Governance & Structure 
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Case Study
Landi Renzo Case Study: Making Learning a Strategic Asset 
Landi Renzo Group, S.p.A. (Landi Renzo) serves more than 30% of the market for LPG and CNG alternative automotive fuel systems and components. In 2009, the company implemented a new strategic plan, and the president and CEO of the company determined that education could be a key driver for the Landi Renzo's strategic development. The challenge for the existing corporate university was to create learning that addressed the company's strategic needs and create a culture where everyone in the company understood the value of that learning in reaching their individual goals and those of the company ... Read More »
Case Study
Alstom University Case Study: Learning to Support Growth
Alstom is a world leader in supplying the needs of the power generation, power grid and rail transportation industries. The company almost went bankrupt in 2003, but has since grown to a company with 93,500 employees and revenues of €20.9 billion in 2010/2011. Even during its hardest times, however, the company continued to train employees. The problem was that the learning was scattered and uneven and would not properly support a company that was embarked on a major rebuilding effort and moving into new markets and market sectors. Alstom University (AU) was tasked to create a new ... Read More »
Tool
Position Description - Global Learning Leader (updated 10/2011)
This tool provides some insight into the scope, priorities, and compensation for the role of the Global Learning Leader. The Global Learning Leader may be called any of several dozen titles, such as Chief Learning Officer; Vice President of Global Learning; Senior Director of Global Talent Management; Executive Vice President of Talent and Professional Development; or Manager, Organization Learning and Development. The variability of the title reflects organizational culture and needs. Often, these positions may not exactly describe the same kind of position.
In order to provide some generalized principles, we’ve settled on the term Global Learning Leader to ... Read More »
Research Brief
The Business Case for Creating a Corporate University
This paper sets forth the business case for creating a corporate university, based on the premise that corporate universities are the current best practice for systematically building human capital – a key capability for adaptive, innovative, knowledge-based organizations. The term “corporate university” is most prevalent in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, but whether it is called an academy, institute, or center for excellence, the feature that distinguishes it remains the same: the alignment of key learning programs so they actively support the strategic interests of the business.
Corporate universities offer a curriculum designed to support major change initiatives, serve to align staff development with business goals and improve the ROI associated with training investments. Corporate universities help create the conditions for strategic agility and innovation in a knowledge economy. Successful corporate universities have executive support and oversight to assure corporate goals and training align; appropriate technologies to assure and measure transfer and retention of knowledge and skills; and a well documented organizational plan for execution. Companies with efficient and effective corporate universities show measurable improvements to the bottom line in shareholder return, productivity, and customer satisfaction. Read More »
Commentary
Maximizing CLO Reporting Relationships
The decision of whom the CLO should report to is a struggle for many organizations. Independent of the management structure, however, it is essential that the CLO regularly meet with all senior leaders of the company and participate actively in strategic planning sessions. To be effective, every strategic initiative should:
Have an associated learning strategy with input and participation from the CLO
The CLO must work closely with HR on areas where processes integrate, such as recruiting and succession planning
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Research Brief
Q&A: What is an Effective L&D Governing Board Design?
For success to be achieved, top executives must be involved in governing the L&D function. A good practice for this goal is to establish a governing board comprised of five or more of the company’s leaders who act as advisors to the CLO and provide feedback on the execution of the learning strategy.
According to Mark Beckstrom in a Chief Learning Officer article, the definition of learning governance is simple and direct:
Planning for learning
Prioritizing investments in learning
Managing those investments
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Research Brief
Q&A: What are the Key Competencies of Today's CLO?
Without appropriate senior leadership, many L&D organizations run the risk of focusing on the delivery of training related tasks while misaligning with strategy. Top performing organizations, on the other hand, assign the task of L&D leadership to seasoned executives with strong business and relationship building skills. The strategic reason for this approach is that such individuals have a keen sense of how to leverage L&D effectively to achieve business goals.
The title CLO is a popular term used to describe the head of the learning and development unit (sometimes called a corporate university). In some cases, the ... Read More »
Commentary
The Rapidly Changing Global Environment
Globalization is a complex topic that many business leaders commonly misinterpret as internationalization, which is the process of exporting goods and services internationally. Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor at Columbia University and special advisor to the UN on Globalization, states “economic globalization constitutes integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, direct foreign investment…short-term capital flows, international flows of workers and humanity, and flows of technology.”
Technology and the Internet are the driving forces in the current rise of globalization, and when combined with the rise of emerging countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – new pressure is put ... Read More »
Research Brief
Learning Governance and Structure: Results from the 10th Annual Benchmarking Study
Using the results of the 10th Annual Learning Excellence and Innovation Benchmarking study, this research brief describes the elements that best serve a learning organization as it strives to become a strategic business partner, focusing on the role of how learning organizations distinguish themselves through careful attention to governance. Read More »
Tool
Position Description - Business Unit Learning & Development Manager
The Business Unit L&D Manager is responsible for sourcing business unit (BU) specific training, partnering in the oversight of business unit program development, ensuring consistency between business unit processes and standards and those set by a central learning organization, and coordinating services with a shared services group. This position typically reports via a dual solid line to the centralized learning organization (Chief Learning Officer) and the business unit (Human Resources Director). Standard responsibilities and tasks for this position are listed in this document. Read More »
Research Brief
What is the difference between a governing board and an advisory board?
A member company recently asked “What is the difference between a governing board and an advisory board? Who should serve on each board and should our company have both? In the simplest terms, leaders on both boards serve to align learning with business needs. However, the governing board’s focus is strategic in nature and centers on alignment with the overall corporate strategy, while the advisory board’s focus is tactical and concentrates on aligning learning with functional and business needs. This document outlines in more detail the differences between the two, the business representatives that should participate on each ... Read More »
Research Brief
How should companies make the decision to centralize or decentralize learning activities?
Companies struggle with the decision about what to manage centrally and what to leave to the discretion of business units. Their L&D teams wrestle with the same issue. On one hand, business units know what gives them the best chance to succeed in the marketplace, but on the other hand, when a central group manages services such as IT or transactional aspects of HR on behalf of business units, these units are thrilled to get some of the tactical headaches off its plate and to spread the cost across the company. CorpU’s experience is that L&D teams ... Read More »
