BENCHMARKING AND TRAINING ALIGNMENT & IMPROVEMENT

Business Challenge
The Deputy Chief Learning Officer (DCLO) at a large government agency engaged Eagle Hill Consulting to benchmark their DCLO against the career development programs of other Federal agencies.  In addition, the DCLO was interested in identifying the best practices and programs in Federal learning organizations being used that best support and engage their respective workforces.

Solution
Eagle Hill completed the following activities to complete the agency benchmarking study.

• Defined areas of focus and agency participants for the benchmarking study: Reviewed list of agencies and sub-agencies to determine the participants that were most similar to our client in regards to size, complexity, and mission.
• Identified best practice categories:  The team identified specific categories to include in the study based on DCLO priorities, which included:  organizational structure, training program governance, scope of training and services, participant selection, training and development programs, marketing strategies, executive support, best practices, current challenges, and innovative ideas.
• Gathered and analyzed benchmarking data: Developed interview questionnaire covering the targeted best practice categories to gather information and compare the DCLO with other federal career development programs in Social Security Administration, NASA, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, US Customs and Border Patrol, US Postal Service, IRS, Department of Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services. 
• Assessed organizational effectiveness and efficiencies:  Reviewed interview results to develop a list of best practices and most effective programs used in the participating agencies.
• Developed recommendations: Compared existing DCLO programs with the list of identified best practices and developed recommendations regarding implementation approaches to address gaps.

Results Achieved

Through this effort, our team achieved immediate results for our client including:

• A final report that included key findings, best practices and recommendations for how the agency could incorporate the best practices into their career development organization.
• Detailed recommendations regarding the development and implementation of a robust performance measurement program, an agency-wide mentoring program, 3 to 5 year DCLO strategic plan, DCLO process owner for the Online Learning Center (OLC), curriculum map by level throughout the agency’s workforce, and create communication liaison using existing training community.

SOLUTION SPOTLIGHT

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