A Cornerstone for LearningHard work and informed decisions allow American Infrastructure to construct a foundation for employee success.

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the continuous learning center, which she heads, is not a physical building or location, but the embodiment of AI’s commitment to a core value—the con-tinuous development of its employees. As members of the L&D team, Leitch’s department is primarily responsible for ensuring that AI’s programs reflect adult learning and development principles and best practices, and align with business needs. Most offerings are delivered through the continuous learning center’s corporate university. Lean production principles guide both the company’s operations and L&D program design—assess, act, improve, repeat, and redesign if neces-sary. “This methodology is part of our culture; it’s how we do business,” Leitch explains. “It really helps from an ef-ficiency standpoint. Our L&D programs take a bit longer than most to roll out, but they are better aligned with need and operations when they do.”

By working “harder and smarter,” American Infrastructure is able to manage the learning and development requirements of its heavy civil construction, mining, and materials company, which employs more than 1,700 workers. “Building a great place to work means our organization constantly strives to provide employees with career development opportunities to grow, excel, and succeed,” says CEO Ross Myers. “All of these opportuni-ties are available free of charge to every employee.” Learning and development func-tions are embedded within operations, delay-free production, human resources,

and safety. Professionals from these areas work collaboratively with AI employees at all levels within the organization and with strategic industry partners. Collectively, this group functions as a de facto learning and development (L&D) team, work-ing together to build and deliver learn-ing and development programs. This structure is highly matrixed, and because of the strong commitment to growing its employees, L&D efforts are aligned and synched across the organization. Decisions about learning and per-formance initiatives at AI are made along the intersection points of the matrix and arise from business needs, as revealed through an annual plan-ning process, and from employee needs, that are revealed through an annual opinion survey. “Learning and development at Amer-ican Infrastructure is not about quantity, but rather about quality,” emphasizes Jamie Leitch, career development and training manager. Leitch explains that

American InfrastructureWorcester, Pennsylvania

Photo by provided by American Infrastructure OctOber 2008 | T+D | 67

(Standing) Ross Myers, CEO

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AI leveraged its engineering strengths by developing a few basic templates for learning and perfor-mance programs, and vetted them with key stakeholders across the organization. The templates address design, development, and implemen-tation (drawing heavily upon the AD-DIE model), and ensure that assess-ment data and return-on-investment metrics are built in. “The templates allow us to spend the majority of our time on select-ing our approach and collaboratively customizing our L&D programs,” says Leitch. “They require everyone to make sure that we haven’t missed anything, and allow us to link everything together into a supportive, cohesive design. This in turn makes us better able to achieve support and alignment.” Most (89 percent) of AI’s employees work out in the field. Even so, 65 percent of AI’s employees have documented individual competencies and individual development plans. AI cares deeply about employee satisfaction, development, and retention, and depends on an annual employee survey for feedback. As part of its continual employee satisfaction and retention efforts, AI found that it needed to do more to engage and develop high-potential employees.

The human resources department spearheaded this initiative and vetted everything with the L&D team and key stakeholders to develop a plan of action. A two-part solution was created—the Career Development Roadmap, and a mentoring program that pairs high-potential employees with senior leadership. The Career Development Road-map contains a menu of development items, such as assessments, coaching, development programs, targeted train-ing, job shadowing, and other options, designed to enhance the employee’s career experience. Managers and men-tors received a new tool to assist them in helping these employees create a three- or five-year Roadmap. Results have been impressive. Retention among high-potential employees is now at 92 percent, and performance ratings for these em-ployees have increased 22 percent over prior years. The company plans to roll out these tools and processes to all employees in the future. AI offers eight proprietary certifica-tion programs, as well as “academies” several times each year that allow workers in the same job category to network and share best practices. All of the organization’s senior execu-tives participate in learning events as instructors or facilitators. A recent learning initiative with great impact is the company’s Foreman Development Program. AI’s rapid growth, combined with a limited supply of experienced workers, meant that the company found its bench strength for foreman positions was weakening. Prior to 2006, the company had been using an apprenticeship model to train employees for foreman positions, but this exclusively on-the-job training lacked consistency, standards, and metrics. In late 2006, the field employee re-cruiting, retention, and development department conducted a needs assess-ment and gap analysis and worked with the L&D team and key stakeholders to create a new learning and development model for foreman candidates. This model aligned competencies, train-

ing, assessment, and metrics across the organization and was piloted in early 2007. Elements of the program include

• monthlyclassroomtrainingsessions

• on-the-jobtraining• experientialassignments• peer-learningopportunities• mentoring• psychometricassessment• individuallearningplans.

Post-graduation, participants are supported with ongoing coaching by their supervisors as they transition into their new roles. They participate in a peer group network that meets three times a year as one of AI’s academies, sharing best practices and support. Six-teen employees completed the program in 2007, and 56 are participating in 2008. Leitch sees programs such as this as the key to sustaining organizational results. “The learning function engages in strategic and collaborative design, delivery, measurement, and improve-ment of its programs because we feel that this is the best and most thought-ful way to achieve results,” she explains. This shared commitment to excel-lence is guided by AI’s vision, which is incorporated into every organizational process and is the foundation for every decision. As Ross Myers states, “Through working together we will compete successfully with the best, fastest, and safest competitors in the world, build a great place to work, and leave footprints in our industry.” T+D

“The learning function engages in strategic and collaborative design, delivery, measurement, and improvement of its programs because we feel that this is the best and most thoughtful way to achieve results.”

