Category: Training

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Wal-Mart Drafts Leaders for Military-style Training

Attending Wal-Mart Leadership Academy rekindled Tracey Lloyd’s memories of boot camp.

Although hardly dangerous, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s training program for top leaders has a military air that gets participants “thinking two ranks above their level,” says Lloyd, a retired Army captain and Bronze Star recipient who joined the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer in 2008.

Lloyd embodies Wal-Mart’s fast-track approach to selectively developing new leaders. Since completing the academy training in 2009, Lloyd has been promoted three times, including her current role as one of the directors at the academy.

The 16-weeklong program puts Wal-Mart’s store managers, merchandising managers, operations managers and shift managers through their paces. Different learning objectives are set for each week, ranging from how to win the trust of employees to selling mass merchandise in Russia. Just like boot camp, the intense program “breaks you down so it can build you back up again”—a necessary experience in adjusting to the pressures of running a retail store.

“It’s designed at the outset to overwhelm you, which can be frustrating. Then again, running a store can be frustrating. As a leader, you must learn to push it deep down in your belly until you get the hang of it,” Lloyd says.

In addition, managers gained a newfound appreciation of different roles inside Wal-Mart, Lloyd says. “As a store manager, it’s easy to think everything is up to you. The academy experience showed us how the various functions need to work together to make the store successful,” Lloyd says.

By providing focused development for new leaders, Wal-Mart is trying to avoid the fate common to many other companies: Promoting people without adequately preparing them. Nearly 40 percent of first-time leaders ultimately fail, according to a comprehensive study in May by Development Dimensions International Inc., a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm.

The report, Be Better Than Average: The State of Frontline Leadership, is based on a survey of 300 human resources executives.

The No. 1 reason for failure is a lack of training on interpersonal skills, including listening, empathizing and involvement. “Leaders are not receiving the development or support that they need to succeed given these new expectations,” says Richard Wellins, a senior vice president at DDI.

The academy was launched about five years ago at the urging of President and CEO Bill Simon following a determination that Wal-Mart lacked the leadership depth needed to meet anticipated growth. Wal-Mart posted revenue of $469.2 billion in its fiscal year that ended in Jan. 31, 2013. In the U.S. alone, Wal-Mart operates more than 4,100 retail stores and distribution centers.

“Our analysis showed we were capable of building new stores faster than we could prepare new store managers,” says Celia Swanson, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of talent development.

The academy is geared to leaders deemed to have high potential, Swanson says. Those tapped to participate are pulled out of their daily role and immersed in hands-on exercises and work projects. The training blends theory with practice, using business-case scenarios to expose people to a range of different experiences.

The program works this way: Participants spend two weeks at a time at Bentonville, followed by two weeks back in the workplace. The process repeats itself up to four times, for a total of 16 weeks.

The endgame is to get people ready for promotions within 30 to 90 days after graduating. Since its inception, more than 500 leaders have graduated from the academy. That is a fraction of Wal-Mart’s 2.2 million employees—1.3 million of whom are based in the U.S.

“It’s a small group that we’ve put through the training, but that’s the point. It’s an accelerated development that enables them to step more quickly into a broader role,” Swanson says.

To develop its training, Wal-Mart turned to global consulting firm McKinney Rogers, whose clients include Wirtz Beverage Group and ITV, the largest commercial television network in the United Kingdom.

The academy borrows liberally from military training, which blends theory with practice, says Damian McKinney, CEO of London-based McKinney Rogers. Store managers are exposed to simulated situations that commonly occur in retailing, forcing them to think critically and make decisions under pressure. “It’s similar to how military leaders plan strategies for defending and defeating an effective attack,” says McKinney, a former operations commando with the U.K. Royal Marines.

Military-style training complements Wal-Mart’s approach to developing leaders, Swanson says. “The military has application to us in the sense that we have to teach lots of young leaders very quickly. The military also no longer relies as much on a command-and-control structure, and similarly, our leaders need to know how to get a new store and community [of employees] up and running quickly.”

