Improving Employee Learning Experience: Sarah Thompson at CME Group

Asthe manager of professional development for CME Group, the world’s leading andmost diverse derivatives marketplace, Sarah Thompson is responsible fordesigning and implementing engaging learning content for over 2,600 employeesacross the world.

Figure 1: Sarah Thompson, CME Group

We recently connected with Sarah to hear about how CMEGroup approaches learning and development, its role in driving innovationwithin companies, and the importance of peer-to-peer learning. 

DoreenLorenzo: What role doesvisual instruction and communication play in employee engagement at CME? 

Sarah Thompson: We’re a very international company—we have officesaround the US and the world, but a significant amount of our workforce is basedin Chicago, which is our headquarters. As with many companies today, visualinstruction and communication is really critical to help our non-headquartersemployees feel connected. We use a lot of high-definition video conferencing tohelp connect classes of learners together. And we also broadcast senior leadersdelivering content for some of our educational programs. I think the visualelement keeps these sessions engaging for learners and ensures that they feel asense of connectedness while allowing us to have really consistent messagingand education for all of our employees.

DL:How have you seen mobile video and mobile learning start to play a role in some of the learning programs thatyou’ve been working on? 

ST: We are currently in a pilot stage with a mobileeducation platform for one of our management education programs. This is agreat way for us to determine not only the appetite from our audience, but alsojust the appropriateness for our culture before rolling out more broadly. Sofar we’ve received really great feedback on the accessibility of being able toaccess content on a mobile platform, but it’s definitely an area we’re going toexpand and explore as we continue to grow our international workforce.

DL: Everybody is talking about how Millennials areimpacting the workplace today. How do you think they’re going to evolve thelearning and development industry? How do you think they’ll influence how youdeliver content and information?

ST: I don’t think it’s a new thing forthe Millennial generation, but I do think the space is constantly evolving. Sospeaking as a Millennial myself, personally, I think a few of the trends thatsome of the younger generations are bringing to the forefront are, first, justa higher demand for quickly accessible, highly relevant training that’s bothself-directed and on-demand. The second trend I think about is an increasingdemand for more frequent, or real-time, feedback on the job. There’s a higherdemand for transparency than ever before. And then the third trend is astronger desire for peer and social learning. It’s really important to look at the trust thatdifferent generations are placing in crowdsourced knowledge. So think aboutsites like Yelp or Angie’s List. What I think that means for learning and developmentis that we need to consider how we might flip our traditional push foreducation into a pull.

DL:You talked about social sites like Yelp or Angie’sList that are more on the consumerend of things. How is that working in your world?

ST: One way we’re currently leveraging peer-to-peerlearning is actually through hands-on work experience. We definitely believeand follow the 70:20:10 model of development—the basis is that the majority oflearning happens through experience. So to help support experience-based,peer-to-peer learning, CME has implemented a talent exchange that simplymatches project owners within the company to volunteers who want to gain moreprofessional experience or expand their internal knowledge and exposure.

DL:What other trends are you following closely in the learning and developmentspace?

ST:A new trend that I’m really fascinated by personally is microlearning. Shortbursts of relevant content allow learners to get exactly what they need, whenthey need it. And that’s going to be a big area of focus over the next fewyears. And from the learning and development professional side of things, italso has the added benefit of being easier to maintain content in such arapidly changing environment.

DL:How do you think learning and development can helpfuel the innovation process in the company?

ST: Learning and development plays a very critical role inthe innovation process, because it helps shape the organizational culture through creatingsafe environments and trainings where people are free to take chances anddiscuss and really learn from both successes and failures. Building a learningculture where people feel comfortable and supported is absolutely vital and is avital precursor to innovation. That’s something we try to rely on heavily inour programs. We actually partner with our internal innovation lab to provideinnovation programs, and we give people opportunities to hone their innovationskills by working on real issues with cross-functional teams across theorganization to drive innovation.