–Jamie Leitchcareer Development and training Manager, American Infrastructure

LiStEn tO thiS fEatuREat www.astd.org/tD/tDpodcasts.htm

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IKON Office SolutionsThe pendulum that swings between centralized and decentralized training rests comfortably in the middle at IKON Office Solutions Inc., headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. And that’s just fine with James Morrissey, IKON’s regional vice president and general manager, Northeast region. He says it’s fundamental to the company’s business success. In the competitive document management arena, where companies succeed and fail on the performance of their sales teams, IKON is the world’s largest inde-pendent channel for document management systems and services. The company recently decided that the need for responsive and nimble learning from its corporate university called for rethinking how the needs of its salespeople were being met. IKON took a balanced approach within field training, creating a more decen-tralized approach to learning at the U.S. region level, while strictly aligning it with corporate goals. The solution: Move learning and development to a field-integrated function, with sales training specialists in each area responsive to the local direc-tor of sales, while ensuring that all curriculum comes only from the HQ team led by Victor Maciak, director of salesforce development. IKON’s Sales Force Development Program debuted in 2007 with the curriculum designed to meet business goals and provide measurable results, says Morrissey. Examples are two important training programs—the field certification program for new hires, and its sales manager training program—where courses reflect local issues and challenges. In the first 10 months of the certification program, the retention rate and productivity for new hires have increased, and the new management training re-sulted in a reduction in overall sales manager turnover. “We’ve taken our world class instructor-led training and decentralized it so that ownership is retained in the company’s four regional offices, while maintain-ing the consistency at headquarters,” explains Morrissey. “That means greater execution in the field.” Maciak agrees it’s a perfect match. “Training is strictly aligned to business needs and what customers are requesting,” he says. The 25,000-employee company also uses an array of tools within its compe-tency-based performance management system, including annual performance appraisals with imbedded competency (by job type and level) of each employee. Learning programs and opportunities are mapped to the competency matrix. It also employs the People Builder tool, which links each sales competency to learning programs. IKON use several systems to measure and report training activities. Its LMS sys-tem, Training Server, maintains transcripts for all employees and is linked to several delivery systems so that course completions are logged. Live and WebEx training are tracked, and all four levels of the Kirkpatrick evaluation model are applied. IKON’s human resources department is also an important component of the learning equation. It is in constant communication with each region, pursuing a variety of agendas such as a mentor program that identifies high-caliber talent. HR also helps to set training agendas and priority areas critical to development, says Morrissey.

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Air ProductsCulture | Innovation was critical when Air Products and Chemicals’ People College launched a management development program for new managers several years ago. Evaluation feedback indicated that leadership education was needed earlier in the manager’s career. In response, the company launched a Management Fundamentals Pro-gram (MFP) to transition new man-agers. The challenge was to provide consistent learning to employees no matter where they reside. The compa-ny partnered with eCornell and TMC to create MFP—a unique blend of classroom instruction, e-learning, and informal communities of practice. The program is one year in length and has enrolled more than 250 participants from all regions, with the first class graduating in the Fall of 2007. Seventy-two percent of participants rank the training critical for their job success, and 94 percent applied their learning on the job within six weeks.

Alignment | The company establishes a clear line of sight between employee roles and contribution to the com-pany’s success through its Perfor-mance Enhancement (PE) process. PE includes a cascading of goals, manager appraisals, employee development, and human resource planning.

Effectiveness | Air Products and Chemicals’ focus on better business through better learning continues to affect overall company growth. For the first time, the company reached $1 billion in net income on sales of $10 billion; this represents increases of 43 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from 2006.

AlliedBarton Security ServicesCulture | The key to AlliedBarton Se-curity Services’ success is the ability to manage, engage, and inspire its team to greater performance and achieve-ment. As a result, an enterprisewide leadership development strategy—the Leadership Boot Camp—was designed to maximize the potential for personal growth and leverage the opportunity for better relationships and engage-ment with employees. The program was implemented in three stages. The first included a 360 degree leadership analysis, personal coaching, and a virtual reality leader-ship movie in which participants prac-ticed leadership principles and skills. Additional leadership assessments were also taken to understand each employee’s level of engagement. The second stage consisted of a three-and-a-half-day residential pro-gram in which participants engaged with peers in building their personal execution plan. In the third stage, par-ticipants implemented their execution plans on the job.

Alignment | AlliedBarton evaluates its program using Kirkpatrick’s lev-els, Phillip’s levels, and the Six Sigma methodology. The company is also developing a Balanced Scorecard for Learning and Development, which will measure the effect of the Leadership Boot Camp on the entire organization.

Effectiveness | The impact of the Leadership Boot Camp program was captured in the organization’s busi-ness metrics. Year-to-date turnover reduction savings equaled more than $2.2 million. Base employee turnover improved 6.85 percent—equalling $5 million in savings.

B&W PantexCulture | Safety is important to B&W Pantex, the organization responsible for maintaining the security and reliability of the United States’ nuclear weapons stockpile. This year, the company revamped its Lessons Learned (L2) program to accelerate a vital link in the learning process that promotes high safety. L2 programs ensure that workers hear about and learn from safety investigations regarding root causes of accidents or security incidents, to prevent the loss of mindfulness of errors. Video monitors in hallways replay L2 video presentations, and improved color print reports and summary posters lead to higher awareness. Digitally based productions include systemwide email reminders with hyperlinks to full information, quick slide presentations for team leader meetings and safety databases, and an interactive library.

Alignment | B&W Pantex incorporated performance-based training to link learning to individual and organiza-tional performance. The process is industry-compliant and focuses on strategic goals, such as safety and se-curity, and it follows the ADDIE phases of design.

Effectiveness | Even with a 146 per-cent increase in production during the past year, safe performance has improved 88 percent since 2001 in the lost-time case rate, and 82 per-cent in the total recordable case rate. The company’s 2007 safety statistics for recordable and lost time injuries are 50 percent better than the North American Industry Classification System’s industry ratings.

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CheckFree (now a part of Fiserv)Culture | This pro-vider of financial electronic com-merce services and products imple-mented and revamped several learning initiatives this year to ensure that learn-ing objectives were strategically aligned with business goals and metrics. CheckFree created an onboarding excellence scorecard that measures ef-ficiency, quality and attrition, process completion, and associate satisfaction during all phases of onboarding. Process design began with organiz-ing all onboarding activities into dis-tinct tracks, including recruitment and human resource, training, production, transition and mentoring, and reten-tion. Each month, each track presents process improvements to drive both track and overall metrics. Associ-ate surveys and focus groups provide detailed data to drive decision making during process improvement.

Alignment | The scorecard and other learning and performance initiatives are selected and designed based on divisional training needs assessments, annual employee development plans, and the annual talent management process.

