3 marketing lessons for learning &...

3 Marketing Lessons for

Learning & Development

Todd Tauber

Vice President, Learning Research | Bersin by Deloitte

Deloitte Consulting LLP

@toddtauber

Getting learners to pull when L&D stops pushing

Copyright © 2014 Deloitte Consulting LLP. All rights reserved. 1 3 Marketing Lessons for L&D

Who we are • We provide research on leading practices, trends and

benchmarking in learning, talent management and

strategic HR.

6 research practices • Learning & Development

• Leadership Development

• Talent Management

• Human Resources

• Talent Acquisition

• Tools & Technology

Offerings • WhatWorks® Membership: Research, data, tools and advisory

• IMPACT®: The leading conference on the Business of Talent

• Advisory Services & Consulting

Human

Resources

Leadership

Development

Learning &

Development

Talent

Acquisition

Talent

Management

Tools &

Technology


Agenda

1. L&D has a marketing problem

2. Lesson 1: Brands

3. Lesson 2: Customers

4. Lesson 3: Journeys

5. Any questions?


It’s not that people don’t like what you do…

It’s not that people don’t like what

you do; it’s just that nobody likes

training. Nobody. You do an excellent

job, but still… people hate training. Senior HR Manager

Source: Mindflash blog, Why People Hate Training, and How to Overcome It, 3/2012


These don’t sound like engaged, satisfied “customers”

Source: Toward Maturity, Engaging Disengaged Learners, 2/2014;

Chief Learning Officer, Would You Recommend Your L&D Department?, 4/2014;

Bersin by Deloitte, Becoming a High-Impact Learning Organization, 8/2012

Almost half of learning

and development

leaders say their staff

are reluctant to engage

with online learning.

44%

Less than a quarter of

line managers think

their L&D department is

critical to achieving their

business goals.

24%

Only 14% of L&D leaders

believe they’re viewed as

strategic partners to their

business leaders. 52%

are seen as mediocre

…or worse.

14%

Employees Managers Executives


L&D is shifting away from “pushing” training

Share of training hours delivered via…

Other methods*

Online self-study

Virtual

Live instructor-led

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: Bersin by Deloitte, 2014 Corporate Learning Factbook, 2/2014;

* Other includes feedback-based methods like coaching and social learning as well as on-demand resources

Less pushing

More pulling


Only a fraction of the workforce is “pulling” from L&D

Maybe 15% or 20% of our employees

were using the learning that was made

available... And they were only using a

small subset of the library. There were

literally hundreds of courses that were

never being used. VP Talent Strategies

Source: Bersin by Deloitte interview, 5/2014


People are not aware of what’s available

Workers can’t find what they want when they need it

The learning offered isn’t relevant (enough)

Employees don’t have (or make) the time

Managers don’t encourage, enable or follow-up

Executives don’t support, recognize and reward learning

The learning just isn’t engaging (enough)

There are lots of obstacles to pulling


CASE IN POINT:

Deckers Outdoor Corporation’s learning team

had 3 main marketing challenges

Source: Bersin by Deloitte interview, Stephanie Demiris / Director, Global Learning & Engagement, 6/2014

Employees didn’t have clear

paths for development JOURNEYS

BRAND

CUSTOMERS

Managers didn’t own the

development of their people

L&D programming didn’t always

match business priorities

1

2

3


3 lessons L&D can learn from marketing

The “customer journey” starts long

before engagement

Lesson 3: JOURNEYS

Lesson 1: BRANDS

Lesson 2: CUSTOMERS

Brands are much more than just

names and logos

Get to know your buyers and influencers

– not just your consumers

Brands<>names<>logos LESSON 1: BRANDS


Your job is to make them want what they need

People don’t act on their needs. They

act on their wants. After identifying

their needs, your job is to get people

to want what they need. Brooke Allen, Quartz

Source: Quartz, Why Business Schools Charge So Much, 1/2014


A brand is much more than just names and logos

A brand is the set of expectations,

memories, stories and relationships that,

taken together, account for a consumer’s

decision to choose one product or

service over another. Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur, marketer

Source: Seth Godin blog, define: Brand, 12/2009


Strong brands can do 3 things

The most powerful brands usually get that way through strategies that

draw on culture, capabilities, customer insights and experiences.

Source: Prophet Brand Strategy, Strong Brands, 6/2014

Inspire how people

feel

Influence how people

behave

Compel people

to act


Brands matter in L&D too

…or at least they should

Only 14% of line managers would

recommend working with their L&D

department; 52% would not.

Source: Chief Learning Officer, Would You Recommend Your L&D Department?, 4/2014

14%


There are 3 steps to building a brand

Shape it Position it Activate it

Define the

expectations and

memories you want

your audience to have

about your products

or services

Articulate and

communicate why

your audience should

“buy” your products or

services vs using any

other alternatives

Consistently meet or

exceed your

audience’s

expectations when

they actually use your

products or services


Define a clear purpose and value

What roles do learning organizations play?

Source: Bersin by Deloitte, Becoming a High-Impact Learning Organization, 8/2012


Understand your competition

People can go anywhere for learning. They

can go to YouTube, they can go to their

co-worker... What we don’t want our talent

to think is, “Oh, that corporate university is

the HR people. They’re boring”. Executive Director, Talent Development

Source: Elliott Masie's Learning 2013, Branding Learning, 11/2013


Carve out a well-differentiated position

Give people a reason to “buy” from you – not your competition

Source: Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, Learning in the Workplace Survey, 6/2013

n=850+, respondents from 46 countries, 62% from organizations with 250+ employees, 64% non HR/L&D

How useful are the following ways for you to learn in the workplace?


