Time for the Corporate Academy

INSIGHTS – Josh Bersin

We’re seeing a new shift in how companies are approaching internal talent development. With unemployment rates still at record lows and the scarcity of key skills, many companies are finding it’s more cost-efficient and far more effective to build critical skills from within. They’re doing so with corporate academies.

An academy goes beyond developing technical and functional skills. It also helps learners develop the unique and often specialized business capabilities a company needs to thrive.

Unlike the traditional content library, the capability academy is sponsored by business leaders, who work with learning & development (L&D) to determine what capabilities are important and the knowledge, skills and experiences required to become proficient.

Corporate academies also offer a place where learners can share and collaborate, and experts can contribute. They should continuously evolve, to keep up with the new solutions, technologies and practices for your company. They can incorporate online learning experiences, simulations, debates, case studies and challenges relevant to your company.

The accompanying table shows a simple comparison of the capability academy versus the traditional content library.

In today’s disruptive world, a well-designed capability academy will bring your company together. It will give your employees inspiration and drive, bring experts out of their offices to share and give your business a new way to build the deep enduring skills it needs to stay ahead, innovate and grow.

Do you need an academy for everything? Absolutely not. You need to focus on the key capabilities that make your company outperform. Learning related to other topics can stay tactical and be addressed through an off-the-shelf library to meet people’s needs.

It’s often true that what’s old is new. This time is one of those times. Think about the critical capabilities that make your company thrive and develop an academy strategy of your own.

Josh Bersin is an independent industry analyst and founder of Bersin™ by Deloitte. Contact him at info@bersinpartners.com.