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View from the top: at the recent Corporate University week, senior learning executives from leading organizations share advice and opinions on informal learning, program measurements, and speaking business.

Article Excerpt
Senior learning executives from CIGNA, Cisco, Deloitte Consulting, IKON, Toyota, and Unisys gathered for a panel discussion at the recent Corporate University Week in Orlando, Florida. Three of the panelists--Sara Mills, Karen Petersack, and Ellie Tymer--represented corporations recognized for achievement and leadership in corporate training.

This article captures some of the discussion and answers such questions as how training managers can make training strategic and how training can get a foot in the door of the executive suite.

One of the major points emphasized by all of the panelists is the importance of applying focused training programs to clearly defined business issues. As the executives point out, meaningful measurements, executive attention and sponsorship, and IT support are usually much easier to obtain when training is aligned to business.

Another observation is that although these executives are responsible for large, enterprise-wide learning organizations, many of their problems and challenges are the same as those encountered by managers of much smaller training departments. The advice and opinions are relevant to any learning organization.

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Senior learning executives from CIGNA, Cisco, Deloitte Consulting, IKON, Toyota, and Unisys gathered for a panel discussion at the recent Corporate University Week in Orlando, Florida. Three of the panelist--Sara Mills, Karen Petersack, and Ellie Tymer--represented corporations recognized for achievement and leadership in corporate training.

This article captures some of the discussion. One of the major points emphasized by all of the panelists is the importance of applying focused training programs to clearly defined business issues. As these executives pointed out, meaningful measurements, executive attention and sponsorship, and IT support are usually much easier to obtain when training is aligned to business. Another observation is that although these executives are responsible for large, enterprise-wide learning organizations, many of their problems and challenges are the same as those encountered by managers of much smaller training departments. The advice and opinions are relevant to any learning organization.

The Panelists

* Moderator Tom Kelly vice president Internet Learning Solutions Cisco Systems

* Candy Haynes associate global director of learning Deloitte Consulting

* Karen Kocher vice president CIGNA Technology Institute CIGNA

* Sara Mills vice president of learning and development IKON

* Karen M. Petersack associate dean Technology School Unisys University

* Ellie Tymer national associate dean University of Toyota

Q One of the imperatives we keep reading about is the importance of making training strategic. How can training managers make that happen?

Sara Mills The primary way we've elevated training is to align the company's strategic goals with training initiatives. To...

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