Effectiveness | Because of the score-card, participants reported 4.46 on a scale of 5 (an increase from 3.97 the previous year) when asked how prepared they were to perform their jobs as a result of training. And with the program in place for six months, average handle time decreased by 40 percent. CheckFree also entirely redesigned its call center’s new-hire curriculum; this effort was intended to increase customer satisfaction. As a result of these initiatives, CheckFree’s customer satisfaction increased by 19 percent from June to December 2007.

CIGNA CorporationCulture | A critical success factor that drives the health services company is having highly skilled and engaged management that maximizes the full potential of its talent. This year, CIGNA launched learning and development initiatives to tie leadership behavior directly to company performance. A behavior-based learning approach significantly improved the way employ-ees delivered service to customers. This was accomplished by identifying what behaviors made a difference in provid-ing excellent customer service, and by offering structured coaching and reinforcement to all levels of leaders, the learning organization made those behaviors take place, and stick. The learning organization engaged senior leaders in executive coaching sessions. It conducted working ses-sions with midlevel leaders to foster critical behaviors. It also monitored and measured the behaviors of frontline performers and provided them with pin-pointed feedback to help them improve.

Alignment | CIGNA employs two re-porting tools to link learning to perfor-mance. The company’s scorecard links strategic metrics to growth, customer satisfaction, and talent acquisition and retention. The Talent Organziation Dashboard links talent-related metrics to the company’s five Guiding Principles.

Effectiveness | Since implementing behavior-based learning, the company earned outstanding customer ser-vice awards two consecutive years. Its call center metrics also show positive results. Average telephone hold time scores improved by 75 percent, and quality scores increased by 50 percent. Extrapolating these metrics organization-wide, CIGNA could realize efficiencies amounting to $2.9 million.

For this year’s BEST winners, expenditure for tuition reimbursement increased more than 2 percent since 2006, to roughly 11 percent.

4YEArS

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Clarkston Consulting Culture | Onboarding processes are a key measure for an organization to retain talent and engage employees. This 282-member management and technology consulting firm’s processes are overseen by the human resource and training team.

Alignment | In the months between ac-ceptance of job offers and the first day of employee boot camp, the onboarding team, composed of trainers, recruiters, HR reps, and prior boot camp graduates, maintains contact with new associ-ates using a wiki. Through it, company, training, and cultural information, and a discussion blog are made available. Once associates begin employ-ment, they have eight weeks of train-ing, entailing instructor-led classes, e-learning on various topics, a book assignment with discussion, and indi-vidual and team assignments simulat-ing actual projects with real clients. To share their knowledge and experience, the training team arranges biweekly conference calls for new associates. Training is not just a priority for new associates. Consulting Excel-lence is a program for all new senior consultants. Led by firm leadership, components include a two-day off-site immersion course and reading assign-ments. Course topics include team building, facilitating decision making, coaching and mentoring, and per-formance management. The coach-ing and mentoring team observed a 20 percent increase in membership whenever the class was delivered.

Effectiveness | As a result of the on-boarding program, performance rat-ings for first-year associates are very high, and the return-on-investment is significant. Similarly, the coaching and mentoring team observed a 20 percent increase in membership whenever the class was delivered.

CSCCulture | This business and technolo-gy consulting and services firm invests in its training function by sponsoring a learning officer council with repre-sentatives from each operating group within the organization. The CEO sponsored a culture initiative to align the organization with the company’s growth strategy. The learning and development community supported it by examining key leadership skills that would directly support the enterprise strategy. A strategic effectiveness assessment was conducted with the executive team to develop a competency-based leadership success profile to be used across all talent management processes to identify and develop leaders, consistent with the CEO’s vision and strategy.

Alignment | The enterprise approach to leadership transformation leveraged a longitudinal program led by CSC’s Australian organizational development and learning function, incorporating a needs analysis from 30 stakeholder interviews, 20 focus groups, 120 ques-tionnaires, and a review of key docu-ments and previous employee surveys. A change leadership program, designed to transform leaders into change agents, emerged from these efforts. The program comprised three in-person workshops (held over 18 months), along with coaching, as-sessments such as a leadership style inventory, a competency survey, and elements of action learning.

Effectiveness | Results showed that participants in the program had better customer focus and perceived a stron-ger link between their work and busi-ness strategy, which yielded financial returns by year 2.

Learning hours per employee equaled nearly 45 percent for BEST Award winners in 2007.

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FOrUM Credit UnionCulture | This financial organization gave itself a personal challenge when the retail branch division set a goal to enhance customer experience by im-proving every member service agent’s product, process, sales, and service skills. A nine-month consulting rela-tionship between training and retail managers and staff ensued, resulting in the Universal Agent Performance Development Plan.

Alignment | In October 2007, all incoming frontline member service agents began the new process. Participants were given a binder explaining the four-stage program. Each stage contains training classes and performance objectives, to be completed and approved by a manager before progressing to the next stage. The company also started a cross-selling boot camp—training based on an individual’s selling personality—for its frontline employees. Selling personality type (direct, spirited, systematic, and conservative) is determined, and skills are developed accordingly.

Effectiveness | Performance goals for the Universal Agent Development Plan included amount of loans generated, number of personal checking accounts sold, number of business checking accounts sold, and number of refer-rals sent to other businesses. Projected results for the end of 2008 indicate $1.35 million generated in new loans, 810 new checking accounts, 210 new business checking accounts, and 270 new referrals to business lines. Since February 2007, after a total of 75 training hours among all partici-pants twice quarterly, results showed a 27 percent increase between pre- and post-test performance for the cross-selling boot camp.

Farmers Insurance ExchangeCulture | To ensure that customers were the primary focus of its field employees, the California-based in-surance organization created a live customer interactions training meth-odology. Prior to setup, field employ-ees were trained in a classroom setting void of customer input. Revising the training process was an important investment because the company, experiencing solid growth, hires 2,000 entry-level employees each year.

Alignment | The new-hire immer-sion program, launched in May 2007, included industry and job knowledge acquisition, group discussion and peer interaction, job shadowing and peer mentoring, plus live customer interac-tion conducted under close supervi-sion by trainers. Farmers also delivered a cus-tomer data-mining support tool that maps customer needs to solutions and that fosters critical thinking and problem solving skills. A new 5-to-1 student-trainer ratio was also estab-lished for the live interactions training component.

