ALTERNATIVEPATHWAYS

Sean Stowers, CPTM

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Frontline workers know the insand outs of company operationsand are the heartbeat of thebusiness.

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However, most companiesdo not have training oreducation programs for

continued development oftheir team.

It’s time to shift the focus to recruitingcareer employees and developingtalent through a framework forlifelong employability. So what doesthat road map look like?Let me show you.

04 Building Frontline Workers

05 Corporate Learning & Development

07 Integrating Prior Learning

09 Bringing It All Together

S E C T I O N S

ALTERNATIVELEARNINGPATHWAYS

Building YourFrontline Workers

First, go read a recent article in the New York Times that

outlines how Walmart achieved cleaner stores and higher

sales…through frontline employee development. They not

only pay their employees more now, but they also launched

an extensive training program and the results are

staggering.

The Cliff Note’s version goes like this: Walmart surveyed its

customers and found only 16 percent of stores were

meeting customer satisfaction goals (GASP!) and on top of

that its revenue fell in 2015 for the first time in 45 years.

Executives came up with a brilliant solution, increase

employees’ wages, develop frontline workers to take on

more responsibilities and train employees in person and

through video. Voilà the work force has improved, the

shopper experience has improved and interestingly enough,

employees are spending more money where they work.

Of course, Walmart is a huge corporation with many

resources, but I think it is possible for all size companies to

start shifting how they source talent and how they develop

career pathways for their employees, in turn, creating

lifelong employees for their businesses. “Research by The

Institute for Corporate Productivity shows that having

front-line workers take advantage of development

opportunities drives business performance,” Kevin Martin,

chief research and marketing officer for the Institute for

Corporate Productivity, said. It also helps make the

business sustainable, since it creates a pipeline of talent to

fill open positions and it improves the customer experience.”

The steps to develop training and career paths will differ

for each company. It can start as simple as setting up an

educational assistance benefit that helps employee garner

higher degrees or an incentive program to complete

company trainings. In my upcoming posts, I’ll dive deeper

into how to create learning programs that work for you and

tapping into employee’s prior learning.

To wrap up, we will continue to see more companies shifting

their focus to recruiting career employees. In order for all

companies to compete for the best talent, businesses must-

have career development baked into their guiding

principles. (If you feel like your company is DOA on this

subject, don’t worry more to come from me on this.)

As a learning professional, I think companies

can and should start developing their

frontline talent and giving them a framework

for lifelong employability. Now for all you

that are starting to think…but what about

the bottom line…can companies really afford

to do this? I’ll explain below why companies

can’t afford NOT to do this.

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A Paradigm Shift forCorporate Learning andDevelopmentWe hear lots of talk these days about Millennials and their tendency to “job hop.” A LinkedIn study showed exactly that. On average,those who graduated from college in the 1980s have had more than 1.6 jobs while 2006 and 2010 grads have averaged 2.85 jobs.

With that, we’re also seeing an increase in “boomerang employees,” those who work at a company for a few years, leave to expand theirexperience, and ultimately return to their original employer. Business Insider does a good job of explaining why boomerang employees arevaluable, but I would argue they’re even more valuable if they never have the reason to leave.

So, what does this have to do with corporate learning? I would say: Everything! Maybe this increase in boomerang employees and jobhopping is an indication that we’re looking for and developing our talent incorrectly. I propose we help retain talent by turning the idea oftalent identification and talent development on its head. Instead of looking for employees who can already do exactly what we want, whydon’t we help them get there, and moreover, continue to invest in them to ultimately prevent them from leaving to seek developmentelsewhere? I know, I made it sound simple, but there are a lot of moving parts here. Let’s take it one step at a time:

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1 Skill development & context: Now thatwe’ve found the employees with the keyskills necessary for the given position,let’s teach them what we want them toknow! If we provide job-specific trainingwe can be sure these employees will gainthe skills we need them to have. What’smore, we can give them immediateapplications for these skills - REAL workexperience! – and in doing so let’s makesure this learning can be recognized in alarger framework of learning andemployability (If this has you asking: “wait- how do I design this for myself?” don’tstress.

3Furthering education: This final step is truly what will saveyou from the boomerang employee - or worse, one thatleaves and never comes back. A recent study from Pearsonshowed that 72 percent of adults feel they need to furthertheir education in order to continue to advance in their givenfield. So - don’t give employees are reason to seek thiseducation elsewhere. This is about using all of the tools youhave to develop your workforce strategically, such as tuitionassistance programs, tuition reimbursement, alternativecredit learning, in-house courses and learning experiences.No matter how you do it, investing in your employee’seducation will make them feel wanted, allow them toadvance in their careers and ultimately give you even betteremployees.

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2Talent identification: Typically, this meanssorting through piles and piles of resumes,searching for the candidate with the exactright amount of experience, breadth anddepth of skills, who also give a great in-person interview. In this new model, we’didentify people with raw talent - customerservice candidates with warm personalities,aspiring engineers with great problem-solving skills - you get the idea. Instead offocusing on education and other jobexperience, look for the basic skills and traitsthat one needs to be good at this job.

Integrating Prior Learning toa the PathwayMost employees you will hire will have sometype of prior learning or skill experience,whether it’s having exceptionally fast mathskills from splitting tips or having mechanical ability from fixing trucks ortractors on the family farm – all skills andknowledge they may not have learned in atraditional education setting.