Connect on their terms (not yours)

What are you building? How are you doing it? How will it feel?


Feed the learning culture

A strong learning culture is the strongest predictor of L&D success

Source: Bersin by Deloitte, Dimensions and Measures of High-Impact Learning, 8/2012

Build trust Demonstrate

learning’s value

Institutionalize

learning as a process

Enable knowledge

sharing

Empower employees Encourage reflection


CASE IN POINT:

Deckers takes the “learn” out of its learning brand


Shape Learning is a continuous, inspiring journey

…part of career growth and leadership development

…up to employees and their managers

…married to employee engagement

Position “We started taking "learn" out of everything we did… It

didn't mean that wasn't still the heart and spirit and essence

of everything… It just required us to reframe how we

positioned it and how we talked to people.”

Activate • Learning plus communication, collaboration and search

• Involve everyone (from the CEO down)

• Easier to access in <15 seconds, faster, “good enough”

• Zeno: What if a LMS made people want to stay?

Users<>buyers<>influencers LESSON 2: CUSTOMERS


Get to know your audience …much better

Source: Bersin by Deloitte, Key Findings: Becoming a High-Impact Learning Organization, 8/2012

33% Fewer than one-third of L&D organizations have

a good understanding of their audiences’…

Business priorities

Knowledge and skills

Work environment

IT literacy and capabilities

Career interests

Cultural backgrounds

Habits and preferences


L&D actually has 3 main audiences

…and HR, suppliers, business partners, customers, shareholders, too?


Executives expect learning to drive business results,

so make sure it’s linked to business objectives and priorities

96% of CEOs want to know the business impact

of learning – more than anything else

Source: ATD / ROI Institute, Measuring What Matters: How CEOs View Learning Success, 12/2010


Managers need learning that drives the team’s performance,

so learn about their problems …and get them involved

The way to succeed with line leaders is to

involve them in governance. Acknowledge that

they are learning customers. Gain their support

by planning with them. Monitor trends in their

learning and development assessments. Use

their feedback to make improvements.

Chief Learning Officer

Source: Chief Learning Officer, Would You Recommend Your L&D Department?, 4/2014


Learners want learning that helps them to do their jobs better

and develop their careers, so make sure it’s relevant

If people perceive that learning will help

them get a better result or respond to a

difficult challenge, they are interested.

They become part owners of the learning

process. They take responsibility for

seeing it to fruition. CEO and President

Source: T+D, TELUS Reveals Its Secret to Success, 9/2012


Learners are overwhelmed, distracted and impatient,

so learning has to fit into how they work and live

The average knowledge worker spends just 1%

of their time on training and development 1%

Source: Harvard Business Review, Make Time for the Work That Matters, 9/2013


Learners are diverse, untethered and self-directed,

so make it easy for them to access any time, anywhere

Almost half of workers – worldwide – say they do not

have opportunities for learning and growth at work.

Only 38% say they do.

Source: The New York Times / The Energy Project, Why You Hate Work, 5/2014

38% 48%


CASE IN POINT:

Deckers put itself in its (learning) customers’ shoes


Executives “We were not talking my executives' language. It wasn't

the stuff that they cared about… We need to be thinking

about how we really impact the business.”

Managers “Here's what the value add to you is... when your people

go through the program. It's all about what you're going

to get out of it, why the exchange of your time is worth it,

how it's going to help.”

Employees “If I was seeing this, would I want to go? Would I want to

do it? Would I open that? Would it excite me? Do I feel

connected to it in any way? Am I motivated to do

something with it?”

Awareness<>participation, engagement<>loyalty

LESSON 3: JOURNEYS


Learning usually happens in 5 moments of need

Source: Learning Solutions, Are You Meeting All Five Moments of Learning Need?, 6/2012

Learning for the first time

Learning more breadth or depth

Remembering or applying

When something goes wrong

When something changes

Formal training

Informal learning


The learning journey starts long before the moment of need

aware consider intend find access apply advocate

What do I need and want?

How can I learn that?

That looks like the right way.

Where is it?

That was good.

Now I can do it.

You should try this.


It takes dozens of impressions to convert prospects into

customers and great experiences to turn them into advocates

aware consider intend find access apply advocate

Potential audience Interested prospects Actual customers

•HR

•Emails

•Newsletters

•Events & webinars

•Signage

•PR

•Executives

•Managers

•HRBPs

• LMSs and portals

•Social networks

•Peer networks

•Catalogs

•Campaigns

•Great learning experiences

(consistently)

•Participation and feedback

•Word-of-mouth

•Company social media


CASE IN POINT:

Deckers builds its learning brand throughout the entire

“customer” learning experience


Conclusions & recommendations


SUMMING IT ALL UP:

L&D is evolving; Deckers is thinking about learning differently

We just don't view our job as teaching

people. We really view our job as

inspiring people to learn. If we can get

that right, the rest of it sort of comes.

Stephanie Demiris Director, Global Learning & Engagement

Deckers Outdoor Corporation



Homework assignment

1. Think (rethink) about your learning brand

2. Learn (learn more) about your audiences

• Employees: Make it relevant, embed learning in

work, make it fast / easy, campaign like a marketer

• Managers: Promote the value of learning, line-up

influencers and early-adopters

• Executives: Build the learning culture (e.g.

recognize, reward, enable and empower)

3. Target (or reposition) your strategies and tactics

around the customers’ learning journeys – not yours


Questions

Todd Tauber

VP Enterprise Learning Research | Bersin by Deloitte

Deloitte Consulting LLP

[email protected]

@toddtauber

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/toddtauber


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