How Telus Keeps Learning Plugged In

“No matter what role you’re in, there’s a picture of where your career can go — both vertically as well as some horizontal matching, and it’s been a huge success,” Pontefract said.

The portal also includes things like “Day in the Life,” a video series of people in certain positions that offers employees an informal glimpse into what certain career paths at Telus entail, Pontefract said.

The portal can help Telus employees answer questions such as, how did a certain leader get into his or her role? What is doing that job like? Pontefract said using an open leadership construct, as well as learning and social technology within a wiki — a website where users can add or share content — provides a valuable employee development experience.

Another learning program Pontefract has been chief in implementing is Telus’ “Lead and Grow,” a quarterly series that invites the entire organization to participate in formal and informal social development. A topic is chosen every quarter, and for a roughly six-week period the learning organization rolls out various learning opportunities, most of which are delivered through its technology platforms.

The most recent “Lead and Grow” series dealt with leadership and included 15 webcasts from internal and external executives. Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, and Canadian Olympian swimmer Mark Tewksbury were among the external speakers.

Everything during these types of events is captured on Buzz, and each video is also posted on Habitat Video.

“We’ve got 35,000 people, not just in Canada but in several countries, who might be interested in what we’re discussing about leadership,” Pontefract said. “So we do something like this to make it open, accessible and really to drink our own champagne.”