Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 - (Page 54)

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Today’s High-Impact Learning Organization BY JOSH BERSIN Reduced spending, increasing globalization and a talent management focus are changing the learning organization. Today’s industry leaders excel in business alignment, organizational strategy, content development and learning delivery strategy. AT A GLANCE Bersin & Associates surveyed more than 800 corporate training leaders to identify the top learning and development priorities and drivers of business impact. ersin & Associates recently updated one of its largest and most interesting research studies, “The High Impact Learning Organization.” This research study is designed to analyze the key trends and drivers of high-performing training organizations. When we ﬁrst embarked on this research in 2003, corporate training organizations were focusing on the adoption of learning technologies and LMSs, implementation of e-learning and creating shared service teams to manage the proliferation of technology. Back then, the biggest drivers of impact were the adoption of performance consulting and development of what we called the federated organization model that establishes a clear distinction between the roles of a centralized training organization and business-unit training organizations. In this recent update, we reached out to more than 800 corporate training leaders and again asked them to tell us about their major priorities, strengths, weaknesses and business drivers. The world has changed. While learning and development organizations continue to struggle with technology and organization, priorities have shifted. Here are the top issues on the minds of learning leaders this year: B As this data shows, today’s corporate training organization is trying to redeﬁne itself in the world of reduced spending, increased globalization and a tremendous focus on integrated talent management. While technology continues to be a top issue, it is no longer the highest priority. Business Alignment and Talent Management The word alignment comes up frequently in our conversations with learning and development executives. It continues to be challenging to organize and deploy training resources in a world of constant business changes and tight budgets. In fact, among the high-impact organizations — those top 9 percent who are generating the greatest returns — there is a 400 percent higher adoption of business planning, steering committees and other processes that directly link the training department to different areas of the business. We also know from our many conversations with CLOs that today’s L&D organizations are grappling with issues related to the major HR focus on integrated talent management. Integration of L&D with performance management and the development of career models and career development programs are priorities for many organizations. These initiatives demand even greater levels of business alignment. Consider the tremendous value of career development programs in today’s business environment. We live in a world of aging workforces, critical skills shortages and tremendous gaps in leadership pipelines: the top challenge cited by HR executives. Additionally, we’re seeing the emergence of a multigenerational workforce, with as many as four generations working together in a single company. Career development programs create internal mobility, aid in recruiting and hiring and build the leadership 1. Improving business alignment. 2. Reducing costs. 3. Improving program effectiveness. 4. Developing a business plan. 5. Integration with talent management strategies. 6. Improving efﬁciency. 7. Measurement of the learning function. 8. Globalization. 9. Improving the technology infrastructure. 54 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • August 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

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Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Connections Business Impact Trends Best Practices Effectiveness High-Octane Leadership Development Leadership and Personality CLO Profile Discussion Groups: Harvesting Value from Real-World Experiences Kimpton 2.0: Discussion on the Web Learning Olympics: Development Through Competition Bypassing the Obstacles to Change Listen Up: A How-To-Guide for Podcasting University of Toyota: A Success Story in Podcast Implementation What Stinks About Webinars? Webinars for Learning Professionals Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008

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