Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 38)

Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives BY SHELLY HEIDEN Workforce challenges are especially acute in the U.S. federal government, in which many employees are expected to retire in less than a decade. To address this pending shortage, federal organizations are integrating learning with other parts of the talent suite. W ith more than 2.7 million workers on its payroll, the U.S. government is the largest employer in the United States. Often viewed as a tangled web of agencies and departments laden with cumbersome processes, the U.S. government has emerged as an unlikely pacesetter in the area of human capital management (HCM). A pioneer in developing HCM methodologies and an early adopter of technologies designed to support these strategies, the federal government has leapfrogged the private sector in terms of actualizing them. This is good news across the federal government and bodes well for private-sector companies that can advance their strategies based on lessons learned from the government’s approach to HCM, as outlined in the President’s Management Agenda, an aggressive strategy for improving the management of the federal government announced in 2001. While the largest private-sector employer (WalMart) employs about half as many workers as the federal government, the challenges both organizations face on the HCM front are similar. In fact, these challenges remain consistent across most organizations. While organizational size matters when it comes to issues such as scalability and change management, it does not matter when it comes to the challenges organizations face around workforce productivity and management, especially as organizations across the board continue to invest in building and retaining competitive workforces. Organizations of all sizes and across all industries are asking the same questions: How do I increase workforce productivity? What is the most strategic way to maximize operational performance while increasing staff retention? What is the best way to increase employee engagement and prepare for the vacancies of retirees? How can I identify and maximize the talent in my current employee base, while cultivating new leadership for future generations? As the proverbial red tape involved in government expansion has created more stringent systems requirements and higher security and regulatory standards, federal decision makers face growing challenges around managing their talent. Fueled by congressional mandates and daunting predictions about the impact baby-boomer retirements will have on the federal workforce, federal agencies have spent the past few years developing HCM strategies and modernizing processes to focus on integrated knowledge retention, employee development and succession planning. By integrating previously siloed processes, systems and data, these agencies have a full view of the skills and talent that exist within the agencies. Visibility into how talent allocation aligns with 38 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • July 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

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

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership CLO Profile Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives Department of Labor Centralizes Content Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning Case Study Business Intelligence In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - July 2008

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