Learning is high up on the agenda at C&W Worldwide; The HR division has now become The People Team whose strap-line is 'obsessional about colleagues', and Debbie Meech, People Director, has a seat at the Exec table because the organisation realises that its key differentiator is its people. There is now a strong focus on attracting, retaining and managing talent along with new roles such as Head of Talent and Colleague Development Consultants, working as advocates within the business, ensuring flexible technology enabled learning delivery is an integrated part of the process. These new roles are opening up new channels to market and the shifting emphasis from learning events to performance improvement is even more important.
 
Shifts in learning services - simplifying access for colleagues
 
As we explored last time, C&W Worldwide had already made a fundamental change to its learning infrastructure from a managed outsourced service (complete with traditional LMS) to a more flexible solution consisting of new rapid development processes and a simpler interface, iLeARN, to connect colleagues with relevant learning assets so that they could respond rapidly to individual demand and the changing needs of the company.  Since then additional components have been added to support individual performance even more.
 
The business’ performance management system, SuccessFactors, is now integrated with iLeARN, allowing colleagues to align objectives and goals on their personal development plans and, through a simple click on button, they are able  to search iLeARN for relevant assets and launch them from within their PDP. Being able to reach important learning assets quickly is essential, so C&W Worldwide recently implemented a “single sign-on” meaning that if someone clicks on a link, that’s posted on the intranet, in an e-mail or a document, they are immediately taken to the learning asset without the need to sign into iLeARN.
 
C&W Worldwide has also integrated its New Way of Learning portal into the corporate intranet. This step forward has further simplified access for colleagues, as the single sign-on allows links in the learning portal to connect directly to content they need to do their job.
 
Shifts in learning services - continual improvement
 
During the last four years, C&W Worldwide has shifted its attention to using rapid development tools to deliver company critical learning faster and, last time we visited, this was really taking off.  It has since refined its use of RAD tools with partner Kineo and now uses its proprietary tool, Cranberry, which means that content can be developed on similar timeframes and costs, utilising reusable assets and templates. The resulting look and feel is akin to a bespoke e-learning course which improves the overall colleague learning experience.
 
C&W Worldwide occasionally needs to be able to assess and accredit colleagues, so it is important to be able to prove that users and outsourcing partners understand particular products and processes. The company has found that proprietary online test services have often been too clunky and expensive, so in the last year it has used Moodle and implemented it as a stand alone test centre. C&W Worldwide stripped the system back and now uses it as an infrastructure to deliver and monitor assessments. Tests are developed in Quizmaker and loaded into Moodle. An enhanced database on the back of Moodle allows the team to evaluate the data and slice and dice the reporting which helps them to identify development areas.
 
 
Shifts in learning services - building capability by connecting colleagues
 
Like many organisations, C&W Worldwide has been using web-conferencing for four years, but it is during in the last 12 months that it has started to apply the tools to address learning issues on a corporate scale. As a result the uptake has snowballed, with corporate programmes run to support the following three critical business issues:
 
1.      Perfect Pitch - this is a weekly webinar aimed at commercial colleagues who need to keep up-to-date with the latest products, case studies and innovations to support their customers. Following a well designed framework the product team developed a series of sessions that are now a standing appointment in the diary. The sessions are delivered by Product Managers and Sales Specialists and are supported by Mike, who moderates and compares the event. New propositions, cases studies, and real success stories are used within the sessions and interactive polling confirms understanding of the content. The programme runs in a series of sessions before a break to regroup; four series have already been completed.
2.      Management Matters - C&W Worldwide has around 850 colleagues in its management community, who are critical when leading teams through periods of change and maintaining high spirits. These are just two subjects that have been covered in a monthly management webinar programme on the last Thursday of every month, which is tied into specific business initiatives. Other subjects include performance management conversations and setting objectives. Between 100 and 250 managers attend the one hour monthly programme and the investment in time pays dividends. At the end of each webinar, managers are provided with specific resources from iLeARN to support them with the subject, they also receive support with workshops for their teams. Polling is used in these sessions to gather thoughts and opinions and provide instant quality feedback that helps to shape future training sessions.
3.      Obsessional about Customers - the success of the first two programmes has led to a third monthly series being developed specifically for colleagues delivering service to customers. 
 
