Centralizing Learning and Development for the Benefit of the Employee and the Company

LAS VEGAS, NV, August 27, 2010

Interview with: Don McLaughlin, Chief Learning Officer, Cisco

Cisco has adopted a strategy of looking at what skills the future leader might need and considering how those capabilities can be developed within the organization, says Don McLaughlin, Chief Learning Officer at Cisco. This requires building flexibility and having a set of tools ready to deploy as capabilities present themselves. A speaker at the marcus evans Chief Learning Officer Summit Fall 2010, taking place in Las Vegas, October 27-29, McLaughlin discusses centralizing learning and development for the benefit of the employee and company.

What long-term strategies for learning, training and development management would you recommend?

Don McLaughlin: Our key strategy is to understand what both the technical and human skill sets of the future leader might look like. If we can paint a picture of what we think they will be, we can look at a person's skills and consider how we can nurture the ones we consider essential.

Today, the workforce is global as well multi-generational and the growing complexity of work is presenting organizations with a huge opportunity from a learning and development perspective. We are looking at giving leaders the chance to develop their skill set via different paths, rather than a single structured approach to learn what we believe the leader of the future will need. We give them a certain amount of autonomy in their own development, while making sure we have the toolset capabilities and the corporate culture to make that possible.

How can CLOs prepare the organization for an uncertain future?

Don McLaughlin: To prepare for an uncertain future, we have to incorporate flexibility when building learning and development capabilities; the more flexible the internal capacity, the lower the base cost structure and the greater the ability to adjust to business volume needs.

Another way is to make sure there is the opportunity for self-directed and instructor-led training, to present multiple modalities. Having short cycle times in the delivery of programs and that we have flexible capacity models that allow for the business's upturns as well as when we are facing difficult times.

What trends or technologies do you see playing out in the near future?

Don McLaughlin: The introduction of the social networking technologies and their capabilities around enterprise-type communities is presenting organizations with a whole new way of approaching community-based learning. We have just scratched the surface of how social networking can be utilized for training and development purposes.

How can CLOs make the most of limited budgets?

Don McLaughlin: Budgets are tight and we are looking to optimize the investments we make and determine the appropriate way to measure the effectiveness of those investments. We pay a lot of attention to the Total Available Market, as we need to know the addressable market that we are considering and the adoption rate of a given program and that we are measuring the result of that investment.

We have a balanced approach in our budget base for our learning and development organization. We also give the business the opportunity to invest in the organizational development programs it considers essential from its own budget.

Do you have a final message to CLOs?

Don McLaughlin: Pay equal attention to the business leaders as to the academic nature of the work. We exist to develop the human capabilities as they present themselves within our various enterprises and it is important to understand the academic nature of the learning solutions, what is effective, but it is at least equally important to understand what the business needs are, why we are making the investment in people and how we want that to manifest itself in business results.

If we keep a balanced look at both sides of the equation, the net results for the enterprise will be greatly enhanced.


Contact: Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division

Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com


About the Chief Learning Officer Summit Fall 2010

This unique forum will take place at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 27-29, 2010. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The summit includes presentations on social media and training, linking learning in the overall business strategy, and succession planning.

For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at http://www.clo-summit.com/DonMcLaughlinInterview

Please note that the summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world's leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit http://www.marcusevans.com

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