L&D's Role In Change Management | November/December 2020

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BUILDING RESILIENCE | 18 Planning for Business Continuity

2021 TRENDS | 30 The Changing Nature of Work

LEADING THROUGH CRISIS | 40 Developing Critical Leadership Skills

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MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ

FROM THE EDITOR

L&D’S ROLE IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Staying at the forefront of change is a best practice in business. Long-term success relies on an organization’s ability to successfully navigate disruption – from updating business plans, redistributing budgets and shifting how the business operates.

Effective change management is needed to overcome setbacks and keep the organization moving forward.

MANAGING PEOPLE IS AN IMPORTANT – BUT OFTEN OVERLOOKED – ELEMENT OF THE CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS.

Change initiatives can range from short-term hiccups in business routine to long-term states of disruption, such as we’re experiencing with the pandemic. Regardless of the scope of the change initiative, there must be buy-in from leadership and employees to ensure success. Managing people is an important – but often overlooked – element of the change management process. It’s the people who execute tasks and achieve the goals of the business, yet employees are often uninformed and unprepared during change initiatives.

This issue of Training Industry Magazine examines the pivotal role of learning and development (L&D) in helping organizations navigate change and complexity. From building organizational resilience to weather economic instability to equipping leadership with the skills they need in times of uncertainty, this edition shares a variety of perspectives on how L&D can support and prepare employees to meet the needs of the business.

This issue also includes our annual trends report to help learning leaders plan for the future of learning in their organizations. This year’s report identifies seven trends that reflect the changing nature of work and the role of the learning function in guiding their organizations through these changes to achieve new levels of performance.

Maintaining a future-forward mindset is difficult in times of disruption. Instability can create a “firefighting” mentality due to the frequency and speed in which decisions need to be made.

This keeps leaders focused on shortterm survival – and less on innovation and business expansion. 2020 has certainly been the year of change, and the training function has been integral to managing organizational disruption and positioning the company for future success.

As you read through the collection of articles in this issue, consider how these ideas and approaches may be implemented in your organization. We want to encourage a healthy dialogue around the challenges and opportunities that are impacting the business of learning. We would love to hear your thoughts on the topics that you see influencing the industry.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz is the editorial director at Training Industry, Inc. Email Michelle.

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CO N T E N TS

TA B L E O F VOLUME 14

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ISSUE 1

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

FEATURES

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OF 18 BUILDING RESILIENCE

18 22 26 30 36

30 2021 TRENDS

40 LEADING THROUGH CRISIS

BUILDING RESILIENCE: L&D’S EVOLVING ROLE IN BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

By Danny Ertel and Gabriella Salvatore

Business continuity planning is critical in developing long-term organizational resilience.

CONSIDER THE WHITE ROOM: CURATING MEANINGFUL LEARNER EXPERIENCES

By Christopher Adams and Beth Hughes

Apply principles of museum curation to content curation to provide meaningful learning experiences.

COST-ESTIMATING LEARNING INITIATIVES AND INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS

By Ajay M. Pangarkar and Teresa Kirkwood

Secure the learning function’s position as a value center with effective cost forecasting.

TRENDS 2021: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE OF LEARNING

By Ken Taylor and Michelle Eggleston Schwartz

Prepare for 2021 with Training Industry’s predictions for trends in the learning space.

PROVE IT! MEASURING TRAINING IMPACT FOR THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

By Paul Leone, Ph.D.

To succeed in the future of work, learning leaders must measure and demonstrate their impact.

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CRITICAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

By Elizabeth Greene

What skills will be most critical to leaders as they usher in the next normal?

BEYOND SERVICE: HOW DEFINING MOMENTS IMPACT CULTURE

By Jason R. Weber

Support employee and overall organizational success by cultivating a culture of service.

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IN THIS ISSUE

THOUGHT LEADERS

5 11 13 15

FROM THE EDITOR

By Michelle Eggleston Schwartz

The training function is integral to leading organizations through disruption and change.

GUEST EDITOR

By Neha Trivedi, CPTM

Discover three critical components to develop a high-impact learning culture.

WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH

By Stella Lee, Ph.D.

Showcase online learning’s viability to deliver impactful learning experiences amid disruption.

17 51 53

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

By Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM

Revolutionize diversity and inclusion in your organization with these three strategies.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING

By Srini Pillay, M.D.

Establish authentic relationships in remote work with these brainbased tips.

PERFORMANCE MATTERS

By Julie Winkle Giulioni

As organizations have pivoted as a result of the pandemic, so has the learning function.

BUILDING LEADERS

By Sam Shriver and Marshall Goldsmith Better recognize and respond to change in your organizations with these actionable tips.

INFO EXCHANGE

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MARC RAMOS Global Head of Learning Strategy & Learning Innovation Novartis

MEGAN CASADOS Director of Training DISH

KELLY RIDER Vice President, L&D Content Strategy & Experience SAP Learning & Development

BARBARA JORDAN, CPTM Group Vice President, Global Learning & Development Sims Metal Management

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NEHA TRIVEDI, CPTM

GUEST EDITOR

3 CRITICAL COMPONENTS TO CREATE A HIGH-IMPACT LEARNING CULTURE

Key findings from Emerald Works’ research report reveal that “high impact learning cultures (HILC) are 10 times more likely to have a sustainable impact on four critical levers of business: growth, transformation, productivity, and profitability.”

There are many components of a learning culture in a work environment. Many times, the expectation is for the learning team to drive and sustain the learning culture. However, the reality is that it is much more involved than one function.

The development of a learning culture lies beyond the learning and development (L&D) function.

The trifecta that is influential in creating a high-impact learning culture includes: 1. Organizational leadership.

2. Line management and employees.

3. Collaboration between human resources (HR).

L&D

and

When these critical groups do their parts, the organization builds a much stronger foundation for high performance and continuous growth.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Learning does not occur at a single event or time; it must be continuous, on demand and just in time. Learning in the flow of work and experiential learning have much greater impact, and learning must support increased knowledge, build skills and reskill employees as organizations

transform their business strategies.

Knowledge workers are essentially obsolete, but “learning” workers are the key to organizational success. Employees must continuously grow as they advance in their careers.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEARNING CULTURE LIES BEYOND L&D. ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP Leadership must model learning behaviors and provide consistent messaging to encourage continuous growth. Leaders that incorporate learning into the organizations’ DNA by driving a growth mindset can foster innovation, collaboration and support for company goals. A learning culture also creates a space for employees to challenge the status quo with new knowledge, take acceptable risks and not be penalized for failures. If leadership employs learning as part of their employee value proposition, they will attract employees that continuously learn and grow and experience increased retention.

LINE MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES Managers support the professional growth of their teams and themselves with consistent messaging regarding continuous learning. Managers will be more apt to share the responsibility for learning, coach their team members with more regular feedback, encourage time for development as learning is

increasingly valued and more aligned to performance measures. Managers who model lifelong learning behaviors will influence and empower employees to build their skills and contribute to organizational transformation.

L&D AND HR TEAM Historically the keepers and drivers of learning culture, L&D and HR teams should focus on the continuous development of the organization’s learning foundation and create alignment between shifting organizational strategies.

Building the learning foundation includes: • Oversight, management and governance of the learning platform.

• Optimizing learning-related tools and resources, such as learning libraries, curated learning content, and skills development.

• Alignment with upstream downstream functions.

and

• Implementation of industry trends or opportunities that fit the needs of the organization’s business goals.

Collaboration between organizational leadership, line management and employees, and L&D and HR teams will contribute to a stronger and more impactful learning culture in any organization.

Neha Trivedi, CPTM, leads enterprise learning strategy and colleague development at Alight Solutions. Email Neha.

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Deadline: December 18, 2020.

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STELLA LEE, PH.D.

WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH

ELEARNING TAKES CENTER STAGE: HOW L&D CAN IMPACT CHANGE

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many learning and development (L&D) teams struggled to get their organizations to include robust eLearning as part of their learning strategy. However, as the pandemic persists, it has forced industries to move learning online in a hurry. With digital learning going mainstream, there are going to be changes in processes, infrastructure, expertise, pedagogical practices and learning design.

As eLearning takes center stage, now is L&D’s chance to favorably shift the perception of online learning. Below are the key areas to consider for becoming change agents of eLearning: LEARNING DESIGN IS STILL RELEVANT Designing thoughtful learning experiences takes time and careful coordination.

Learning needs analysis is more critical than ever. Yet, it is easily overlooked in the rush to move learning online. Start by asking, “Is this a problem that learning can solve?” Afterall, the term “learning design” means that we focus on the learners rather than the content. L&D needs to advocate for online learning design grounded in sound educational principles, as well as view learners as active agents of learning rather than passive consumers of knowledge.

CLOUD COMPUTING MAKES THE SHIFT TO ELEARNING MORE FEASIBLE Cloud infrastructure has matured over the past few years, enabling organizations

to pivot to online learning more quickly.

Online learning systems based on cloud computing can leverage vendors’ expertise in system implementations and integrations, are relatively low cost, and easily scale up and down as demand shifts. Furthermore, it is no longer necessary for L&D to have in-depth knowledge of information technology to shape the direction of online learning.

While a fundamental understanding of how the technologies function is helpful, it is more important to be able to ask questions about data ethics, learner privacy, digital content retention policy, eLearning technology governance and how to communicate this change.

NOW IS L&D’S CHANCE TO FAVORABLY SHIFT THE PERCEPTION OF ONLINE LEARNING. USE TECHNOLOGIES ALREADY IN PLACE What consumer-grade technologies are already being used by your workforce?

Consider the Top Tools for Learning 2020, a comprehensive survey compiled

by Jane Hart. Most of them are not designed specifically for learning. Yet, these are tools that people are using in their workplaces and personal lives. This is the time to think beyond the learning management system to try lighterweight tools. Use Microsoft Teams to create a community of practice, curate playlists in YouTube, push microcontent out on WhatsApp, cocreate content

in Trello, source suggestions in Padlet and subscribe to relevant hashtags on Twitter. Many of these technologies are offering extended trial periods during the pandemic, and there has never been a better time for L&D to dig in and evaluate what these tools can offer.

COLLECT DATA AND REFLECT This unusual time has pushed organizations and individuals to do many things we didn’t have the time or desire to try in the past – such as managing and motivating remote teams, adapting learning to online delivery, and reconfiguring the ways we collaborate.

Now, the key focus for L&D should be to reflect and take what works from these experiences to move forward. This is experimentation on a massive scale.

Fortunately, with working and learning online, we can collect data to analyze and measure impacts. Document your findings well, and use the data collected to support your drive for change.

Let’s showcase how online learning is a viable option and one that is not likely to go away any time soon. With some thoughtful consideration, we can be leaders in impacting change for a better learning experience.

Dr. Stella Lee has over 20 years of experience in consulting, planning, designing, implementing and measuring learning initiatives. Her focus is on large-scale learning projects including LMS evaluation and implementation, learning analytics, and artificial intelligent applications. Email Stella.

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SAM SHRIVER AND MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

BUILDING LEADERS

RECOGNIZING, REGROUPING AND RESPONDING TO CHANGE

It is not uncommon to try to make sense of change by drawing parallels between the shifts occurring around you and natural disasters. For instance, we know a lot about hurricanes and earthquakes these days (why they happen and, often, where and when they will hit).

Unfortunately, we have no idea how to stop them!

AT ITS CORE, TRAINING IS CHANGE. It is much the same with organizational change. We know it is coming, but we struggle to identify when it will arrive or how disruptive it will be.

That notwithstanding, when change does hit, your experience as a training professional can be leveraged almost immediately to help your organization recognize, regroup and respond.

RECOGNIZE Simply stated, there are layers to change. Everyone within the epicenter of an earthquake can feel the vibrations, but the true impact of those tremors on structural integrity, quality of life and the potential for aftershocks is not immediately apparent. Similarly, when change hits, most of us grasp that things are about to become very different, but the particulars associated with those changes are the primary drivers of fear and uncertainty. The quicker an organization can accurately assess the impact of disruption, the more responsive it can be. The process associated with that assessment mirrors

what effective training departments have been doing during discovery since their inception.

REGROUP At its core, training is change (and always has been). People attend training to learn something new and accelerate their effectiveness. Under the umbrella of all that is disruptive change, targeted training is a visible mechanism of reformation. On a webinar approximately two weeks into the pandemic, Elliott Masie, an educational technology expert, reported the most common comment he heard as people across industries came to grips with a drastically different reality was, “Will somebody please just tell me how to do my job?”

