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Developing a Corporate Learning
Strategy
By Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas
What benefit does your organisation derive from training and development?
Do they contribute to key business objectives such as winning new business?
Does anyone actually know how much is being spent on them? Is anyone happy
with the methods used to evaluate outcomes? If all existing courses were
closed down would customers notice or care?
Now is a good time to ask such questions. Training and development are
at a watershed. Many existing courses and facilities are coming to the
end of their useful lives. There are new approaches to learning and knowledge
management to consider, emerging technologies to evaluate, and collaborative
opportunities to assess.
Those responsible for corporate learning face multiple choices and challenges.
Should a corporate university be set up? How might a corporate intranet
best be used? Could business development and the processes of value and
knowledge creation be better supported?
Certain options go to the heart of current operations. Should training
and development be a revenue centre or a distinct business? Could particular
activities, or the whole function, be outsourced? What would be lost if
‘central training’ were closed down?
A two-year investigation of corporate learning plans and priorities has
examined these and other questions. It included corporate visits and 69
individual and structured interviews with those responsible for the training
and development of some 460,000 people. The results are summarized in
the report ‘Developing a Corporate Learning Strategy’ (1).
The findings are sobering, if not depressing, and demand urgent attention.
Many courses have passed their ‘sell by’ date. At the same
time essential requirements and critical corporate priorities are largely
ignored. Thus, little effort is devoted to business development, relationship
building, knowledge creation, e-business and entrepreneurship.
Only one of the organisations surveyed is equipping its people to be more
successful at bringing in new business. Overwhelmingly the emphasis is
upon squeezing and cutting costs, rather than the generation of incremental
income streams. Yet companies such as Eyretel, Osi, and SDX have secured
significant returns from CD-ROM and laptop based support tools for their
sales teams. They have consciously equipped their people to win business.
The award winning solution created for Eyretel (see www.cotoco.com) addressed
major skills shortages far more effectively than a traditional training
programme would have done.
One company visited derives some 80% of its turnover from major bids that
are won through a competitive bidding process. However, training is not
provided in this area, even though the top twenty bidding and negotiation
skills have been identified (2), as have the secrets of success for winning
business in particular sectors (3), while 30 tried and tested bid management
tools are also available (4). Members of the bid team could not name a
single ‘trainer’.
This experience is not unusual. Millions have been spent on grandiose
initiatives, fashionable concepts such as empowerment, and general ‘quality’,
‘teamwork’ and ‘leadership’ training, while particular
requirements of critical importance are overlooked.
Human resource teams are working hard, but do not appear to be connecting
with the world around them. There is a particularly pressing need for
information, knowledge and learning entrepreneurs who can make money by
packaging what is available to meet individual needs. Presentations on
‘knowledge management’ abound, but specific initiatives to
develop knowledge entrepreneurs or equip people to use e-Business are
few and far between. Again, there are best practice lessons to draw upon
such as the winning entries for the Awards for Innovation in e-Business
www.awards.abfl.co.uk,
so there is little excuse for inaction.
Companies are focusing upon core competencies, and ‘non-core’
activities are being outsourced. As a result more value is delivered by
supply chains rather than individual companies. Competition is increasingly
between consortia, or networks, of collaborating partners. Hence, the
importance of learning, and shared learning, along and across supply and
value chains.
In spite of greater interdependence, the organisations examined focus
overwhelmingly upon the internal training and development of employed
staff. Some companies, for example ICL with its vendor accreditation programme,
have a broader vision. Accenture recognises that learning should address
the development needs of external as well as internal groups. Contractors,
suppliers, customers, business associates and supply chain partners can
all have development needs which could, and in many cases should, be addressed.
Companies such as IBM and Microsoft regard customer education as a major
global business opportunity. However, in general education, training and
development are not perceived as a source of incremental revenues. Nor
are they used as a means of building relationships with key decision makers
in strategic customers, suppliers and business partners.
In most of the commercial organisations examined there were few general
managers or professional specialists who fully appreciate the extent to
which education, learning, training and updating are rapidly becoming
enormous and global markets in their own rights. They are among the most
exciting of contemporary business opportunities. Potentially lucrative
learning requirements exist in many situations and contexts.
There is enormous potential for income generation, higher margins and
knowledge entrepreneurship. Information can be sold. Know-how from simple
tools to advanced techniques can be licensed. Yet, many trainers and developers
are not directly encouraging and supporting the creation, sharing and
application of knowledge and understanding.
