Training and Development Highlight Report

Highlight Report Training and Development
Highlight Report
An issue overview to aid strategic thinking
Training and Development

by Michael Grohs
Scenarios in this issue:

Culture and Collaboration Converge Management Embraces Learning Too Late Employees Take the Lead Management Misses the Boat
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About this report

EDITORIAL STAFF Author
Each of our Knowledge Centers has a corresponding Highlight Report that provides an external view of that issue, incorporating global perspectives on the current climate as well as future thinking. Highlight Reports are designed to help managers think strategically about particular trends or issues. Each one contains an executive summary, a global perspective, an overview of the current trends and countertrends, insights into what is driving the trend or issue, and four scenarios. Our members use Highlight Reports to provide their staff and colleagues with an up-to-date overview as well as strategic ideas about how to deal with issues that face their organizations. For complete information on this topic, including a full bibliography, please visit our Web site at www.i4cp.com and follow the Knowledge Center link. The Institute for Corporate Productivity invites reader feedback on this issue. Please send your comments to feedback@i4cp.com. Member companies may reproduce and distribute this report on an unlimited basis to their employees for internal management purposes only. Nonemployees (including outside consultants) may not be given copies of or access to i4cps reports, online services or conference materials. Copyright 2009, Institute for Corporate Productivity, St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
Michael Grohs
Managing Editor
Lorrie Lykins
Associate Editor
Eric Davis
Senior Proofreader
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Graphs
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Graphic Designer
Roman Black
EDITORIAL ADDRess:
5959 Central Avenue, Suite 201 St. Petersburg, FL, U.S.A. 33710 Telephone 727-345-2226 Fax 727-345-1254 www.i4cp.com
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Contents

Executive Summary Global Perspective Highlights The cost of training and development is a concern worldwide The range of training and learning needs is varied Delivery methods of training and development are also varied Technologys role in learning continues to evolve Outsource or insource? Organizations wrestle with the decision Measuring training efforts is an ongoing challenge for many Priorities, perceptions, and attitudes about training and development vary Solid assessment and planning are key to T&D success Technology aids T&D innovation Simplifying success measurements can be helpful Scenario One: Culture and Collaboration Converge Scenario Two: Management Embraces Learning Too Late Scenario Three: Employees Take the Lead Scenario Four: Management Misses the Boat 2 4 6 6 8 10 12 15 16 18 21 21 22 24 25 26 26 27 27 28
Strategic Insights
Scenarios for the Year 2019
References
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Institute for Corporate Productivity
Executive Summary
The economy has executives looking to streamline training
A global recession, widespread corporate meltdowns and a weak U.S. dollar have combined to create what some pundits are calling the worst financial era since the Great Depression. In these uncertain economic times, when budgets and spending come under especially keen scrutiny, training and development (T&D) programs are often the first targeted for cuts. A 2008 survey conducted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com found that over half of the respondents reported that they were under either significant or intense pressure to reduce their training budgets, and 91% said that they have felt pressured to do so to some degree (Training Efficiency, 2008). U.S. organizations spent $56.2 billion on T&D (including budgets and payroll) during 2008, with an additional $15.4 billion earmarked for external services and products (2008 Training Industry Report, 2008). The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) found that average direct per-employee spending increased to $1,103 in 2007, up 6% from 2006, and employees received an average 37.4 hours of formal training. The average cost of learning hours used or received rose to $56 in 2007, up 2.5% from 2006 (ASTD, 2008). Its no surprise that mounting costs and current economic concerns are straining both training budgets and training leaders (Laff, 2008a). But the news isnt completely downbeat. An i4cp survey conducted in late 2008 on behalf of ASTD found that, while there has been a marked decrease in funds allocated for training, many respondents still reported that their firms were placing a stronger emphasis on the importance of training than had been the case in previous periods of economic hard times (ASTD and i4cp, 2009, preliminary data). Measuring the ROI of training the cost/benefit ratio as well as its impact can be a frustrating task. The Washington Post reported in 2008 that a study conducted by University of Arizona sociologist Alexandra Kalev concluded that most diversity training is ineffective. Such news might understandably lead executives to question whether their investments are paying off. But while most executives say they consider hard data the most important method to gauge the return on their investment,
2 Institute for Corporate Productivity www.i4cp.com
most organizations do not use metrics beyond the commonly employed Kirkpatrick Levels I-III model and volume-based measures. According to the Expertus/TrainingIndustry.com survey, only 28% of organizations use either advanced or ROI/profitability-based metrics. Moreover, only about 35% of funds allocated to training were spent on delivery, and fewer than half (43%) of the management team found the delivery to be efficient (Training Efficiency, 2008). What can be done? Investing in technology, streamlining evaluations and reporting processes, optimizing scheduling and reducing staff were the top actions planned to reduce administrative costs in 2008 (Training Efficiency, 2008). Outsourcing training is an option, but if the training is not effective in the first place, the problem could be exacerbated. As Martyn Sloman of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) notes, The training partner needs to be very closely aligned with what the organization wants to achieve in its overall business plan (Wigham, 2008). Mastering business alignment is key. A 2008 Bersin & Associates survey update, The High Impact Learning Organization, found that improving business alignment was the top issue cited by 800 learning leaders. To achieve this, many say that the focus should not be on the training department or the budget, but rather on an organizations culture. In an effort to find what drives business impact, Bersin identified 18 predictors of highimpact learning. An organization learning culture was number one (Bersin, 2008).
Average Direct Expenditure per Employee
n = 25 n = 42
Consolidated = includes all of the organizations that submitted data for a particular year BMF = ASTD Benchmarking Forum Organizations BEST = ASTD BEST Award Winners
Source: ASTD, 2008
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Global Perspective
Organizations worldwide face their own T&D challenges