The higher the “earthquake registers on the Richter scale,” the more receptive learners become to learning.

Perhaps, the most practical way to view the role training plays in this context is to say that, when change occurs, the readiness of employees to perform shifts. People who generally knew what they were doing, and enjoyed doing it, are thrust into circumstances where their accumulated base of experiences and skills may no longer be relevant.

In many respects, the people who develop and deliver targeted training take on the role of first responders. They provide structure, reinforcement and hope. In so doing, training tells people what they should be doing and how they will not only survive but prosper.

RESPOND The training department has long been the epicenter of feedback.

Employees’ ability to provide and receive constructive feedback can be a contributing factor in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage.

This reality is accentuated amid disruptive change.

Managing change is an iterative process. You think you know what you are doing after you regroup, so you take action. Then, you find yourself confronting an obstacle that you did not account for that throws you off track.

If this sounds familiar, it is probably because it is the precise challenge training professionals have been facing since the beginning of time (or so it seems).

How do you take “what you know” and translate it into “what to do” in a manner that advances your purpose and organization? The short answer here is feedback – understanding the shortterm impact of your actions – coupled with feedforward – understanding how future actions need to be calibrated in service of alignment and progress.

We add, in conclusion, that none of this is easy, but – with increasing regularity – it is becoming undeniably necessary.

Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority in helping successful leaders get even better. Sam Shriver is the executive vice president at The Center for Leadership Studies. Email Marshall and Sam.

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DR. KRISTAL WALKER, CPTM

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

L&D’S ROLE IN REVOLUTIONIZING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES During these unprecedented times – from the COVID-19 pandemic to unresolved racial injustice across the country — companies are being prompted to revisit their business, talent, and learning and development (L&D) strategies. While there is ambiguity for the future, L&D professionals are finding ways to pivot and address best practices for creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce.

A GLIMPSE INTO PAST D&I INITIATIVES To understand what is necessary to revolutionize diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace, it is important to understand the historical context of D&I. Since the 1960s, diversity education has been used to unite communities, military sectors and higher education institutions to support greater alignment given the signs of those times. In the late 1980s, organizations began to deploy D&I training largely to protect themselves against civil rights lawsuits as a result of workplace discrimination.

While imperative at the time, this outdated approach has plagued the way we think about diversity in the workplace and contributes to the pitfalls of modern D&I. Studies show that this method could potentially make matters worse, because D&I initiatives are often limited to creating levels of awareness that generalize the need for diversity and inclusion rather than accountability for interrupting undesirable behavior.

As a result, managers comply with D&I initiatives to avoid employee grievances and employee relations investigations,

making it difficult for training professionals to foster meaningful impact.

3 STEPS TO EVOLVE YOUR COMPANY’S D&I STRATEGY Let’s examine three recommendations that can help evolve your company’s existing D&I strategy – or help build one from inception: 1. POSITION YOURSELF AS A PARTNER Partnering with senior leaders and building relationships with employees to better understand their experiences and motivations can lead to more effective learning solutions. Having this knowledge presents an opportunity to redefine D&I training at your organization, positioning it as a “heart” matter rather than another organizational initiative.

This may require challenging business leaders to shift from asking the question, “How do we move the needle on D&I?” to, “How do we build authentic relationships that allow everyone’s voice to be heard, valued and respected, so they can provide their best service and performance in their work?”

2. ESTABLISH LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION FOR D&I INITIATIVES Unfortunately, not everyone sees the value of D&I. Therefore, training professionals need to define D&I engagement levels and behaviors to drive progression toward buy-in and advocacy. By establishing a baseline for

learner engagement in D&I initiatives, training professionals can progressively measure how well the D&I strategy is working. A baseline for engagement could be as simple as the following: Actively disengaged: Only willing to comply as a condition of employment.

Not engaged: May be willing to engage with coaching and mentorship.

Actively engaged: Fully supports D&I strategy, programs and initiatives.

3. TIE L&D OUTCOMES TO D&I STRATEGY Training professionals must identify learning outcomes to inform their D&I strategy. Learning outcomes should help bridge gaps between empathy and apathy in learners. For example, rather than purchasing off-the-shelf bias training, use data collected from stakeholders to personalize training to your culture and simulate a relevant, real-world experience for your learners.

By taking these three steps, training managers are well positioned to revolutionize D&I initiatives at their organizations.

Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM, has over 15 years of experience helping clients engage people, apply processes, and implement technology to improve performance. She is the founder and principal consultant of The Kristal Walker Brand and instructor for Training Industry’s Diversity and Inclusion Master Class. Email Kristal.

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BUILDING RESILIENCE:

L&D’S EVOLVING ROLE IN

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

By Danny Ertel & Gabriella Salvatore

Business continuity planning (BCP) focuses on what it takes for our businesses to continue to operate, usually after disaster or disruption.

BCP conversations typically center around infrastructure, communications, facilities, supplies and data. It looks at where we operate, as well as what tools, materials and information we need. BCP strategies tend to be concerned with protecting what we have, having some redundancy to reduce failures, and having access to alternatives to fail safely. Even in the realm of communications, BCP focuses on getting messages through, ensuring they are legitimate and authenticated, and

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maintaining the ability to operate without normal command and control.

Human resources (HR) teams participate in BCP conversations, but mostly from the standpoint of succession planning, as well as how we contact our people, ensure their safety and enable them to return to work.

What can get left out of BCP discussions regarding planning, testing and rehearsing is the “soft stuff.”

How do people think and feel during disruption? How do they operate effectively and efficiently? What skills do they need to take care of customers, keep distribution channels open and preserve supply chain relationships during disruption? This is the realm of learning and development (L&D).

Battered by overlapping crises of the pandemic, economic challenge and social unrest, companies increasingly recognize that planning for business

HOW DOES L&D FIT IN THE BCP CONVERSATION? As much as we need backup sites, rollover capability, trusted data sources, redundant power and resilient communications, we also need people to put all those assets to good use. Employees and leaders at every level must prioritize appropriately and problem-solve creatively while concurrently dealing with the emergency and its aftermath.

We need fast reaction times, coolheaded thinking and the ability to execute the plan.

We also must prepare our people to deal with the unavoidable surprises and impact that accompanies disruption.

We want them to help customers, suppliers and other stakeholders who may be less prepared deal with both the material and emotional impacts of that disruption. We depend on our people to get through crisis; we also depend on them to support others who we need to survive with us.

In our experience, the human aspect of business continuity includes “hardening” our people skills by: • Listening with curiosity and empathy.

continuity also encompasses developing the mindset and skills necessary for long-term resilience. In this context, L&D can play an increasingly pivotal role in preparing and enabling our organizations to change, adapt and persevere through crisis.

• Joint problem-solving to collaborate on solutions, both internally and externally.

• Strategically thinking to separate the signal from the noise, to look at context, to zoom out from immediate challenges to look at the big picture.

In a recent survey conducted by Vantage Partners, HR and learning professionals identified these as the top three critical skills for leaders. When those skills were missing, consequences included poor decision-making, employee burnout, lack of buy-in or follow-through, and damaged relationships. In dealing with a disruption that threatens business continuity, these skills can make the difference between coming out the other end. Preserving rather than damaging relationships, as one of the authors noted in a recent Medium article, becomes key to successful recovery.

WHAT ABOUT WHEN THE CRISIS CONTINUES? The interwoven health, economic and social justice crises of 2020 have taught us that there is another dimension to disaster recovery and BCP. Unlike the disruption scenarios we commonly plan for — accidents, fires, catastrophic weather, utility service or supply breakdowns — the disruption may not be short lived. We may be in this for the long haul. In our survey, 85 percent of HR and L&D leaders agreed that the “stress and turbulence of the current conditions” have resulted in L&D teams placing a larger emphasis on “building organizational resilience.”

BCP in a longer-lasting disruption is not so much about quick response time but rather about sustaining both material and human capabilities. This is not a sprint to safety; our people need to maintain their energy and morale for a “marathon” of uncertain mileage.

A core element of training for some of the world’s elite special operations

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The good news is some of the key skills underlying these strategic requirements for greater resilience are also applicable outside of prolonged crises:

L&D CAN PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN PREPARING AND ENABLING ORGANIZATIONS TO CHANGE, ADAPT AND PERSEVERE THROUGH CRISIS. military units includes a run or march of unknown distance, where the perceived finish line can be literally pulled away and participants pushed to “keep going” before they finish. Similarly, when disruption is longer lasting, our survival and success may also depend on those who can keep pushing along with us. That often includes key customers, suppliers and business partners throughout the value chain.

What do we need from leaders amidst a crisis without a clear finish line?

• We need leaders who “can go the distance” without knowing what the distance is.

• We need leaders who help the organization navigate the changes that disruption requires, without the luxury of a fully mapped-out change management plan.

• We need leaders who can map the path to the next normal.

If these represent key organizational needs for continuity and resilience, L&D can build them into learning journeys and career paths, helping the organization plan for and build capabilities before we have to call upon them — just as we build redundant facilities and technologies, practice rolling over to them, and test and maintain them even if we never use them.

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• Managing and marshaling your energy. One leading consumer goods company, among others, trains its people to understand the different types of energy they possess and how to manage them.

Learners come to understand that curiosity, reframing and taking action are three things that build resilience, as well as develop their own plans to renew their personal capacity.

• Leading and navigating change. By now, we have learned that change never stops; it only accelerates.

How leaders listen, demonstrate empathy and engage emotionally with individuals is critical to effective organizational change. Without that sense of connection, change fatigue sets in, and real transformation fails.

• Solving problems collaboratively. In prolonged disruption, we may become even more dependent on others to help us find solutions to problems. Yet with more virtualized teams and distributed decision-making, tensions and conflicts tend to rise.

HOW L&D BUILDS RESILIENCE IN OTHER CONTEXTS In many organizations, L&D’s continuity and resilience capabilities have already been honed by less dramatic and tragic disruptions – but nonetheless trying ones for their people – such as large mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. We sometimes call these resilience skills, and bundle them with other “soft skills” that we seek to develop in leaders at all levels in the organization.

Case in point: Consider the crisis precipitated by the planned merger of two of the world’s largest life sciences companies in the past decade.

In that instance, L&D and human resources were tasked with building the resiliency of employees and ensuring the continuity of their work through massive disruption. They did so, in part, by reframing the story and proactively training people around the plan for this newly combined global organization, as well as by providing comprehensive change management training and support for managers.

These skills may or may not make the top-five list when you survey your internal customers and HR partners. However, the current crisis is teaching us that they are indispensable, and it is up to L&D to make the case. The good news is that organizations seem to recognize, in the midst of the current “new normal,” that L&D plays a critical role in BCP. In our recent survey, 92% of talent leaders responded that their companies’ leadership is recognizing, to some extent, L&D’s role in business continuity.

SO, HOW DO WE STEP UP TO THE BCP ROLE? Having a seat at the BCP table means helping colleagues from other functions recognize two critical elements of BCP that they may not routinely plan for: the human element required to effectively make use of the capabilities they are building and the need for resilience when faced with longer-lasting disruption. To make the case, we should keep a couple of things in mind.

We have to be prepared to speak their language. BCP discussions typically focus on redundancy, readiness and rehearsals. Our task, in part, is to enable the operational outcomes our business colleagues seek. Start where they are

(the material requirements of continued operations), and work backwards to the mindset and behaviors required to operate effectively under such conditions. Then, move on to the capability building and learning that needs to take place before crisis or must be enhanced in the midst of sustained challenges. We also can guide our operations peers to consider how continuity depends upon our people engaging externally with customers and suppliers. We should also emphasize that working internally – across a complicated organizational matrix where the lines of command and control are already fuzzy – gets even more blurred when our workforce is virtual or otherwise displaced.

A STARTER CHECKLIST FOR L&D’S BCP CONVERSATIONS

•

ʱ In how our people contextualize their daily tasks?

As a trusted partner, we want to influence their thinking. But, influence doesn’t mean just advocating for our program. Learning leaders have to participate in the BCP conversation with sufficient curiosity and humility, so that we can work together to find a better answer than either of us could on our own.

“In times of challenge, L&D can be the ‘internal voice’ of the organization,” noted one participant during a recent learning lab we facilitated among L&D leaders. “We can be of great assistance to leaders working to drive change through these challenging times.”