Whilst the webinars help to connect colleagues with each other and experts, they are also recorded so others won't miss out, - the recordings, slides and a three page pdf summary are included in the New Way of Learning portal. A number of lessons were learned from this initiative.  Firstly, the selection of technology is important; the more ubiquitous the better. It is more important that the user finds it easy to join the session without being technically minded, than the bells and whistles for the moderator. Good preparation is also key; you can't just throw a quality session together (the attentiveness gauge on the software shows how easy it is to lose colleagues).
 
Moving forward there are also plans for quarterly webinars for all colleagues looking to invest in their own personal and career development.

The results?
 
Compared with delivering similar training via other means the return on investment to the organisation is staggering and the new approach means that C&W Worldwide is able to offer timely and relevant training to far more of its colleagues than ever before.
 
 
Practical hints and tips

• Don't let technology get in the way - make it simple for colleagues to log-in and get to what they need
• Make access to learning assets relevant and timely 
• Make a date; use webinars to connect colleagues around important business issues
• Once colleagues come together, make the most of the opportunity to highlight additional resources 
• Don't take success for granted; use tracking embedded within tools to continually enhance and improve

You read more about the original changes that C&W made to learning 2 years ago here and can download the original case study below.

If you want to hear more, Mike Booth will be speaking at WOLCE 2010 (28&29 Sept 2010)

Over the past few years AXA PPP healthcare has seen a significant rise in interest from prospective clients on its approach to corporate responsibility and, in particular, its environmental policies.
Despite implementing a range of environmentally friendly initiatives (including drives to reduce energy consumption, installing solar panels for lighting and increasing recycled paper use), AXA PPP did not hold any formal, externally recognised accreditation prior to 2008 that would enable it to more robustly demonstrate to enquirers and prospective clients its environmental credentials which, to maintain its competitive edge, needed addressing.

Winner of the silver award in the Meeting the needs of compliance for an external regulator or an internal workforce category at the e-learning awards 2009, this case study describes how the health insurer successfully secured compliance with the leading internationally recognised standard for managing and reducing the impact of activities on the environment – ISO14001.
Background to ISO 14001 with e-learning.

Commenting on the ISO 14001 achievement, Keith Gibbs, AXA PPP healthcare’s chief executive, said:
 “We’ve made great strides to improve our environmental performance and I am proud of the way our employees have responded so positively to this challenge.”

Top tips from this case study:

• Ensure compliance with new environmental legislation to emphasise your green credentials and remain competitive.
• Ensure the solution has the lowest impact on the environment and learner time.
• Develop a coherent communications plan to keep everyone fully informed.
• Realise real cost savings by practically eliminating all validation, printing and travel costs using e-Learning.

Over 350 organisations have invested time in Towards Maturity's  learning technology benchmark over the past 6weeks and we will be spending the summer analysing the results. Thank you to everyone who took part! (& it's not to late to join in as we're extending closing date to midday 6th August)

We will publish a free report of the important findings and we want it to be as useful  as possible for anyone implementing technologies in the workplace, especially if you are

• struggling to make a business case for change
• wanting to improve the adoption
• looking to improve the impact that their adoption has on business and staff
• impmenting e-learning for the first time and want more information

Before we start number crunching, we'd love your input on what you need from this report ( which will be available to download for free in the autumn!)

For example, would you like to see proof about what technologies are actually being used ( vs those being hyped?!) How about evidence of efficiency benefits or business impact?
Is social learning taking off or just a promise? Are you alone in some of the barriers you face? How have others overcome them?

We have had tremendous industry support in preparing this review (thank you to everyone involved!)  ensure that it covers the hottest topics and results in a useful independent source of practical evidence and ideas. But your feedback on what you need it to do for you is the most important thing!

Please let us know using the make a suggestion button below or email us at elearning@towardsmaturity.org

many thanks

PS There is still time to take part - everyone taking part in the actual review also receive their own personalised report looking at their performance indicators and how to improve the impact of learning technologies. This will be sent out early in September - if you are responsible for implementing learning technologies in your workplace, it's not too late to take part at www.towardsmaturity.org/2010benchmark
 
The benchmark now closes midday on 6th August.

PPS if you haven't seen our reports before you can download the previous benchmarks at http://tinyurl.com/TMbenchmark

Overall the survey reveals that employees across Europe are highly motivated to develop their skills in the current economic climate - so much so that 76% are willing to give up their free time to undertake training and 53% are even prepared to part fund it. The survey looks at what motivates employees to learn, how the majority of employees are initiating their own training in the workplace and how e-learning and blended learning as well as emerging learning tools like podcasts, wikis, blogs, forums and webinars are more popular than ever.  

