELOITTE:Learning & Talent Initiative ExcellenceIn the U.S., Deloitte LLP(www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/index.htm) and its subsidiaries employ45,000 professionals serving clientsthrough Deloitte & Touche LLP, DeloitteConsulting LLP, Deloitte FinancialAdvisory Services LLP, and Deloitte TaxLLP.

In 2008, Deloitte made a bold commit-ment to build a state-of-the-art learningand leadership development facility —Deloitte University (DU) — which repre-sents a $300 million investment in its peo-ple. The firm envisioned the campus inTexas would serve as the centerpiece of theuniversity’s brand and the heart of its

organization. For this initiative, Deloittecreated an ambitious new talent develop-ment strategy and transformed the cur-riculum across each of the firm’s business-es to align with the new direction. Theprocess of building a world-class develop-ment environment has served as a catalystfor change across the entire organization.

Beyond Technical ExpertiseTo create a revised talent developmentstrategy, Deloitte held a series of strategysummits with representatives from allbusinesses and channels. These summitswere co-led by the chief learning officerand chief strategy officer and includedinteractive exercises and polling questionsas a way to collectively identify commonthemes and high-level capability gaps.

Out of the summits came a key goal: toexpand the scope for learning beyondtechnical skills (which typically includestopics such as tax regulations andaccounting methodologies) and improveemployee competency development.Deloitte categorizes employee competen-cies into four areas — technical, industry,professional, and leadership skills — andplaces particular emphasis on leadershipskills, especially for high-potential part-ners, principals and directors. The firmaimed to develop not only world-classtechnical experts but business leaders, andset out to make a wholesale change in itstalent development.

For example, each of the company’sthree milestone schools (for new man-agers; for new senior managers; and fornew partners, principals, and directors)has been re-engineered to extend over sev-eral months or, in the case of new part-ners, a full year. Changes include greateremphasis on building leadership skillsusing competitive-team gaming, simula-tions and interactive scenarios. In addi-


Deloitte, which aimed to develop world-class technical experts and

business leaders, set out to change talent development.

tion, real Deloitte clients participate inexercises to enhance business developmentand relationship-building.

The initiative also included expansion ofDeloitte’s industry development programsfor sectors such as technology, media,telecommunications and financial services.The programs now include a one-day, livesimulation game in which participantsjoin the executive team of a fictional globalcompany in a given industry and competein teams to create shareholder value.

In addition, Deloitte launched a robustprogram for leadership developmentamong partner, principal, and directorpopulations, as well as a completelyrevamped new hire program for newlyadmitted or promoted people at these lev-els. The centerpiece of the program is aninteractive business simulation that putsteams of six in a competition to oversee acomplex fictional organization much likeDeloitte. The game requires participants towrestle with challenges similar to thoseregularly faced by the firm’s executivecommittee.

Underlying DU’s strategy is the beliefthat learning within Deloitte should be ledby its own people. Consequently, DUneeded to develop an entirely new style ofteacher — not the lecturer at the front ofthe classroom, but the facilitator/coachwho takes an active role in guiding learn-ers. To ensure that “only the best teach,”Deloitte created a multi-pronged new fac-ulty excellence program that includes rig-orous selection criteria and offers cus-tomized development tracks designed toenhance teaching skills.

More Effective LeadersThe Deloitte University initiative hasincreased the number of employee learn-ing hours from 2.7 million to 3.4 million.

Feedback has been vastly positive. Forexample, 94% felt that they were able tobecome more effective at their jobs.Further, feedback has shown severalinstances in which program participantshave pursued and successfully won newbusiness for the organization.

Response to the new leadership develop-ment program for partner, principal anddirector populations has been positive.Eighty-four% of learners reported that theevent exceeded their expectations, andbusiness unit CEOs now want to use thesimulation exercise with their own leader-ship teams.

Today, Deloitte University has deepbench of qualified teachers, with 1,742employees now certified and facilitatinglearning programs across its businesses.Learners today experience something qual-itatively different than they did in the past.The old-style lecture is gone, and in itsplace is rich, interactive, experiential learn-ing built on simulations that replicate real-life challenges and allow people to roll uptheir sleeves and practice new skills.

DIEBOLD:Learning and Talent Technology ExcellenceDiebold (www.diebold.com), a leadingglobal supplier of ATMs, employs morethan 16,000 people in more than 90 coun-tries. In 2009, Diebold reported total rev-enue of $2.7 billion.

A few years ago, Diebold found that27% of new service technicians were leav-ing the company within the first 90 days— costing the company continuousreplacement and training while compro-mising customer relationships. Dieboldalso faced strict state, federal and interna-

tional regulatory audits around requiredtraining compliance. In addition, employ-ee surveys revealed that associates felt nocontrol over their career paths.

Working with Indiana University,Diebold created a Six Sigma team andcame up with a list of improvement met-rics. The company focused on two imme-diate objectives: improvement of recruit-ing and onboarding and giving employeesmore ownership of their career paths.These goals required the expansion of thecompany’s learning and development pro-gram into a broader talent managementinitiative.

Diebold used Bersin & Associates’Seven-Step Process (which had provenvaluable during Diebold’s LMS selectionprocess in 2007) to help define needs andidentify the type of technology to addressthe company’s specific performance man-agement issues. The team decided that anytechnology chosen would need to “bolton” to Oracle ERP, used throughout theDiebold enterprise.

Diebold was also looking for talentmanagement technology that could handlemultiple languages. In addition, the tech-nology needed to be highly automatedsince Diebold’s learning and performanceteam included just four full-time stafferswho would be responsible for rolling outthe initiative and managing the technologyto serve the company’s large, global work-force.

Avoiding CustomizationDiebold was committed to adding robustrecruitment and performance capabilitieswithout any customization. The Dieboldteam was rigorous in defining thoserequirements and developed a qualitativescorecard against which every vendorcould be evaluated.

Diebold ultimately selected PlateauPerformance. As a hosted solution, PlateauPerformance is easily manageable forDiebold’s small learning and performanceteam, whose four members are not techni-cal experts. In addition, the hosted solu-tion takes away the burden and cost ofupkeep and gives Diebold priority statusfor technology upgrades.

As part of this technology initiative,Diebold was also looking for a Web 2.0social media environment with wikis,


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The technology needed to be highlyautomated since Diebold’s learning and

performance team included just fourfull-time staffers.

forums, blogs and information sharing.For these functions, the company choseSharePoint because of its robust architec-ture — again, a key factor in light of the“no customization” priority.

