25 Best Practices in Learning & Talent Development

Introduction

The Strategic Role of Learning

& Talent Development

Over the coming 20 years, a wealth of experience and knowledge is expected to walk out of the door in many organizations. By 2011 an estimate of 75 million positions will become vacant due to retiring baby boomers in the European Union and the United States, of which an expected 40 percent represent people in (senior) management roles. At the same time, global competition, complexity and accelerated technology will drive the need for more tacit work – work with complex interactions that require a high level of judgment. Significantly, there will be less qualified candidates on the planet to replace these retiring baby boomers. Even China with its 1.3 billion+ population expects a drop in their workforce because of an aging workforce and their ‘one child policy’. Global shortages of qualified employees are expected in many industries and professions. Already 79 percent of companies see a significant gap in the talent pipeline and 40 of the companies say this is an acute problem. As the market for talent heats up, organizations are looking at ways to attract people and develop their next generation of leaders.

What Does Talent Want?

Different research studies show that people expect interesting and challenging work with opportunities for growth and development. They would like to work in value-based enterprises which contribute to the welfare of overall society. They also want respect for their individual talent and an open communication with their management. Surveys among graduates show that, in addition to what has mentioned before, the new workforce wants to be part of an international organization and build their careers by extending their professional network. More and more people value a deep investment in their personal life in addition to enjoying a challenging work environment.

It also is becoming widely recognized that the most important way to engage employees is to provide them with opportunities to learn and develop new skills, providing ways to improve their capabilities and skills over their accomplishments of prior years (Towers Perrin, 2006). Highly engaged employees have a significant impact on the productivity and performance of an organization. Furthermore, engaged employees are more likely to stay with the organization where they are being challenged and given the skills to grow and develop in their chosen career path.

Shareholders will look more and more at the role of intangible assets when they value knowledge-based organizations. For example, at least 50 percent of market capitalization in America’s public companies is due to skilled workforce and know-how (intangible assets). Globally this is up from 20 percent of the value of companies in 1980 to 70 percent today.

These economic, demographic and social trends support the expectation that Learning and Talent Development will play a more strategic role in many enterprises.

Strategic Role of Learning and Talent Development

There are a number of forces that will require organizations to take a very different approach in developing their people.

First, due to a combination of pressures including the brief shelf life of knowledge, the pressure of new legislation to develop specific understanding and skills, the need to fill the gap in knowledge and expertise created by retiring baby boomers, introduction of new technologies, alternative business models, and globalization, to name a few, there is a need to master more competences and develop new skills. Secondly, the Internet has changed the way people acquire knowledge, learn and collaborate around the world. About 40 percent of learning hours were delivered through technology-based learning in the United States in 2007 (ASTD). Third, we moving more towards a 24/7 global society where people need to develop new competences and skills on the fly and there will be a big shift towards workplace learning. Fourth, Generation Internet, people born after 1980, are joining the workforce. They have very different expectations about work, and their learning preferences are very different as well.

Finally and importantly, advances in theory and practice in designing effective learning provide opportunities to develop high impact learning interventions that have a significant impact on individual performance and the business.

Developing 21st Century Leaders

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

A Holistic Approach for

Leadership Development

A challenge for those of us who are working in leadership development in our organizations is the narrow focus on acquisition of knowledge for leaders. We must expand the vision to address the complex requirements in an intensive effort to create a business case for a comprehensive, holistic approach in the growth of leadership talent.

There has not been a time in business history when so many senior leaders have voluntarily left their organizations. Leaders today must cope with an increasingly broad range of complex challenges including: a fast changing and uncertain business environment, pressures from internal and external stakeholders, emerging competition from new geographies, the rapid pace of technical innovation, and the importance of retaining talent, among others. This limits in some the desire to pursue a highly visible leadership role. Additionally, many leaders from the baby boom generation are getting ready for retirement – which will result in significant knowledge and experience gaps.

Because of these two trends, organizations are now experiencing a crisis of leadership talent, surfacing the questions: How can we speed up the development of new leaders? And even more difficult: What makes a good leader in this complex century?

There are no simple or easy answers. Enterprises are making serious investments in leadership development and succession planning, leadership gurus are developing leadership models, frameworks and assessments, and leadership development groups are creating innovative programs. Yet, controversy prevails, as some believe that leadership talent is inborn, not made, and that no amount of investment can create a leader.

It is my enduring belief that leadership is not an inherent talent but that leadership can be developed. The fact that leaders with different personalities and styles have succeeded throughout history, provides evidence that a specific crisis or context can leverage individual leadership strengths and capabilities, uncovering innate leadership talent. However, when the situation demanding a leader and specific leadership styles and approaches are analyzed, it becomes very apparent that throughout the leader’s life there have been significant investments in developing individual leadership values, knowledge, attributes and talents.

Learning professionals often focus on leadership development in terms of the intellectual realm only. This limits the growth and development of leadership talent – leadership is seen and developed as an academic pursuit of the mind, versus development of the leader as a holistic instrument. Personally, I don’t believe anyone ever followed a leader just because of their intellect and knowledge. I believe that people align themselves with a leader more as a function of connections formed in the emotional, social and/or spiritual realms.

Therefore, my goal is to pursue the creation and application of a more holistic leadership development framework in the design of leadership programs, which addresses four critical dimensions of leadership development for the 21st century:

• Intellectual Understanding

• Emotional and Social Competence

• Physical and Mental Health

• Spiritual Insight

A 21st Century Holistic Leadership Development Model

Intellectual Understanding

The intellectual development of a leader focuses on strategic thinking – the acquisition of new knowledge, and industry and business insights – typically delivered by subject matter experts in business and by faculty in business school executive education programs. The main objective is to bring leaders up to speed in areas where they lack knowledge for their existing role, or to prepare them for a larger role in the organization. Most importantly, the acquisition of this knowledge is increased when action learning on real-time strategic projects is embedded in the learning.

Emotional and Social Competence

Getting things done in enterprises and working through issues of transformational change requires leaders who have superior skills in establishing and maintaining relationships with others. In order to do so, leaders must have a solid understanding of how their actions and behaviors impact others. Secondly, they need to understand how they are perceived by others. The notion of emotional intelligence has emerged as a critical area for leadership development in many organizations as it is the foundation for high performance interpersonal skill development and an EQ focus is included in many leadership development programs and executive coaching.

Physical and Mental Health

Many leaders work long and demanding days, sometimes combined with intensive (international) travel and irregular times for exercise, relaxation and even meals. Research has reinforced that retaining a healthy body and mind demands taking regular time for physical exercise, relaxation and stress reduction, and carefully watching individual diet. Awareness and