Chief Learning Officer - November 2007 - (Page 49)

“Instead of a one-way push of centralized training from an ivory tower out to the business units, the learning function becomes a services function to the business,” she said. “That approach would require companies to integrate their change capability with their learning function. Enterprise learning would become, by nature, a facilitator for business change.” An internal change capability that delivers learning to employees and simultaneously receives learning from employees essentially creates a culture more adaptive to continuous change and more responsive to what could be called “crisis change.” In the face of competitive or economic threat, especially diminished returns to shareholders, senior leadership often withdraws, issuing proclamations and orders from inside the bunker. Yet, it is precisely at those moments when the ability to tap into employees’ expertise is most needed — it would be extremely odd if the answers to a crisis could be found only outside the organization. In a crisis, companies need fewer “deciders” and more “listeners.” TEAR DOWN T H E WA L L ! And let in accredited, results-oriented higher education to complement your corporate training while providing a real return on your investment. Knowledge Workers, Productivity and Corporate Change Corporations are not participatory democracies, of course. Tapping into the innovation and experience of the workforce does not mean “consensus decision making,” nor does it mean a strategic plan has to reflect some combination of every employee’s input. It does mean no CEO should express surprise at a failed change program that did not include a healthy portion of listening to the workforce’s ideas. Knowledge workers’ productivity cannot improve and be sustained by merely imposing management’s vision for the future on them. Rather, almost by definition, knowledge workers ought to participate in the reshaping of the corporate agenda. Today’s knowledge workers are tasked with hauling around information, not pig iron. Employees are working directly with the potential value of the company: its knowledge, innovation and expertise. If organizations are to successfully weather a change, or even induce that change in their industries, they need to be able to tap into the intellectual capital residing at all times in their people. Unfortunately, few organizations have in place the structures, processes and technologies that enable them to get that value very easily. It is the learning organization, above all — especially one in which learning and knowledge management already have been integrated — that stands in a superior position to support the kind of innovation mining needed to win in a competitive marketplace. Craig Mindrum, Ph.D., is a strategic and talent management consultant. Over a 26-year career as a businessman, researcher, author and college professor at DePaul and Indiana universities, he has focused on areas of human performance and organizational change, including communications, leadership and the moral design of organizations. He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. The Jones Knowledge Group’s® Corporate University Solution transforms your company’s training and education expenses into a genuine return on your investment with: Corporate Rewards to reinvest your tuition assistance dollars back into your company’s private account for the development of custom content specific to your unique needs. Instructional Systems and Subject Matter designed to enhance your corporate training programs and LMS while helping your employees earn degrees, professional certificates and CEUs. Tools to Attract, Develop, and Retain Top Talent with a focus on career services and recruitment, succession planning and talent management strategies. To discover how to tear down your wall and achieve a return on your human capital investment, please call 888.756.7876 or visit jonesknowledge.com. http://jonesknowledge.com http://jonesknowledge.com

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

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

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.