Build Management Capability and Drive Business Transformation with On-demand Learning

Today,organizations are working to develop capabilities among leaders to advancebusiness priorities. For many the focus is centered on business transformationand leading through the ever-increasing complexity.

According to a2014 Innosight survey, 85 percent of large companies expect they will need totransform their business over the next five years; however, only 35 percent ofexecutives are confident their organizations have the know-how to do so.

Are your employees ready to lead change?

When it comesto leading through a rapidly changing business environment, it isn’t enough tobuild strong capability only among more senior leaders. Organizations need toexpand the reach to build leadership and management capability among employeesat all levels.

John Kotterwrote, “Leadership is not about attributes; it’s about behavior. And in anever-faster-moving world, leadership is increasingly needed from more and morepeople, no matter where they are in a hierarchy.” (Harvard Business Review Blog, January 2013)

Organizationsare finding that even employees starting out in their careers need to beequipped to think strategically, to make good decisions, and to inspire andinfluence those working on their teams and around them.

Yet thesecapabilities are seldom developed broadly across organizations. Whilehigh-potential employees may be invited to participate in leadership training,the rest of your workforce represents untapped leadership potential. This is asignificant lost opportunity. Managers and individual contributors—on the frontlines with employees, customers, and competitors—have the collective power tomake a real difference.

Accelerating development and expanding reach

Organizationsneed to build management capabilities across regions, business units, andfunctions—and at every level. But the challenge comes in delivering highquality and consistent development, scaling it, and delivering it fast enough. Companiesare flatter, the pipeline is accelerated, and most large organizations have adistributed workforce with people around the globe. An in-person classroomlearning environment is not the best fit for these challenges.

Using onlinelearning to build critical leadership skills allows organizations acost-effective and flexible option and can level the playing field. Oftenorganizations will be reaching large portions of their workforce withmanagement development for the first time.

Context and relevance is paramount

Whateverprogram an organization delivers, it’s important that its content be within thecontext of that organization. Brand, culture, and organizational goals shouldall be designed into the program. The best “off the shelf” programs can becustomized by offering the flexibility to showcase the company brand, includecompany-specific content, and align content with strategic-focus areas for theorganization.

Today’semployees have grown up with access to rich online experiences that have set ahigh bar for the level of engagement they expect from online leadership-developmentcontent. So it’s important to offer variety for learners, especially when spanninga large and diverse population. You can address this through content types, likevideos in varied genres, short and longer-form text content, practice exercisesand quizzes, and thoughtfully chosen graphics, usable tools, and articles fromexpert sources. Giving employees access to the kinds of learning they prefer,when and where they need it, will expand usage and keep them coming back.

Designing a program with impact

Many factors contribute to the success of anonline leadership-development program. The content should be fresh, focused,and emotionally appealing. The design of the program should accommodateparticipants’ busy schedules, and learning should be integrated tightly withthe real-world challenges that employees face in the workplace. Plus, theprogram should build in space for learners to plan how they will apply whatthey’ve learned and offer structured opportunities for reflection.

Recent research from faculty at HEC Paris,Harvard Business School, and University of North Carolina Kenan-FlaglerBusiness School revealed that learning by doing can be more effective whencoupled with learning by reflection. They found that adding even very briefperiods of reflection to learning produced a significant increase (over 20percent) in performance compared to a control group that had training only.

Optimal on-demand learning allows busy usersto fit short bursts of development and reflection activities into their busyschedules when and where they find the time.

Creating a learning and leading culture

Once an organization rolls out an on-demandlearning initiative focused broadly on leadership development, organizationsbegin to see a common language and way of thinking about leadership andmanagement emerge. Employees begin to integrate new practices, frameworks, andtools into their own everyday work and with their team. Ideally, theprogression between learning to be a leader and becoming a leader should be soseamless that development is continuously integrated into every facet of theworkplace experience. On-demand learning can help organizations achieve this,and help ready their talent to lead through the changes and challenges ahead.