3 ways my HR career prepared me for my customer-facing role

Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work in a variety of fields. My first role after undergrad was as an elevator sales consultant. After that, I joined the airline industry, and during my time there transitioned from customer care to operations and human resources. And for 15 years now, I’ve worked in HR, leading talent and recruiting teams focused on the tremendous possibility and contributions of people. When I joined Cornerstone over eight years ago, I was able to take my critical HR skills and apply them to a new area for me — customer success. Now, I find myself embarking on the next step in my career as Cornerstone’s Chief Customer Officer. I’m genuinely thrilled about this new role, and honestly, I feel more confident than ever. The combination of skills I’ve learned throughout my career in HR — empathy, grit and perseverance — and the skills I’ve learned serving our customers around the world have enabled me to anticipate their needs. I recently collaborated with some of our customers and colleagues in Paris, and the energy our teams and customers feel for the future is contagious. During my time there, I gained first-hand knowledge from one of our customers, Danone, about their next-level workforce engagement, growth and learning opportunities. I came away from this trip even more passionate about our work and making sure our customers are always at the center. How to be customer-first in your organization I like to think I have a healthy “customer obsession.” I’m always thinking about what Cornerstone can do better as an HR technology provider and advisor to uncover practical ways to turn ideas into realities. As the global workforce and economy brace for more change and challenges ahead, it’s time for every organization to be laser-focused on their customers’ needs and feedback. Based on my experience supporting both HR and customer-facing functions, here are three ways businesses can practice customer-centricity. 1) Be employee-centric first While I might be partial, I truly think running a customer-centric business starts with being employee-centric. The way your people feel about your organization has a lot to do with how they’ll make your customers feel. If you focus exclusively on customers at the expense of employee engagement, satisfaction, growth opportunities and more, ultimately, you’ll be doing your customers a disservice. Choosing to be an employee-centric organization can lead directly to greater customer-centricity in a powerful way. When your people are successful — continuously learning and growing and fulfilled by their jobs — their energy and excitement can come through in every customer interaction. 2) Let feedback inform your strategy, not define it One of my favorite parts of visiting with customers is hearing what they think we can do better. It’s not always easy to have these conversations, but they can prove to be extremely helpful in guiding your strategy. Let me give you an example. Our customers told us that they shouldn’t have to operate in a walled garden. They’re looking for technology solutions that can integrate easily with others, enabling them to have more options when choosing a solution that’s right for them. That feedback was key to why we made a couple of essential acquisitions this year — EdCast and SumTotal. They allow us to provide more choices to our customers and help them use the best technology that’s right for them. I share this as a great example of how customer feedback can lead to impactful change and growth for the business. When a customer is willing to take the time to share valuable feedback, we must listen. But we also must be careful with feedback and avoid the instinctive response to fixevery gripe immediately. Our job as business leaders is to listen, digest and prioritize decisions for the good of the organization and the collective customer base. I encourage us all to listen more than we speak and always be thoughtful in how we react to feedback. 3) Be a strategic advisor for your customers Often when I meet with customers, they’re very interested to know how other Cornerstone customers are using our products — particularly new approaches to new challenges. Customers want to understand whether they might be missing something in their own approach to learning and talent development, and they also want to get ahead of anything they haven’t yet anticipated. These conversations always remind me that our customers aren’t just looking to us for a quick transaction. They see us as experts in our field with knowledge and insights that they don’t have access to themselves. So as HR leaders, we must go beyond delivering products and services to them and excel as strategic advisors who help them unearth their challenges, strategize solutions and achieve their goals. It’s important not to let your advisership wither after the sale. Make an effort to share trends you’re seeing among your customers, share stories of success regularly and schedule a recurring time to discuss challenges and brainstorm new approaches. You’ll gain the advantage of having your finger on the pulse of your customers’ needs, and you’ll be first in line when those needs turn into new opportunities. A customer obsession is worth the work Being a genuinely customer-obsessed organization takes both time and effort. But if you commit to treating your people well, listening to and prioritizing customer feedback, and consistently counseling and advising your customers, you’ll reap the rewards far greater than your investment.

