Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008 - (Page 43)

[CASEBOOK] Adecco: The Personal Side of Personnel Training BY TIM SOSBE Rich Thompson knows a little something about pressure. First imagine him in one of his previous roles, as a professional football player with the Green Bay Packers. Imagine being in the middle of a huge stadium, with thousands of fans cheering for you (or against you), all while a literal wall of huge men comes rushing at you with one goal — to stop you, and stop you hard. There’s a little bit of pressure in that scenario. Now flash forward, and imagine being vice president of training and development for a company with the third-largest workforce in North America. Every day, Adecco helps more than 700,000 people report to work around the world, all part of a global workforce of more than 4 million professionals. And while the training department doesn’t touch every worker every day, it does keep the overall team armed and ready with the right strategies for any play. Forget football: The pressure really starts on that field. “Training is really the catalyst for change and driving strategy,” Thompson said. “That’s why it’s important for the training group to be closely aligned with leadership.” Thompson himself is closely aligned with the Adecco organization, with more than a decade of experience in the company. He started off running a regional office, then advanced up the ladder to his role overseeing training and development in four divisions throughout North America. Thompson is directly responsible for training for 7,000 employees spread across North America, in both rural settings and major metropolitan areas. Those employees are charged with making sure their workers meet the quality standards of the Adecco brand. That’s a challenge, Thompson said, especially in the days (not long ago) when learning was delivered by PowerPoint printouts sent around the country. Learning leaders would end up relying on someone to receive a package, understand the content, and be able to emphasize the key points properly. “That’s really the trick. You end up getting varying degrees of translated content. Now with our LMS, we can control exactly what people are hearing, when they’re hearing it. We can track exactly what’s being done,” Thompson said. “From a consistency 43 Training Industry Quarterly, Spring 2008 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008

Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008
At the Editor’s Desk
Contents
Winning Organizations Through People
Before You Buy…
Learning Technologies
Take Your ROI to Level 6
LCMS: A Critical Link to Learning Success
Establishing Best Practices for Learning Governance
Training’s Role in Continuous Improvement
Meet Jim Mitnick
Meet Karen Kocher
Meet Christina Cernuch
The Personal Side of Personnel Training
Closing Arguments

Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008