Community projects are a key part of Wal-Mart’s leadership academy, Swanson says. For example, leaders often participate in community projects to build homes for low-income families, volunteer at children’s hospitals and similar initiatives.

“Our store managers are usually one of the largest employers in the markets we serve, so the role they play as community leaders is influential. We have to prepare them for it,” Swanson says.

Lloyd joined Wal-Mart shortly after retiring from the Army in 2008. She made a list of desirable employers and then winnowed it down to about a dozen companies. She says Wal-Mart’s commitment to professional development was the clincher.

“That commitment to developing people resonated with me because of my time in the military. Investing in technology and innovation is important, but it’s not nearly as important as investing in the people that drive business forward,” Lloyd says.

Wal-Mart hired Lloyd as a developmental store manager in Jacksonville, Florida, shortly after retiring from the Army. She was invited to the leadership academy about 10 months later and was one month into the program when Wal-Mart named her general manager of its supercenter store in Palm Coast, about one hour south of Jacksonville.

Lloyd served as GM from August 2009 to January 2011, leading a team of 425 hourly workers and 12 managers. The Palm Coast store generated revenue growth topping $100 million.

Wal-Mart’s executive team was impressed enough by her store’s year-over-year revenue growth that Lloyd was promoted to director of store innovations. During those 18 months, Lloyd’s store of 425 hourly workers and 12 managers generated annual revenue topping $100 million. Wal-Mart’s executive team was impressed enough to bring Lloyd to Bentonville as director of strategy for store innovations.

She subsequently served a year as director of hiring and placement solutions for a year before becoming an academy director. Her present job includes developing content for Wal-Mart’s varying levels of leadership.

Says Lloyd: “The leadership academy is not a one-time thing. It’s designed to help leaders progress a career at Walmart.”

Garry Kranz is a Workforce contributing editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

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Corporate Foreign Language Training on the Rise

Foreign language ability may be the final barrier to global corporate expansion. Whether companies partner with international firms, open offices abroad or simply strive to meet the needs of a diverse customer base, their ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming a strategic business imperative.

And some companies are willing to spend serious money to make sure it happens.

When the Japanese firm SoftBank Mobile Corp. purchased a 70 percent share in the U.S.-based firm Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year, the company’s executives offered employees 1 million yen, about $9,800, if they could score 900 points or better on the international Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC, Any score over 800 is considered “advanced proficiency.”

While offering such lucrative incentives is uncommon, many global companies are embracing language training as a key talent management initiative as they attempt to expand their international reach.

“Growth in corporate language training is the biggest trend we’ve seen in the last three years,” says Chuck Frydenborg, senior director of corporate sales in North America for Rosetta Stone, a global language learning software company. In 2009, Rosetta Stone’s corporate clients were limited to a small percentage of Fortune 1000 companies, but today it’s one of the company’s fastest growing segments. “Any company doing more than $1 billion in revenue is starting to see language learning as a serious business value.”

Nissan Motor Co. has been offering language training to its employees for years because the company recognizes the value of cross-cultural training and skill sets, says David Oberstaedt, senior manager in talent management for Nissan North America Inc.

“The automotive industry continues to evolve globally, and we need to be able to move the internal expertise we have to the areas of the world where it is needed,” he says. “When we make strategic hires, we are always thinking about whether that person can take on global assignments. Foreign language ability is a part of that.”

The global automotive firm is headquartered in Kanagawa, Japan, but has U.S. headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and has deemed English as its official corporate language. As a result, English language training is especially vital for Japanese managers who want to move up in the company. “A certain level of English language proficiency is required for any management promotion,” says Chika Tsuda, manager in the training department at Nissan in Yokohama, Japan. “And if they want to be considered for a position in the U.S., they must achieve at least a 500 on the TOEIC,” which is an intermediate rating.

But English isn’t the only language being offered. The company provides a variety of optional online language training programs to all of its global employees and their families, including Livemocha, an online language-learning site. Nissan also provides one-on-one training to any employee preparing to take an assignment in another country with follow-up courses and tutoring once they arrive on-site.

