The Power of Conversations and Connection

The BEST Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success as a result of employee talent development. The winners use learning as a strategic business tool to get results. View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.

In every organization, conversations occur among colleagues that either create an aha moment or drive a business decision in a new or different direction. Conversations—whether formal or informal, structured or casual, recorded or not—are a catalyst for learning. And dialogue-centric programs can drive development and engagement.

A personal approach

Ness Digital Engineering is a full-cycle digital engineering firm offering services that include cloud computing, data and analytics, generative artificial intelligence, intelligent engineering, and integration services. The company's talent strategy is enabling employees to be "fit for today and ready for tomorrow" to deliver cutting-edge software solutions to a global customer base.

To accomplish that mission, the organization uses a proprietary skills repository, which provides a common skills taxonomy and skills view to all employee-centric teams. Four layers of skills and five proficiency levels provide a sophisticated yet simple view of skills development, enabling the TD team to easily identify skills gaps and future requirements. Ness uses upskilling and adjacent skilling to determine proficiency for a well-rounded professional. For instance, a Java developer can build proficiency in Java and build adjacent skills such as cloud and front-end technologies to become a full stack engineer.

Ness integrates learning within the flow of work, using microlearning and just-in-time training. Examples of such initiatives include TechJams, TechTribes, and fireside chats.

TechJams are 45-minute live sessions with a subject matter expert on the internal Microsoft Viva Engage channel. Employees can post questions in advance and access the session via recording or transcription if they are unable to attend.

TechTribes are biweekly meetings in which practitioners discuss real-time technology implementations and what they are learning. Practitioners address challenges, tips, and tricks. More than 100 individuals regularly attend.

The L&D team hosts fireside chats, which feature one-hour conversations with C-suite leaders. The interviewee shares their leadership journey, lessons they learned, updates on business priorities, and how they navigated challenges. Attendees can ask questions in the chat. The L&D team records all the talks, and staff can access the material in an archive.

Such programs drive engagement; scores improved nearly 20 points in the past year. Knowledge retention and productivity measures also improved.

Relationships first

LocumTenens.com, a Georgia-based staffing agency for healthcare facilities, prioritizes personal learning for its associates and empowers them to take control of their learning by providing workshops, courses, coaching, and mentoring. Individuals can create individualized learning pathways through the company's learning experience platform.

Keith Newport, senior vice president of people operations, believes L&D is at the center of the organization's ability to innovate and thrive. "Our L&D team works hand in hand with leadership to create an environment where growth, innovation, and adaptability are part of the fabric of our culture."

In its 2023 succession planning meeting, the executive team discovered a leadership readiness gap for future roles. So, L&D created the Compass Program to build progressively advanced leadership skills. It offers personalized coaching based on assessments, 360-degree evaluations, and personalized leadership development plans.

A new component of the program, coffee chats, have become key. The informal gatherings enable learning cohorts to discuss program content and its application in their leadership roles. The sessions provide valuable insights into program effectiveness while also fostering continuous learning. Participants enjoy peer-driven discussions, which include challenges or successes; share knowledge; and strengthen relationships across the company.

Community culture

Cleveland Clinic views safety and quality metrics as measurements of capacity and resilience. Last year, the global nonprofit health system undertook an enterprise-wide effort to embed a high-reliability culture at every level of the organization.

To start, L&D partnered with the safety and quality teams to design training for more than 80,000 caregivers in the organization.

The effort involved timed communication campaigns, scenario-based e-learning modules, and Leader-Guided Discussions, an approach to foster strong team dynamics and reinforce learning with monthly, topic-based discussions.

Leader-Guided Discussions create opportunities for leaders and teams to engage in meaningful dialogue about what matters most to the broader organization. Topics include values, care priorities, and current events. To help facilitate the meetings, leaders use job aids, internal communications, and blogs written by executive team members.

L&D tracks discussion attestation and feedback in the learning management system. The initiative's intent is to drive engagement, increase intentional connection between leaders and their teams, and improve team dynamics. As adoption increases, leaders are finding creative ways to integrate the discussions into their day-to-day work and are customizing content. L&D regularly connects with key stakeholders throughout the organization, solicits topic input, and shares learner feedback.

The training initiative garnered strong results, with 90 percent learner completion month over month and a 21 percent increase in safety event reporting. Monthly Leader-Guided Discussions have expanded beyond a culture development initiative, albeit with continued focus on the organization's values, care priorities, and what matters most for engagement throughout the year.

Cozy and convenient

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits is a family-owned wine and spirits supplier and producer, employing just over 400 sales, marketing, and operations team members who work in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. The company's talent strategy is to develop a diverse learning ecosystem to support building capabilities and creating a learner-centric experience.

In keeping with a desire to provide untethered, on-demand, collaborative, and empowering learning opportunities, the organization launched a fireside chats initiative in 2024. The program has three components: live online events and presentations with guests from around the world; on-site interviews with department leaders; and visits to specific locations that create a sense of place and connection for learners such as outlets that the company services. The goal is to connect with employees on their schedule and provide content that supports knowledge in execution for the markets in which they operate.

The fireside chat effort, with a podcast-style approach, has yielded marked benefits to the field sales teams by establishing a foundation of knowledge. The podcast format includes an overview script for guests as well as questions from the audience to drive deeper learning and understanding. Executive leaders, production experts, and thought leaders across all aspects of the industry have appeared as guests. The events are not mandatory to attend, but engagement is high, and employees' desire to more deeply understand the Deutsch business is evident in survey results. After the initiative's rollout, measures related to a sense of belonging at the company and having the information necessary to succeed at the job improved.

"I am so proud of our talent development team," says CEO Peter Deutsch. "They consistently overdeliver against our company developmental goals and they do it with utmost professionalism."

View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.