Over the last several months I have been in many meetings with HR and L&D professionals talking about the enormous power of formalized informal learning. As we walk through out enterprise learning framework and talk with people about the need to expand their concept of training, I am reminded of the work we did back in 2003 and 2004 when I wrote The Blended Learning Book® (which is just as important to understand today as ever before). Here are a few of the jewels I want to remind everyone to consider. 1.  Mastery Means Being Able to Apply KnowledgeAs one considers all the various aspects of training and education, the ultimate measure of learning is achieving some level of "mastery.
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It's here, our Corporate Learning and Talent Management Predictions for 2010. Each year for the last six years we have published an in-depth report on our predictions for the coming year. This year we have 12, and they are described in detail in this free report. Integrated talent management will reach the boardroom. The HR function will start a major transformation from "strategic HR" to "business-driven HR".
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I just completed a presentation at the ASTD (American Society of Training & Development) on best practices in the globalization of L&D programs.  Brad Samargya, the CLO of CA and Peter Christensen, the Manager of Corporate Learning at Vestas, joined us - presenting their complete solutions for global technical and onboarding programs. The session reminded me how important it is to go back to basics in the development and delivery of a training solution.  Our High Impact Learning Organization research shows that 56% of all companies (of all sizes) now consider globalization a "key to success" for most of their training programs.  The reason, of course, is that organizations of all sizes include employees, contractors, customers, partners, and often resellers in many countries.
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We just completed our IMPACT® 2009 Research Conference in Florida, which brought together over 300 top HR and L&D leaders from around the world. One of the things I talked about in my keynote is the real value of industry research, and I wanted to highlight some of this thinking here, through the use of an analogy. We, as industry analysts, are constantly looking into the heavens. we gaze upward we see many flashes of light. These millions of stars are each of you - the business and HR leaders and practitioners who are each working to solve problems.
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Ok we know times are tough.   Our just-released TalentWatch® research (Winter 2009) found that 61% of all organizations now rate "financial pressure to cut costs" as one of their top two business challenges, up from 36% only 3 months ago. So how well are HR and L&D organizations doing at reducing expenses and rationalizing costs? Not as well as we would hope. We are just completing a major study of talent measurement practices, and there are some important lessons here. What should be measure now? Measure what matters: Zero based budgeting for your training and HR programs.
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It's now official. After surveying our entire research membership and having more than 30 conversations with leading HR and learning leaders (including with Xerox, Accenture, British Telecom, Edward Jones, Department of Defense, and Network Appliance), I am now 100% convinced that "informal learning" has become "formal. " That is, if you want to build a high-impact, cost-effective, modern training organization you must "formally adopt" informal learning. So what does this all mean? A few statistics: 78% of corporate managers believe that "rapid rate of information change" is one of their top learning challenges (800+ HR and L&D managers surveyed in 2008). 80% of all corporate learning takes place through on-the-job interactions with peers, experts, and managers (estimated data collected from over 1,100 L&D managers late in 2008).
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One of the important lessons we have learned from our High Impact Learning Organization® research is the simple but profound fact that learning is part of a corporate business strategy.    While many HR and business leaders still believe that “training” is department which improves workforce productivity and should be treated as an expense item, our research clearly finds otherwise.   Corporate learning is a critical part of any enduring business strategy, similar to finance, marketing, sales, and manufacturing. Consider the following: Change is the biggest challenge organizations face:  There are five distinct phases of any business - startup, rapid growth, maturity, decline, and rebirth (or death). Figure 1:  The Lifecycle of a Business Every company we talk with is going through this cycle - whether its Apple with the i-Pod, Starbucks in Coffee, AIG with its insurance business, Fidelity in 401k, or Target in retail.
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Whew.   As David Mallon just posted, earlier this year we embarked on a major research effort to understand the growing role of social networking in enterprise learning and talent management.   The results are amazing.    Let me give you a brief preview of some of our initial findings: Organizations are working mightily to figure out how to leverage social networking (blogs, wikis, presence awareness, messaging, expert directories, communities of practice) in all forms of corporate training, customer education and support, and talent management.   For example, 77% of all L&D organizations believe that younger workers (under 25) have significantly different learning styles than older workers, yet only 16% feel they have developed some level of expertise in the implementation of collaborative learning.