Leadership issues, globalization and the skills shortage are elements driving the call for training. The need for globally responsible leadership is trending worldwide, yet T&D magazine reported in 2008 that less than $1 billion of the $670 billion global training and development expenditures is allocated to executive education (Salopek, 2008b). Meanwhile, in 2007, Forbes cited leadership training and succession planning as two of the top five priorities for C-level executives. Nevertheless, ASTDs 2007 State of the Industry Report found that there has been a decline in the percentage of learning content dedicated for executive development for the past four years (Salopek, 2008b). Leadership training is a particular concern in rapidly globalizing Asia (Miller, 2007). China boasts nearly 25% of the worlds workforce and the highest number of college graduates yet still faces a labor shortage. Due to a lack of practical training, fewer than 25% of the three million students who graduated in 2005 were candidates for jobs in multinational corporations (Gebauer, 2006). It is estimated that within 10 to 15 years China will need 75,000 leaders who are prepared to function in a global capacity (Miller, 2007). A year-long study of learning conducted in the UK by the CIPD found three primary conclusions: The role of the workplace learning professional is becoming universally more important, trainers will need to develop a new method and mindset in order to partake in this expansion, and those training professionals will need to examine how their views of cultural differences affect workplace learning. Martyn Sloman of the CIPD asserts that the trainer cannot bear the responsibility to address all of this alone. It will be up to management and HR to incorporate a culture of learning within their organization, and they face many challenges. Its important to note that cultural differences can act as barriers to successful workplace learning. For example, trainees in Asian countries often view learning as a positive event; this can make it difficult to gauge the success of a program since employees may be reluctant to offer critical feedback (Sloman, 2007). The UK has taken aggressive steps regarding training, spurred on by a 2006 report by Sandy Leitch of the House of Lords titled Prosperity for All
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in the Global Economy: World Class Skills. Leitch found that, among the 30 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the UKs workforce ranked 17th on low skills, 20th on intermediate skills and 11th on high skills. The report also found that five million adults in the UK are functionally illiterate, 17 million have difficulty with numbers and more than one in six students leave school unable to read, write or perform basic math. Leitch laid out an ambitious plan that called for employers, institutions of higher education and individuals to band together and make the UK a world leader in skills by 2020 (Salopek, 2008a). With the project still in its nascence, the reports effect is open to debate, but according to the CIPDs Annual Survey Report 2008, 53% of 729 respondents said that it has had no influence whatsoever on their learning activity. Thirty-six percent said that it has had either some or a fair effect. Only 3% indicated that it has impacted their organization to a great extent. Nevertheless, 47% responded that they would consider signing the Employer Skills Pledge a public commitment from organizational leadership that involves the promise of training every eligible employee in gaining basic skills and a level 2 qualification on the nations nine-level National Qualifications Framework.
To what extent do the following factors hinder your organizations ability to address learning in global operations?
397 high-level human resource professionals and senior-level industry professionals responded to the ASTD/i4cp Learnings Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces Survey 2008
Source: ASTD/i4cp, 2008
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Highlights
Highlights are a compilation of perspectives that provide an overview of information i4cp has gathered on a particular issue during the past year or more. Highlights reflect current trends, the drivers that influence those trends and the potential implications of these issues for business and society.
The cost of training and development is a concern worldwide

The weak global economy has some negative consequences on learning in many organizations but there have been positive effects as well, according to preliminary data from a study conducted by i4cp and commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). The December 2008 survey, to which there were 603 respondents, found that there has been a sobering reduction in resources allocated to learning in many organizations. This has had the most dramatic impact on the learning function, but there have been other effects as well. Between a quarter and a fifth of respondents also said that, to a high or very high extent, the poor economy has had a negative influence on learnings ability to affect corporate performance and meet their organizations learning needs. Respondents reported that these occurrences were about as intense during the last economic downturn as they are today. But there was one notable exception to this pattern. While about one in four respondents (24.5%) said that their firms (to a high or very high extent) placed a stronger emphasis on learning during the previous downturn, 37.9% said their firms emphasized learn-
ing to a greater extent in this downturn. This seems to be a major shift, suggesting that in todays economy, a larger proportion of companies are placing a stronger rather than weaker emphasis on learning (ASTD and i4cp, 2009, preliminary data). Budget constraints were the primary obstacle to organizations ability to address learning in global operations, according to Learnings Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces Survey 2008, which was commissioned by ASTD and conducted by i4cp. Fifty-nine percent of 397 respondents (of whom 317 worked for global or multinational organizations) cited budget limitations as their top challenge when it comes to delivering offshore training for employees. Fifty-seven percent responded that they lack sufficient staff to conduct the training, 40% said that they do not have adequate in-house skills, and another 40% responded that the learning function was not involved early enough in the expansion. Travel rounded out the top five obstacles on the list, with 37% of respondents saying that it was the factor that most hindered training in global operations (American Society for Training & Development and the Institute for Corporate Productivity [ASTD & i4cp], 2008). In 2008, 54% of 113 respondents to Expertus and TrainingIndustry.coms survey Training Efficiency:
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To what extent do the following occur in a down economy in your organization?

During the Last Downturn* There was/is reduced availability of resources to support learning We placed/are placing a stronger emphasis on learning Our learning functions ability to meet organizational learning needs suffered/is suffering 24.5% During the Current Downturn* 40.8% 40.7%
37.9% 27.3%
25.7% 26.5% 24.0% 21.8% 22.0%
There was/is a negative impact on learning's status as a key strategic component

Our learning functions ability to impact corporate performance suffered/is suffering
*Percentage answering high or very high extent