Effectiveness | Prior to implementa-tion of the program, field employees were achieving an average quality score of 87 percent (measuring accu-racy, efficiency, and service), but this increased to 92 percent on their 90-day post-training evaluation, and to 91.23 percent at 180 days, when work increases in quantity and complexity. New-hire turnover also decreased from 16.8 percent to 12.8 percent in 2007, with a salary impact of $1.96 million; it has dropped to 4.5 percent this year.

Managerial and supervisory learning content usage by BEST organizations continued to climb in 2007, to 10.7 percent.

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DatatelCulture | The team mission statement of this software and services company targeting higher education is to drive learning culture by “facilitating perfor-mance improvement.” For Datatel, it’s a natural fit.

Alignment | In 2006, the company formalized a leadership development program (LDP) to provide flexible, relevant development opportunities to the leadership team. In 2007, they ex-panded the program to serve the entire company, adding a mentoring pro-gram for developing new managers. For the LDP, participants must earn 20 credits per year in topics related to leadership competencies (tracked in the LMS), via engagement in activities such as company-sponsored or external courses, conferences, or a book club. Flexibility is crucial since those enrolled possess varying degrees of experience. The new manager-mentor program lasts six months. Each newly promoted manager is matched with a director or vice president mentor from outside her division, with whom she meets twice monthly per stipulations of a du-ally signed agreement.

Effectiveness | Corporate results target 15 percent growth in operating income year over year, combined with a 90 percent overall employee satisfaction rating. In 2006 and 2007, operating income growth was 15 percent, with a 90 percent employee satisfaction rating in 2006, and an 88 percent rating in 2007. Furthermore, 75 percent of leadership team members earned 20 credits in the LDP, and 51 percent of all staff participated in the program.

To learn more about Strayer University’s educated approach to workforce development, call

571.642.2987 or email ann.berger@strayer.edu.

Strayer University wants you and your employees to get the most from an educational investment. That’s why we evaluate your corporate e-learning library and instructor-led training programs to grant the maximum number of comparable college credits. We also grant credits for work/life experience, and maximize transfer credits. Your employees can take online or on campus classes, which helps make our program the most efficient and convenient path to earning a degree.

Strayer University is a regionally accredited, nationally recognized university with more than 115 years of experience in helping full-time employees fit education into their life, and their career.

Strayer University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The Strayer University Educational Alliance program.

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CORPORATE TRAINING.

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LQ Management LLCSuccess in the competitive hotel industry rests to a large degree on the ability of on-site personnel to assure customer satisfaction and loyalty. That’s why training is king at La Quinta Inns and Suites, the fast-growing hospitality firm. It’s also why training takes a decidedly business orientation at parent company LQ Management LLC. Just ask Christina Cemuch, vice president of training and operations development, whose title says it all. “Most important to me is the success of our business, and how training can support it,” says Cemuch. “We take a process-oriented, operational approach to all of our training, communications, and projects.” Cemuch is a member of the Operations Executive Team, which meets annually for a two-day summit where important company goals are set. When designing a new performance solution or presented with a problem, her LQ University team first determines the operational metric to be improved. A solution is then created and piloted, along with a reporting infrastructure so she and colleagues can accurately gauge the initiative-based improvement. “If a training event or solution is not working, we’ll retreat, reassess, and retry with another approach,” says Cemuch, who acknowledges that training isn’t the solution to every problem. Two training initiatives demonstrate this concept best. The company recently implemented a new sales strategy that generates the best available rate for each location based on constantly changing customer de-mand and occupancy. It thus needed to transform the way call center and front desk service representatives sold its hotel rooms and promoted the value of La Quinta hotels. It partnered with Applied Learning Labs Inc, to create an experiential ap-proach to learning for frontline employees. Called “Buddy’s View” programs, they include scenario-based learning games played on a customized 5 × 7-foot Knowl-edge Map created by Applied Learning that depicts a hotel setting. A board game called “Buddy’s View … Sales and Service” engages staffers “in a real-life discussion about the impact of sales and service philosophies on the business,” Cemuch says. The program has spawned several spinoff training initiatives including “Buddy’s Challenge … Prevent It and Solve It,” that includes front desk, housekeeping, and maintenance personnel and which seeks to proactively resolve guest issues before they arise, to quickly address guest problems when they occur, and to increase guest satisfaction. Extensive measurement of Buddy’s View … Sales and Service includes Kirkpat-rick Level 4 (business results), which compares training completion to percent change in service quality and satisfied intent to return (SIR) before and after deployment. Additionally, Buddy’s Challenge … Prevent It and Solve It directly compares the training event to a reduction in problems a guest experiences and problems not resolved to a guest’s satisfaction. The theme is reinforced in weekly “Ask Buddy” communications sent to em-ployees and an incentive awards program designed to solicit helpful suggestions from staffers to improve the business and educate others.

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Gables residentialCulture | To advance the technological skills of Gables associates, the Atlanta-based multifamily property management company provided supplemental tools to enhance the understanding of systems and system upgrades, implementing a job aid flip-card system. Additionally, the learning and development systems support position was created to manage and de-liver virtual ILT systems training and to liaison between IT and learning and development.

Alignment | Gables’ reputation and success relies on sales and service skills, and a large portion of its training effort is devoted to sales. To measure skill level in this area, third-party mystery shoppers are used to conduct in-person, Internet, telephone, and video shops. A new-hire orientation expands on the initial sales training by incorporating online telephone skills training, followed by an interactive ILT sales skills session. Both training and coaching are ongoing, and a system of reward, recognition, and accountability throughout levels helps create healthy competition and internal support.

Effectiveness | “Ten Pledges to Customer Service”—a concise companywide commitment to customers—was designed for customers as well as Gables associates. The pledges are read as a group prior to meetings to keep that focus in mind. To further the effectiveness of the pledges, a virtual ILT was designed around them, leading to new insight into the pledges themselves, plus a renewed approach to providing better customer service. The company plans to conduct a new customer service satisfaction survey this year and expects improved results.

