In many areas, but particularly for professional sales people, Xerox had always had a great reputation for developing the best people and their training programme was envied by many, but there was an increased belief internally that perhaps they were living off that hard-earned reputation and that while the world around them had changed, perhaps the approach to learning and development hadn’t.

Darrell Minards has been with Xerox for over 20 years and 4 years ago he was appointed Head of Learning & Development for Xerox in Europe. He wanted to re-engineer learning and development so that it would be seen as a thought-leader and a key business enabler. This case study provides insight into how Darrell and his team have changed L&D in Xerox forever.

With responsibility for L&D across Europe with different cultures, languages and learning experiences Darrell adopted the mantra of ‘Develop Once, Deliver Many Times’ for all his target markets. His strategy really embraces two major elements – the skills of their people and their performance.

We are pleased to include this case study in our evidence for change programme.

The true testimony of success is being able to measure and quantify the business benefits that have resulted from re-engineering L&D @ Xerox Europe. Here are some of the key achievements:

• Cost savings in excess of £5 million.
• Over 300 virtual classrooms were delivered through 2009 to over 3,500 delegates across all business groups.
• The new induction programme has resulted in the best prepared inductees.
• Managers are now truly engaged and L&D include a Managers pack in inductions. Historically the rating for L&D averaged 3.2 out of a possible score of 5 – now its 4.1 based on their new programme.
• They are setting and managing expectations successfully.
• They have increased efficiency, management engagement and coaching and achieved a faster time to performance.

But perhaps the greatest testament to the work of Darrell and his team is that now L&D is seen as a key enabler to business performance. They are now seen as an innovative team and Darrell is being rewarded for creating an environment in which individuals feel that they can take risks, make mistakes and learn from them for the benefit of everyone.

Top 10 Tips from this case study for re-engineering Learning & Development are:

1. Challenge pre-conceptions and past ways of doing things
2. Adopt a performance consulting approach to identify the core problem and agree the most appropriate solution
3. Secure commitment, engagement and participation from key stakeholders
4. Harness learning technologies to optimise available time and reduce costs
5. Be creative and innovative
6. Demonstrate business impact and measure contribution
7. Align the learning solution (where appropriate) to key business needs and objectives and be seen as a ‘key enabler’
8. Identify key ‘champions’ and agents of change within L&D
9. Be strong and have faith in your team
10. Don’t be afraid to make the changes needed for the ultimate benefit of the organisation, L&D and the individuals.

Related downloads

• Xerox case study

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