The 2008 Learning In Practice Awards

With that goal in mind, Dr. Debbie K. Hancock structured the company’s learning organization to mirror Seagate’s global model, with central development functions at the company’s headquarters in Scotts Valley, Calif., and development presence at key geographic sites.

This model allows learning team members to respond nimbly to site needs while reinforcing global strategy with consistent messaging and common goals that address the company’s three main global challenges:

• Driving flexibility and responsiveness to change while maintaining technological leadership.

• Effectively managing a dispersed global workforce and virtual teams.

• Recruiting and retaining high-performing talent in strategic locations.

To address these challenges, Hancock’s team developed an approach to leadership development that allows content to be customized based on business need. The leadership development program enables the appropriate individuals to have the authority and tools to make the decisions that impact Seagate’s technological leadership. Seagate drives the use of a common vocabulary across the globe through a blended learning approach that synthesizes e-learning, live peer discussion and leaders-as-teachers-based facilitation.

The implementation of Seagate’s global leadership development program has helped the company make a successful organization-wide strategy shift and continues to encourage its employees to think both globally and locally. According to calculations by Harvard Business Publishing, the global program will save approximately $23.6 million during the program’s lifetime, with average annual training cost-savings of more than 50 percent compared to other site-specific or localized programs.

– Mike Prokopeak

LEARNING TEAM AWARD • GOLD • DIVISION 1

HD Supply Utilities

The learning team at HD Supply Utilities takes great pride in what it does. In fact, its members created a nickname for themselves that captures their spirit: the ULTimates (Utilities Learning Team).

Article Keywords: blended learning communities of practice e-Learning formal learning leadership development LMS metrics on-boarding outsourcing performance management succession planning talent management technology virtual learning