Chief Learning Officer - October 2007 - (Page 59)

productivity Leveraging an organization’s business data to develop a more focused learning strategy is an opportunity for those responsible for workplace learning and performance. This is also the secret of those smart organizations: Getting people to learn how to recognize relevant business data and using it to your advantage. Over last few years, companies have been trying to make strategic use of the vast amounts of business data and information they acquire. Business data is now an essential part of strategic and tactical business management. In fact, a 2006 survey of 1,400 CIOs by Gartner (an independent IT research firm) reveals that business intelligence is a priority for their organizations. Business data is becoming a strategic tool to help people lead, measure, optimize, discover and innovate to change the landscape of their organization. The ability to access, use and share information in an efficient and relevant way helps improve business performance. Effectively using business data can empower employees to: • Align day-to-day operations with overall company strategy and objectives. • Identify and understand the relationship among business processes and their impact on performance. • Access information relevant to specific user roles and responsibilities. • Gain contextual insight into business drivers. • Monitor the vital business indicators that are needed to move an organization forward such as: – The status of the company’s financial performance and trends thereof. – Organizational effectiveness and profitability. – Critical operational metrics and key performance measures. Every type of business data helps companies gain a comprehensive and integrated view of their business and facilitate better and more effective decision making. This is where learning professionals need to begin integrating the available business data to help them develop more-focused learning strategies and initiatives. The biggest challenge is that business is not a subject that often comes up when you think about workplace learning and performance. For the longest time, one topic would not cross paths with the other, as business managers did not see the relevance of learning and development within an industrial environment, and learning often played a supporting role that tended to be viewed as a cost center (or money pit). Fortunately, this is changing, mainly because of the increasingly significant role of information and knowledge on business — this is a knowledge-based economy. Organizational leaders who require their employees to act on the business data to gain an edge over the competition through critical business metrics such as developing internal efficiencies or building market share also support this. The goal is to recognize, learn from and act on the business intelligence at hand. What does this have to do with learning? Business data is information the company obtains through various sources. It must become knowledge employees can use. Without this data, you risk making the wrong business decisions based on misleading or misinterpreted business data, which could lead to missing significant opportunities or even eventual disasters. Identifying potential business opportunities such as increasing profitability, rigorously cutting costs and calculating precisely where to spend resources for optimal impact are key issues not only for top management but also for business managers and employees at all levels. Learning must be proactive in interpreting the business data to deliver targeted and resultdriven solutions. Although the old adage states that knowledge is power, business knowledge is useful (i.e., powerful) to an organization only if it is relevant, learned and applied — simply possessing business data means nothing. And because the business data is information leading to knowledge, learning plays a pivotal role, not only as a conduit but also as a catalyst in leveraging the business data at hand. Although the old adage states that knowledge is power, business knowledge is useful (i.e., powerful) to an organization if it is relevant, learned and applied — simply possessing business data means nothing. The Role of Workplace Learning and Performance I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 59 October 2007 Traditionally, those responsible for the learning needs of an organization focused on ensuring new skills and capabilities were effectively acquired and (with any luck) that employees applied them. Naturally, these are the core competencies of workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals. On the other hand, the organization’s leadership — specifically, senior management — is concerned and focused on the business outcomes leading to improved performance. Closing the gap between what management wants to see and what learning can deliver is http://www.clomedia.com

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

Editor's Letter Table of Contents Letters to the Editor Taking the Lead Trends Best Practices Effectiveness Guest Editorial Elements of Social Media Arrive on the Learning Scene Trend Micro: Making Learning More Modular CLO Profile Learning’s Role in Talent Management INTTRA: Using Global Learning to Better Enable Talent Management Operationalizing Communities of Practice U.S. Army: Sharing Lessons from the Field Looking Back, Moving Forward Leveraging Business Data to Develop Strategic Learning Solutions Chrysler LLC: Metrics, Score Cards and Automobiles Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Connecting the Dots: Recognizing Talent Development Differences at Nonprofits Nonprofits in Health Care: Learning at ENH Case Study Business Intelligence Case Study In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - October 2007

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