Key findings include:

• Training in Europe is employee-driven with most employees willing to make personal sacrifices to undertake it( in both time and finance), while 25% still do not receive training
• Training is seen as key to a pay rise in the current economic climate – 65% of employees are most motivated to develop their skills by the potential to increase their salary.
• UK managers the most involved in the training of their teams yet only 17% of managers across Europe are following-up on training initiatives afterwards.
• UK and Spain continue to lead the way with e-learning and blended learning with 53% and 41% of UK employees using these tools respectively.
• The use of podcasts, wikis, blogs, forums and webinars are more popular than ever with the UK leading the way with many of these tools with around a third of more of UK employees having used them in the workplace.

You can see the full results here.

3 observations:

• Recent reports from Capita highlight that inadequate L&D departments are holding back recovery with 50% of business leaders from some of the UK's largest organisations doubting L&D's ability to support their upturn strategy. However the Cegos research shows that there is a real hunger within individuals that matches the hunger of business itself (see the CBI report on business over the next 10 years). Surely this is a significant wake up call!!
  
• Our own research on learning innovation in business confirms many of the findings in the Cegos report -in our last benchmark podcasting tools, webinars were all rapidly growing ( something that appears to be continuting in our current benchmark programme) - highlighting that innovative L&D departments are starting to use tools that will allow them to respond more rapidly to changing business demand
  
• Whilst the UK and spain are leading the way with e-learning and blended learning - there is still a way to go (CIPD's research shows 85% of UK businesses now use e-learning but only 12% think it effective) and in our own benchmarks still less than 40% actively train their trainers on how to blend.

We really welcome this research by Cegos - another wake up call for L&D to become more responsive to both staff and business!

In addition, a core objective of their industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), is to minimise the extent to which the financial services industry can be used to facilitate financial crime. It states that the risks and issues of fraud must be addressed and highlighted to employees in the industry.

In 2008 Legal & General radically changed their approach to fraud awareness, moving from the classroom to a creative e-learning solution. In doing so they saved £1.1 million, redefined what effective e-learning was within the company, significantly raised awareness of fraud issues and reduced the risk to the business.

Winner of the bronze award in the ‘Excellence in the Production of Learning Content – Private Sector’ category at the e-learning awards 2009, this complimentary case study provides further insight on the Podcast recently recorded with David Lockett & Kelly Bush @ Legal & General in April 2010 and published on the Towards Maturity website, exploring how they did it, the reaction and the resulting business benefits.

Although the e-learning team considered other methods, e-learning was the only solution that would meet all of the business needs. This was an exciting proposal. It was their first opportunity to build a module from scratch and to influence every stage of the project, breaking away from traditional templates with text heavy e-learning that Legal & General had been used to. This was their opportunity to produce e-learning that would engage learners, encourage the right attitude and behaviour change and benefit Legal & General from both compliance and business perspectives.

The biggest success has been the significant reduction in training costs. Just comparing the learner “downtime” of the two interventions has shown a saving of £1.1 million, reducing classroom costs of £1.156 million to £55,250 by using e-learning.

To date, 95.2 % of employees have completed the module, the highest of any of their e-learning modules. But completion figures were not the only measure to be applied.

You can find out more by reading the full case study from which we've extracted the following 'Top tips for success':

• Having a clear vision by establishing and agreeing the objectives early on.
• Putting themselves in the learner’s shoes.
• Never compromising the learning experience for style.
• Questioning the norm and taking a leap of faith to break away from overused “safety net” styles and templates.
• Building a good relationship with the SME, being able to openly discuss and challenge content.
• Playing to their strengths – individually each team member has graphics, script writing and instructional design skills but by collaborating they developed good ideas into great ones.

The benchmark is now considered the most comprehensive, independent and authoritative review on the use of Learning Technologies in the workplace in the UK. The 2010 benchmark represents a unique industry collaboration reflected by endorsements from 15 organisations to ensure that this review meets employer needs across all sectors. See below.

All those responsible for implementing learning technologies in the workplace and who are under pressure to accelerate their impact are invited to get involved during the coming months.

If you are responsible for implementing learning technologies in your workplace (and have not already received a personal invitation to participate) then click here to take part for free today(or click here to find out more).

Laura Overton, Managing Director of Towards Maturity says ‘In 2010 organisations are looking to technology to help deliver efficiencies and improve quality of learning. By investing 40 minutes in this impartial review, participants in the benchmark will be provided with individualised feedback that will help them accelerate change in 2010 and improve the impact of their investment’.

To date over 800 organisations from the private, public and not for profit sectors have participated in this research resulting in a compelling evidence base showing how to improve the impact of learning technologies in the workplace. All new participants in the 2010 review will have the opportunity to benchmark their own progress against established practice and receive a personalised report with practical advice ( value £200) for free. You can follow benchmark progress on Twitter via #TMB10.

Industry endorsements for 2010 Learning Technology Benchmark

Increased national interest in skills means that L&D professionals need to continually innovate to improve business performance. BILD is pleased to continue to  support the Towards Maturity Learning Technology benchmark in 2010 because this powerful research tool provides a unique opportunity for our members to adapt to changing business  by providing them with an opportunity to  reflect  and  benchmark  against effective practices.’ Jack Wills. Chair The British Institute for Learning and Development (BILD) www.thebild.org.uk
‘Adapting to and embracing new technologies for learning is key to moving business and the communities they work in forwards.   When technology matches business needs with learning as a solution, it widens access to learning and better enables more employees to contribute to improving business performance, enriches their own lives and increases engagement with wider society. The TM 2010 Benchmark is an impressive tool for measuring impact and benchmarking companies’ behaviours and encouraging learning from the experience of others.  It is fully supported by Business in the Community and aligns strongly with our own annual benchmarking tool – the Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index. ‘ Sarah Gibb, National Campaign Manager, Business Action on Skills www.bitc.org.uk
'The work of Towards Maturity is vital in helping organisations understand the emergence and maturation of trends in workplace learning, particularly so they can benefit from the experiences of others and ensure they don’t fall behind in the fast-paced knowledge economy”  Jane Hart, CEO, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT) www.c4lpt.co.uk
‘CLC is pleased to support the 2010 benchmark as we have found that the Towards Maturity research highlights the important issues that the charity sector is facing in implementing learning technologies. The personalised benchmark reports have also provided our members with practical advice and guidance that has helped us to change, innovate and collaborate in order to improve performance’ Martin Baker, The Charity Learning consortium www.charitylearning.org
‘Insightful and up-to-date data on trends and emerging practice is the lifeblood of any learning & development manager. Without solid data and intelligent analysis it’s almost impossible to steer the best path to support our organisations and workers in their quest for the highest quality performance. The Towards Maturity learning technology benchmark is a vital resource for anyone trying to provide top-quality learning and development services.’ Charles Jennings, Duntroon Associates. www.duntroon.com
www.elearnity.com
'E.learning age is pleased to support the Towards Maturity 2010 Benchmark. It is very important work, especially in identifying emerging trends and changing practices in workplace learning and development. This authoritative study fits in with the objectives that we have in organising the E-Learning Awards as it is vital the e-learning community shares what is happening, especially at a time when every organisation is under pressure to deliver great value in all areas, including technology-based learning. We would encourage as many as possible to the take part.' Peter Williams, Editor, E.learning age www.elearningage.co.uk
''The eLearning Network is a keen supporter of the Towards Maturity learning technology benchmark, which does so much to spread good practice and to highlight the issues that need addressing if e-learning is to achieve its full potential'' Clive Shepherd, Chair, eLearning Network www.elearningnetwork.org
‘ Our passion at the institute is to raise professionalism within the learning and development industry and have long believed that measuring impact and benchmarking are critical to innovation that leads to improved performance. Towards Maturity share our passion and over the last 6 years have developed their renowned learning technology benchmark  at the coalface of the industry in order to provide practical insights necessary to drive our profession forward. As a result the IITT is pleased to support the 2010 benchmark and would recommend as many as possible get involved’ – Colin Steed CEO IITT www.iitt.org.uk
‘I would encourage anyone who is serious about using learning technologies to transform workplace learning to take part in the Towards Maturity 2010 Benchmark. To date over 800 organisations have participated resulting in a trusted & established research base proven to help  organisations save time in building innovative learning that delivers results’ Donald H Taylor, Chairman Learning & Skills Group. www.learningtechnologies.co.uk/learning-and-skills-group
‘‘With mounting financial pressure and accountability facing public sector organisations, many of Learning Pool’s customers are finding that now is the time to use tools such as benchmarking and return on investment analysis to better make the case for adopting learning technologies. We recommend the TM 2010 benchmark because it provides organisations with an opportunity to not only review their own activity but draw out practical lessons from the best practices of others in both public and private sector’. Mary McKenna, Learning Pool Director www.learningpool.com
www.informatology.com
‘TJ’s L&D 2020 research project clearly indicates that technology is an increasingly important element in how people learn at work, but its uptake and level of success is still variable. Many organisations are already using technology in sophisticated ways to deliver real business benefit, while others are just beginning to dip their toes into the water. The TM benchmark survey is a vital part of measuring progress and disseminating best practice to support individuals and organisations in embracing technology fully until it becomes just another part of the company infrastructure.’ Debbie Carter, Director of Research, Training Journal www.trainingjournal.com
“With technology moving so fast, learning and development professionals need to adapt their thinking if they don’t want to be left behind. The Towards Maturity 2010 Benchmark will help us understand just where we are in terms of embracing (or not) all the great tools available to enrich the learning experience.” Verity Gough, editor, TrainingZone.co.uk www.trainingZone.co.uk
“We are delighted to be supporting the ongoing research that Towards Maturity has been undertaking over the past six years. It's vital for the industry to be able to take stock of learning approaches and ensure they are relevant to the current market - particularly at such a time when budgets and time are under more pressure than ever. With an inevitable increase in reliance on using technology for learning, it is crucial that consideration is given to the outcomes and effectiveness of its use. The results of this year's survey are sure to provide invaluable help to L&D practitioners to not only facilitate this, but also evaluate and their current activities and embrace the potential technology has to offer.” Alison Church, Senior Conference & Marketing Manager, World of Learning Conference & Exhibition www.learningevents.com
“As most learning is happening on the job there is a potential goldmine in uncovering new ways of leveraging technology to facilitate and support these learning processes. ELIG fully endorses the TM2010 Benchmark - it will provide us with additional evidence that will help to shape solutions geared towards enhancing knowledge work and shaping innovative learning solutions.” Richard Straub, Secretary General, European Learning Industry Group. www.elig.org/