“Even though we always do business in English, we encourage our people to be conversational in the language of that country, so they can communicate with their staff,” Tsuda says.

Nissan also tracks self-reported language proficiency in employee profiles as part of its SuccessFactors Inc. performance management software program to identify potential candidates for overseas assignments.

Investing in language training benefits employees as they transition into expat assignments and helps to create a more global corporate culture, which is key for multinational organizations looking to gain an edge in new markets.

Yet many companies fail to take a proactive approach to language training as part of their global strategies, and that can make expansion efforts much more challenging, says Julia Bonnheim, director of marketing for Livemocha. “We have a lot of companies that come to us after the fact,” she says. These businesses set up global partnerships and build factories or offices in other countries only to realize later that their leaders can’t communicate with the new teams.

For example, a client recently reached out to Rosetta Stone only after completing a huge expansion in Brazil. “They were so focused on translating corporate material to Portuguese; they never stopped to think about how the management of this office would work,” she says. “they never dealt with the language training side of the project.”

Such oversight reduces the productivity of employees, creates on the job confusion, and shows a level of disrespect for employees in the new workplace.

“It’s a common disconnect,” says Duane March, a language trainer for Mindstorm Group, a training company in Mannheim, Germany. “Companies always talk about how important communication is, but they don’t treat it that way.”

If a company wants an employee to achieve a level of language proficiency, it needs to give them the time and tools to hone that craft before moving them to that new work environment. They also need to recognize that, for a while, that employee will be less productive as they learn their new language, March says. “It’s not a matter of whether they will be less productive, it’s a matter of scheduling it,” he says. “It can either happen before they move into their new role or after they arrive.”

Training managers should also consider offering courses that are relevant to their industry, and setting expectations for progress to speed the language learning process. It’s not enough to give employees access to a self-paced program and assume they will learn on their own, March says. Companies need to track employees’ progress and provide ongoing engagement or the learning won’t stick.

“If you don’t have an opportunity to use a new language, the value disappears within weeks,” he says. “So if you are going to spend the money to train employees, make sure they are able to use it on the job.”

Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

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Teaching Time: Training, Framing, Retaining, Sustaining

How is it that some learning initiatives work delivering messages which participants absorb and apply while others fail without generating business results wasting time and money in the process?

Read learning publications and you’ll find that measuring return on investment in terms of behavioral and cultural change is a regular theme. But tracking results is a backward-looking, costly exercise that occurs after funds have already been spent.

It may help figure out what has and hasn’t worked, but does not generally answer the question of why one approach proved effective and another failed. Devoting more attention to a thoughtful front-end analysis would generally prove more effective and save precious funds than relying on an ROI post mortem.

Here’s a list of steps to consider to assure learning success occurs before scarce resources are allocated.

Training: The first issue is whether training is needed at all. By training, I mean an instructional process designed to explain a problem and then communicate information and build skills to fix it.

Too many decisions are made by analyzing what information needs to be received by participants without considering whether behavioral change and skills development are necessary. Content is then presented in a one-way passive process.

This is not training. This is publishing content. Getting individuals to watch videos and click through information screens is basically a communication initiative as opposed to a learning exercise. If that is all that is required, the process can be handled via a one-way release of memos, PowerPoint slides, short videos or other similar means.

Framing: To change behavior the learning purpose must be properly framed for the learner. Individuals are most likely to pay attention to content when it is positioned in a way that matters to them. Part of the learning process must convince them that the lessons are important. With all the data we constantly receive most of us just don’t have time to focus on information that has no significance to us in terms of our jobs, or our own personal opportunities and risks. And, it’s easier to discard information than it is to absorb and apply it. Just because content is important to the organization or the instructor doesn’t mean that the learner will see it the same way.

Retaining: No matter how important a message or subject is, we can only remember so much. Here, organizations commit two major learning sins. First, too much is communicated. Content and skills should be examined with the idea of figuring out what is the least which can be presented rather than what is the most. Second, organizations often assume that by delivering messages only once a year or less that that is enough to get points across. It may be, but only for a limited-time period. Even critical themes risk being lost without being repeated. Cost effective and credible reminders are critical.

