The Rise of the Chief Learning Officer
The position of the Chief Learning Officer has been traditionally dedicated toward training employees and getting them to align with business objectives. Their roles have them conducting general training modules as well as developing potential leaders and upper management. Whilst these remain critical responsibilities, there has been significant development in the scope of the role since then.
In the business world, the capacity to evolve and adapt is what sets them apart from the rest of the competition in the long run and a company’s capacity to exhibit major changes must include the CLO of the company in its transformation. The professional in the role of CLO must incorporate a sense of branding and storytelling in this transition to make it meaningful to those undergoing it, and to make it more effective. This nature of training also helps leadership to blossom within a workforce and encourages breaking new grounds in business, which is the hallmark of an effective company.
CLOs do not traditionally involve themselves in the recruitment process but it is important for them to assess their suitability for the corporate culture being developed in the workspace. To ensure that the training does not feel arbitrary, the CLO must look to the individual’s needs and how they may be applied at the workplace. This entails assigning the right training as well as modifying job roles to help the employee to do their best at the workplace. Above all, the CLO needs to ensure that the instinct to never stop growing does not ebb out in the workplace.
The growth of data science continues to move forward at an unprecedented rate, which has allowed CLOS to analyze vast amounts of data with relative ease. The intersection of technology and business development has found CLOs in an advantageous position to positively impact their businesses. IT is used for a number of activities at the workplace by the CLO who aims to increase retention greatly and emphasize training needs in the work place. Data is key to this function and it requires modern systems to be put into action. The position of the Chief Learning Officer is certainly expanding and it has incorporated a number of core functionalities which weren’t previously seen, and has grown to becoming one of the most relevant and important C-Suite positions to emerge in recent decades.
The capacity to differentiate training needs and learning is what allows CLOs to stand out from other HR roles, allowing them to directly impact worker productivity through their policies and development approaches. The CLO has the goal of making the workforce perform to the best of their capabilities, as well as figuring out how to keep new individuals from taking up or rising to positions when needed, presently or in the future. The idea here is preparation and how to execute upon it- this is what separates many professionals holding the role of CLO and their effectiveness thereof. Those with the capacity to identify company needs and individual needs, and bridge the gap to find a balance are the ones who will go on to reshape the entire industry.