Optimizing Costs reported that they were under either significant or intense pressure to reduce their training budgets, and 91% said that they have felt pressured to do so to some degree. These pressures include requests from management to expand offerings without a budget increase (60%) and having budgets cut (49%). Nearly half (40%) reported that static training budgets, combined with escalating costs, was another source of pressure (Training Efficiency, 2008). According to T&D magazine, the IT sector spent an estimated $7.3 billion on training in 2007. However, according to Rick Gregory, managing director of IT Training Community in North Carolina, that figure represents a fraction of the overall IT training budget, much of which he thinks goes unrecorded. Gregory uses the term unmanaged to spend in regard to these accounts, by which he means that oftentimes training funds are included in travel expenses or other tech-related purchases that are not recorded as training expenses. He says, Its hard to pinpoint the [actual] IT training budget if you just look at the training function (Laff, 2008b).
More than half (53.9%) of organizations surveyed in 2007 reported some change to their 2007 training budgets. The HRfocus Training Survey divided the respondent organizations into three categories: small (1 to 350 employees), medium (351 to 1,000 employees) and large (1,000+ employees). Overall, 41% of respondents saw an increase in training budgets, roughly 13% said their companys training budget had shrunk, and about 46% said that their companys budget remained the same as it was the previous year. The number of respondents whose company intended to decrease the training budget in 2008 dropped to 10.6%, and the number whose company intended to increase the budget rose to 43.9%. Overall, 45.6% said that their training budget for 2008 would remain the same as that of the previous year (Training Receives, 2007). In the current economy, U.S. executives want more results for less money from training professionals. A study titled Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs, conducted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com, examined elements of training such as cost and methods of how ROI is measured. More than three-fourths
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In the current economy, U.S. executives want more results for less money from training professionals.
of the studys participants reported some degree of pressure to reduce training costs. Fewer than 10% reported that they felt no pressure at all to reduce training costs, while roughly 12% reported that they felt intense pressure. More than 40% stated that they were under significant pressure, and roughly 37% responded that they had been under mild pressure to reduce costs. It should be noted that most respondents did not report substantial cuts in their current training budget (Laff, 2008a). Direct spending per employee increased 6% in 2007 to $1,103, according to ASTDs 2008 State of the Industry Report. ASTDs BMF (Benchmarking Forum) organizations spent an average of $1,609 per employee in 2007. ASTDs BEST organizations (those best at Building talent, Enterprise-wide, Supported by the organizations leaders, fostering a Thorough learning culture) spent $1,451 per employee. Across the board, employees used slightly more learning hours than in 2006. The consolidated sample of organizations spent an average of 37.41 hours consuming formal learning content, up from 35.06 hours in 2006. ASTDs BMF organizations also saw an increase, from 40.70 hours in 2006 to 42.95 hours in 2007. BEST organizations saw a smaller increase, from 44.34 hours in 2006 to 44.71 hours in 2007 (ASTD, 2008). Despite the tough economy and global concerns about recession, Mercers 2008 Compensation and Staffing Implications of a Changing Economic Climate Survey, which polled 400 U.S. and Canadian respondents, found that most companies have not decreased or are not planning to decrease their companys training and development programs. Nine percent of U.S. respondents said that their organization has already cut programs, and 8% indicated that they are planning to. Four percent of Canadian companies said that they have already made cuts, and 4% said that it is under consideration. The flip side seems to be more common: Fourteen percent of U.S. companies said they are expanding training programs, and 20% said they are considering doing so. That number is even larger in Canadian organizations; nearly a quarter (24%) said that they have expanded their training and development programs, and another 22% are considering doing so (Gross, 2008). The federal government should make major new investments in workforce development, said Georgetown University professor Harry J. Holzer while testifying before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services in 2008. In his testimony, Holzer suggested that the societal benefits would far outweigh the cost of investing in workforce development. He also noted that the federal expenditure on workforce development has declined 85% since 1979 and currently amounts to $3 billion a year, a number he said is far lower than that in other industrialized nations. According to Holzer, as many as 15 million people in the U.S. live at or below the poverty line, and many of them lack access to jobs that would lift them out. Access to middle-skill jobs, he said, would not only allow passage to the middle class for lower-income workers, it could also supplant the vacancies left by the upcoming drove of retirees and possibly work to slow the pace of outsourcing (Workforce Development, 2008).
The range of training and learning needs is varied

Organizations that offer their employees English language training could improve employee engagement and productivity, suggest the findings of a study
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Training Expenditures, by Program Area, 2008
Source: Training, 2008
released in 2008 by The Conference Board. The study involved HR and training professionals as well as employers who have already implemented English language training. According to census data, foreignborn workers comprise 14% of the U.S. workforce, a figure that continues to grow. Christopher Woock, author of the study Speaking with Authority: The Case for Teaching English Language Proficiency on the Job, noted that previous studies have found that the majority of employers somewhere between 60% and 90% consider English language skills very important to the success of foreign-born workers. However, 66% of the surveys respondents do not provide English training skills despite that fact that 80% responded that they work with employees who have a poor grasp of the language (English Language, 2008). Many executives believe that their organization is lacking business acumen, according to a 2008 i4cp survey of 394 organizations. The study found that more than a third (34.3%) thought that the lack of business knowledge is an issue to a high or very high degree among the technical staff within all reaches of the organization. The number who said they consider the topic to
be an issue to a moderate, high, or very high degree jumps to just a fraction under 83% (i4cp, 2008b). Most (81.2%) HR professionals think that coaching is an extremely important or an important management issue within their organization, according to i4cps Major Issues Survey 2008, but most respondents believe that it will play a more critical role in the future. The survey asked 580 HR professionals the degree to which they value the importance of coaching within their company, both currently and in 10 years. Just over 40% responded that coaching is extremely important to their organization, but 57.1% of respondents predicted that it will be considered extremely important in 2018. Overall, more than 90% of those surveyed consider the future role of coaching within their organizations to be either important or extremely important. Only 4.6% responded that the topic is not important today, and that number drops to 2% when the respondents considered coachings role in a decade (i4cp, 2008a). Trainers need to develop more technical acumen, says Rick Gregory, managing director of IT Training Community. He notes that IT managers make 75% of
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To what degree is lack of business acumen/business knowledge an issue?
A total of 394 organizations participated in the Taking the Pulse: Business Acumen survey in January 2008
Source: i4cp, 2008
IT training decisions, as opposed to members of the training department, largely due to the gap in knowledge between the two arms. Training departments have a hard time understanding what IT departments need, he says, and in order to more successfully integrate the two departments, trainers will need to develop their technical skills. Furthermore, many IT managers, Gregory says, lack a training background and, therefore, the experience to successfully judge the effectiveness of a program (Laff, 2008b). Leadership training was the most commonly mentioned priority regarding organizational learning in the recent HRfocus Training Survey. Whether the companies are just getting started or are in the process of refining current leadership practices, the leadership training initiative was a topic that arose again and again over the course of the survey, which was released in 2007 and included an unspecified number of respondents. Leadership needs differ significantly from company to company. Planning and identifying successful programs from outside the company and promoting them within were found to be paramount to success, according to the manager of organizational development at an insurance company
with 1,800 FTEs. We are not the same organization as we were four years ago, and leadership expectations are not the same, said the manager. Despite a slow economy, the study found that training budgets were up for 2007 and were expected to increase in 2008. Other priorities mentioned by respondents to the survey included line of succession, legal issues, technology and managing change (Training Receives, 2007). Most companies (about 86%) of 597 representatives surveyed by i4cp and HR.com utilize some form of new-employee orientation, according to the New Employee Orientation Survey Results. Among the training components involved in the process, 53.3% of respondents said that their organization includes safety training for their new hires, 32.8% said computer training is involved and 30.9% said that equal employment opportunity training is a component of their program (i4cp, 2007).
Delivery methods of training and development are also varied