Sustaining: Too often we assume that learning is the responsibility of Learning and Development departments. That’s only partly true.

On the job, leaders need to repeatedly model, communicate and apply what they have learned. If they themselves don’t demonstrate that learning messages are important, those working with them will ignore them, too. Great leaders are most often great teachers; when they talk about, demonstrate and reinforce key learning messages they help remind their teams, and themselves, about what’s important, why it’s important and how to act in line with key learning themes. That’s how key lessons change behavior and transmit from one workplace generation to the next.

When planning learning initiatives, consider training, framing, retaining and sustaining. That’s the key to obtaining lasting business, behavioral and cultural results.

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Stihl Tools Its Training to Olympic Standards

Although he’s not employed by Stihl Inc., Jon Stumpf is one of its best-trained representatives.

Stumpf’s company, Sunrise Agricultural Co-Op in Pierz, Minnesota, is one of 8,000 retail businesses in the U.S. authorized by Stihl to sell and service its line of hand-held power tools, which includes chainsaws, drills, leaf blowers and trimmers.

Stumpf also is part of a select group of 1,200 retailers awarded “gold” status—Stihl’s highest level of certification for equipment repair and service of its hand-held power tools. He earned the designation in 2010 after completing a demanding dealer-training program at Stihl’s U.S. headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Stihl customers are savvy and recognize the meaning behind the gold-service credential, Stumpf says. “We have a lot of competing dealerships in central Minnesota. The gold certification puts us in a different category than other shops.”

To hear such endorsements delights Eddie Anderson, Stihl’s technical training supervisor in charge of developing dealer-based learning programs. Stihl markets its line of 130 power tools exclusively through specially chosen retailers—you can’t buy Stihl equipment at mass merchandisers—and it depends on a cadre of nonemployee technicians for its success.

“The average shop-labor rate at Stihl dealerships is $65 an hour. At that rate, it’s important that we teach technicians to examine a product and know within 10 to 15 minutes if it’s fixable or not,” Anderson says.

Known as the Gold School, its training deals with other important topics, including understanding warranties, Anderson says. Dealers that don’t understand warranty provisions could be forced to eat the repair expense and lose out on reimbursement. “If a technician believes an item is covered by warranty, he needs to be able to justify his decision to us.”

Anderson was hired by Stihl 10 years ago to develop the training curriculum, which Fred Whyte, the company’s president, determined could differentiate it from other power-equipment-makers. The training content had to be delivered almost from scratch.

Existing training literature hadn’t kept pace with technological advances in hand-held power equipment, Anderson says. Plus, to differentiate itself, Stihl wanted customized training that enabled it to continue selling products through private dealers.

“We don’t need technicians who are hammer mechanics,” meaning those who are impatient and easily frustrated by new technologies. “We need technicians who are willing to embrace new technology,” Anderson says.

Stihl developed its training by using an Olympic-style approach. Three levels of training are provided for dealer-technicians: bronze, silver and gold. Each level of training focuses on different aspects of Stihl’s products and service standards.

The bronze certification is a requirement of all Stihl dealerships, which technicians earn by completing a series of online modules through Stihl’s iCademy e-learning portal. The content provides information on warranties, product liability, parts and other basics.

Technicians next can pursue silver-level training, in which they are presented with malfunctioning equipment and challenged to correctly diagnose the cause. Silver-level courses are delivered in a face-to-face setting by service managers at Stihl’s 12 regional distribution centers in the U.S.

The Gold School represents the final level of Stihl-certified training. Dealerships pay a nominal tuition (about $250 for the three days) to send their technicians through Gold School while technicians must pay their own airfare, lodging and other costs, as well as the cost of the class. The intensive course includes product troubleshooting and other hands-on diagnostic exercises. Participants also must pass a written exam. Stihl schedules about 25 Gold School sessions each year, and “classes are always full,” Anderson says.

