Chief Learning Officer - February 2008 - (Page 41)

tactics imentation with new, interactive media an imperative for CLOs. As learning executives consider video games as a development modality, they should keep these points in mind: • Find the right business partners. It is important to work with business partners to find workforce performance gaps in key areas of the business in which new learning solutions can immediately and visibly impact business performance. As you collaborate with business unit leaders, help them define their improvement opportunities and calculate the value of measurable improvements. Let’s consider a generic example involving stockbrokers. The industry estimates it costs $150,000 and takes two years to train a broker. But their retention rate is only between 10 percent and 20 percent. How much could be saved if training was sped up to one year and the retention rate was increased to between 40 percent and 50 percent? • Pick a spot in the business where there is a large influx of next-generation workers and look for opportunities. The business areas most suited to the adoption of video game technology are those that require better knowledge retention, such as basic business acumen, critical process knowledge, integrating compliance into day-today work, product and competitor information, etc. Another fertile area is developing new skills and enabling behavior change in areas such as communication and conversation style, sales technique, service empathy, problem-solving skills and strategy execution. • Don’t ignore the benefits of this technology for existing workers. Research has identified the existence of a broad population of media-savvy midcareer and “older” workers comfortable with using interactive media. Many are high potentials and top performers, who also would be receptive to these engaging tools. Video gamebased learning tools appeal as much to these workers as younger ones, so investments in game-based learning solutions will likely have a broader organizational impact on learning and performance. Algis Leveckis is president and co-founder of QuestG Inc., which offers video game-based products and services. Tony DiRomualdo is managing director of next-generation learning programs at QuestG. They can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. in practice: Sun Microsystems Next-Generation Worker Video Game Recruiting Tool Algis Leveckis Sun Microsystems recognizes that attracting the next-generation worker in the competitive technology industry is increasingly difficult. To gain competitive advantage, Sun’s Learning Services organization recently implemented an immersive gamebased learning solution to help build knowledge and awareness about Sun and its culture. The games can be accessed by all of Sun’s new hires, as well as the general public, via a new collaborative online learning environment. I sat down with Sun Microsystems Chief Instructional Designer Brandon Carson to discuss this initiative. Leveckis: What business problem were you trying to solve? Carson: We compete for the smartest brains, so we want potential new hires to be able to “look under our hood” and see what kind of workplace Sun has. We made the Web site and the learning games publicly available for anyone to access. We also want new hires to come into work on day one armed with as much knowledge about the company as possible. The Web site also allows new employees to log in and review important documents, create their own personal profile pages, connect to other new hires, and comment on and rate existing information. Leveckis: What are the learning objectives? Carson: The two most prominent learning objectives around the games were to help our new hires achieve speed to competency before day one. Sun’s culture and work processes are very unique, so we wanted to provide new hires with relevant information as early as we can. We also wanted new hires to understand what businesses we are in, what we share and what our vision, mission and cause is. They get this information while playing the games. Leveckis: Why did you pick a video game solution? Carson: We are moving toward more immersive learning environments and thought the audiences would get more value from this modality than from simple presentations. The demographics we are shooting for are more amenable to gaming and expect a different approach when consuming information. Leveckis: What genres did you pick? Carson: We created two games to accommodate new employees’ varying levels of video gaming abilities. One of the games, Rise of the Shadow Specters, is an arcade-style platform game that caters to gaming enthusiasts who are comfortable using keystrokes to jump over enemies, dodge lasers and drag obstacles. As learners enter new realms of Sol City (our fictitious environment), they use special powers based on Sun technologies to solve puzzles and progress through the game. The other game, Dawn of the Shadow Specters, is a classic adventure game geared toward employees who are less familiar with video games. Players explore a vast, futuristic complex, engage in conversations with representatives from each of Sun’s core businesses and solve challenging puzzles. Leveckis: What results have you achieved? Carson: So far, we have just begun to release the site and the learning games to our broad audience. The feedback is very positive, and we are beginning to gather more in-depth analytics and measurement of the games’ effectiveness. Sun Microsystems is now looking to capitalize on these gains and develop more immersive solutions for a broad array of development needs of managers and individual contributors. The challenge is to find the right solutions that easily fit its current technology architecture and standards and still provide the robust gaming solution that next-generation workers expect. 41 February 2008 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer http://www.clomedia.com

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Chief Learning Officer - February 2008 Editor's Letter Table of Contents Business Impact Trends Best Practices Effectiveness Guest Editorial Learning Solutions Home Depot: Building Better Associates CLO Profile Environment Realizing the Vision of “One Philips” Tactics Sun Microsystems’ Next-Generation Worker Video Game Recruiting Tool Productivity The Regence Group: Blended Measurement Human Capital NASA: A Case Study in Technical Leadership Development Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - February 2008

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