Training courses are by far the most common practice of transferring knowledge within organizations of all
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How Training Is Accomplished, 2007 and 2008
Source: Training, 2008
sizes, according to results of the 2008 survey Taking the Pulse: Knowledge Transfer, conducted by i4cp in conjunction with HR.com. Overall, 81.7% of the 118 organizations surveyed said their companies offer training courses to their employees. The largest organizations those with between 5,000 and 10,000 employees are most likely to offer training courses. About 92% acknowledged that their organizations make them available. The number is slightly less for those mid-sized companies with between 1,000 and 4,999 employees; 80% of those respondent organizations offer courses (i4cp, 2008d). The larger the organization, the more likely it is to utilize mentoring to convey knowledge transfer, according to a 2008 survey conducted by i4cp in conjunction with HR.com. The Taking the Pulse: Knowledge Transfer survey polled 118 organizations, which were categorized by the size of the organization: fewer than 1,000 employees, 1,000-4,999 FTEs, 5,000-9,999 FTEs and those with over 10,000 employees. Overall, 43.7% of those polled reported that their organization has a mentoring program in place. Just over 11% of the smallest organizations use mentors as knowledge providers. That number almost
quadrupled to 40% in companies with 1,000-4,999 workers. Half of the respondents in organizations with 5,000 to 9,999 employees said they have a mentoring program, and 64% of the largest organizations surveyed said that mentoring is used within the organization. The survey found a similar pattern regarding the size of the organization and the likelihood that it is utilizing coaching to transfer knowledge. The most striking difference was that organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees are four times (44.4%) more likely to provide coaching than mentoring (i4cp, 2008d). To address shortfalls in business acumen among employees, just over 70% of 394 survey respondents told i4cp that they offer in-house customized training. Slightly over 41% said that they use off-the-shelf training, and more than half said that their organizations have alliances with business schools or increased involvement in MBA or mini-MBA programs. Twentyone percent said that they use other methods, which include hiring outside consultants, job rotation, e-learning, cherry-picking high-potential succession candidates and initiating changes to the organizations corporate culture. Most of the audience for training
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If lack of business acumen/business knowledge is an issue in your organization, what strategies are being employed to deal with it?
A total of 394 organizations participated in the Taking the Pulse: Business Acumen survey in January 2008
Source: i4cp, 2008
is either at the executive, managerial, supervisory or director level, but 38.8% responded that the training is made available to all employees (i4cp, 2008b). More laws are being passed regarding the protection of peoples privacy, and, according to Norman Ford, director of compliance at SkillSoft, due to these mandates as well as concerns about liability, there has been a surge in requests for training regarding the issue of privacy protection. Ford notes, There is a lot of confusion about personal information that organizations need to protect, and how they need to protect it. Something as innocuous as asking for a telephone number can expose a company to liability (Harris, 2008). Almost 40% of 597 company representatives surveyed by i4cp and HR.com indicated that their company utilizes other methods of training delivery that include practices such as on-the-job training that is delivered by senior staff, job-specific training, organizational policies, sexual harassment awareness training, quality awareness and basic on-the-job training with the new hires mentor. Close to half (45.7%) said their companys orientation lasts for one day or less, roughly a quarter (25.6%) require two to three days, 9.6% take a week and just under 20% described the length of orientation
as other, which included responses that ranged from 1.25 days to a year to self-directed onboarding training done individually online. A total of 597 respondents participated in the survey (i4cp, 2007).
Technologys role in learning continues to evolve

E-learning plays an important role in many organizations, but, according to an i4cp survey, not nearly as important as it will play in a decade. The survey, which was conducted in May 2008, asked 580 HR professionals how important the issue of e-learning is regarding the management of people in their firm. Currently, about 18.4% consider the matter extremely important, but when asked to predict its significance in 2018, that amount more than doubled, to 46.1%. Most respondents (59.2%) consider the issue as being either extremely important or important today, but when asked where they thought the topic rated in 2018, that combined number rose to 82.3%. Those who believe that the topic is not important to their firms now are in the minority, with less than 10%. Fewer than 3% think the topic will be of no importance in 2018 (i4cp, 2008a).
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Over the next three years, I think my organization will:
743 high-level business and HR professionals as well as learning professional responded to the ASTD/i4cp Web 2.0 Technologies Survey 2008
The overwhelming majority of companies surveyed (86.5%) predicted an increase in the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the learning function over the next three years, according to a survey of 743 respondents titled Web 2.0 Technologies: The Dawn of a New Era in Corporate Learning, which was commissioned by ASTD and conducted by i4cp in 2008. Slightly less than 12% responded that they thought their organization would use about the same amount of Web 2.0 technologies as they do now. Only 1.7% said that they believed their company was less likely to utilize Web 2.0 technologies in three years than they currently do (ASTD and i4cp, unpublished report). Many organizations use Web 2.0 technology to a high extent, but think that they should be using it more, according to Web 2.0 Technologies: The Dawn of a New Era in Corporate Learning, a 2008 study commissioned by the American Society for Training and Development and conducted by i4cp. The most used Web 2.0 technology was found to be Instant Messaging. More than 47% of respondents acknowledged that their company used the technology, but 63% responded that they should be using it more. In every acknowledgment that a technology was used,
it was further acknowledged that it was not used enough; sometimes by large margins. While 36.1% of respondents utilize peer-to-peer networking, more than twice as many (73.1%) thought that they should be using it more. Nearly three times as many (65.4%) thought that their company should he using Podcasts to a high extent than actually do (23%), and while only 4.7% of respondents acknowledged using virtual worlds to a high extent, more than five times as many (24.6%) thought that they should (ASTD and i4cp, unpublished report). Games and simulations might be the path to changing how we learn, says Mathew Georghiou, president and CEO of MediaSpark. E-learning has seen high expectations, sometimes underwhelming outcomes and a confusing glut of vendors. But Georghiou notes that Web 2.0, a cornucopia of informal learning, might have an unprecedented impact on learning. In 2006, IT firm Gartner reported that, when it came to high-skill or high-turnover jobs, simulation-based learning has become a standard part of an enterprises operating model and a competitive differentiator. Furthermore, the Federation of American Scientists touted video games as the next great discovery and, by their very
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How important is the following issue for the management of people in your firm?
E-Learning
A total of 580 HR professionals participated in the Major Issues Survey 2008

Source: i4cp, 2008
nature, likely to inspire people to spend hours using them to learn on their own (Georghiou, 2008). Small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) are less likely to use technical training and development programs for HR than medium and large organizations, according to the findings of a report titled The Varying Roles of HR: A Look at HR by Organization Staff Size, which was actually compiled from various other reports conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. More than 4,400 respondents were involved in the survey. Only 35% of small-business HR professionals who were asked said that they had participated in a technical training program over the past year. In mediumsized businesses (100-499 employees), that figure jumped to 53%, and in large organizations (500 or more employees), 64% of respondents said that they had participated in a development program that involved technical training in the past year (Survey Says, 2008). Companies with fewer than 1,000 employees are significantly more likely to use a skills database as a method of transferring knowledge internally, accord-
ing to a May 2008 survey by i4cp and HR.com. The survey grouped the 118 respondents organizations by size. More than 44% of those surveyed in companies with fewer than 1,000 workers used a skills database, more than twice the number of the medium, large and largest organizations respondents combined (i4cp, 2008d). Instructor-led classroom training was by far the most common approach to organizational learning in 2008, with 67% of formal training hours delivered using the method, up 2% from 2007, according to Training magazines 2008 Training Report: Gauges & Drivers. The percentage of online self-learning has declined, from 20% in 2007 to 16% in 2008, and so has the virtual classroom, which was used for 8% of formal training hours in 2008, down 2% from the previous year. Nine percent of those who responded to the online survey said that their organization used other methods in their training delivery, nearly twice as many as the 5% who said so in 2007. The study, which was conducted in July and August of 2008 by Bersin & Associates, included only U.S.-based organizations with 100 or more employees (2008 Training Industry Report, 2008).
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Many organizations consider outsourcing because of ineffectual training on the part of the company .
Outsource or insource? Organizations wrestle with the decision