Technicians that achieve the gold service level are certified by Stihl for three years, after which they can retake the course. Anderson says the learning content changes to keep pace with technological, regulatory and other changes that affect the power-tool industry.

Dealerships that pay for their technicians to attend the Gold School may receive higher reimbursement levels. “But we have never intended for that to be the big reason that our dealers participate.

“We have worked hard to create a reputation that the Gold School provides them with the best-trained technician possible,” Anderson says.

Acquiring the certificate is no easy feat. Stumpf was frustrated after failing the written exam during his first visit to Virginia Beach in 2008. But he used the setback to his advantage, acing the exam when he returned in 2010.

“It was the best money I ever spent,” he says.

Garry Kranz is a Workforce contributing editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

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As Career Development Lags, Workers Grow Restless

Organizations have their work cut out to develop and retain employees in 2013, new research shows.

During the past six months, slightly less than one-third of U.S. employees received training and development to better perform their jobs, according to a December survey by Cornerstone OnDemand Inc., a human resources software vendor. Other findings: Only one in four workers had met with their managers to hammer out an individual career plan while two-thirds of employees aren’t receiving feedback or recognition.

“Most employees want to do a good job, but many told us they aren’t getting the training they need to improve or to build a sustainable career. If individuals don’t get what they need, eventually they could wind up leaving,” says Jason Corsello, Cornerstone’s vice president of corporate strategy and marketing.

Corsello says the findings are a wake-up call to U.S. organizations, especially those that curtailed spending on training and development during the economic slowdown. The survey of nearly 500 U.S. employees took place Nov. 23 to 26 in conjunction with research firm Kelton Global.

The dynamics point to a looming problem for employers: 19 million Americans plan to change jobs this year, or 13 percent of the total U.S. workforce, according to the survey. The churn will cost U.S. businesses an estimated $2 trillion to recruit and train new workers.

Fourteen percent of survey respondents said they plan to leave their current job within six months to a year. About 25 percent are eyeing a move sometime in the next three years. Just 46 percent of those surveyed acknowledge having a long-range career with their current employer.

“We’ve been hearing for years how the performance-review process stinks, but what we found interesting is that employees have a strong desire to be developed. They want to get better, but companies aren’t giving them the resources to improve or to build sustainable careers,” Corsello says.

Classrooms and other formal modes of training remain important, but Corsello says companies have been slow to integrate informal methods like social media, coaching and collaborative tools. They also are struggling to roll out social tools that make learning content available to employees “when and where they want it,” including via mobile devices and smartphones.

The results suggest a need for more robust training of managers and adoption of “crowdsourcing” as a way to gather feedback about employees’ performance, which Corsello says could help close the gap and potentially boost engagement.

Good managers are the key reason employees stay, cited by 48 percent of respondents. Appreciation from managers and other employees (46 percent) is a close second, followed by career opportunities (39 percent) and the chance to develop new skills (32 percent).

“Nowhere did people say they are motivated by more money; that tends to be lower on the scale of importance. Mainly they want to know they’re doing a good job and to be recognized for it,” Corsello says.

Garry Kranz is a Workforce contributing editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Diversity Training Must Include White Perspective, Experts Say

A few years ago, Lee Tschanz, vice president of North America sales for Rockwell Automation Inc., scheduled a meeting with one of his managers to help him improve “managing up.”

Tschanz, a middle-aged white man, was going to offer the manager, a 50-year-old black man, examples from his own career on how to be more authoritative with employees who are senior to him in the firm. But instead, he admitted to the man that he had no idea what it is like to be a black manager at Rockwell Automation. Then he asked the manager if he should be coaching him differently.

“His response was, ‘Wow. I’m so glad you said that,” Tschanz says.

The manager went on to explain that he grew up in the South where any challenge to white male authority by a black man was risky, and that he’d been taught his whole life to avoid such confrontations. They ended up having a long conversation about the issue, and Tschanz agreed that even though he wasn’t sure what the best solution was, he promised to have that manager’s back whenever he pushed himself to manage outside his comfort zone.

“After that, he got better at managing up,” Tschanz says. “And more importantly, my willingness to have those conversations increased.”

