A learning function's structure has much to do with how effective it is. With anchors in every strategic area of the business, and supports made up of strategic and tactical advisors from all levels of the organization, the structure of the learning function at Hilton Worldwide is built to last. It also has a rock-solid method for holding itself accountable to the business: Its advisory group meets regularly to review learning metrics and assess continued alignment with stakeholders, and it appointed a learning and development team member to track budget data that support the monetary investment in learning.
The learning function's blueprint looks like this: a corporate university structure with five "colleges," and "schools" within those colleges. Each college has one or two executive sponsors who provide strategic guidance. Meanwhile, a learning council, comprised of team members from various disciplines and positions, ensures that learning initiatives remain relevant and profitable. And this doesn't take into account the movers and shakers on the ground who use portals on the company intranet to identify learning needs and provide feedback on learning resources.
The learning function also supports performance management processes with training programs and tools. "One of the best ways to manage performance is through learning and development," says Chief Learning Officer Kimo Kippen. "You need an enhanced architecture that integrates learning with talent management and performance management, so that you're better able to assess where the gaps are."
Even with a solid structure made up of key players, the learning function relies on more than bodies to remain effective. Technology is a critical tool for identifying knowledge and skills gaps and deploying training. The company currently is using a system that allows it to mine data from various strata within the organization, which reveals performance gaps and their causes.
Social learning also has played a major role in forging the learning function's strategy and initiatives. Employee participation in social learning is high, and feedback on these platforms has enabled the company to farm product and service innovations.
According to Kippen, "Creating an environment in which employees are empowered leads to process improvement. It also creates a spirit of camaraderie and recognition."
These learning portals gave rise to the successful "Make It Right" initiative, which consolidated many customer service training programs into one powerful approach: Make every customer interaction right. "We knew we needed to get better at simplifying our content and clarifying performance expectations," says Kippen.
The message was received and the customer service training was improved. The results? After remaining flat for years, the customer service metric increased by 3.9 percent. Also, by repurposing the same content for other Hilton brands, the company was able to save more than a half-million dollars.