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This month we are launching The High-Impact Learning Organization, a research study which has been more than three years in development. During this time we have interviewed hundreds of corporate HR and training leaders and reviewed in-depth trends of more than 780 global organizations. Audio Overview of this research: click here. As I have been discussing this research with our research members, I realize that one of the most profound changes that is taking place in corporate learning and development is the need for a new set of disciplines, a new set of skills and competencies. The traditional "instructional design, development, and delivery" skills, while still important, are fading into the background.
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I recently spent a few days in Mexico City meeting with HR and L&D leaders from some of the largest companies in Mexico (Banamex, Pemex, Groupo Modelo, and others).   The meetings reinforced a very important trend which is going on in corporate training today:  the “recentralization of corporate training. ” Over the last five years there has been a tremendous focus on building what we call the “federated” training organization - a model where the centralized L&D function focuses on learning technology, strategic leadership development programs, learning standards, and some key enterprise-wide programs.   In a well run federated training organization the central (a’la the Federal Government) takes clear responsibility for corporate-wide systems and programs, and the federated training groups (a’la the State Governments) take responsibility for training in their functions (sales training, customer service training, IT training, etc. ).
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As we prepare for our annual research conference, I want to mention an important topic which has come up frequently in the last few weeks:  the critical importance of managing innovation. All organizations in all industries must continuously deal with change. Our research continues to show that one of the greatest strengths of enduring organizations is the ability to effectively adapt to change.    Every market we study is undergoing continuous change: Global climate change and a focus on environmentalism is changing manufacturing, technology, insurance, and consulting.   Tesco is computing the carbon footprint of almost every product it sells.
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This week I had a call with five financial services clients to understand the impact of the economic slowdown on their learning, talent, and systems investments.   How are HR, talent strategies, and enterprise learning investments being affected by the credit crunch and slowdown in the US financial system?  (The clients included companies in banking and insurance: TD Bank Financial Group, First Horizon National Corporation, BNY Mellon Asset Management, Manulife Financial, and Wachovia. ) I was encouraged to hear that none of these financial institutions is dramatically cutting its talent investments.   In fact, each of these executives told me that their top executives continue to understand the need to maintain investments in people as the business slows.   Most of these companies are, however,  reducing expenses, including a freeze on travel and cutting back on large meetings and conferences.
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On February 26, 2008 Starbucks embarked on an interesting experiment in enterprise learning:  the company shut down all its US stores for several hours to train 135,000 employees in a single shot.    The goal of this program was to "reenergize our focus on the things that have made us the leading roster and retailer of specialty coffee. "  The program was designed to reach every store employee in a single event, to re-energize the starbucks talent, and re-establish the company's focus on brewing the "perfect drink. " How does a program like this fit into an enterprise learning and talent strategy?  My thoughts: 1.   For a customer intimacy company, this approach drives employee engagement.
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I recently had a conversation with the CLO of one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, who told me that “The CLO Role as we know it is dead. ” I have to somewhat agree.   Over the last two years some very interesting shifts have taken place in the corporate training market:  more and more companies are waking up to the fact that corporate training (or “learning & development”) does not and cannot stand alone.   In fact, in this tightened talent environment, the concept of the “chief learning officer” is quickly morphing into one of “chief talent officer” or “vice president of talent management. ” Consider a few important trends from our research: 1.
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We recently completed a major research program which studies the elements of corporate learning which deliver the highest levels of business impact. Our findings were fascinating, providing valuable guidance for anyone in the corporate learning industry. First, there are two types of solutions provided by corporate learning organizations. The first, which we call “performance-driven” learning solutions, drive near-term competitive advantage. These programs help the organization with timely, urgent problems.