Such stories are common at Rockwell Automation thanks to the company’s nontraditional approach to diversity and leadership training. In partnership with the training company, White Men as Full Diversity Partners, Rockwell has put more than 450 of its leaders through a three-day, off-site, experiential training lab where they are forced to examine their own assumptions about white male privilege, explore other people’s experiences, and define the role they can play in building a culture of inclusiveness in the company.

That’s the real business benefit of a strong diversity program, says Jeanine Prime, vice president of research for Catalyst, a not-for-profit research firm focused on women in business. “When leaders see inclusiveness as a critical part of the role, they are able to get the best out of all their people,” she says. “It leads to lower turnover and better outcomes for talent development.”

It also helps Rockwell differentiate itself in recruiting, particularly among hard-to-find female engineers, says Joan Buccigrossi, Rockwell’s director of inclusion and engagement. “There are not a lot of women engineers, and everyone wants them.”

Tschanz was one of the first participants in the Rockwell program, and he admits that at first he was skeptical. He began the course thinking he treated everyone equally, but by the second day he realized he had no idea what it was like to be a woman or a person of color in the predominantly white Rockwell environment. “I discovered that it’s about more than how you treat people,” he says. “It is about understanding that differences exist in culture and they make you more prone to act a certain way.”

So inspired, Tschanz put his entire staff through the course, and created an inclusion change team to address diversity issues in his group. That team went on to create the company’s annual “Get Connected” event where women from across the company get together to network, hear speakers and participate in workshops.

Tschanz’s team also made smaller adjustments, such as expanding social events beyond golf and cocktails, and making people aware of subtly negative behavior, such as asking why a female colleague is upset if she complains in a meeting. “You would never ask that about a man,” he notes.

Once leaders became aware of what they were doing, the culture at Rockwell began to change—and not just in the sales department, Prime says . Catalyst did an in-depth study of the Rockwell program and found measurable changes in behavior among white male leaders across the company.

These included a 39 percent reduction in gossip, a 17 percent increase in how much managers agreed that white men have greater advantages than women and racial/ethnic minorities, and a 40 percent increase in thinking critically about different social groups among managers who do not have many cross-racial friendships.

The change was most pronounced among managers who were the least concerned about appearing prejudiced, Prime says. “After the labs, those managers registered the most significant change in taking personal responsibility for being inclusive.”

Rockwell’s success with this course underscores why it is so important to involve white men in the culture-change process. “White men are a powerful stakeholder group, and they need to get the message that they are responsible for being a part of the solution,” Prime says.

That awareness is critical, Tschanz adds. “You can’t get on the path to inclusion until you are able to look at your culture through a different set of eyes.”

Sarah Fister Gale is a freelance writer based in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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What Is the Difference Between Career Growth and Career Development?

Dear Growth or No:

There is a major distinction between the two. In fact, career growth depends on career development.

Growth is your organization’s ladder or, to use the parlance of the day, career lattice. While a ladder displays only vertical movement between jobs, a career lattice, by contrast, contains both vertical and lateral movement between jobs and may reflect more closely the career paths of employees in the modern work environment. The ladder is the somewhat dated model of career growth. The lattice is the more prevalent path today.

Career development, on the other hand, includes things employees do to enhance or develop your career. It is just as important for professionals as it is for other types of employees—perhaps even more so. Professionals need solid credentials to instill trust in customers, but also must continuously polish and improve those credentials. Also, professionals have just as much ambition to take on new responsibilities as do other employee groups. Your organization figures financially benefits (increased revenue from new clients) when your professionals become known as “go to” people. That takes development, so your organization should implement a clear program to boost its expertise and management skills.

For professionals, this can take shape in different ways, depending on the stage of their career. Consider a plan to help familiarize newly hired professionals with their teammates and organizational decision-makers. This helps them learn the culture of the organization and how to build successful working relationships with their managers. Aid them in developing a well-mapped career path, including short-term objectives that serve as milestones.

