Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020 - 9

TIFFANY POEPPELMAN

GUEST EDITOR

DEVELOPING THE NEXT
GENERATION OF TALENT
THROUGH ROTATION PROGRAMS
Recent research shows that one in five
CEOs come from sales and marketing
backgrounds - making it critical to invest
in these skills for early career talent who
aspire to develop into future leaders and
executives. Members of the younger
generation are continuously looking for
alternatives to jumping into their careers.
Rotational programs expose employees
to different roles and experiences to build
their skills over time, which positively
impacts talent performance and retention.

ROTATION PROGRAMS
PROVIDE A HIGH
GROWTH MINDSET
MENTALITY.
Today, early career rotational development
programs are offered by organizations
in nearly every industry and by almost
all Fortune 100 companies. This includes
LinkedIn's Business Leadership Program
(BLP). LinkedIn's rotation program not
only selects, hires and trains recent
graduates for careers in sales but flips the
classroom by ensuring that these young
professionals understand what it means to
be truly customer oriented. The program
is approximately six months and has made
an incredible impact on participants each
year since its inaugural cycle in 2013. Here
are three ways in which rotation programs
can bring organizational value:
DEVELOPING CORE SKILLS
The customer is at the heart of everything.
When customers win; the company wins.
BLP ensures that customer needs are at
its core by focusing rotation placements

on building critical leadership skills and
competencies alongside a strong baseline
knowledge of the sales cycle. This is done
through rotations in the global customer
operations center and talent acquisition
teams which allow participants to build
critical communication skills, gain a sense
of the customer experience and build
internal product knowledge.
One of the greatest opportunities that
LinkedIn offers is giving early career
talent a chance to start their career with
the right foundation for supporting the
customer's needs and solving their
challenges. These rotations are grounded
in the development of trust, empathy and
great communication skills. The program
rotations also help graduates become
acquainted with LinkedIn's products and
tools and understand what it's like to
walk in the customer's shoes.
BUILDING A ROBUST NETWORK
Broadly, the experiential learning and
classroom training within BLP allows
program associates to engage in new
challenges, master and apply skills across
contexts, and broaden their perspectives.
This approach is extremely effective
in meeting the needs of a changing
workforce, as well as establishes the
next generation of leaders with critical
skills. Rotation programs also offer
broad exposure to the organization and
demonstrate the importance of building
foundational relationships early in an
employee's tenure. Rotation programs
offer a wide-reaching network throughout
the company that will prove valuable
down the line when these early career

graduates rise to management and
leadership positions.
CREATING ADAPTABLE EMPLOYEES
As current worker skills become obsolete
and new skill needs emerge daily, the
paradigm of highly-specified job training
becomes less relevant. To combat this,
organizations can invest in core leadership
competencies by hosting training on selfawareness, communication and resilience.
These topics give recent graduates the
confidence to embrace challenges in
their personal and work lives. Rotation
programs provide a high growth mindset
mentality with an openness to foster the
right habits out of the gate.
At their core, rotational development
programs help develop the transferable
skills needed to lead successfully in a
business environment characterized by
constant, rapid and unpredictable change.
Teaching these skills early is paramount
to creating great sales and business
leaders. By focusing on these critical
foundations, organizations can create
opportunities for program associates
to become trusted business partners
rather than focusing solely on the sale.
How are you
future leaders?

developing

your

Tiffany Poeppelman is the global head
of LinkedIn's sales rotation program -
Business Leadership Program (BLP). She
leads her team to provide early career
professionals with unique development
opportunities to learn the critical skill of
selling. Email Tiffany.

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Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020

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