In addition, Diebold had been usingTaleo for 10 years as the company’s onlyapplicant tracking system. Diebold decidedto add on to Taleo’s manager WebTop fea-ture, agency portal (to manage third-partyrecruiters), and employee referral tool fortracking candidates.

Reduced TurnoverIn May 2010, Diebold completed the inte-gration of its Oracle ERP with PlateauPerformance, SharePoint and the Taleorecruitment and on-boarding modules.The initiative has been a major success.The overall return on investment ofDiebold’s talent management technologyinitiative is estimated at millions of dol-lars. Measurements include:>>Turnover within the first 90 days has

been reduced to 1%, down from 27%.The competency-based approach hashelped Diebold identify and recruitcandidates who are better matched tothe job, and the onboarding processoffers a better “day one” experience.

>>Overall turnover has been cut in half,from 13.9% to just 7.8%, and the pro-motion rate of supervisors and man-agers has tripled, from 27% to 90%. Bycombining competencies with cleardevelopment paths, Diebold believesthat employee ownership of its careergoals and paths has led to improvedjob satisfaction.

>>Speed-to-competency is six timesfaster. Previously, it took 18 months fora new employee to meet minimumtraining requirements; it now takes justthree months.

Diebold also reports value of the newsystem that goes beyond talent manage-ment. For example, the company is avoid-ing significant fines and other costs associ-ated with non-compliance in the area oflicensing. The system provides a singlerepository for information on the status ofall employees’ licensing worldwide andautomatically notifies employees of theneed to update their licensing, providesrequired coursework, monitors progressand documents completion.

Further, the Diebold sales force has usedPlateau’s reporting capabilities for a com-petitive edge. For example, when cus-tomers want to know how many techni-cians Diebold has trained on a particularproduct or who are licensed in a particulararea, the sales team can get this informa-tion quickly from the Plateau system.

“Like Diebold, many companies areimplementing and integrating talent man-agement technologies,” says David Mallon,principal analyst for Bersin & Associates.“What set Diebold’s initiative apart was itsfocus on primary business goals and itshighly practical and efficient approach.”

GRANT THORNTON:Leadership DevelopmentExcellenceFounded in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP(www.grantthornton.com) is the U.S.member firm of Grant ThorntonInternational Ltd., a global accounting,tax and business advisory organization.Through more than 30,000 employeesglobally, including 5,400 in the UnitedStates, Grant Thornton (GT) serves pub-lic and private clients in more than 100countries.

In 2003, against a backdrop of rapidgrowth, the firm’s senior leadership teamrecognized the need to build benchstrength. GT developed an innovativelearning and leadership development ini-tiative, called LEADS, to develop leaderswho live GT’s global vision and values,excel in client service and technicalexpertise, actively deliver the GT experi-ence for employees and clients, developthe firm’s people, and support continu-ous leadership development. A keycomponent of LEADS is thefirm’s “campus to partner,”approach, a set ofleadership andtechnical devel-opment pro-grams deliveredthrough GrantThorntonUniversity (GTU)and designed forevery level from

college interns to partners with a decadeor more of experience.

One of the most visible LEADS pro-grams is the firm’s Senior ManagerDevelopment Program (SMDP), a four-day sales simulation that has impactedsales training company wide. GT launchedSMDP in 2008 in response to economicpressures and newly-created senior man-ager financial targets. Targeting all newly-promoted senior managers, the program’skey objective is to identify innovative waysin which senior managers can link theirdaily actions to the firm’s strategy and leadprofitable engagements.

Live Sales SimulationsSMDP begins with a pre-work onlinesales simulation lasting 90 to 120 min-utes. Learners gain consultative sellingskills by formulating client questions anddetermining next steps based on respons-es. The right decisions advance the deal;bad decisions prompt elimination fromthe next round of client meetings.Participants have access to an Ask theExpert video library with more than 100two- to three-minute videos of 25thought leaders addressing topics such asasking probing questions, getting theappointment and closing the deal.

A few weeks after completing the pre-work simulation, participants gather for athree-day event, which includes sessionsled by the CEO of GT and other execu-tives. Topics include global vision and val-


ues, expectations of the role, firm strategy,leading profitable engagements, the GTclient experience, and exemplary leader-ship. Throughout the event, all partici-pants have polling technology touch padsto respond to surveys and quizzes, makingsessions more interactive and keepinglearners engaged.

The centerpiece of the live event is asales simulation during which teams pre-pare and present to a board of directorsmade up of senior leadership team mem-bers. The board later provides feedbackand determines winners. Teams of 10 sen-ior managers, aided by a partner or busi-ness development coach, compete for busi-ness by researching, preparing and pre-senting a proposal to the client’s board. Towin the business, teams must achieve highscores on criteria such as teamwork andaligning GT services to client needs. Theymust assign specific roles (such as leadpresenter, lead researcher), divide intensivework among newly acquainted colleaguesand prepare a sophisticated pitch in a verycompressed time frame.

To make the learning as realistic as pos-sible, the simulations include severalunexpected twists and turns. Board mem-bers throw curve balls, client meetings arecut short, or news announcements areissued that may impact the deal.However, if the boards feel no team hasmade a compelling enough case, no onewins the business.

Post-work includes 360-degree feedbackand new development plan, plus contin-ued learning through a community ofpractice and regularly-scheduled onlinelearning events.

Higher Win RateGrant Thornton measures the effectivenessof leadership development usingKirkpatrick Levels 1-5 and qualitativeinputs such as coaches’ feedback andunsolicited feedback from participants andpartner/instructors. The firm also gathersLevel 1-3 quantitative and qualitative par-ticipant feedback electronically. Level 4-5metrics include increased sales/revenue,improved utilization rates, lowered costs,improved client satisfaction, and ROI.

For those who participated in the SeniorManagement Development Program, winrate was 84% — nearly twice the non-par-

ticipant rate of 43%. The average win sizetripled, as did the average total wins. Thisrepresents nearly $12 million in additionalrevenue since the program began. Basedon program costs (development, directcosts, lost billable hours for participantsand partner/instructors, and creation anddelivery of four related Webcasts), GrantThornton measured a return on invest-ment of more than 1,000%.

IBM:Learning & Talent Initiative ExcellenceIBM (www.ibm.com) is a multinationalcorporation with 400,000 employees oper-ating in 170 countries. IBM’s global capa-bilities include services, software, hard-ware, fundamental research, and financing.

To remain competitive in a dynamicmarketplace, IBM strives to give employeesa quick and easy way to find and launchrelevant learning. But following the launchof a unique new enterprise learningWebsite, the learning organization beganreceiving anecdotal feedback that produc-tivity suffered when employees tried tofind and launch activities on the new site.

