Google's LEARNING IN THE CLOUD

On February 9, I attended ASTD-San Francisco’s 2011 series "The Future is Now" Series: #2 - The Future of Leadership Training. In a brief two hours, I experienced an interactive session to learn about the future of leadership development. Julie Clow, Learning & Organizational Development Manager of Google (photo), gave a captivating and stimulating presentation by that got my creative learning wheels spinning. Let me start by describing the philosophical and practical differences Goggle University employs vis-a-vis the current, or shall I say, “traditional-eLearning-blended-learning” approach.

Google University calls their leadership program gLearning at Google (Learning in the "Cloud"): Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork. The reference to the “Cloud” (i.e. SaaS, PaaS and IaaS applications) immediately sets gLearning apart and is the heart and soul of the delivery mechanism for Google University. 

Below is a simple comparison of typical eLearning and Google’s learning in the Cloud approach:

Here is a bulleted summary of Google’s Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork (FLT) program:

Commitment:

• Total = 19 hours
• Self-paced work: ~3 hours/week for 4 weeks = 12 hours
• Debrief sessions: 2-hour launch; three 1-hour weekly debrief sessions;
• 2-hour conclusion = 7 hours

Program Length:

• Content spread over four weeks, one module per week

Program Content:

• Launch: Leadership@Google
• Week 1: Self Awareness
• Week 2: Self Management
• Week 3: Teaming
• Week 4 and Conclusion: Influence and Leading Up

Context:

• Clear alignment of learning objectives with competencies/skill gaps;
• Clear connection to "What's in it for me?"

Content:

• Free off-the-shelf content (YouTube, EBSCO Business articles)
• Internal content (Knols, Wikis, etc.)
• High-quality leadership content (Assessments, PDI Ninth House courses)

Organization:

• Build progression of content
• Moving Knowledge Engine to pace activities to individual learners

Community:

• Synchronous and asynchronous collaboration components to foster the exchange of ideas among participants

Testing/Assessment:

• 360-degree behavioral assessments, eLearning quizzes, pre/post tests

Currently, the FLT program has completed two pilot programs; Julie Clow and the Google FLT group have carefully documented the results. The initial Pilot 1 achieved 83% completion and the next iteration Pilot 2 had 93% completion – great results demonstrating strong participant interest, motivation and professional growth. I am looking forward to seeing future iterations of Google's FLT program. I believe Learning in the Cloud is here to stay.

There are many more details about Google’s FLT Learning in the Cloud, which are not included in this blog. Information is available at http://bit.ly/glearning or add a comment to this blog post.

Empowered Learning - A Telecom Transformation

http://tinyurl.com/4lfseug

Tara Deakin, VP of Learning and Enablement, has shown cutting-edge success in changing the learning culture at Rogers Communication. Since she began in 2002, with a staff of ten (now 200), Deakin has racked up impressive gains in learning productivity and efficiency. One clear example is the new call center where new employee productivity is up from 40% to 80% of a tenured employee in 60 days instead the previous 180 days. This translates into a significant 10 percent cost reduction per developed training hour last year. That currently amounts to $59 per hour of training costs , and Tara is planning on another 10 percent reduction in the coming year. That is significant when you train 100,000 employees per year.

Empowerment of the employee has driven Deakin’s learning approach. The learning environment at Rogers has shifted from compliance (formalized) learning to reference (informal) learning. She seeks to position training and learning to enable the employee to become successful, something every employee wants. The shift is to informal, unstructured learning “driven by technology and social learning”.

Theses informal, personal and relevant learning activities are the core of what is Rogers Communications calls the R-Tube. While R-Tube still incorporates traditional e-learning, R-Tube breaks down the learning curriculum into smaller “nuggets”, which allow the learners consume on demand - without registration, without formal tracking or compliance activity. The result of this is that Rogers can see what courses and content are valuable and most relevant to the employees. This allows cost savings in course design and development. “By breaking the course apart, we were able to see the knowledge they were hungry for and what they needed to do their jobs,” Deakin says. R-Tube allows the learner to even generate their own content and teach others.

Tara Deakin has done a wonderful job of transforming Rogers Communication into a more efficient and productive learning organization. I look forward to seeing what advances she will make in her future onboarding, retail sales and call center roles.

Source:  Chief Learning Officer - January 2011

Engaging, Enabling and Rewarding Employees

Keeping productive and innovative employees is vital for businesses to maintain a strong competitive edge. New-hires, according to the HayGroup, cost business 100%-150% of the cost of the employee’s salary. The HayGroup’s excellent presentation to the NCHRA Tri-Valley Chapter November 10 at ADP on the business advantages of “Engaging, Enabling and Rewarding Employees” developed some significant conclusions to apply to an employee engagement action plan. Here are some key research-based, data points to consider.