Impacting and enabling lifelong education, one learner at a time

Early on, the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation team recognized that nonprofits serving their communities around the world lacked access to training. Recognizing Cornerstone had the right technology and relevant eLearning resources, the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation utilized the Cornerstone Extended Enterprise learning platform to launch programs such as DisasterReady — the largest free and open online learning portal and library targeted to humanitarian aid and international development professionals. “The idea behind the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation (‘The Foundation’) was a simple one: By investing in the people working in the nonprofit sector, we could help transform, strengthen, and empower communities around the world,” explained Julie Brandt, executive director, the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation. Brandt continued, “We started The Foundation with the basic premise that we could leverage [Cornerstone’s] human capital management software, our HR expertise, and our ecosystem to help us accomplish this ambitious and important goal.” With that goal in mind, The Foundation began providing technology grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. These nonprofits gained access to the Cornerstone platform to develop their employee base at no cost or a discounted cost. One of the earliest beneficiaries of this technology access, support, and training was the large nonprofit, Save the Children. In late July 2010, a humanitarian crisis occurred in Pakistan and inadvertently shifted how The Foundation addressed building up and transforming communities. Heavy monsoon rains led to devastating floods in Pakistan, impacting one-fifth of the country and affecting millions of people. As Save the Children ramped up its humanitarian relief efforts, it came to The Foundation with an urgent request for more training licenses to support its team. Additionally, Save the Children needed to train thousands of other volunteers committed to assisting quickly but lacked the required skills to respond safely and effectively. The birth of an open platform — DisasterReady Since the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation was established, the mission has been to transform the way people help people. Having witnessed the catastrophe caused by the floods in Pakistan and the inability to mobilize adequately skilled volunteers, The Foundation realized they could take the Cornerstone Extended Enterprise platform and create an open, online learning site that houses content of interest and relevance to humanitarians from all different organizations. The platform would serve as a central place for the nonprofit humanitarian and development world where everyone could access free learning. And in 2013, DisasterReady was born. Tina Bolding, director of DisasterReady, shared, “While humanitarian work is very rewarding, it is also a very challenging, high-stress, high-turnover job that impacts many people and helps communities in their most vulnerable time of need. And while learning and development opportunities would be even more needed in these circumstances, many times, this much-needed training is not readily available and accessible.” Global impact on the humanitarian sector In addressing the humanitarian and development sector, The Foundation found that the development and growth of employees through learning was a challenge. Nonprofit organizations found it hard to allocate money to their own development, to their own learning, to their own growth. As Kim Hagan, The Foundation’s director of learning strategy and engagement, stated, “There was this huge need for developing the people who work in these humanitarian aid organizations, and it was a perfect opportunity for us to do something we at Cornerstone were really good at, which was educating the world.” DisasterReady was phenomenally successful right from the start. It is now considered one of the most successful humanitarian free online learning platforms with more than 300,000 active global users (160,000 of which signed up in 2020) and more than one million learning objects accessed in 2020. Apart from global citizens who value humanitarian work, major international humanitarian and development organizations utilize DisasterReady. Those include Mercy Corps, International Rescue Committee, Project HOPE, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Agency (UNHCR), Oxfam International, Catholic Relief Services, and many others. Bolding shared, “As an example, safety and security is a really important topic for humanitarian organizations. Save the Children requires all their staff members to complete an assessment-based safety and security certificate program in DisasterReady that is comprised of 10 courses and a test. So, we have examples of organizations that use content in DisasterReady as mandatory training for their staff, as well as leveraging content for their learning strategy and their staff development programs." Responding to COVID-19 head-on As early as February 2020, the team started curating and creating content on COVID-19. Partnering with Project HOPE and Brown University, the team co-developed new online courses on COVID-19 for frontline healthcare workers. The DisasterReady team also created original infographics and learning playlists and added courses to the library on understanding COVID-19, including Working Remotely, Fundraising in a Crisis, and Mental Health & Stress Management. Hagan noted, “We partnered with Project HOPE to create COVID training for healthcare workers. We managed this project, and it took only eight weeks. Project HOPE paid for a vendor to create it, but we were heavily involved in the design and putting it out there.” Once the content was developed, the team used the Cornerstone Extended Enterprise’s playlist feature to curate the content and get it in front of users. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, DisasterReady content was accessed at even higher rates, reaching all-time highs in active and daily users starting in March and continuing through June 2020. Monthly active users continue at double the levels of 2019, showing the need for learning content in the humanitarian and development space to address 2020 challenges. Content partnership with other nonprofits Of the 100 local and global humanitarian nonprofits The Foundation counts as partners, the majority also donate content they developed to DisasterReady. “Our partner organizations get excited as they see the reach of their training expand to aid workers globally via DisasterReady and the opportunity to co-develop original online content to build capacity in the sector,” stated Bolding. For example, one of the most popular training curricula within DisasterReady was co-developed with Mercy Corps, a large international NGO. The Procurement and Logistics Certificate program is a series of six courses, one test, and is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Of 34,000 registrations, 7,000 learners from all over the globe achieved their certificate in 2020. Other certification programs, enabled through Cornerstone Extended Enterprise, include one on core essentials of the humanitarian sector (16 hours of content and four tests — 515 people certified in 2020) and another certificate program on financial management. Overall, there are more than 1,000 free learning resources in the DisasterReady library, spanning a full array of content from technical courses on water, sanitation, and shelter in emergencies to Excel and unconscious bias training. Focusing on learner growth, learner engagement, and user experience “Even though we’re providing free learning content,” Alec Green, The Foundation’s chief marketing evangelist, emphasized, “it’s really about finding the right learners who have a specific need for this type of training.” Hagan added, “We’re not just looking for anyone to sign up for DisasterReady. We’re looking for people who have a commitment to learning, a commitment to really developing their skills, and the way we facilitate that is by doing a great job of always having great content [in DisasterReady].” The marketing team primarily leverages online advertising and social media to raise awareness of DisasterReady around the world and generate new signups. Once the marketing team introduces and attracts users to DisasterReady, the user experience takes over. Leah Hunsicker, solutions manager for The Foundation, works behind the scenes to ensure that she utilizes and configures Cornerstone Extended Enterprise features to help users seamlessly navigate the portal and find relevant content. To motivate learners to complete their learning, the team unleashes the portal’s power to generate badging, completion certificates, completion pages (which drive learner reviews), and custom emails to remind users to finish courses and certifications. Additionally, learner surveys, learner reviews (totaling more than 100,000 to date), and partner and advisory boards are leveraged to improve the product continuously. Expanding content globally In addition to English language content, DisasterReady also offers content in French, Spanish, and Arabic. In recent years, there has been a commitment to expand the content provided in Arabic. Bolding expressed, “Five years ago, we started working with Mercy Corps and the International Rescue Committee to create a program that would help equip humanitarian aid workers inside Syria.” She continued, “The aim was to make sure that local NGOs inside Syria and the surrounding countries would have access to training [to aid in alleviating the Syrian refugee crisis resulting from the Syrian civil war that began in 2011].” Training covers a wide range of topics, including implementing aid programs, applying for grants, and managing programs with training available in English and Arabic. To date, there are about 230 learning resources in Arabic. What’s next Hagan concluded, “Learning is central to everything we do, and it’s happening all around us [in every single sector, including the nonprofit sector]. We have capitalized on this new opportunity, and in 2021 and beyond, we believe DisasterReady will become the destination for professional development in the humanitarian sector. [DisasterReady] is the embodiment of our mission. It is the most effective way we can provide universal access to education to humanitarians around the world.” Going forward, The Foundation is committed to developing new courses and certificate programs to enable change-makers around the world to learn essential skills, develop their careers, and maximize their impact in the communities they serve. Learn how companies around the globe use Cornerstone to give leaders and their teams the tools and training needed to unlock people’s full potential. Start your demo with Cornerstone today!