For those who’ve been employed in their professional field for some time, your organization needs to keep them from getting stuck in a rut. Sponsoring formal training tuition that advances them in their field of expertise is pretty common, but there are such things as conferences, webinars and online lectures, and opportunities for professional networking that can be part of their career development and enhancement.

A professional organization depends on the expertise and engagement of its employees to generate business. Not all your professionals will be interested in a promotion, but for those who are, your business will benefit by helping them foster the skills they’ll need.

SOURCE: Ron Thomas, director of talent and HR solutions, Buck Consultants, New York

LEARN MORE: Well-Trained Managers Can Curb Attrition

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Getting the Most out of Your New Hires

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is ending the hiring process with on-boarding. Ensuring top notch productivity and longevity requires answering three main questions successfully that address ensuring newly hired employees get up to full productivity, retaining employees after they are hired and measuring success and improvement over time.

Register to download this free white paper to learn about Getting the Most out of your New Hires. Sponsored by Successfactors.

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Whirlpool Adopts E-Learning for Leadership

Corinne Gorenchan learned a lot during a yearlong training session for leaders at Whirlpool Corp., but the most important realization is that she is not alone.

Gorenchan was one of the first supervisors to graduate from “Leading People at Whirlpool,” which immerses managers in the nuts and bolts of leadership. It blends virtual and live classroom learning, plus job projects designed to let managers apply their newly acquired knowledge. Supervisors and their managers also are held to a higher level of accountability.

“Each of us is new in our leadership experiences, and it was awesome to be able to share, gain insights and learn from each other,” says Gorenchan, a consumer scientist who leads a team of six people. “It is one of the best training sessions I’ve ever been involved in.”

Among other things, the leadership training provided help on key management issues, such as setting expectations, building credibility, communication and assessment.

Rolled out in 2010, Leading People targets 6,500 managers at Whirlpool, an appliance-maker in Benton Harbor, Michigan, near Kalamazoo. It is a concerted effort to strengthen Whirlpool’s bench and prescribe competencies for managers who lead other employees, says Tamara Patrick, director of Whirlpool University.

It also marks a change of attitude toward online learning at Whirlpool. Until recently, the company relied almost exclusively on face-to-face classroom instruction to deliver learning about innovation, marketing and other business imperatives. “We didn’t think e-learning was engaging enough to be effective,” Patrick says.

Whirlpool’s move online mirrors national trends. Two-thirds of learning executives believe e-learning will increase “moderately or substantially” within six months, according to a report by the American Society for Training & Development, or ASTD, a trade group in Alexandria, Virginia. The Learning Executive Confidence Index, released in August, includes responses of nearly 350 learning leaders.

A prolonged global recession prompted Whirlpool to re-examine its learning strategy. Squeezed by dwindling consumer demand for its big-ticket items, Whirlpool, whose brands include Maytag and KitchenAid, has laid off 5,000 employees since 2008, according to a recent securities filing.

At the same time, the 101-year-old company in 2009 purchased a new learning management system and migrated most training online, Patrick says. The inaugural program was Foundations of Whirlpool, a set of nine 30-minute online modules that informs employees about the company’s specific growth strategies.

The self-paced modules in the Foundations program are designed to familiarize employees in advance of classes at Whirlpool University. Patrick says it also helps when onboarding new employees and serves as a prerequisite for all learning and development pursuits.

A natural outgrowth of Foundations is Leading People, which provides targeted training to supervisors deemed to be up-and-comers at Whirlpool. Supervisors invited to participate complete a series of online modules that prepare them to attend in-person classes at Whirlpool University.

To ensure the leadership training sticks, each supervisor’s manager also participates in coaching workshops to learn ways to help the supervisor put their learning into immediate practice.

“When the leaders graduate, their managers are asked to come and explain how they are going to support the continued learning and application of the supervisory skills,” Patrick says.

Convincing leaders and their managers to devote 12 months to a single training initiative was at first a tough sell. “The feedback at the start was: ‘A 12-month program? You’ve got to be kidding, right?’ Patrick says.