Organisations tend to fluctuate between outsourcing training to external consultants, and then doing all their training in-house, says Martyn Sloman, learning and development adviser at the CIPD. While an organization may save money by outsourcing training, he urges companies to consider the degree to which they wish to retain control over their T&D programs. For vital skills that are central to how the business delivers services to customers, I think they need to think very hard before completely outsourcing them. He further emphasizes that the contracted managed service will need to be very closely aligned with the goals of the company (Wigham, 2008). Adrian Snook of the Training Foundation says that many organizations consider outsourcing because of ineffectual training on the part of the company, which could be exacerbated by outsourcing. If you are primarily seeking improvements in training effectiveness, then the best course of action is more likely to be a comprehensive review and restructure of the existing learning and development function, accompanied by a planned programme of professional development for the training personnel who are retained, Snook said (Wigham, 2008). Almost half (47.6%) of the 231 organizations surveyed by i4cp in 2008 outsource at least part of their training and development functions. However, its rare that the entire department is outsourced; only 4% of respondents said this is the case in their companies. Just over 46% said that they do not outsource any of their training. The remaining 6% responded that the query was not applicable to their companies. Currently, fewer than 2% of respondents said that they plan to outsource at least part of the
training and development function within the next year. About 8.5% are considering at least partially outsourcing training and development functions within the next five years, but most (89.8%) say they have no plans to outsource (i4cp, 2008c). When asked what actions companies are likely to take in order to reduce administration costs within their training organizations, 17% of 113 training leaders surveyed by Expertus in 2008 said that they would likely outsource their companys vendor relationship management, and 16% said that they might outsource some or all of their training organizations administration. When posed the same question regarding content development, nearly twice as many (32%) said that they were considering outsourcing all or some of the functions. Almost a third (29%) said that they were likely to outsource all or some of their training delivery costs, and 13% said that they will likely outsource their technology support (Training Efficiency, 2008). One-third of large companies in the UK would consider outsourcing the administrative side of their training and development programs by 2009, and almost half (46%) polled in 2007 said that their organizations already outsourced some learning elements. Forty UK organizations participated in the survey conducted by KnowledgePool, a learning services provider. The survey also found that about 5% of large UK organizations contracted with a managed service, a trend Paul Jefferson, CEO of KnowledgePool, considers a natural extension of what firms are and have been doing, noting, Companies have almost always used some sort of outsourced training, whether that is freelance trainers or external courses (Wigham, 2008). In-house training conducted by in-house staff is the most commonly used learning method, according to the HRfocus Training Survey. The study, which included
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Average Learning Hours Used per Employee
Consolidated = includes all of the organizations that submitted data for a particular year BMF = ASTD Benchmarking Forum Organizations BEST = ASTD BEST Award Winners
Source: ASTD, 2008
an unspecified number of respondents, divided the surveyed organizations into three categories: small (1 to 350 employees), medium (351 to 1,000 employees) and large (1,000+ employees) and asked them to indicate every method of training their organization utilized. Overall, 94.9% of those asked said that their companys method of training was done in-house by in-house staff. That number climbed to 100% of respondents from medium and large companies, though naturally that aggregate does not factor in those who did not respond to the survey. Overall, almost 90% said that their company sends workers to an outside training forum, a method also more common for medium and large organizations. Overall, 78% of organizations brought in outside trainers for in-house training. Large companies were three times less likely to use other forms of training; only 6.7% acknowledged having done so. The figure was 20.3% and 20%, respectively, for small and mediumsized organizations (Training Receives, 2007).
impacted their business at all, according to the CIPDs Annual Survey Report 2008. The 2006 Leitch Report laid out an initiative to establish collaboration among government, institutions of higher learning and individual workers in order to improve the UKs competitive status in the global market. Of the 729 respondents to the CIPD survey, only 3% indicated that the reports recommendations affected their organizations learning and development activity to a great extent, 7% said that their organization has been affected to a fair extent, 29% think that their organization has been affected to some extent, and 7% dont know (CIPD, 2008). Many organizations have diversity and inclusion (D&I) programs in place, but a 2008 study suggests that some fail because of lack of reinforcement. The Novations Group survey included 800 HR and development executives and found that almost a third (29%) of organizations do not provide tools to reinforce D&I training. Almost a quarter (24%) reported that their companies do not have metrics in place to gauge the effectiveness of their D&I programs. Fred Smith of Novations Group said that, while most organizations
Measuring training efforts is an ongoing challenge for many

Overall, most (53%) British employers say that the Leitch Report and its recommendations have not
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Extent to Which the Leitch Report* Influenced an Organizations Learning and Development Activity
*Leitchs recommendations to the UK government of future skills needs and improving future skills levels
A total of 729 CIPD members responded to CIPDs Learning and Development 2008 survey
Source: CIPD, 2008
reported having a D&I plan, the problem often is that it is not a living document and therefore falls by the wayside. Smith suggests that D&I plans be embedded in discussions involving promotions, development and rotational assignments, so you begin to have some systemic integration of your D&I initiatives and theyre not just sitting out there (Lack of Diversity, 2008). Results of a study conducted by Expertus and TrainingIndustry.com that examined elements of training such as cost and methods of measuring ROI found that most organizations dont use complex methods. The Training Efficiency: Optimizing Costs study found that most respondents use measurements such as Kirkpatricks levels, a four-stage pyramid model in which each stage serves as a base for the next, from reactions to learning to transfer to results. Overall, only about 20% of respondents were found to use metrics to measure ROI of training, a figure Gordon Johnson, vice president of Expertus, suggests could be due to the type of training, such as leadership, which can be difficult to gauge. One concern, the study found, was that when the designated budget was broken down, 35% accounted for delivery, 26%
for content development, 24% for administration and 16% for technology. To this Johnson commented, Only spending 35% on delivery is kind of scary. If the figure is compared to a humanitarian or non-profit organization delivering food to the poor, that would be unacceptable. So much is being spent on things that dont teach anybody anything (Laff, 2008a). A University of Arizona sociologist concluded that diversity training is largely ineffective. The conclusion is based on a study that analyzed data from 830 organizations over a 31-year period and found that, after diversity training, the number of women in management actually dropped by 7.5%, the number of black women in management dropped 10% and the number of black men in management decreased 12%. The good news is that the study found that when attendance at such training was voluntary, managerial diversity increased. Mandatory diversity training, according to the study, is the least-effective method. Sociologist Alexandra Kalev asserted, Forcing people to go through training creates a backlash against diversity (Dolezalek, 2008). Only 29% of those polled in 2008 believed that their company had a high or very high success rate when it
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Generally speaking, to what extent have the learning initiatives in your global operations been successful?
397 high-level human resource professionals and senior-level industry professionals responded to the ASTDi4cp Learnings Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces Survey 2008
comes to training internationally, according to a study commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development and conducted by i4cp. The respondents were asked about the degree to which at least one person from the learning function is involved in training initiatives in an international capacity. Of those 29%, a mere 1% agreed that their organization had achieved success to a very high extent. The study, titled Learnings Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces, further found that when it comes to international training: Teaching basic job skills in the international operation was the most common application, yet just 35% believe their company succeeds to a high or very high extent. Thirty-two percent said that the learning staff conducts onboarding and orientation for new employees in the international operation to a high extent. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said that their learning function teaches industry knowledge to employees in the international operation.
Twenty-eight percent said their learning staff provides cross-training between headquarters and local employees (ASTD and i4cp, 2008).
Priorities, perceptions, and attitudes about training and development vary