How to build the power skills every employee needs today

You may have heard the buzz about power skills. People often describe them as a rebranding of soft skills or human skills. But they're so much more than that. This new world of work we're all operating in requires a combination of specific soft and hard skills to be successful. Every employee, regardless of business function, should possess these power skills to succeed in this digital transformation age. For many organizations, digital transformation happened in a hurry during lockdowns. Along with virtual working environments came the need for employees to be digitally savvy, better communicators and competent using a suite of collaboration tools, to name a few. But according to a Salesforce 2022 digital skills study, just 25% of respondents labeled themselves "advanced in collaboration technology skills needed specifically for the workplace." Their responses imply that a large majority of workers still feel unprepared for jobs in the digital-first economy. Organizations need to help employees upskill and feel confident that their power skills will help them operate effectively in this new work environment. The birth of power skills Historically, hiring managers emphasized employees' functional capabilities, referred to as hard skills, more than their interpersonal abilities, referred to as soft skills. Hard skills encompass the skills candidates can demonstrate through previous roles, typically based on their resumes. These hard skills can be anything like coding, bookkeeping, graphic design and so much more. And in today's digital, hybrid work environment, some hard skills are no longer just specialties for specific roles. In many cases, they're an expectation that employees across all functions of an organization can analyze data to make strategic decisions. And while these hard skills are necessary to do the job in most instances, many organizations have come to realize they can teach these skills to employees on the job and don't always have to prioritize them as much when hiring. That's when organizations unearthed an emerging need for softer people skills, such as empathy in leadership, strategic thinking and problem-solving. And digital transformation has amplified that need. Teams had to learn to collaborate virtually, and even jobs that required employees to continue operating in person required expanded tech proficiency. There's also an understanding that organizations are more attractive and enjoyable places to work if they're rich in soft skills. There are all kinds of benefits, like increased productivity, improved customer experience and loyalty, better job satisfaction and retention rates, and greater employee confidence and adaptability. We've now entered the era of power skills, the powerful combination of critical functional skills and people skills. Growing interest in power skills from employees across the globe Organizations aren't the only ones gravitating toward this new era of power skills. Employees across industries are increasingly seeking opportunities to develop their power skills. In the first half of 2022, Cornerstone saw more than 1 billion minutes of learning content consumed, with topics related to power skills leading the charge among learner interest. Courses centered around power skills secured four of the top five most-registered courses during this timeframe, reinforcing the growing need for organizations to incorporate these skills to continue to grow their people and organization. Similarly, power skills also claimed leading spots when looking at top self-directed learning courses, top curation subjects and overall learning time. These courses featured topics surrounding productivity, emotional intelligence, teamwork and more. This growing interest in power skills wasn't limited to just one region. At Cornerstone, learners' increased global interest in power skills topics. In EMEA, for example, the top course topics in the first half of 2022 included personal development, communication, productivity, execution and more. The emerging essential power skills Organizations that focus on upskilling employees' power skills have immediately impacted employees' daily function and their organization as a whole. The power skills critical to the work environment today — and tomorrow — include: Communication and teamwork Team building Business writing Intercultural fluency Bias to action and adaptability Emotional intelligence Leadership and management Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging Strategic thinking Critical thinking Problem-solving Coaching and mentoring Productivity and collaboration Computer skills Time management Communication tools (e.g., Slack, Teams, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word) Collaboration tools (e.g., SharePoint, Google Drive, Box) Project management tools (e.g., Asana, Wrike, Jira, Monday, AirTable) Digital and data fluency Digital literacy Data literacy Microsoft Excel Data analysis Cybersecurity literacy Personal development and wellness Work-life balance Stress management Mindfulness Fitness Growth mindset As work continues to evolve, you could say that power skills are replacing the power suit as a linchpin of work. Power skills are a must to position your people to be successful in the future of work and grow with your organization. And no one understands power skills better than Cornerstone. If you want to take your organization's skill building to the next level with critical power skills, check out Cornerstone Content Anytime. You can use these subscriptions to build the power skills you and your people need to succeed today and tomorrow.

Next-Level DEIB Strategies for the Public Sector

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) is an increasing focal point for the public sector, and talent management professionals must ensure their DEIB strategy provides more than just lip service to their people. Creating a culture of Belonging is about more than engagement surveys – it requires concerted effort; leadership buy-in and – most importantly – change that your people see and feel. Join Cornerstone to share experiences, examine common challenges, and discuss strategies for establishing DEIB as an integral part of every aspect of the employee experience. Attendees of this session will review tactical approaches, data-driven best practices, and identify DEIB resources that will help your people thrive and bring their full selves to work

How Westpac Banking accelerated onboarding with MyGuide

Established in 1944, the World Bank Group is headquartered in Washington, D.C. With 189 member countries, staff from more than 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership working on the mission to implement sustainable solutions to reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries. As part of a larger strategic plan, Westpac was required to revamp and strengthen its technology environment. The company rolled out a new banking platform and needed to onboard employees to the new system without spending time and energy training, documenting, and organizing workshops. Westpac also needed to transfer knowledge from subject matter experts to new hires and colleagues in a scalable manner. Need for digital transformation Westpac’s IT transformation journey led to replacing multiple legacy HR and financial systems with new applications. The project was of such an immense nature that achieving total adoption of the new system would be difficult. And slow adoption threatened Westpac's ability to gain value from their billions of IT spend quickly. Westpac also rolled out a new banking platform to thousands of employees, including lenders, credit managers, and assessors. Their platform automates and streamlines an end-to-end process for a loan from start to finish. The most challenging problem for the bank was to quickly close loan applications to their customers. Any large-scale project requires an incredible amount of training and support from SMEs across the business. And there was no guarantee that employees would retain knowledge after the training sessions. Westpac realized that users who had access to support in the “flow of work” were more likely to be more proficient within the system and adopt the digital tool than those who only remember training sessions. Westpac’s structure is incredibly agile and requires resources to jump across various projects. Systems, processes, and installation can vary as employees enter new spaces, requiring them to quickly learn the inner workings of an application, business process, workflow, or transaction. This presents a unique challenge of training employees on new systems to achieve desired efficiency and quick onboarding for Westpac employees. The above business challenges required Westpac to look for an in-app training and digital adoption platform to enable contextual guided learning or Learning in the “Flow of Work” at scale. MyGuide, an EdCast by Cornerstone product, offers this exact experience to digital users. EdCast by Cornerstone MyGuide solution To overcome the challenges of faster onboarding, enable digital learning, boost knowledge sharing between employees and increase productivity, Westpac uses MyGuide from EdCast by Cornerstone. They do this through a self-serve model where content is “on-demand” and conveniently delivered inside core applications in order to accelerate the digital adoption of new applications used globally. MyGuide drives engagement and in-app support to ensure that Westpac’s human capital and tacit internal knowledge are shared across the organizations without needing hands-on training or IT support. This allows experts at Westpac to make valuable contributions to internal processes so that best practices are well-known and consistently practiced. User Onboarding MyGuide provides step-by-step guidance as an overlay to the Westpac application with audio/video in native languages. MyGuide enables trainers to easily create multiple interactive on-screen guides that allow users to quickly and accurately complete many complex tasks. This core functionality is known as “GuideMe.” Content created as a guide can also be available as a PDF, PPT, DOC, GIF, and video. This is called “ShowMe.” Workflow Automation In addition to being learned, they can also automate guides. This removes any potential for human error while performing a task and allows users to spend their time on other meaningful tasks. This is called “DoItForMe.” Content Accessibility Next, MyGuide gives users the flexibility to access in-app guides across web browsers so that they can access content on the go, anywhere, anytime. There are substantial productivity gains by having all training content aggregated and consolidated in one place. MyGuide creates a valuable jumping-off point for users to navigate new applications and works with any type of application. Thus, exploring a new application's homepage becomes much easier and more engaging. Employees learn workflows more quickly if guides are interactive and embedded within the application. Search Insights MyGuide provides valuable insights into how users perform within an application, as well as the content and the application itself. For example, the search data from an organization tells them what training areas are in demand. User Engagement Insights Change managers can gain an in-depth understanding of the usage data of each specific application and how it is performing via pages, features, workflows, and funnel intelligence. This allows companies to delve deeper into the overall employee experience to empower higher levels of efficiency. Usage data helps paint a better picture of the onboarding process, the customer journey, and how different types of users interact with an application. Measurable impact Increased System Proficiency Westpac saw an uptick in system proficiency using analytics to monitor guides and user engagement. With a simple view of analytics, they could use the information to drive business decisions across various projects and understand what works best. Insightful dashboards support leaders at Westpac and their goal to get users more engaged. Productivity with Insights During certain events, such as internal restructuring, implementation of new technology, events, or including a manager in a critical process, MyGuide was able to provide contextual insights on adoption and productivity to functional leaders.

