CFO Insights

Creating a continuous
learning environment
Advances in technology, shifts in demographics, and the Drivers of change
constant competitive necessity to upgrade workforce skills Several factors are driving the demand for change that
are disrupting corporate learning, including learning in has accelerated to warp speed over the past year.
finance. These forces are pushing companies to develop
new ways to put employees in charge of the learning First, most respondents in the global survey report that
experience and foster a culture of learning throughout the their companies are not developing skills fast enough or
organization. leaders deeply enough.1 In today’s highly competitive
global economy and intensely competitive talent market,
In fact, according to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital the C-suite clearly understands that companies that do not
Trends 2016 report, there has been a shift beyond internal constantly upgrade skills and rapidly build leaders will not
programs aimed at developing people to innovative be able to execute their business plans.
platforms that enable people to develop themselves.
Consider that: Second, the ubiquity of always-connected mobile devices
makes learning potentially available everywhere and to
• More than eight in 10 executives (84%) in the 2016 everyone at any time. Employees can now take a course
survey view learning as an important (40%) or very on nearly any subject online, search for an expert video or
important (44%) issue (see Figure 1). podcast to learn a quickly needed skill, and even earn a
college degree without leaving their desk—or a couch or
• Employees at all levels expect dynamic, self-directed,
coffee shop. This new world of consumer-centric learning
continuous learning opportunities from their employers.
helps put employees, not L&D departments, in charge.

• Despite the strong shift toward employee-centric

Third, employees at all levels now recognize that “the
learning, many learning and development organizations
learning curve is the earning curve,”2 and they are
are still struggling with internally focused and outdated
demanding access to dynamic learning opportunities that
platforms and static learning approaches.
fit their individual needs and schedules.3 Millennials and
other young employees have grown up in this self-directed
Learning continues to be important to business executives
learning environment. They often expect it as part of their
worldwide, including CFOs, as they strive to adapt to the
working lives and careers—and many will move elsewhere
disruptive change that is sweeping through corporate
if employers fail to provide it.
learning and development organizations. And in this issue
of CFO Insights, we will look at what is behind the push for
continuous learning and offer suggestions for how finance
chiefs can work with HR to advocate for its delivery.

CFO Insights Creating a continuous learning environment June 2016 1

 Promoting a new culture of learning Much of this investment is directed at tools to harness
While many organizations are struggling to adapt to video, new mobile learning apps, and an explosion of
these challenges, high-performing companies are seizing content marketplaces. Today, any employee can browse
the opportunity to promote a new culture of learning through content from Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, or a
(see sidebar, “MasterCard: Lessons from the front lines”). dozen other providers and instantly access a lecture,
These organizations are fundamentally rethinking what course, or workshop on a needed skill. Such platforms
“learning” and “development” mean in the context of offer learning opportunities at little or no cost and even
their business. They place the employee at the center allow employees to interact online with experts—learning
of a new vision that treats learning as a continuous exactly what they need, when they need it.
process, not an episodic event, and as a company-wide
responsibility, not one confined to HR.4 This kind of technologically enabled, on-demand learning
experience is a world away from the traditional learning
Supporting this new vision, L&D organizations at these programs still used by most L&D organizations. In
innovative companies are adopting new and expanded particular, many companies are still struggling to ride the
learning architectures.5 They see their role as not simply wave and integrate external platforms as part of their
to push out content they have developed, but to enable employee learning. In Deloitte’s global survey, respondents
employees to access content from a wide range of cited a wide range of external learning opportunities that
internal and external sources to create individual learning could impact internal development, including external
programs. To facilitate the effort, L&D teams are building certificates (32%), massive open on-line courses (18%),
internal knowledge-sharing programs, developing easy- and external, self-directed learning powered by social
to-use portals and video sharing systems, and promoting media (14%). Still, despite this robust array of choices,
collaborative experiences that help people constantly learn 61% of executives report challenges in moving their
and share knowledge. organizations toward external self-directed learning.