How will anticipated disruptions alter what we need from our people? What will change:

ʱ In how they prioritize and make decisions? ʱ In how they communicate with each other and with external parties? ʱ In how they think and feel as they tackle new challenges? ʱ In their ability to sustain the change?

•

What do we need our people to do especially well during disruption? What if the disruption is prolonged?

•

What skills are critical to the mindset and the behaviors we need to do the above?

•

How do those BCP skill requirements map against our regular competency development plans?

Danny Ertel, a founding partner at Vantage Partners, recently published a five-article series on soft skills for adaptive leadership on Medium.

Gabriella Salvatore – a learning and development executive, consultant, instructor and thought leader – is head of solution design and innovation at Vantage. Email Danny and Gabriella.

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uch has been written about learning content curation.

Often, this concept stems from a desire to take advantage of the sea of free content available through smart devices, high-speed network connectivity and social media. It’s certainly hard to think of a task or skill that cannot be found demonstrated on YouTube. Corporately, it’s also hard to think of a topic area not addressed by bloated course catalogs. As a result, there has been a large focus on content curation.

Content curation is a practice borrowed from marketing. Using this practice, marketers target a set of

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buyer profiles to better understand how people relate to a product or brand, and “feed” them content that increases the likelihood of them making a purchase. Similarly, learning and development professionals might target employees in a specific job role to better understand their work, and suggest or require learning content intended to improve performance on the job. This is an efficient approach, connecting more employees to more content with less effort. However, more is not always better, and content alone is never sufficient. To increase the effectiveness of their curation efforts, learning professionals

should broaden their focus beyond content to experience.

Curation also has a much older meaning. Originally, the role of curator was associated with museums and exhibitions. What can we learn from that role that can be applied to the curation of learning experiences?

ENTER THE WHITE ROOM Think of a museum or exhibit you’ve visited where, at some point during your walkthrough, your breath

caught in your throat. If museums aren’t your thing, recall the best restaurant meal you’ve ever had or the greatest music performance you’ve ever attended. Recall that experience – how it felt, what it meant to you, what it means to you still. Think of what you learned during that experience. In an industry where research indicates that 30 to 70% of what employees learn is forgotten, learning professionals should take time to examine experiences that are instantly and permanently stored in our memory and available for recall.

Now consider that those experiences – the museum, event, meal and concert – all have something in common. They all began with an empty white room with white walls and empty floors.

This was the curator’s starting point, and the curator’s goal was to then give visitors an experience that they would carry with them when they left the room.

What do curators add to the white room to create meaningful experiences?

Certainly, there are works of art to be exhibited (the content), but the works themselves cannot be the only elements. Paintings lose meaning if they sit stacked in a corner. The following are some components of experience – beyond the content itself – that are useful for learning curators.

COMPONENTS OF EXPERIENCE PATH COMPONENTS ENTRY AND EXIT

Exhibit curators are deliberate about how visitors enter a space. There are functional components, like obtaining a ticket or joining a tour group. But the entry to an exhibit also sets the stage for the entire experience.

For example, Meow Wolf’s “House of Eternal Return” exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico uses a full-scale recreation of a Victorian home as its entry point. Participants step through an ordinary-looking refrigerator and into the “real” exhibit – an interactive light and sound installation.

Learning professionals should be equally attentive to how participants enter courses or learning events.

Participants should have clear expectations of how learning will benefit them in their roles and personal development. Opening a course with messages from leaders that welcome and positively affirm participants’ value to the organization also promotes engagement and attention.

Exits are equally important, as they are the best opportunity for a call to action. As visitors of an amusement park exit through an experiencethemed gift shop, learners should exit each learning event with a clear call to action. Otherwise, skills and knowledge learned may never be applied on the job.

GROUPING, SEQUENCE AND PACE Curators can add additional impact and meaning to art through careful grouping. Works that complement or contrast each other might be placed close together. Alternatively, curators can give a piece additional emphasis by surrounding it with white space.

HOW SENSORY COMPONENTS CAN ELEVATE THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

One example of an experience that uses sensory components to great effect is the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. The main exhibit consists of thousands of rectangular concrete slabs spaced in a rough grid on a sloping plane. As visitors approach the exhibit, they are offered a view across the almost-level tops of all the slabs. As visitors descend the slope, surrounding slabs grow taller until they stand fully in the shadows at the center of the space. The lighting changes as the sun is blocked out, giving visitors an actual chill despite the temperature. Sound is also shaped by the arrangement of heavy blocks, until it’s difficult to distinguish echoes. Visitors feel a sense of isolation as groups are separated into different paths. Many have compared walking into the memorial to descending into a grave.

There is no “content” on or around the slabs. All content that visitors are to hear, see or read is housed in an information center placed at the edge of the site, but consider how the experience of passing through the slabs prepares visitors to attend to this content in a more meaningful way.

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The sequence in which an exhibit is experienced can also add meaning. Is there a set route established, or is the participant invited to explore at their leisure? Curators can segment exhibits into a series of rooms, with each room building on the previous. Sequence impacts the meaning and experience for each participant.

SOUND Sound can also add meaning to a primarily visual exhibit. Ambient sound – including music and natural sound effects – can alter patrons’ experiences.

Imagine a haunted house with no spooky soundtrack; the experience loses almost all emotional impact.

Pacing is often left to participants, but curators can manipulate a space to encourage patrons to move forward or linger in specific spot. Often, turns and corners build anticipation for what lies ahead.

For learning modules, content should be grouped to reinforce similar information or contrast dissimilar information. Learning should be sequenced so concepts build on one another. These practices will focus learners’ attention and help learners manage cognitive load.

If you expect learners to build skills, learning content should be paced to allow for spaced practice and reflection.

Often, learners are simply fed content and expected to immediately apply new skills on the job. Skill building requires repeated practice and opportunities for self-evaluation and reflection.

SENSORY COMPONENTS LIGHTING

Lighting in an exhibit serves a functional purpose: to illuminate pieces on display. However, it can also modify the experience.

For example, consider how the experience of Michelangelo’s David would change if it was not lit by natural light through the glass dome of Galleria dell’Accademia.

Lighting and sound can be powerful components of instructional media.

Important information can be visually “lit up” to focus learner attention. For live training events, opening a room to natural light can support learner engagement. In contrast, having learners sit in dim, windowless rooms following a projected presentation can decrease energy and attention.

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Music and ambient sound can add appropriate context to learning.

Playing up-tempo music at the beginning of a live session can capture learner’s attention and help learners feel at ease talking with each other.

Including a “tense” soundtrack in an eLearning course can underscore the importance of topics, such as compliance and security.

ACTIVE COMPONENTS INTERACTIVITY

Curators take great care to encourage participants to interact with exhibits in specific ways. Do they observe passively, or are they prompted to view from different angles?

Sometimes interactivity is constrained to a single choice.

In contrast, sometimes the exhibit allows the participant to interact freely, even taking part in the creation of the exhibit.

DISCOVERY Some exhibits include an active discovery component. That is, all participants may be expected to

experience some parts of the exhibit, but other parts may be left for participants to discover by chance or through intentional chance.

Disney properties are famous for including “hidden Mickeys” – the shape of the iconic mouse’s head – in exhibits, architecture, decor, artwork and landscaping. Attention is never called to these components.

Indeed, their purpose and function lie purely in the delight of discovering something nonobvious.

Though many courses allow learners to interact, the component of discovery is often overlooked.

Learners should have the opportunity to experience discovery, surprise and delight. Try embedding an “easter egg” in the materials for your next training initiative: i.e., the date your organization was founded or the founder’s name. Then, launch a “spot the easter egg” contest the week after initial launch. This provides the opportunity for learners to engage with learning content with fresh eyes.

It’s fun to find the hidden content, but viewing the content again will also spark recall and increase retention.

APPLICATIONS TO LEARNER EXPERIENCE Curation is one discipline that seeks to affect a participant’s experience.

Learning and development is another.

For museum curators, an emotional response, a gift shop purchase or perhaps a generous donation are the desired outcomes. For learning and development, a change in on-thejob behavior and a corresponding improvement in business metrics are desired. Whatever the desired results, we can create an experience more likely to achieve them by caring for each component of the learner experience.

Christopher Adams is a principal consultant at Performance Change Strategies LLC. Beth Hughes, CPT, is a principal consultant at Strategic Learning Solutions. Email the authors.

LEARNING INITIATIVES AND INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS

By Ajay M. Pangarkar, CTDP, FCPA, FCMA, and Teresa Kirkwood, CTDP

The word “cost” makes the hair on the back of most peoples’ necks stand up.

Unfortunately, cost carries a perceived negative connotation of loss and implies a significant reduction or change. Even so, when assessing and applying cost, it can also open opportunities for learning and development (L&D).

For most organizations, the learning function is perceived as a cost center. However, finance, marketing, production, information technology (IT) and human resources (HR) are also cost centers, and – like learning – they add value to the business. Consider rephrasing, “What will this cost?” as, “What value will this add?” Cost always implies contribution and added value to business objectives.

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Costs are front and center, because employee training and development places exceptional demands on organizational resources. Furthermore, the learning function is under pressure to demonstrate how learning costs lead to sustainable value. The learning function is no longer just about training; it is about competency in business, financial literacy and operational processes.

The first step is identifying the purpose for your learning efforts. Your answer is probably not what stakeholders want to hear. Respect their intent, complexity of the need and the nuances stakeholders expect from a substantive response.

What your stakeholders are looking for in your answer involves a combination of:

• Actual costs for learning activities.

• Support costs for learning infrastructure.

• Forecast financial expectations.

ACTUAL COST OF LEARNING Stakeholders want accountability when asking, “What’s this going to cost us?”

Decision-makers are educated to assess cost in two ways: short-term and long-term value. Both types of costs deliver value but are accountable to the business for value in different ways.

First, “cost” defines both actual cost and associated expenses. Expense is a cost, but costs are never expenses. This

distinction applies across all industries and business functions. For learning, the delineation is between costing for the training activity, an expense because of its immediacy, and the “costs” to acquire learning infrastructure, categorized as an investment for the long-term benefits it is expected to deliver for the learning effort.

You don’t have to know how to delineate between each, but you should respect why stakeholders do. It will allow you to better define the value of your learning efforts. If you are delivering training – instructor-led, eLearning or otherwise – it is probably a short-term expense.

If you require items, such as a learning management system (LMS), chances are it is an investment to support learning over time.

The learning function is no longer just about training; it is about competency in business, financial literacy and operational processes.

COST OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES Why is the actual training activity an expense? For one, it is usually executed within a set time period, then it is complete. Moreover, there is no tangible outcome from the activity itself.

The intangibility applies to similar expenses, such as marketing. Like learning, marketing is an expense for the moment. For example, a Superbowl advertisement is an expense, and there is no tangible way to correlate it to actual sales. It would be irresponsible to state the ad was the sole reason for a subsequent increase in sales. However, tracking the ad, by applying a promo code or digital cookies in an algorithm, would help prove its impact.

Say you designed and deployed an on-demand eLearning course for manufacturing employees. They

complete it, and the production manager sees a product output increase in the following weeks. Would it be responsible for learning to take full credit? Are there other factors at play?

Like the Superbowl ad, it is probable the eLearning contributed to the increase.

This is usually where L&D professionals get into trouble – claiming full credit with no tangible evidence. What if there was a way to measure the positive contribution training delivers?

Luckily, there is. However, it requires an understanding of the operational processes in question, the performance expectations stakeholders must achieve and the cost versus the benefit of pursuing a learning intervention.

Learning professionals often develop learning solutions prior to evaluating and addressing the actual issue. This leads to ineffective interventions and further erodes value. You must first understand the process to diagnose the need. By evaluating and targeting the issue, you may discover that training is not the solution at all. Either way, you will demonstrate value.

Learning value is about improving performance and defending its cost.

Identifying performance expectations allows learning leaders to identify key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs are evidence of how well your learning efforts contribute to improving operational performance.

You cannot avoid the question of cost.

Acceptance or rejection lies in the value learning will deliver – not the cost itself.

Stakeholders refer to this as a costbenefit analysis. Since the learning activity is an event or occurrence, the cost or expense must demonstrate measurable value.