If you are responsible for implementing learning technologies in your workplace (and have not already received a personal invitation to participate) then click here to take part for free today! 

Quick update 30th July:

400+ organisations have got involved so far creating a great basis for comparison across the private and public sector. 70% of those who have been through the 2010 benchmark say that just participating provided new ideas for improving the results of their e-learning services ( and that is before receiving their personalised report to compare best practice - due early September). Here's some of the feedback from participants since we launched at the L&S group event in June:

• Excellent survey - well worth doing since it points out how much work I have yet to do.
• Thanks a lot for a very meaningful survey! I has awakened lots of thoughts in my mind!
• Great study with thought provoking questions, our Industry needs this level of analysis and insight so that we can grow together and build a robust industry for our future.
• Thank you. Great idea guys, this survey has challenged my thinking & thoughts around Learning Technologies
• Really interesting questions - very thought provoking - thank you
• I believe this is the best survey I have spent my time on (even though it was a long one). The questions were well thought through and I could for once relate them to my organisation that I support

 Don't miss out, click here to take part.

A unique industry collaboration

The 2010 benchmark represents a unique industry collaboration reflected by endorsements from 15 organisations that represent employer needs from all sectors  and Towards Maturity has worked with these organisations to ensure currency and relevance. Find out what The Institute of IT training, the British Institute of learning and Development, Training Journal, TrainingZone , Charles Jennings, Jane Hart, David Wilson and many others are encouraging you to take part. It has also had tremendous interest outside of the UK via organisations such as ELNET in Australia.

Nigel Paine, one of the UK's L&D thought leaders who also contributed to the benchmark thinking, succinctly sums up what the industry is saying 'Everyone wants to know where they stand. Most are keen to learn from what others have done. Combine those two ideas with a dash of user friendliness and you have the TM 2010 benchmark. There is nothing like it and nothing works better'.

Who should take part? The benchmark is aimed at those responsible for implementing learning technologies at work who are under pressure to deliver more with less.

If you want to

• Increase e-learning adoption and effectiveness
• Accelerate change
• Improve business engagement
• Deliver better results and improve efficiency
• Receive independent, personalised feedback & practical advice?

Why get involved?

