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As I am finalizing my presentation to the 2007 Summit
on Globalization of HR in Taipei, Taiwan, September 28 to 29, I came
across some interesting materials I got from 2007 ASTD Conference
& Exposition in June in Atlanta, Georgia.
ASTD President Tony Bing-ham
asserts that there’s never been a better time to be in learning.
The knowledge, skills and abilities of organization’s talents are
top of the mind for senior executives today. No longer are systems
and processes the differentiator for organizations; there are
becoming commodities. Today people are the differential
advantage for organization. This is one case where senior
executives universally agree. And workplace learning and performance
professionals have a huge impact on the learning, and thus the
success, of those people.
Tony asks, “so how can we
improve the learning function in our organizations? One way to
look is at examples of best practices from ASTD’s BEST Award
winners.” The award program started in 2003 to recognize
organizations that understand and demonstrate the critical
connection between employee learning and achieving business results.
Since 2003, ASTD has recognized 80 organizations in eight countries
with a BEST award. There is no awardee from the Philippines yet.
Tony continues, “Four of
ASTD’s 2006 BEST awardees—Computer Sciences Corp., Equity
Residential, QUALCOMM, and Wipro—shared some insights with ASTD
about these key messages and how learning impacts results in their
organizations. These winners:
• Demonstrate the connection
between learning and organizational strategy.
• Can articulate the value of
learning and its impact on the bottom line. They understand the
value of learning and protect the investment, even when times are
tough.
• Ensure that the company’s
leaders are heavily involved in learning, and model leaders as
teachers.
• Are, in most cases, focused
on global development.
• Share a sense of urgency
around developing a competitive workforce and having enough talent
in the pipeline.
• Understand learning’s role
to lead talent management—especially in recruitment, development,
and retention.
One of the hottest topics in the
profession today is talent management. Tamar Elkeles, vice-president
of learning and organization development for QUALCOMM, a two-time
BEST Award winner, notes that it’s important for companies to
create a learning brand—something that no one else has—to
attract and retain talent in an organization. She notes that
providing great training and development is top reason employees
join organizations.
Azim Premji, Wipro Limited Chair,
a three-time BEST Award winner, explains that learning is an
integral part of the company’s strategic direction. He notes that
because Wipro is in the hi-tech industry, their people need to be
refreshed and challenged all of the time to participate and
contribute to customers’ requirements in determining and applying
solutions, which is the heart of their business.
The ability to recruit, develop,
and retain talent is and will continue to be one of the biggest and
most important challenges in the learning field.
Almost every CEO talks about the
importance of leadership development. They understand that
developing more effective leaders means a more effective staff.
Highly effective leaders and staff result in happy customers who
want to do business with their companies.
Another aspect of talent
management is the skills gap. Some of the BEST Award winners are
focused on creating career paths and developing emerging skill sets
in new technologies. Premji notes that it is important to thoroughly
select the right work-force and constantly teach that workforce.
Wipro’s multi-month learning programs connect closely to the
company’s career growth paths and competency training systems.
Demonstrating value for learning
is how they link learning to organizational results. Tony Pusateri,
Equity Residential SVP, one of only three organizations to have won
a BEST Award every year since the program’s inception in 2003,
notes that because of Equity’s dedication to training, the company
has realized results, including happier customers and more financial
success. Elkeles asserts that companies must understand that people
are the largest asset they have, and investing in and developing
people—even during tough times—is critically important.
Learning must be aligned to
business results to be considered relevant and successful.
There’s never been a better time to be in the learning profession.
People are the competitive advantage for organizations throughout
the world, and, senior management knows it. And, people development
is the core competency of learning professionals. With the attention
of senior management, now is the time to clearly demonstrate that
your work is aligned with your organizations’ initiatives and
helping to drive organizational success. No other business function
can better impact its people than learning!
As PMAP VP Ric Abadesco puts it:
If you are in the business of making profits, you are in the people
business. You build people who bring in the profits.
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