These efforts seek to leverage the profound shifts Where companies can start
taking place in the learning industry. Traditional learning For those companies that want to move beyond offering
management system companies are rapidly evolving in programs to curating the learning experience, here are a
their ability to deliver modern, compelling experiences few ways to get started:
for learners. Now, a new breed of disruptive platforms is
starting to arrive. New money and ideas are pouring into • Recognize that employee-learners are in the driver’s
this sector. CB Insights, which tracks venture investments, seat: Learning organizations should think deeply
estimates that more than $3 billion was invested in new about how the user experiences a company’s learning
learning and educational start-ups in the first six months offerings. Employees need to be viewed as customers
of 2015. Almost $1 billion of this went into tools, content, to be satisfied, rather than as students to be pressured
and companies that focus on the corporate market.6 into traditional learning classrooms.

Figure 1: What trends are shaping the “new organization”? • Become comfortable with the shift from push to
In its survey of more than 7,000 professionals, Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report pull: Switching from a content-centric “push” approach
identified 10 talent-related issues that are having a profound impact on the way organizations to a learner-centric “pull” approach requires a cultural
Figure 2. The 10 trends ranked in order of importance
approach people management. The 10 trends are ranked in order of importance below. shift within learning organizations. Giving up full control
over learning content, schedules, and platforms may
Organizational design 8% 92%
not be easy, but learning organizations that embrace
Leadership 11% 89% this shift can deliver more effective learning.
Culture 14% 86%
• Use design thinking: Learning organizations should
Engagement 15% 85%
think less about developing content and more about
Learning 16% 84% the month-by-month, day-by-day, and hour-by-hour
Design thinking 21% 79%
experience of the learner.

Changing skills of 22% 78%

the HR organization • Use technology to drive employee-centric learning:
People analytics 23% 77% Mobile, social, and web-based platforms that can
Digital HR 26% 74%
deliver on-demand learning content are “must-have”
capabilities. The best systems can easily integrate any
Workforce management 29% 71%
type of digital content and allow learners, as well as
-30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Percentage of total responses
50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
learning professionals and business managers, to add
and suggest content. Companies should be cautious
Somewhat/not important Very important/important

Graphic: Deloitte University Press | DUPress.com

before investing in massive new systems, and they
Source: Global Human Capital Trends 2016; The new organization: Different by design should monitor developments from innovative vendors
Graphic: Deloitte University Press | DUPress.com
to help build effective learning applications.

CFO Insights Creating a continuous learning environment June 2016 2

• Realign and reengage: HR and learning leaders must What CFOs can do
align the learning function with business needs and In the Q3 2015 CFO SignalsTM survey, CFOs were asked what
goals. For many learning teams, doing so can also their companies were doing to ensure they have the talent
be an opportunity to reengage with employees, as they need. CFOs cited a heavy emphasis on new training
many learners have stopped looking to their corporate programs that give top staff the opportunity to learn a
learning departments for training and are already variety of technical skills and expand their knowledge in key
immersed in the enormous range of available digital areas. In addition, they emphasized taking steps to ensure
learning and content. clear career paths for talent with strong leadership potential.6

• Adopt a learning architecture that supports Both of those goals support the move toward continuous
an expanded vision for development: Rethink learning. But CFOs should also realize that shifting from an
what “development” means in the context of the internally focused, corporate-centric learning universe to a
organization. If such a vision does not yet exist, adopt learner-centric one upends many long-held beliefs in the HR
one and communicate it broadly. community. Employees inside finance and out will likely find
it easier to make this pivot than HR departments because this
• Adopt a learning architecture that supports new world is already part of their mobile, social, and online
continuous learning: Dedicate resources, set lives. By partnering with HR leaders, however, CFOs can help
expectations, and align corporate culture with the goal promote a new mind-set that puts learners in the driver’s
of enabling employees to get the learning they need, seat, harnesses the power of technology and the amazingly
when they need it, at every stage in their careers. diverse wealth of instantly available external content, and
offers great user experiences to learners.

*This article was adapted from the chapter entitled

“Learning: Employees take charge” in Deloitte’s Global
Human Capital Trends 2016 report.

