W. Ph.D.

ATD Links Archive - ATD Links

An ROI effort measures a single, numerical business metric, such as sales revenue or customer satisfaction; considers its financial impact; and identifies potential improvements. However, with so many ROI theories and tools out there, selecting the best method to measure ROI is difficult. This case study defines the basic steps used to evaluate...

A Look at ROI Strategy

January 2009 - The Public Manager

Book Review W. Astor Kirk, PhD, One Life: Three Professional Careers (Long Beach, California: Magic Valley Publishers, 2007) Managing in Turbulent Times stor Kirks book recounting his three-pronged civil rights story con...

Managing in Turbulent Times

Today’s leaders have new responsibilities. Many have had to hire and support remote teams. Additionally, they’ve had to ﬁnd new ways to demonstrate leadership, team building, communication, and decision-making skills during a time of uncertainty and discord. Companies must make sure their leaders have the skills they need now and in the future. Employees don’t want to wait to gain skills either. They want to learn and grow, not only for professional development but also for personal satisfaction.To have an agile staﬀ, supporting the development of both hard and soft skills is a key part of organizational culture that helps companies succeed. Instead of oﬀering periodic upskilling or reskilling, companies must ensure employees learn continually.Most organizations have by now adjusted to either fully remote or hybrid working environments. And for organizations that have remained working in person, the ability to work remotely, even occasionally, is an expectation more than a perk. In this new environment, how can businesses ensure L&D strategies are delivered in a convenient format for employees wherever they are?How Digital Libraries Can Augment L&DTraditional L&D takes place in person via classroom instruction, one-on-one coaching, or on-the-job training. Amy Bladen Shatto, PhD, global head of leadership development at W.L. Gore & Associates, said that her company, known for its expertise in delivering in-person L&D, was initially hesitant about virtual learning and concerned the process wouldn’t translate well online. Eventually, the company realized the beneﬁts of remote learning, such as the ability to scale for more people than the in-person format allowed.Remote learning doesn’t have to be limited to one-to-one or one-to-many instruction either. It can involve learning opportunities that employees engage with at their own pace, making their own selections about topics that interest them. Often, it can be difficult to offer L&D opportunities that appeal to all levels and roles in an organization. A digital library is one helpful tool.OverDrive Professional, for instance, offers a custom collection of e-books and audiobooks—as well as magazines, videos, and company documents—selected based on the unique interests of an organization. A digital library gives organizations the ability to provide books on topics for upskilling and reskilling hard skills in business, IT, and accounting, and soft skills in leadership, workplace relationships, and communication. It also provides tools for personal development, from leisure to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and mental health topics—areas that are sometimes overlooked in virtual environments due to the prioritization of business needs.Rapid7, a cybersecurity company, uses a digital library to better support its remote workforce. Katie Almanzan, senior people development specialist at Rapid7, initially reconﬁgured training for the temporarily remote employee population during the COVID-19 pandemic.“The big shifts for us fell into three buckets: accessibility, ﬂexibility, and connection,” she said.Accounting for these buckets when implementing employee development opportunities in the virtual workplace is as important as the content of each development opportunity. Employees needed to access all the learning materials regardless of where they were in the world. They also needed ﬂexibility to learn when it was convenient and ways to connect, such as through partner activities or shared reading, to help them feel less isolated, Almanzan explained.Traditional methods of providing professional development do not account for these key characteristics of remote teams. And the ability to offer digital learning opportunities, from top to bottom, is no longer a nice option to have but a necessity.Many organizations have successfully navigated the shift to effective remote work. But if employee development opportunities took a back seat during that shift, it’s time to bring them into focus.

W. Ph.D.

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