Chief Learning Officer - April 2008 - (Page 53) IN PRACTICE BORDERS: LAYERS OF LEARNING development. If employees feel they aren’t learning and growing, they feel they are not remaining competitive with their industry peers for promotion opportunities and career advancement. Once top employees feel they are no longer growing, they begin to look externally for new job opportunities. Giant Eagle, a grocery retail supermarket chain based in Pittsburgh, leverages its college intern and retail development programs, a formalized succession-planning process, talent-assessment process and a new corporate university to help retain its top performers and position them for the future. Lynn Lambrecht, senior director of organizational development and talent management at Giant Eagle, indicates that her company’s decision to make learning a key strategic differentiator definitely helps it retain its top performers. “Our employees see that our senior executives are committed to providing them with opportunities to prepare them to be leaders in the grocery retail industry. Because they are learning and growing, our top performers stay engaged, and we are more likely to retain them,” Lambrecht said. Along with internal leadership development opportunities and rotational job assignments, companies can leverage their tuition reimbursement programs to help retain their “A” players. Tuition assistance programs become highly valuable to talented employees because they know an advanced degree will enhance their performance on the job, improve their career growth opportunities and potentially allow them to earn more money. Grooming Talent for Other Employers? Because of the talent-flow phenomenon, some critics of learning and development programs argue that employees will take their improved capabilities, knowledge and education with them when they leave the company. However, a research study done at Wharton indicates when companies groom people to leave, they are more likely to stay. Why? The study indicates as long as employees feel that they are learning and growing, they’ll be less apt to leave. While some executives fear the loss of top talent if they invest in their development, most experience the exact opposite. Employees value learning opportunities as long as they are given the chance to apply their new capabilities. Critics of learning and development initiatives fail to realize that their counter argument does not make practical business sense. In essence, opponents of learning programs are promoting an approach where a company does not invest in the growth of their employees in the hopes that they will stay. Such logic does not appear to be a viable long-term solution because it does not improve an employee’s capabilities. TALENT FLOW continued on page 64 ne of the most obvious ways learning can add value to a business is by providing a conduit through which talent can move up and across the enterprise. Borders Group Inc., which operates more than 1,100 stores around the world, uses learning programs to make sure its personnel have the training they need through various levels of employment. This starts with on-boarding new hires. In this stage, Borders seeks to familiarize incoming employees with the company’s distinct culture rather than simply get them trained as soon as possible. “Going back to the original Borders brothers and why this store came to be is important to understanding the overall culture,” said Pam French, director of employee communication and learning and development. “We want all new employees to understand where the company came from, how it’s evolved and what we’re driving towards: having a passion for getting knowledge and entertainment into people’s hands.” One of the recent challenges Borders has encountered with onboarding efforts is the fact that its workforce is comprised of about 70 percent part-time employees. “With that mix, it’s a challenge to reach those part-timers and make them feel like part of the team, get them to understand Borders’ service standards and what their role should be,” French said. “Over the past year, we’ve actually taken a much more blended approach and driven the training into the stores. There are some online portions that then direct them to do activities with their manager. That chunks the learning into smaller bites, so that we can get those part-time folks up to speed and make them feel more comfortable.” Experienced employees at the company’s stores receive regular formal training, but French pointed out that a great deal of learning takes place informally through knowledge sharing. This has been facilitated in part by the organization’s focus on hiring older workers, which has included a partnership with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). “We’re actively focused on over-50 workers,” she said. “They have such a breadth of experience that they want to share with folks. We’ve also found that they’re a really nice complement to the younger folks. We haven’t found that friction [between age groups] that other organizations talk about. There’s a real knowledge and sharing of knowledge. It’s a win-win for us.” For managers, there is a program that identifies high potentials and provides development opportunities by putting them in charge of training efforts in a particular area, French said. “We take high-potential managers from our field locations and give them the opportunity to become field trainers. In addition to operating their stores, they also take on the responsibility of becoming a field trainer for a geographic region.” This program, which involves about 60 to 70 employees from the company’s Borders and Waldenbooks divisions, includes an annual conference at the organization’s corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. At this event, they’ll learn the curriculum for that year, as well as platform skills, facilitation skills and alignment with the strategy of the company. “It starts with the big picture,” French said. “The CEO comes in and provides an overview. Then we get to the operations folks and their goals for the year. “It’s something that’s very sought after, and probably more than 70 percent of these folks go on to be multi-unit managers for us,” she said. CLO – Brian Summerfield, bsummerfield@clomedia.com O
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