What CEOs Expect From Corporate Training: Building Workplace Learning and Performance Initiatives That Advance

by William J. Rothwell

Training is about improving overall organizational performance, and no individual is more accountable for a company's performance than its CEO. It follows, then, that Workplace Learning and Performance professionals (a.k.a. trainers) must learn what chief executives hope to achieve through their company's training efforts, and that they must satisfy the expectations of those executives and other key stakeholders. What CEOs Expect From Corporate Training is based on extensive interviews with CEOs across a myriad of industries, and reflects their ideas about how effective training can help achieve corporate objectives. To help readers apply these crucial insights to their own efforts, the authors have created a conceptual map of behaviors and relationships, plus a selection of practical worksheets, checklists, and other tools. Unlike previous work based on what trainers believe they should be doing, What CEOs Expect From Corporate Training directly identifies the training imperatives defined by CEOs and the results they demand.

Genres: Business

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 3, 2003

About the author

William J. Rothwell is professor of Workplace Learning and Performance at Pennsylvania State University and President of Rothwell & Associates, a business consultancy.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

What CEOs Expect From Corporate Training: Building Workplace Learning and Performance Initiatives That Advance
William J. Rothwell, John Lindholm, and William G. Wallick
AMACOM

Obviously, what the co-authors share and discuss are the expectations of specific CEOs prior to the publication of this book (2003). I have no idea how many of them are CEOs now, nor to what extent (if any) their expectations have since changed. That said, it seems safe to assume that corporate boards and CEOs are under increasingly greater pressure to justify a substantial investment of resources in formal, informal, and "blended" learning initiatives. Now more than ever before, they expect those initiatives to be in proper alignment with overall strategy and help to achieve ultimate business objectives. What we have in this volume is an analysis co-authored by Rothwell, Lindholm, and Wallick of four primary sources of research data concerning CEO opinions of Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP) professionals, more specifically "the roles that should be played and the competencies that should be demonstrated by those whose job titles were once `trainer,' `training and development practitioner,' or `human resource development (HRD) professional.'" Rothwell, Lindholm, and Wallick's book is primarily based on three research studies, supplemented by their interviews of more than 70 CEOs from a broad cross-section of organizations.

The three studies are:

ASTD Models for Workplace Learning and Performance: Roles, Competencies and Outputs The researchers obtain responses to two major research questions:

1. "What competencies do WLP professionals, senior WLP professionals, and line managers perceive as currently required for success in workplace learning and performance?

2. "What competencies do WLP professionals, senior WLP professionals, and line managers perceive will be required in five years?"

Study of CEO Perceptions of the Competencies of Workplace Learning and Professional Models The researchers obtain responses to three major research questions:

1. "What are the major business challenges CEOs perceive to be impacting their businesses?"

2. "How do CEOs perceive workplace learning programs to be linked to business challenges?"

3. What competencies do CEOs recognize to be most important for the person responsible for workplace learning?"

The third study, CEOs' Perceptions of Trainer Roles in Selected Multihospital Health Care Systems, focuses on how CEOs perceived the roles of WLP professionals, compared with their perceived roles against the seven suggested WLP roles, [i.e. manager, analyst, intervention selector, intervention designer and developer, intervention implementor, change leader, and evaluator] and further compared these perceived roles to the formalized job descriptions from the surveyed organizations. Sixteen CEOs from the largest health care systems in the United States were interviewed." Those who read this book are provided with Rothwell, Lindholm, and Wallick's analysis of the responses.

Presumably there will sometimes be a gap (perhaps a wide gap) between what a WLP professional assumes her or his CEO's perceptions and expectations to be and, in fact, what they really are. For that reason, the authors strongly recommend, if their readers have not already done so, that they select those questions that are most relevant to their organization's immediate needs and ultimate objectives, then obtain responses to them from their own CEO. "Questions to Ask Your CEO" are provided in Appendix A. I presume to add my own suggestion that, once the a CEO’s perceptions and expectations have been determined, ask every other member of the given organization’s leadership team to suggest what she or he thinks they are, then have everyone get together to discuss the responses; more importantly, to discuss why there are (if any) discrepancies between assumptions and realities. Just a thought….

[Jeannie Vandenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Process of change from Training-->HRD-->WLP. There are 7 roles referenced in WLP as follows:
1. Manager
2. Analyst
3. Intervention selector (manager)
4. Intervention designer & developer (outsource)
5. Intervention implementor (manger)
6. Change leader (CEO)
7. Evaluator
These roles contain competencies that can be grouped as follows:
1. Analytical
2. Business
3. Interpersonal
4. Leadership
5. Technical
6. Technological