The learning organization recognizedthat in order to achieve full value fromthe new Website, it had to make somefixes. But, rather than basing revisions onguesswork, the organization took thetime to develop a toolset to capture clear,concise, and meaningful feedback about

the learning Website.

Widget Collects InputIn order to collect more data on the userexperience, IBM developed a new interfacefor users to submit feedback and strategi-cally placed it throughout the learning site.Called the feedback widget, the interfacewas much easier to find and simpler to usethan the previous feedback system on thelearning Website. It required no market-ing; users quickly found it and beganreporting what they liked and dislikedabout the learning Website. The learningorganization collected nearly 5,000 datapoints of feedback per month that wereused to identify the Website’s strengthsand weaknesses.

The feedback solution required imple-menting several new software components.The feedback widget, designed to be easilyembedded and configured for any Web

page hosted on anyserver, was implementedusing the DojoJavaScript toolkit. Afeedback analysis andreporting tool wasimplemented using IBMDB2 and WebSphereApplication Server tocapture all employeefeedback from the widg-et. The tool analyzespositive and negativestatistical feedbackresults for any given siteor section of a site.

The feedback widgetalso gives learners the

opportunity to provide written comments.IBM also implemented a feedback man-agement tool to capture comments andgive appropriate managers and site stake-holders an efficient way to review thesecomments. This tool also provides a con-figurable workflow engine to track the sta-tus of any feature requests or issues thatare reported via the feedback widget.

In addition, Unica NetInsight wasimplemented for learning site traffic, Webanalytics and Web metrics reporting. Thistool provides a robust view of Web trafficfrom a variety of perspectives, including abreakdown of traffic by site, site sectionand individual page, as well as user demo-


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graphics such as country, job role andorganization.

More Intuitive WebsiteAs the team gathered more data, analyzedit and prioritized the issues, it found thatuser productivity suffered the most whenusers visited multiple pages to find andlaunch an activity; couldn’t determine howto launch an activity; and encounteredfailed searches and needed multiplesearches to eventually find an activity.

Based on this information, the learningteam’s goals were to reduce the number offailed searches, the average time requiredto find and launch an activity, and theaverage page views needed to find andlaunch a learning activity.

The team determined, for example, thatsearch was the most frequently-used func-tion of the Website. Yet its placement onthe home page made it difficult for usersto find. In addition, many users visited thehome page looking for a way to bookmarkand track their learning, but these featureswere not available there. To simplify andcreate a more intuitive Website, the teammoved the most commonly used contentand functionality to the center of thehome page and eliminated the sectionsthat were infrequently used.

The response to the initiative was imme-diate. User satisfaction improved by 12%on the learning Website overall, 40% onthe learning home page, and 22% on thelearning search page. Furthermore, thelearning team conducted a standardizedcorporate survey about workplace effec-tiveness before and after it implementedthe changes to the learning Website. Theworkplace effectiveness survey also showeda 10% overall improvement in employeesatisfaction.

More importantly, the team measuredthe impact of the changes to productivitysavings. It found that simplifying andimproving the learning user interface gen-erated more than $5 million in annualproductivity savings for employees. Theseincluded an average 28% reduction in thepage views required to find and launch anactivity, a 35% reduction in the time need-ed to complete a search and launch activi-ty, and a 62% reduction in the total num-ber of failed learning searches.

JETBLUE:Operational Learning andDevelopment ExcellenceJetBlue Airways (www.jetblue.com) hascreated a new airline category based onvalue, service and style. Since start-up in2000, the New York-based airline hasexpanded to serve 63 cities with 600 dailyflights, accommodating more than 23 mil-lion customers annually.

In 2008, it became clear JetBlue neededa more sophisticated customer service sys-tem (CSS) to support its growth, buildloyalty and enhance the customer serviceexperience. But CSS system migrations inthe airline industry are extremely complexand mired with risk. JetBlue University(JBU) played a significant role in mitigat-ing that risk. JBU developed and imple-mented a training program that ensuredthat JetBlue reservations and airport oper-ations crew members were ready to servecustomers using the new CSS system fromSabre on the day of changeover to the newsystem. This effort targeted more than6,000 crew members and business partnersacross 63 cities served by JetBlue in North,South and Central America and theCaribbean.

The JetBlue training team faced severalchallenges: the ongoing development ofbusiness processes to support the new sys-tem, keeping crew members updated onthe processes that continued to change,and the sheer number of crew membersthat needed training.

Blended Learning SolutionJBU developed a four-month learningexperience. It began with three onlinelearning events designed to introduce

crewmembers to the system, followed upwith either a 10- or 12-day instructor-ledprogram (varied based on position). Avariety of learning techniques were incor-porated into the instructor-led training,such as “Jetpardy” (a form of the game“Jeopardy”). Both programs provided stu-dents with hands-on training in the Sabresystem using a cloned flight schedule in asimulation environment.

The learning experience continued withrefresher training that was provided on aweekly basis to employees once they com-

pleted the training course. In addition, apost-training coach team was created toprovide individual coaching to those whoneeded it.

Complementing these activities were avariety of informal learning opportunities,such as a blog for students and trainers tocommunicate; a portal page for allemployees to review and provide feedbackon the status of the training implementa-tion and curriculum; team Websites forspecific teams completing the training;and communities of practice with trainersfrom other airlines.

JBU developed a number of frontlinecrewmembers, dubbed “SuperUsers,” tosupplement the faculty and teach courses.SuperUsers were also provided with addi-tional training to solve problems at theairport and in the call center during thefirst weeks of changeover to the new sys-tem. Instructors were especially effective ateliciting feedback from class participantsand sharing it with the development teamand Sabre to inform the developmentprocess.

All registration for classroom trainingwas done via the JBU Portal (JetBlue’sLMS), which includes a reporting featureto provide training registration numbers.Completed training was tracked through


Simplifying and improving the learninguser interface generated more than $5million in annual productivity savings

for employees. —IBM

ATMS, the Aviation Training ManagementSystem used by JetBlue to track trainingrecords. The JBU Portal highlighted class-room training dates, locations and a classroster for line management, who wereaccountable for ensuring the participationof their crew members. This program wassponsored by all levels of leadership atJetBlue and had the full support of execu-tive leadership. This support, combinedwith the work of JetBlue’s CSS changemanagement team as change champions,ensured the success of the program.

Smooth TransitionFor the CSS training initiative, JetBluemeasured class registration numbers, class-room training completion numbers, skillchecks completed by students in training,refresher training completion, operationalreadiness, crew member post-event feed-back, crew member follow-up feedback,crew leader feedback and crew memberengagement. These measurements wereconducted using JetBlue’s Assessment,Measurement and Evaluation (AME)Team, the Metrics that Matter (MTM) sur-vey tool, focus groups, change championgroup surveys, and ATMS and JBU Portalreports.

