Zurich North America

CNA Insurance

Session Focus: Community-source tips for starting from scratch to create a skills database.

As learning leaders, we often find ourselves excited about initiatives like creating skills databases, but do the CEO and other business leaders truly understand the "why" behind it? In this insightful session, a panel of experts shared tips on how to approach this from the ground up while keeping the core business objectives in mind.

Key Takeaways:
1. Clearly define the "why" - link it to core business objectives beyond just HR/talent goals to get leadership buy-in.
2. Focus on the employee experience and career journey to drive engagement with the skills initiative.
3. Take an iterative approach, celebrate small wins, and get broad input - don't aim for perfection from day one.

A poignant quote that resonated: "While for us as HR practitioners and professionals this is really exciting and we get it and we know why it makes sense but does the CEO know, do they care just of marketing or sales like so it is the why are we doing this not just for HR but help the organization like does everyone get it is everyone on board with like the why and the impacts?"

Join us as we dive deep into practical tips shared by leaders who have been through this journey, from establishing a clear purpose aligned with business priorities to managing change effectively. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach, this session offers valuable insights to create a skills database that truly moves the needle for your organization.

Tips for Starting from Scratch | Creating Skills Databases

evidence-based research

future of work

Integrated Talent Management

Future of Work

Digital &amp; AI

talent mobility

jean.ryan

career development

career path

organizational readiness

Change Management

upskilling

azizeh.constantinescu

geovanny.andino

Learning Agility

strategic alignment

employee engagement

business

skills​

skillsforthefuture

stateofskills

reskilling

career mobility

future-skill

future of learning

maryann.kennedy

reskill

skill development

paula.y..spears

mary.zolna

skills database

personalization of skills

megan.bickle

skills data

gordon.ritchie

Bestselling authors and cohosts of the TED podcast Fixable, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss reinvent the playbook for how to lead change—with a radical approach that moves fast, builds trust, and accelerates excellence.

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of wreckage is the price we have to pay for inventing the future.

Leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss argue that this belief is deeply flawed—and that it keeps you from building a great company. Helping executives and entrepreneurs solve their toughest problems over the past decade, Frei and Morriss learned that the trade-off between speed and excellence is false. The best leaders solve hard problems with fierce urgency while making their organizations—employees, customers, and shareholders—even stronger. They move fast and fix things.

Based on their work with fast-moving companies such as Uber, Riot Games, and WeWork, Frei and Morriss reveal the five essential steps to moving fast and fixing things. You'll learn to:
<ul>
 	<li>Identify the real problem holding you back</li>
 	<li>Build and rebuild trust in your company</li>
 	<li>Create a culture where everyone can thrive</li>
 	<li>Communicate powerfully as a leader</li>
 	<li>Go fast by empowering your team</li>
</ul>
With a one-week plan to fix your problems on a fast cycle time of one step per day, this book is your guide to maximizing impact and reinventing your approach to change. By the end of the week, you won't just have a road map for solving your company's toughest problems—you'll already be well on your way, improving your company at exhilarating speed.

Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

leadership

Strategy

Leadership

innovation

team-building

best practices

strategy

trust

problem solving

productivity

yolanda.mangram

Management

Company Culture

Speed

Efficiency

How does your business view its training? Is it a temporary fix or a long-term strategic solution? Is your organization currently using training programs that are the same tired, lecture-based, “death by PowerPoint” presentations, and “click-through” e-learning programs? Now, with The End of Training, Michael Vaughan helps us navigate through the hype of business simulations and presents a clear and concise guide to understanding the power and effectiveness of these revolutionary training programs. More and more companies are choosing business simulations in an effort to create dynamic learning experiences that drive performance and create competitive advantage. The End of Training can help managers sort through the confusion surrounding workplace simulations and answer the questions that so many learning professionals have–from what they are and what they are capable of accomplishing to best practices and how-to’s for successfully leveraging simulations within your organization.

The End of Training

leadership development

simulation

michael.vaughan

cindy.pinkstaffmiller

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business.

The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt, and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in an age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

The Lean Startup

experiential learning

dirk.tussing

Project Management

rapid prototyping

learning experience

experimental learning

Lean Six Sigma

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A Robert Mager bestseller! This clearly written, witty, and easy-to-read book is a terrific tool for helping managers see your services as an essential resource for improving job performance, not just another expense.

What Every Manager Should Know About Training provides managers with a clear introduction to performance technology without gimmicks or jargon.

It shows them how to determine whether or not training is appropriate for improving performance. It also describes how managers can best use available training and performance improvement tools.

Once your managers read this book, your job will be easier because managers who are better informed about the services you offer are better consumers. They’ll see what they need to do to create an environment that lets their employees apply the skills they learn from you.

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If you use training services, especially if you have to pay for them out of your budget, this book will help you:
<ul>
 	<li>Determine why your employees' performance isn't meeting your expectations and what to do about it</li>
 	<li>Ensure that your employees possess the job-relevant skills they need</li>
 	<li>Get training done in the least amount of time and at the least cost, whether training is obtained internally or from vendors</li>
 	<li>Leverage training as a true competitive advantage</li>
</ul>
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What Every Manager Should Know About Training: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Money's Worth From Training

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