There were several really interesting sessions. We plan to put up a series of posts that recap some of the thoughts shared in those sessions. This is the first post in that series.

Do you need a CLO?

The first session (titled: Organizational Learning: Views from the Leadership) of the Summit was a panel discussion where senior executives from HPCL, Tata Teleservices, & Aditya Birla Group and the Director of TISS constituted the panel. The panel shared some useful insights about the unique situations they face and how L&D happens in their organizations. The key question put up to the panel by the moderator was – Do you need a CLO in your organization? To which, sadly, the majority response was on these lines – The department/division heads already perform that role so we probably don’t need a CLO. That’s definitely not what we were expecting to hear!

Thankfully, when the discussion was thrown open to the audience, the audience seemed to think quite the opposite. Several people from the audience (from companies like Dow Chemicals, Reliance Capital, Raymond, & Lupin) shared their thoughts in favor of having a CLO. The nail was precisely hit on its head when Susan Bloch (CLO at Aditya Birla Group) asked the panel this: “would you replace your CFO with COO tomorrow?”

The answer is NO. The jobs of a CFO and COO need specialized skills and experience and it is impossible to replace one with another just like that. Similarly a CLO needs specialized skills and experience and that cannot be performed by any division/department manager. They (department managers) simply don’t have grounding on how learning takes place or which learning interventions work in which situations. They don’t really know how to keep pace with ever changing landscape of learning theories, models, & technology. Most importantly they don’t have the focus that needs to be brought to organizational learning. They are just too occupied with their other KRAs and learning will simply be the last one they would want to focus on. I think everyone in the audience got this pretty straight. A show of strength later on saw more than 90% people in audience going with YES to having a CLO in organizations.

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MindLeaders’ white paper “Leadership In Crisis: How to Maximize Leadership Development and Succession Planning” examines the importance of effective leadership to an organization’s success, especially at a time like this when a severe worker shortage is predicted in the coming decade.

The paper looks at how organizations generally select and develop leaders, and the typical outcomes of such approaches—even in a successful global corporation like Coca Cola.

It identifies the main problem as the lack of connection between leadership development and succession planning programs, and then goes on to describe several reasons why organizations fail to successfully mould existing ‘stars’ into effective leaders.

The paper next describes the characteristics of an effective leadership development program, and provides tips on how to go about putting these in place.

To illustrate how leadership building practices can impact performance, the paper presents a scenario of a star performer recently promoted to a managerial role. She is required to carry out performance reviews for some of her team members, but is unsure of her ability to coach and mentor her team; nor does she understand some of the company’s decisions well enough to explain their purpose to her team members. Unhappy with how the reviews go and with the direction in which her career is heading, she begins to look for openings in other companies.

Had the manager been provided with leadership training, and had her development as a manager been properly planned and monitored, she may have had better success and would not have been looking to leave.

The paper finally presents a list of factors to consider when selecting a learning and development company to help establish effective leadership development programs, and gives an overview of how MindLeaders’ products and services can help organizations to this end.

How well are your leadership development programs linked to succession planning?

The post New White Paper: Leadership In Crisis first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

MindLeaders’ white paper “Training In Troubled Times: Delivering on ‘What’s To Follow’ With Training” encourages organizations to take L&D decisions during a recession with two goals in mind: (i) surviving the current downturn and (ii) exploiting the upswing that will eventually follow.

Cost cutting exercises during a recession often involve changes to organizational processes and tasks. If L&D budgets are slashed, how will employees be trained to work effectively and efficiently as per these changes? And how will organizations develop the skills they need to ensure they make the most of the next boom?

The white paper examines how training cost cuts may be perceived by different stakeholders (investors, customers, employees). It also advocates viewing downturns as opportunities for organizational ‘soul searching’. All too often, when things are going well, organizations don’t focus on improvement. Tough times force them to ‘introspect’ and rout out the inefficiencies.

During economic downturns, L&D programs have to compete for budgets. L&D program managers have to demonstrate that the programs on which funds have been spent have resulted in positive contributions to business operations.

The white paper suggests four types of metrics that can help L&D departments demonstrate this, while pointing out that specific measurement parameters must be defined based on each organization’s business model. It also stresses the importance of defining L&D programs that are in line with organizational strategies.

The paper goes on to present some points to keep in mind while setting up an effective L&D solution. It then takes a look at the case of an airline company who successfully made it through the 2001 recession and is still going strong today, and identifies the key management and L&D decisions that contributed to the company’s success.

The paper ends with a list of factors to consider when selecting a L&D provider, and an overview of how MindLeaders’ products and services can help organizations to this end.

The message is clear. Those organizations that invest in employee development during tough economic times will emerge better equipped to thrive during the good times.

The post New White Paper: Training In Troubled Times first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

MindLeaders’ white paper “Why Employee Development Matters: Creating Strategic Advantage Through Your People” looks at how to set up effective employee development programs to grow and exploit employee knowledge to the benefit of both organization and individuals.

Acknowledging the importance of employee development as a key tool for employee retention and engagement, the paper gives an overview of common challenges faced by such programs in the workplace.

It admits that while eLearning courses offered via an LMS have proven to be reasonably effective, they still do not address the tailoring of training, which is an important facet of an effective employee development program.

The paper further points out that employee development is important at all levels within an organization, and uses an example of a recently promoted Sales Manager to illustrate this further. The Sales Manager needs to carry out a performance review for her team but has not been trained on the process and associated behavioral skills. She finds herself having to provide negative feedback to one of her team members; this review doesn’t go well, and the employee shows no signs of improvement. Had the Manager gone through an effective employee development program, she would have been able to draw on relevant skills and resources to help her carry out a more successful review.

The paper then presents a list of factors to look for in a company that helps define and set up employee development programs. It concludes by introducing MindLeaders’ Personal Learning Service (PluS), where personalized learning plans are created for individual employees by human Learning Advisors, with inputs from managers. Progress against the learning plans can be monitored, and plans can be modified to remain in line with changing goals and conditions.

If you’re planning to implement employee development programs in your organization, or are looking to improve your existing programs, this white paper could provide you with some useful insights.

The post New White Paper: Why Employee Development Matters first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Talent management is about recognizing (potential) value, utilizing it optimally, keeping it engaged, and constantly growing it. That’s the challenge faced by Human Resources (HR) and Learning and Development (L&D) functions today.

The need for an L&D program is further illustrated through an example of a new sales manager who finds it difficult to carry out performance reviews, with a description of how things could have been different if the company had had integrated talent management and appropriate L&D support.

Finally, the paper presents a list of factors to consider when selecting an L&D company to help in the implementation of a strategic talent management program.

So don’t get caught short! Ensure that you have the right people with the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes to meet current and future business needs. Strategic talent management is equally applicable now as it would be in a time of booming economies. Perhaps even more so, as companies can put slow times to good use by investing in developing organizational talent.

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