How Work-Embedded Learning Is Expanding Enterprise Performance

Nancy DeViney, Nancy). Lewis

ver the past thirty years, IBM employee Louise Andres has evolved from trainee to a company executive as IBM has changed from a product- to a services-driven organization. For both Andres and IBM, employee training played a critical role in their growth.

When Andres first joined IBM, she spent a full year in a sales training program learning to do her job. She participated in four in-person classes that often lasted weeks, shadowed several IBM sales representatives, learned about IBM products and services, studied a prescribed workbook and class curriculum, and was tested on all of the above as she learned the ropes. Today Andres is a delivery and risk management executive for small and medium business, where her continuing pro­fessional training has evolved into a daily activity embedded into her work.

Andres is among the more than 300, 000 employees at IBM who spend a com­bined 17 million hours each year (about 55 hours per employee) in training. Ap­proximately 47 percent of IBM learning is now conducted online anywhere, anytime, allowing employees, who are often off-site at client locations, to stay focused on work-related activity. Andres describes the transformation: " When I started at IBM, learning was an event that happened every now and then for an extended period of time. Today, it's a continuous process that I can access any­time, wherever and whenever I need it."

Andres's tenure and career success at IBM exemplifies a link the company has identified between learning and employee retention, finding that 79 percent

-,

The Handbook of Blended Learning

of new employees, when given meaningful learning and developmental oppor­tunities, are less likely to leave the company in their first three years. Studies such as these have led to a significant investment in learning initiatives at IBM: about $750 million annually.

Andres and many of her peers, including this chapter's authors, are a prod­uct of an organization committed to learning. IBM's learning commitment can be traced back to 1915, only four years after it was incorporated. Approximately ninety years ago, a separate and distinct IBM education organization was estab­lished to train and develop employees. One year later, IBM's education program was formally started to instruct employees on the use of the company's product line.

This learning legacy carried the company through the 1990s, when it underwent a massive transformation from a hardware-driven to a services-driven organization, a change that required rebuilding and reskilling most of the em­ployee base. Learning played, and continues to play, a critical role in helping to align employees around new business models in order to capture business opportunities in the marketplace.

This ongoing commitment to succeed by harnessing the power of learning to develop its employees has enabled IBM to maintain the highest learning stan­dards in the business world. Today IBM's own commitment to learning and lead­ership in the marketplace as a services organization places the company in a unique position. We can take lessons learned from our own programs and apply them to generate real return on investment for our clients.

The guiding principle of IBM's learning initiatives is the requirement to align our learning models to meet the changing needs of the marketplace and our employees. At IBM, we believe there is a pressing need for a learning model to in­corporate fundamentally the crucial, on-the-job aspect of how people learn. We have designed a new patent-pending model for learning that incorporates learn­ing intervention within the workplace itself—to extend learning beyond formal curricula by embedding learning into work flow. In this chapter, we examine the powerful market forces that are changing learning paradigms by:

• Empowering learners to shape their learning experiences rather than passively receive it

• Driving innovation and business growth by shaping individual, team, and organizational learning

• Embedding learning in process work flows, increasing learning while doing

• Using technology to deliver personalized, easily accessible, role-enabling and collaborative learning

On-Demand Learning

Today's training and development has undeniable strengths and has served or­ganizations well in the past. But its development and delivery methods are often a poor fit for tomorrow's needs and tomorrow's pace. A growing discontinuity exists between what business has become and what training has remained. To close this gap, future learning solutions must address three issues that confound current practices:

1. We must amplify the transfer of skill and knowledge. The impact of com­mon training practices is shockingly small. According to many studies, little of the investment in training pays off in transfer to the job. We must find new ways to boost productivity through learning by linking skills, knowledge, and performance to powerful new techniques for learning transfer.

2. We must accelerate the deployment of best practices in the workplace. As organizations become more nimble in their response to market needs and cus­tomer issues, the shelf-life of best practices has shrunk significantly. However, a typical corporate training initiative takes a year to develop, pilot, refine, and roll out to employees. This lag almost guarantees that training will be dated before it is delivered. Tomorrow's training function must use advanced communications and collaboration technologies to develop, package, and deliver best practices at the moment of need, not the moment when training development is completed.

3. We must facilitate and enhance learning interactions among workers within the workplace. Traditional corporate training removes workers from the work and builds skills within the artificial context of the case study, simulation, Web site, or classroom. At times this distance from the workplace is beneficial. But when facing workplace change, 70 percent of respondents in a Capital Works survey sought more coworker interaction, not more classes. Because change lies at the heart of the knowledge-driven economy, we must enable more effective learning interaction opportunities among employees within their workplace experiences.