But spreading the coursework over one year enables better learning results through ongoing feedback, managerial coaching and periodic assessments, Patrick says. “In the past, we would bring leaders into a classroom for three days to teach them basic supervisory skills. Then, we sent them back to the job and never talked about it again,” Patrick says.

During the first two months of the program, leaders invited to the program are required to complete a series of three e-learning modules, created by consulting firm Development Dimensions International of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. The content focuses on building essential leadership skills and coaching.

During the third month, a class of 20 to 40 participants gathers for the first time at Whirlpool University, a 100-acre campus at the company’s headquarters. Members of Whirlpool’s training team are on hand to facilitate group sharing of their experiences. In-classroom learning labs and collaborative exercises are used to address Whirlpool’s most pressing strategic issues, such as the importance of innovation, how it manifests itself, and the role the supervisors play to nurture it.

The process of preparatory e-learning and classroom activities repeats itself several months later. During the break between physical classes, teams of managers work together on business projects. The course concludes with a final in-class meeting at which leaders make group presentations to an audience that includes their managers and senior leaders.

Throughout the year, each supervisor’s manager receives coaching to help their supervisors put their skills to use on the job.

Leaders like James Crawford say the Leading People program provides a framework for learning how to manage other people. “It helped me pinpoint weak spots in my leadership practices and then gave me a strategy for turning those weaknesses into strengths,” says Crawford, a senior training producer at Whirlpool’s Chicago division.

“I learned the impact communication has in driving a high-performing team,” Crawford adds.

Whirlpool is soliciting the opinion of graduates on tips to improve the experience. Among the suggestions: establish formal mentors for supervisors—including leaders other than their direct managers—and provide face-to-face learning more frequently, with greater exposure to executive leadership, Patrick says.

Employees that demonstrate leadership potential soon may get the chance to pursue the training as well. Whirlpool this year plans to pilot the Leading People course to select employees who have demonstrated leadership potential.

Leading People also is the best example of Whirlpool’s new “closed loop” approach to employee development, which governs the creation of learning programs “from initial design all the way through to implementation,” Patrick says.

The learning activities open the loop, while practice, coaching and periodic assessments help to complete the circle. Blending the strengths of online learning with face-to-face activities is a key part of that loop. “It’s a really powerful combination that is reshaping our approach to learning and development,” Patrick says.

Garry Kranz is a Workforce contributing editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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How Do I Coach for Engagement?

Dear Too Much Information:

Employee-engagement studies during the past decade reveal that, for the most part, employee engagement isn’t strong —and it may be getting worse. You are therefore wise to look for ways to improve it within your team.

With respect to making a positive impact on engagement: It is helpful to remember that people are motivated only by their own goals and aspirations, not those of others. This most definitely applies to work.

The secret is to connect your employees’ personal goals and aspirations to those on the job that you wish them to pursue with equal enthusiasm. First, you’ll need to know what those interests are and then help employees make this all-important connection. Remember: Not everyone is interested in or willing to discuss personal interests outside of work. If that’s the case, don’t push.

To find out what motivates your employees on and off the job, here’s a secret: Ask questions. If an employee would rather not share outside interests, fine: Keep the discussion focused on work goals. Your next step is to make clear how an individual’s work contributes to achieving the specified goals. When you do that, you will have tapped into the broader motivations of your employees.

Here’s an illustration:

During your regular coaching discussions with Bob, you learn that he wants to make a significant contribution to preservation efforts in his local community. But Bob laments the fact that he first needs to acquire some new skills, and he doesn’t have time for after-hours training. Bob will need to learn how to organize and manage projects, present ideas effectively to municipal leaders and the public, and analyze statistical data. If you can help Bob get these skills, you help him prepare for his role in the community—as well as advancement opportunities with your organization. It sounds cliché, but this would be a win-win situation that should help boost Bob’s engagement in his work.

Individual leaders and organizations would do well to understand this simple principle and use it to drive greater engagement.

SOURCE: Alan Preston, Just Enough HR, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

LEARN MORE: Companies may measure it, but shared accountability for engagement is an exception, not the norm.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.