The few explicit knowledge management initiatives encountered during the
investigation seem to have been conceived, and now operate, quite independently
of training and development programmes. Many human resources professionals
are abdicating their responsibilities in this area. They are leaving the
running to IT specialists and vendors of software for capturing, structuring
and managing existing knowledge, when the emphasis should be upon creating
the‘know-how’ that will be needed to create and exploit future
opportunities.
Most trainers appear to ‘follow fashion’. Many buy ‘off
the shelf’ learning resources packs, rather than think for themselves
about what would be most appropriate in specific situations and circumstances.
They persuade senior management that all members of staff should receive
some standard programme, regardless of individual interests and needs.
Enormous sums of money are spent exposing diverse people, working on very
different activities, to common experiences that have little relevance
to their particular requirements and priorities.
The management of a current stock of information, knowledge or understanding
which might or might not be relevant, either to individual aspirations
and customer requirements, or corporate objectives has become an obsession.
Flows of new insights, discoveries and breakthroughs, the dynamics of
the creation and application of pertinent knowledge, are the key issues.
Not surprisingly, education, training and development expenditures are
widely viewed and treated as a cost incurred to achieve some other purpose,
rather than as strategic activities. They are not considered vital investments
in the creation of knowledge, intellectual capital and value for customers.
Glaxo Wellcome is an exception. The company views innovation and creativity
in the development of new products as a critical business process, and
staff are positively helped to become more effective researchers.
Opportunities for training collaboration, joint action and specialisation
are being missed. People worry in isolation about which relevant learning
technology to adopt, or how to bring down the ‘costs per head’
of training. Most major organisations face similar development problems
and challenges, as do many local companies. Maybe the cost of new resources
and facilities could be split between several users. There are also shared
learning networks to join, such as the Business Development Forum for
those interested in becoming more effective at winning business.
Finally, the aspirations of individuals are being largely overlooked in
the majority of the organisations examined. Trainers are focusing unashamedly
upon corporate pre-occupations. Yet many people are seeking greater control
and more balance in their lives. Switching the emphasis from cost cutting
to innovation, business building and value creation can result in enhanced
corporate performance and greater personal fulfilment (5). While the benefits
are clear, enterprise was not being encouraged, nor entrepreneurship actively
supported, in any of the organisations examined.
All in all, the current state of affairs cannot continue. Those interviewed
are sincere, hard working and personally committed to individual and corporate
development. They derive little satisfaction from the situation revealed
by the survey (1). One head of training explained in exasperation that:
“It’s like going along to the stadium to play any one of a
number of new games whose rules you do not understand and not knowing
whether your kit, equipment or technique will be relevant or acceptable.”
So what needs to be done? Lets start with learning. Winners tend to be
pioneers and innovators, rather than observers and imitators. In many
sectors, future market leadership will go to those who venture beyond
a ‘passive stage’ characterised by the importing and sharing
of existing information, knowledge and understanding.
Enterprise should be championed and rewarded. True entrepreneurs no longer
play ‘me-to’ or ‘catch-up’ according to yesterday’s
rules. Instead, they are energetic creators, imaginative innovators and
restless explorers (6). They invent new games, establish new markets,
introduce new ways of working and learning, and generally push back the
boundaries of what is possible in order to deliver greater value to their
customers.
Learning should be built into work processes. It should embrace customers,
suppliers and business partners, and also be explicitly rewarded as well
as encouraged. People should be expected and helped to think for themselves,
explore and discover. External interventions should be the exception rather
than the rule, and even then geared to supporting a ‘step change’
or increasing learning capability. Standard offerings should be abandoned
in favour of specific and tailored interventions.
Training activities should contribute to enterprise, business and knowledge
development. Whenever a direct causal link to additional know-how, greater
customer value or extra business cannot be demonstrated, they should be
discontinued. The proportion of the value of end goods and services constituted
by ‘know-how’ continues to grow. Training teams with the potential
could be tasked with becoming profitable businesses in their own right.
Providing individuals with personal learning accounts could create ‘customers’.
Targets and measures should reflect these changes. Input indicators such
as ‘bums on seats’ should be replaced by demonstrable outcomes.
For example, by how much has the ‘win rate’ in competitive
bidding situations increased? What proportion of turnover do new products
and services account for? What value is ascribed to newly packaged intellectual
capital? Wherever possible outcomes should be independently verified,
whether the securing and retention of Investors in People status by an
organisation, or the number of accredited qualifications obtained by individuals.
