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Blog Post
3 big ways to reduce microaggressions in your workplace
Over the last decade, we've been having more and more conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in the workplace. An unarguably good thing. But those conversations didn't just materialize out of nowhere. They were a direct response to a severe lack of workplace diversity and inclusion and direct and indirect acts of discrimination and bias. There's, unfortunately, no amount of talk about DEIB that can move the needle permanently. In 2019, Glassdoor conducted a DEIB study of 1,100 employees and found that 61% have witnessed or experienced workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, gender identity, and/or sexual orientation. Not all those experiences were blatant acts of racism and discrimination. Many were "microaggressions" — verbal or physical acts of discrimination done in typically unconscious ways. What is a microaggression? There are a lot of definitions for microaggressions out there, but this one stands out: Microaggressions are brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults to marginalized individuals and groups. The "micro in microaggression refers to person-to-person interactions, while "macro" refers to systemic racism. Racial microaggressions negatively impact employees' job satisfaction, self-esteem, and mental and physical health. Microaggressions can play out in many ways. For example, touching a Black person's hair or saying, "That's so gay." To the person doing them, they may seem harmless at face value. But those actions and statements can be seen as threatening or demeaning to the other person. It doesn't matter whether or not there was any harmful intent. There are a variety of different dimensions to microaggressions: Microassaults — Acts that are knowingly racist or discriminatory. The best example of this is someone intentionally making a joke at the expense of a minority group and then attempting to brush it off or justify it as "harmless" or "it's just a joke." Another example is purposely ignoring or not engaging with a colleague because of that person's race, sexual orientation, religion, and even gender. Microinsults — Conscious or unconscious verbal and non-verbal insensitive behaviors. An example of this is asking a new employee aged 55+ how they got their job — with the subtext potentially being, "How did you get your job when there are so many other qualified younger candidates out there?" Whether this was the intent or not is beside the point; if it caused that employee to double-take when asked that question, the implied meaning rang loud and clear. Microinvalidations — Forms of communication that seek to ignore or overlook the presence of a minority colleague. The harm with these is that the offenders of microinvalidations often deny their discriminatory tendencies, rejecting any criticism that they're racist, sexist, ageist, or homophobic. This is a perfect case of unconscious bias in action; while the person doesn't see themselves as discriminatory, their actions say otherwise. Whatever the form of microaggression may be, it poses a real threat to an employee's success and happiness within a company. Constantly justifying "why you belong" or your value on a team because you might be a little different from your team's cookie-cutter mold is unfair and exhausting. And so many people are unaware of microaggression because "that's never happened to me before," living blissfully unaware of their privilege. But that doesn't mean they can't change or be an ally to those who need your support. How to call out microaggressions at work – Identify with a question To fight against microaggression, it's essential that you speak up when you feel that someone has crossed a line. Speaking up isn't easy whether a person directs the microaggression at you or a colleague. Keep your cool with an easy, "What did you mean by that?" Simply calling it out — and in front of your other colleagues — can help clarify that an act was inappropriate or offensive. By responding to these acts with a question, you engage the person, who again may not even realize what they've done, in a conversation that helps them see why their words or actions were offensive. It gives you (or your ally) an opportunity to help that person understand why their actions were harmful. It also gives that person an opportunity to own up, apologize, and clear the air on the spot. That's the best-case scenario, and it tends to work well with people who want to do right and be better. How to call out microaggressions at work – Pushing through pushback Now, there's always a chance that you'll get pushback. The person may call you "overly sensitive" or say, "You can't take a joke." They're, of course, wrong. And this is when allies can step in and support their colleague. Because the more the offending person can see how their actions have created a hostile atmosphere, the more likely they'll become mindful of their words and actions down the road — hopefully. If that doesn't work, you can't be afraid to escalate the issue to HR. After all, the longer you let certain behaviors persist, they will become more acceptable and tolerated. How to call out microaggressions at work – Organizational change There's a lot your organization can do at a macro-level to confront microaggressions. Here are three places to start. 