Endnotes
1
The Conference Board, “The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2016;”
https://www.conference-board.org/publications/publicationdetail.
cfm?publicationid=6071.
2
Josh Bersin, “The use of MOOCs and online education is exploding. Here’s why;”
December 30, 2015; http://joshbersin.com/2015/12/the-use-of-moocs-and-
online-education-is-exploding-heres-why/.
3
Josh Bersin, “Spending on corporate training soars: Employee capabilities
now a priority;” Forbes, February 2014; http://www.forbes.com/sites/
joshbersin/2014/02/04/the-recovery-arrives-corporate-training-spend-
skyrockets/#386ec12c4ab7.
4
David Mallon and Dani Johnson, The learning architecture: Defining
development and enabling continuous learning, Bersin by Deloitte, 2014;
https://www.bersin.com/Practice/Detail.aspx?id=17435.
5
Bersin by Deloitte defines a learning architecture as an organization’s unique
map of agreed-upon learning needs, learning strategies, and delivery strategies
for all of its talent. This provides both the L&D function and the business a clear
view of what types of problems the organization will solve, what tools they
need, and what approaches the organization will take. It deliberately limits the
organization’s options by deciding how and where the L&D function will focus
its efforts—and it builds upon the organization’s culture and history of learning
(source: Mallon and Johnson, The learning architecture).
6
North American CFO SignalsTM, Q3 2015, CFO Program, Deloitte LLP.

CFO Insights Creating a continuous learning environment June 2016 3

Sidebar: MasterCard: Lessons from the front lines

MasterCard has been on a journey, transforming itself As they explored new learning formats, the GTD
from a traditional payments processing company into team’s attention shifted from traditional courses and
a technology company that provides the infrastructure programs pushed to employees solely via the learning
that connects consumers, banks, and businesses.1 With management system (less important in any high-
its underlying business model evolving to address new performing learning organization), to more employee-
opportunities and competitive threats, the company is driven solutions such as mobile performance support,
seeking to build capabilities to stay agile and keep new massive open online courses (MOOCs), on-demand
products and services flowing. And with an increasingly micro-learning, and online communities.
diverse workforce—now more than 40% Gen Y—it is
becoming harder to engage employees with traditional One new learning platform taking off with MasterCard’s
learning approaches. Operations & Technology (O&T) group, for example, is
Degreed. The system, which enables self-serve career
Janice Burns, chief learning officer and head of Global development, empowers individuals and subject matter
Talent Development and Organizational Effectiveness, specialists to curate their own learning “playlists,” mixing
challenged her team to reinvent their approach and matching internal and external learning content
to learning by constructing responsive, agile, and from a variety of sources and formats. Articles, videos,
personal solutions that would meet the organization’s MOOCs, podcasts, and webinars can all be woven
evolving demands along with employees. To do that, together into a personalized learning experience to help
she first had to lead a mindset shift within her own employees develop the skills they want to focus on.
organization—away from periodic programs owned by
learning professionals to self-directed solutions owned The initial feedback from the roll-out to the company’s
by individual employees. No longer would her learning O&T function is promising. Stories highlight that
team focus on telling people what to learn, but instead managers and professionals now feel equipped with
show them what they can learn, providing access to tools to drive their own development. “I am willing to
resources, tools, and connections to enable individuals invest more into the tool because it will follow me no
to do their jobs and build their careers better. matter where my career takes me,” said one systems
analyst. Similar feedback will continue to emerge as
Key to refocusing her team on the individual was MasterCard deploys the platform more broadly across
segmenting audiences and getting to know their needs, the rest of the enterprise.
which she did by aligning Global Talent Development
(GTD) leaders with specific business units to work with MasterCard is in the early stages of its journey toward
operational leaders. She also empowered her team to a culture of entrepreneurship and empowerment.
experiment with new learning tools and technologies, However, having the GTD organization act as a
encouraging them to work lean, fail fast, and scale up living example of this new culture through its own
successes. Trying something that did not work became experimental approach has already enabled it to become
acceptable—in some ways a sign of tangible progress a meaningful catalyst for change within MasterCard.
toward a culture of innovation. 1
Based on client work at MasterCard.
eveloped with the guidance of Dr. Ajit Kambil, Global Research Director, CFO Program, Deloitte LLP;
anager, CFO Education & Events, Deloitte LLP

Contacts: Deloitte CFO Insights are developed with the guidance of

Josh Haims Dr. Ajit Kambil, Global Research Director, CFO Program,
Principal Deloitte LLP; and Lori Calabro, Senior Manager, CFO
Deloitte Consulting LLP Education & Events, Deloitte LLP.
[email protected]
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