Outlook

Point of View
December 2010, No. 1
Talent & Organization Performance

Ten enterprise learning imperatives for a new generation of business challenges

By Norbert Bning and Barbara Coull Williams
Norbert Bning is the executive director responsible for learning and collaboration offerings with the Accenture Talent & Organization Performance service line. norbert.buning @accenture.com Barbara Coull Williams is the global lead for Accenture HR and Learning BPO Services. barbara.c.williams @accenture.com

Rocked by economic duress, workforce layoffs and massive change on a global level, most organizations todaywhether public companies or government agenciesare facing the overwhelming task of reassembling the capabilities they need to meet a new generation of challenges. This puts enormous responsibility on the enterprise learning function. Is yours ready? New marketplace realitiescontinued cost pressures, increased competition, rapid industry change and the global nature of the workplacecreate new imperatives for how enterprises link learning to strategy, how they make more productive a multi-generational workforce and how they source and deliver effective learning and collaboration. Based on Accenture experience and research, 10 imperatives in particular should be priorities for todays executives.

courses completed, but job impact and performance outcomesand rewarding people based on positive results. It also depends on putting structures in place that continuously align learning programs with timely business needs.

2. Plan and execute learning programs based on a human capital strategy

Another way companies can improve the impact of their enterprise learning functions is to ensure that programs are managed within the larger context of a human capital strategy. Learning is an important thing, but its not the only thing. The return on learning can improve dramatically if it is integrated with functions in the broader human capital landscape such as recruiting and rewards, competency modeling, leadership development, culture change and organization design.

1. Manage learning according to business impact

Innovative learning experiences are great; so are leading-edge technologies. What matters even more, however, is the business impact of your learning investments. Are you serving customers more effectively? Are sales up? Are you attracting and retaining better performers? Many organizations aim too low when they consider the outcomes of enterprise learning. Cost savings in learning budgets are important, to be sure. However, when companies look to greater levels of valueto increased workforce productivity or to increased revenuesthe return on investment in learning can be in the triple-digit range. Improving the business impact of learning depends on measuring the hard things: not just numbers of

3. Leverage learning to rapidly re-skill critical workforces

Many companies are experiencing skill shortages, in part due to high retirement rates and in part because of innovations that require advanced capabilities. Although unemployment rates are high, many within the potential labor pool do not have the skills and experience needed to fill open positions. This situation calls for innovative efforts to re-skill current employees to take on new roles. Improving the abilities of the external labor pool is also part of the re-skilling strategy, often involving unique partnerships with universities and community colleges. For example, Accenture recently collaborated with one US state government on a community college program to train and qualify more than 8,000 workers for aircraft manufacturing and assembly jobs. The program helped learners reach proficiency quickly,

supported local industry and kept valuable jobs within the state. Good for people, good for business and good for the tax rolls.

7. Deliver anytime, anywhere learning

No other technology is reshaping business and society today more than mobility. Mobile technologies now reach more than 5 billion people worldwide. As mobile devices become increasingly sophisticatedmore like small computers than phonesit only makes sense to deliver learning experiences on them. Mobile learning can transform downtime into productive time. It can also increase performance and productivity. For employees in the field, mobile capabilities represent an always-connected source of business and customer intelligence. And mobile applications give executives real-time access to critical enterprise information they need to make better decisions.

rates elements of competition to stimulate interest and better retention.

4. Integrate analytics into learning

Leading-edge analytics methods and tools can significantly increase the efficiency of learning design, development and delivery by highlighting redundancies or programs that are not delivering sufficient value to the business. Analytics also can help executives quickly identify performance deficiencies or, even more important, where the success stories are within their companies. One retailer, for example, used an analytics approach to figure out why certain employees at some stores were top performers, and then it pushed relevant learning experiences to other stores to improve their sales performance.

10. Use an academy model for critical skills and workforces

Right now, within your organization, you probably have one or two types of workforces you consider especially critical to your ongoing successsales and finance, perhaps, or R&D. Whatever that specific workforce, it needs specific skills that are consistently and competently delivered. An academy model for enterprise learning can meet that need. An academy creates a highly-focused and relevant environment for critical workforces, functions or stakeholder communities. It provides a comprehensive virtual training curriculum across disciplines. Microsoft, for example, uses an academy approach for its sales force; PepsiCo uses it for its finance function.

8. Create learning chains that integrate formal and informal learning

In the real worldnot the world of advanced theory or conference presentationsmost organizations learning budgets are still allocated to formal, classroom-based learning. However, study after study shows that only a small percentage of the essential skills people need to do their jobs comes from such formal training. The vast majority of those skillsmore than 70 percentcome from interactions, on-the-job experience and watching others. The answer isnt necessarily to do away with formal learning. Rather, its to create what Accenture calls learning chains: a variety of reinforcing experiences linked together over time to improve retention and encourage behaviors that support business goals.

5. Drive operational excellence through better sourcing strategies, including business process outsourcing
The need to keep costs as low as possible isnt going away anytime soon. Fortunately, new sourcing strategies and innovative governance and management approaches for enterprise learning can help. For example, an increasing percentage of both private- and public-sector organizations are outsourcing all or some of their learning function. Learning BPO can drive efficiencies and better performance through higher quality and faster time to competency, as well as generating cost savings thanks to variable pricing. The result is an enterprise that can be more nimble in the face of market change.

This is an exciting time to be in the human capital and learning fields. The challenges have never been steeper, but the opportunities to deliver real business impact have never been greater. Organizations have an urgent need for their enterprise learning function to step up to higher levels of responsibility. These 10 learning imperatives can help the entire business forge a clearer path to high performance.

6. Create opportunities for social and collaborative learning

No man is an island, runs a famous line; similarly, no member of the workforce learns alone. Increasing numbers of organizations are leveraging so-called social learning and collaboration toolsincluding portals, wikis, blogs, social networks and media sharingto harness the collective intelligence of their organizations. Social learning can promote deeper levels of learning and retention, improve employee engagement and increase the speed and scalability of learning solutions. Its also a proper response to generational change: younger workers have been profoundly affected by networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Organizations ignore the potential of these kinds of social media applications at their peril.

Outlook Point of View December 2010, No. 1 Copyright 2010 Accenture All rights reserved. The Outlook Point of View series offers insights about leading trends and innovations across all industries. David Cudaback, Editor-in-Chief Craig Mindrum, Managing Editor Jacqueline H. Kessler, Senior Editor For more information on Point of View and other Outlook publications, please visit our website: http://www.accenture.com/Outlook Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. This document makes reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks. The views and opinions in this article should not be viewed as professional advice with respect to your business.

9. Exploit gaming and simulations to engage learners and improve retention

Gaming and performance simulations refer to an immersive learning experience, one that mimics the actual workforce environment and thus allows learners to apply knowledge and skills in a fail-proof environment. You dont teach customer service skills out of a textbook; it takes practice. At the same time, you dont want a new service agent practicing with an actual customer on the phone. A simulation lets workers try their wings a bit before their first live conversation. Simulations dont have to be expensive. Role playing (sometimes called theater-based simulation) can also be effective. The point isnt necessarily to be technology intensive. Its to offer a simulated environment that incorpo-