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reliance Industries Limited, Nagothane Manufacturing DivisionReliance Industries is India’s largest business enterprise, with annual revenues in excess of $34 billion. Its Nagothane Manufacturing Division sprawls across more than 2,317 acres and employs more than 2,100 people. A gas cracker combines propane and butane to produce ethylene and propylene, and the site’s eight plants make polymers and chemicals. Monilal Chaudhury, general manager of Nagothane’s learning center, was educated as a chemical engineer and has worked at the plant for 13 years. All of the site’s executives make public statements in support of learning and include learning objectives as part of their performance goals. Formal learning activities, mentoring and coaching, electronic performance support, on-the-job learning, and knowledge sharing are available to all employees. On-the-job learning and knowledge sharing were creatively combined in one of Nagothane’s recent successful learning initiatives. Spurred by rapid company growth and the need for experienced employees to run new lines of business, the plant found itself requiring a shorter learning curve that would bring new engi-neers up to speed more quickly. Chaudhury and his staff identified and trained 51 mentors who would pro-vide accelerated learning for up to three protégés each, working side-by-side with these younger engineers for up to nine months. The mentor-protégé teams work their way through four learning-area modules in each plant, and each module takes about two months. Mentors and protégés are carefully matched based on assessments of the mentor’s training style and the protégé’s learning style. They follow predefined lesson plans for each of the plant modules and record their progress in an online mentoring portal. Site executives, including the president, operations chief, and maintenance chief, track their progress. Through this mentoring program, em-ployee time-to-readiness has been decreased from 12 to six months. Reliance-Nagothane also emphasizes knowledge sharing through its innova-tive new Structural Capital learning initiative. On the learning platform, employees can share their knowledge, successes and failures. They do this by creating two kinds of documents on the portal: scriptural, which include such items as vendor manuals, standard operating procedures, and so forth; and organic (“knowledge created out of experience,” as Chaudhury refers to it), in which templates provide a guide to elicit the learning. The cost to build the portal was $60,000, yet a single avoided plant shutdown last year due to knowledge sharing resulted in a savings of $4.3 million. Chaudhury cred-its the Structural Capital system with overall 2007 savings of more than $8 million. Responsibility for learning and performance is cascaded down through the organization. At the beginning of the year, the Chief Learning Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer Raman Saily determine annual performance and learn-ing goals for the organization, based on business requirements. Site President Sadanand Yadwadkar oversees the effective implementation of policy at Nagothane, and consults with the CLO to set site-specific learning goals. Working with a core committee of senior managers, the site president creates an annual training plan, and the head of learning is responsible for coordinating all learning initiatives. Total integration is key: Learning interventions are provided to ensure that less experienced employees develop the requisite KSAs (knowledge, skills, and attributes) for their jobs. The KSAs are driven by organizational needs, and the training plan is aligned with organizational goals.

ICICI Bank LimitedCulture | Part of ICICI Bank’s mission is to “build a learning culture and enable performance, through world-standard capability-building solutions.” To this end, the company’s various academies cover basic training in corporate etiquette and skills in sales, credit, operations, and collections; business-specific product and process knowledge; skills reinforced by live projects, assignments, and on-the-job training; and certification based on project assessment and e-tests.

Alignment | Decisions about learning and development are made at three lev-els—ethos/standards, goals, and execu-tion. Senior management plays a critical role in articulating the cultural anchors of learning anchors, and learning opera-tions (including partnering with gradu-ate and MBA programs) are carried out jointly by learning and development and individual business groups. Learning and development then executes learn-ing through identifying needs, design, and implementation.

Effectiveness | The firm’s perfor-mance management process is based on the balanced scorecard philosophy, mandating a 10 to 15 percent weightage assigned annually for the learning and development perspective of a balanced scorecard goal sheet. Talent is assessed in a top-down approach, with employ-ees’ leadership potential assessed by designated talent assessment panels. As a result of aligned talent management initiatives, more than 90 percent of 700 senior positions were filled through internal promotions, and middle and senior management attrition fell 50 percent compared to overall rates.

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Grant Thornton LLPCulture | Grant Thornton’s Senior Management Leadership Conference is an intensive two-day session in which learning and leadership devel-opment are expanded to client-serving managers and directors. Participants acquire best practices and absorb key lessons by working in teams to cre-ate a proposal and presentation of a case study. The program’s initial target audience was existing senior manag-ers, and in August, the program was expanded and refocused on newly pro-moted senior managers, developing into a three-day session highlighting exemplary leadership practices.

Alignment | To align personal with organizational success, the company created the performance management program, through which employees establish personal and development goals and understand role expectations. They also obtain performance feedback from a coach and other resources (mentors, reviewers, engagement leadership, practice leaders, upward feedback) over a year, and measure success and achievement via a performance assessment.

Effectiveness | Grant Thornton’s ef-forts have revealed positive results measured by employee engagement and quality surveys, with a firmwide satisfaction index score of 8.54—a strong improvement over previous years. The Client Service Cycle was also introduced in the last year to rein-force behaviors that focus on building solid client relationships and excellent client service.

Charles Hosford & Associates

1507 S. E. 129thPortland, OR 97233

Tel: 503-254-9868Fax: 503-254-9868www.leadout.com

TOP TRAINERSin 48 countries are using this simulation (without translation) to focus on every challenge found in teams:

High performance Team building Decision making Transfer of leaders Financial and time

restraints Intra-team conflict Risk taking Power and influence Leadership styles

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5YEArS

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Toshiba America Business SolutionsHow central is training to meeting the strategic goals of Toshiba America Business Solutions, the U.S. and Latin America division of the electronics giant’s office sup-ply business? Consider that the Education and Development (ED) group reports to the vice president and general manager of the division, not HR. In fact, there is no training department within HR there. The Irvine, California-based company’s ED group has been honored twice pre-viously with ASTD’s BEST Award, for innovations that have since been rolled out to far flung audiences. They included an eight-week indoctrination for new deal-ers and their sales reps (known as SWAT) and a mobile learning offshoot of that initiative, dubbed “Training to Go.” Toshiba is saluted this year for its Leadership, Education, and Development (LEAD) program. First offered to 500 management-level employees to help ensure strategic growth, LEAD was such a runaway success, it was modified for nonman-agement employees. It is available for free to all of the company’s workers, as well as Toshiba Business employees in Australia. “The LEAD program has two goals—to develop customer passion within our employees, and to provide irresistible value to customers,” says Anthony Codianni, the group’s director. Empowering employees to make decisions affecting their am-bitions ensures better customer service, he says. LEAD’s blended learning curriculum combines two- to three-day classroom seminars, e-learning live and online, and mobile learning. The e-learning portion offers 42 web-based courses from Harvard Business School in a custom curricula called the Manage Mentor Program. Courses are offered within 16 specific strategies to help individuals of varying skills meet their personal ambitions, says Codianni. The value of learning is fully demonstated by the LEAD program. It is care-fully designed to link learning back to organizational and individual performance goals. By intertwining LEAD within the company’s quarterly and annual employee appraisal system, the company aligns individual employee growth targets identi-fied by the reviewing manager. “We believe everyone in the corporation can be a leader,” says Codianni. “We want to educate every person in four areas: managing themselves, managing proj-ects, leading teams, and leading business. Four program tracks target those goals to specific experience levels, from frontline contributors to senior executives.” The program teaches employees to think critically, and in the best interest of both customer and company, Codianni says. It also tailors the blended learning approach for each participant—an important consideration in a workplace con-taining four different generations with distinct learning preferences, he says. The Gallup Group conducted a survey and found that those who participated in LEAD had a great engagement score, compared to those who did not. Gallup considers 2 percent as significant, and the LEAD participants had a 4 percent greater score than those who did not attend. Another important link to business objectives is LEAD’s action learning com-ponent, which puts employees’ practical knowledge and experience to work on real business problems. When the ED team was challenged to help grow the brand and market share, they brainstormed with selected management teams to help devise a targeted marketing strategy and then provided specific training to meet its goals. The strat-egy resulted in signing the largest leasing contract in company history.

OctOber 2008 | T+D | 81

Infosys Technologies LimitedCulture | Infosys relies heavily on reliable project management to sustain strong service delivery, so the computer sys-tems design company strived to build proficiency in project execution across all areas of the organization. To that end, the ESTEEM system was created, targeting certification, development of estimation models, and enhanced metrics, as well as placing emphasis on focus groups and assessments.

Alignment | The company uses a balanced scorecard (BSC) mechanism to attain congruence with broader corporate aims. Again, certification plays a major role, as do competencies. A Competency Council defines and publishes competencies for all roles, and to ensure consistency, uniformity, and relevance of competencies on the scale upon which the organization operates, a competency council, consisting of senior business leaders as well as the heads of all the competency units, was created.

Effectiveness | To determine learning’s role in the last year’s successes, Infosys measures productivity and operating margin improvement business unit excellence (ISOP score). The first metric contributed to substantial cost savings and a 15 percent throughput improvement in immigration processing—a critical business need for Infosys. And in the last year, nine busi-ness units received an ISOP threshold score of 450, representing the first time any units crossed that threshold.

82 | T+D | OctOber 2008

OhioHealthCulture | OhioHealth developed education programs for a new hos-pital using a blended approach that maximized technology. The delivery methods included interactive online courses, traditional instructor-led courses, and facilitated labs. Simula-tions were created for the learner to gain real life experiences to be ready when the new facility opened. The organization implemented the teaching of clinical applications us-ing a combination of online courses and hands-on computer labs. Online courses focus on using the applications for patient care with real-life situations.

Alignment | The associate perfor-mance evaluation uses a balanced scorecard approach aligned with the organization’s balanced scorecard, measuring quality, service, quality of worklife, and stewardship. Each quadrant has nationally compara-tive measures and education available through the corporate university. In the quality quadrant, for example, individu-als contribute to organizational goals by completing their regulatory educa-tion on time and by achieving satisfac-tory ratings on job competencies. This translates into continuing accreditation of OhioHealth hospitals and excellent patient outcomes.

Effectiveness | To improve quality and productivity, OhioHealth evaluated products and services, including courses for clinical support staff, teaching computer clinical applications, customer service, and interpersonal communication skills. The training entailed two weeks of classroom instruction and two weeks with a preceptor. They targeted the classroom instruction for improvement and the redesign involved a performance approach using blended learning experiences, and course duration was reduced from 10 to 3.5 days.

North Mississippi Health ServicesCulture | North Mississippi Health Ser-vices implemented a communication model known as AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, and Thank You). AIDET requires patient care workers to introduce themselves, greet the patient by name, explain when the physician will examine the patient, and thank them for choosing the organization. The communication model was introduced in the emergency services department, which registered low patient satisfaction scores. As patient satisfaction improved, implementation throughout the organization was begun. A manager assesses performance on a standard form. The competency is now part of each employee’s annual review.

Alignment | Learning to be more responsive was required of senior lead-ers as well. In 2005 the organization implemented the servant leadership philosophy. An authority on the topic led senior leaders through the process of becoming servant leaders. Leaders were more accessible, and employees became more engaged. Servant leader-ship was expanded to 700 leaders, with plans to include future leaders. In April 2007, learning officials implemented a quarterly educational program known as QED Leadership Sessions, as a learning session for all servant leaders. For the leaders who recently began the servant leadership journey, QED is a motivating and in-formative session.

Effectiveness | The organization’s retention rate is 92 percent, while patient satisfaction rates are 87 percent for in-patients and 84 percent for out-patients in 2007.

Marvin Windows and Doors of TennesseeCulture | To align new-hire orientation with company goals, a program needed to address the fact that principles, concepts, and systems taught during the new-hire orientation needed to be reinforced on the job and that associates were in need of a better understanding of basic skills required on the job. In response, the training department expanded the traditional eight-hour/one-day classroom orientation to a 24-hour/three-day format. As a result, 2007 associate competency scores increased over 29 percent from the previous year.

Alignment | Marvin incorporates a “probationary or transferred associ-ate progress report,” completed by a team leader or manager after the first 90 days on the job. Performance fac-tors on the report are broken down into categories including safety habits, dependability, quality of work, and judgment. Improvement plans help to counter any performance deficiencies.