‘Human resource’ professionals must work much more closely
with information technology specialists, business unit teams, facilities
managers, and learning partners in the stimulation and support of knowledge,
value and enterprise creation. Companies need to become incubators entrepreneurial
activity, and working environments should inspire and enable learning,
innovation and creativity (5).
Many corporate training teams are missing an historic opportunity to make
a strategic contribution to knowledge and value creation and the achievement
of corporate objectives. Hence the critical importance of undertaking
a fundamental review of corporate learning strategy.
References:
(1) Colin Coulson-Thomas, Developing a Corporate Learning
Strategy, the key knowledge management challenge for the HR function,
Bedford, Policy Publications (Tel: +44 (0)1234 328448; e-mail: policypubs@kbnet.co.uk),
1999
(2) Peter Bartram, Bidding for Business, the skills agenda, Bedford, Policy
Publications (Tel: +44 (0)1234 328448; e-mail: policypubs@kbnet.co.uk),
1999
(3) Carol Kennedy, Winning New Business in Construction, Information Technology,
etc. and Mick James, Winning New Business in Advertising, Management Consultancy,
etc., Bedford, Policy Publications (Tel: +44 (0)1234 328448; e-mail: policypubs@kbnet.co.uk),
1999
(4) Carol Kennedy, The Bid Manager’s Toolkit, Bedford, Policy Publications
(Tel: +44(01234 328448; e-mail: policypubs@kbnet.co.uk), 1999
(5) Colin Coulson-Thomas, Individuals and Enterprise: creating entrepreneurs
for the new millennium through personal transformation, Dublin, Blackhall
Publishing (Tel: + 353 1 6773242; email: blackhall@eircom.net), 1999
(6) Colin Coulson-Thomas, Shaping Things to Come, strategies for creating
alternative enterprises, Dublin, Blackhall Publishing (Tel: + 353 1 6773242;
email: blackhall@eircom.net)
Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas |
About the Author:
Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas
is an experienced chairman of award winning companies and consultant.
He has advised over 80 boards on how to improve board and corporate
performance, leads the world's largest winning business research
and best practice programme, and has reviewed the processes and
practices for winning business of over 50 companies.
Following marketing and general management roles Colin became the
world's first Professor of Corporate Transformation and more recently
Process Vision Holder of major transformation projects. He is the
author of over 30 books and reports, including ‘Individuals
and Enterprise’ (Blackhall Publishing, 1999), 'Shaping Things
to Come' (Blackhall Publishing, 2001), 'Transforming the Company,
Manage Change, Compete and Win' (Kogan Page, 2002 and 2004)
and ‘The Knowledge Entrepreneur’(Kogan Page,
2003). Colin has spoken at over 200 national and international conferences
and corporate events in over 20 countries. He can be contacted:
Tel: 01733 361 149
Fax: 01733 361 459
Email: colinct@tiscali.co.uk
Web: www.ntwkfirm.com/colin.coulson-thomas
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Transforming the Company: Manage Change, Compete & Win
Colin Coulson-Thomas shows that to bridge the gap between rhetoric
and reality, business people must make far-reaching decisions about
the value to them and their companies of particular theories, past
assumptions and traditional approaches. Based on original research,
the first edition of this was ahead of its time and predicted many
of the current management trends. The author now brings the text bang
up-to-date for the 21st century. This second edition of Transforming
The Company shows how to turn theory into practice by highlighting
the obstacles and barriers that confront companies when trying to
bring about change. For management at all levels faced with this task,
this thought-provoking book will inspire and enlighten. |
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The Knowledge Entrepreneur: How Your Business Can Create,
Manage and Profit from Intellectual Capital
In many companies knowledge management has focused almost exclusively
upon the packaging of existing knowledge. This book is designed
to help readers boost revenues and profit by significantly improving
the performance of existing activities and also creating new offerings
that generate additional income. It shows how practical knowledge-based
job-support tools can transform work group productivity, and reveals
the enormous scope for addressing contemporary problems such as
"information overload" with imaginative responses. Additional
information includes: a list of possible commercial ventures; detailed
checklists that can be used for identifying and analysing opportunities
for knowledge entrepreneurship; and exercises for assessing entrepreneurial
potential and "scoping" possible products and services.
The free CD-ROM packaged with the book gives examples of particular
knowledge-based job support tools that have dramatically improved
desired results in crucial areas such as winning more business.
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