1) Build a company culture around diversity and inclusion This doesn't mean just talking about it more. It's about treating people equally and not tolerating anything less. It means putting real and meaningful change into action. It means having a more diverse recruiting and hiring strategy. It means checking unconscious bias at the door (or putting in the hard work and training to help employees learn how to do that). It also means embracing inclusion at all levels of the company and hiring leaders and managers that mirror the people they manage. It's about giving people visibility and creating a safe space where everyone can do their job without fear. 2) Make diversity and sensitivity training mandatory and ongoing When your organization implements training and learning programs that help employees on this journey, it can progress toward overcoming unconscious bias. It's not a "one and done" type of thing but rather a continuous learning process. Many companies today require their employees to take mandatory sensitivity training, and then once they've checked the box, it's done. Like going to the gym, learning to overcome unconscious bias and microaggressions is a muscle you need to train. One course isn't going to drive the kind of change you seek or do very much to shift the behaviors of the biggest offenders in your organization. This must be an ongoing process that helps employees examine and overcome all dimensions of racism and discrimination. 3) Don't be afraid to have tough conversations Change doesn't happen by being quiet. If you want to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and non-aggressive workplace, you need to create a space where all voices can be heard (for good and bad). Engage employees in open forums to discuss the issues and challenges that minority groups regularly face. Invite them to provide insights and feedback into how you, as leaders, can implement positive change for the future. The big takeaway here is that it shouldn't just be about talking but also about taking action. Listen to your employees. Then take that feedback to create a safe, happier and more productive workplace. Your employees are your greatest asset; let them be the fuel that empowers you to make positive and lasting change. More ways to confront and reduce microaggression in your workplace We all have opportunities to grow and improve. No one and no company is perfect. In the spirit of doing better, here are some additional resources to help you (or someone you know) continue to learn, grow and improve the DEIB in your workplace. HR Labs season 3 — each episode features in-depth discussions on issues of DEI&B Episode 3.2 of HR Labs — explores Microaggressions in the workplace with Dr. Ella Washington Cornerstone Cares — free courses on how to recognize and mitigate unconscious bias
Blog Post
Cartoon Coffee Break: How to build a successful gig program at your organization
Most people want a better job. But "better" means something different to everyone. As an organization that wants to keep its best people, you need to uncover what each person's "better" looks like. A great way to do that is by instituting in-house gigs. Gigs are short-term, skill-building opportunities at your organization that anyone can signup for. Any department that needs a hand with a project or just wants to teach a teammate something can create and run a gig. They're great ways to open another learning avenue for your people to build their skills outside their usual department. We have a thriving gig program here at Cornerstone that we creatively call Cornerstone Gigs. The trick to running a successful gig system, though, is ensuring that your organization, unlike the guy in the comic, isn't using your employees as "free labor." It's not a secret that the biggest downside of the "gig economy" as it is now is that it has a tendency to veer toward exploiting the people working the gigs. We work hard at Cornerstone to ensure our gigs are 100% worthwhile learning opportunities and don't feel like manipulative organizational cost-cutting measures like that monster in the comic. "Cut your own grass, Bernard!" So here are a pair of ways your organization can build a sustainable, supportive gig system that your people want to be a part of. Listen to your people Not everyone will be open to how you envision gigs working at your organization right off the bat. And that's fine. Not everyone learns the same way. But the people with a "gig mindset" will thrive. And when your people thrive, your organization does too. People with the gig mindset are full-time, salaried employees eager to develop new skills and learn by doing. These employees tend to be self-managed, take spontaneous initiatives and want to focus on skills more than roles. To enable a gig learning culture at your organization, you have to listen to how your people want to grow so they can feel confident and take ownership of their career path to develop new skills for your organization and themselves. Make the new skills matter Organizations need to help their people improve their skills while simultaneously ensuring those skills fill critical gaps. And our Cornerstone Gigs program has proven to be a successful way for us to do that while better engaging our people. In 2021, we introduced Cornerstone Gigs, and the program has been brilliantly successful. Now, over 250+ people and counting have worked and are working to create better jobs for themself and their coworkers. They're enhancing skills, growing their careers, and bringing different colleagues together for projects. Each Cornerstone gig is posted by other employees seeking fresh input and hands-on support to enhance or accelerate a particular initiative. Employees apply to the gig through an internal portal and participate following a successful application. Cornerstar Amy Haggarty, director of partnership strategy and engagement at the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation, posted a gig to expand and improve her team's content offerings — specifically to try a new course format. She found the perfect short-term addition to her team. Together, they created a few new learning courses for the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation community. Try to bring gigs to your organization to enable your employees to flourish and develop new skills to meet the future ready.