Just over one-quarter (26.9%) of 580 HR professionals surveyed by i4cp in 2008 thought that their companys being a learning organization was an extremely important issue to the management of people in their firm. That number nearly doubled, to 50.2%, when they were asked about the importance of the issue in 2018. A combination of the respondents who thought that the issue of having a learning organization was either extremely important or important amounts to 71.8%. When they were asked what they thought about the subject in 2018, that number jumped to 88.2%. Even the opposite end of the spectrum shows evidence of concern about the future; only 3.7% of respondents said that having a learning organization was not an important issue in managing people in their firm. That number dropped to 1.7% when they were asked to forecast the issues importance in 2018 (i4cp, 2008a).
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How important is the following issue for the management of people in your firm?
Training and Development
A total of 580 HR professionals participated in the Major Issues Survey 2008

Source: i4cp, 2008
Learning initiatives in organizations global operations have not been particularly successful, according to Learnings Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces Survey 2008, a study commissioned by the American Society for Training and Development and conducted by i4cp. Of the 397 respondents, only 1% found the initiatives to be successful to a very high extent. The majority (50%) responded that they found the initiatives of training in global operations to be successful to a moderate extent. Twenty percent found them to be successful to a small extent, and only 1% responded that the initiatives were not successful at all (ASTD and i4cp, 2008). In-house development programs and coaching by line managers were the two most effective learning and development practices in the UK, according to the CIPDs Annual Survey Report 2008. Respectively, 55% and 53% of 729 respondents cited these two practices effectiveness. Other successful methods include on-the-job training (43%) and job rotation, secondment (temporary reassignment) and shadowing, which came in fourth, with more than a quarter (26%) citing those as the most effective methods of workplace
learning. One-fifth responded that instructor-led training delivered off the job was most successful. On the lower end of the spectrum, a mere 9% responded that formal education courses were found to be most effective, and only 7% replied e-learning was. Formats such as audiotapes, videos and learning resources came in with a collective 1% (CIPD, 2008). HR has a crucial role in strengthening the board of directors, asserts Stephen Kelly, director of BBC People. While traditionally there has been a deliberate separation of the board and those involved in daily operations, scandals such as those that occurred at Enron and WorldCom suggest that governing boards of companies could benefit from training. PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1,300 respondents titled What Directors Think found that 83% believe that the board should attend educational sessions. Among the areas in which HR can add value, the survey found, are orientation for new directors, company operations and facility, measurement of the boards effectiveness and succession planning (Dutton, 2008). Slightly over 41% of 580 HR professionals surveyed by i4cp in 2008 indicated that training and devel-
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opment was an extremely important issue for the management of people in their firms. That number grew significantly to over 60% when they were asked how important they think the issue will be in 2018. A combined total of 84.2% of respondents thought that training and development was an important or extremely important issue in their organization. That figure increased to 93.2% when they were asked to forecast the issues importance within their organization in a decade. Issues such as talent shortages, the retirement exodus, and retention make training and development a widespread concern. Fewer than 2% of respondents said that training and development was not an important issue, and 0.8% said it will have no importance in 2018 (i4cp, 2008a). The economy has affected the types of learning programs being delivered, according to Training magazines 2008 Training Report: Gauges & Drivers. Profession- or industry-specific training saw the largest shift, with 21% of training dollars being allocated to the programs, an increase of 6% from 2007. The study found that tighter budgets meant that companies were focusing their training dollars on necessities, such as developing skills that were directly specific to the trainees job, and issues such as meeting compliance requirements. Profession-specific training is considered a necessity in situations such as accountants need to know new tax laws and healthcare workers need to understand new regulations, medical procedures and so forth. Another necessity, mandatory compliance training, ate up 14% of the allotted training budget pie. The category includes training in regulated industries such as health care and finance as well as other non-optional elements such as safety issues. Sales training received 14% of
budgeted dollars, up slightly from 2007, and supervisory and managerial training received 13%, down 2%. The largest drop was in desktop application training, which received only 3% of budgeted dollars, down from 8% in 2007, often, according to the report, replaced by help desks, software-based help or informal learning from co-workers. The study was conducted online in the summer of 2008 and included only organizations with more than 100 employees (2008 Training Industry Report, 2008). Almost half (44%) of those who responded to a survey for Training magazines 2007 Industry Report said that increasing effectiveness was the highest or second-highest priority in training organizations. The report found that since so many organizations are looking for more effectiveness from their training while maintaining a close eye on cost, measuring the impact of training has increased significantly since 2006. That concern accounts for the next-highest priorities in training organizations: cost reduction (29%) and measuring impact (28%), the latter continuing to remain an endeavor for most organizations. Despite the intense scrutiny organizations give to measuring the ROI of training, hard data continues to be elusive, and many organizations measure trainings impact by gauging the easy to measure but less valuable metrics such as volume of completion. Performance management has emerged as a top concern for organizations, partially out of concern with the shortage of talent. Twenty-seven percent of training organizations cited this concern as a top priority in their company. Rounding out the top five learning priorities for training organizations is learning technology and infrastructure, with 24% of respondents citing it as a priority (ASTD, 2007).
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Strategic Insights
Strategic Insights are short descriptions and examples of methods, initiatives and practices that organizations can implement. While this section does not endorse specific practices to the exclusion of others, the information presented here may assist members in generating constructive ideas and solutions for their organizations.
Solid assessment and planning are key to T&D success
Macys uses an 18-month 360-degree assessment process called the Leadership Choice Program to seek upper-level, high-potential leaders. Debbie Freedman, operating vice president of the Leadership Institute at the retail giant, explains that the process requires candidates to complete a questionnaire, and then the individual, his or her boss, direct reports and the employees peers complete an assessment called the Profiler, a series of questions based on leadership behaviors. If accepted into the program, the employee receives results from the assessment that contain specific feedback on his or her strengths and weaknesses and that will be incorporated into the rest of the candidates training. The information helps candidates hit the ground running with a firm grasp on the improvements that need to be made, and the training developers will have concise data on the candidates potential for leadership (Warden, 2008). In a corporate atmosphere in which even change is changing a scenario i4cp terms a turbulent environment John Ambrose, senior VP of strategy, corporate development and emerging business at SkillSoft, notes that agility is paramount to achieve industry leadership and cross-training is key to agility. One way for organizations to achieve this sense of agility is to train employees to be ready to react to unforeseen events and resolve situations quickly. The most effective way to prepare for this, says Ambrose, is by integrating learning with the way employees naturally work. By incorporating continuous bite-size nuggets of targeted learning content such as simulations, sharing relevant aspects of courses or other learning resources, employees would have access to the information they require to resolve unforeseen events and the company would be in a position to align employees learning with the corporate mission. Cross-training will not only give employees the tools to resolve unanticipated situations and make the organization more agile, Ambrose says, it will also help eliminate the stagnation that can arise for workers over time (Ambrose, 2008). An effective onboarding strategy can help organizations improve retention and performance management as well as shorten the time between hiring and productivity, according to All Aboard: Effective Onboarding Techniques and Strategies, by the Aberdeen Group. The report weighed responses from 794 HR professionals and line-of-business managers. It found that, at the time of the survey, about
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The current economic downturn might be a good time for organizations to train and develop employees in anticipation of the reversal.
62% of participating organizations had implemented a formal onboarding process, a number the Aberdeen Group expected to grow to 77% within the year. The study suggests that the onboarding should begin even before the new hire starts work, continue six months into his or her employment and focus on the more human elements such as socialization and enculturation (New Research, 2008). Following a number of failed attempts to lower its recordable injury rate of 4.7 per 100 FTEs, construction company APAC-Missouris director of HR Brett Geger and Chris Schwedtmann, the companys director of environmental health and safety, remained determined to reach a goal of zero incidents. To do so, they implemented radical change, including making the safety training policy proactive rather than reactive. They decided on KL&Ps Safety Culture Management System, and after a six-week period of development, ROADS (Rewarding Outstanding Achievements that Drive Success) was implemented. Participation in ROADS, an interactive e-learning program, offers employees a range of incentives, from T-shirts to high-end merchandise such as iPods and flat-screen TVs, for engaging in a series of safety-related activities. The results were not immediate, something Geger and Schwedtmann attributed to both skepticism of the previous failed programs and employee reluctance to use a computer, something many workers in the company had never done. After a year, however, all but 78 of the companys 685 employees were actively participating in the program. Serious injuries decreased, and the recordable injury rate dropped three points, to 1.7, less than a third of the industry standard. The atmosphere has changed dramatically, and people are taking it upon themselves to improve safety and are not relying on us, Schwedtmann observed (Katz & Kaufman, 2008). The current economic downturn might be a good time for organizations to train and develop employees in anticipation of the reversal, says David Nour, CEO of Be One Now, Inc. The U.S. economy is cyclical, and, when [the economy] comes back, youll be better prepared, better educated, and have better talent. As a result of an economic slowdown and the layoffs that frequently follow, Nour says, there may be more types of certain talent available. He further urges companies to establish a three-pronged approach to human capital during times of economic uncertainty: attracting new talent, retaining your companys top talent and developing your organizations current talent. He adds that a slow economy is a good time for companies to focus on training and development, noting that when everyone is busy, often training takes a back seat (Smith, 2008).
Technology aids T&D innovation

