How do Chief Learning Officers act as the Advocators of Learning opportunities?

by Clayton Clive Blogger

The significance of learning, though has not been paid heed to by organizations for a long time now, is grabbing the attention of millennials as a means of gaining immense success in their career.

Learning is an area where not all companies have visited or paid attention to. And, consequently, it has led to high levels of dissatisfaction amongst employees, globally. If you take a look at most of the studies carried out in the recent past on this very topic, a realization will strike you that a majority of employees are responsible for widening their knowledge, learning new skills as they have to act as the masters of their own career.

According to a series of reports, around fifty percent of firms do not have a plan in place that covers the learning & training schemes for employees. Which means that a very minor percentage of professionals are actually receiving formal, well-structured skills development training that is sponsored by their employers, while, a greater number of them are just throwing darts in the dark when it comes to their professional development.

The Growing Relevance of Learning & Development Opportunities

Fortunately, a bunch of organizations today have begun to focus on providing quality training sessions to the staff as a result of millennials being over demanding in reference to their learning needs.

Looking at the results of the Gallup poll, eighty-seven percent of the millennials give deep importance to career & professional growth through appropriate development opportunities. It is more of a prerequisite for them to enter a job. Moreover, in a scenario where enough opportunities are not readily available to them for developing themselves to be better professionals, millennials are likely to go for a different profile in a different company.

Furthermore, Gallup also proves that learning opportunities have become one of the top three elements in helping employees stay engaged in their jobs. But, after being aware of all this why are managers not taking any interest in creating learning opportunities?

It is quite unfortunate that most managers do not understand how to offer well-designed training opportunities for their employees. They are not able to find a way to empower their team to take benefits from the chances provided for development. Hence, there has been a new addition to the organizational structure with the introduction of a chief learning officer’s position.

The Rise of Chief Learning Officer

A comparatively new position in the world of business, the Chief Learning Officer has gained significant importance in recent times. Began in the year 1990 at GE, the CLO position made its way into the C-suite of every big shot organization in today’s world.

A Chief Learning Officer is required to take the lead in educating employees through effective training programs. The learning sessions can be on multiple issues, from policies to procedures to technology.

In smaller companies, this function is carried out by HR practitioners, however, big organizations dedicate an entire position referred to as the Chief Learning Officer to their learning and development initiatives.