The center of the engagement discussion begins with these definitions:

(1) Engaging Employees

·  The commitment employees feel toward their organization and

·  The employees’ discretionary effort... their willingness to go the extra mile for the organization

(2) Enabling Employees

·  An empowered work environment where there is no fear to speak up, to offer suggests and to dream of innovations

(3) Rewards

·  Short-term tangible rewards

·  Long-term intangible rewards

The results of the HayGroup normative global study comparing Engagement Only vs. Engagement + Enablement revealed a strong advantage for Engagement + Enablement:

·   Employee performance rose from 10% to 50% above performance expectations

·  Employee retention rates increased from 40% to 54%

·  Customer satisfaction rates increased from 71% to 89%

·  Revenue growth increased from 2.5x to 4.5x expectations

Clearly, combining Employee Enablement + Employee Engagement practices adds greatly to a business’ competitive edge.

The leading ROI advantages of combining Enablement + Engagement are impressive.  The top responses from the HayGroup corporate surveys are:

·  53% - Created a more positive work culture

·  46% - Better work collaboration and relationships

·  40% - Better customer relationships

·  40% - increased financial performance

·  38% - Created a competitive edge

·  39% - Reduced turnover

·  36% - Reduced complaints on pay fairness

Here are the complete table responses:

           

In the area of Short-Term (tangible) Rewards, employees rated rewards as of HIGH importance:

·  54% - Short-term incentives (SPIFFs) or bonus programs

·  48% - Benefits and perquisites

·  42% - Base salary increase

·  41% - Base Salary

·  32% - Long-term incentives or bonus program

·  32% - Financial recognition programs

Incentives and bonuses, benefits and perquisites are the standouts for short-term, tangible rewards for employees.

For Long-Term (intangible) Rewards, employees rated these attributes as of HIGH importance:

·  69% - The nature of the job or quality of the work (significant, gratifying work)

·  61% - Work environment or organizational climate

·  59% - Career development opportunities

·  55% - Work-life balance

·  37% - non-financial recognition programs

  

All of these long-term “reward” attributes are strong magnets to retaining top talent in any business.

Another interesting bit of research data is that current employee involvement in reward program is low. Reward program participation rates are as follows:

·   Program Design – 80% seldom or never participate

·  Program Implementation – 79% seldom or never participate

·  Program Evaluation - 79% seldom or never participate

There is lots of room here for “enabling” the employees to get involved in the rewards program design, implementation and evaluation.

In conclusion, the HayGroup has developed their Top Ten List of action items for businesses:

ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITIES

1.    Make a business case for engaging employees

2.    Measure and monitor engagement with feedback and surveys

3.    Take action on feedback and survey results

4.    Make everyone responsible for engagement

5.    Connect people with the future

REWARDS PRIORITIES

6.    Go beyond compensation and benefits to a total rewards mindset

7.    Include employees and managers in reward design and launch

8.    Tailor total rewards to workforce segmentation

9.    Use engagement metrics in performance criteria

10. Communicate the value of your enabling, engagement and rewards environments

All diagrams and information used with copyright permission from the HayGroup.

For further information about the HayGroup study “Enabling, Engaging and Rewarding Employees,”

Contact:

Sara Wells                                                      Joe McNeal

HayGroup (San Francisco)                              HayGroup (San Francisco)     

sara.wells@haygroup.com                             joe.mcneal@haygroup.com

415-644-3718                                                  415-644-3727

Retaining Talent in the Coming Recovery

Now that many business leaders are cautiously optimistic about the US economy, some senior business leaders are starting to take steps to grow their profits and re-hire/expand their workforce. In the recent economic down turn, many businesses including the largest global Fortune 100 companies have, in my opinion, beaten their quarterly earnings expectations by reduction in workforce measures. They have maintained their profitability by cutting the work force cost rather than significantly growing their productivity and sales. I am not arguing against senior leadership’s decision to do this but rather just stating how it is. Therefore, the current cadre of employees and top talent has had to and continues to endure taking up the workload of their former colleagues. Although current employees are glad to have a job, I believe they are likely to start looking for other career opportunities because of this greater workload stress (maybe a 150% greater workload in some cases). So, who would not seek relief from their high-pressure job? Whatever the increased workload, they are ready to seek a better work-life environment. Leaving is an option, but better for everyone is to seek ways to retain them.

One tool I recently came across to retain their workforce and top talent is The Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey – Answers to the 25 questions every senior leader wants to know right now. The survey is a professionally designed survey composed of Towers Watson-validated questions, hosted on their secure platform. Some of the features include:

• Comparison with world-class benchmarks to provide context from other companies confronting the same challenges.
• Executive action sessions, engaging senior leaders in building a focused action plan
• An interactive results reporting tool for in-depth exploration of all results

Here are some sample questions and corrective solutions provided by Towers Watson:

I think this tool is very promising in meeting the challenge of retaining top talent as our economic recovery slowly begins. I wish you success in being ready and prepared to retain your top talent.

Source and contact information:

Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey” http://www.towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/1869/TowersWatson-Recovery-Readiness-2pg-v2.pdf

Adam Zuckerman adam.zuckerman@towerswatson.com +1 312 828 9725