New ASTD/IBM Study Examines Executives’ Perceptions of the Value of Learning

New ASTD/IBM Study Examines Executives’ Perceptions of the Value of Learning

Learning is becoming an increasingly important function for companies to develop and maintain individual and organizational skills needed to sustain a competitive advantage, increase efficiencies, and improve business results. CEOs recognize that employee development is critical to meeting business goals, and chief learning officers (CLOs) are called upon to play a more strategic role in organizations. But, are C-level and CLO perceptions of the value of learning in sync?

A new study conducted by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and IBM examines the alignment of C-level perceptions around the strategic value of learning. Study highlights can be found in the article, “The C-Level and the Value of Learning,” in the October 2005 issue of Training + Development (T+D) magazine published by ASTD.

The ASTD/IBM Strategic Value of Learning Study 2005 included in-depth interviews with C-level executives and CLOs at 26 organizations across 11 industry sectors. At each organization, a C-level executive and CLO were interviewed separately and asked the same questions focusing on the learning function’s response to business needs and its performance relative to that response. The questions were based on the assumptions–from IBM’s 2004 Global CEO Study–that learning needs to accelerate growth, enable transformation, and increase productivity.

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