Chief Learning Officer - March 2008 - (Page 32)

environment in practice: Xerox: Creating a Learning Masterpiece When independent-minded directors put the auteur theory to work on a certain genre, the results can often be transcendent. A pulpy, dime-store gangster novel became “The Godfather” in hands of Francis Ford Coppola. Another perceived dime-store novel, this one about a killer shark, became “Jaws” in the hands of Steven Spielberg. Similarly, corporate learning has its own “genres” that are influenced by the content involved. For Tim Conlon, corporate director of learning and talent acquisition at Xerox, flexibility and fluidness are priorities in employee development programs. When designing learning offerings, he considers their shelf life in relation to the investment involved. “You end up wanting these programs to last forever when, in fact, they’re probably outdated in 18 to 24 months,” Conlon said. Because of these circumstances, Conlon and other learning leaders frequently have to make shrewd decisions to better serve the “big picture,” just as big-name directors do. For example, when Spielberg was shooting “Jaws,” the plan was to show the shark early and often. However, technical trouble and malfunctions caused him to abandon this. Using point-of-view shots, Spielberg got away with not showing the shark until the last third of the movie, effectively throwing away the millions spent to create a working, omnipresent shark. He also knew the clunky-looking shark would look outdated very quickly, thus he quickly reorganized his efforts. The changes he made help to cement the timeless effectiveness of “Jaws.” Conlon had a similar experience to Spielberg in a leadership development program he developed, complete with budgetary pressure and abandoned plans. “I’ve actually been in programs before where, on Wednesday, we decided to change the rest of the class because it wasn’t working as effectively for a particular audience as it was the previous one,” Conlon said. “We modified the rest of the week and delivered something entirely different than what was intended, to make sure that it was just as successful but customized to that particular audience. If you’re fluid and flexible, you can do things like that. Also, we make sure it’s really tied to the most important elements of our strategy and, as the strategy gets modified and new things are worked on, to change what was needed from last year to this year and make sure that’s reflected in the content.” One of the challenges Conlon faced in designing Xerox’s leadership development was designing content specific for a broad range of experience and needs. Mid-level management has the most extensive population of managers, and a host of different backgrounds and goals precedes each one. This presented a problem because much of leadership development is customizing needs and content for those going through the program. He said that while there was no way one program could meet all the needs of his audience, he had to act quickly to find a way to anchor it somehow. “I just decided I would take three critical business issues,” he said. “One is strategic alignment, understanding the business strategy deeply, the second is business acumen and the third is the leadership attribute. We built a weeklong program that focuses just on those three things, and in doing so, I wrapped a significant number of senior managers into the program to help support it. Since I couldn’t meet every individual’s needs, I tailored it to the company’s.” — Ben Warden, bwarden@clomedia.com should try this,’ I absolutely have that leeway depending on how many lines of businesses are involved.” But being a CLO auteur isn’t only about looking down the road to new technology and developing new programs. An auteur, either in filmmaking or learning, has to be equally prepared to look at forgotten methods that may be fitting for a current program or project. In their movies, directors often throw in references, homages or a particular plot or technical device from the past that influenced their style. Thedinga was similarly drawn to the past when he resurrected a holistic business analyst program for high-potential candidates. “We stopped that program for a variety of reasons, but we got a lot of feedback on it and were constantly being asked when we were going to start it up again,” Thedinga said. “Because it created an opportunity for folks to be able to go from one line of business to another other, we’re going to dust it off, reprogram and repackage it a little.” Just as the auteur filmmaker is defined and studied by academics in the field, so are learning executives and CLOs. George Siemens is a corporate learning research specialist and associate director of research and development at Canada’s University of Manitoba’s Learning Technologies Centre. He also is founder and president of Complexive, a learning lab focused on helping organizations develop integrated learning structures. Siemens is researching how learning leaders choose tools to fit the distinct needs of the organization. Film scholars study cinematic techniques that increase the subjectivity of a character and how an audience identifies with that character. Comparatively, Siemens takes a similar approach with modern tools and how they impact learning. “The question becomes how we take some of these tools that have shown such a significant impact in other spheres and make them available for learners to use for learning,” Siemens said. “Blogs, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, immersive environments, simulations and crowd sourcing — these types of ideas become front and center when we look at these emerging technologies. My focus specifically is on evaluating the impact of these tools and their suitability for the learning process.” To be able to evaluate and choose tools for a learning program, it’s essential that CLOs have an understanding of where the organization is, financially and otherwise. Akin to a filmmaker — who knows that since the studio is in bad need of a box office hit, he may not get his grand three-hour Edwardian period piece green-lit — a CLO must be smart about when to push through new and ambitious learning projects. “A CLO has to be highly aware of aspects that impact the health of their organization, as well as how to adjust the learning and training interventions to ensure those threats can be minimized March 2008 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 32 http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - March 2008

Chief Learning Officer - March 2008 Editor's Letter Table of Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five Learning Solutions The Treasury Board of Saskatchewan: Training the Trainers With Experiential Learning Clo Profile Environment Xerox: Creating a Learning Masterpiece Tactics Capturing the Knowledge of the Workforce Productivity Succession Planning Tips from the U.S. GAO Human Capital Influencing Competency Management Case Study Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - March 2008

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