To date over 800 organisations from the private, public and not for profit sectors have participated in Towards Maturity's independent benchmark, established in 2004 to identify how to improve the impact of learning technologies at work.

Following completion of the benchmark ( a self-assessment excercise that should take about 40 minutes), you will receive a copy of the final research findings (due November 2010) and your own personalised benchmark report (value £200) that:

• Highlights your strengths and weaknesses
• Compares your activity against benchmarks established over the past 6 years that are proven to improve impact and take up
• Directs you to examples of great practice and free resources to help you on your learning technology journey.

What have past participants said about the TM Benchmark process?

ʻWe are modernising the way that we think about learning in the council and technology is a critical element. Taking part in the TM Benchmark gave us a chance to reflect on our strategy and imlementation plans. The personalised report helped us refine our approach and provided practical ideas that really increased engagement and saved us time.ʼ Wendy Henry, Snr L&D Officer, Lincolnshire CC

“The personalised benchmark report we received has provided a framework for learning technology strategy and implementation that I keep coming back to – in essence it has helped me to define my objectives, highlighting areas where we can further develop a culture of learning within the RNLI.” John LeRossignol, Learning Resources Manager at RNLI

Click here for more testimonies.

Why wait?

Get yourself a cup of coffee, and invest 40 minutes in this review uniquely developed to help you deliver 'more for less'  in 2010!

The Ministry's investment in e-learning demonstrates a top down strategic approach rare in introducing e-learning. A strategy of business driven learning was established first; business leaders were in charge supported by Learning and Development professionals. This created a pan-departmental identity for learning at the Ministry of Justice, a key element of which is the Justice Academy. This is a strategic response for delivering and tracking e-Learning as part of a blended delivery strategy.
 
The learning strategy is underpinned by a clear set of principles:
• To support the goal of business-driven learning.  The provision of learning that supports the achievement of business results is considered a key enabler and differentiator of an employer.  It is vital that learning is directly relevant to business goals.
• To enable leaders to develop and grow.  A key element of an organisational capability particularly in times of turbulence is the quality of leadership at all levels.
• To create a culture of openness and equal opportunity.  Everyone has a part to play, indeed an important part to play in the performance and success of the organisation.
• To support greater efficiency in the public sector.  Whilst reducing cost may not be the prime motivator for investing in learning technologies it is essential that every function must increase its efficiency by increasing output and driving down cost.
• To create access for everyone.  Delivery at any time and in any place is a significant benefit of blended learning and the strategy required of 24 x 7 service provision for learning.

Right at the beginning the business identified two key learning priorities; induction and performance management.  These early pilots established credibility with internal stakeholders by speed of delivery, quality and content.  The priorties were met with scenario based learning using real life vignettes based within the Ministry of Justice.

Rapid delivery (within eight weeks with piloting over four weeks before full release) gave the project early credibility. The pilot period allowed review and feedback by learners enabling modification where required.  The pilots built expectations amongst users simplifying future marketing. The early success of these two courses have led to individual departments seeking to use the Justice Academy to deliver local initiatives and an ongoing programme of pan-department learning.

Five main styles of content delivery are used:
• In Theory articles to enable individuals to explore particular areas of knowledge they wish to know more about.
• Insight guides provided to enable managers with a framework for dealing with various day-to-day work issues.
• Nudges, which are limited to one page of interactive e-Learning objects to provide just-in-time support for a manager dealing with an immediate problem.
• Storylines, which are episodes in a story around work and home themes.
• Knowhows, which are short interactive tutorials to help managers put skills into practice.

Learners appreciate the consistency and enables them to choose the style of learning they need at the time.

It would be a mistake to think of the Justice Academy as a course based relatively static intervention, it is actually an actively managed business-focused resource.  Both content and the style of what is going on changes in relation to current business pressures.  An example of the constantly changing nature of the learning web site is an approach to learning entitled “Rough Justice”.  This e-Learning is a storyline on the personal challenges a fictional employee encounters in their work and personal life.  The plot supports the business aims of the Ministry but is a human interest story in its own right; which is what draws learners to it.

The Academy has made a difference to the business. Senior stakeholders are increasingly involved with its activity and in seeking to use learning to support their current business issues.

Learners like it with typicaly 250 users a day, new courses are readily picked up and have proved to be the best means of  delivering compliance and updating on legislative changes.