Effectiveness | In 2007, 83 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their employment with the company. Ninety-four percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend the company to their friends as a great place to work; 71 percent agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the level of on-the-job training they received. This figure is up from 67 percent in 2006. Overall in 2007, there was a 29 percent increase in associate satisfaction levels with their training over the previous year.

OctOber 2008 | T+D | 83

Perkins+Will Culture | Perkins+Will committed itself to the 2030 Challenge, which involves designing buildings that reduce emissions profiles by 50 percent immediately while pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. Company leaders sought LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accrediation for every design profes-sional. An intense training program was implemented including in-house classroom sessions, webcasts, and coaching. Ac-creditation is a requirement for promotion and bonus distribution.

Alignment | A third of the appraisal process is devoted to learning and development. Part of the outcome of this evaluation is a learning and development plan for each employee. Each employee has a personal portal through his LMS. Design pro-fessionals require many continuing education hours to maintain licensure, so tracking is essential.

Effectiveness | The company changed its core platform for building information modeling from traditional CAD programs to a new software program called REVIT. The new program reduced costs by as much as 30 percent. Developing and delivering training internally is specific to business processes in the team environment. This just-in-time training allows professional staff to use the software immediately after completing a three-day class and provides the ability to focus on project-specific training and advanced topics. This approach has cut time-to-readiness by two months, and increased the number of skilled users from five to more than 600.

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84 | T+D | OctOber 2008

ScottradeCulture | In 2007, the finance and insurance company implemented a training program for new brokers. Associates previously expressed dissatisfaction with their initial training, so a new program was created, providing brokers with 13-day training that prepares them to take calls and answer e-mails by their fourth week. New brokers observe veteran brokers taking calls and answering emails, and engage in role-play sessions with a broker acting as a client. They complete an exam that en-ables review of any knowledge gaps, and on the last day, a team leader observes the trainee taking calls, and a supervisor assesses whether the new broker is ready.

Alignment | Job knowledge and skills make up 20 percent of the annual per-formance review. Scottrade provides additional support by paying for job-related certifications, study materials, and paid time off for testing. Performance is tracked through customer satisfaction surveys. Phone call review and complaint/compli-ment logs monitor performance.

Effectiveness | New accounts increased 12 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to 2007. The company tracks ROI by studying metrics that tie into employee satisfaction. Turnover has improved markedly—from 13 to 9 percent from 2006 to 2007. Employee promotions are up, from 29 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2007. Associates are provided more feedback on performance, and a quarterly review system was introduced. Associates are asked to set goals that link to department goals and to companywide strategic objectives.

The Schwan Food CompanyCulture | The Con-tinuous Improve-ment Leader Certification Program was launched in 2007 to develop leaders who will be change agents within business units. Partici-pants from middle management are selected based on learning agility, en-thusiasm, and leadership abilities. The program is based on the prem-ise that students need practice and opportunities to practice in safe en-vironments. Participants acquire lean management techniques, and teams tackle actual business problems and develop 90-day implementation plans.

Alignment | The learning unit receives the majority of its funding the year prior to the launch of new solutions. The learning unit president and direc-tors discuss progress on current plans and ideas for future strategies with the executive board in monthly meetings. The president and unit leaders meet regularly to discuss how each project supports broader business strategies. The requested initiative follows stages of review most often completed by a learning specialist with instruc-tional design skills.

Effectiveness | When project requests increased in 2007, the learning unit was reorganized into four smaller teams to achieve greater efficiency. Work was assigned to teams rather than individual contributors, which re-duced content development cycle time and content development costs. Online course completion rates have also increased following strate-gic marketing campaigns highlighting new course offerings.

In 2007, self-paced print delivery of learning at BEST organizations surpassed self-paced non-networked computer training delivery (CD-rOM programs for example).

6YEArS

OctOber 2008 | T+D | 85

UPSCulture | A new franchise development program offers blended learning opportunities across multiple platforms to help new store owners gain the necessary business skills to find success. More than 30 web-based training modules cover the nuts and bolts of store management. To teach financial acumen to new owners, UPS completely redesigned a lecture-based program into an eight-day blended learning program that includes learning maps, simulations, and discovery learning. A hands-on program for drivers is aiding in increased driver retention.

Alignment | A quality performance review system—the primary performance evaluation tool for management—helps managers monitor the performance of direct reports. When developing learning and performance initiatives, UPS bases its training content development on an enterprise strategy that consists of the company vision and four strategic imperatives—value-added solutions, customer focus, enterprise excellence, and winning team.

Effectiveness | Two training programs help drive growth by leveraging customer relationships and taking accountability at all steps of the shipping process. Take Charge encourages employees to seek out volume growth in the daily business interactions and outside their work environment, and International Shipment Acceptance Training provides driver service providers with the tools they need to accept a complete and correct international shipment.

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OctOber 2008 | T+D | 87

WachoviaCulture | With 95 percent participa-tion in classes, workshops, and online courses, employees are finding the time to increase their knowledge and skills through formal learning events. A streamlined mortgage loan process and just-in-time leadership develop-ment webinars on hot topics have linked learning initiatives to the orga-nization’s business goals.

Alignment | By integrating the com-pany’s learning management system and a newly acquired performance management system, the core HR processes were centralized and made more accessible and user friendly. With the integration of the two systems, managers and employees can now ac-cess performance and development plans at any time through the intranet.

Effectiveness | Learning initiatives had a direct correlation to improved productivity and employee retention. A Teller TEAM Academy curriculum—which consists of orientation, observa-tion, multimedia, skill practice lab, and apprenticeship—is part of a new-hire training program and has decreased new hire turnover by 11.9 percent. A wholesale banking associate program assigns a mentor to each associate to help them master work-related knowl-edge and skills. To assess whether to outsource sev-eral business processes, a toolkit was created with templates and question-naires to help project managers iden-tify the subject matter expert needed (process or contextual), time required to do the project, and training needed. The toolkit cut travel expenses in half by ensuring efficient and effective use of SME resources.

