Home > News > June 2004 > 09-Jun-2004

Keynote Speech by Tony Bingham ASTD President and CEO

Delivered on Sunday, May 23 at the ASTD 2004 International Conference and EXPO Washington, D.C.

"IMAGINE

Imagine a Day When…

• Your CEO congratulates you for the learning department's role in a successful turnaround of your organisation.

Imagine a Day When…

• Policy makers – in the U.S. and abroad – approach ASTD and you (our members) to help governments and organisations close the skills gap.

Imagine a Day When…

• Your role is recognised across the organisation as vital to helping it sustain a competitive edge. In fact, it's seen as so critical that business leaders recruit you to their teams when creating strategy or trying to solve major problems.

And last, but not least, imagine a day when…

• No organisation ever questions the value of learning.

Can we take those "imagines" and turn them into reality?

ABSOLUTELY – let's talk about how.

Many of you are in this profession because you want to do meaningful work. You want to see people, organisations, and society achieve success.

You want to use your knowledge, passion, and expertise to help people grow and realise their potential.

While the profession has come a long way toward those goals, there's still plenty
more to do.

• How will we realize the four “imagines?”
• How will you play a critical role in your organization's success?
• How will you take success to the next level?

What does it mean to succeed anyway?

Success is the ability to identify and deliver meaningful and measurable results, and communicate those results in language that executives speak.

To do so requires understanding your business and your customers – both internal and external – and having the skills to solve problems efficiently. Success is measurable – and – there is a system for success.

Let's consider an example. It comes from our magazine, T+D, and it's part of a series of articles called “At C Level.” The articles highlight the views of prominent CEOs about our field. For those of you who might find value in understanding a CEO's perspective. It's a series of interviews that Pat Galagan, our Vice President of Content, and I, have with CEOs and their senior learning leaders about learning's impact on their organisations.

Recently we interviewed Bill Swanson, CEO of Raytheon – an $18B Defense Contractor – who said the following about his CLO, Don Ronchi:

"Don's an expense to the company... He generates no profit. So he better have passion, and he better have a product to sell, and that product better have a business case associated with it..."

Get it?

This is how a top executive communicates and, this is how you have to communicate if you want to be understood. This is understanding the business!

Let's look at another example.

During our interview with Ed Ludwig, the CEO of Becton Dickinson – a $4.5B Medical Technology Company – and Ed Betof, his Chief Learning Officer. We asked how the CEO knows when learning contributes to performance.

Ed Ludwig told us, "The ultimate question is, at the end of the day is the company being more successful?"

What does it take to be successful?

That is a question we ask continually at ASTD. One result of that questioning is a new award we introduced last year. It's called the ASTD BEST Award.

So, just what is the BEST Award? The BEST award recognizes learning's contribution to enterprise-wide success.

As you know, great organisations measure more than just financial performance –
they consider leadership, reputation, human capital, social responsibility,
technological advances, innovation, and more...

Other BEST measures include:

• Customer satisfaction
• Employee retention and satisfaction
• Quality
• Time to competence
• Top-line growth
• Profitability

ASTD BEST Award winners understand the critical link between learning and performance.

They value learning and performance as they value their ledger – and, they understand the connection between the two.

Here's an example. A 2003 BEST Award winner – Dow Chemical Company – a $33B+ diversified, world-wide manufacturer. They have close alignment between learning and business goals.

How, you ask?

• At Dow, leaders create "learning maps" that depict corporate strategy, structure, economic goals, Six Sigma goals, the people strategy, and the corporate performance scorecard.
• You can walk into any Dow office around the world and see these learning maps on display.
• Business units hold road-shows to communicate critical information to employees.
• They use prescribed classes, online resources, and individual coaching for development.
• They introduced Six Sigma with documented cost reductions of $1.5B – and, they have 1,500 certified Black Belts.

Clearly, connecting learning to organisational performance is a MUST for success, and the BEST companies such as Dow are doing just that.

And, as we see, success is measurable. What else do BEST organisations do?

They leverage the learning function to make its goals and objectives understood. We're seeing some very progressive organisations combine the learning and corporate communications functions.

Their CEOs and senior leadership teams incorporate learning into their performance objectives. And, they identify skills gaps.

As ASTD has often said, "The single most important asset an organisation has to sustain competitive advantage is the knowledge of its workforce. Equipping workers with the right skills, at the right time, for the right job has never been more important than it is today."

ASTD's Public Policy Council – in a report called "The Human Capital Challenge" – talked about learning as part of an overall system for recruitment and retention. Why is this so important?

• Demographic trends leading to fewer workers, combined with a growing gap
  between worker skills and today's job requirements, have delivered a one-two punch to many organisations.
• They must strengthen their recruitment, retention, and employee development practices in order to survive and prosper.
• Even in a challenging economy and higher unemployment – organisations always clamor for knowledgeable, skilled workers.

Want some evidence of the severity of the human capital challenge as described in ASTD's report?

• Two years ago, the federal workforce in the U.S. was at 2.7 million employees. By 2005, 50 percent will be eligible for retirement. That's next year!
• Current projections by the Employment Policy Foundation indicate that 2.3 million jobs will remain unfilled in 2004; in 2008 this number will double to 4.6 million.
• In the U.S. in March 2003, unemployment was at 5.7 percent of a labor pool of 141,800,000.
• This equals 8,000,000 plus unemployed, just in this country. Multiply that around the world and you can see the magnitude of the problem.
• Consider those approximately eight (8) million unemployed, yet there are 2.3
  million unfilled jobs (and this situation is clearly getting worse each year).

Who is going to help solve this problem with succession planning and workforce training and development? – YOU – the learning and performance professional.

Do you think your work is relevant? Clearly, it is more relevant than ever! Let's prove it.

At this conference, ASTD is unveiling a landmark study “Mapping the Future: Shaping New Workplace Learning and Performance Competencies.”

The new competency model spells out what you need to know and be able to do to succeed now and in the future.

Our goal for the study was to create a roadmap for the profession that identifies the competencies required to drive organisational success.

Because if we can prove that we drive organisational success – no organisation will ever question the value of learning – our 4th "imagine."

And, just how will you know when you've arrived there?

• When learning is valued at the top of the organization.
• When leaders not only recognize the need for learning – they WANT it – they
  WANT you and what you have to contribute to the organization.
• When leaders (and you) vividly understand learning's results, and they can be articulated clearly.
• When learning is treated as indispensable during good or bad times.

How else will you know? When YOU – the learning and performance practitioner…

• Can communicate your value
• Are sought out as a fellow business advisor
• Are a skilled, credentialed professional

And, as Bill Swanson from Raytheon said about his CLO, Don Ronchi: "If you look at Don's achievements, they include metrics. He signs up for them at the beginning of the year, and we track them. He gets measured on them."

Don is an inextricable part of the team – as YOU must be, too, in your organisations. Because, when you get right down to it, why are we here? Why do we do what we do?

As ASTD's mission tells us: Though exceptional learning and performance, we CAN create a world that works better – and, collectively and collaboratively, we WILL – YOU WILL – create a world that works better! Thank you."

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