WESTPORT, CT--(Marketwired - Aug 23, 2016) - Rahul Varma, Chief Learning Officer at Accenture (
Accenture set out to reinvent performance management several years ago, Varma tells Kutik, before the start of general public criticism of the old rating process. "We came to a conclusion that performance management had outlasted its utility. It was demotivating more people than it was motivating, and it was just not driving great performance," he says.
An extensive research process informed a new approach to performance management that Accenture calls "performance achievement." Varma explains on the show it is built around five core principles.
As for re-inventing training, Varma emphasizes that Accenture's new initiatives can be applied at any company "irrespective of budget, size or industry." Accenture itself has more than 370,000 employees and made a training investment of more than $840 million in its fiscal 2015.
"First, make your training leader-led [by a person]. Second, curate, don't create. Third, make them real experiences and less about classrooms."
Noting that Accenture's global workforce now includes about 70 percent Millennials, including 90 percent of new hires in 2015, Varma adds that the company's new approach is also well suited to all employees. "The truth is that we are a truly global workforce with multiple generations, multiple cultures, multiple countries. And so learning has to be relevant and inclusive for everyone," Varma tells Kutik.
The centerpiece of the company learning approach is known as "Accenture Connected Learning." Varma says it is "driven by a simple mantra."
"It's about time away to learn and it's about learning all the time. There are two big inventions that are powering this. The first, we've taken classrooms and connected them all around the world. We've created 70 connected classrooms and are well on our way to making 100.
"The second is a digital invention which we call the learning boards. What's wonderful about them is that our field experts, our leaders, are actually curators. Within 18 months we've gone to over 1,000 learning boards that are accessed by more than 130,000 users, making it the fastest scalable learning vehicle we've ever known of."
Commenting on the interview, Bill Kutik, host and managing editor of " Firing Line with Bill Kutik ® " said: "It was exciting to welcome Rahul Varma, since the initiatives he is leading at Accenture are among the most advanced in the world. "They can serve as a model for many companies, including those where Millennial employees constitute a substantial portion of the workforce."
The monthly " Firing Line" series has received more than 46,000 views on YouTube since its debut last year. Watch the new episode at http://bit.ly/KutikFiringLine .
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About Bill Kutik
As the HR industry's leading independent analyst, Bill Kutik is considered one of the top four influencers in the HR technology marketplace. For 27 years, he has been Technology Columnist for "Human Resource Executive ® " and served as founding co-chair of the magazine's famous annual HR Technology ® Conference & Expo, since it began in 1998 through 2013.
In 2012, Human Resource Executive named him one of the 10 "Most Powerful HR Technology Experts" and The Huffington Post in 2013 listed him in "Top 100 Social HR Experts on Twitter."
Previously, he reported for "The New York Times" and "The New York Daily News." He has a BA degree from Harvard University. He can be reached at Bill@Kutik.com .