Many learning leaders fail to recognize the complexity of delivering an effective learning initiative. While most focus on expected results, stakeholders preoccupy themselves with cost decisions and the sustainable value the organization can expect. Learning professionals will need to create structure between cost estimates for learning and costs for supporting longterm learning effectiveness.

COST OF SUPPORTING LEARNING Learning professionals believe that purchasing learning infrastructure technologies is simply about getting stakeholder approval.

However, stakeholders consider learning infrastructure support purchases an organizational investment.

The word “investment” translates to an indirect contributed value over an extended period of time, typically multiple years. An LMS request, for example, is the same as purchasing production equipment, a building or data server. Its intent is to deliver return through long-term operational value.

The response is more involved when stakeholders ask, “What will this cost?” Any capital investment directly impacting cash flow requires financial literacy and profitability analysis. No one expects you to be a financial expert, but stakeholders do expect you to enlist support from those who are.

Estimating costs for a learning investment requires accounts for the initial cost, as well as ongoing costs over time. The investment must demonstrate how it will contribute to the organization’s financial growth. For learning investments, indirect contribution is about improvements in productivity, efficiency and performance, and improvements are measurable to the extent they correlate to financial results.

From a stakeholder perspective, consider the benefits gained from having, let’s say, an LMS. Making the business case for an asset purchase must show how it will contribute to improving operations.

For the LMS, the business case is not “managing employee learning.” Instead, the justification is, “helping track and address employee knowledge skills gaps and develop them to become more productive and efficient in their roles.

This will translate into a cost savings of X%.” Suffice to say, your objective is demonstrating cost-benefit value for the LMS through results they expect.

Simply put, every investment or longterm asset a company acquires is meant to contribute, direct or indirectly, to improving cash flow. It must lead to improved profitability since the asset costs

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the business. This is what stakeholders refer to as return on investment (ROI) and applying a variety of cost-benefit methodologies to arrive at an ROI for the proposed asset purchase.

FORECAST AND BUDGET FOR THE LEARNING FUNCTION Learning professionals must acknowledge the learning function is a business activity. It is an internal business with a responsibility to deliver value for internal clients and the organization as a whole.

Like other support cost centers, learning revenue is largely dependent on budget allocations from profit centers. Learning must budget accordingly and account for its expenditures. L&D professionals must engage with stakeholders to forecast organizational growth. It provides an opportunity to appropriately budget and invest to meet operational performance expectations.

This requires addressing two financial aspects: the cost of supporting learning and its ability to meet internal client requirements.

Like any business, budgeting for the learning function involves itemizing costs essential for effective operation.

This involves everything from HR needs to technology support for specific tools. These are fixed costs required to operate the learning

department and are not transferable to internal learning requirements. It accounts for current needs but also forecasts for future growth.

employees learn; it is about ensuring that performance expectations exceed the cost of developing and executing the effort.

Like every other support function, the learning department typically receives revenue from their internal clients’ budget allocation. Unlike profit-focused areas, learning performs like a nonprofit, delivering financial accountability and performance value for their learners.

No one expects you to be a financial expert, but

These two elements guide your learning offering and how much it will cost your internal client. Involve your finance and IT departments in the development of your operational budget. When it comes to developing learning initiative, cost the initiative by identifying the direct costs to learners’ various business functions.

Remember, the client is paying for the training activity, not for items you wish to buy as part of the activity.

BACK TO BASICS Estimating costs for learning is an intentional, detailed and essential process required to build credibility with stakeholders. Learning professionals will claim this isn’t what they were hired to do, but – to be part of the business and to be taken seriously – you don’t have a choice.

Learning value, as with any other operational endeavor, is what you must demonstrate to stakeholders. However, learning value is never about what

• Determine current and future business growth. Work with operational stakeholders to determine their employee knowledge needs, which allows learning professionals to forecast learning requirements.

• Develop a learning department budget. Itemize and determine the required costs to support L&D efforts for the business. This should align with the business growth forecast.

• Differentiate learning costs from expenses. Learning costs are long-term infrastructure investments to support learning activities and expenses are the actual learning activities

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stakeholders do expect you to enlist support from those who are.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an instructional designer, an eLearning technologist or a trainer. Every learning role and what they contribute to improving operations is a cost to the business. Account for your costs, and demonstrate performance and business value to every stakeholder.

This will build learning value and establish stakeholder credibility.

Ajay M. Pangarkar, CTDP, FCPA, FCMA, and Teresa Kirkwood, CTDP, are founders of CentralKnowledge.com and LearningSourceonline.com. They are employee performance management experts and three-time authors, most recently publishing, “The Trainer’s Balanced Scorecard: A Complete Resource for Linking Learning to Organizational Strategy.” Email Ajay and Theresa.

• Identify learning infrastructure requirements. Learning infrastructure costs, or investments, benefit the business over the long-term or within the purchased asset’s life.

Account for the cost of the item and associated lifecycle and operating costs.

• Demonstrate cost to benefit analysis. Stakeholders only worry when expected benefits don’t exceed costs.

Demonstrate how the cost and learning expense will tangibly deliver performance improvements by targeting key performance metrics.

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TRENDS 2021

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE OF LEARNING

BY KEN TAYLOR AND MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ, CPTM

T

he role of learning and development (L&D) continues to broaden, with many learning leaders helping facilitate and support change initiatives in their organizations. In a year of unprecedented change – from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the racial and social unrest across the country – leaders have been required to completely rethink how their businesses operate and find new avenues to reach their goals. The training function has been integral to helping organizations transition to a remote workforce, shift in-person events to a virtual environment, and take safety and compliance training to another level.

This influx of change has made it difficult to plan for long-term growth.

But as we move into a new year, we must begin to shift our focus to the future and plan for the next chapter. For L&D, this means ensuring employees have the skills they need to meet the ever-changing needs of the business. For some organizations, this may mean evaluating which job roles will become permanently remote. Many jobs have changed significantly in the transition to remote work. For example, salespeople are no longer connecting with prospects in person or taking clients to lunch. All interactions are taking place online or over the phone. L&D must ensure sales reps, and all roles within the organization, are prepared to succeed in this new normal.

As we move forward, the most innovative and successful training organizations will be those that apply the knowledge they’ve gained this year to create opportunities for future growth and expansion. The trends for 2021 reflect the changing nature of work and how learning leaders are uniquely positioned to guide their organizations through change and achieve new levels of success.

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TRAINING’S ROLE IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT Effective change management helps organizations adapt to, work through and succeed in the face of a major business disruption.

One of the most important elements of change management is the ability to manage people in a rapidly changing organization.

Training managers are uniquely positioned to support their workforce and lead their organizations through change initiatives – from communicating changes to employees to assessing and closing skills gaps to measuring and reporting the impact of change initiatives to business leaders. These efforts create alignment across the organization and increase the success of change initiatives.

L&D must ensure all aspects of training activities – from establishing processes and developing programs to accessing resources – are strategically aligned to where the business is going. This requires training managers to have a clear line of sight of the changing goals and priorities of the business to ensure everyone is working toward the same objectives.

THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK The world of work is constantly evolving due to rapid developments in technology and shifts in the business market. For years, automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence have been changing the way we live and work. Now, many organizations are transitioning to virtual work environments at an accelerated rate, significantly changing the way many employees perform their jobs.

The shift to more virtual offerings has highlighted information technology (IT) and technical skills gaps as remote workers are left to troubleshoot technological issues on their own. Many companies are adopting mobile learning as a solution to support dispersed employees, but upskilling is needed to ensure employees can effectively use these tools to succeed in their roles. As the world of work continues to evolve, new job roles and skills will be needed, requiring organizations to reskill employees to prepare them for new positions. The World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of employees will need to be reskilled by 2025.

Upskilling and reskilling efforts can sustain and fuel company growth. L&D must work with business executives to identify current skill gaps, plan for future growth and create training solutions that target those goals.

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EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT HELPS ORGANIZATIONS ADAPT TO, WORK THROUGH AND SUCCEED IN THE FACE OF A MAJOR BUSINESS DISRUPTION.

THE EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER EDUCATION People are buying differently in today’s market, and expectations regarding the quality and availability of customer education have changed. The onset of the pandemic forced the closure of many brick and mortar stores, requiring companies to adapt how they educate consumers on their products and services.

With consumers limited in their ability to view and test products in person, companies are increasing their investment in customer education.

L&D professionals must work with business leaders to evaluate their company’s buying processes to create training resources that meet their customers at their points of need. With the dynamics of business changing, the market is becoming increasingly competitive. Now more than ever, organizations must provide high-quality customer experiences that foster longstanding relationships with current customers and set them apart in the market to attract new prospects.

SOFT SKILLS BECOME CORE TO BUSINESS SUCCESS There has been a growing focus on soft skills training for some time now. We highlighted this trend in last year’s report, revealing that gaps in soft skills exist across all roles and functions. The pandemic has created an immediate need to close this gap, especially in leadership roles. With stress and anxiety running high, leaders must exhibit higher levels of empathy and emotional intelligence – among other soft skills – to properly support and effectively communicate with employees.

Soft skills have become core to organizational and employee success, and practice is needed to effectively develop this skill set.

Face-to-face training is typically the chosen method of delivery, but virtual reality and augmented reality platforms are quickly emerging as a viable solution for practicing critical skills, such as delivering feedback, communication and active listening.

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EVALUATING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN REMOTE WORK Remote work environments have changed the employeemanager relationship. Leaders who were accustomed to working in a traditional office setting must now manage at a distance. This shift requires different skills and new approaches to leadership. With observation more difficult in remote work, leaders must adopt new ways to assess their employees’ performance.

Establishing and evaluating progress toward key performance indicators (KPIs) can enhance our understanding of the employee and their performance. This provides leaders with greater insight into the competencies and skills that need improvement. L&D professionals can enable a greater understanding of employee performance by implementing a structured approach to assessing both the skills required to be successful on the job and progress toward established KPIs.

L&D MARKET OUTLOOK Despite the decrease in overall external training spend, the market still saw a high volume of mergers, acquisitions and funding. One trend of note is the mergers of companies like Skillsoft and Global Knowledge and Pluralsight and DevelopIntelligence. These mergers result in a combined set of offerings that span multiple learning modalities for a “onestop shop” for technical learning and development needs.

Ken Taylor is editor in chief and president at Training Industry, Inc. Michelle Eggleston Schwartz is editorial director at Training Industry, Inc. Email Ken and Michelle.

UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING EFFORTS CAN SUSTAIN AND FUEL COMPANY GROWTH.

BUILDING AN EQUITABLE WORKPLACE Public opinion has changed dramatically regarding diversity and discrimination, with research indicating that 76% of Americans believe racial discrimination is a serious problem. This change in perspective has ignited a social movement nationwide calling for police reform and racial justice. Protests and increased social unrest have created a call to action for organizations to reexamine their company cultures and make necessary changes.

This includes examining the company’s values, hiring practices, leadership demographics, decision-making processes, and opportunities for employee development and advancement within the organization.

Eliminating racial bias and discrimination in the workplace is much larger than a training issue, but learning leaders must have a voice in the conversation. L&D can support company-wide succession planning by providing all employees access to development and career advancement opportunities – not just those identified as high-potential talent. Strategic and intentional succession planning is needed to ensure more diverse perspectives are represented in leadership roles. Sponsoring employee resource groups and diversity councils can bring diverse voices together and inform decision-making at all levels of the organization.

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By Paul Leone, Ph.D.

As we stand at the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, those in the business of learning are probably thinking, “What does this unprecedented innovation, digitization and virtual interconnectivity mean to me?” The answer is simple: It’s going to disrupt your life. However, disruption can be good for us, depending on our ability to adapt.

The great news for professionals in the training industry is never – in the history of industrialized work – has it been more critical for people to be properly trained to do their jobs. The demand for highly trained and uniquely skilled leaders will continue to grow exponentially while the demand for untrained, unskilled followers will drop at a similar rate. In order to “make it” in this brave new world, organizations and their people will have to double down and invest in the training that creates strong leaders, one-

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of-a-kind contributors and indispensable experts. They’ll have to do their jobs more creatively, more efficiently and more prosocially. And, because their livelihood depends on this training, they’ll want to see proof that it works.

Before we get into that, here’s a quick refresher on our industrial revolutions and their implications on training:

FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Water and steam power pushes us out of manual, agrarian work and into machine-driven manufacturing.

We move from apprenticeships to training mass amounts of unskilled laborers to create and operate these machines.

SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Electricity and oil pushes us to assembly lines and mass production. We need to train

unskilled people to contribute to this mass production.

THIRD INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Electronics and information technology automate production.

Computers push us to desks and digital communication to be more productive. We need to train people to work in teams and use technology to their advantage.

FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Technology is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological world. Smart technology dictates the way we live, work and interact. Speed and efficiency dominate the marketplace. We need to train people to harness technology in a way that makes the world a better place.

When it comes to efficiency, organizations will simply have to prove they’re the best.

When it comes to making the world a better place, organizations’ missions and goals will need to move humanity forward, putting people and community above raw profit. In an age of social media and global connectivity, organizations and their employees will become far more transparent and be held more accountable regarding their social impact. No previous industrial revolution has been so core to our lifestyle, our work or our future. Making people’s lives easier and happier is a far loftier goal than simply driving profit for a factory or corporation.

What stands out about the fourth one?

What’s this about, “…makes the world a better place”? The biggest differentiator for the fourth revolution is how high the bar is set. Do things more efficiently and make the world a better place? At the same time? How do you do that? And how do you prove it?

When it comes to efficiency, organizations will simply have to prove they’re the best. With a high demand for speed and simplicity and an utter intolerance for inferior processes, innovation and expertise will replace tradition and hierarchy. This pulls power and advantage away from corporate giants and pushes it to niche experts that can better satisfy customer demands. No matter who you are or how big your company – if you could do it faster, simpler and cheaper, then you’ve got the advantage.

But what happens when you set such ambitious and altruistic goals? That’s right – you have to measure every initiative and effort against that bar. If you claim you’re the “best” – you’ll have to prove it. And how do you prove it?

You measure it. You measure it against all alternatives. Was it faster? Was it simpler? Was it cheaper? Was it for the greater good? All stakeholders and clients will be asking the same thing: How does it measure up? They want to see evidence, data and results.

So, what does the Fourth Industrial Revolution mean to the training industry?

If we are developing or delivering training that contributes to these worldenhancing goals, and we say that our training will be improving the most crucial aspects of human performance, we’ll have to prove it! We’ll have to prove our training gives people the right skills and drives the business performance that makes the world a better place.

It means not only demonstrating our training works but also that it works

better than the alternatives. And that means measuring impact.

Despite a long history of flying under the radar, there will be absolutely no room for training organizations or L&D functions within businesses that cannot measure and prove business results.

There will also be no more room for training providers who cannot prove that their solutions did – in fact – grow the people, grow the revenue and grow the company.

Earlier this year, I was asked by a respected colleague, “Does the traditional Kirkpatrick/Phillips model of measurement still work in the Fourth Industrial Revolution?” My answer was “Yes, but with a healthy dash of innovation.”

The reason why the first five levels remain so relevant and timeless is because our desired “story of impact” never really changes. No matter how dramatically the training content or delivery modes change over the next few decades, what’s supposed to happen in participants’ brains and what’s supposed to happen in the business remains the same. The sights, sounds and sensations of the training experience still need to engage our brains (Level 1). The training content still needs to be absorbed and retained in the brain (Level 2). The brain still needs to retrieve that content, and turn it into

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behavior that makes us perform better on the job (Level 3). That behavior then needs to benefit the business and its goals (Level 4), and that benefit needs to be weighed against the cost of the training to see if it was all worth it (Level 5). Because the outcomes of Levels 1 through 3 are uniquely human and the outcomes of Levels 4 and 5 are crucial to the business, they make an excellent measuring stick for any training initiative.

However, learning leaders must elevate their measurement strategy from simply reporting results to making quantitative predictions of how they can improve training results in the future. If we’re going to live in a world where we’re constantly looking for the next best thing, then we must not only report the impact of today’s training, but also report how we get greater impact from tomorrow’s training. This is where what I call “Level 6” comes in. Level 6 is a quantitative analysis that identifies the critical “climate” factors back on the job that either help or hinder the impact of the training. In essence, it recognizes that all participants go back to different environments or “climates” after the training, and it quantitatively tells you what climate factors will maximize the participants’ behavior change, business impact and ultimate ROI. For instance, one recent case study showed that immediate manager support and follow up after the training (a strong climate factor) increased the business impact and ROI of participants by an average of 240%. That’s the same training content with the same training delivery, but with vastly different climates after the training. Imagine being able to go back to your business leaders with these results and telling them, “It’s not just what we do in L&D that predicts training impact and effectiveness – it’s

what you do when participants are back on the job every day.” This next level of measurement means taking all the data you gather from the traditional Kirkpatrick and Phillip’s Levels 1 through 5, and using it to add another layer to the story – one that tells your organization how to maximize the impact of all training solutions in the future. See Figure 1.

CONCLUSION The Fourth Industrial Revolution is ripe for measurement. In fact, it demands measurement! To keep up with the constant change in the modern business environment, learning leaders must constantly assess whether they can replace old, traditional potions with new, disruptive notions. And there’s no way to make these assessments valid and reliable without measurement; every industry will need to measure and show results.

In the training industry, we can continue measuring and reporting our story of impact using the five levels of evaluation, but we need to add a sixth level to prove and improve impact in the future.

The next few decades of human work will not be based on traditional positions and processes but rather on results and impact. Our only question will be: “Is the end result more efficient from a business perspective and more generous from a human perspective?”

In fact, we’re in the midst of answering this question as much of the workforce continues to work from their homes. Is working from home more productive and enjoyable? We’ll have to get data and prove it. If it’s more efficient to have employees work from home, and it makes them happier – do you need a traditional office building? Sure, you loved your morning commute,

figure 1.

Six Levels of Evaluation REACTION

1

LEARNING

2

BEHAVIOR

3

RESULTS

4

Did they like it?

Did they learn anything?

Did they improve key behaviors?

Did they impact the business?

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

5

TRANSFER CLIMATE

6

Was it worth it?

What factors will maximize ROI?

but perhaps you‘ll mourn it and move on. And the rows of cubicles and fluorescent lighting was intimate and elegant, but maybe you’ll get over it.

For the Fourth Industrial Revolution, keep your mind on change, and your eyes on impact. And if the change works – prove it!

Dr. Paul Leone is an industrial and organizational psychologist and expert at evaluating the impact and ROI of training initiatives. He is the founder and principal consultant for MeasureUp Consulting, where he helps training providers and internal L&D leaders tell the valuable story of how training impacts the business bottom line. Dr. Leone is also the instructor for Training Industry’s Measuring the Impact of L&D Certificate. Email Paul.

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THE ONLY SOURCE FOR SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP® situational.com

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by Elizabeth Greene

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What does it take to pivot a business quickly in times of crisis while keeping the employee in mind? Leading with humanity, focusing on inclusive leadership and adopting agile methodologies are critical skills to instill in leadership and across the organization to drive positive change with employees, customers and communities in difficult times.

Employees are looking to their leaders to navigate through turbulent and uncertain times with a focus on humanity, equity and agility. Now is the time for learning and development (L&D) departments to bring new training opportunities to the table, focused on amplifying skill sets that will better prepare leaders to manage in chaos.

The Current State The world is not what it was a year ago.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to racial and social injustice movements taking place worldwide, it is impossible to deny these external forces’ impact on the workplace. Many organizations and their people are feeling the pain of this crisis and are struggling with sick loved ones or the loss of a friend or family member. Others personally experience and feel the impact of injustice. And others are simultaneously struggling to juggle virtually schooling children from home. Regardless, all employees are coping with an altered working environment and workflow – many of whom are navigating remote work for the first time.

Any and all of these factors have varying levels of impact on employees.

It is critical for organizations to keep an eye on the health and well-being of their people. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation Survey, 72% of Americans say their lives have been disrupted, and 45% of adults report that worry and stress related to COVID-19 has negatively impacted their mental health. When employee well-being is low, organizational performance is

also lowered. In fact, 46% of company executives expect a reduction in performance targets in 2020.

To successfully lead through this crisis, leadership behaviors need to reflect cultural shifts that are taking place in organizations. In a recent article, “A Call to Leaders in Our Social Justice and COVID-19 Era,” Irma Camps, Ph.D., wrote for Psychology Today, “Leadership can mitigate negative macro-environmental events and elevate organizations to reach new outcomes during transitional periods.”

LEAD WITH HUMANITY

TRANSFORMATION

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP

INSPIRATION & VALUE CREATION COLLABORATION

INNOVATION

AGILE LEADERSHIP

L&D Execution and Development Strategy L&D teams should partner closely with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) teams to create a seamless leadership development reskilling strategy that weaves in critical language, tone and

policies that mirror the broader cultural efforts of the organization.

The learning strategy for skilling leaders to lead with humanity, inclusivity and agility involves a multitiered and multimodal approach, representing an appropriate OSF (on-the-job, social and formal learning) ratio. Each skill builds on the other and is best taught in a sequence.

Begin by focusing on developing the skills leaders need to lead with humanity, then the skills they need to lead inclusively and finally to lead with agility. As leaders gain insight and experience, the learning journey allows leaders to put their new skills into practice, using quarterly checkins to provide feedback and assess progress against goals.

In its recent “KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook: COVID-19 Special Edition” report, KPMG asserts, “Chief executives of the world’s largest organizations are using this unparalleled moment in history to lead with increased purpose and impact, both societal and economic. They are leading with empathy and humanity as they prioritize talent and corporate responsibility, finding opportunity amid a fall in global economic confidence, and rewiring their businesses for tomorrow’s new reality.”

Approach After properly analyzing organizational need and readiness for this new leadership framework, gaining buy-in from key stakeholders, and aligning business strategies to desired goals and outcomes – L&D teams can begin to create the learning journey.

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Table 1 identifies some best practices to consider when creating the learning journey. The learning journey should be adaptive and based on each leader’s preprogram assessments, targeted to their one-on-one coaching needs and tailored to provide personalized peer coaching activities. Adaptive design is critical to ensuring each leader walks away with the ability to apply their new skills to benefit their team and department.

Best Practices for Building Critical Leadership Skills LEAD WITH HUMANITY

There are two schools of thought regarding whether a leader can learn to lead with humanity or whether a leader must be born with the ability to do so. A telltale sign of the natural capability of a leader to lead with humanity is their emotional quotient (EQ). A leader with a high EQ has a high level of self-awareness and empathy. For leaders with low EQ, the emphasis on phases three through five of the learning journey will need to target ways to increase EQ, by focusing on:

• Self-awareness.

• Visible commitment.

• Self-management.

• Humility.

• Mindfulness.

• Awareness of bias.

• Social awareness.

• Curiosity about others.

• Relationship management.

• Cultural intelligence.

Leading with humanity does not mean a lack of focus on the business! Rather, it keeps the organization’s people at the heart of the business. Include tips on integrating humanity in the workplace using simple, easy-to-achieve methods: increasing communication and demonstrating empathy, vulnerability and flexibility along with other low-cost, highimpact strategies.

• Effective collaboration.

Continuous coaching is critical to establishing inclusive leadership. Peer coaches must feel comfortable giving constructive feedback on behaviors that support or inhibit inclusion.

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP Inclusive leadership maximizes talent and productivity, increasing employee’s job satisfaction and commitment to the company. Reports also show that, when companies establish an inclusive culture, they report an increase in creativity, innovation and openness. There are six characteristics of inclusive leaders to focus on in this training program:

AGILE LEADERSHIP Agile leadership requires a shift in leaders’ mindsets from traditional, linear thinking to viewing the organization

Table 1.

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

Pre-program

2-4 Days

Assessments: 360 assessment, skills gap assessment, engagement data, retention rates and/or other data to support expected goals.

Formal Training: Virtual instructor-led training, instructorled training and/or blended learning.

Module 1: Lead with Humanity Module 2: Inclusive Leadership

PHASE 3

PHASE 4

PHASE 5

PHASE 6

60-90 minutes every month

60 minutes every month

Once a week

End of program

Coaching: One-onone performance coaching.

Reinforce formal learning with guidance and discussion of application and feedback.

Cohorts: Peer coaching, practice, and opportunity to share experiences.

Standardize discussion topics and practice skills.

Continuous Learning: Self-paced online modules and contextual experiences through scenario-based learning.

Integrate immersive leadership.

Module 3: Agile Leadership Six to nine month journey with continuous feedback loops (with L&D, coach or participant’s leader), integrating immersive leadership opportunities as the organization sees fit.

