Inside CTDO

CTDO is an exclusive group of the world's top talent development executives who explore a variety of forward-focused topics—called transformations—with the goal of defining the future of the profession. For eight years, CTDO has held an invite-only meeting at the Association for Talent Development’s International Conference & EXPO to provide executive-level attendees a taste of membership, enabling them to interact with peers and experience a typical CTDO program.

New features for a new membership

This year, CTDO launched a reimagined membership, converting the former organizational model to an individual one and lowering the cost to encourage growth across industries and sectors.

The new CTDO also includes a menu of improved benefits for members and their teams such as access to forward-thinking solution providers. Members have expressed interest in learning from solution providers when their work aligns with the group’s charter and content agenda. For the first time in the membership’s history, CTDO featured one such company, Acorn PLMS, during the conference program. Throughout the year, Acorn and other companies with services that are shaping the landscape of TD will meet with CTDO to share their innovative thinking and products.

Harnessing the collective expertise of learning executives and producing resources and advice for the broader TD community were some of ATD’s goals in creating CTDO in 2017. The reimagined CTDO membership will introduce new, custom ATD research for members and their teams, with a fresh commitment to producing case studies and tools that will help leaders prepare their people and their own capabilities for the future of work. Such dedication to creating practical content outputs and poignant advice brings CTDO’s charter to life.

“CTDO is a unique opportunity for me to get exposure to important topics of the future,” says Eivind Slaaen, senior vice president of HR and head of people and culture development at Hilti Corporation. “Together, with a diverse group of outstanding professionals, I can contribute to shape the future of talent development and prepare for the discussion we need to have in our company. The openness and trust are special and build the solid foundation we need to address the challenges ahead.”

Highlights from CTDO at ATD25

On Tuesday, from 12 to 5 p.m., 40 TD executives convened for this year’s CTDO member-and-guest program in Room 103A of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The session kicked off with lunch, followed by a keynote from Aaron Dignan, co-founder and CEO of Plumb, an automation platform that enables organizations to handcraft artificial-intelligence agents. Dignan shared his approach to reimagining work with AI: using AI’s capabilities while maintaining human creativity and decision-making power.

During the afternoon, attendees continued to learn from thought leaders, share best practices, and discuss their unique points of view on a variety of TD transformations, including:

• Key components of the new talent ecosystem and how the profession must adapt to build and manage it

• Leadership skills for today’s workplace such as empathy, emotional intelligence, ethics, and transparency

If you would like to discuss how you or an executive at your organization might join CTDO, please contact Ann Parker, director of executive programs and awards at ATD, for more information.

Read more about ATD25 at conferencedaily.td.org.