Seven Best Practices CLOs Must Master

Mark Bower - 6/22/07

As the CLO's role has evolved, the expectations of learning leaders have grown, as well. Despite this growth, CLOs need to keep a close watch on their basic competencies. To achieve and maintain success, CLOs must master seven best practices.

At a recent chapter meeting of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), I began a presentation by asking, “By a show of hands, who has heard of Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick?” Almost every hand in the room went up.

Next, I asked, “Who has seen Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick’s presentation on the Four Levels of Evaluation?” Almost all the hands in the room stayed up.

Finally, I asked, “Who has ever sung the Green Bay Packers’ fight song?” Almost every hand stayed up, as you would expect if you have ever seen a Kirkpatrick presentation.

Kirkpatrick is a huge fan of the Green Bay Packers and their legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. During a preseason interview, reporters asked Lombardi how he was going to get the Packers to the championships in the coming season.

Lombardi, the consummate pragmatist, said, “We are not going to be flashy. We are going to be brilliant on the basics. We will run, throw, catch, tackle and block better than every team in the league. That is how we will go to the championships this year.”

Perhaps we in the learning and performance industry are too caught up in the theory and abstractions of our industry. As the role of the CLO has evolved and assumed a larger presence in many companies, the amount of speculation and philosophizing about this position and learning and performance has grown, as well. To borrow from Lombardi’s philosophy, perhaps we have lost touch with the “basics” that we must perform “brilliantly” to be successful.

Seven key skills make up the basics, a comprehensive portfolio of the skills learning leaders should have, regardless of their heritage:

Define your position

Make the team

Solve problems

Prioritize projects

Perform

Get results

Manage the organization

Define Your Position
This is the first step in developing the brilliant learning and performance organization. Your strategy defines why your organization exists and how it will be an integral part of your company’s success. Learning leaders must develop the strategy, alignments and organization that facilitate corporate business objectives. Key to the success of the workforce learning and performance organization is ensuring its activities are aligned closely with companywide strategic goals.