Chief Learning Officer - May 2006 - (Page 30)
CO0506.qxd 4/18/06 1:14 PM Page 30 environment i n practice: knows what
they're doing. If you try to use your rank over them in any way, D e l o i
t t e & Touche USA: they'll just blow you off. But generation Y P u m p i n
g the Talent Pipeline people are very willing to be mentored by competent
adults. They very much prize Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP, which provides
services in areas such as accounting, corporate gover- people who can
really help them. nance, manufacturing and real estate, has a problem.
Fewer and fewer of the people who are entering For the time being, the
main differentiator the workforce are specializing in the areas that the
company needs to execute on many of its opera- between these two groups is
professional tions. To keep qualified professionals flowing into the
organization, Deloitte & Touche USA launched a experience. Obviously, the
generation comprehensive effort around next-generation recruiting and
retention that includes substantial internal- Xers have more of it, but
it's the kind of ly and externally focused educational components.
experience they have that makes them the The declining interest in
technical subjects in Western countries is ongoing, so we're finding that
linchpin in this coming demographic tran- there's a smaller group of
interested people, said W. Stanton Smith, who serves as national director
of sition. Unlike the millennials, the oldest next-generation initiatives
for Deloitte & Touche USA. Therefore, we're trying to find ways to induce
of whom are just starting their careers, young people to think about us
favorably. most of the generation Xers have been on The initiative started
about five years ago, when the company's CEO approached Smith and asked him
the economic roller coaster for some time more or less to decipher the next
generation of employees their needs, desires, dislikes and so forth. now,
and gone through booms, recessions He said, `I've got four kids, and I
can't figure them out. Do something about the value proposition with and
recoveries. They've also witnessed the new generations.' So we did some
research and in the process, we began to define the problem. firsthand the
rise of technology and how We understood a bit more of what needed to be
done, Smith said. that's impacted business. In short, they Smith and his
team also conducted research with outside organizations to determine the
attitudes of have more experience with change in young people about
careers, employers, technology and other professional issues. This enabled
them their organizations and industries, and to further hone in on a marked
strategy that would attract younger talent. We began to understand change
is the key to future survival in the what young people were looking for,
he said. As we did further work on this, we realized that we need-
marketplace. One shouldn't overlook the ed to broaden and deepen the pool
of people coming into our organization. We started putting togeth-
millennials' latent ability to contribute, er a pre-college branding
program to talk to people about what Deloitte is and give them a favorable
though. By all accounts, they're technical- view of us. ly adept, quick
learners and hard workers. Also, Deloitte & Touche USA developed a tool
based on its internal research to help young workers in the company figure
out their preferred occupation and how they could attain it, Smith said. We
found T h e International Angle that young people wanted to know a lot more
about their options within the organization than we'd been So far, this
discussion has been limited to typically telling them. So we created
something called Deloitte Career Connections, which is an internal the
United States. The fact is, though, career resource where people can find
out about other careers within the organization. We also did an these
trends will have an even greater annual incentives program and a
recognition program, because people were asking for that. impact on
developed nations such as Japan, Additionally, Smith and his group
produced pamphlets that could educate the company's executives of France,
Germany and the United broad generational trends, so they could be mindful
of their preferences whenever they rolled out new Kingdom. Birth rates in
these countries initiatives. We started an internal communications process
a series of brochures on the talent mar- have continually declined for
several ket to help them understand the differences and similarities
between generations, he said. decades now, with the result being that
Based on his experiences with the younger generations, Smith said they
generally favor learning that is more than 20 percent of Western Europe's
engaging, interactive and fun. He offered the Virtual Team Challenge for
High School competition, which population is now age 60 or older. With
teaches basic business principles, team work and academic career planning
to students via video even more money spent on public entitle- games, as
an example of this. The program, which was developed with learning vendor
Brand Games, ment programs for retirees, and fewer and has been well
received by these young people. fewer workers to replace them, this demo-
We just did a survey to see if this video game idea was a good one, Smith
explained. They said, graphic shift presents a much greater chal- `Wow, if
all of our homework were as good as these games, we'd be glad to do it.' It
engages and stim- lenge to organizations in those countries. ulates them. I
think that simulations and things that are video-based are definitely where
these young For the time being, enterprises in the people are, because
that's what they've been raised on. However, technology is no guarantee of
United States and abroad have relied engagement for younger learners, he
added. I know that there is a lot of e-learning that's nothing more
largely on immigrants and sending work than putting print materials
online. I don't think that's going to be very successful. I think
interactivity overseas. This strategy will probably con- engages the adult
mind, and that's where it's going to be. tinue to be employed to help
bridge the Although the learning needs of generations X and Y might seem
complex, the baby boomers can be gap between job openings and qualified
more difficult to pin down in terms of training. With the baby boomers,
that's a little more problemat- professionals available to fill them,
Rosen ic, Smith said. Exactly what is the style they prefer? Some prefer
online learning, others like the class- May 2006 said. For the sake of
argument, say we do room and others will read a book. have this tremendous
shortfall of people Additionally, because of their own experience, boomers
might not always appreciate the ways in which the that we need. What will
happen? They'll I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer younger
generations learn. Many of them hold leadership positions, too, and they
have to be persuaded either increase the H-1B visas to bring in as to why
stimulating, interactive and enjoyable educational programs as opposed to
run-of-the-mill more foreign people to try and fill those training are
necessary. With our executives, we don't have to convince them on
training, Smith said. positions, or the work will migrate off- To keep up
with the clients in our industries, they know we have to do training. It's
expected to contribute, shore. That's not a good thing for the because as a
public accounting and professional services firm, we have to keep a lot of
our people prop- U.S., but it doesn't mean the world's erly certified. The
real issue is making sure people get the time to do the training, and that
the training is going to come to an end. of the quality that makes it
worth taking the time off to do. As we move toward simulations, we have to
educate our leaders on technology and why simulations work. You do it with
education. Although looking to other countries might help alleviate the
problem, it's not
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - May 2006
Editor's Note
Table of Contents
Letters to the Editor
Take Five
Selling Up, Selling Down
Imperatives
Strategies
Guest Editorial
Learning Solutions
Robbins-Gioia University
Environment
Deloitte & Touche USA
CLO Profile
Productivity
Washington Gas
Case Study
Human Capital
Health Care Service Corp.
Tactics
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
Business Intelligence
In Conclusion
Advertiser's Index
Editorial Resources
Chief Learning Officer - May 2006
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