On-demand Webinar
DEIB at Work: Building a Culture of Belonging
Continuous learning is key to putting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) at the forefront of your organization. And with all the disruption from COVID and the rapid pace of change, this has never been more relevant. In this session, DEIB at Work: Building a Culture of Belonging, you’ll learn: Insights from our interactive customer DEIB workshops (led by our Thought Leadership and Advisory Services Team) – including a quick overview of our DEIB maturity model and some of our top findings from conversations we’ve had with customers on this topic. Learnings from Henry Ford Health who, in the midst of extreme challenges, has doubled down on building a culture of belonging. They’ve built practices that reinforce behaviors that allow people to bring their full selves to work. You’ll come away with tactical approaches and ideas for building your own program and measuring success. Plus, you’ll get an update on Cornerstone’s latest DEIB course offerings and a sneak peek into what’s coming from Cornerstone Studios.
Trends at Work
Blog Post
Cartoon Coffee Break: How to build a successful gig program at your organization
Most people want a better job. But "better" means something different to everyone. As an organization that wants to keep its best people, you need to uncover what each person's "better" looks like. A great way to do that is by instituting in-house gigs. Gigs are short-term, skill-building opportunities at your organization that anyone can signup for. Any department that needs a hand with a project or just wants to teach a teammate something can create and run a gig. They're great ways to open another learning avenue for your people to build their skills outside their usual department. We have a thriving gig program here at Cornerstone that we creatively call Cornerstone Gigs. The trick to running a successful gig system, though, is ensuring that your organization, unlike the guy in the comic, isn't using your employees as "free labor." It's not a secret that the biggest downside of the "gig economy" as it is now is that it has a tendency to veer toward exploiting the people working the gigs. We work hard at Cornerstone to ensure our gigs are 100% worthwhile learning opportunities and don't feel like manipulative organizational cost-cutting measures like that monster in the comic. "Cut your own grass, Bernard!" So here are a pair of ways your organization can build a sustainable, supportive gig system that your people want to be a part of. Listen to your people Not everyone will be open to how you envision gigs working at your organization right off the bat. And that's fine. Not everyone learns the same way. But the people with a "gig mindset" will thrive. And when your people thrive, your organization does too. People with the gig mindset are full-time, salaried employees eager to develop new skills and learn by doing. These employees tend to be self-managed, take spontaneous initiatives and want to focus on skills more than roles. To enable a gig learning culture at your organization, you have to listen to how your people want to grow so they can feel confident and take ownership of their career path to develop new skills for your organization and themselves. Make the new skills matter Organizations need to help their people improve their skills while simultaneously ensuring those skills fill critical gaps. And our Cornerstone Gigs program has proven to be a successful way for us to do that while better engaging our people. In 2021, we introduced Cornerstone Gigs, and the program has been brilliantly successful. Now, over 250+ people and counting have worked and are working to create better jobs for themself and their coworkers. They're enhancing skills, growing their careers, and bringing different colleagues together for projects. Each Cornerstone gig is posted by other employees seeking fresh input and hands-on support to enhance or accelerate a particular initiative. Employees apply to the gig through an internal portal and participate following a successful application. Cornerstar Amy Haggarty, director of partnership strategy and engagement at the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation, posted a gig to expand and improve her team's content offerings — specifically to try a new course format. She found the perfect short-term addition to her team. Together, they created a few new learning courses for the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation community. Try to bring gigs to your organization to enable your employees to flourish and develop new skills to meet the future ready.
On-demand Webinar
DEIB at Work: Building a Culture of Belonging
Continuous learning is key to putting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) at the forefront of your organization. And with all the disruption from COVID and the rapid pace of change, this has never been more relevant. In this session, DEIB at Work: Building a Culture of Belonging, you’ll learn: Insights from our interactive customer DEIB workshops (led by our Thought Leadership and Advisory Services Team) – including a quick overview of our DEIB maturity model and some of our top findings from conversations we’ve had with customers on this topic. Learnings from Henry Ford Health who, in the midst of extreme challenges, has doubled down on building a culture of belonging. They’ve built practices that reinforce behaviors that allow people to bring their full selves to work. You’ll come away with tactical approaches and ideas for building your own program and measuring success. Plus, you’ll get an update on Cornerstone’s latest DEIB course offerings and a sneak peek into what’s coming from Cornerstone Studios.
Article
Talent development and employee wellness: COVID-19’s push to a new partnership
COVID-19 has transformed nearly every aspect of our future. Almost all organizations got shoved into a giant experiment to enable employees to work from home. Organizational priorities got uplifted, shifted or completely replaced. The talent marketplace has been turned on its head, and the skills gap is widening. This is causing employers to rethink how they strategize, recruit, retain, and grow employees for the future of work. All this turmoil yields some new and possibly unlikely partnerships throughout many organizations. Consider employee wellness and talent development. Understanding the background of each of these efforts will reveal a partnership primed to flourish in the future of work. Understanding the history of employee wellness Employee wellness has been a focus for organizations across the globe for a long time. In fact, the history of employee wellness is quite robust. It is believed that the earliest focused efforts on researching and understanding the benefits of employee wellness date back to an Italian physician in the 17th century (Rucker). Naturally, this concept of employee wellness has evolved throughout the years. Workplace wellness resulted in ideas such as the 8-hour workday and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). For a substantial amount of time, wellness was focused only on the employee's physical health. Throughout this evolution, employees gained new benefits and programs; however, to better meet employees' needs, the concept of holistic wellness was created and expanded. Forrester Research defines employee well-being into three major categories that are split into eight sub-categories: Individual Wellness Emotional Wellness Psychological Wellness Physical Wellness Environmental Wellness Social Wellness Occupational Wellness Spatial Wellness Contextual Wellness Financial Wellness Spiritual Wellness These eight categorizations of wellness paint a much fuller picture of what employees need. However, most organizations look at employee well-being and talent development as isolated efforts instead of complementary pursuits. How talent management has evolved through the years Before the modern era of learning and performance management systems, talent management was focused on leadership bench building and succession planning. Since the 1950s, organizations like PepsiCo and GE were beacons for formalized, structured development programs (Harvard Business Review). These programs were isolated efforts without any coordination from the employee wellness department. However, as times and markets changed, organizations that did not adapt were forced to lay off much of the workforce, especially those considered non-essentials, like talent and wellness teams. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, talent management technology solutions emerged. Many primarily used these systems as compliance or transactional platforms — usually limited to — supplying courses to their employees focused mainly on regulatory or safety training. Performance reviews were typically focused on how the employee helped the business and not how the organization helped its employees. The access to advanced technology certainly allowed more engagement between talent and wellness teams. However, this was rarely the case. We now know that adaptability is crucial for organizations to survive. The future of work demands that organizations rethink their investments in their workforce and the relationship between wellness and talent. The data is already out there telling this same story. The affects of COVID-19 In 2020, Cornerstone analyzed all of its customer bases to gather insights into what type of content learners were seeking. Throughout its over 75 million users, the data showed a significant spike in content consumption on topics related to the shifts in environmental factors people were experiencing. In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 hit and forced most companies to enable work-from-home strategies. Cornerstone saw an increase in learning by a factor of five. The most consumed content focused on Remote Work and Effective Communications. By the summer of 2020, there was a six-time increase focused on "unconscious bias" and "working with multi-cultural teams." This reflects the social unrest happening in many areas and people turning to their employers to help gain understanding. Then, in the fall of 2020, there was a three-fold increase, focused on Remote Work and Mental Health. By this time, employers were extending the work-from-home experiment and/or making permanent employee environment shifts, and employees needed to find ways to cope with that change. The theme within the data is that employees' wellness is affected by their situation and environment, and they turn to their employers for support on crucial topics in their lives. However, the results also show a gap between what content employees want (knowledge, skills, wellness) and what employers traditionally offer (compliance, regulatory or safety). With any gap comes an opportunity to adapt — a clear call for the wellness and talent teams to partner up to meet the growing needs of their workforce. According to MIT Sloan Review, 85% of employees say their work stress is bleeding into their home lives, 78% of workers say the pandemic affects their mental health, and 76% think employers should be doing more to support their workforce. As a result of the pandemic, employers are forced to think of new ways to engage with their employees by prioritizing connectivity and flexibility to meet the needs of their workforce (Tulane University). This is an area in which adept organizations' talent development teams recognize the impact they can make on their employees' wellness and development. The data is clear. Employees are looking to their employers for more significant support in their lives. This is why benefits and wellness teams need to create stronger partnerships with their talent management teams. To truly engage employees across all eight types of well-being, organizations need the right strategy, content and vehicle for delivering that content. By aggregating this data, a few generalized themes emerge: Employees want ways to be engaged and to grow; Employees need a sense of community and belonging; Employees seek understanding about the events around them; and, Employees need a sense of purpose and direction. Wellness, talent and the future of work The path forward needs to be engaging and empower employees to excel in their careers. That path should include suggestions of how they can grow. Employees need to feel included in a social learning community, which is not strictly focused on work. There need to be methods for employees to learn about the world around them and a feedback loop for employees to be heard (Forrester). Achieving this requires a joint effort between HR functions like wellness and talent, focused on enriching their employees' lives and addressing all areas of wellness. At a macro level, here are some opportunities where talent and wellness teams can combine their efforts: Integrated wellness and learning culture with managers leading by example Wellness and development embedded into performance check-ins and reviews Career pathways and supportive development opportunities Content that enables growth beyond the role or company Social outlets where employees can connect and interact with their colleagues with similar interests To achieve these outcomes, we suggest the following: No meeting Fridays or introducing bookends to each day (MIT Sloan Review). Both focus on balancing workloads and transitions to home life, especially when there is no longer a commute home to decompress. At the organizational level, incorporate development and wellness-focused questions into the regular check-ins or reviews between leaders and employees. This will keep a consistent pulse on the workforce and lead to a greater understanding of what your workforce is passionate about and the pathways, job architecture and content needed to support that development. Create social groups or communities where all employees can engage with each other on various hobbies — workout bike groups, travel groups, food groups, etc. Having friends and a place to belong at work is critical to an employee's well-being (Forrester). Organizations can expand their support beyond their employee base to their families. By enabling the employee's family members to access a version of the organization's learning platform, they can learn about effective communication, resume writing, computer software skills and/or unconscious bias. Benefits teams can offer this as an added perk to employees during open enrollment. This provides the added benefit of family support to help ensure your employees are present and productive every day. These are just some of many possible suggestions that can be adapted to fit any organization. They show the importance of wellness and talent teams partnering closer together for the future success of any organization in this new future of work. The costs of not investing in your people It is widely known and accepted that happier employees are more productive employees. A preponderance of research shows the value of investing in employee wellness. In one study, Harvard Business Review researchers found a six-to-one, fully loaded return on investment of healthcare savings when organizations invest in employee wellness. The return on investment can manifest as reduced costs on premiums, claims, and lost workdays, amongst others. Furthermore, organizations should see increased employee engagement because of these investments. In a Gallup study, work units in the top quartile of engagement saw a 22% boost in profitability and a 21% increase in productivity compared to those in the bottom quartile. Gallup's study also found that higher employee engagement positively impacts nine key performance outcomes: retention, absenteeism, safety and quality. Whether called the "Great Resignation" or the "Great Migration," all industries face this issue. Attracting, retaining, and growing employees is more critical now than ever before. The pace of technology is making that abundantly clear. The cost to replace an employee can vary drastically, ranging from 50% to 400% for High Potential (HiPo) employees (ClearCompany). SHRM calculates that it costs upwards of 200% of the employees' salary to replace them. Consider an employee making a salary of $50,000 per year. At 200% of their salary, it will cost the organization $100,000 to replace them. Multiply that by a factor of 100 employees, and the cost to the organization increases to $10 million. A sizeable amount that likely any organization would prefer to reinvest into growth instead of spending on retention issues. What we owe to each other According to Forrester's research, the degree of focus an employer puts on employee wellness can vary based on geographical location, culture, and industry. Yet, COVID-19 had no regard for location, culture, or industry. It disrupted every aspect of what we considered our "normal" lives. The history of employee wellness and talent management has taught us that the way things were are not how they will or should be (Rucker & HBR, respectively). One of the worst phrases a leader can say is "this is the way we have always done it" because it only leads to stagnation. The responsibility is on the employer to better support their employee population if they want to attract, retain, and grow top talent. The organizations that will survive and thrive in the future are the ones that become agile to the ever-changing environment they've been thrust into. Forrester's data reveals that "COVID burnout" creates a considerably greater reliance on organizations to provide wellness support to their employees. From saving on healthcare costs (HBR) to saving on people assets (SHRM) and factoring in the high attrition rates resulting from COVID-19, the numbers are an apparent reason why organizations need to prioritize this. Fortunately, the return on this investment is there, and top executives reposition this from a cost function to an investment proposition. Sources "The interesting History of Workplace Wellness," Michael Rucker, 2016 "COVID-19's Impact on Corporate Wellness", Tulane University, 2021 "How Employee Engagement Drives Growth," Gallup, 2013 "Employee Wellness Programs Are No Longer A Nice To Have," Forrester, 2021 "How Organizations Can Promote Employee Wellness, Now and Post-Pandemic," MIT Sloan Management Review, 2021 "What's the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs?" Harvard Business Review, 2010 "Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century," Harvard Business Review, 2008 "What Makes High-Performing and HiPo Employees?", ClearCompany, 2021 "Retaining Talent," SHRM, 2017
Skills Building
Datasheet
Professional skills training designed for the modern employee
Build stronger communicators, strategic thinkers, and higher functioning teams across the organization with the Content Anytime: Professional Skills subscription, and develop employees of all levels and across different functions to new heights. An organization is only as good as its people. Your people are what drive strategy, sell products, innovate, support customers, and make decisions. With the Content Anytime: Professional Skills subscription, your learners will have access to premium content from Cornerstone’s award-winning studio as well as top learning brands in a number of topics and modalities to serve different learning preferences.
eBook
Building skills for the future of work
In the HR world today, we hear a lot about upskilling or new skilling the workforce to prepare for changes — whether it’s adapting to new technology or new ways of doing business. In fact, according to research from PwC, the availability of key skills is a top concern for business leaders worldwide as they look to ready their companies for the future of work. But even though technology is driving the need for new skills, the skills that will help companies tackle the challenges they face — from transforming in the face of disruption to pursuing revenue growth and increasing operational efficiency — are not technical. In fact, training for those skills is producing less return than it has in the past because business changes are so rapid. Some skills become outdated or unnecessary thanks to automation, for example. But regardless of our predictions, technology can create jobs just as much as it replaces them. Increasingly, it’s our uniquely human skills that will qualify us for those roles and help organizations adapt to these changes.
