Chief Learning Officer - September 2007 - (Page 52)

human capital in practice: Holiday Inn Express: Delivering Critical Training Globally Jim Haudan and Rich Berens At Holiday Inn Express, line-level staff learning always had been conducted traditionally, at individual hotels. Developing an engaging, compelling curriculum to serve a global employee base with limited time and learning budgets called for an innovative, personalized solution. With a goal of creating a consistent brand offering to support a consistent customer experience for its 1,450 hotels worldwide, trainers wanted to make the learning easy to access and convenient, as well as have it entail little or no expense to its franchise hotels. Identifying operations-based training as a critical competency, Holiday Inn Express partnered with Root Learning to craft a series of electronic learning modules to convey tactical operations-based learning to line-level staff. These interactive, 3-D modules were scenario-based, so learners could experience the same module many times and always learn something. Additionally, learners could toggle between languages to personalize the learning even further. The curriculum was named “Smart Service University,” and it was implemented through an intranet system with which hotels were already familiar, so when the learning component was added, they were already comfortable with accessing the modules. Having 24x7 access to the modules helped the hotels schedule to their specific learning needs, as well as implement self-paced training, said Hannah Kahn, Holiday Inn Express brand manager. Holiday Inn Express has begun to assess the learning’s impact in two ways. First, it tracks the number of hits on the intranet learning modules. There are about 300,000 employees, and within the first year, there were more than 4 million hits on the site. Second, guest surveys are being analyzed to see whether customer service is reported as better at hotels whose employees are actually using the training. Kahn said the company has noticed an upturn in improvement scores. These e-learning tools gave Holiday Inn Express a competitive advantage because no other company in its segment has comparable training tools. “When we talk to our franchisees, we can say that we have cuttingedge training, and that’s huge because they want to put their money where the biggest return is, and training is always a key factor,” Kahn said. Next steps include moving into management skills because, for most general managers, this is their first leadership role. Holiday Inn Express is working on ways to expand general managers’ skill sets and, therefore, build stronger teams so they can run better hotels. Jim Haudan is president and CEO of Root Learning. Rich Berens is vice president of client services at Root Learning. They can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. September 2007 their own personal transactions, as well as information about themselves, their work units and the organization. Employee and managerial self-service tools not only reduce the time and cost of many routine activities — they also allow individuals to get the information they need, regardless of their time zone or location. When tailored to a person’s particular business unit or role within the organization, these tools can reduce organizational clutter and time wasted trying to find valuable information. Equally as important, organizations need to find ways to evaluate remote workers by their contribution, not simply by their presence. They need to find ways to ensure remote workers stay connected to their networks and are recognized for their accomplishments in terms of rewards and promotions. Facilitating Collaboration Across Traditional Organizational Boundaries Encouraging nontraditional collaboration is a key competency for global enterprises. One example is informal groups that meet regularly on topics of common interest to share knowledge and expertise. Such communities help maintain the flow of knowledge across the organization and help preserve organizational memory. Nontraditional communities at work can decrease new employees’ learning curve, improve response to customer needs and inquiries, reduce reinvention of the wheel and spawn ideas for products and services. Driving the Rapid Development of Skills and Capabilities to Meet Changing Business Conditions Employee education itself is a core competency of the global enterprise. The Conference Board has studied workforce education, and it found a correlation between increases in employee skills and economic output. Research also shows that workforce education delivers better employee morale, improved capacity to deal with workplace change and use new technology, better team performance, reduced time per task, lower error rates and waste, better health and safety and improved retention of employees and customers. How can companies maximize this competency? By delivering the necessary learning to employees when they need it and in a format they can easily digest and apply to their work environment. Delivering content through technology is simply one piece of the picture — even the best learning systems account for about 30 percent of the total learning individuals do in the workplace. The remaining 70 percent occurs on the job and must be supported by performance support tools as well as through mentoring, informal communities of practice and other opportunities for individuals to discuss problems and learn from others who have faced similar circumstances. I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 52 Evaluating Employee Performance and Providing Appropriate Feedback In an IBM study of more than 300 organizations, companies that had higher numbers of individuals receiving formal performance reviews also demonstrated higher profitability. Although this might seem intuitive, consider the challenges http://www.clomedia.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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