Chief Learning Officer - December 2008 - (Page 51)

VANGUARD AWARD • GOLD • DIVISION 2 Ed Cohen Chief Learning Ofﬁcer, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. This year’s Division 2 Gold Award winner in the Vanguard category is Ed Cohen, chief learning ofﬁcer for Satyam Computer Services Ltd., based in Hyderabad, India. Cohen has more than 25 years’ experience in corporate learning and organization development under his belt. He is an international speaker and author of numerous articles on learning, as well as a book on leadership. Prior to his current role, Cohen served as senior director of strategic leader learning and development at Booz Allen Hamilton, a global consulting ﬁrm. “Learning and innovation is embedded into the DNA at Satyam,” Cohen said. “Each time we transform from here to there, having the external recognition validates our efforts and impact.” When Cohen joined Satyam in 2005, he was faced with myriad challenges. The company was growing both rapidly — doubling roughly every 18 months — and broadly, with Satyam’s 55,000 associates scattered across 62 countries. Perhaps as a result, there was a high reliance on external talent for leadership positions, and a corresponding high level of leader turnover. In addition, the growth meant Satyam was gaining an increasingly global focus, and leaders had to be effective in this new context. To address these issues, Cohen ﬁrst conducted a survey of more than 250 C-level executives worldwide. To narrow down the speciﬁc characteristics that a Satyam leader would need, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) survey was performed. Cohen then used the ﬁndings to create three dynamic new learning programs. The ﬁrst key program, launched in early 2007, is the yearlong Full Life Cycle Leader Certiﬁcation (FLCL) process, which tackled the issue of high-leader turnover at Satyam. Aimed at helping new leaders achieve success in their ﬁrst year, the FLCL program is structured in four phases, each building on the previous one: “Fueling,” in which participants are given a general overview of the process; “Ignite,” which includes virtual learning, competency development and awareness; “Lift Off!” which involves strategic business simulations on various leadership topics; and “Orbit,” which includes further competency development and action learning. To address the increasingly global focus of the company, Cohen partnered with Harvard Business Publishing and Universitas 21 Global to create the Certiﬁcate of Global Business Leadership (CGBL) program that helps leaders develop the business skills necessary for success in a global environment. The MBA-like program is six and a half months long and almost entirely virtual, so students can study at their own time, pace and place. By the end of 2008, more than 2,700 FLCL leaders will have graduated from the CGBL program. Cohen also helped Satyam institute an annual leadership summit for networking, best-practice sharing and other purposes. The impact of Cohen’s work at Satyam has been tangible. The percentage of leadership positions being ﬁlled internally has gone up from 20 percent in 2005 to more than 60 percent today. And within the ﬁrst year of implementation of the FLCL program, the leadership turnover rate dropped from nearly 9 percent to less than 3 percent, while the company saved $1.75 million. Further, leaders who have gone through the CGBL process report enhanced knowledge sharing, higher productivity and increased global networking, and the company claims an ROI of more than $5 million on the program. The future is bright for Satyam with Cohen at the helm, especially now that his work has been recognized publicly, he said. “Moving forward, I am even more motivated by the recognition and the opportunity to demonstrate to the world the amazing things that we are emanating in learning from South Asia,” he said. “Each time we transform from here to there, having the external recognition validates our efforts and impact.” – Agatha Gilmore 51

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - December 2008

Chief Learning Officer - December 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Connections Business Impact Best Practices Effectiveness Guest Editorial The Future of Learning CLO Profile Learning Opportunities Embedded in Social Networking ManTech Leverages Knowledge Management Approaches for Social Networking Agility Training for the Learning Organization Creating an Agile Organization With Learning 2.0 2008 Learning In Practice Awards Corporate Social Responsibility: How Can Learning Contribute? Union Fenosa Corporate University: How CSR Education Impacted the Bottom Line Training in the 21st Century: Everything Old Is New Again Zions Bancorp.: Connecting the Dots Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - December 2008

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