Is Learning In Your Brand?

When you think about companies that have a reputation for learning (think Google, Genentech, Price Waterhouse Coopers), do you know how your company’s brand for learning compares? What comes to mind in the talent you want to attract when they think of your company? A case could be made that your brand begins with people in your organization who engage in social networking as part of their self-driven development. The result is talent outside your organization think, “I want to work there because of all the smart people I meet.”

The onboarding experience is the next test for truth in brand advertising. Is new talent in your organization set up to thrive? What formal learning needs of new hires are anticipated? Is talent encouraged to use social networking tools to further their informal learning? Jay Cross suggests the traditional role of trainer has morphed into a “stage manager,” making learning opportunities and tools available to talent who can drive their own learning, guided by their thirst for knowledge that will further their performance.

Do you have a system to match what people want to learn with mission critical developmental assignments? And when talent demonstrates potential, are peer and senior mentors available to mentor up, down and sideways? When performance conversations are proactive developmental and coaching conversations, they take a big step towards confidently predicting performance outcomes (rather than “appraising” performance after the fact with all the inherent limitations).

To deliver on business resuIts, is developing talent capabilities part of your business plan? Hewitt Associates shared five stages of HR Transformation that hinge on people management. Integrating learning to close gaps in talent capability is critical, yet in a related webcast poll, nearly half of respondents indicated their organizations could do better at managing talent capability. With transformation initiatives critical to business success, the rubber meets the road when learning is part of the implementation plan at every phase of transformation. Stewards of organizational learning ensure the wheels don’t fall off in the middle of a change initiative.

I recall Michael Foucault, while the chair of “History of Systems of Thought,” saying,“we cannot do everything at once, but we can do one thing now.” Whether you lead a team, a business unit, or manage your own personal learning, check out these proven keys to unlock learning transfer. Our individual examples are our personal brand and collectively represent our organization’s brand. Make your thirst for applied learning and knowledge transfer energize your organization’s brand.

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Photo "Wear your brand colors everyday" courtesy of See-ming Lee