WeLearn

ELE Group, LLC

Session Focus: “Connecting  the Dots” for creating engaging onboarding experiences for a hybrid workforce


This session provided valuable insights on rethinking onboarding for today’s hybrid workforce. As we adapt to remote and flexible work environments, it’s clear that traditional, one-time onboarding processes no longer suffice. Senior HR leaders must focus on creating experiences that foster deeper connections, cultural integration, and sustained engagement for new hires.
<blockquote>As Bill Ryan pointed out, "Onboarding isn't just orientation; it's an ongoing process that integrates both technology and culture to create meaningful connections across the organization."</blockquote>
This shift toward continuous onboarding ensures that employees not only reach proficiency but also feel integrated into the broader organizational fabric.

Here are three key takeaways that senior HR talent leaders should consider:
<ol>
 	<li>Onboarding as a Continuous Process: Move beyond the transactional view of onboarding. Focus on long-term cultural integration and regular feedback loops to ensure new hires are supported well after their first day.</li>
 	<li>Leveraging Technology for Scalability: Use technology to automate routine tasks and provide scalable solutions for hybrid work environments. This allows HR teams to manage larger onboarding cohorts while maintaining a personalized touch.</li>
 	<li>Creating Intentional Connections: Ensure that onboarding is designed to build meaningful relationships, both within teams and across departments. This can be achieved through buddy systems, virtual check-ins, and cross-functional collaboration that fosters a sense of belonging.</li>
</ol>
By embracing these strategies, HR leaders can create onboarding experiences that not only meet compliance requirements but also build strong, engaged communities within the organization.

Creating Engaging Onboarding Experiences for the Hybrid Workforce

engagement &amp; culture

evidence-based research

future of work

Engagement &amp; Culture

Future of Work

Peer-to-Peer Learning

people strategy

dirk.tussing

richard.busby

mentoring

talent development

employee experience

ariel.mcgrew

individual development plan

bill.ryan

hybrid onboarding

tim.chudy

hybrid workforce

erin.higgins

ann.brownell

jr.burch

iris.farley

employee retention

workplace culture

Diversity and Inclusion

remote work

HRLeadership

OnboardingStrategy

HRTechnology

ContinuousOnboarding

HRBestPractices

Advocate Aurora Healthcare

Session Focus: How Advocate Aurora Health provides essential skills for non-leadership roles to develop, gain resources, grow professionally, and extend their networks to strengthen them for their next promotion.

&nbsp;

This session provided valuable insights into leveraging cohort-based programs to strengthen resilience, inclusivity, and sustained development among high-potential employees.
<blockquote>"The strength of a network can go up over time, even as skills might depreciate. Building that network in cohort formation is incredibly valuable." This quote from <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/alan-todd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alan Todd</a> underscores the sustainable impact of network-building in talent development.</blockquote>
By connecting employees in meaningful, collaborative ways, cohort-based learning enables participants to grow within a network that reinforces retention and long-term engagement, helping your organization build a resilient workforce.

Key Takeaways for HR Talent Leaders:

1. Long-term Network Building and Sustainable Development
A well-structured cohort program offers lasting benefits by creating a supportive professional network. This network becomes a resource participants rely on for ongoing resilience, even as specific skills evolve or shift with industry needs.

2. Inclusion and Structure in Leadership Development
Designing cohort criteria with clear DEI goals, such as a diversity target, ensures a broad range of talent benefits from career growth opportunities. This intentional approach can transform your pipeline by embedding inclusivity into development and enabling underrepresented talent to access leadership pathways.

3. Empowering Mentors and Facilitators as Part of Their Development
Encouraging mentorship and facilitation as developmental opportunities can boost engagement among potential mentors. When framed as a professional growth tool, mentoring becomes a valuable skill for those who support the cohort, enriching their careers and strengthening their connection to the organization.

By focusing on these strategies, senior HR leaders can make cohort programs a cornerstone of a resilient, inclusive, and engaged workforce that’s well-prepared for future challenges.

HiPo Development | Designing Cohort Learning to Scale

Leadership

jean.ryan

learning design

cohort learning

career development

collaborative learning

learning culture

early career

edward.desrosiers

jesse.james

flow of work

mary.mcnevin

Learning Agility

hipo

high potential

kelly.stallbaum

diego.frausto

Semi-synchronous Collaborative Peer-Learning

Scalable Global Cohorts

tamora.martin

alan.todd

thomas.fons

Designing Cohort Learning to Scale

Session Focus: "Connecting  the Dots" for creating engaging onboarding experiences for a hybrid workforce


In this discussion, we’ll explore the employee lifecycle for mentoring and development and how connecting people together builds the internal network and supports collaboration.
<blockquote>Onboarding is more than a 1-and-done session, it’s a process that prepares people to be successful for long-term performance.</blockquote>
To kick off a robust, interactive dialog, Bill Ryan will share a process that combines tactical training targeted around the needs of the role using a 4 “C’s” +1 model that centers on constant communication, feedback, and performance measurement — all factors that impact employee retention and engagement.

&nbsp;

ELE produces this Learning Circle: Retooling Talent Development for the New Normal.

ELE's Idea Exchange: Collaborate online with your peers <a href="https://www.learningexecutive.com/idea-exchange/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

single-event

Your Teams

Learning Circles

Complimentary

online event

complimentary event

Session Focus: How Advocate Aurora Health provides essential skills for non-leadership roles to develop, gain resources, grow professionally, and extend their networks to strengthen them for their next promotion.


&nbsp;

? Cohort-based collaborative learning and coaching are the hottest topics in L&amp;D right now

During the Covid-19 pandemic, collaborative learning and coaching are rising for many organizations.

Many ELE member companies are sharing best and next practices and validated with the Global L&amp;D Trends Research presented at our May 2022 Exchange. Technology and semi-synchronous learning design help scale with cohorts ranging from 6-8 to more than 1,000.

By benchmarking with your peers, this seven-week series explains the basic concepts and principles for cohort-based learning at scale. 

For many of us, the journey starts with providing in-person classroom training (synchronous), e-learning (asynchronous), or blended learning.

? An emerging next practice for designing cohort learning to scale is semi-synchronous collaborative peer learning. Learning solutions become instructorless and easier to scale when well thought out and done right.
<blockquote>Wes Kao is a long-time believer in “cohort-based” learning programs. Cohort-based learning involves a group of students—a cohort—all moving through a syllabus together at the same time. Cohort-based learning is the opposite of asynchronous, mass online open courses, (MOOCs) where students move at their own pace through course content.

Kao said that cohort-based courses are far more engaging for learners than MOOCs, which have been criticized for low enrollment and completion rates. Over the past decade, cohort-based classes have risen in popularity, addressing common complaints about MOOCs.

Cohort-based classes offer live feedback from a teacher and courses with set start and end dates. In real-time, groups of students are able to hold each other accountable, push each other to experiment with class material, and challenge each other’s ideas.

Source: <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/maven-wes-kao-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wes Kao, co-founder of Maven, Interview</a></blockquote>
1️⃣ First, we will explore
<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>How to cultivate a sense of safety and belonging</li>
 	<li>Why you should put learners, not instructors, at the center of your learning experience</li>
 	<li>How to accelerate knowledge sharing and peer facilitation</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
2️⃣ Next, we will share a cohort-based solution designed to help team members in non-leadership roles develop essential skills, gain resources, grow professionally, &amp; extend their networks to strengthen them in their current roles &amp; for career advancement.

3️⃣ A strategic transformation for many organizations is creating Learning 4.0 Mindset Shifts to help reinforce skills, facilitate feedback, increase collaboration, and share expertise across teams. Through a collaborative ecosystem of tech-savvy peer-to-peer and expert assessments, employees actively engage in the mastery of skill development.

<img class="aligncenter" src="https://www.learningexecutive.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Navistar-Learning-4.0-Midset-Shifts.png" alt="Learning 4.0 Mindset Shifts " width="1250" height="612" />

<hr />

We are interested in diving deeper into cohort-based learning solutions and finding success using some or all of the eight principles:
<ol>
 	<li>Well-designed social interactions</li>
 	<li>A sense of safety and belonging</li>
 	<li>Real people engaging authentically</li>
 	<li>Opportunities for individual reflection</li>
 	<li>Knowledge sharing and peer facilitation</li>
 	<li>Arguing (constructively) together</li>
 	<li>Learners, not instructors, at the center</li>
 	<li>Human stories expertly told</li>
</ol>
Pre-read: <a href="https://cohort.nomadiclearning.com/cohort-based-learning-report">Cohort-Based Learning at Scale – Eight Principles for Success</a> (Nomadic, 2022)

ELE Produces this Learning Circle: Designing Cohort Learning to Scale

Team Leaders

Session Focus: How to Prevent Identity Theft (<a href="https://www.identitytheft.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IdentityTheft.gov</a>)

During this informal session, we will be sharing some guidelines on mentoring/coaching and then “auto-pairing” people to “test” the concept of virtual coaching. Join us after work and pair-up with colleagues to network and test this whole idea of scalable mentoring/coaching. Come prepared with a topic that you will like some coaching on – you never know what new ideas and revelations you will discover!

Identity theft can result in difficulty in applying for a credit card or a loan, getting a job, clearing negative information on records, or an inability to trust other people. Identity theft can result in false debt, credit report errors, and even false employment/background reports.

Let’s Talk about How to Prevent Identity Theft

marge.feely

Operations

operations

Change Management

upskilling

coaching

Adding Value

Bev Kaye Inc

Session Focus: Coaching Connection between Engagement and DEI


During this informal session, we will be sharing insights on the connection between engagement and inclusion. Leading and coaching in a virtual environment require new ideas and revelations. Now more than ever, leading in a virtual environment, we need simple best practices that put a new emphasis on diversity and inclusion—both in our work as talent leaders and in our own lives.

Come prepared to get a sneak preview of <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/book/love-em-or-lose-em-getting-good-people-to-stay/?author=bev-kaye?books">Bev’s 6th edition of Love Em or Lose Em: Getting Good People to Stay</a> (coming out on March 2nd). This new edition will emphasize diversity and inclusion and keeping the same format: twenty-six simple strategies from A to Z. Links with more details are on <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/influencer/bev-kaye/?books">Bev’s ELE bookshelf</a>.
The ELE community invites you to join us at…
Virtual Happy Hour Meetup
from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (Central Time) | Grab your favorite “quarantini” &amp; Zoom in
To share &amp; learn with your peer-group with no formal agenda.
Learn new skills and explore talent development capabilities with this opportunity to Connect Contribute Collaborate &amp; Impact with talent development leaders on Zoom.

✅ How Do We in L&amp;D Add Unexpected Value? 

 ✅ Why does it matter?

Let’s Talk Talent Strategies with Bev Kaye | What’s Love Got to Do With It?

culture

engagement

diversity &amp; inclusion

employee engagement

beverly.kaye

human resources executive learning

Coaching Conversations

jeff.gill

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Session Focus: How to Prepare Your Mentoring Program to Scale

During this informal session, we will be sharing some guidelines on mentoring/coaching and then “auto-pairing” people to “test” the concept of virtual coaching. Join us after work and pair-up with colleagues to network and test this whole idea of scalable mentoring/coaching. Come prepared with a topic that you will like some coaching on – you never know what new ideas and revelations you will discover!

Let’s Talk Talent Strategies is our invite-only complimentary event for senior HR and L&amp;D leaders, people managers, and anyone with a passion for talent and innovation who is ready to embrace new ideas.

ELE hosts this virtual happy hour meetup every other Monday on Zoom.
<div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>
<div id="i4c-dialogs-container"></div>
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Let’s Talk Scalable Mentoring/Coaching Talent Strategies | VHH #17

rebecca.johnson

Let's Talk Talent Strategies is our invite-only complimentary event for senior HR and L&amp;D leaders, people managers, and anyone with a passion for talent and innovation who is ready to embrace new ideas.

Session Focus: Coaching Connection between Engagement and DEI


During this informal session, we will be sharing insights on the connection between engagement and inclusion. Leading and coaching in a virtual environment require new ideas and revelations. Now more than ever, leading in a virtual environment, we need simple best practices that put a new emphasis on diversity and inclusion—both in our work as talent leaders and in our own lives.

Come prepared to get a sneak preview of <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/book/love-em-or-lose-em-getting-good-people-to-stay/?author=bev-kaye?books">Bev's 6th edition of Love Em or Lose Em: Getting Good People to Stay</a> (coming out on March 2nd). This new edition will emphasize diversity and inclusion and keeping the same format: twenty-six simple strategies from A to Z. Links with more details are on <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/influencer/bev-kaye/?books">Bev's ELE bookshelf</a>.
The ELE community invites you to join us at...
Virtual Happy Hour Meetup
from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. (Central Time) | Grab your favorite “quarantini” &amp; Zoom in
To share &amp; learn with your peer-group with no formal agenda.

<center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pzpvfoyY0dw" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>&nbsp;

<hr />

Learn new skills and explore talent development capabilities with this opportunity to Connect Contribute Collaborate &amp; Impact with talent development leaders on Zoom.
<ul>
 	<li>How Do We in L&amp;D Add Unexpected Value? </li>
 	<li>Why does it matter?</li>
</ul>
ELE hosts this virtual happy hour meetup every other Monday on Zoom.

Let's Talk Talent Strategies | What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Meet-ups

Let's Talk Talent Strategies is our invite-only complimentary event for senior HR and L&amp;D leaders, people managers, and anyone with a passion for talent and innovation who is ready to embrace new ideas.

Session Focus: How to Prepare Your Mentoring Program to Scale

During this informal session, we will be sharing some guidelines on mentoring/coaching and then “auto-pairing” people to “test” the concept of virtual coaching. Join us after work and pair-up with colleagues to network and test this whole idea of scalable mentoring/coaching. Come prepared with a topic that you will like some coaching on - you never know what new ideas and revelations you will discover!
The ELE community invites you to join us at...
Virtual Happy Hour Meetup
from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. (Central Time) | Grab your favorite “quarantini” &amp; Zoom in
To share &amp; learn with your peer-group with no formal agenda.

<center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rRacrjn4_Wk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>&nbsp;

<hr />

Let's Talk Talent Strategies is our invite-only complimentary event for senior HR and L&amp;D leaders, people managers, and anyone with a passion for talent and innovation who is ready to embrace new ideas.

ELE hosts this virtual happy hour meetup every other Monday on Zoom.

Let's Talk Scalable Mentoring/Coaching Talent Strategies | VHH #17

Session Focus: Informal Learning
Communities, Mentoring, and Curation (Case study: Navistar)

Essential Forwarding-thinking Skill: The intersection of Design &amp; Development

This invite-only collaborative aligns with the research <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/influencer/karen-kocher/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Karen Kocher</a> shared on Oct 17, 2019, <a href="https://learningexecutive.com/2019/10/essential-behaviors-skills-driving-digital-cultural-transformation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Essential Behaviors &amp; Skills Driving for 2019 and Beyond</a>. By participating in this 90-minute, highly interactive virtual learning circle, HR and Talent Development Team Leaders can build essential new skills critical as our workplaces are evolving.

Curation Learning Circle: Communities, Mentoring, and Curation

curation

brian.watkins

kirk.hallowell

joanne.prochnow

informal learning

valarie.bartelme

ted.prohov1

Lurie Children's

Creating a culture of mentoring can realize benefits for employees and the organization by supporting career optimism, engagement and retention of the newest entrants to the workforce. Using evidence based mentoring practices can increase rates of mentoring activities and yield quantifiable benefits for individuals and the organization.

Six mentoring evidence based practices lead to quantifiable benefits that include feeling valued, career optimism, competence, professional growth, security, and leadership readiness. Findings from a pilot mentoring program with pediatric nurses have spurred further study on rates of mentoring, knowledge of mentoring, and leadership practices that support a culture of mentoring. Plans are underway to replicate the pediatric nurse mentoring program for administrative professionals.
<ul>
 	<li>Mentoring begets mentoring. Individuals who have been mentored are more likely to mentor others.</li>
 	<li>Formal structured programs and informal mentoring activities can lead to similar positive benefits.</li>
 	<li>Mentoring knowledge and experience is varied among employees and leaders. Mentoring definitions provide a foundation for employees and leaders to understand what mentoring is and the practices that support a culture of mentoring.</li>
</ul>

Evidence-based Mentoring Practices: An Interactive Experience

diana.halfer

Ambitious professionals must cultivate a robust network made up of many types of people. Mentors and sponsors are essential to ensuring advancement and opportunity. Mentoring has been an effective workforce development tool that requires that the mentee be deemed worthy of investment, possess initiative and open to feedback, and the mentor knowledgeable, senior and generous with their time. While corporate programs and organic mentoring relationships have had some success they have not had uniform results. Some of what is lacking are advocacy – someone to go to the mat for you and open doors – a sponsor. Sponsorship has emerged as an effective complement to mentorship, especially for mid and senior-level executives with an eye on the C-Suite. The nature of the protégé/sponsor relationship is more complex, especially when considering elements of gender, ethnic, racial and other diversity.
Organizations can support their employees by helping them build their professional networks and by developing institutionalized approaches to mentorship and sponsorship. Organizations benefit from enhanced skills, capabilities and readiness of the talent pipeline, as well as cross-cultural exposure.

Keep Your Mentor, Add a Sponsor

Strategy

workforce potential

nichole.marshall

This past year DePaul University’s Center to Enhance Education for Adults (CAEA) conducted a series of reflective conversations and experiential learning activities to better understand the nature, context, and best practices for mentoring and informal learning in business, non-profit organizations and higher education. In this session, panelists share the insights that emerged from this inquiry, as well as strategies to enhance mentoring and informal learning in your organization.

Insights & Strategies for Mentoring and Informal Learning

experiential learning

Coaching

kelli.mcmiller

julie.benesh

Designing a program that will engage and develop high potential leaders can be challenging, mainly when the group you are creating is exceptionally confident, geographically disbursed, and have very little time to devote to their development. In order to engage a group comprised of these individuals, programs cannot be “events” and must engage each member in a way that makes them want more.
In order to capitalize on the best practices that exist inherently within a group of high potentials and ensure that members of the cohort felt challenged and engaged in their development, a cohort was formed that would last a year. Over a year-long program, the cohort would be structured to provide meaningful individual growth as well as build trust among the group members. By introducing experiences that allowed for risk-taking, self-reflection, and sharing best practices, we were able to create a sense of belonging and a standard frame of reference that did not previously exist. In this case, the cohort approach resulted in higher retention and more substantial business results than previous years and when compared to high performers not involved in the cohort.
While this experience resulted in many positive outcomes, a few lessons were learned along the way. For future cohorts, we would expand the executive champions of the program to provide further exposure to the participants, identify specific and consistent business measures for the mentoring portion of the program, and increase the number of group learning experiences to shape the bond of the group further.

Learning Together: Using Collaborative Cohorts @ Sears Holding Company

Integrated Talent Management

michelle.burke

communities of practice

performance improvement

The Milwaukee Learning Leaders has the honor of announcing the marriage of: Mr. Formal Learning to Ms. Informal Learning
With the variety of new social networking technologies, Informal Learning is the new darling of the training set. However, our old standby, Formal Learning, offers many benefits that cannot be found elsewhere.

Formal Learning, which includes classroom training, synchronous and asynchronous eLearning, and workbooks, has only been used in the workplace to any significant degree since WW2. Of course, Formal Learning can be efficient and suitable for getting new people up to speed. But it is relatively expensive to develop, quickly gets outdated, and is sometimes only marginally successful in translating to performance on the job.

Informal Learning has been around the workplace since there has been a workplace and includes all the ways that people have learned on the job, including trial and error, conversations, observation, asking questions, and apprenticeship. ASTD defines Informal Learning in the negative as “a learning activity that is not easily recognizable as formal training and performance support.” Generally speaking, it takes place without a conventional instructor and is employee controlled in terms of breadth, depth, and timing. It tends to be individualized, limited in scope, and utilized in small chunks. Informal Learning can be quite job-relevant and occurs as needed, but is often inefficient, haphazard, and slow.

By understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and differences, we can marry the two and take Learning, engagement, productivity, and innovation to unprecedented levels in our organizations.

Dr. Rosenheck discusses various methods of integrating the two approaches to achieve a happy and long-lasting marriage that breeds success for our organizations.

The "Marriage" of Formal and Informal Learning

blended learning

apprenticeships

performance support

marty.rosenheck

Johnson Controls

Watch Kimberly Bors share Johnson Controls insight on the next generational global workforce.

Trends with GenY for a Global Workforce

onboarding

Millennials

communication

multicultural

kimberly.bors

A.O. Smith

How do leading global companies leverage Senior Leaders to support a culture of development? How do you leverage learning to impact leadership thinking and behaviors? What processes have worked to facilitate leadership development experiences, and strategies have been implemented to deliver sustainable results? How do metrics play into the selection and development of talent?
The purpose of this learning leader panel is to share stories about strategies and processes that focus on creating a leadership development culture and relevant experiences for current and emerging leaders. Included in these stories will be detailed on how their approach is designed to impact the leadership pipeline and deliver results.

<ul>
 	<li>Engaging Senior Leadership</li>
 	<li>Motivation and Incentives</li>
 	<li>Change Management Considerations</li>
 	<li>Accountability and Tracking</li>
 	<li>Web-based Tools</li>
 	<li>Variations by business function</li>
 	<li>Mentoring and Support</li>
 	<li>Evaluation Plan</li>
</ul>
This session is a panel discussion of industry experts, moderated by Lynn Miller. Hear what has worked in a variety of learning solutions for Fostering a Culture for Integrated Talent Management, what hasn’t and why.

Fostering a Culture for Integrated Talent Management

digital

integrated talent management

marysue.handel

strategic alignment

lynn.miller

johanna.dillon

Baxter

Four major trends are shaping the current business environment, which has been referred to as the Shift Age. We will explore these trends and the implications for developing leaders within this new business reality. The four significant shifts are:

<ol>
 	<li>The move from tangible to intangible</li>
 	<li>The move from factory worker to artist</li>
 	<li>The move from content to context</li>
 	<li>The move from generalized to personalized</li>
</ol>
To help guide this roundtable discussion, we’ll encourage participants to share the following:
<ul>
 	<li>Why is foresight (seeing the relevant opportunities that are emerging) becoming an increasingly important competency? How can developing a mentoring network help current and future leaders better develop and apply foresight?</li>
 	<li>Why should organizations broaden their view of mentoring beyond only integrating it into traditional point solutions (e.g., HIPO development, onboarding, diversity development)?</li>
 	<li>How can organizations meet the needs of their established point solutions while at the same time create enterprise-level networked mentoring and knowledge sharing practices?</li>
 	<li>How should generational preferences and expectations (especially those of Millennials/Gen Y) influence organizations to adopt broader networked mentoring and knowledge sharing practices?</li>
 	<li>How is the enterprise, networked mentoring different from social networking?</li>
</ul>
Learning Leaders will discuss how broad-based, networked mentoring practices can positively impact and influence the development of future leaders and the entirety of the workforce.

Creating 2020 Leaders through Networked Mentoring

knowledge transfer

social learning

dina.vance

brigette.richaerson

sue.weller

sonia.vora

Your organization has successfully recruited the key diverse talent needed to create innovative problem-solving teams to provide your company with a competitive edge in the marketplace. The only problem is that you can't seem to keep that talent from leaving. What can learning organizations do to assist in keeping diverse talent at home?
From Andres Tapia's book, The Inclusion Paradox, participants will explore the Four Pillars of what makes diverse talent stay and thrive.

The Four Pillars we will examine from a learning perspective are:
<ul>
 	<li>Community</li>
 	<li>Recognition</li>
 	<li>Mentoring</li>
 	<li>Advancement</li>
</ul>
Participants will discover their impact in helping retain and reward the innovative teams needed to compete in a global economy.

The Inclusion Paradox Workshop: Four Pillars of Keeping Your Innovative Crosscultural Teams Together

career path

inclusion

chuck.adams

Four significant trends shape the current business environment, which has been referred to as the Shift Age. We will explore these trends and the implications for developing leaders within this new business reality. The four significant shifts are:

<ol>
 	<li>The move from tangible to intangible</li>
 	<li>The move from factory worker to artist</li>
 	<li>The move from content to context</li>
 	<li>The move from generalized to personalized</li>
</ol>
To help guide this roundtable discussion, we’ll encourage participants to share the following:
<ul>
 	<li>Why is foresight (seeing the relevant opportunities that are emerging) becoming an increasingly important competency? How can we develop a mentoring network to help current and future leaders better prepare and apply foresight?</li>
 	<li>Why should organizations broaden their view of mentoring beyond integrating it into traditional point solutions (e.g., HIPO development, onboarding, and diversity development)? How can organizations meet the needs of their established point solutions while creating enterprise-level networked mentoring and knowledge sharing practices?</li>
 	<li>How should generational preferences and expectations (especially those of Millennials/Gen Y) influence organizations to adopt more extensive networked mentoring and knowledge sharing practices?</li>
 	<li>How is the enterprise, networked mentoring different from social networking?</li>
</ul>
Leaders from Aon Hewitt, Baxter, CDW, and MillerCoors, all Triple Creek’s practitioners, will discuss how broad-based, networked mentoring practices can positively impact and influence future leaders' development and the entirety of the workforce.

Creating 21st Century Leaders through Networked Mentoring

tim.aleck

This session provides an opportunity to hear about the journey that McDonald's and Baxter have taken in starting and growing their mentoring programs. Senior managers from both organizations will share what's worked, what needed to change, and how they are adjusting their mentoring programs to meet current employee development opportunities. There will also be time set aside for both networking and participant questions and answers.

Baxter & McDonald's Sharing e-Mentoring for First-time Users Workshop

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Quick Stats on Women Workers, 2008,

<blockquote>
“the largest percentage of employed Asian and white women (46% and 41%, respectively) worked in management, professional, and related occupations.
For both black and Hispanic women, it was sales and office occupations—32% and 33%, respectively.”</blockquote>
When looking at these statistics and your workplace, we explored:

<ul>
 	<li>What are the qualities of women leaders?</li>
 	<li>Are there leadership qualities unique to women?</li>
 	<li>Do Women face unique challenges as they advance in their organizations?</li>
</ul>

WOMEN & LEADERSHIP Book Discussion (Chicago)

kami.bond

The power of mentoring as a learning process was cited throughout the Learning Leaders conference on October 30. Partnering with Triple Creek Associates to bring you an e-mentoring tool, you can experience this opportunity by serving as a mentor to others in the learning field, right here in Chicagoland.
There are two goals of the session. The first is to help you get started using an e-mentoring tool. The second goal is to share tips for the successful implementation of an e-mentoring initiative. You are encouraged to set-up your e-mentoring profile as either a mentor, mentee, or both before the December 11 session.
Here’s how setting up your e-mentoring profile works. It’s all online:

<ul>
 	<li>You identify your areas of strength (customized for learning and development professionals)</li>
 	<li>The software automatically matches mentees with mentors based on selected strengths and interests</li>
 	<li>When a mentee emails you requesting you be their mentor, you see what they are interested in learning and can accept or reject the request based on topics or your schedule</li>
 	<li>You limit the number of mentees you take on. You stay in control</li>
 	<li>Most mentoring will be by phone or email – personal meetings are optional</li>
 	<li>If you get too busy to take on more mentees, you can select ”unavailable” and will not receive requests</li>
</ul>
Attendees for the October 30 conference received a one-page program overview and the “user group codes” to enter as you set up your e-mentoring profile.

e-Mentoring Workshop for First-Time Users

roger.turnquist

maryjo.burfeind

e-learning

The demographics of today's workforce are rapidly changing. The aging of baby boomers, the dramatic increase in ethnic and culturally diverse populations, and the potential of a shortage of highly skilled workers promise to transform the marketplace significantly. Organizations looking to gain a competitive edge are effectively leveraging inclusion and diversity to maximize productivity, enable innovation, and ultimately improve performance. Coupled with a comprehensive talent management and development strategy, the possibilities for growth and advancement are limitless.
In partnership with the <a href="http://www.naaahrchicago.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Association for African-Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR)</a>, a joint-session was held on Wednesday, November 4, at W.W. Grainger, Inc. global headquarters for a half-day symposium where we explored Grainger's strategies to create a high-performing, inclusive culture that supports learning and development.
We heard from:

<ul>
 	<li>John Lawson, Director, Employee Development</li>
 	<li>Nichole Marshall, Senior Manager, Inclusion &amp; Diversity</li>
 	<li>Dirk Tussing, Executive Director, Executive Learning Exchange</li>
 	<li>Denise Banks, Chicago Chapter President, NAAAHR</li>
 	<li>Chere Nabor, Chief Diversity Officer -- Grainger</li>
 	<li>Kelly Kinnavy, Director-Talent Management -- Grainger</li>
 	<li>Aaron Silvers, Tech-Based Learning Practice Consultant, and R&amp;D -- Grainger</li>
 	<li>Stephanie Daul, Design Technologist and R&amp;D -- Grainger</li>
</ul>
The morning session included engaging workshops from the Inclusion and Diversity and Employee Development teams and networking with NAAAHR leaders and members.

Inclusion & Diversity Sharing at Grainger

learning &amp; development

denise.banks

Join this lively panel discussion as we share practical implementation steps in all phases of mentor implementations. The panel has significant experience in positioning their mentoring programs as a valuable people development resource. They will share their experiences and have allocated time to respond to your questions.
Mentoring as a people development strategy can be challenging to quantify and to implement because everyone has their own opinion about what works. Each organization has its people development challenges, and design and mentoring, when used effectively, can contribute to meeting those challenges. Targeting specific outcomes, with measurable results, often keeps leaders from fully endorsing mentoring initiatives.
Panelists will share how they have positioned mentoring in both “traditional” and non-traditional ways. Some of the most exciting solutions are when mentoring is paired with other learning activities, providing a comprehensive set of actions. These and other implementation ideas will be shared.
Some mentoring implementations work better than others. Panelists will share what they did that worked and the lessons learned from implementations that were not as effective as planned. Those attending the session who want to secure feedback regarding their upcoming deployments will be able to test their ideas with the panelists.