To meet these three challenges, today's learning must be realigned and en­hanced using solid learning theory and proven collaboration techniques and tech­nologies. With purposeful design and deployment, the old and new can be combined into a powerful learning solution for the future.

The Ever-Changing Global Marketplace

In 2004 the following statement was issued regarding the changing needs being felt in the United States workforce: " Today's economy is an innovation econ­omy. Two-thirds of America's economic growth in the 1990s resulted from the

494 The Handbook of Blended Learning

introduction of new technologies—and 60% of the new jobs of the 21st century require post-secondary education held by only one-third of America's workforce. We need to close the skills gap in America. Not enough workers are being trained quickly enough to take advantage of many of the new jobs that are being created" (White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2004).

In the United States, the demand for skilled jobs increased from 40 percent in 1950 to 85 percent in 2000 (Goman, 2004). And consider that by the year 2010, the average ten year old will have access to more computational power than ex­isted on the planet in 2001 (Harris, 2002). By 2010, the codified information base of the world is expected to double every eleven hours (Bontis, 1999). Examining this phenomenon, the American Society of Training and Development has con­cluded that new knowledge is growing at a rate much faster than our ability to learn it. In 2010, we will all have a skills gap all the time, and that skills gap will be a ubiquitous characteristic of life (Levy, 2004).

Equally alarming is the workforce gap that will be left this decade as the working-age population undergoes a substantial shift toward a greater number of older workers and a relative scarcity of new entrants in the labor force (Purcell, 2002). The void will create a significant gating factor for growth across most industry sectors in the U.S. economy.

These demographic forces are creating additional challenges for organiza­tions grappling with the implementation of talent supply chains that enable increased productivity, transformation, and innovation. In order to survive and thrive in an increasingly service-led and knowledge-driven economy, indi­viduals and organizations must continually acquire and apply new skills and de­velop new ways of leveraging information and knowledge. Organizations that can provide opportunities for ongoing learning and growth will naturally attract and retain the most capable and competent workers, a trend many top-level executives are noting.

IBM recendy conducted a survey of over 450 CEOs worldwide. The results told us that chief executives know they need to build new internal capabilities and skills while enabling their leaders to be change agents. They recognize the para­mount importance of aligning learning initiatives to address market challenges. And finally, they see organizational responsiveness in meeting customer needs as critical to driving growth.

Yet, ironically, while skill development becomes more important, the demands of the work environment leave employees with limited time for formalized learn­ing. In today's market economy, individuals operate with a high level of business urgency and very little time to attend a class. There is such a consistent and rapid churn of the skills and knowledge required to maintain job performance that learning can no longer be provided as a set of events. In the light of this

On-Demand Learning

environment, organizations must provide employees with the right type of learn­ing opportunities—that is, employees must have the information they need when and where they need it.

Indeed, on-demand organizations require on-demand thinking and behavior at every level. In the future, employees must be better equipped for the unexpected as the on-demand enterprise develops a perpetual state of readiness for a chang­ing market environment.

Defining Embedded Learning

In many ways, embedded learning is based on the premise that the closer a per­son is to needing to know something to do his or her job, the more motivated this person is to learn. If organizations can make critical learning available at that moment of need, they create an inherent teachable moment, the ideal time to leverage learning without having to remove the learner from work.

To maximize the effectiveness of the teachable moment, we can use tech­nology to make the right information available at the right time, thereby trans­parently embedding learning into our work. The paradigm then evolves from " learn, then do, " to " learn while doing." Content is delivered within the con­text of a person's role, interests, and current activity, creating dynamic, person­alized, role-based " workplaces" that include access to both formal and task-relevant learning. Research has shown that aligning learning and perfor­mance contexts results in a 10 to 55 percent improvement in learning absorption (Tahlheimer, 2003).

In an on-demand learning environment, access to work-embedded learning, advice, and performance support is as central to learning as the traditional classroom event was in past generations. The on-demand experience is based on the recogni­tion that new approaches to instructional design and technology offer the opportu­nity to integrate learning with work in order to enhance performance in a dynamic, interactive, and measurable way.

This is a very different way of thinking about learning for most organizations. Today, most learning is designed to deliver a consistent, uniform experience and is frequently based on an instructor-student relationship. The curriculum is typi­cally structured and prescribed by the institution. The role of the instructor is often to convey information. The role of the student is to receive and apply this information.

In an embedded learning environment, that paradigm is turned upside down as learners become increasingly empowered to shape when, where, and how they learn. Organizations will continue to define learning paths, assess value, and reward

The Handbook of Blended Learning

outcomes in support of overall organizational objectives. However, learners will have greater flexibility as to how they achieve those objectives and consequently affect business results. Even in the future, structured curriculums will not go away. How­ever, the formal education experience will focus more on observation and reflection in applying new concepts being taught rather than being just a means to transfer information.