From the program’s inception inJanuary 2009 to the changeover in January2010, JBU met all of its targeted mile-stones for training programs and employ-ee completion. Crew members performedexcellently on the new system once it wasimplemented. The Wall Street Journal her-alded the transition to the new CSS as oneof the most seamless in the industry.

METLIFE:Learning and Talent Technology ExcellenceMetLife, Inc. (www.metlife.com) is a lead-ing provider of insurance and other finan-cial services to millions of individual andinstitutional customers throughout theUnited States. The company is ranked 43rdin the Fortune 500 list of largest companiesby gross revenue.

In 2008, MetLife’s learning and develop-ment faced several challenges. The compa-ny was putting too much of its budget

toward a learning system that was not pro-viding desired results or the customizabledevelopment opportunities needed to beeffective. It was spending several hundredsof hours tracking completions that werenot tied to results or role-related compe-tencies. And it conducted developmentsessions on an ad hoc basis as opposed tobuilding an appropriate and on-point tar-geted development curriculum.

The company’s learning organizationset an overall goal to implement a “one-stop shop” LMS that could assign anddeliver a targeted development experi-ence focused on driving advisor produc-tivity. But no one believed that a singleplatform could provide the solution itneeded. The challenge was to select mul-tiple best-of-breed products and thenseamlessly integrate them.

Three-stage Discovery ProcessFirst, MetLife’s learning organizationhired a third-party vendor to conduct athorough business analysis and provide anoutside perspective on current operatingand management systems. Second, thelearning organization conducted a seriesof focus groups, interviews and surveyswith associates and business partners, ask-ing about stakeholders, process, gover-nance and technology. Third, the learninggroup contacted more than 30 organiza-tions from various industries about thetechnology platforms they were using tosupport learning and organization devel-opment functions.

Based on this extensive analysis,MetLife identified several key require-

ments and goals for the technology ini-tiative. The system had to have the abilityto deploy targeted learning rapidly andefficiently and support a broad suite oforganizational development services thatwent beyond large, in-person trainingevents. The company also expected to usethe new system to support unique devel-opment opportunities for the top advisorpopulation (responsible for 47% ofMetlife’s overall production), increaseretention by providing organizationdevelopment support to the advisorchannel and the individual firms, andreduce the cost of unnecessary travelwith development content that could bedelivered via e-learning or interactiveWebEx sessions.

New Technology PlatformsMetLife conducted a for-mal RFP process with avariety of vendors andconducted a series ofindustry reviews.Ultimately, MetLifeselected three new tech-nology platforms andimplemented them inJuly 2009: CornerstoneOnDemand LMS withinteractive WebEx tech-nology, a proprietarydata mart with businessintelligence/analyticssolutions fromMicroStrategy, and theTaleo recruiting plat-

form fully integrated with a virtual jobtryout selection tool.

Several integration points aligned thesethree platforms into one system, whichMetLife named MAX (for MaximumImpact). For example, with a link to thereport data mart, the LMS provides advi-sors and management teams with the abil-ity to target specific development opportu-nities based on production feedback pro-files. This customized feedback providesan individual with powerful daily feedbackthat can help create targeted goals and cus-tomized development opportunities.

Each of MetLife’s more than 100 firmsacross the U.S. is uniquely organized andstructured, based on current marketopportunities and goals. There are more


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than 7,000 advisors and more than 400managers and directors with various lev-els of expertise requiring individualapproaches to development. To addressthese challenges, MAX provides seg-mented development based on one’slength of service, book of business androle within the firm. In addition toaccessing virtual and self-paced courses,MAX strategically aligns specific devel-opment opportunities to these audiencesbased on business results.

Increased Sales, Reduced CostsAs of August 2010, the new system haddelivered 946 instructor-led sessions and232 e-learning courses to 2,971 advisorsand 1,286 managers. Leadership receivesreal-time feedback on firm-level results,which drives a leadership developmentstrategy aligned to the overall firm pro-ductivity. Employees at all levels of theorganization have customized develop-ment plans within the LMS.

In addition, MetLife’s top sales advisorswho participated in a business coachingpilot increased production more than 15%and were well ahead of plan, in compari-son to the 16 top advisors who chose notto participate and whose results wereessentially flat.

The company has also achieved signifi-cant cost savings by delivering content viae-learning or interactive WebEx sessionsand reducing unnecessary travel. Forexample, it was able to eliminate a one-dayprogram that was part of a three-sessionseries conducted throughout the year.

Since July 2009, the learning organiza-tion has been able to increase the amountof training hours it offers by 10% whileadding services to support business plan-ning, bench development, and organiza-tional structure consulting. At the sametime, the group has reduced its total budg-et more than 10% (slightly under $3 mil-lion) and reduced technology spending5% (just under $1 million).

“MetLife’s initiative was more than atraditional learning solution implementa-tion,” says David Mallon. “It was part of acomplete transformation of the learningorganization that encompassed not justtechnology but how it is structured, theservices it delivers and its impact on enter-prise-wide talent.”

NATIONWIDE INSURANCE:Learning Organization andGovernance ExcellenceNationwide Insurance(www.nationwide.com) provides a fullrange of personalized insurance and finan-cial services. Over the past 80 years,Nationwide has grown from a small mutu-al auto insurer to one of the largest insur-ance and financial services companies inthe world, with more than $135 billion instatutory assets.

The company was recognized for itsorganizational structure, governance mod-els and supporting process improvements,all focused on creating a single approachto managing talent needs from recruitingto development to rewards. Nationwide’skey strategy elements — capabilities excel-lence, customer focus and people engage-ment — emphasize the company’s beliefin this connection and overall focus onpeople, culture and performance.

Integration All AroundNationwide’s Learning Services organiza-tion is structured into five operating areas:planning and governance, business acu-men and strategy, leadership and behav-ioral learning, IT and technical tools learn-

ing, and learning and delivery operations.As work requests enter its demand-man-agement process, the effort is aligned toone of the above operating areas and theresource allocation process is initiated. Across-functional team representing design,development and delivery of learning solu-tions allows Nationwide to provide a highlevel of support to the overall enterprise.

Learning functions are overseen by asingle vice president in charge of corpo-

rate talent management. Those initiativesinclude all of the enterprise-wide initia-tives such as leadership development andassociate orientation. The other strategicbusiness units such as sales and claimscall centers have their learning and devel-opment functions reporting up through abusiness unit vice president as well. Eachof the company’s learning and develop-ment organizations has business-unitcommittees composed of a learningcouncil or steering committee that pro-vides input and guidance so that theymaintain alignment with the overall busi-ness strategy.