MOJ suggests some tips for success:

1. Get the strategy right and get it endorsed at the highest possible level
2. Introduce learning in direct support of key business imperatives.
3. Don't be afraid to try open source technologies (ensures value for money and competitiveness with suppliers).
4. Check that what you are going to use is scalable up to the size of the organisation.
5. Innovate in delivering for speed, lower costs and enhanced flexibility.
6. Deliver pilots in weeks not months
7. Engage and enthuse the whole training team as part of an overall blended learning strategy. 
8. Senior stakeholders value compliance and regulatory training so deploy it early on and then build on it with a broader programme.
9. Any strategic on-line learning site must constantly evolve and keep supporting current business initiatives and match the quality of external sites that users regularly visit outside work.
10. Implement a strong brand that reaches across the whole enterprise.
11. Use styles of learning objects that learners can relate to and recognise not only visually on the screen but how they match their learning needs and styles at the time.
12. Continually respond to current business themes as they emerge, be ahead of the game.

For more detail on this strategic development of a blended learning strategy please download the employer story here.

Aviva has grown rapidly in recent years, often by acquiring businesses and merging them into the international group. Previous training on Business Protection policies (such as information security, physical security, and health and safety) had been carried out in an ad-hoc and localised manner with a mixture of classroom training, and some online information. The team recognised that there was no consistency of message in the training provided across the group and no way of accurately auditing all the training that had been carried out.

A decision was taken to produce an e-learning programme and deliver it to all staff. This would be the first time that a global programme had been introduced across the group and the excellent work of the Business protection team, and their partner Inmarkets was recognised when they were awarded the bronze award in the ‘Securing Widespread Adoption’ category at the e-learning awards 2009.

This would prove to be quite a challenge with learning to be delivered over 20 countries ( & not everyone speaking English), no centralised delivery platforms or systems and not even a centralised HR database. In addition , this would be many’s first experience of e-learning so it was important to get it right.

In this case study you can read how about how

• The learning was designed and delivered
• How Aviva dealt with the translation issues
• A comprehensive marketing and communications programme was developed
• The programme made an impact on behavior and awareness

 Aviva's top ten lessons to secure widespread global adoption:

1. If it’s the first experience of e-learning for many employees ensure that the design is simple and intuitive.
2. Gain support for the programme from all key stakeholders including line managers, business units and key representatives overseas.
3. Ensure some degree of ownership ‘locally’ in content development and the communications plan.
4. Establish clear design principles respecting your audience(s).
5. Ensure a realistic and appropriate context for the learning. 
6. If there’s a need to have multi-language versions construct the English language content in such a way as to enable all text content (including text within graphics and interactive exercises) to be exported into a single XML file to enable the translation process. 
7. Deliver as a single multi-language module, in a way that enables learners to switch between languages.
8. Develop a coherent communications plan utilising posters, email, CEO video messages, PowerPoint’s and locally translated course information.
9. Establish a framework and process to evaluate reaction and successes.
10. Provide pertinent management information to demonstrate take-up, adoption and business benefits.

This  year, there were some new flavours for the report – for one the title has changed – shifting from  ‘Learning and Development’ survey to ‘Learning and Talent’ – reflecting the increased appettite for talent management activity gripping the industry . We also see  a new international perspective – important in this global economy. Of course the report highlighted some interesting information but  given that the 2010 survey was changing, trying to reflect the times, it really missed a trick in bringing some  issues to light.

Some of the things that I found particularly interesting were as follows:

On L&D practice generally :

• The most effective learning and talent development practices are in-house development programmes (56%) and coaching by line managers (51%). Both practices are on the increase since last year. 
• The main changes in organisations’ L&D departments over the last year included the department becoming more business-focused (38%), reducing external suppliers and a move to in-house provision (31%).
• The proportion of employers undertaking talent management activities has increased from 36% to 59%.  It confirms other studies on the issues of economic pressure  with funds for learning decreasing for over 50% and 20% seeing cuts in staff.

On the use of e-learning

• Unsurprisingly  we saw that E-learning is the practice that has increased the most this year,  with 62% of organisations saying they use it more than in 2009.
• Unfortunately , for the first time, CIPD did not  have an overall figure of e-learning usage in this report for the first time. However that did not stop me from asking! The helpful CIPD press office told me that in addition to 62% of participants increasing their e-learning usage, 20% used the same amount and 3% were using less highlighting that 85% of their sample are now using e-learning ( up from 74% last year).
• In answer to the question ‘Which of the following learning and talent development practices do you believe are the most effective?’- e-learning moved from 7%  last year to 12 % - small shift but something happening!