Moreover, technology and new delivery options will enable just-in-time access to information within the context of the individual's role, task being performed, and amount of time avariable. This type of embedded learning delivery will have a profound impact on productivity and enable two-way information sharing. Learners will become both producers and consumers of information. As they ac­cess embedded learning, they will also be expected to interact with colleagues with the latest insights from real-world market experiences. This way, others within the enterprise can benefit from and leverage that understanding, enabling a culture of organizational learning.

At IBM, we are in the process of implementing embedded learning through our enterprisewide intranet. Our goal is to give learners a single, consistent in­terface, tailored by function and job role, to access content, applications, business processes, and people. This embedded learning environment will enable individ­uals to learn what they need to know to perform their jobs. Looking forward, we also believe that advances in technologies will enable learning to become more embedded into our lives, not just our jobs.

Expanding Learning Beyond the Individual

As Peter Senge, chairperson of the Society for Organizational Learning, has said, " Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it, no organizational learn­ing occurs" (Senge, 1990, p. 139).

In the on-demand enterprise, value is created by groups of individuals who can rapidly address (and ultimately anticipate) customers' needs in real time. Emerging information technologies enable the flow of information between mul­tiple points without centralized control, which makes possible rich exchanges with­out the need for formal structures. Such nonlinear dynamics are beginning to challenge the traditional, ordered frameworks of every organization, as well as empowering individuals to work and think more autonomously.

Management best practices today involve the use of cross-functional teams, dynamically formed around specific projects and customer requirements. Breakthroughs such as expertise locators, instant messaging, and community

On-Demand Learning

tools can be applied to support teaming across boundaries of time, space, and geography. If an organization creates a safe environment where learners can share what they have learned, learning will also facilitate feedback into the or­ganization, enabling a culture where the learner contributes to institutional knowledge.

Moreover, the embedded learning design that incorporates dynamic access to relevant experts and teams provides a freer-flowing dialogue between more ex­perienced coworkers and junior team members. Enabling participation in shared (collaborative) problem solving between the novice and the more experienced worker further facilitates individual, team, and organizational capability growth and helps contextualize content. Local experts add a layer of understanding that converts the generic to the specific (Cross, 2003).

The development of and provision of access to experts is the lifeblood of me on-demand enterprise. In this information-rich ecosystem, people become nodes in a network that is aware of who they are, what they are capable of doing, and, perhaps most important, what they are keenly interested in doing. IBM's work-embedded learning solutions leverage the network to tap into those resource nodes to address a surfaced need within another part of the network and will be able to successfully conduct business within a culture that fosters learning and growth.

Furthermore, in the context of rapid change, it is primarily workers (not systems or processes) who have to change to lift productivity by becoming more skilled and flexible (Watkins & Marsick, 1993). Changes in work practice are as certain as the need to be able to adapt to them in order to sustain currency in prac­tice. Experts available in the workforce provide the enterprise with the confidence to respond to change (Cross, 2003).

As most senior leaders know, the linkage between strategy and execution will not occur without everyone understanding the strategy. Equally important is the education and collaboration with the extended enterprise, including customers, partners, and suppliers. Accelerating learning opportunities will help suppliers bet­ter understand an organization and how they can help address its requirements. Similarly, business partnerships are built on trust, awareness, and appreciation of each other's unique capabilities. Learning methods can also be applied to mar­keting and customer support programs to deepen client relationships by increas­ing their understanding of products and services.

As embedded learning extends across the enterprise within work flow processes and the teams that do that work, organizations will then be in a better position to integrate horizontally outside the company as well. Learning will serve as a key enabler of this integration process, becoming the binding factor of extended enterprise community.

The Handbook of Blended Learning

IBM's E-Coach: The Next Generation of Personalized Learning

" Learning is at the core of our business. But it's a complex endeavor and requires that we bring learning opportunities to employees in a meaningful way, relating them to the individual in the context of who they are and their role in the orga­nization. And that is what Edvisor does. It allows IBMers to received personalized guidance around the learning that is most valuable to them, " said IBM's chief learning officer, Ted HofF.

At IBM, employees have access to a patent-pending online learning tool known as Edvisor, which acts as an expert e-coach. Consistent with IBM's vision to embed learning into everyday work flow, Edvisor offers its employees a personal development guide that recommends a customized development path. It helps IBM managers shape their individual learning experience to fit their job roles, professional goals, and organizational priorities.

Using Edvisor, an IBM employee can create a prescriptive learning plan based on an individual and unique user expertise profile that can be customized by ge­ography, business unit, or managerial level. In addition, Edvisor is an intelligent agent able to administer and understand the feedback given on 360-degree as­sessments on leadership competencies, managerial styles, and climate to intelli­gently work with each individual manager on a personalized development plan. Edvisor's three tracks help employees find best practice content immediately, helps guide them through a blended learning initiative, and can advise and guide them through a longer-term development plan.

