Chief Learning Officer - September 2007 - (Page 35)

programs. One of her first jobs as a learning professional was for an airline, delivering a wide variety of learning, which helped her gain a holistic view of corporate education. At Ingersoll Rand, the successful alignment of business and learning isn’t just a one-way street. Smith said she knew from the beginning that executives needed to be engaged and seen as faces of the program. This has been achieved both by direct contact and by staying involved in the decision-making process — executives regularly visit the university to conduct a sort of “fireside chat.” They also keep prime roles in governance and design boards. “We operate with the rigor of a business unit, so we’re respected,” Smith said. “It is amazing — we don’t develop anything unless it has executive sponsors. We’re really seen as integrated into the business, in terms of value. It’s really been the cornerstone of my career to see that level of engagement.” Ingersoll Rand has been through a series of mergers, acquisitions and brand changes over the years. As a result, the university has needed to implement a blended learning approach to reach all employees in a unified way. To ensure everyone is trained to company stands, Ingersoll Rand uses evaluations, focus groups and audit programs to get delivery feedback. These methods have increasing importance when combined with global content and the need to localize content in terms of language and culture. Forging good, close relationships with regional partners, regardless of the region, is key to keeping the content relevant, Smith said. “We’ve been very selective and have deep partnerships with very small numbers of vendors, and one of the capabilities is that they have a global network,” she said. From the beginning of her career in learning, Smith’s seen the advantage of not only speaking the language of business but also having an innate understanding of the workings behind it. An emphasis on metrics and ROI at IRU is a direct result of Smith’s education and experience. “One of the big things is that we run the university like a business, so we have lots of operational metrics,” Smith said. “We hold ourselves to the same rigor that our business partners have. Whether it’s unit cost, operational productivity or capacity, we really work with and speak the language in terms of operational effectiveness and efficiency metrics.” – Ben Warden, bwarden@clomedia.com http://www.teds.com http://www.teds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Strategies Selling up, Selling Down Take Five Imperatives Guest Editorial Learning Solutions Embarking on a Learning Journey Clo Profile Environment CIGNA Service Operations: Making Strategic Change Happen, and Making It Stick Tactics Black & Decker: On-Demand Learning Creation and Consumption Productivity The Army You Have Human Capital Holiday Inn Express: Delivering Critical Training Globally Case Study: Tegan Jones Business Intelligence Case Study: Lisa Rummler Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

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