Chief Learning Officer - September 2007 - (Page 62)

case study tament to the commitment to excellence that pervades AARP. “In every major initiative of this type, the executive team does that work first and leads the way,” he said. “One of the reasons that training and development is successful here is because the chief people officer, a member of the executive team, sits in on all these dry runs. Without that kind of executive commitment and feedback to help shape the delivery and content, we wouldn’t be where we are.” attend a workshop to help them plan how to use their time — it’s not a vacation. “We really want them to think about how they can maximize this time for themselves to do something they’ve never done that they’ve always wanted to do, to learn something new,” she said. “We also have a re-entry, post-renewal workshop, and our learning and development team has worked on the curriculum for all of that. Besides the fact that it’s a neat program, what we’ve encouraged people to do is to look for opportunities, to back-fill or crosstrain other employees in the organization to fill in for their colleagues while they’re gone.” Another program AARP has started is the Whole Person Initiative, which addresses worklife balance and related issues. “It is an acknowledgement by the organization that the people who work here have a work life, a home life, a business life, a physical life, an emotional life, and if we are not helping them pay attention to all of that, then we’re doing ourselves and our employees a disservice,” Williams said. “Roughly 100 of our top executives have had the opportunity to go to Orlando, Fla., and participate in a 2.5-day program that focuses on what’s important to them, how they work, the way in which they keep their bodies energized through nutrition and exercise and how they balance their life so that they’re effective in all spheres. They will lead the organization in adopting this approach to work.” Hollander said the impetus for the Whole Person Initiative arose from employee-opinion surveys, emphasizing the importance of keeping a finger on the pulse of the workforce. “In terms of engagement and performance, we use our employee-opinion polls/surveys as a ‘temperature check,’” Hollander said. “We watch those results very, very carefully, and we had noticed an increase in levels of stress in the sense that the blend of home and work is becoming such that it is a blend — it’s no longer separated — and folks were feeling like they were on a treadmill. We wanted to get ahead of that, so the executive team got together, and we talked about, ‘What can we start to do now?’ “In a sense, it’s also learning because in most organizations, the compact between the employee and the employer has really changed over the years. People who come to work sometimes feel that the only thing their employer cares about is what they’re doing, the face time and whether they’re getting results. We care about that, but we know the best way to get there is to care about the person, as well. It’s genuine because we’re putting our money where our mouth is.” Members of the executive team act as a pilot group for learning and development programs, and if they do not think the offering met the standards, it is sent back to the drawing board. But it’s the employees who are the ultimate litmus test for AARP’s enterprise education initiatives, Hollander said. “The true testament to us of the ultimate effectiveness of our training is how it shows up in performance — individual performance and organizational performance,” she said. “We believe learning is a critical component of engagement, thus, a critical component of performance. If every individual is performing to their peak, then the organization is going to have successful year after successful year. And I have to say, since we’ve had our people strategy in place, and I’d say it’s pretty mature at this point, we have had three stellar years of great organizational performance.” AARP aims to continue the success it’s enjoyed, as well as build on it, through several initiatives. One is the Talent Development Integration project, which is an online program that puts into all employees’ hands the wherewithal to plan their careers at AARP, develop and promote themselves and become mentors. “If I’m a midlevel employee, and I want to be the chief people officer ‘when I grow up,’ I can identify ‘chief people officer,’ and it can give me a job description,” Hollander said. “It will identify for me the competencies that are required of a chief people officer. So, I can find out one of the critical competencies is strong interpersonal relationships and relationship building or leading change or strategic visioning or whatever. I can click on a competency, understand what that competency is all about, click again to find out training and development opportunities or courses that we offer at AARP (or ones that we may support outside of AARP), as well as articles or books and so forth, and I can actually do a self-assessment.” Another component of the Talent Development Integration project is Renewal, which is an opportunity for long-term staff members who meet certain criteria to take off an extended period of work to refresh and rejuvenate themselves. Hollander said employees who are invited to take part in Renewal must September 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 62 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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