A centralized learning services organiza-tion is governed by Nationwide’s HRPortfolio Management Council to ensureit is working on the most important learn-ing needs. This group approves the servicedelivery plan, the annual enterprise learn-ing needs assessment, the decision-makingcriteria used for ad hoc requests, and met-rics used to measure learning.

Business Partnerships HelpNationwide’s learning professionals part-ner closely with leadership, centers ofexpertise, user groups and technicalexperts to identify the knowledge andskill gaps impeding the desired perform-ance of associates. From front-end needsanalysis to evaluation, these partnerships

ensure that performance improvementsolutions remain closely aligned withorganizational business goals. Advisorygroups, talent management consultantand human resource business partnerpositions have also been established toprovide advisory functions and commit-ted sponsorships.

Nationwide also delivers innovative e-learning programs designed to reachemployees regardless of where they are


Nationwide’s learning professionalspartner closely with leadership, centers

of expertise, user groups and technical experts.

located. One course includes a state-of-the-art, online simulation which allowsteams of managers to explore strategiesand test their business plans to profitablygrow their insurance operations.

Efficiencies without CompromiseThe mission of the learning organizationis to advance individual and companyperformance by creating a continuouslearning environment through innovativeand engaging learning solutions aligned

to business strategy. For example, learn-ing services recently led an effort to moveappropriate learning events away frominstructor-led sessions to a virtual envi-ronment. Over the past year, 14 class-room-based courses were converted to avirtual offering. This has achieved costsavings of $20,000 for instructor traveland approximately $35,000 in participanttravel. More importantly, the learningservices organization is able to reach abroader audience of associates who wouldhave otherwise not been able to partici-pate in the training.

To verify its progress, the learningorganization uses several tools.>>Resource allocation and monitoring is

aided by the use of CA’s Clarity Project& Portfolio Manager. All staff membersare required to allocate their time toproject and consulting tasks. This pro-vides a high-level understanding ofhow resources are being used and whomay be available for upcoming proj-ects.

>>To measure the group’s ability to pro-vide excellent customer service, thedemand management process has serv-ice level agreements established frombeginning to end. By managing thecompliance with the SLAs, the team isable to locate bottlenecks, improve

processes and set customer expecta-tions.

>>A KnowledgeAdvisors’ Metrics thatMatter application provides a view ofwhere the “rubber meets the road.”Learning services can see if its productsand services meet the needs of clientsand the enterprise. This measurementtools allows the group to fine-tune itslearning design, development anddelivery to create the optimum solu-tion for learners.

RAYTHEON:Leadership DevelopmentExcellenceRaytheon (www.raytheon.com) is a tech-nology and innovation leader specializingin defense, homeland security and othergovernment markets throughout theworld. Raytheon provides state-of-the-artelectronics, mission systems integrationand other capabilities in the areas of sens-ing; effects; and command, control, com-munications and intelligence systems; anda range of mission-support services.

As of four years ago, leadership trainingat Raytheon was episodic and decentral-ized due to mergers and acquisitions.Additionally, the leadership competencymodel was in need of updating. The com-pany set out to establish a common enter-prise philosophy, framework and approachto leadership development.

Raytheon has achieved its goals, accord-ing to Barb Arth. “Today, Raytheon has arobust leadership development strategybased on business goals and focused ondevelopment of all leader levels, with anorientation towards building individuals,teams, and organizational capability,” Arthsays. “Its strong, comprehensive program

design includes true action-learning proj-ects at both the individual and team levels.Raytheon also presented quantifiable met-rics demonstrating strong impact in fourseparate areas: programmatic, talent man-agement, culture, and external bench-marks.”

Aligning with Business StrategyAt the highest level, Raytheon’s long-term strategy informs the need for arobust bench of leaders and a full com-plement of developmental experiencesand capstone programs. To execute itsstrategy, the company must identify,acquire, develop and actively manage arobust pipeline of leaders who possesscritical knowledge, skills, capabilities andbehaviors, and then deploy them into theright jobs at the right time. This invest-ment in leadership development is partof the company’s overall commitment totalent management.

The company’s “Leader of the Future”profile describes desired leadership experi-ences, behaviors and competencies. Theseinclude experiences with multiple indus-tries or Raytheon businesses, multiplefunctions, international, leading teams invarious challenging environments, andproven success driving business growth.Behaviors include clear vision, courage,integrity, global mindset, inclusiveness,commitment to develop talent, innovationand appropriate risk, strong relationshipsand board-room-level presence. Compet -encies include strategic and visionarythinking, influential communication, peo-ple development, innovation and creativi-ty, customer focus, business acumen, per-formance/results, ethical leadership,courage, alignment, diversity and integrity,and self-management.

Comprehensive ProgramRaytheon has designed a strong compre-hensive leadership development program,with true action-learning projects at boththe individual and team levels. One of themore impactful learning activities is theStrategic Challenge, where participantswork in cross-business, cross-functionalteams to develop solutions to realRaytheon issues. Projects are selected bythe CEO. The teams are sponsored bymembers of the senior leadership team.


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CA converted 14 classroom-basedcourses to a virtual offering, achievingcost savings of $20,000 for instructortravel cost and approximately $35,000

in participant travel.


These strategic challenge teams areexpected to show high-level strategicthinking and reflect the vision and futuredirection of the enterprise. Past strategicchallenge projects have related to suppliermanagement, international growth, and“green” strategies.

One of the best practices employed byRaytheon is a unique, story-tellingapproach of “what has worked for me andnot worked for me” at various leader lev-els. For example, at the company’sExecutive Leadership Summit, the “leadersteaching leaders” philosophy comes to life:leaders share their personal stories, theirfailures and their lessons learned alongsideworld-class external thought leaders.

This approach is being replicated inother programs. For example, Summitgraduates become part of the coachingfaculty of other programs and leadersshare their personal journeys with theearly-career leadership developmentclasses.

Attention to MetricsLevel 1-5 metrics are presented in dash-board and presented to senior leadershipin an HR scorecard. Raytheon’s leadershipdevelopment programs have producedquantifiable metrics demonstrating strongimpact in four separate areas: program-matic, talent management, culture andexternal benchmarks.

For example, 57% of front-line leaderprogram participants says they werestaying at Raytheon as a result of theirleader having attended front-line leadertraining. Metrics also show that thecompany has reduced cycle time oncross-functional projects, reducedturnover and increased promotions.About 40% of Executive LeadershipSummit program participants have beenpromoted, rotated or given increasedresponsibility, including four who havemoved into senior leadership positions.The company has doubled the numberof employees identified as high-poten-tials, and the number of “ready-now”successors has increased 35%.