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Assessments: 360 assessment, comparative skills analysis, retention rates and/or other data to support expected goals.

Critical Leadership Skills DEFINITIONS AND CONNECTIVITY: Lead With Humanity: Leading with humanity means acknowledging that organizations are populated by people, and people matter. Mental health and wellness organization, Human Psychology, asserts “The thing that makes a leader remarkable isn’t their ability to achieve results.

It’s their ability to achieve results with heart.”

Inclusive Leadership: Inclusive leaders are people-oriented, view diversity as an advantage and opportunity for innovation, practice selfawareness to understand their own biases, and consider a variety of views and perspectives to maximize decision-making.

Agile Leadership: Chuck Mollor writes for CEO World, “The agile leader has the ability and capacity to assess risk, decide courageously, and act quickly to meet the rapidly changing environment while producing results and develop others’ capacity to do the same.”

as a living ecosystem that evolves continuously. This transition requires not only a transformation of mindset but also behaviors:

road maps, dynamic feedback loops and bounded autonomy.

It is time to act boldly! Leaders must lead with humility, inclusivity and agility to reevaluate long-standing leadership competencies. L&D has an opportunity to be a positive force for change in establishing a new way forward and better preparing leaders for future times of uncertainty and crisis.

• Be Innovative: Seek diversity of thought, and embrace creativity.

• Adapt a Learning Mindset: Encourage risk and allow for experimentation.

• Foster Collaboration: Create an atmosphere of psychological safety, trust and individual accountability, providing an opportunity for voices to be heard.

• Think Strategically: Use adaptive

Call to Action

Along with adopting these behaviors, the basic concepts of the Agile Manifesto and best practices on leading agile transformation within organizations should be included in the program.

Elizabeth Greene is the director of global learning and development at ON Semiconductor. Elizabeth brings 17 years of experience in reinventing corporate learning programs to her role.

Email Elizabeth.

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Picture an organization where each employee only focuses on themselves.

In their day-to-day work, everyone completes the bare minimum, employees do not consider solutions to their problems and there are no benefits for delivering excellence in their work. What kind of culture is this? How frustrated would you be in your workplace? What would employee morale look like?

Compare this to an organization where employees anticipate the needs of others, invest in one another, seek solutions to their problems and deliver excellence in everything they do. What kind of culture is this? What would morale look like in this organization?

Culture begins with relationships. In organizations where relationships lack trust, communication and direction, the culture produces an environment that is difficult to function in. When we think of an organization, we must remember that it is simply a group of people who choose to work in the same location to accomplish a shared mission. Simply put, culture is defined and created by people. We can create positive workplace cultures by adopting a beyond-service mindset. Acting in ways that support our peers will develop meaningful relationships and allow key elements like trust, communication and respect to flourish.

BEYOND-SERVICE MINDSET In 2018, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) embarked on a values-based culture journey to solidify its direction as an

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organization. Under the guidance of the organization’s chief people officer, employees were invited to participate in a values-based culture summit where they were tasked with identifying the values and behaviors they felt would unify the university. At the conclusion of the summit, over 90 listening sessions were facilitated, so all employees could engage in the development of our values-based culture. From this process, five values and 23 behaviors were defined as the pillars that allow us to live the vision of transforming health care through innovation and collaboration. Of the five values identified, going beyond service aspires to create and deliver positive defining moments by: • Anticipating the needs of each individual and responding with a generous heart.

• Investing in the well-being, safety and success of all by going the extra mile.

• Being solution-oriented, and creating the pathway to win-win resolutions.

• Delivering excellence in everything we do.

Living beyond service at the TTUHSC has created many examples of employees going above and beyond for their peers. Recently, a supervisor reached out to the training department requesting assistance with fostering greater accountability among their team.

Initially, the supervisor requested the development of a tool they could use.

However, instead of providing a single tool and wishing the supervisor well, the training team anticipated the needs

of this leader and not only provided a tool but created a series of training solutions. As the supervisor delivered the solutions to their team, the training team stayed in regular contact, taking on a coaching role. The beyond-service value was demonstrated by the training team’s investment in the supervisor and team. They remained solution-oriented and delivered excellence, allowing their influence to grow throughout the organization.

LIVING YOUR VALUES As a learning and development (L&D) professional, you play an important role in bringing organizational values to life.

Defining the values of your organization requires terminology that aligns with your industry and organization. We all bring our own perspectives and expectations to the workplace. Often, we assume that employees view an action or behavior the same way we do.

When we don’t see a behavior enacted the way we assume it should be, conflict can emerge. To avoid this, it is important to establish a shared understanding of what it looks like to live beyond service.

The first step is identifying key words that define living beyond service for your organization.

At the TTUHSC, we used the following keywords: A NTICIPATE I NV EST SOLU TION- OR IENTED E XC ELLENCE

We then developed a shared understanding by focusing on each keyword, asking employees within departments and teams to answer the following questions: A NTICIPATE : What does it look like to anticipate the needs of others on our team?

INV EST: As an individual or team, how can we invest in the well-being of each other?

SOLU TION- OR IENTED: How will we challenge each other to remain focused on solutions?

E XCELLENCE : What does excellence look like to us? How will we know we have delivered excellence in our actions?

Then, a summary document was provided to each participant. The answers provided defined key behaviors the team felt would help them live the beyondservice value. The team then revisited this list on a monthly basis to check in and discuss whether any changes were necessary. With an activity like this, trial and error is acceptable, as long as teams can agree to be open to change.

IMPACT OF GOING BEYOND SERVICE ON LEADERSHIP For the past 30 years, research has shown that shared values within an organization lead to improved organizational citizenship behaviors.

However, to achieve this, organizations

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need acceptance from all levels. As with any implementation, if there is not support at all levels, the failure rate increases.

When it comes to values, it is equally important to gain buy-in at all levels.

Establishing cascading behaviors is an effective strategy for gaining this support.

For example, let’s use the value statement from the TTUHSC beyond-service value: Create and deliver positive defining moments. The intent of cascading behaviors is to identify how you and your teams will enact established values. At a department level, how will we act to create positive defining moments in the work we do? As a team, how will we act to create positive and defining moments?

As an employee, what behaviors will lead to positive defining moments?

With this activity, we acknowledge that not all behaviors will be applicable at all levels. Instead of trying to force behavior, provide employees an opportunity to own how they will practice going beyond service. This will eliminate questions regarding how to accomplish a behavior that has been assigned to them rather than created by them.

IMPACT OF GOING BEYOND SERVICE ON L&D PROFESSIONALS As L&D professionals, there are multiple methods to encourage and foster a beyond-service culture: • When designing instructor-led training, consider ways you can incorporate the value into the topic at hand. For

example, when discussing servant leadership, ask employees how can they use that framework to develop a beyond-service mindset? This will provide employees an opportunity to connect personally with the topic.

in the organizations we serve. We all decide the impact we have within our organizations. Living beyond service is one way that employees, regardless of their level, can create and deliver positive defining moments.

• When designing eLearning, how can you incorporate going beyond service in training scenarios and questions?

For example, in eLearning around de-escalation techniques, provide scenarios that demonstrate how responding, rather than reacting, is an example of living beyond service.

In times of change, as we’re experiencing in the COVID-19 pandemic, organizational culture is important to achieving long-term business success.

Leaders have the opportunity to seek insight from their employees to ensure the vision and values of the organization are aligned. By engaging our employees in identifying values and defining behaviors that empower them to bring those values to life in their day-to-day work, we create the opportunity to increase employee engagement as we navigate the changes ahead of us.

• When coaching a leader or team on holding difficult conversations, how can you connect the tools being taught to going beyond service?

For example, the tool used at the TTUHSC was modified to include a step-by-step conversation planner, including key behavior reminders and illustrating how each step connects to organizational values.

Leveraging these examples, L&D professionals can guide employees to enact the values of the organization and keep them alive. We all play a role

Jason R. Weber is the associate vice president of people development for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. In this role, Jason oversees the office of people development and the people and culture team, who are committed to creating sustainable initiatives that bring TTUHSC’s values to life. Email Jason.

L&D’S ROLE IN BUILDING A BEYOND-SERVICE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE As L&D professionals, living beyond service can take many forms. Using the values from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as a reference, consider the following questions to develop training solutions that reflect the values of your organization: A N TICIPATE : How can you anticipate the needs of those you are training? What support can you provide that will empower employees and leaders?

I NV EST: How can you invest in the well-being of those who seek your leadership advice? How can you create a safe and successful environment for them to grow?

SOLU TION- OR IENTED: How can you leverage learning and development as a solution for your organization?

E XCELLENCE : For the organizations you serve, what does delivering excellence mean in learning and development roles?

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CASEBOOK

LINKEDIN’S BUSINESS LEADERSHIP PROGRAM: FINDING, DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING EARLY-CAREER TALENT

BY HOPE WILLIAMS, CPTM

Professionals across the globe look to LinkedIn to connect them with professionals in their field, career opportunities, key skills needed in today’s workforce, and LinkedIn Learning courses to contribute to their personal and professional development. Afterall, “LinkedIn’s true north,” says Tiffany Poeppelman, global head of LinkedIn’s Business Leadership Program, “is to create true economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”

Honoring their mission to provide economic and development opportunities to cultivate the future workforce, LinkedIn launched its Business Leadership Program (BLP) in 2013 – a program for early-career talent providing young, high-potential professionals the opportunity to gain experience in shortterm rotations in various business functions, ranging from customer support to sales productivity departments – resulting in strong business acumen and critical leadership skills upon the completion of the program. Today, BLP has expanded from LinkedIn’s San Francisco headquarters to include a European division in Ireland and a cohort based in LinkedIn’s Chicago office. LinkedIn has also announced it will expand BLP’s offerings to include new career pathways in sales analytics, sales enablement and media sales to ensure upcoming Gen Z talent gain the skills needed to navigate and succeed in the future of work.

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In today’s fast-paced business environment, many companies are seeking the best mechanisms and strategies for developing talent at scale and retaining high-potential talent once they’ve found them. Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for skilled – and versatile – employees who can quickly adapt to shifts in customer and business needs.

“If you look at our mission and our vision as a company, BLP continues to be a great mechanism to help create that opportunity – specifically for earlycareer talent – to give them the right level of experiences and create a strong foundation for their career to help amplify and start them off on a strong foot,” says Poeppelman. Since the launch of the program, BLP has grown from serving an associate cohort of 20 to roughly 100 across multiple locations, offering more young professionals the opportunity to develop the skills they need to lead organizations forward in the future.

FINDING, DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING DIVERSE TALENT The coronavirus pandemic has posed many questions regarding best practices for recruiting, developing and supporting diverse talent over the course of their career journeys. LinkedIn’s BLP allows the organization to discover, leverage and “[expand] talent much further across

the business based on their interests and growing business needs,” says Poeppelman. As well as answer the question, “As companies’ talent needs shift, how do we continue to prepare early-career talent to do those roles?”

Let’s examine how LinkedIn’s BLP finds, develops and supports its associates to contribute to a more equitable and skilled workforce of the future.

LINKEDIN’S TRUE NORTH IS TO CREATE TRUE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE GLOBAL WORKFORCE.

Finding “Ultimately, our aspirational vision is to create the next generation of sales and business leaders,” says Poeppelman.

However, not only does LinkedIn strive to develop the next generation of leaders but it “strives to do so with an eye toward diversity, inclusivity, and belonging to cultivate an equitable and innovative workplace for all.” To do so, LinkedIn and its recruiting team has looked beyond traditional recruiting

methods to cultivate diverse early-career talent from a variety of backgrounds.

“We’re very cognizant about the way we attract and the way we bring the talent in,” shares Poeppelman. While, in 2013, the inaugural cohort came from only eight of the same highly ranked universities in the U.S., the 2019 cohorts represent students from over 50 universities and colleges, and that number is growing each year. In a blog post for LinkedIn, writer and editor Bruce Anderson says LinkedIn’s campus recruiting team looks at “historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions… But they also scour other data sources to find schools with diverse populations” and drive diversity and inclusivity in its talent pipeline. To that end, LinkedIn seeks to establish partnerships with companies like Management Leadership for Tomorrow – an organization that works to connect minority students with career advancement resources and opportunities. To recruit from underrepresented communities, LinkedIn also extends recruiting beyond college campuses by hosting their own events and inviting students from a broad range of schools and universities.

