Chief Learning Officer - December 2008 - (Page 56)

INNOVATION AWARD • SILVER • DIVISION 1 Joe Lepore Senior Manager of Global Technical Training, Applied Biosystems Although the traditional training formats that had been employed at Applied Biosystems (AB) during the past decade worked well for the business, customer expectations changed as the company expanded into new areas, particularly in emerging markets that had strict government regulations. AB’s customers started to demand service training certiﬁcation and qualiﬁcations, as well as fundamental operator training upon installation. These and other changing circumstances placed tremendous stress on AB’s service organization. The ﬁeld service organization began transforming its teams to accommodate market trends by placing specialized service teams and working with other departments to support their initiatives. Meanwhile, the training organization continued to deliver traditional training on how to install and repair products. With the support of a cross-functional team, the training organization developed a blueprint for addressing these challenges. It conducted SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the ﬁeld organization with the support of senior management. The outcome of this process deﬁned a Field Service Engineer certiﬁcation program based on four fundamental pillars: knowledge, ability, sustainability and accountability. Although the certiﬁcation is still in its early stages, instructors who mentor and sign off on it observed that training programs are becoming more relevant to the ﬁeld service organization. INNOVATION AWARD • SILVER • DIVISION 2 (TIE) Melkart Rouhana Corporate Senior Manager, Global Learning, Ritz-Carlton Chuck Floyd Chief Operations Ofﬁcer, Hyatt Hotels The Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts represents 44 nationalities and 17 ofﬁcial languages around the world. Research conducted by the company not only showed the value of improving customer engagement scores by reducing guest problems, but also by personalizing approaches to resolvDeborah Howard and Melkart ing those problems. Rouhana of Ritz-Carlton Melkart Rouhana, corporate senior manager of global learning, realized maximum improvements would be derived from a high-touch learning approach. However, the recent economic downturn meant that less time and money were available for training. To make the program both high touch and cost-effective, the learning function, devised the All Aboard program, an interactive workshop that uses blended learning offerings designed around the company’s Emotional Engagement Service Values. Between Jan. 1 and July 1, results have included a 76 percent reduction in problems reported to the corporate ofﬁce, and a nearly 2-point rise (on a Likert scale) in employees’ perceptions of their problem-resolution abilities. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts’ overarching business goal is to be the preferred brand for owners, employees and guests. During the past few years, the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts senior leadership team, together with the learning team, have deﬁned and reﬁned how leaders within Hyatt contribute to that goal and what qualities and skills general managers (GMs) and other leaders need to be successful. A day on the job for a GM at a Hyatt Hotels & Resorts property is nonstop. A critical challenge for Chuck Floyd, chief operations ofﬁcer at Hyatt, was delivering GM training in a way that works within this busy environment. Blocking an extended period of time for development proves to be difﬁcult and impractical. Floyd and his team knew they needed an innovative solution to further develop the leadership qualities of these on-the-go GMs. They turned to podcasting and videocasting and distributed iPods to this employee population. Along with the ﬁrst collection of leadership content, each iPod was preloaded with an introductory video from Floyd. He explained that “solid leadership is a critical component to every successful business” and that he was committed to “continuing to invest in [the employee] in order to support [his] growth and build [him] into the best leader.” Due to his dedication and the learning team’s assistance, Hyatt’s GMs now experience development in a quick, accessible way that works within their daily schedules. 56

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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