This e-coach is the latest addition to IBM's award-winning Role of the Manager@IBM program, a broad-reaching, comprehensive training program designed to help managers focus on improving those leadership competencies most critical in helping them achieve their individual and team business goals. Through this program, managers acquire additional leadership expertise to lead remote and mobile teams effectively and create an environment that encourages contin­ual innovation and creativity.

By engaging Edvisor as part of Role of the Manager@IBM program, man­agers take advantage of creating a personalized learning path, built especially for them to prepare for the face-to-face learning lab component of the program. Edvisor's guidance is based on that individual's functional role in the organization and the assessment feedback received on 360-degree assessments. Edvisor guides managers through this prelearning to ensure that all fundamentals and individual learning are mastered, thereby ensuring that precious face-to-face time is used to work on higher-order learning and team-based objectives. Thus, learning is

On-Demand Learning

transformed from the traditional single classroom event into a continuous, per­sonalized process.

To encourage a learner to complete courses and master the necessary skills identified by his job function, Edvisor sends reminders to complete all learning activities. It tracks the learner's progress in the learning plan and helps each one man­age the time needed to complete specific learning modules. Also, as a coach would, Edvisor tests an employee's understanding of a course or a skill by conducting mas­tery tests. All of these components of Edvisor help IBM learners prepare for the courses they will face in the Role of the Manager@IBM Learning Labs.

Over twenty-four months, thirty-two thousand managers and executives in seventy countries participated in Role of the Manager@IBM. In addition, Edvi­sor was used by 73 percent of these participants, and 95 percent felt it was rele­vant for preparation for the courses. The average amount of time spent on mastering Edvisor-led learning modules was three and a half hours, thereby reducing the amount of workshop time needed to meet this initiatives learning objectives.

Conclusion

Much of the learning that happens in the workplace today occurs outside the formal education context. Rather than simply labeling this kind of learning as informal and leaving it to chance, it is our perspective that it would be much more advanta­geous to analyze how learning happens within a given work flow and role and then define learning solutions that are tuned to accelerating and enhancing it.

Just as enterprises have had to evolve as a result of dynamic market economies, so too must the training function. Critical to navigating this change successfully is to understand the difference between learning and training in the on-demand era. Training functions must begin to realize that the path to strategic leverage within the firm hinges on the cultivation of a collaborative learning culture across the enterprise. Successful learning functions must stretch beyond the realm of for­mal training to focus on enabling productivity through more informed workplace learning approaches. Creating an enterprise that truly has the capacity to learn so that it can quickly adapt to the speed and complexity we will need in building ever-growing new market-valued skills is the new challenge that we are being asked to undertake as learning professionals. IBM is creating new learning approaches that allow us to shift the emphasis from bringing the worker to the learning to bringing the learning to the work, an exciting new era of learning that promises to leverage the collective expertise of employees, teams, and organizations through­out its enterprise.

The Handbook of Blended Learning

References

Billett, S. R. (2001). Learning in the workplace: Strategies for effective practice. Sydney: Allen &

Unwin. Bontis, N. (1999). Managing organizational knowledge by harnessing intellectual capital.

International Journal of Technology Management, 18(5-8), 433-462. Gross, J. (2003). Informal learning-The other 80%. Internet Time Group. Retrieved November

15, 2004, from https://www.internettime.com/Learning/The%20Other%2080%25.htm. Geus, A. D. (2001). E-learning as a strategic corporate asset. DM Review Magazine. Retrieved

November 15, 2004, from https://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm? articleld=4403. Goman, С. К. (2004). The forces of change. Link and Learn eNewsletter. Retrieved November

15, 2004, from https://www.linkageinc.com/company/news_events/link_learn_

enewsletter/archive/2004/05_04_forces_change_goman.aspx. Harris, J. (2002). The learning paradox: Gaining success in a world of change. Oxford: Capstone

Publishing. Levy, J. (2004). The future of learning technology. Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Retrieved

November 15, 2004, from https://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_feature.

asp? articleid=548& zoneid=30. Purcell, P.J. (2002). Older workers: Employment and retirement trends. Washington DC: Library of

Congress. Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York:

Random House. Tahlheimer, W. (2003). Percentage improvements likely when key learning factors are

utilized. Work-Learning Research. Retrieved November 15, 2004, from https://www.

work4earning.com/white_papers/percent_improvement/Percentage_Improvements_

pdf4.pdf. Watkins, K., & Marsick, V (1993). Sculpting the learning organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. White House. Office of the Press Secretary (2004, April 5). Better trainingfor better jobs.

Retrieved July 13, 2005, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/

20040405-7.html on.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX