In today's knowledge economy, organizations need talent development functions that can support the unique competency needs of their businesses. To better understand how organizations are structuring and aligning talent development, the Association for Talent Development and Rothwell & Associates partnered to identify the areas organizations most often use to build a talent development structure for meeting current and future competency needs in a world in which talent has become the engine of business

The argument: M-learning needs to be part of your current learning strategy. It's worth the time and effort. Sure, your workforce is probably already mobile. Many employees are using mobile resources to get information they need to do their jobs. Does it make sense for you to provide a more specific solution for them via mobile? Will it justify the resource allocation required? Will you see both short- and long-term improvement in performance? Going mobile is top of mind for many learning organizations today. Is now the time to go full throttle?

As a talent-led company, Accenture must look to the future of talent development. Rahul Varma leads that charge. "The role of learning at Accenture has always been critical," says Varma. "We are a talent-led organization and we often say that learning is in our DNA. Learning is a part of what we offer to the world." Varma should know. He's been with the company for 20 years in some key HR leadership roles. Talent development touches every aspect of an employee's path through the company...

As the chief talent development officer, you often are required to explain abstract and complicated workforce issues to the rest of the C-suite. Maybe you need to connect the myriad puzzle pieces of a new performance improvement strategy or clarify context so you can accurately depict the real problems plaguing your company's culture. Whether you're talking about employee engagement, performance management, corporate culture, change management, or organizational development, your authority will rise quickly if you can make these core talent development topics...

As a senior talent development executive, you have a lot on your plate. Strategic planning, budget reviews, meetings with employees and clients (the list goes on)—all of which are paired with a constant stream of emails, text alerts, and phone calls that demand your attention. Amid all this noise, staying focused can be tough. But you can use the very technology that seems to zap your focus and interrupt your workflow to improve your focus and increase your productivity. These apps can help senior leaders maintain focus in an "always-on" world.

Welcome to the premiere issue of CTDO magazine, the Association for Talent Development's (ATD) new offering created specifically for chief talent development officers and other C-suite leaders whose responsibility includes leading the talent development efforts in their organizations. CTDO is the flagship offering for our community of practice focused on the needs and interests of senior leaders and executives. It is an example of ATD's commitment to serve all facets of the talent development profession and the practitioners who do the work...

The skills gap has garnered significant attention in the United States and globally in recent years. Communities, states, regions, and entire nations—now more than ever given the globalization of business—pay a heavy price when they cannot find or equip workers with the right skills for critical jobs. Simply stated, they fail to flourish and falter when meeting customer demands. In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers's 2015 Global CEO Survey found that three-quarters of 1,322 responding CEOs in 77 countries say the skills shortage is the biggest threat to their business...

In this Q&A, Chief Talent Development Officer Martha Soehren provides an inside look at the talent development function at Comcast Cable. 1. Where does talent development fit into the org chart? Is it under HR or free-standing? Talent development is aligned under me—so is the talent management function—and I report to...

Over the course of my career, I've had the pleasure of working for many fine firms and a collection of powerful leaders. Many of those experiences were in new settings—mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, new lines of business, and ultimately new employers. Looking back on all my professional moves into new situations, there was a consistent pattern of newcomer advice—encouraging me to take advantage of being the new player on the team. The coaching included phrases such as: "It's OK to be ignorant," "Ask any and all questions," "Challenge the status quo," "Leverage...

ATD's 2015  State of the Industry report found that, in 2014, organizations on average spent $1,228.70 per employee on direct learning expenditures. This represents just over a 1.7 percent increase from 2013, when the average spent per employee was $1,207.73. The increase in spending outpaces the average inflation rate of slightly under 1.4 percent seen in...

Leadership matters, and most people acknowledge that leaders affect an organization's value. However, by just observing that a particular leader is visionary or inspiring, by focusing only on the person at the top and ignoring the larger leadership team, or by failing to assess whose leadership capability is woven into the organization's DNA, investors make simplistic and intuitive assessments of value. Enter the leadership capital index—a Moody's or Standard & Poor's (S&P) rating for leadership. A leadership capital index provides investors a way to...

For a time, the landscape for learning seemed to have reached a steady state: Traditional instructor-led training remained the go-to option for priority programs, alongside classic coaching and mentoring initiatives for one-on-one (personal) development. E-learning courses, supported by a learning management system, provided self-directed alternatives where scalability or cost concerns dictated. Nagging questions about usage and impact remained, with some resources grossly underused and key metrics on such areas as leadership pipeline remaining stubbornly...

Learning executives remain optimistic about the health of learning, according to the ATD's Learning Executive Confidence Index, which assesses the expectations of learning executives for the learning function in organizations for the next six months. The LXCI score for the third quarter of 2015 is 68 out of 100. This is identical to second-quarter results. This score is just over one point higher than...

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), signed into law in 2014, makes approximately $4 billion available for training during each of the next six years. The money is to be distributed through local workforce investment boards in three funding streams: adult, dislocated workers, and youth. One of the new components of WIOA requires more engagement with employers to understand:

One way to build a pipeline of potential employees is to invest in them early. That is the driving idea behind MTR Corporation's Train for Life's Journeys Program. MTR's focus on engaging youths in the local communities of Hong Kong is an outgrowth of the company's corporate responsibility mandate, and focuses on building community relationships while using training and development practices to teach soft skills and leadership development to teenagers. MTR considers corporate social responsibility a key factor to its success, and developing people is a critical...

The scale of change we will encounter during the next decade will surpass that of the past half-century, according to scientists and futurists. Although we have been talking about the "increasing pace of change" for more than 20 years, the pervasiveness of this disruptive change is now unprecedented. Leading well, gaining followership, and delivering results in the next 10 years—in which change, volatility, and industry disruption are the constant, and periods of stability and predictability are unusual—will be the challenge that underlies all else for executives...

The argument: Improve the leadership selection process rather than focus on development. How does your organization build its leadership bench strength? Many talent development professionals back the notion that it is critical to put in place tools and processes that identify and select people with leadership potential. Meanwhile, others wager that it's more effective—and predictable—to invest resources in developing internal candidates. Two thought leaders share their contrasting viewpoints on the topic.

From her vantage point atop the learning organization at Comcast Cable, it's easy for Martha Soehren to forget how radically different things were only six years ago. That was before she and her team tapped a hidden wellspring of support from within senior management to help centralize their far-reaching learning operation. Little has remained the same. Today's Comcast University has been reconceived for maximum effectiveness—its 550 learning and development professionals divided among five colleges, one for each business function. Its 5 million hours of annual...

Evaluate leadership development programs all the way to impact and ROI. Measuring the Success of Leadership Development offers a proven methodology that will help you step up to the challenge.