The Human Side of Transformation
The global COVID-19 pandemic revealed many things, including the need for new workforce knowledge, skills and mindsets to adjust to new waves of digital transformation. Management articles and webinars urged leaders to double down on their upskilling budget to ensure their employees develop critical digital and data capabilities, hone social and emotional skills, and learn how to become more adaptable, resilient and growth-minded.
Unfortunately, getting employees to develop new capabilities has proven much harder than it seems. Each year, CXOs devote billions of dollars to upskilling initiatives that seem to not move the needle. Despite having access to vast quantities of training materials, only a fraction of employees take the initiative to educate themselves, leaving skillsets stagnant.
The integrated talent ecosystem is an emerging approach to orienting and driving employees to develop business-critical skills and capabilities. It is grounded in Theory One, a foundational principle in the fields of learning science and organizational change: People will do much of what they have the reasonable opportunity and motivation to do. The concept hinges on aligning human resources and learning and development; to work together instead of in parallel. The continuous learning culture provides the opportunity aspect of Theory One, while the talent management system provides the motivation.
In this webinar, we will take a closer look at Theory One and further explain the components of an effective talent ecosystem for digital upskilling and capability building.
MEET THE EXPERT
SANDRA LOUGHLIN, PH.D. Head of Client Learning and Talent Enablement, EPAM Systems, Inc.
Sandra Loughlin is a learning scientist and organizational psychologist who helps multi-national firms achieve digital transformation goals by developing their employees’ technology, digital and digital-adjacent capabilities. She built the Client Learning and Talent Enablement practice at EPAM Systems – a leading technology and transformation firm – and creates cutting-edge, research-based technology and data capability academies, specialized executive education programs for information technology leaders, digital readiness learning programs for the business, and technology talent accelerators for clients. Several of these programs have received industry awards for innovation and demonstrable impact. Sandra presents on capability building in talks and keynotes around the globe, and her articles have appeared in publications like “Forbes” and “TD Magazine.” Before joining EPAM, Sandra held a joint faculty appointment in the schools of education and business and oversaw transformational learning at the University of Maryland. Sandra holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology and learning analytics from the University of Maryland and a Master's in education from Harvard University.