Developing Associates in LinkedIn’s BLP program move through career rotations emphasizing the key customer-centric and leadership competencies integral to LinkedIn’s mission and culture.

Poeppelman shares the BLP, “[continues] to amplify its focus on sales, and foundational skills – specifically – in building sales professionals as a critical skill to learn early in someone’s career.”

Although the rotations have evolved since the BLP’s inception, associates typically move through rotations in customer-facing support roles, internal sales productivity teams, and, finally, sales roles. On top of the rotations, the BLP team leverages LinkedIn Learning courses and other virtual sessions to cultivate foundational skills.

Customer-centric roles offer associates the foundation they’ll need “to listen

and understand our customers,” says Poeppelman. At LinkedIn, customers are “at the center of everything we do,” shares Poeppelman, “so having [BLP associates] first and foremost learn about the voice of customer” as well as “their concerns and pain points” is integral to gaining the communication and sales skills that will enable associates to succeed.

“The essence of what our associates have always learned is how to actively listen, tell a story, how to really be compelling and authentic when it comes to delivering a message whether it be to a candidate or a customer. It’s the same skill,” says Poeppelman. Not only do the rotations offer associates the opportunity to hone critical communication, sales and leadership skills, Poeppelman shares, “The constant rotation offers a resilience – an understanding that sometimes you have to start from the beginning and figure out how to figure it out.” By “learning to be adaptable, [and] learning how to adapt to feedback,” BLP associates gain practice and guidance in core leadership tenants early on in their career and establish a resilient growth mindset to carry them through their professional journey. “You’ve got to teach people to move through ambiguity sometimes,” says Poeppelman, especially in fast-paced business markets such as the tech industry.

Although the BLP seeks to cultivate resilience in its participants, the associates are certainly not on their LinkedIn journey alone. The BLP also offers a highly structured network of support to its associates, providing mentorship and coaching every step of the way.

Supporting Offering early-career talent a strong network of support is integral to fostering their development and driving the application of new skills on the job, especially as associates move through rotations and acquire new skills from their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to and in the wake of COVID-19, Poeppelman shares that BLP “enhanced our support model to be

scalable” and applied it to virtual interns with regularly dedicated mentors and coaches across the organization, so “each intern was assigned to somebody that they can work with directly, outside of their core team” and provided the guidance and mentorship they need.

Poeppelman goes on to say BLP has always relied heavily on this structure “to give [associates] that 360-degree support, and we will leverage the lessons from this summer for our incoming cohorts.”

Additionally, BLP leverages internal diversity mentorship programs – such as the ImpactIn program, which seeks to cultivate and support minority talent on a global scale – to ensure associates have access to mentors who will sponsor their advancement and aid in their development. Through the rapid and “constant movement of rotations and learning new skills” over the course of BLP, LinkedIn builds ample opportunities for “giving associates feedback” to support and assess their progress over the course of the program.

RETURN ON DEVELOPMENT Each year, reports Poeppelman, “The [BLP] program continues to deliver incredible results, where participants outperform in their sales roles compared to those who didn’t go through the program by nine to 12 percentage points. We continue to see the direct impact the program experience has on our talent’s performance.” As the program continues to grow and scale toward changing business needs, “we will continue to create a more flexible program, develop the leadership tenants, and foster interpersonal skills to ensure participants are prepared with the agility they need to be successful in today’s workforce.” Poeppelman shared, “the program has been constantly evolving and will continue to evolve over the years to ensure we meet business needs and support our talent to be successful throughout their whole career.”

Hope Williams, CPTM, is an associate editor at Training Industry, Inc. Email Hope.

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We have spent the last decade researching how organizational size, structure and industry affect training performance.

Read the report for actionable practices that will take your training from good to great.

READ THE NEW REPORT

SRINI PIL LAY, M.D.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING

MANAGING DIGITAL RELATIONSHIPS: WHAT BRAIN SCIENCE CAN TEACH L&D ABOUT BIOSTYLES

Being online allows us to connect with team members virtually. On the surface, simply showing up, being pleasant, responsive and respectful may seem like enough.

However, fatigue in online interactions can quickly set in, impacting the overall health and well-being of your workforce.

How can learning and development (L&D) help their organizations effectively manage digital relationships to prevent this burnout?

when people repeatedly talk about the uncertainty of COVID-19, the outcome of the elections or social tensions.

A recent article by Korn Ferry on adjusting to the new normal of digital relationships found that a second wave of burnout is setting in. Online yoga classes and mindfulness trainings aren’t enough.

These social activities actually increase stress. Instead, people crave genuine intimacy and connection.

ANHEDONIA BIOTYPE

Intimacy implies the most fulfilling, affirming and gratifying social exchanges.

Many studies show that this is possible with self-disclosure, social support and active listening. However, these methods of connecting are rarely sufficient. Therefore, L&D should explore perspectives that boost remote employees’ ability to connect online. One framework for individualizing responses relates to “brain styles” – or biotypes.

This group has altered connectivity of the “self” network in the brain, making it difficult to imagine positive outcomes for the future. When working with teams who have people like this, I help them understand and address barriers to “possibility thinking.”

The “anhedonia” brain style is characterized by a relative failure of experiencing pleasure from activities once enjoyed. These people do not activate the brain’s reward center with positive feedback or reminders. As a result, they feel disengaged and disconnected. To this end, social interactions may not help, and they withdraw socially.

For this biotype, inclusion without forcing interactions makes sense. Focusing on planned events and enhancing positive emotions associated with anticipating and experiencing them may help. L&D should plan events to look forward to and incorporate deliberate contemplation afterward. This is called “positive affect stimulation and sustainment.”

RUMINATION BIOTYPE

THREAT DYSREGULATION BIOSTYLE

L&D can help leaders understand that different brain styles benefit from different interventions. For example, the “rumination” biotype is characterized by responding to distress that involves repetitively and passively focusing on distress. You will encounter this

Then, there is the “threat dysregulation” brain style. Some people have a bias toward attending to threatening stimuli in their environment. Neurobiologically, this tendency could result from heightened reactivity within the brain’s threat networks, making it difficult to control emotions.

It may seem like people within this biotype seek affirmation, and they do. But this can be counterproductive, as it does not release the brain’s attentional “flashlight” from negative happenings. Instead, you can facilitate intimacy by asking questions that release attention from worry.

DIFFERENT BRAIN STYLES BENEFIT FROM DIFFERENT INTERVENTIONS. For L&D to successfully manage the switch to “digital,” the following guidelines can help: • Identify which biotypes describes the individuals in your organization.

• Focus on possibility interventions for the ruminative style, on positive events for the anhedonic style and distraction for the threat dysregulation style.

• For mixed styles, develop a program that addresses each.

• Ensure that this biostyle approach is applied flexibly.

• Encourage teams to be sensitive to one another’s biostyles.

Dr. Srini Pillay is the CEO of NeuroBusiness Group. He is a Harvard trained psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and on the Consortium for Learning Innovation at McKinsey & Company. Email Srini.

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PERFORMANCE MATTERS

BEYOND PIVOTAL: THE PIVOTING ROLE OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT For years, we’ve understood the pivotal role of learning and development (L&D).

The discipline is generally recognized as central to building the skills, capacity and culture required to deliver business results. And L&D professionals increasingly find themselves with a seat at the table where mission-critical matters are addressed.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, L&D has gone beyond pivotal to pivoting.

Many leaders in this arena are engaging in significant adjustments designed to respond to challenging business conditions. They describe an evolving and expanding role centered around emerging needs and the opportunity to innovate and add value like never before.

One of the most visible pivots that L&D professionals were immediately faced with was enabling organizations and people to engage and learn remotely.

The migration of assets and individuals to virtual platforms has been top priority. At the same time, many L&D functions have found themselves making other profound changes to what they do, how they do it and the contributions they make in the process.

“I’VE BECOME A CRISIS MANAGEMENT RESOURCE.” Stephanie is responsible for delivering learning to financial professionals. Tried and true methods worked well for this audience, then the pandemic hit. Nearly overnight, priorities and needs shifted. No longer able to wait for the next workshop or webinar, these finance folks needed

answers. Their issues were more varied than ever before, and it quickly became clear that corralling topics and skills into unified learning events was not possible.

Stephanie realized that her response had to mimic the urgency of the situation.

So, Stephanie pivoted and created a crisis resource center. She collected articles, videos and podcasts and catalogued them for easy access. She used the firehose of questions and challenges posed by her clients to inform her work.

And she engaged them in sharing tools and links they’d found. Within weeks, she had created a go-to platform with the resources people needed.

L&D HAS GONE BEYOND PIVOTAL TO PIVOTING. But, realizing she could – and should – do more, Stephanie instituted office hours.

She redeployed some of her former teaching time to be available by phone or video to answer questions. Uptake was slow initially, but word got around.

Before long, her office hours became a virtual watercooler around which financial professionals would gather to share stories, resources and support.

That’s when she realized that she had evolved learning into the realm of crisis management response.

“I’M AT THE FOREFRONT OF EMPLOYEE WELLNESS.” Erik is responsible for people and culture within a high-tech manufacturing firm.

Known as a strategic thinker, he earned a reputation for offering learning solutions that delivered measurable business results. Then, everything changed. Given the essential nature of the organization’s work, some employees remained onsite while others were required to work at home, creating great strain for the highly connected workforce.

So, Erik pivoted in response to the concern and upset demonstrated by the workforce. He made it his and his team’s business to reach out and check on employees to determine what they needed. Hearing themes around disconnection and isolation, he established “Talk it Out Tuesday,” an informal, virtual drop-in meeting that allowed people to check up on each other and offer support. He began conducting regular emotional temperature checks via pulse surveys. His team offered short weekly webinars addressing the issues reported by employees. As a sense of calm returned to the workforce, it became clear that Erik had moved L&D to address another strategic priority: employee wellness.

While the disruption and devastation delivered by this global pandemic should not be minimized, silver linings exist. And, fortunately, the learning function has not just stepped up to the challenges but has evolved and expanded its capacity and influence with its ability to pivot.

Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of experience working with organizations worldwide to improve performance through learning. Email Julie.

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CLOSING DEALS

SKILLSOFT AND GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE CONSOLIDATE, CREATING A MULTIMODAL TRAINING GIANT

BY TARYN OESCH DELONG, CPTM

Like many of us, eLearning and learning management system (LMS) provider Skillsoft has had quite a year.

In June, the company announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In September, CIT Group Inc. announced a $75 million revolving credit facility for Skillsoft.

Then, in October, came the big announcement: Skillsoft merged with Churchill Capital Corp II – an acquisition company – in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion, acquired information technology (IT) training company Global Knowledge for $233 million.

CREATING A ONE-STOP SHOP It was an interesting move at a time when many businesses are tightening budgets due to the economic turmoil caused by COVID-19. By offering inperson IT training and certification programs, an LMS, and additional eLearning content, the new company – called Skillsoft – is branding itself a one-stop digital learning shop. What’s more, the company plans on adding additional acquisitions in the future to “extend its leadership position as the industry’s largest and most profitable digital learning company,” according to the press release.

This merger is the latest (though possibly, in terms of dollars, biggest) in a trend we’ve seen for a few years now: content and tech companies partnering or merging to combine their solutions,

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creating a more efficient (and often cheaper) buying process for customers.

And, by creating one company that offers multiple modalities, Skillsoft is now better able to meet the diverse learning needs of a range of client organizations.

After all, Training Industry research has found that the more modalities in which an organization offers training, the more likely learners are to respond positively to it. Learners tend to learn more effectively when a program meets their learning preferences. The more modalities offered, the more likely a program is to meet learners’ preferences.

BUILDING A GLOBAL DIGITAL FOOTPRINT The press release reports that Skillsoft’s “client base will now include more than 70% of Fortune 1000 companies and more than 45 million users across content platforms.” These customers will now have access to Skillsoft’s LMS, Percipio, its content and Global Knowledge’s catalog of technical courses. “With an unrivaled library of content, best-in-class platform, multimodal capabilities, global footprint, world-class customer base and strong balance sheet, we are well-positioned to drive growth, profitability and shareholder value,” said chief executive officer Jeffrey Tarr in the press release.

Training Industry research has found that many organizations have increased training spend this year, in an attempt to help their employees adapt to the

changes brought by COVID-19. In particular, these organizations have focused their spending on providing remote learning to their employees.