The company’s efforts have been recog-nized externally as well: In 2009, Raytheonwas named among the Top 25 Companiesfor Leaders in North America by Fortunemagazine.

TERADATA:Operational Learning andDevelopment ExcellenceTeradata (www.teradata.com), the world’slargest company solely focused on datawarehousing and business analytics, wasnamed a Learning Leader in two cate-gories: this one and Learning and TalentTechnology Excellence. With approximate-ly 6,000 employees in more than 60 coun-tries, Teradata has a client base of morethan 900 customers worldwide.

In order to increase sales, Teradata man-agement decided in 2010 to increase thesize of the company’s sales force world-wide to accelerate sales productivity. Butthe legacy new hire program was nottraining new hires quickly and thoroughlyenough. Teradata Learning, with salesmanagement sponsorship, developed a six-phase program called Teradata MBA forNew Hires.

Using actual sales tools and processes,the program starts with basic concepts andthen systematically delves deeper intoskills, knowledge and practice using a vari-ety of learning formats to quickly immersenew sales hires into Teradata’s work envi-ronment.

Comprehensive Needs AnalysisThe Teradata Learning team used a busi-ness-focused needs analysis process thatincluded a survey about the current pro-gram and interviews with industry vicepresidents, previous new hires, facilitatorswho worked in the current program, andthe program manager responsible formanaging new hire training. Based on thisinput, the team’s goal was to equip newTeradata sales associates with the skills,tools and knowledge to accelerate their

assimilation and productivity in the field.In addition, it aimed to support territoryexpansion, partner with sales managers tohelp them reinforce their new hire’s learn-ing experience, and provide new hires witha roadmap for continuous learningbeyond the new hire training program.

To achieve these goals, the team neededto make key changes in program design.This included more structure, with checksand balances such as regular touch pointswith facilitators and managers. The newprogram also needed to provide knowl-edge, skills and practice to new hires in alogical sequence that starts with a high-level framework and then gradually pro-vides more detail as the new hire progress-es through the program. Additionally,Teradata wanted to build in just-in-timelearning opportunities rather than forcenew hires to take a course at a specificpoint in the program.

MBA: Continuous Learning The company launched Teradata MBA(“Moving Business Ahead”), a new-hiredevelopment program to accelerate theproductivity of new sales team membersand provide them with a road map forcontinuous learning. The program, whichtakes six to nine months to complete, isbroken into six distinct phases. Every

phase starts with a conference call withfacilitators and peers and cannot be com-pleted until the new hire completes a“touch point” with a manager. Once themanager review is complete, the new hirereceives credit for completing a specificphase and can progress to the next phasein the program.

The new hire program incorporates ablended learning approach that includesfacilitated conference calls, virtual facilitat-ed workshops, virtual breakout sessions,

Raytheon has doubled the number of high-potential employees and the

number of ‘ready-now’ successors hasincreased 35%.

SharePoint training Websites, recordedaudio and video sessions, Webcam tech-nology, and face-to-face workshops. Thisblended learning approach enables salespeople to do much of the program ontheir own time and schedule.

Collaborative and informal learningactivities are also used to drive results.These include Teradata’s proprietary learn-ing technology that allows new hires tosubmit assignments online and lets themsee each others’ assignments; teamingactivities and role plays; interviewing ofexperienced colleagues; and contributingto a wiki site to share experiences.

The program also promoted a culture ofaccountability. For example, the programmanager for Teradata MBA e-mails quar-terly status reports to sales managers aboutnew hire progress, communicates directlywith new hires on a regular basis, andtracks program progress for each new hire.At the end of each program phase, newhires complete a deliverable that representstasks they perform in their job. To keepthe new hire and sales manager fullyengaged, new hires review these deliver-ables with their sales manager for inputand feedback.

According to Barb Arth, another ele-ment that makes this program successful isthe ongoing engagement of sales managersthroughout the program. “Sales manage-ment is there to support, facilitate andreinforce this program. They engage witheach of their new hires throughout all sixphases of the program.”

Accelerated Sales ProductivityProviding new hires with the opportuni-ty to learn about Teradata creates animmediate impact on every associatehired at the company. Learning starts thefirst day on the job, with a defined cur-

riculum for the following six to ninemonths. In addition, the Teradata MBAfor New Hires helps sales managers withthe onboarding process by encouragingthem to participate and manage theirnew hires’ learning plans.

According to Teradata’s Level 1-2 meas-urement tools, the Teradata MBA for NewHires program achieved its goal of acceler-ating the sales team’s productivity. As aresult of participating in the program,sales managers reported that their newhires were more confident, had gained abetter understanding about the company,were more knowledgeable about Teradata’s

competition, better equipped to work withsales tools, and more productive whenthey begin working in the field.

Overcoming Travel RestrictionsAs a provider of large-scale data ware-houses in an international market, one ofTeradata’s significant challenges is to traincustomer services (CS) associates toinstall, service and maintain customer sys-tems worldwide. CS associates are the firstline for customer support, troubleshoot-ing, upgrade and problem-solving. Withfrequent upgrades of Teradata’s hardwareplatforms and software applicationscomes the need to train hundreds of glob-al CS associates to support the new sys-tems. In addition, it’s critical that associ-ates have the opportunity to practice sce-narios prior to performing tasks on anactual customer system.

In 2009, faced with travel restrictions,Teradata decided to explore creating a vir-tual classroom for CS associates. The chal-lenge for both platform and applicationtraining was to give associates the equiva-lent of a classroom experience, eventhough they would not be in the samelocation as the equipment.

In January 2010, the company success-fully deployed a global solution thatcombined simulations, conference call“syncpoints,” and hands-on access toremote systems for platform training.The model also included computer-basedself-study and individual access to virtualmachines to perform guided labs forapplication training.

A Virtual Machine ‘Cloud’Teradata’s Product Realization Team(PRT) focused on gathering trainingrequirements for new applicationreleases. The team included representa-tives of global operations, productmanagement, customer services, engi-neering and the CS field organization,the target audience for the training. ThePRT held a series of training strategycalls and formally requested input fromkey subject-matter experts from all ofthe company’s global regions. Thelearning organization used this inputand worked closely with engineering tocreate a virtual machine “cloud” envi-ronment to use for online lab exercises.The team also collaborated withTeradata’s learning technology group todetermine the best way to deliver andtrack the virtual training.