The glaring ommissions!

CIPD’s own objectives are clear  -  ‘One of the aims of the CIPD Learning and Talent Development survey is to track changes in workplace learning, as well as identify anticipated trends for the next five years.’

Significant findings of other research in the role of L&D and the way that it supports business (including Training Journal’s L&D2020 project   and TM’s own longitudinal benchmarks)  highlight a number of additional  trends that are simply not referenced at all. The most glaring is the transformational use of technology in learning!

Technology in learning - is it just about 'e-learning' or is it transforming other L&D practices?

Other studies have shown that new technologies in learning are being used to open up new opportunities for L&D to better support business needs.  However, the word technology appeared once in this study  (large organisations include training technology within  their training budgets apparently!)
Apart from that,the role of technology in learning was not referenced outside the term e-learning at all. 

As in previous CIPD surveys the narrow implication that e-learning is only an online self pace, boring course was carefully emphasised. For example both the case studies referencing e-learning were at pains to highligth the negatives of this media - ‘the use of e-learning, even for course preparation, was less useful than the classroom method’.  ‘We had tried to use e-learning as a precondition to attending training but many staff commented that they did not have time to complete or properly consider the package due to pressures of work and so rushed the package at the last minute.’

 Of course these are common complaints and objections about general e-learning programmes ( particularly compliance) programmes and I have to completely agree that these rarely meet the mark ( which is why I was amused that this media has increased by 5 points in ‘ the most effective learning media’ question since last year!)  But where are all the other trends and good practices for using media in learning highlighted?

In the last 2 years alone, Towards Maturity site have added  over 50 employer stories  to our site bringing the total up to nearly 100 examples of businesses who are using technology to transform their own in house development programmes (see). This years  CIPD survey shows that in house programmes are on the increase and are deemed to be the most successful L&D practice but you would never guess that technology had anything to do with this. The silence of this report on this issue is deafening!

You might argue that the massive surge in technology tools such as rapid application development tools and virtual classroom for in house use  mean that technology is now so common place that CIPD do not have to highlight it’s role in L&D practices – if that is the case why still single out the e-learning course as a separate item?

Social learning

Lets take another trend that most other research is highlighting at the moment - the  role of continuous informal social learning for staff .  I did  a search on the words informal ,social  and media and found no mention of them in this context and yet their potential for contribution to organisational development as a whole is significant.

The words social and media came up  once in this document but only as sectors in participant profiles – a bit ironic given that the biggest media company we have in the UK is the BBC and they are at the forefront of social media in learning and development!  However the study did highlight that those who thought that internal knowledge sharing activies were one of the most effective practices increased from 14% to 16% over the last year.

That said, this CIPD research does help to identify is the new roles required of L&D moving forward to engage business and manage change. This report clearly states that ‘It will be particularly important for professionals to ensure that their L&TD activities are even more closely aligned with business strategy and to be able to assess the return on investment generated.’  However there is a way to go. 

The majority of L&D staff are spend their time  delivering courses or managing learning (46%) and whilst activities linked to change management are increasing only 13% spend any time discussing implementation or building relationship with other management.  Other research programmes have shown that business demands are causing a shift in the skills sets needed by L&D staff – improved liaison with management, change management, designing new types of learning intervention, harnessing technology to harness learning and knowledge are critical moving foward and yet the CIPD survey shows that we are a long way off and whilst it tackles the skills needs of the businesses that L&D serve, it neglects to talk about the skills needs of the profession itself.

What I love about the CIPD 's work

What I love about the CIPD research is it’s reputation, reach  and longitudinal comparisons. In addition, the CIPD’s own CPD programmes to support L&D staff increasingly harnessing technology so that L&D professionals are experiencing what it means to be connected by technology to experts, mentors, each other as they build skills – there is no better way of encouraging effective use of learning technologies than by experiencing it for themselves. In many  of their programmes, thanks to creative leadership, this is modelled well.

But...

What I hate about this study in particular is the missed opportunity – it aims to support the profession by highlighting and preparing for all anticipated trends and yet fails to include great swathes of practices that involve technology and are starting to take the profession by storm.  All I can say is watch this space – it is time to fill the gap!