Since the beginning of time progress is marked by great ideas. The invention of the wheel, penicillin, the industrial revolution, technological advancements, and so on-all mark watershed events by which we see tremendous progress and business or societal advancements. Our tendency is to take transformative ideas, identify all of the significant factors which led up to them, and formalize a process. Once we have the process formalized, we then move to create an institution around that idea so we might be able to repeat the outcome over and over again. This formalization process works exceptionally well if you accept its foundational assumption: "All things being equal, we can create this again." The problem is "all things are never equal."

We live in a transformative environment, not a transactional one. Our changes in business are measured in giant steps, not micro-evolutions. The primary reason for this need for agility in our business modeling is the dramatically changing external environment in which we live and work.

Corporate universities have become the Nightmare on Institution Street. It began with an idea. Not just any idea, a great idea. We can take our training division and create a self-sustaining corporate structure that will meet all of the organization´s learning needs. We will become a full service partner in the business. As an idea the value proposition is outstanding, although very difficult to measure at the onset.

Tough times hit. With the great numerical growth of corporate universities during the late 1990´s we saw the formation of what totaled almost 4000 such organizations built within corporations, according to Ms. Meister (Corporate Universities, 2001). This same rush to formalization and institutionalization created many new jobs where training managers no longer reported to human resources, but up the ladder to training directors and even in some cases a Chief Learning Officer. A new structure was created that formed the basis for another business unit entirely. All of this based upon a great idea! Then the forces of environment crashed upon the walls of business and immediately the newly institutionalized corporate universities were the first to "go." In their haste to create a new corporate institution, they missed the mark of metrics and measurements. They missed the mark of integration and alignment. In many cases, what had evolved out of that great idea was systematic implementation of training to meet basic job expectations. Surely this was not enough to justify their existence. And indeed it was not.

Along came the CPR. An entirely new group of consultant experts emerged from the ashes in order to resuscitate the remaining corporate universities. These ROI experts worked diligently to breathe life and credibility back into the blood of the struggling institutionalized corporate universities, those which remained. And they are there today, building a business around the sick and ailing. Some will be helped from this triage work, others will not. Thus progresses the often told story of great business ideas, followed by tremendous capital investment, which once forced to deal with a changing environment, come crashing down.

The story continues! It doesn´t have to be that way. In reality, you don´t need an institutionalized corporate university in order to take the great idea of corporate learning and move it forward into a sustainable and credible venture. You need an integrated and aligned Learning System Model.

This image appears in "Corporate Learning Strategies" by Nathan Greeno.*

Learning systems are not about creating a new fiefdom or institutionalized power structure. Learning systems are about creating sustainable systems through integration and alignment throughout the entire organization.

Systems always center on process, not structure. By taking the concepts and ideas that founded the corporate university movement and integrating them into the strategic planning process, human capital alignment process, and production and capacity process, we create a win without the overhead. Sustainability is achieved even when the tough times hit, since we are utilizing an integrated process managed at all levels of the organization, which creates significant agility.

A learning system works on three basic premises:

1.  

2. Full integration at the strategic table
3. Learning Managers oversee and manage process and alignment
4. Outsourcing of real-time needs at the lowest possible level

A learning system has three primary goals:

1. Achieving progress toward key strategic corporate priorities
2. Achieving greater levels of employee commitment
3. Achieving measurable return on human capital investment

Since learning systems are about process and not structure, they work very lean. As an integrated process, learning systems are analyzed and modified real-time during each stage of the strategic planning process where human capital is involved. When a learning need arises due to the corporate priority or individual career path mapping, the process is in place for external resources to meet that requirement.

These external resources come most frequently in the form of training firms and corporate-educational partnerships. These partnerships are strategically aligned and previously articulated by the learning managers. Reduced fees, customized curriculum, alternative delivery formats, and much more may be established to the advantage of the corporation through appropriate negotiation. In doing so, both corporate overhead and risk are significantly limited. The process is scalable to meet real-time needs.

The larger the organization the more weight it has to throw around in these external negotiations and strategic partnerships. However, much care and caution must go into making informed decisions about viability and roll-out cycle. Nevertheless, in return we don´t have an annuity in their lives either.

Learning systems are both strategic and partner oriented. They become scalable processes that easily flex with agility to the changing external environment. They are measurable right down to the bottom line with productivity improvement, retention of key talent pool, employee commitment, and the attainment of key strategic goals.

It is about time that we put to an end the Nightmare on Institution Street. The sun has come up, the new day begun. Let us avoid the trappings of institutionalization and focus on the principle of integrating great ideas into agile processes. Then and only then will we find ourselves competitive and ready for anything this new century will throw at us.

* View the cover of "Corporate Learning Strategies", a new book by Nathan Greeno, due out January 2006.