The ever-popular beer brand Heineken(cheers!) has won numerous accolades fortheir out-of-the-box thinking on employeerecruitment. In 2013, they developed the“Go Places” website that prompts users toanswers a series of quiz questions at alighting fast pace. The quiz helps to hone inon previous skills you acquired that couldbe applied to a job at a Heineken and alsogauges personalities.

If you do decide to apply for a job atHeineken, the quiz results must be sent withyour resume when you apply.

Here is an excerpt from an article inAdWeek. Cloudfactory creative SandrineHuijgen adds: "We spent a lot of timeinterviewing employees. As during Freddy'stime, employees are being sent around theworld on difficult missions and need theirpersonality as much as their skills to besuccessful."

Heineken’s example is an uber creative wayof tapping into employees previous skills(and personalities), but I would encourageyou to take a look at your company. Whatmakes your company tick, what is yourcompany’s personality and what type ofskills are you looking to recruit for. Maketalent and skill identification work for you! | 0 7

Integrating prior learning is an important strategy for your

company’s employee retention and recruitment efforts

because by incorporating what they already know you can

then take the next step and educate them for the purpose

of retention. It’s really very simple… Employee education +

Employee Incentive = A Dedicated, Retained Employee. (I

can see your bottom line smiling from here!) Here’s a little

data tidbit to back up my claim, a recent study from

Pearson stated the majority of its respondents are looking

for an education provider to offer useful skills and

knowledge for the future job market.

I know this all sounds logical, but also likely abstract. Let’s

talk through an example: Imagine a technology company

hires an administrative assistant, who began to get a

bachelor’s in business with a focus on finance, but never

completed his degree. Some may argue that the best way

to help him advance in his career is by offering him tuition

assistance to help him to complete his bachelor’s degree,

and then his master’s in order to advance to a manager

position in the finance department. I would argue that’s not

the only way to go.

By building a pathway that allows for recognition of prior

learning, combined with alternative credit options, the

company could also help this employee take the

background he already has in finance and apply it to parts

of his administrative work.For example having

demonstrated a strong understanding of the company’s

finances, he could be mentored by someone in accounts

payable to learn that aspect of the business, ultimately

allowing him to advance his career. Along the way, they

could provide career and academic advising in conjunction

with tuition reimbursement to ensure that this employee is

both equipped for success in degree completion and that he

is able to maximize credit from prior learning, shortening the

path.

The key here is that rather than forcing this employee into a

traditional model of skill development for advancement, the

company is creating a system in which the needs of the

learner and the skills needed for their job have intersected.

The learner is provided with a range of tools and

experiences that will arm them with the skills that can be

directly applied to the job and the tasks associated with it.

While class time and higher education are an extremely

important part of career development for some jobs and

industries, I think the key is recognizing where prior

learning can be applied directly to one’s work and to the

academic pathway.

"It’s really very simple. Employee

education + Employee Incentive =

A Dedicated, Retained Employee. A

recent study from Pearson stated

the majority of its respondents are

looking for an education provider

to offer useful skills and knowledge

for the future job market."

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Bringing it alltogether

Right out of high school, Amanda worked in a retail clothing

shop, but wasn’t enjoying the culture and decided that she

wanted to pursue something that would give her more of a

chance to challenge herself. She completed an

accreditation course and earned a Certified Nurse’s

Assistant (CNA) designation. She is extremely good with

people, enjoys caring for her patients and is eager to find a

job in healthcare.

Now meet her future employer. This health system is not

only dedicated to its patients, but has chosen to invest

significantly in employee development. The HR department

has done extensive research on the benefits of alternative

learning pathways and has decided to implement some of

these different tactics to grow its team. It has invested a

small portion of its budget in to in-house training videos

(nothing Oscar worthy, but they get the job done) and have

put policies in place in their employee manual to outline how

the company handles training and education. Amanda

applies for a job as a CNA with them because they have a

good reputation in the community. The team that interviews

her can see her natural inclination for working with people

and chooses to hire her. And her new path to learning

begins…

TRAINING: Amanda’s first few months on the job are

action packed. She was immediately assigned a mentor, one

of the Registered Nurses (RN) on staff, to help her become

familiar with the day-to-day responsibilities of the job and

having the opportunity to practice of her skills by working

directly with patients.

The nurse leadership takes the time to teach Amanda the

ins and outs of the health system’s processes, giving

Amanda a real-life application for the skills she learned in

her certificate program. While Amanda still has a lot to

learn, the company is maximizing her training by teaching

her to do her job the way they prefer things to be done,

making her the ideal employee. While the company is

investing time and resources in this training process and in

Amanda herself right off the bat, they are getting the

ultimate return - a highly skilled, passionate, well-trained

employee.

FURTHER EDUCATION: After a few years of work in her

CNA position, Amanda expresses an interest to her

manager about growing her skills and pursuing a career as

an RN. Because the company culture is centered on

continued employee education, there was a solid plan in

place for getting Amanda access to an associates or

bachelors in nursing and set her up to succeed on the

licenser exam she will take upon completing her degree. The

health system offered her tuition assistance as well as in-

housing trainings on the role of f RNs specific to their

company. Amanda comfortably passed the RN licensure

exam and advanced to a role as an RN. Over time, Amanda

hopes to also strengthen her leadership skills and eventually

become a nurse manager.

Why is Amanda’s story so important? It’s a prime example

of how employees can be trained creatively to be the ideal

employee for a specific organization, and that they, in turn,

feel valued and choose to grow their careers within that

company, rather than seeking new experience elsewhere.

Meet Amanda - she is in her mid-20s and is

about to begin her search for a job in the

health care industry.

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An example of how this new model comes to life