2009 best practices and insights in learning and development · pdf fileat netapp, cisco,...

2009 Best Practices and Insights in Learning and Development
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Learning Executive Think Tank Best Practices and Insights are sponsored by Expertus, www.expertus.com
LEARNINGE X E CU T IV E
THINK T ANK

LEARNINGE X E C U T I V ETHINK TANK
12009 Best Practices and Insights trainingefficiency.com
ABOUT THE LEARNING EXECUTIVE THINK TANK
The Learning Executive Think Tank, sponsored by Expertus, was created to bring key thinkers together to experienced business-focused learning executives to generate insights and best practices to run highly efficient and effective learning businesses that are core to the success of their companies. For the future viability of the training industry, its important to look at key issues affecting learning organizations so that we may give back to the training industry and learn from each other.
Learning Executive Think Tanks are by invitation only and are held five times a yearfour via conference call and one face-to-face roundtable discussion. Think Tank participants are proven, senior-level learning executives who have long track records of successful leadership. In our discussions, we concentrate on real results and the business aspects of training.
ROUNDTABLE HOsTs
Tom ClancyTom Clancy is Vice President of Education Services and Productivity for EMC Corporation. In his career at EMC, Tom has held various field and corporate roles, primar-ily in partner management of Original Equipment Manu-factures, Independent Software Vendors and Channels. Prior to Education Services, Tom managed Global Sales Productivity, focusing on field development, best practic-es and change execution. Since 2002, his chief respon-sibility has been to re-align training initiatives to meet the requirements of EMCs business model transformation from a hardware product company to a technology-led provider of systems, software and services. Under Toms direction, EMC has transitioned from traditional ILT to a much more blended JIT and situational learning ap-proach for specialization and consulting.
Tom KellyTom Kelly has more than 25 years of experience in the education and training industry and has held positions at NetApp, Cisco, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, NeXT Corporation and Control Data Corporation. Tom is currently a trusted advisor for a growing list of clients, in-cluding small to mid-sized companies focusing on learn-ing organizations systems and strategies.

LEARNING EXECUTIVE THINK TANK DIsCUssIONs
To date, weve conducted five Learning Executive Think Tanks. Each has generated a meaningful dialogue among top minds in learning management about key issues, including how to: Improve training efficiency Survive an economic recession Communicate the value of training programs Get closer to customers
Enclosed is a compilation of the five white papers that have been generated as a result of these discussions.
2009 BEsT PRACTICEs AND INsIGHTs
5 Ways to Help Your Training Organization survive and Thrive in a Troubled Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 4With the economic downturn still being headline news, we continued our discussion on how training organizations are surviving in a tough economy. In this virtual roundtable, participants were asked:
What are you doing in your training organization to navigate the uncertainty and survive the impact of the stressful economic environment?
This whitepaper highlights the five key strategies learning leaders are implementing to successfully meet demands and equip their organizations for current and future success.
Top 5 Ways to Communicate the Value of Your Training Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 9With workforce reductions, funding limitations, and revamped business initiatives being the norm, new pressures have been placed upon learning executives to retain and even expand the relevance of training as it relates to their companys success. In this virtual roundtable discussion we asked our participants:
In these uncertain times, what compelling messages and approaches are you using to convince executive management and your training customers about the value of your training programs?
This whitepaper shares five key approaches to communicate the relevance of training programs to key executives and instill value to customers.
Top 4 Ways to Get Closer to Your Training Consumers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 16
It seems the business climate is in a never-ending state of flux. The challenge for every learning executive is to recog-nize the changing wants and needs of their customers while remaining profitable. In this roundtable discussion we asked our panel:
What are you doing differently than what you have done in the past to get closer to your audiences and the consumers of your training product?
This whitepaper discusses the shifts occurring in the training industry today and provides insights into the top four ways to reach customers.

9 Best Best Practices of High Functioning Learning Organziations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 23
The purpose of our LIVE Learning Executive Think Tank event was to build upon the years Think Tanksto exchange the best best practices being used to thrive in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Participants were asked:
What are the most significant challenges or opportunities facing your business in 2010?
Prior to this meeting, each of our Think Tank participants were asked to present their top five best practices accord-ing to a Strategic Relevance Framework. This whitepaper provides a summation of the best best practices with re-spect to the most pressing issue or opportunity that each learning executive has or is currently facing. Also provided, are the key finding these learning leaders generated to address their current training challenges.
How to Communicate the Value of Learning Programs with Compelling Business Metrics . . . . . . . . . .page 37
Tying training activities to critical business metrics helps to elevate the training departments relevance. However, learning leaders are faced with the lack of industry-wide standards that can be used to assess overall success. In this think tank discussion participants were asked:
How do you communicate the value of your learning programs with quantifiable and compelling business metrics that show the impact of training upon the enterprise?
In this whitepaper, learning leaders describe how they communicate the value of their training programs on the basis of how it impacts revenue, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Top 5 Ways to Help YourTraining Organization survive and Thrive in a Troubled Economy 1
February, 2009

52009 Best Practices and Insights
Top 5 Ways to Help Your Training Organization survive and Thrive in a Troubled Economy
This Learning Executive Think Tank Whitepaper was sponsored by Expertus, www.expertus.com | 2009. Not for distribution without exclusive permission
trainingefficiency.com
INTRODUCTION
In an economic downturn, you may think that top learning executives map strategies for survival. However, some view an economic crisis as an oppor-tunity to help their company expand market share, secure customer loyalty, and prepare the most talented members of their workforce for current and future success.
The emergent winners use recessionary times to innovate and widen the gap between themselves and their competition. While many companies slash payrolls, place product development on hold, and take a wait-and-see posi-tion in their markets, the true winners strategically increase productivity and prepare to come out ahead when the good times return. Trueeconomic hardships make everyone become more focused on needand this is a particularly compelling challenge for the training industry.
In a second virtual roundtable discussion, a handful of top corporate learn-ing executives sat down to compare insights on key issues facing the indus-try, and share ideas theyre using to survive. Our roundtable group includ-ed learning leaders from a broad spectrum of businesses, including global business consulting, IT services, retail, construction management, human resources and knowledge service.
The main question participants were asked to address:
What are you doing in your training organization to navigate the uncertainty and survive the impact of the stressful economic environment?
Despite the diversity of industries in which they serve, all of the participants had similar conclusions. At the top of the list: learning organizations are being asked to do more with less moneymaking it necessary to be innova-tive at cutting costs while improving the quality of their training programs. Classroom training has taken a rather large hit, in particular, due to reduced travel budgets and a smaller workforce that cannot be away from work for long periods of time.
The interesting dichotomy of the current business climate is creating an increased demand for training. Organizations are making hard decisions about what stays and what goes. They are making sure that at the end of this recession, their learning organization and the company is stronger and better than it was before.
The increased need for tr

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