How Cornerstone customers are supporting employee career growth and improving internal mobility

Learning is a natural human tendency. But organizations can struggle with harnessing employees' inclination to learn and aligning it to their future workforce needs. Technology can help. According to the Cornerstone 2022 Global Skills Report, 97% of high-performing organizations agreed that talent development solutions should improve employee growth – and that just so happens to be Cornerstone's specialty. We're passionate about learning and helping you achieve your employee development goals. Here's how global organizations use Cornerstone to set their employees up for success and career growth opportunities. Empowering people to take development into their own hands When people are passionate about something, don't stand in their way. Better yet, help them achieve what they set out to accomplish. According to our research, 95% of employees at high-performing organizations say their company shows a sense of responsibility to its employees and helps them develop their careers. When organizations invest in the future of their employees, people take notice. That's precisely what Alstom, a multinational manufacturer, believes. "If you want the employee to drive their own career, you need to give them the tools to be able to assess themselves and then prepare their development plan." Generali, a financial services organization, has inspired employees by allowing "people to access learning in their own time." Employees feel that the learning experience is personalized and can "take control of their own development." Ease of access is important, too, so employees feel empowered to learn rather than bogged down by the prospect. Amplifon, the world's largest hearing aid retailer, found this was key to adoption. "We want to make learning fun and easily accessible. And this is important especially for our employees in the shops because flexibility is crucial due to their filled agendas with customer appointments. Therefore, we created the opportunity to learn and upskill anywhere and anytime, also online or offline, and on any device." For 40% of employees looking for information about skill development and growth inside organizations, their skills and development platform is their first stop. In high-performing organizations, that percentage is even larger. And employees are making it clear that they want even more learning content from their employers – to the tune of 80%. Inspiring organizations to improve promotability and increase internal mobility Skills development and career development go hand in hand. As organizations better align to their future workforce needs, they can guide employees through their career journeys. Adding technology enables employees to chart their desired career path by seeing an integrated view of the skills needed and how it translates to internal mobility. Employees who see a future in your organization are more likely to stay. We found that 74% of employees want more tailored, comprehensive career guidance. And that's what Interfor, one of the largest lumber producers in the world, has served up to employees with the help of Cornerstone. "We're committed to providing employees with a career where they can grow, contribute and prosper. We set ambitious targets for internal promotions and have successfully met those targets. And we think that has a lot to do with our employee development programs. "One of those programs that we believe help us with our success is our career development plan. That is a robust program for employees and managers to have multiple check-ins, communication, and opportunities to develop long- and short-term goals that both work toward organizational goals and their own personal development. Part of that is using the Cornerstone system to ensure that we have our formalized goals setting, mid-year check-in and the year-in-review with the incorporation of development plans as well." Interfor's commitment spans the entire talent development cycle and all levels of the organization, including leadership. "We also focus a lot on mobility and growth and developing our future leaders. So, one of the ways that we do that is with our succession planning, which is called Talent Review. And this is a process that allows managers to identify successors, high-potential employees, any sort of gaps on their team and really help develop the next generation of leaders." Aureon, a business solutions provider, has found Cornerstone courses to be integral to internal mobility because employees have access to learn entirely new skills. "We've had people get promoted. We've had people change departments." It's a win-win. Organizations can fill their current and future roles with talent that's already committed to their culture, and employees get the opportunity to progress their careers in ways they may have never dreamed up.