The end result was a self-paced, com-puter-based training course with theopportunity for associates to practiceguided labs on a virtual machine. A pilotcourse gave key associates in each of theregions an opportunity to take the courseand provide feedback. The team madechanges based upon pilot feedback, andthen the course was deployed worldwidein January 2010.

The PRT used a similar approach toidentify training requirements for newplatform releases. The result was a three-day virtual workshop that included lec-ture, access to remote systems for labs,self-paced simulations and downloadablevideos. As of October 2010, more than 115global CS associates were successfullytrained on the latest platform release usingthis new method.

A Combination of ToolsTeradata incorporated into the newremote model many of the tools alreadyfamiliar to its audience, including


learningleaders

A three-day virtual workshop includedlecture, self-paced simulations and

downloadable videos.

Microsoft LiveMeeting and MeetingPlace,and used them in new ways for the fullvirtual classroom experience. It also usedthe company’s existing LMS to deploycourses, handle registrations, accessonline work, and track completions.Teradata based the course structure on itsBlended Learning Architecture forDistance Education (BLADE), an inter-nally developed application that enablesthe development, delivery and tracking ofWeb-based content.

Teradata purchased a new platform forcapturing videos, performing demonstra-tions and creating the simulations.Students access the system remotely toperform the labs, using the same tools thatthey use to support customer systems.

For application training, the applica-tion server runs on a virtual machinethat uses VMware’s ESXi software. Labsessions are set up through the learningportal and students are assigned a virtualmachine for one week. The next step willbe for students to be able to request thevirtual machine lab environment ondemand.

According to David Mallon, the integra-tion of existing technologies was vital to thedelivery success of these courses. “AlthoughTeradata had used these tools separately, itwas new territory for the company tomerge these technologies as part of theremote training solution,” he says.

Effective Learning, Efficient CostsLevel 1 survey results confirmed that stu-dents were able to learn through virtualdelivery the tasks needed to perform onthe job just as well as they did in the tradi-tional classroom. In addition, the companyestimates it saved $130,000 on travel alonefor 2010. The virtual classroom alsoremoved the need to purchase additionalsystems for each of three regions (at a costof $180,000 each), offered greater accessi-bility to hands-on practice and morescheduling flexibility.

Teradata invested approximately$186,000 in its virtual classroom: $6,000for tools to assist in the development ofthe remote platform and application train-ing, and $180,000 for the system for thedevelopment and delivery of the platformtraining. To deliver the same applicationand platform training in the traditional

classroom would have cost $948,000 in2010. The net result is that Teradata hasalready realized a cost savings of $762,000.

UNDERWRITERSLABORATORIES:Operational Learning andDevelopment ExcellenceUnderwriters Laboratories (www.ul.com)is an independent product safety certifi-cation organization that has been testingproducts and writing standards for safetyfor more than a century. UL evaluatesmore than 19,000 types of products,components, materials and systemsannually with 20 billion “UL Marks”appearing on 66,000 manufacturers’products each year.

To keep pace with its organic grow rate,in 2009 UL made the decision to hire andtrain approximately 1,000 product safetyengineers throughout 19 countries within

three years. Previously, new hires weretrained by apprenticeship, an approachthat took one year to qualify the new hireas a product safety engineer. Senior engi-neers were usually responsible for gettingthe new hires qualified.

Although this approach worked wellwith small numbers, it would have tied-up a significant percentage of seniorengineers given the large number of newhires planned. UL was concerned thatsenior engineer productivity and finan-cial goals would suffer.

Detailed Job Analysis FormsTo meet its goal of training and qualifyingnew hires within 12 weeks, UL Universityneeded to create a new learning experience.The learning organization conducted a

detailed job analysis to understand job tasksand competencies. Team members also con-ducted interviews with hiring managers toensure their expectations were fulfilled interms of hiring schedule, qualification readi-ness, new hire fit, and their particular indus-try recruitment needs. Through observa-tion, interviews and surveys with qualifiedand exemplary product safety engineers, ajob task analysis and competency model forthe job was developed.

The team also mined UL’s ERP systemsfor task productivity data over an engi-neer’s career, which gave the team adevelopment benchmark to exceed. Inaddition, the team asked engineers hiredwithin the past two years about theirtraining and qualification experiences interms of what worked well and whatcould have worked better to get them toproductivity faster.

In the final phase of this process, theUL University team collaborated with twosenior engineers from each region toaddress and formulate the learning pro-

gram’s approach and content based onthe job task analysis, competency modeland survey data.

Boot Camp for EngineersUsing the ADDIE instructional designmodel, with modifications for rapiddevelopment, UL University developed a12-week “boot-camp” program. Theblended learning approach included self-study, hands-on laboratory experience,lecture, small-group problem-solving,practical and written assessments, andfield experience at customers’ manufac-turing facilities.

Using e-learning modules, instructionaldesigners moved knowledge-based con-tent to self-paced training. This openedup more time during face-to-face meet-


To deliver the same application andplatform training in a traditional

Teradata classroom would have cost$948,000 in 2010. Teradata realized a

cost savings of $762,000.

ings for discussions of practical applica-tion. The new e-learning modulesreplaced five days of general technicalengineering content. So the team devel-oped real-life case studies to give studentsa better understanding of how the techni-cal knowledge is applied in a safety engi-neer’s daily work. Small teams of two tofour engineers work together under thedirection of the facilitator to troubleshootthe issues in the case study, apply whatthey learned in the e-learning modules,and come up with a resolution.

UL University’s knowledge managementsystem provided support for informal andcollaborative learning through onlinecommunities, blogs for Q&A, wikis, and aglobal community of experts.

Faster SpeedsWorking with a psychometrician, ULrefined its assessment to be sure it wasmeasuring what the program was deliver-ing. Year over year, the product safetyengineer training program has met orexceeded the goal of cutting the speed toqualification, and therefore speed to pro-ductivity, by 50%.

According to Stacia Garr, senior analystfor Bersin Associates, the UL program issuccessful in part because it is structuredand measured. “Compared to UL’s instruc-tor-led apprenticeship model,” she says,“the boot camp is a much more interactiveand dynamic learning environment andgives new hires a much richer experience.”

The new learning program also pro-vides an opportunity for other function-al areas of UL to meet the new employ-ees. During informal presentations givenduring the first week of training, theCEO and several vice presidents intro-duce themselves and share a bit abouttheir role and career at UL, providing aricher orientation to the company.These visits, which are rare for employ-ees outside of the regional office or cor-porate headquarters, have had a lastingand positive effect.

Additionally, the program has becomea communication vehicle for numerouschange initiatives, corporate directionand leadership philosophy for these newUL employees. Often, they have been thefirst to hear of a new branding campaignor a new operation’s mission statement.