Mentoring – Getting Started, Getting Traction & Getting Results

Does your workforce span multiple generations? Do you need to spark interest and conversation in your organization around how to meet the learning needs of the different generations? Are you looking for ways to help employees understand one another and overcome generational barriers?
During this session, we will work together to explore and understand:
<ul>
 	<li>The generations present in today’s organizations.</li>
 	<li>How different generations view learning and mentoring and the expectations that they have around such practices.</li>
 	<li>Ideas for communicating with each generation.</li>
 	<li>How e-Mentoring and social learning can bridge generational gaps.</li>
</ul>
Join a discussion on how to transform generational barriers into strengths within your learning and development practices, with a particular focus on e-Mentoring and social learning practices. Randy Ermelo, President and CEO of Triple Creek Associates (creators of Open Mentoring platform) will share emerging understandings around generational differences in the workforce and how to leverage those differences into opportunities. Randy will be joined by a panel of learning experts from AON, Baxter, CDW, and Hewitt Associates to further explore the generational issues facing today’s evolving workforce.

Meeting Generational Learning Needs through e-Mentoring

People like learning from other people!
This may not seem like breaking news, but the way most organizations set up their knowledge sharing and training programs is counter-intuitive to what we know to be true. Human interaction is critical to learning complex skills and having meaningful development occur.
Designed for learning leaders, mentoring champions, and program administrators, this breakfast discussion focuses on:

<ul>
 	<li>Exploring the emerging practice of social learning, with a focus on three converging streams: Learning Structures, Knowledge Management, and Social Networking</li>
 	<li>Sharing best practice research around the way employees prefer to learn and what organizations are (and are not) doing to meet employee needs</li>
 	<li>Examine how one-to-one, group, and situational mentoring allow people to form intentional learning relationships</li>
 	<li>Discover how using technology to support Mentoring leads to open knowledge sharing pathways and connections</li>
 	<li>Understand why now is the time for social learning</li>
</ul>

Social Learning through e-Mentoring

talent management

talethea.best

randy.emelo

This peer-networking roundtable will enable learning leaders to gather and interactively discuss the creation of collaborative learning opportunities for corporate managers.
Before this session, Leif Landon shared an overview of Management Essentials, twelve new half-day manager classes he developed at Baxter.
We plan to schedule follow-up virtual meetings and facilitate small group discussions to explore other collaborative learning approaches to extend traditional classroom experiences to on-the-job learning experiences.

Manager Training – Extending Classroom Experiences through Collaboration

new manager

job aids

As the world’s leading global risk broker and the largest reinsurer, Aon employs over 37,000 people in 120 different countries worldwide. Aon’s Leadership Model, one of its three core initiatives, strives to provide a consistent, calibrated leadership standard designed to guide talent development and evaluate performance.

The Leadership Model charges employees with five challenges:
<ol>
 	<li>Deliver Distinctive Client Value,</li>
 	<li>Develop Unmatched Teams,</li>
 	<li>Build Differentiated Capability Through Innovation,</li>
 	<li>Deliver Business Results with Excellence,</li>
 	<li>Live Our Values</li>
</ol>
To help ensure consistency within its development practices and ensure its staff is up to its leadership model's challenges, Aon identified mentoring as a core development strategy.

Aon partnered with Triple Creek Associates to implement Momentum through Mentoring (MTM), a web-based mentoring process. They began in 2006 with a pilot program of 179 mentees and 340 mentors across three domestic programs. After initial pilot success, Aon is currently working throughout 2008 to expand the program to all U.S. business units and programs in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil. The 2009 rollout focuses on exposing web-based mentoring to all Aon business units worldwide. Currently, there are over 700 mentees and 1000 mentors in the program.

Initial survey results, along with anecdotal feedback, were overwhelmingly positive and helped provide the business case for expanding the program throughout Aon. Specific results will be shared during the presentation.

By establishing clear ownership, Aon was able to ensure that the following five critical success factors were leveraged into strengths:
<ul>
 	<li>Securing and sustaining senior stakeholder support</li>
 	<li>Developing the right user mindset among mentees and mentors; that is, setting proper expectations for the process and expected results</li>
 	<li>Integrating mentoring with other development initiatives</li>
 	<li>Expanding mentoring momentum by leveraging early results into program promotion and expansion</li>
 	<li>Measuring program success to demonstrate the program's positive impacts and continue to support the business case for mentoring.</li>
</ul>

Aon's Mentoring For Talent Development

Have you ever wondered why a group of remarkable individual performers can get together and fail as a team? You can have all the talent in the world, but if individuals do not share common goals, coordinate their efforts, and trust one another to carry their share of the load, then you don’t have a team. So how does a team manager bridge this divide between individual performance and team performance? It turns out they construct that bridge on three simple building blocks: team alignment, team process, and team relationships.

Alignment, Process, Relationships: A Simple Guide to Team Management

steve.king

corinne@innovatingresults.com

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