Chief Learning Officer - November 2007 - (Page 27)

Michelle Blieberg, global learning officer at UBS’ investment bank, loves a challenge. When she took her current position with the Swiss-based wealth management firm more than three years ago, the learning function was little more than a course catalog. In the course of her tenure, Blieberg has transformed learning into a highly strategic operation that’s recognized throughout the enterprise for its innovative and effective programs. “I was brought in here for a restart,” she explained, adding that this suited her just fine. “I’m a start-up kind of person. My two specialties are mergers and acquisitions and starting corporate learning centers. I really love it when a company has a vision for something, either a new start or a restart. I’m very entrepreneurial — I grew up in a family that did that kind of stuff, and that’s what I like to do.” Blieberg got her first inkling of what she wanted to do during her time as a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she participated in both a human resource MBA program and graduate counseling in the School of Education while pursuing an undergraduate psychology degree. Incidentally, this also was when Blieberg began to develop her prodigious work habits. “My workaholic tendencies showed up as an undergraduate,” she said. Although Blieberg weighed going for a graduate degree, she opted not to after being offered an enticing rotational human resources assignment that provided her with access to various working environments. She was exposed to many different aspects of this then-emerging discipline with that organization and others, but she eventually realized she wanted to be involved in enterprise education specifically. Before her current position, Blieberg worked for other financial firms (including JPMorgan, Shearson Lehman, Charles Schwab and Moody’s) and ran two corporate universities. Despite this wealth of experience, none of it really prepared her for working at an organization as international as UBS, she said. “Now that I’m here, I almost forget what it’s like to not be in a global company,” Blieberg said. “Every Wall Street firm says they’re global, but they have a U.S. headquarters, do things on a U.S. time frame, design in the U.S. with U.S. vendors and then export products and services. That’s counter to how everything is done at UBS. For example, the UBS investment bank doesn’t have a headquarters — I could just as easily be operating out of Asia, Switzerland or London [as New York].” The investment bank, which accounts for about a quarter of UBS’ workforce of 80,000, is the most global part of the enterprise. As such, its learning function is charged with delivering development programs to other lines of business in any location where it makes up the majority of personnel, which includes most places outside Switzerland. To make learning more supportive of the investment bank’s objectives, as well as the overall enterprise, Blieberg devised a development board composed of company leaders such as the heads of IT and research and the regional CLOs for Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. This body meets in person twice annually and also holds quarterly video conferences. “It’s what I’m most proud of,” Blieberg said. “I’ve had that in other companies where I’ve worked. What we have done here is something I’ve never seen before. The chairman of the company appointed the woman who runs our private equity business to be the head of the development board. She’s also in his strategy office. The two of them — with our input — selected 20 of the most senior people in the firm to be a part of this development board. This group really helps determine what programs would best help us move forward with our strategy. “What’s made this come to life is that they can chunk out pieces of learning that they can own and be a crucial part of. The development board has actually piloted parts of programs. They’ve traveled with me to interview key vendors and sample things, and that really makes them feel like owners. They also help deliver it.” Additionally, Blieberg has worked to change the overall learning corpus from a set of courses consumed passively to a series of educational experiences that engages participants. “That’s something I believe in, and I try to work with my staff on that,” she said. “I think the field of learning has been slow to 27 November 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer http://www.clomedia.com

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Chief Learning Officer - November 2007 Editor's Letter Table of Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five Rediscovering the Essence of Learning Cornell University Maintains Productivity While Pursuing Higher Education CLO Profile How Loyalty and Employee Engagement Add Up to Corporate Profits A Strategic Foundation The Evolution of the LMS Ariba: Growing Sales Skills in Conjunction with LMS Technology Leveraging Change to Build Productivity Equinox Fitness: Leveraging Change to Build Productivity Tangibles or Intangibles: Where’s Your Value? Raising the Stakes: The Strategic Role of the CLO Case Study Business Intelligence Case Study Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - November 2007

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