Chief Learning Officer - October 2008 - (Page 52)

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Tying Learning to HR to Create People Advantage BY JEFF KRISTICK There is a clear relationship between individual productivity and an organization’s ability to cultivate a high-quality workforce. When learning is connected to critical elements of talent management, the result is greater than the sum of its parts. uch has been said about the global war for talent and the growing shortage of skilled labor, and most experts agree that a “perfect storm” of events — including mass baby boomer retirements and a growing skills gap, especially in technical areas — are making talent increasingly scarce. According to an April study conducted by a team from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) involving 4,741 executives from 83 countries and markets, the most critical people challenges include managing talent and improving leadership development. The BCG study bluntly assesses the implications of the talent crisis: “Talent and leadership are becoming even scarcer resources than ever before,” the report said. “This scarcity results from dramatic changes in the complexities of business and the expectations of employees. Increasingly, people are the most important asset at many companies, and the fortunes of these so-called people businesses are closely tied to their leadership and the talent they employ.” As the market for top talent heats up, the ability to build an environment that not only attracts, develops and retains great employees, but maximizes employee impact at all levels of the organization becomes paramount. Senior executives are beginning to understand the explicit links between improved business performance, increased workforce productivity and the development of individual employee competencies 52 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • October 2008 • www.clomedia.com M — leading organizations to change the way they have traditionally viewed learning management. No longer a siloed function of the corporate training department, learning management is fast becoming a top priority for human resources and business executives looking to drive business operations and employee performance. These executives recognize that well-trained and knowledgeable employees operate more efﬁciently and are more agile, enabling their organizations to seize market opportunities and successfully navigate economic downturns. As a result, organizations serious about improving workforce performance to realize bottom-line results are integrating learning management strategies with strategic, supply-side HR functions, including performance, compensation, career development and succession planning. Behind the Scenes To meet the challenges associated with the growing talent crisis discussed earlier, today’s CLOs must work with business and HR executives alike to develop a learning strategy that integrates with HR strategies and focuses on ﬁlling critical talent gaps and developing the organizational talent pool. Where companies were once reported to spend an average of 12 times more on recruitment than on training existing employees, experts argue that approach is no longer viable: “As a result, by focusing on the end points of managing talent (acquisition and retention) rather than on the middle ones (deployment and development), organizations ignore the things that matter http://www.clomedia.com

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Chief Learning Officer - October 2008 Editor’s Letter Connections Business Impact Best Practices Effectiveness Guest Editorial How Fast Is Your ‘B’ Team? Hampton Hotels CLO Profile Save the World, Make a Buck: Seven Ideas From the Nonprofit Sector Developing Leaders at Amnesty International Learning Measurements: It’s Time to Align Aligning Measurement to Business Success Training Employees With Special Needs How to Reach Disabled Learners Hands Off: Facilitating Informal Learning Who Owns Informal Learning? Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - October 2008

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