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In our recent study, High-Impact Leadership Development: Trends, Best Practices, and Industry Solutions, we identified the best practices and the top providers in leadership development. Our study covered all aspects of leadership development and evaluated a number of HR consultancies. With rich data in hand, we revealed six best practices in leadership development that yield business impact. 1.   Develop strong executive engagement: The most important practice of all is to obtain the engagement of top leaders and managers.
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I recently had a conversation with Tamara Elkeles, the Chief Learning Officer for Qualcomm.   Qualcomm is a highly successful technology company which focuses on many technologies embedded in the cellular telephone industry.   The company is in the Intellectual Property business, primarily licensing technology to cellular providers, telecommunications companies, and manufacturers. Tamara has a very successful career as the company's CLO, with responsibility for organizational learning, leadership development, succession planning, and internal communications.   She mentioned an important initiative at Qualcomm which I believe many organizations can learn from - the use of "story-telling" as a strategy for organizational learning.
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Much has been written in the last few years about “informal learning” and the need for a culture of learning in organizations.   We know from our research that today’s tight labor market and the changing demographics of the workforce are creating an even greater and greater need for a new model.   Let me discuss our findings briefly: The Multi-Generational Workforce First, we must realize that today’s corporations are not “aging,” they are becoming “multi-generational. ”  I was recently speaking to a large group of employees at a major US defense contractor and they told me that the average of their employees is 52.   When they looked at the average age in the next 10 years, it was likely to drop, not rise.
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Some years ago (2003) we were doing some consulting with a major tools provider and first coined the term “rapid e-learning. ”  Yes, it was us.   In fact, I first realized the market for this back in 2000 while I was working at DigitalThink, and we developed a product we called “e-briefings. ”  The original concept behind rapid e-learning was to clearly delineate the difference between online “instructional content” and online “informational content. ”  As any training manager knows, there is a big difference.
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Over the last two years, Bersin & Associates has conducted research into all aspects of corporate talent management. In addition to identifying and analyzing market trends, we've studied the business impact of a wide range of talent-related processes. Among the processes with greatest business impact are those related to career planning. In fact, of 62 talent processes examined, performance and competency management and coaching — fundamental elements of any successful career-planning strategy — top the list in terms of business value. But just as compelling as the quantifiable data that support the importance of career planning are the best practices we discovered during our extensive interview process.
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The Training Investment Decision One of the biggest strategic decisions you must make as a training executive or manager is where to invest your limited dollars.   Unless you are running training as a revenue-generating business, your budget is viewed as an expense.   Expense items are rationed - you cannot keep asking for money whenever you need a new program.   You must make resource allocation decisions.   We believe that these resource allocation decisions are the most important decisions you make -- even more important than content quality itself.
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In our High Impact Learning Organization® research and workshops we talk with training managers and directors about their challenges in organization, management and governance.   Nearly every organization tells us the same thing:  their current organization model for corporate training is undergoing a dramatic change.   This article summarizes these changes and what they mean for you. The Traditional Corporate University Model In the traditional corporate university model, developed over the last 30 years, companies create a “place to go” to learn.   These organizations have many offerings to choose from, they are centralized and located at corporate headquarters, and are staffed for peak demand.
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We have always regarded the term “learning outsourcing” as a misnomer.   The very nature of a training function requires that many of the topics, programs, and solutions are outsourced - after all, training managers are expected to be able to train and support every function in the company.   How can they possibly do this without the help of outside experts? That said, the market for outsourced learning solutions is growing more every year.   Today nearly 30 percent of all custom content development, 44 percent of delivery and 30 percent of learning management system (LMS) operations now are outsourced to learning service providers.    (Source:  The Corporate Learning Factbook®)  If you consider the fact that about $14 Billion is spent on corporate training content, this market is very large.
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We estimate that sales channel training alone makes up more than $6 Billion in products and services.   All product companies, from software companies to medical device manufacturers to beverage bottlers, have sales channels to train.   These "extended enterprise" sales forces must be regularly trained on new products, promotions, service and support procedures, and general selling skills. E-Learning has had a major impact on channel training.   In fact today channel training is one of the fastest growing segments in the application of online learning technologies.
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