{"id":210,"date":"2019-07-15T19:20:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-humanresourcesmgmt\/?post_type=chapter&p=210"},"modified":"2024-04-25T01:30:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T01:30:42","slug":"putting-it-together-onboarding-training-and-developing-employees","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-humanresourcesmgmt\/chapter\/putting-it-together-onboarding-training-and-developing-employees\/","title":{"raw":"Putting It Together: Onboarding, Training, and Developing Employees","rendered":"Putting It Together: Onboarding, Training, and Developing Employees"},"content":{"raw":"\"TwoOf course, building talent is not a new idea. As Zig Ziglar famously noted: \u201cYou don\u2019t build a business. You build people, and people build the business.\u201d\u00a0To be clear, people building\u2014including reskilling, upskilling and developing soft skills\u2014will be a shared responsibility going forward.\r\n\r\nAT&T\u2019s talent overhaul\u2014a program titled Workforce 2020 (WF2020)\u2014serves as an example of how the building process can be accomplished at scale\u2014specifically, with a workforce of almost 300,000 employees, roughly half of which are union members.\u00a0This following overview is drawn from a Harvard Business Review article written by and interviews with AT&T\u2019s chief strategy officer John Donovan and Deloitte vice chairman Cathy Benko[footnote]Donovan, John and Cathy Benko. \"Inside AT&T's Talent Overhaul<\/a>.\" Harvard Business Review. October 2016. Accessed July 18, 2019.[\/footnote].\r\n\r\nIn launching WF2020, AT&T set expectations up front, giving \u201cevery employee who wants it the chance to change with the organization\u201d and making it clear that \u201cemployees interested in new roles would be required to use their own time\u2014and in some cases, invest their own money in\u2014their reeducation.\u201d[footnote]Ibid.[\/footnote] With the understanding that this was a matter of survival, training and development program details were included in union contracts with union support. Buy-in from both union members and non-union employees allowed for the \u201ccontinuity of the institutional knowledge and informal networks\u201d critical to an organization\u2019s functioning.\r\n\r\nAT&T\u2019s gambit reflects the reality that many of the technologies shaping business are advancing so rapidly that traditional methods of training and development can\u2019t keep pace. Three years into the initiative, AT&T estimated that 140,000 employees were actively engaged in reskilling for newly created roles. This is, in fact, our new operating reality; the expectation is that roles and required skills will change every four years.\r\n\r\n\"AIn the first phase of WF2020, managers identified required skills and current gaps, created \u201cfuture role profiles\u201d and developed a blueprint for sourcing skills internally.\u00a0To increase job mobility and promote the development of transferable skills, 250 roles were consolidated to 80.\u00a0To support the transition, human resources launched an online self-service platform that provided access to a range of tools and training including a career profile tool and career intelligence tool, with links to related skills training. Once skills gaps have been identified\u2014either through the self-service platform or in conversations with management, employees can address the gaps by taking online courses, pursuing nanodegrees or certification or degree programs developed in partnership with Udacity and Georgia Tech. For perspective, in a five month period in early 2016, retrained employees filled half of the company\u2019s technology management jobs and earned 47% of promotions.\r\n\r\nThe final\u2014critical\u2014step in the initiative is effecting a change in mindset. In order to build a culture of continuous learning, employees need to embrace a more dynamic approach to career development. Instead of a corporate ladder, employees need to adapt a multidirectional or \u201clattice\u201d approach that supports lateral, diagonal and both ascending and descending career moves. Final perspective point: \u201cEssential to lattice thinking is the principle that individuals actively own their development, which fundamentally changes the social contract between employer and employee.\u201d[footnote]Ibid.[\/footnote]","rendered":"

\"TwoOf course, building talent is not a new idea. As Zig Ziglar famously noted: \u201cYou don\u2019t build a business. You build people, and people build the business.\u201d\u00a0To be clear, people building\u2014including reskilling, upskilling and developing soft skills\u2014will be a shared responsibility going forward.<\/p>\n

AT&T\u2019s talent overhaul\u2014a program titled Workforce 2020 (WF2020)\u2014serves as an example of how the building process can be accomplished at scale\u2014specifically, with a workforce of almost 300,000 employees, roughly half of which are union members.\u00a0This following overview is drawn from a Harvard Business Review article written by and interviews with AT&T\u2019s chief strategy officer John Donovan and Deloitte vice chairman Cathy Benko[1]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In launching WF2020, AT&T set expectations up front, giving \u201cevery employee who wants it the chance to change with the organization\u201d and making it clear that \u201cemployees interested in new roles would be required to use their own time\u2014and in some cases, invest their own money in\u2014their reeducation.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a> With the understanding that this was a matter of survival, training and development program details were included in union contracts with union support. Buy-in from both union members and non-union employees allowed for the \u201ccontinuity of the institutional knowledge and informal networks\u201d critical to an organization\u2019s functioning.<\/p>\n

AT&T\u2019s gambit reflects the reality that many of the technologies shaping business are advancing so rapidly that traditional methods of training and development can\u2019t keep pace. Three years into the initiative, AT&T estimated that 140,000 employees were actively engaged in reskilling for newly created roles. This is, in fact, our new operating reality; the expectation is that roles and required skills will change every four years.<\/p>\n

\"AIn the first phase of WF2020, managers identified required skills and current gaps, created \u201cfuture role profiles\u201d and developed a blueprint for sourcing skills internally.\u00a0To increase job mobility and promote the development of transferable skills, 250 roles were consolidated to 80.\u00a0To support the transition, human resources launched an online self-service platform that provided access to a range of tools and training including a career profile tool and career intelligence tool, with links to related skills training. Once skills gaps have been identified\u2014either through the self-service platform or in conversations with management, employees can address the gaps by taking online courses, pursuing nanodegrees or certification or degree programs developed in partnership with Udacity and Georgia Tech. For perspective, in a five month period in early 2016, retrained employees filled half of the company\u2019s technology management jobs and earned 47% of promotions.<\/p>\n

The final\u2014critical\u2014step in the initiative is effecting a change in mindset. In order to build a culture of continuous learning, employees need to embrace a more dynamic approach to career development. Instead of a corporate ladder, employees need to adapt a multidirectional or \u201clattice\u201d approach that supports lateral, diagonal and both ascending and descending career moves. Final perspective point: \u201cEssential to lattice thinking is the principle that individuals actively own their development, which fundamentally changes the social contract between employer and employee.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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