Talent Management - July 2008 - (Page 34)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning [learning & development] by Lindsay Edmonds Wickman Train the Non-Trainer If today’s fast-moving corporation had an attitude, it would be “need to know, now.” Organizations can’t wait for formal learning programs to teach employees how to do their jobs. Everyday trainers can ensure employees have knowledgeable resources to turn to when questions or problems occur in real time. I n most organizations there are almost never enough trainers to go around. But should there be? In today’s knowledge-workerdominated workplace, employees need answers on the spot, and the company trainer rarely is as convenient as Web access or the peer sitting next door. As a result, organizations are training and leveraging everyday learning champions so employees have an immediate resource to turn to when issues arise. “I’m not sure that having a whole host of people who are [purely] trainers is the right way to go in the constantly changing environment in which we live,” said Rajeev Peshawaria, chief learning ofﬁcer at Morgan Stanley. Companies such as Morgan Stanley are moving away from the train-the-trainer methodology and embracing a model that empowers subject matter experts, leaders and managers to lead development, thereby creating a learning culture in which employees are encouraged to begin discussions and ask their peers questions. Leaders as Teachers “Teaching is learning twice.” That’s the philosophy at Morgan Stanley, where line leaders help train their employees. The global ﬁnancial services ﬁrm subscribes to a co-teaching model, in which a professional teacher and a business leader team up to provide a wellrounded training experience. “Let’s say we’re teaching a course on leadership,” Peshawaria said. “Somebody from my team would teach the theory and concepts, and the business leader [would] speak to those concepts with real examples and practical experience. You get the best of theory and practice.” When time is at a premium, the workload must be manageable to motivate business leaders to participate. With Morgan Stanley’s co-teaching model, the business leaders are not responsible for the totality of the training. “The trick in leaders as teachers is to make it easy for them. If you give them a big manual and say: ‘Prepare this and attend a train-the-trainer [session],’ they’d never do it,” Peshawaria said. “We tell them what we’re teaching, where we want them to interject with examples and where we want them to lead exercises.” As with most initiatives, there must be support from the top, especially when the biggest challenge may be getting the line leaders to buy into the program. 34 July 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - July 2008

Talent Management - July 2008 Editor’s Letter Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Guest Editorial Passive Candidate Recruiting: Evolving with a Changing Workforce How Do They Feel? Sec Regulations and Executive Compensation Performance Management: A Retail Perspective Train the Non-Trainer Management-Go-Round: Developing Future Leaders Netflix Creates Its Own Script for Talent Management Intuit Spotlights Strategic Importance of Global Employee Recognition Make HR a Profit Center: Automate Technology to Gather Tax Credit Data Offshoring and the Impact on Talent Management Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - July 2008

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