Web 2.0 is spurring innovation and development by tapping into employee know-how. More than 400 employee-generated ideas were posted to Ciscos internal wiki in a period of 18 months, resulting in $3 billion in revenue in what had until then been undiscovered markets. David Wilkins, senior director of product strategy at Mzinga, says that the suggestions on Ciscos wiki came from experts, but that expertise is often known only amongst the workers friends and colleagues and not the corporate hierarchy. According to Wilkins, the role of the expert has changed. By nature, the social aspect of user-generated content opens doors to other social networking and mentoring opportunities. It also allows employees to contribute and take more ownership of learning, as both contributors and consumers, and it subsequently impacts the amount of content generated, which can help move the company to a more entrenched culture of learning and development (Wilkins, 2008).
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To what extent does your organization utilize the following Web 2.0 technologies for learning and to what extent should your organization utilize these technologies?
743 high-level business and HR professionals as well as learning professionals responded to the ASTD/i4cp Web 2.0 Technologies Survey 2008
In fiscal year 2007, the staff of accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) completed 406,700 hours of e-learning using over 1,400 self-directed, virtual courses. PwC facilitated this with its rollout of a time/expense tool requiring that 30,000 employees have access to just-in-time training modules. To accommodate the requirement, PwC built a suite of 28 bite-sized modules available for download of on-demand learning. The modules range in length from three to 15 minutes each. Soon after the launch, the modules were accessed over 26,000 times, resulting in 16% fewer calls to the organizations help line (Training Top 125, 2008). Recruitment and workforce solutions firm Adecco transformed its training platform from classroom-only to a combination of classroom and various methods of e-learning. The company creates a customized training plan for each new hire, a process that begins on his or her first day. The mandatory program outlines about 30 courses, such as recruiting, sales, order fulfillment or customer service, after which the new hire participates in simulations, role-playing and classroom training. The online training takes
about an hour a day over a period of six weeks. The classroom training generally lasts about three days. Depending on the business unit, Adeccos rate of completion of online courses is between 70% and 80%. The industry average is more along the lines of 20%-30%. The reason for this, says Rich Thompson, vice president of training and development and the former Green Bay Packer named as one of the 2008 Top Young Trainers by Training magazine, is the way the program is designed. If you want more training, youve got to finish this [new hire] training first. As a result of this policy, the completion of online courses jumped from just 78 to 65,000 in just one year (Pro-football Player, 2008). Cisco Systems has been using computer games as a method to train its certified network engineers and to enhance productivity. The company found that the engineers would be more effective if they were able to master binary math (the ability to convert between base 10 numbers and binary zeros and ones). In order to facilitate this, Cisco designed a binary game that was accessible for free on its Web site and mobile devices. Not only did the drill-and-repeat game
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successfully resolve what had, until then, been a training concern, it also proved to be a valuable marketing tool at various events at which prizes were awarded to top scorers (Georghiou, 2008). LOreal uses games not only as a method of training but also for recruiting and marketing. The French cosmetics giant uses an online game that is a simulation of a fictitious cosmetics company. Learners play the role of general manager and compete for profits. The value of the simulation has not gone unnoticed. As of 2006, LOreal had recruited 186 of the games top players from 28 countries (Georghiou, 2008). Back in 2006, a senior product support engineer at Intel remarked on his blog that it would be cool if the company utilized a Wikipedia-like platform within the company. Another employee, Josh Bancroft, saw the potential and, using the same open-source software as Wikipedia, came up with Intelpedia. It was an early success, and a mere two years later the site had more than 5,000 authors actively contributing to 20,000 pages, and the site received 200,000 views a day, second only to Intels default homepage. It has been a grass-roots campaign from the start. There was neither a requirement to create nor a requirement to utilize the system. There were just two simple conditions by which to abide: adherence to corporate policy regarding the protection of intellectual property and other sensitive material and a rule that all information be useful to at least one other employee. David Wilkins, senior director of product strategy at Mzinga, notes that the success of Intelpedia raises an interesting question: How much of the information on those 20,000 pages was written by experts? That, he says, depends on how narrowly one defines the word expert, to which he says, Who cares? There are 20,000 pages of content that were not there before, simply because there had not been
a platform, and while Intels training department is undoubtedly impressive, professional and productive, Wilkins notes, it is unlikely that the company could have produced such a volume of work in less than two years (Wilkins, 2008).
Simplifying success measurements can be helpful

