Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2009 - (Page 3)

AT THE EDITOR’S DESK | FRANK SHAFFER COMPANIES THAT TREAT THEIR PEOPLE WELL, EVEN DURING DIFFICULT TIMES, WILL BE THE LONG-TERM WINNERS. TODAY’S CLO: AN IMPERATIVE FOR TOMORROW Y ou may have thought this job was about education, onthe-job training, career succession, replacement planning, portfolio building, career enhancement and recruitment and retention of talent. However, the financial and credit crisis of 2008 has reshaped the economy dramatically in the United States and worldwide – and shifted the emphasis to the latter. For some companies, there are many business challenges and difficult decisions ahead. For others, there may be opportunities to expand geographically or into new businesses. For all, the secret of success lies in their ability to retain – and even attract – top talent. In times like these, those learning leaders who can create more results with fewer resources will provide their organizations with a competitive edge: one that is directly related to the abilities of its human capital. For example, CLOs can develop and maintain a “Talent Inventory” in their organizations, across departments and even companies to identify the talents of employees. By matching talents with critical organizational competencies, the talent inventory can serve as a pool of information about employees who are suitable for and capable of serving both as substitutes for existing leaders in case of emergency and as a pool of available talent for mentoring and succession planning. In the event of a need to downsize, these employees can be shared or transferred so that their talents will not be lost to the organization. As our cover story in this issue of Training Industry Quarterly details, learning leaders also can serve their companies by planning for their own successors. So let’s consider what the “perfect CLO” should look like: This Month’s Guest Editor Frank Shaffer Ed.D. RN, FAAN, is chief nursing and chief learning officer for Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. Frank has been directing the learning initiatives for Cross Country for the past 13 years. Frank has more than 40 years of progressive and varied healthcare experience including professional association management, publishing industry and publicly traded corporations. Frank has written or edited seven books focusing on the economics of healthcare. He was the founder and strategic leader of Cross Country’s corporate university, directing the organization’s field staff training and career development while providing strategic direction for developing new programs to meet customer expectations. E-mail Frank at fshaffer@crosscountry.com. Know someone who’d make an outstanding guest editor? Interested in becoming one yourself? Contact us at editor@trainingindustry.com. ■ Your future CLO should have at least a minimal understanding of every department and its needs: At a minimum this would mean that your succession planning should include having your potential successor spend at least three months working in every department in every division. ■ Moreover, the future CLO also must be proficient in the use of essential metrics that quantify the learning impact and ROI across business units, and that have credence within the C suite. ■ Cultural competence will be the sine qua non of tomorrow’s CLO; so he or she should spend some time working in the countries your organization works with and in … at least six months in each country. ■ And, of course the successful learning head of the future will speak at least three languages, if not beautifully, at least competently. ■ Tomorrow’s learning leader is well-schooled in organizational dynamics and understands thoroughly the need for a wide network. ■ And lastly, your succession planning must be developed beyond the brick and mortar, even beyond international borders. By keeping these “perfect world” guidelines in mind, when your successor assumes the position, he or she can work knowledgably with every division and department to develop appropriate programming that really will meet and exceed organizational needs. 3 Training Industry Quarterly, Winter 2009 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2009

Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2009
At the Editor’s Desk
Contents
Winning Organizations Through People
Before You Buy…
Learning Technologies
Coaching & Mentoring Your L&D Legacy
Training’s Performance Support Imperative
Beyond Learning Objectives
Targeting Training With Limited Budgets
Meet Deborah Masten
Meet Terri Dorsey
ADP: Supporting Succession Planning Through Training
Closing Arguments

Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2009