Whitepaper
Bridge the Workforce Skills Gap: 3 Key Places to Start
New global research from the Cornerstone People Research Lab shows that organizational leaders and employees are rallying around the importance of skills. However, the research identified a serious confidence gap between employers and employees about their ability to consume skills development and showed that it is challenging to develop critical skills in a way that’s effective and meaningful for employees. 90% of leaders vs 60% of employees feel confident in their company’s ability to develop their skills The acceleration of workplace change, with both short-term shocks and long-term trends, is making employees concerned about a skills deficit and is leaving them feeling insecure about the future of their core skills and roles. This e-book offers practical next steps for talent leaders to address and enable skills development to empower their people and organization. In this eBook you’ll gain insight into: Closing employee confidence gaps in your skills development programs Identifying the skills employees need to succeed And removing barriers in skills development Learn more with practical steps for developing skills at scale to build stronger, more adaptable and resilient people and organizations.
Talent Strategy
On-demand Webinar
The ROI of the right skills strategy
The global skills gap persists—and new research from the Cornerstone People Research Lab revealed a growing Skills Confidence Gap as well. The latter tells us that employers are largely confident in their ability to support skill development, but the enthusiasm isn’t shared by their employees. Both gaps represent serious threats to an organization’s future readiness. But there is an exception. Some organizations show a much smaller Skills Confidence Gap—and they provide a template for skills development and investment. They’re already driving real growth and value with their unique approach to L&D technology, talent initiatives, learning content, and more. To really dig into that bottom-line impact of learning and content, we commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic ImpactTM study to analyze the savings and benefits enabled by Cornerstone solutions. The study found that a composite organization, based on interviewed customers, experienced a 543% ROI over three years, making significant gains in efficiency, consistency, and compliance. In this conversation, Mike Bollinger, VP of Strategic Initiatives at Cornerstone, is joined by guests Katy Tynan, Principal Analyst at Forrester, and Amy Harrison, Sr. Consultant - Total Economic Impact at Forrester, to discuss the ROI of skill development and how to meet the most critical skills challenges facing HR and learning leaders today. What you will learn: Where customers report deriving the most value from Cornerstone learning and content How to use headcount more efficiently and improve cost savings How to build employee confidence and close critical skill gaps
Blog Post
3 key lessons for business leaders leading through change
I've been a leader at Cornerstone through many challenging times — the financial crisis of 2008, Brexit, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine. I've seen the world and our organization adapt and change to meet these shifts. As a business leader during these times, I've learned that you have to step up to any challenge, no matter how grave, for the sake of your workforce. Here are three key lessons I've learned along the way when it comes to leading through disruption. 1) Take the high ground Being seen and heard and keeping communication lines open so that employees and stakeholders feel an element of comfort is crucial. Virtual meetings and communication tools have made it easier to be the visible leader that your people want. If an event has a direct impact on your company and your people, it's vital to keep communication as regular as possible. Depending on the circumstances, daily, weekly, monthly or ad-hoc updates or meetings can calm anxieties among your workforce. 2) Not all approaches work for all regions As the Chief International Officer at Cornerstone, I've learned that not every approach or solution works for every region. This requires a "glocal" approach. Glocal means you're focused on ensuring global effectiveness but with local relevancy. It's an effective way to deal with global disruption. But to do this, you need to get the communication pathways among countries in a solid, transparent position. You hire local talent so they can be a part of your global journey, so making sure the decision-making happens at a local level is crucial. 3) Identifying "probortunities" Most leaders want to be viewed as superheroes who can solve problems in the blink of an eye, but the reality is that every disruption is unique. Identifying probortunities (problems that can be viewed as opportunities) can help you understand each issue in a crisis and determine the most suitable strategy for addressing them. While we cannot predict the next global disruption, I believe we're better prepared as leaders to optimize agility and readiness across people and business. We're more resilient as we've learned and grown from the experiences. We know it's important to position ourselves front and center and keep communication open and transparent. We've proven that by adopting a glocal approach in navigating disruptions, we remain in touch, relevant and on strategy.
Infographic
Infographic: Nothing pays off better than learning