Chief Learning Officer - November 2007 - (Page 52)

human capital in practice: Raising the Stakes: The Strategic Role of the CLO High-profile CLOs are prominent because they’re proactive. Instead of building learning solutions for pre-established corporate strategies, these leaders outline the development dimension of various business plans during the decisionmaking process. By offering insight about strategies’ talent implications before they’re chosen, influential CLOs have shown their perspectives can improve performance before workers take a single class. CLO Dave Groff offered this outlook to Allstate Insurance Co. leaders during his first few months at the business, which led Allstate to elevate its interactions with education, said Karen Scott, senior manager of the human resources education department. “One of the things Dave and his colleagues have done for us is involve learning in what we refer to here as a ‘talent decision framework,’ which is really stepping it up above learning at the transactional level, the project level, to cause leaders to take a look at the talent implications of the strategies and initiatives that they have going on,” she said. Changing the way senior leaders think and talk about learning is critical to integrating development into conversations about corporate objectives, Groff said. And it’s the CLO’s responsibility to show senior line managers how learning relates to their strategic goals and teach them their role in the development process. “You're trying to get everybody thinking along the same lines, from the top of the house to the bottom of the house, about issues that are in the learning and development space,” he said. “You have to create a common mindset on how you draw conclusions about talent implications of various strategies. So, it’s not just about getting a handle on a goal and then doing something in the learning and development space with it — it’s developing an understanding among the senior managers.” Effective CLOs must extend this interactive approach into lower levels of business, as well. Groff said the best learning leaders know how their strategic initiatives are playing out in every part of their business and can discuss both big-picture plans and front-line challenges in depth and at ease. “CLOs — all the ones I know at other companies — have multiple, often competing or conflicting levels of interest that they have to have a hand in,” he said. “They have transactional issues at the bottom end of the pyramid, operational process issues in the middle of the pyramid and strategic issues at the top of the pyramid, and on a given day, they’re going up and down that pyramid dealing with different issues.” To help them deal with the challenges they face on a daily basis, CLOs need to develop strategic thinking and consulting skills, the ability to influence and strong business acumen, Groff said. They also need to be able to communicate with their business partners, evaluate their concerns and help them understand the broader performance implications of their business plans. And although taking courses and reading instructional books can help CLOs improve these skills, the best way to become a high-profile learning leader is to seek advice from those who are getting it right. “They ought to meet other people who are doing it well — I think networking is one of the biggest single sources of developing people who are early in their careers,” Groff said. “They need to get engaged in networks of professionals, particularly those that include the companies or people that are at the top of their game.” — Tegan Jones, tjones@clomedia.com can learn what a few of these intangibles look like, as well as how to insert courage awareness into the workplace, thereby allowing the intangibles’ value to shine through. Problem: You aren’t trained to value (much less celebrate) intangibles While preparing to conduct a courage leadership symposium for a large association, I received a call from an administrator for a state school board association. He wanted to attend the program but was having difficulty convincing his boss that the expense would be worthwhile. After all, the symposium dealt with soft skills that provide no demonstrable return on investment. Therefore, according to the man’s boss, the symposium offered nothing applicable to the work environment. I responded with this thought: “If bosses like yours have hired all the best employees, then why is organizational depravity so pervasive at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and so many other companies over the years?” Surely, loads of people turned a blind eye to the myriad missteps. Unfortunately, they learned too late that denial is saying “No” to courage. One solution: Recognize the “first red flag” What if the CLO conducted a simple experiment with 10 to 20 managers? These managers would be required to poll their staff members with one simple question: What is the most exasperating or taxing part of your job? Confirm with them that their responses are confidential. You will find the majority of responses will deal with the human condition — the “people stuff,” not the tangibles. For example, a new employee feels excited about his or her position and opportunity, then right out of the gate, a threatened co-worker sabotages that person. Or perhaps the learning executive notices an employee shows up, giving only 80 percent to a project with a high learning curve (tangible skills) because he or she knows the “Type A” peer will pull the weight. These keen, intuitive observations signal a “first red flag” situation. What do you do? The phrase “first red flag” carries well-known implications, but the crucial questions are “How do you recognize that first red flag?” and “How do you respond?” A man I will call Jim has worked in finance and management for more than 30 years. One of the first red flags he notices “is when a staff member says, ‘But this is the way we’ve always done it.’ I have enough experience to November 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 52 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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