UT-BattelleOak ridge National LaboratoryCulture | All of UT-Battelle’s more than 4,300 employees take advantage of the company’s formal training programs, electronic performance support, and on-the-job learning. The company de-signed user-friendly training courses for SharePoint Services 3.0 software. As part of a SharePoint portal on the com-pany’s intranet home page, employees can access their own page that gives updates on what training is needed. This tool helped employees address 3,250 training requirements.

Alignment | An integration of 22 management systems helps support the company’s mission by translating laws, orders, directives, policies, and selected best practices into 150 companywide subject areas containing step-by-step procedures. Employees can use the tool to help them perform their work functions in compliance with federal, state, and local safety regulations.

Effectiveness | Through implementation of a three-year process to measure the organization’s climate and degree of employee engagement, a confidential employee survey helped managers provide feedback, which improved individual and group performance and employee retention. “Engaged” employees rose from 31 percent to 38 percent, while “disengaged” employees dropped from 18 percent to 13 percent.

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88 | T+D | OctOber 2008

robert W. Baird & Co.When a new associate is hired at financial services firm Robert W. Baird & Co., the welcome mat includes a bouquet of flowers, a tailored orientation, and lunch with managers. The personalized treatment is aimed at ensuring a sense of inclu-sion, a guiding philosophy at Baird extended to associates and clients alike.The philosophy also governs every aspect of Baird’s training and development efforts throughout its five business units, says Elizabeth Kavelaris, senior vice president and director of Baird University. “We’re committed to training financial advisors from the outset. It’s a learning culture sparked by a spirit of continuous improvement, energy, and fresh innovative thought.” An onboarding process for new associates provides a potpourri of learning re-lated requirements and opportunities to acclimate them into Baird’s culture and businesses. Assessments and evaluations, workshops, formal classes as well as informal coaching are all part of the regimen. Highlights include

• asix-monthnewfinancialadvisorprogramfeaturingfourphasesofalterna-tive in-class development and field work. Advisors are given specific first-, second-, and third-year performance goals, with continual grading, monitor-ing, and feedback by their managers. The results are impressive. “We have an unusually high one-to-three year retention rate of 55 percent compared to the industry average of 20 percent,” says Kavelaris.

• theProfessionalDevelopmentForum—athoroughlearningexperienceabout the business conducted at Baird’s Milwaukee head quarters. It offers panel discussions with Baird’s senior executives from all business units, breakout sessions on topics such as communications skills and project management, and a Q&A session with Baird’s Chairman, President, and CEO Paul Purcell.

• avarietyofdinnereventshostedbyrepresentativesfromallareasofthecompany. One event puts associates in client-facing roles, which enhances entertaining and etiquette skills.

“Everything we do is driven by what’s happening in the business today,” says Leslie Dixon, Baird’s chief human resources officer. Rapid growth and expan-sion, new expectations from clients, and an increasingly diversified workforce are among the trends that impact learning and development, she says. For example, a new vendor-provided diversity training course called Managing for Excellence was recently added to address changing demographics and talent shortages. Every associate will eventually participate in the class, within groups of 25, each addressed by a managing director. Success of the popular course is scrutinized through manager performance reviews and accountability of senior executives to the concepts of inclusion, says Dixon. Baird employs a financial advisory team concept to service its private wealth management clients, resulting in more comprehensive solutions to individual client needs. It is supported by rigorous and continual training aimed at system-atizing expertise in their practice, defining specific roles and responsibilities, and developing strategies for business expansion. “What sets Baird apart from others in the industry is our commitment to mea-suring training success,” says Dixon. For example, production data from advisory teams is carefully tracked, supplemented by evaluations and interviews with branch managers concerning behavioral change and best practices. The result: Teams that received the training have less than a 3 percent attrition rate, compared with the industry average of 50 percent, says Baird.

OctOber 2008 | T+D | 89

WakeMed Health & HospitalsCulture | To improve both nurse recruitment efforts and overall staff satisfaction, the company integrated the Nurse Extern, Nurse Scholar, and Nurse Fellowship programs. This inte-gration helps student nurses who move through the program to receive sup-port, guidance, and proper education. The organization promotes more than 65 percent of its leaders from within. The launch of a leadership academy will ensure that there is a full pipeline of prepared leaders. A tiered approach—management pathways for nonmanagement employees, management orientation, management academy, leadership pathways, and executive pathways—ensures that there are experienced leaders at all levels within the organization.

Alignment | A full copy of the com-pany’s strategic plan is available to all employees on the intranet. In that plan, there are more than a dozen ref-erences to employee development and education, and several programs are facilitated by the executive leadership, including an organizational finance series and new employee orientation.

Effectiveness | The turnover rate in 2007 was 10.68 percent—down from 11.4 percent in 2006 and almost 5 per-cent below the national average of 15.6 percent. More than one third of the retention initiatives implemented by the organization since 2004 have had a learning focus. The Nurse Extern, Nurse Scholar, and Nurse Fellow-ship programs helped increased the retention rate of new nurse graduates. Employee satisfaction scores increased in 2007 because of employee educa-tion, training, and career development opportunities.

Wipro LimitedCulture | To sustain a 35 percent growth rate, three new businesses were created. To leverage the availability of limited talent, the head of each busi-ness unit identified five subject matter experts to teach new recruits at the company’s learning academy. Another initiative, the Fundamental Readiness Program, puts new recruits through a three-week program while they are still in their final year of schooling. That gives recruits a head start in the orga-nization and created goodwill at the different universities where recruits were attending.

Alignment | The organization uses a competency framework as the anchor for driving individual and organi-zational performance. There are 14 behavioral competencies and nine quality competencies that shape recruitment, staffing, training, and HR processes. During performance appraisals, employees are assessed on these competencies. The organization also has an assessment center to help measure the competency levels and ef-fectiveness of training.

Effectiveness | A future manager pro-gram, aimed at building behavioral competencies of employees, took off during 2006-2007. More than 200 em-ployees were certified as future man-agers in the first year. That number rose to 600 in the second year. Service Academies helped new employees as-similate into their jobs quicker (from 180 days to 155 days). These acad-emies catered to the special training requirements of their job functions, es-pecially the practical application skills.