VESTAS:Learning & Talent Initiative ExcellenceVestas (www.vestas.com) is the globalleader in development, manufacturing,installation, and maintenance of windpower plants. The company has installedmore than 41,000 wind turbines in 65countries, and every three hours a new

Vestas wind turbine is installed. These tur-bines generate more than 60 millionmegawatt hours of power per year.

The company faces several externalcommunications challenges, which rangefrom negative misperceptions of windpower, to growing outside requests forlearning materials, to the need forimproved employer branding. To meetthese challenges, Vestas decided to make afive-hour technical training program avail-able to the public for free. Accessible toanyone who has an interest in wind powertechnology, the portal supports the corpo-rate goals of public education, public rela-tions, and brand building.

Employer Branding, Market EducationBased on experience and input fromnumerous external and internal stake-holders over a number of years and inmany different areas of the business, theVestas learning organization identifiedthree business challenges that it couldhelp solve:

>>Corporate Social Responsibility: Asleading manufacturer of wind turbines,Vestas is by nature a “green” company.However, like any other producer oflarge-scale energy supply technology,its products and behavior impact theworld. Wind power plants generate acertain amount of noise, impact ani-mal life (i.e., birds striking the blades),and their production requires the useof natural resources.

>>Providing knowledge to external stake-holders: Vestas isapproached daily byschools, universities, non-governmental organiza-tions and other institu-tions around the worldwith requests for materialsthat can be used in presen-tations and curricula aboutwind power. Vestas neededto streamline the processof providing uniformhigh-quality materials tostakeholders withoutspending excessiveresources.>> EmployerBranding: The company’s

global brand value as an employer hasgrown with its success. Vestas wants tokeep improving its employer brandvalue, anticipating a future when theword “wind” alone will not be the keyfactor in building employer brandvalue.

The learning organization’s strategy formeeting these goals was simple: Withaward-winning content for new hireonboarding courses already availablethrough its Vestas World e-learning offer-ing, the team knew it was sitting on afoundation of high-quality content, ready-made to be used externally. (The companywas named a 2008 Learning Leader forVestas World, a virtual environment wherelearners get to know the basic values, cul-ture, and business facts about the companyand wind power.)

The e-learning program “TechnicalTraining — Basic Courses” was selected asthe first project to be used externally. Thisfive-hour introduction to wind powertechnology is aimed at the lay employee,such as salespeople, general staff and


learningleaders

other categories of non-technical Vestasstaff. Vestas worked with Denmark-basedfirm Effective-Learning to edit the five-hour program into small modules appro-priate for general, external audiences.Each module is approximately three toseven minutes long. In November 2009,Vestas launched the modules on the com-pany Website via a simple interface similarto YouTube. Vestas also hired Denmark-based Empatii to manage quality assur-ance for the project.

The Vestas learning organization delib-erately kept the interface extremely simple.To launch the desired e-learning compo-nent, users click on a small graphic repre-sentation. Vestas’ intention was to focus onproviding the facts about wind power andto avoid overwhelming users with otherfeatures or marketing lingo.

Since the launch of the first version ofthe Website, Vestas has implemented newcontent rating and content generation fea-tures based on requests from users andideas generated by the team responsiblefor the portal. These features include theopportunity for users to login via Twitterand comment on each component of con-tent, download components, and uploadtheir own content. Vestas also uses Twitteras a channel to keep users up to date onnew developments from the team behindthe portal.

Extending Value and Brand The impact of the project so far hasexceeded expectations: In 2010, the learn-ing components were launched 100,000times by 25,000 unique users since launchof the portal. Additionally, Vestas has ini-tiated a number of cooperative projectsthat leverage content from the portal,including:>>Microburst Learning, a provider of

hosted, Web-based training, usesVestas’ e-learning components to pro-vide virtual job shadowing for studentsin South Carolina. It expects to reach250,000 students within a year.

>>Umeå University in Sweden uses theVestas e-learning components in a uni-versity course on energy sources. Eachlecture is linked with one of the learn-ing components on the portal.

Vestas e-learning is being usedincreasingly by schools, both as part of

their wind technology programs and asa source of knowledge about renewableenergy in general. This provides power-ful long-term employer branding as thestudents get insight into the world ofwind and the challenges of the windindustry.

Fast Company magazine recentlynamed Vestas among the Top 10 mostinnovative companies in the global ener-gy industry, citing its e-learning initiativeas an example.


The Learning Leaders program recognizes providers whose learning and talentmanagement solutions have delivered clear, positive impact for customers.Participants are evaluated on a range of criteria including business value,effectiveness, price/performance, flexibility, maintainability, and ease of useand implementation. This year, the Learning Leaders for Vendor Innovation are:

>> Altus (www.altuscorp.com), for Altus vSearch, an on-demand learningenvironment specializing in video and audio, combining an internal“YouTube”-like channel with strong search capabilities.

>> Blackboard (www.blackboard.com), for Blackboard Learn, a single, openplatform for course delivery, community engagement, content manage-ment and assessment.

>> BlueVolt (www.bluevolt.com ) for its mLMS platform, a training hub forindustries including building and construction, electrical, plumbing andtelecommunications.

>> Expertus (www.expertus.com) for ExpertusOne, a learning platform forsocial and collaborative, informal and formal learning.

>> Infosys (www.infosys.com), for its Sustained End-user Adoption &Learning (SEAL) solution, a formal approach for adoption of corporatechange initiatives.

>> Intuition (www.intuition.com), for Intuition Mobile, a platform that enablesorganizations to securely deliver courses, surveys, assessments, pod-casts and videos to hand-held devices.

>> Jambok (www.jambok.com), for its hosted online social learning platformthat provides the ability for anyone in the organization — subject-matterexperts, trainers, and employees — to easily develop and distribute richmedia content.

>> KnowledgeAdvisors (www.knowledgeadvisors.com), for Metrics ThatMatter, a core talent development reporting and analytics platform.

>> Saba (www.saba.com) for Saba Live, an integrated enterprise networkingplatform that integrates Web 2.0 social tools with Saba Centra WebConferencing.

>> Trivantis (www.trivantis.com), for Lectora Inspire, an e-learning develop-ment tool that integrates Trivantis’ authoring software with e-learningdevelopment tools Camtasia, Snagit and Flypaper.

In 2010, Vestas’learning

componentswere launched100,000 times.

Learning Leaders 2011: Vendor Innovation inLearning and Talent Management

by diane siroky - welcome home page - computer … articles/elearning... · · 2011-02-20by diane...

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