Learning Cultures Pay Off

Access to talent has become one of the greatest worries for leadership today. A recent Deloitte survey reported 39% of large company executives were “barely able” or “unable” to find the talent they required. Current Labor Department data show a record-breaking 38% of U.S. small businesses had positions they could not fill and the “quit rate” upward trend, particularly within the financial services industry, continues for 2018.

The National Association of Corporate Directors’ current survey listed competition for talent in the top five concerns for both CEOs and boards, on par with cybersecurity. This holds true especially for technology positions, as organizations implement digital transformation projects to meet evolving needs. Other critical talent needs include management skills that enhance the customer experience.

Expecting to find your talent through external hiring will not make the grade in an economy at full employment. Increasingly, companies are turning to their own employees to fill the gap, and reaping ancillary benefits as a result. Internal talent development and retention efforts are an essential part of any strategic plan. Yet, developing internal talent requires focused attention and may not be easy. Indeed, a recent IBM Institute report found 60% of executives surveyed were struggling to keep their workforce “current and relevant.” Furthermore, although determining the talent gaps you need to fill is part of the planning effort, today’s rapid change in the business landscape further complicates things. The skills currently needed may be new to many organizations and, more problematically, the skills needed in the future may not even be known now.

These challenges demand a culture where attention to learning is embedded in the organization’s DNA. Developing a “learning organization” for your employees ensures the flexibility and skills required to tackle the pressures of our uber competitive times. The CEO and senior leadership sets the tone, and your board is charged with making sure management provides the educational resources and support that ensures effective strategy development, and execution and succession planning. The ultimate goal is for employees to adopt a learning mindset, and seek new skills, experiences and competencies that will increase their personal value to the organization. They should become empowered to change and grow with the organization, and those who are unwilling to grow may find it’s time to move on.

The most successful organizations appreciate that high quality developmental experiences lead to high achievement. They make learning easy by adopting approaches that employ a number of learning options and platforms that are both relevant and up to date. There is a laser-like focus on how people learn and what incentivizes them to do so. Research into the neuroscience of learning shows that the human attention span sharply drops after only 20 minutes. And time interspersed between learning sessions improves long-term retention and memory. IBM adopted this research in its employee education, creating a series of 15-minute “bite-sized” learning experiences for thousands of technical specialists. The company created a curated learning environment that tailored specific content to the individual’s needs. This effort not only upskilled the participants, it also meaningfully shortened the time to competency. Similarly, several years ago, ATT embarked on a company-wide learning-based upskilling of its 280,000-strong personnel to address an industry-wide transformation from “cables and hardware” to the “internet and cloud.” ATT knew they could not hire the large numbers of people with the needed skills from outside the company, so they worked to develop their own employees.

Gallup documented that organizations that best engage their employees achieve higher earnings-per-share growth, better business metrics and lower turnover than competitors with less engagement. Learning resonates with employees and fosters engagement. In fact, Gallup’s most recent annual workplace survey showed employee engagement is at a multiyear high and active disengagement is at an historical low. The full-employment economy seems to be positively affecting engagement as well. Workers know they have options and so do their managers. As more people leave companies for more attractive positions, they are increasingly engaged during the new job “honeymoon.” But it’s not just job-changers that are becoming more engaged. As management tunes into needed skills and seek to retain the workforce, employees are given opportunities to develop new skills, employ these skills, and be more actively listened to where their opinions are heard and more often count. Employee recognition for work achievements and positive relationships with coworkers and supervisors translate into engaged employees. Smart leaders understand that a learning culture pays off in profitability and competitive resilience, and is indispensable when talent is in such short supply.

Stuart R. Levine is Chairman and CEO for Stuart Levine & Associates and EduLeader LLC. He can be reached at 516-465-0800 or slevine@stuartlevine.com.