Additionally, organizations will likely continue to deliver remote learning due to its efficiencies and increasing proof of its effectiveness.

This deal positions both Skillsoft and Global Knowledge to meet buyers at their point of need; Global Knowledge may be able to use Skillsoft’s expertise in digital learning to expand its virtual offerings while Skillsoft can add Global Knowledge’s critical IT training programs to its catalog. (Skillsoft and Global Knowledge were both unavailable for comment.)

No one knows what we’re heading into in 2021. We don’t know when the pandemic will end, when workforces will be back in the office or when it will be safe to conduct large-scale, in-person training again. What we do know is that training will always be vital, that digital training will continue to play a key role in learning strategies, and that companies will always look for ways to make it more efficient and effective. Mergers like Skillsoft’s and Global Knowledge’s are one way training providers are working to meet those needs.

Taryn Oesch DeLong, CPTM, is the award-winning managing editor for digital content at Training Industry, Inc., and cohost of The Business of Learning, the Training Industry podcast. Email Taryn.

COMPANY NEWS

ACQUISITIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS Luminary, the global collaboration hub for professional women, announced that it acquired Declare, a premier leadership platform transforming how women learn, work and succeed. The acquisition of Declare and its assets supports Luminary’s mission of advancing women through community and strengthens the company’s position as a leading workplace equity advocate.

Achievers, a provider of employee voice and recognition solutions that accelerates a culture of performance, announced that it has completed its acquisition of TemboSocial Inc., an innovative provider of employee feedback and recognition tools. The acquisition of TemboSocial bolsters and extends Achievers’ enterprise solution for employee engagement.

Turnitin, a leading provider of academic integrity and assessment solutions, announced its acquisition of ExamSoft – a software-based assessment platform – from Spectrum Equity. ExamSoft empowers educational institutions and certification and licensure programs to protect exam integrity, streamline assessment processes and improve learning outcomes.

Pluralsight, Inc., the technology workforce development company, announced its acquisition of DevelopIntelligence, a provider of strategic skills consulting and virtual instructor-led training for information technology teams. The acquisition enables the company to deliver an all-inone solution to meet the demands of its enterprise customers.

Churchill Capitol Corp II, announced it will merge with Skillsoft in a transaction valued at approximately $1.3 billion.

Following the closing of the merger, the combined company will acquire Global Knowledge for approximately $233 million, putting the total cost of the transactions at $1.5 billion. The combined company will operate as Skillsoft and seeks to create the world’s leading digital learning company.

Workforce Insight, a leader in workforce optimization, announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Hive Tech HR, a market leader in human capital management advisory service. Workforce Insight delivers workforce management and human capital management advisory, analytics and implementation services to organizations across the globe.

INDUSTRY NEWS CAREER MOBILITY OFFERING TO BUILD RESPONSIVE AND ONDEMAND WORKFORCES

Degreed, the workforce upskilling platform, has launched Degreed Career Mobility to enable leaders and people managers to adapt quickly to evolving needs by matching people with indemand skills to projects, assignments and roles. Where skill gaps are identified, Degreed Career Mobility automatically identifies needed skills and presents relevant learning opportunities.

REACHING HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS WITH AN EVIDENCEBASED GAMIFICATION APP

In COVID-19, healthcare professionals have become increasingly difficult to reach, increasing the need to enhance

product awareness and adoption. SPARK Healthcare launched Beacon Learning, a first-of-its-kind mobile app that uses evidence-based gamification technology to enable healthcare advertising agencies and pharmaceutical companies to educate hard-to-reach customers.

EMPLOYABILITY SELF-ASSESSMENT TO VALIDATE THE RELEVANCE OF COLLEGE CREDENTIALS

The QA Commons launched its Employability Self-assessment (ESA), designed to measure and document how well higher education institutions are preparing graduates for success upon graduation. Results of the ESA will help college and university leaders and faculty understand the rapidly changing needs of employers and build a culture that supports graduate employability.

TRANSPARENTBUSINESS BECOMES A UNICORN

In October 2020, TransparentBusiness became one of the 488 companies in the world designated with unicorn status, announcing the opening of its new investment round at a valuation of $1 billion. TransparentBusiness joins the list of technology companies that saw their valuation grow during the pandemic.

INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING COMPANY NEWS? PLEASE SEND TO EDITOR@TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM

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CONGRATULATIONS

CPTM GRADUATES!

Compliments to all of those who have earned the Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM™) credential in the past year. We would like to recognize 175 graduates from diverse industries and roles around the world. Your accomplishment places you amongst an elite group of learning and development professionals. We cannot wait to see how you will lead the change!

Tony Adamic

Erika Bowles

Patricia Dall’Astra

Jarrell Fox

Patricia Alcock

Joshua Breeding

Aaron Davis

Diane Gaa

Feras Alhasoun

Sarah Broihier

Tammy Davis

Sarah Gallo

Justin Allison

Doug Brost

Geoff Davison

Patrice Gausselin Holly Gerke

Haya Alsubaie

Jerome Burgess

Lauren Diamond

Kristopher Andersen

Tyler Byrd

Michelle Dubrule

Freddie Mac

Tresha Gillingham

John Apedaile

Alicia Capobianco

Guillaume Dumas

David Gimpel

Wendy Bakular

Dwayne Charles-Haynes

Theodore Dunn

Kate Chartan

Ashlee Dutton

General Motors FDA

SmoothStairs

MidAmerican Energy Company THIQAH Business Services Co. Westshore Terminal GEODIS

Viking Air

Shelly Ballew

Paycom

Judith Bartels-Brezac

Freddie Mac

Cheryl Beamon

ACS NYC

Marc Beardslee

Exeltis USA

DesaRae Berreth

Basin Electric Power Cooperative Kris Blackman

McCain Foods USA, Inc. Don Bonchack

FEMA

Donnie Boroff

American Family Insurance Faith Boruta

Van Metre Companies

Miba Sinter USA Emerson

Cerner Corporation Empire Machinery AMEWAS, Inc.

Power & Telephone Supply ACS NYC Navy

ACS NYC

Daryl Chesley

UNOS

Sarah Christian

The Beam Team Michelle Clark

FFIEC

Susan Clark

General Mills Melissa Coyle

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. Angie Cromwell

Mobile Solutions Services Michael Croom

Honeywell

Ivanna Cullinan

College Board

Uberall GmbH

Teva Pharmaceuticals Indorama Ventures LLC Darn Tough Vermont Mattress Firm

Medicago Inc. Guitar Center

Pikes Peak Community College - HR Services

Escape The Classroom WeLearn Learning Services Training Industry, Inc.

Penske Truck Leasing Sharon Gibbs-Salisbury

ACS NYC

Raventek Solutions Partner Chris Ginkel

Thrivent

Laetitia Gnago Migdalia Gonzalez

Lindsey Eagan

EagleView

US Department of Housing and Urban Development

Jeffrey Eichholz

Kevin Gould

Louisiana State University Office of Accounting Services

Lepino Foods

Lana El Ladki

Texas A&M University at Qatar

Binnacle Organization and Learning Development

Samahra Feemster

Samuel Greenough

Zeus Industrial Products

Glenmeade

Thomas Fenstermacher

Peter Guenther

Trellis Rx

Grand Circus

Adilson Ferreira

Terry Hadaway

Nestle Purina

Amazon

Greisy Flores

Emily Haffley

Nestle

Dr. Carol Gravel

Lincoln Property Company Krista Haight

Fortera Credit Union

Aygun Hamidova

Christopher Massaro

Chris Higginbotham

Qinones McFarland

Phil Hiller

Anita Mihelic

Richard Hopkins

Megan Miller

Robin Horlback

Davon Miller

Black & Veatch S.P.C. Cerner Nike

Weiler Abrasives Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union Denise Hubert

IG Wealth Management Mark Jamison

ACS NYC

Zachary Jamison

Shoulder 2 Shoulder, Inc. Tamorah Janisko

IOWS

Brittney Johnson

Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC Carol Johnson

FirstNet

Ryan Jordan

Deckers Outdoor Corporation Victoria Kamphaus

Lianta LLC

Houston Keil

VA Acquisition Academy Program Management School Ryan Kern Janet Kincaid

World Health Organization Pamela King

Broward County Government Tyson Kuehn

MidAmerican Energy Company Nicholas Kuthe

Zappos.com

Laura Lebeau

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Kamila Lenarczyk

NCI Agency Joe Leslie

Publicis Media Stephanie Lewis

ProMedica Health System Tim Lin

Victor Little Summit Health Management Jennifer Madore

Active Care Management Olena Manziuk

MaineHousing

Excelsior College

ConstructConnect Arauco

Cincinnati Bell Pierre Moreau

Medicago Inc. James Myers

Dupont

Allison Nabers

Judge Learning Solutions Evangelina Nava

ISS Facility Services, Inc. Dr. Leon Nicely, Sr.

VA Acquisition Academy Amy Oare

Paycom

Jabez Olagunju

Dubai Golf

Paul Olmsted

Heartland Business Systems Teresa Orr

General Motors Chrysetta Patterson

ACS NYC

Paul Peterson

Systems Control Jesenia Pijuan

ACS NYC

Rae Podrebarac

Edlen Electrical Sonya Ponds

U.S. Agency for Global Media Mark Postma Jacqueline Price

Camden Living

Angelina Prothro

Fitzmaurice Community Services Monica Raley

Christina Rondomanski Charlene Snell

IG Wealth Management Rosángel Rosó Frias

FRESENIUS-KABI Nicola Roy

NHS National Services Scotland Barbara Ruziska

WeLearn Learning Services Michelle Sanger

WeLearn Learning Services Nikita Saraf

ThinkWright Learning Services Shariem Saterfield

Farmers Insurance David Scarborough

IBTapps

Paul Schieber

Principal Investments Raechal Schneider

Essendant

Gurjit Sekhon

Save On Foods Melissa Seprish

Dupont

Jacob Sherker

Medicago Inc. Candace Shick

MC Group/Icon Andreina Silvera

ACS NYC

Patrick Smith

Christian Care Ministry Charlene Snell IG Wealth Management Tabatha Snider

Shoulder 2 Shoulder, Inc. Kari Beth Snyder

Amazon

Setu Soni

IRMA

Ryan Soto

Fluxx Labs Inc. Robert Speicher

State Farm Insurance

Department of Veterans Affairs – Acquisition Academy

Mattie Ramlakan

Kathleen Spelman

ACS NYC

Elizabeth Ramon

Norwegian Cruise Line George Reese

American University Michele Rodriguez-Flores

Rodriguez Consulting

CMM Pharmaceuticals Robert Springer

ACS NYC

Audrey St-Laurent

Medicago Inc.

Patricia Staricek

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

British Council

Visit cptm.trainingindustry.com to learn more about how you can earn the CPTM credential and join over 650 CPTM graduates.

Karla Stelly

TNPRC/TU - Office of Biosafety Emily Stephans

Ameriprise Financial Magdalena Stepien

The Linux Foundation Kim Storey

Wellmark

De’Lisa Stringer

DPR

Jonathan Strunin

Bonneville Environmental Foundation In Young Suh

IAEA

Sabrina Swarthout

Hy-Vee

Lisa Tavares

Bristol Myers Squibb Zachery Taylor

Mars, Incorporated Patricia Taylor

ACS NYC

Michelle Thill

DaVita

Eric Thomas

General Motors Jean Tizón

KMMP

Raymond Troncozo

Navy Recruiting Command Kevin Trudeau

Ossim Tech

Heidi Turcotte

Medicago Inc. Michelle Turman

INE

Brian VanderKolk

Sysco Montana Marisa Vega

Sansum CLinic Christopher Veith

Paperworks Industries Nicola Watson

Ministry of the Public Service and National Insurance (MPSNI) Paige Welch

Escape The Classroom David Wilhelm

Fortera Credit Union Hope Williams

Training Industry, Inc. Amanda Woods

CLC Lodging

Michelle Yulfo

ACS NYC

TOP

20

2020

2020

NEW TOP 20 LISTS LAUNCHED

TOP

20

COMPANY

COMPANY

HEALTH & SAFETY/COMPLIANCE

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20 COMPANIES VIEW THE LISTS The Top 20 Companies are a service provided by Training Industry, Inc. Due to the diversity of services offered, no attempt is made to rank Top 20 lists.