Measuring the ROI of training can be a difficult task. The HRfocus Training Survey, released in 2007, asked an unspecified number of respondents what their organization did to measure the ROI of training. The survey found that many of the respondents continue to struggle with establishing specific methods to gauge the success of training programs and secure the solid data that is so critical to many senior executives. One company, an education/medical center with 4,000 FTEs, gauges the success of its training by measuring three elements: fewer employee relations issues, less turnover, and employee satisfaction that is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is excellent. The last survey, which was conducted in 2006, showed a 4.2 satisfaction rating (Training Receives, 2007). A civil engineering/architectural firm with 345 FTEs has found success using a similar method. That companys gauge considers employee retention, customer satisfaction and performance review scores. Retention was a common consideration of measuring ROI in many organizations. A director of training for a homebuilder with 900 FTEs said, In 2007, top leadership has acknowledged that lack of training is contributing to loss of employees and has targeted training for 2008 to help with this problem. The ROI of training is win/win, according to the HR manager of a car rental business: The better trained our staff is, the higher their earning potential is (Training Receives, 2007).
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Scenarios for the Year 2019

We hypothesize that two forces influencing training and development are the level of success of organizations efforts to create a culture of learning and the effectiveness of implementing methods of T&D that provide price-effective, quality training that helps to retain employees. Scenarios are stories about possible futures. They take into consideration the possibility of sharp discontinuities and create a set of alternative stories about what the future could look like. The goal isnt to predict the future but to get managers to challenge their own hidden assumptions about what may occur. In the following set of fictional scenarios, we hypothesize that two forces influencing training and development are the level of success of organizations efforts to create a culture of learning and the effectiveness of implementing methods of T&D that provide price-effective, quality training that helps to retain employees. Many other factors are also relevant, of course, and we encourage managers to engage in their own scenario-building exercises, incorporating information from i4cps Knowledge Centers.
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Scenario One: Culture and Collaboration Converge

Assumptions: Organizations have made creating a culture of learning a priority, and collaboration with outside learning institutions delivers quality workplace learning.
Many organizations have established a learning culture and have corrected the shortfall of skilled workers as well as come up to speed with colleges and universities when it comes to learning. Following the example of respected institutions of higher learning that have long been awarding accredited degrees earned entirely online has proven to be a costeffective, measureable method to successfully deliver workplace learning. Organizations have established formal partnerships with universities, community colleges and vocational schools and offer employees a combination of learning from accredited institutions alongside the mentoring and learning encouragement provided within the company. This more uniform and effective delivery method, along with the knowledge and experience universities offer, creates an unparalleled quality of learning. Employees use the opportunity along every range of training, from certifications to MBAs, and tend to stay with employers longer, making retention less of a challenge for employers.
Scenario Two: Management Embraces Learning Too Late

Assumptions: Cultures of learning are established widely, but it may be too little too late for some companies.
Employers recognize the need to establish a learning culture and invest more significantly in their organizations T&D departments, but the realization has been long in coming, and many organizations are finding that the damage has been done; retention is at an all-time low and turnover rates are higher than ever. One reason some organizations have given for being laggards is the costs associated with a robust T&D program and the impact of time away from work that training sometimes requires. But even companies that used informal mentoring practices recognize that the skills gap left by the departure of quality retirees remains narrow. And employers that established a culture of learning early on transitioned through the Baby Boomer retirement exodus seamlessly, while organizations that dragged their feet are coming up short and losing the war for talent, learning the hard way that investing time and money in T&D is an absolute necessity.
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Scenario Three: Employees Take the Lead

Assumptions: High costs make establishing a culture of learning an extravagance in ongoing tough economic times, but many employees seek training on their own.
Studies have shown that most highly skilled employees want to work for organizations that will offer them ongoing training and development as well as opportunity for advancement. In organizations that have long-established cultures of learning, workers have taken the development of their careers into their own hands because the ongoing economic depression has forced many companies to cut T&D drastically or shutter the departments altogether. But workers keen on improving their skill sets seek out affordable, self-directed learning opportunities on their own. Some companies encourage workers to explore opportunities internally and enlist employees to mentor one another as a cost-efficient alternative to formal T&D. Cooperatives are established internally to function as skill-sharing clearinghouses, and employees meet regularly to share information. Employees who access training outside the workplace are compensated via low-cost rewards such as flexible schedules and extra paid days off.
Scenario Four: Management Misses the Boat

Assumptions: In a Catch-22, management fails to establish a wellrounded culture of learning because of high turnover rates, and workers, feeling stuck, job-hop to get ahead.
Overall budgets continue to be a major concern for U.S. companies. Mandatory compliance training for issues such as data security education and new regulatory practices increase, placing further strain on companies training budgets. Pressure to reduce training costs and avoid investing in training that might go out the door hampers learning officers. The primary policy on training becomes one of pay-on-demand. Companies that do not establish a culture of learning feel the hit by experiencing a high degree of turnover and a noticeable misalignment between the programs offered by the T&D department and the companys overall mission. The retirement boom exacerbates the situation. The informal learning that occurs in a learning culture does not take root, and when retirees exit the workplace, large gaps of knowledge remain. While these gaps are filled with experienced replacements, this experience comes from a plethora of sources, and companies find themselves splintered, with knowledge scattered about the company.
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References
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