Learning & Development Summit 2020 Virtual

Speakers

All Times in EST

Virtual Welcome and Opening Remarks

Opening Keynote Presentation

FLEXLearn: Reinventing Work for Today & Tomorrow

2020 has presented us unprecedented levels of challenge. With that though, comes an incredible opportunity to change and evolve the workplace. In the midst of all this we’ve discovered we are capable of amazing levels of productivity – and of working in new ways. While many of us are longing for the old days – some of our old ways of working are gone for good – and that is very good news.

In this session we’ll explore how FLEXWORK is revolutionizing the workplace of the future today – through personalizing the employee experience in three critical areas: Location, Benefits, and Learning.

Heidi will introduce FLEXLearn and how it’s delivering on personalized learning for employees and leaders across the globe and enabling a customized approach to learning that delivers employees and managers what they need, when they need it, in a way that is meaningful to them. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to explore what’s possible when you put employee choice in the driver’s seat for your learning and performance.

Keynote Presentation

Your People Want More: Why Building a Continuous Learning Culture is No Longer an Option

If you’re still measuring training success as a series of completions and checkmarks, it’s time to think differently. The competition for top talent is tighter than ever, and the best of the best are looking for opportunities to continuously grow and improve their skills every day.

The key to developing a learning culture is to curate, surface, and build experiences that reward continuous learning and supplement formal training with curiosity and knowledge networks. Continuous learning is all about practice and measurable progress. It’s never about perfection or completion.

During this session, Dave Romero, President at Unboxed Training & Technology, will share how to develop the continuous learning culture your people want by:

• Empowering your team with employee-driven learning roadmaps
• Blending virtual and in-person learning and coaching experiences for the greatest impact
• Embedding new learning rhythms into every part of your business

Keynote Presentation

Important Conversations: Turning Knowledge into Skill in a Virtual World

This breakout session will explore ideas and data on how we convert training knowledge into measurable skills in a remote and virtual world. The focus will be on skills such as coaching, DEI, customer-facing, and peer-to-peer conversations.

Organizations spend the majority of their L&D budget on knowledge transfer activities such as workshops and eLearning, but does this new remote workplace offer opportunities to increase the skill level for these important conversations?

Join this interactive discussion as we will review skill data from 20,000 Sales and Coaching conversations and share best practices.

Panel Discussion

The Future of Executive Development

The developmental needs of executives have changed dramatically in 2020. What was ideal pre-pandemic no longer works like it used to. Moreover, the level of VUCA we are experiencing in 2020 probably only marks the beginning of a more dynamic and difficult to predict future. It’s never been more important to re-evaluate how we can best approach executive development to optimally prepare leaders to maximize their effectiveness in the VUCA reality that is our new normal.

Join this engaging and interactive panel as we discuss how 1:1 executive coaching supports the executive development outcomes we need to aim for in 2021 and beyond, including:

• Emotional intelligence and flexibility to expand self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation and empathy
• Developing more insightful and empathic perception in order to see and value others more clearly, thereby meeting-people-where-they’re-at and better empowering and inspiring them
• Managing ourselves and others at a time when the lines between our personal and professional lives have largely fallen by the wayside
• Learning to do less with more by leading more through influence, letting go of direct control, and bringing out the best in others even when we’re not in the room
• Taking full advantage of existing leadership strengths, while learning not to over-use those skills and developing a more complete palette of skills to choose from for any possible scenario
• Building more effective relationships with a wider variety of people in the organization to improve decision-making and improve organizational agility

Keynote Presentation

Human-in-the-Loop VR Simulation for Essential Workplace Skills 

This is the moment for human skills. Traditional, top-down, one-size-fits-all leadership is a way of the past. True leadership is highly context dependent and team driven. The modern leader is inclusive, assumes risk with judgment, provides certainty in an uncertain world, and inspires deep motivation with a lived-in, authentic grasp of the landscape and people involved. By offering immersive practice and precision in virtual connection and influence, VR simulation is the fastest way to achieve mastery of these skills. See it for yourself in this interactive session.

Powered by a blend of AI and live human interaction, experiential VR has become the ideal way to gain essential workplace skills and see rapid gains in leadership, communication, and empathy. It combines true human intelligence augmented by AI in order to unlock empathic potential in your workforce and ensure organizational readiness to perform.

Keynote Presentation

Creating an Environment of Belonging and Inclusivity

In today’s socio-political environment, every organization needs to rethink how they present themselves and structure their workforce as an extension of the world in which they operate.  Companies need to consider their branding and marketing, board makeup, and employee population from c-suite down.  Then act based on how the world has, and will continue to, evolve.

Join us in the engaging discussion as we review how to build organizational energy around:

• Understanding ourselves and our biases
• Building relationships that allow for open dialogue
• Structuring your organization for success in the complex landscape of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
• Setting your inclusive brand
• Implementing programs that drive DEI&B

End of Day One

All Times in EST

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

Keynote Presentation

Case Study: Learning Disrupted 

Randstad has long been successful at developing people, with an expert internal team producing world-class live training events. But COVID-19 required them to shift suddenly to an all-virtual strategy. Join Wesley Connor, Global Head of Learning & Development, as he shares what he has learned and how you can avoid falling into one of the virtual learning “pitfalls”.

Join us for this informative session as we’ll examine:

• How to embrace a growth mindset in the face of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty
• A case study of how Randstad converted their entire in-person sales training into a virtual experience in 3 weeks
• 10 lessons learned going virtual
• Common pitfalls to avoid when moving to a virtual learning environment

Keynote Presentation

Leadership Health: Grounded & Conscious Leaders at All Levels

Organizations of the Future will be fundamentally different from those in the past. They will be inspired by purposeful missions, driven by rapid digital transformations, and organized in collective networks. Their cultures will be agile, obsessed with social and emotional learning and intimate customer relationships, with flexible workforces and places. These new companies will require more evolved leaders at all levels of business – complete with new values, mindsets and behaviors necessary to promote health and well-being, change agility and resilience, diversity, inclusion and equity in a digital environment.

Those who know how to survive and thrive in a disruptive and accelerating world will outperform their peers. After 30 years of leadership research in over 50 countries, Dr. Bob Rosen calls this Grounded & Conscious Leadership. And leaders cannot wait. The rapidly changing world is forcing all of us to transform ourselves – right now!

Interactive Panel Discussion

Using Online Learning to Create an Agile Upskilling Program that Aligns with Business Priorities

Ongoing learning is an essential career practice, and online learning is an attractive option to improve L&D initiatives for a variety of reasons. Online learning is a critical component of an agile upskilling program, as it gives learners control over the scheduling, convenience of access, and lets learners tailor their programs by choosing the courses they actually need. However, not all online courses are alike, and it’s very important to ensure that the online education initiatives foster the learners’ sense of support and guidance and prevents feelings of isolation that can demotivate them.

Join this interactive panel discussion as we discuss strategies to administer effective online learning initiatives that help to create an agile upskilling program, such as:

• Implementing stackable learning experiences to support learners at every stage of their development
• Utilizing a blended learning technology that supports learners and keeps the courses grounded in real-world requirements
• Providing high-engagement, outcome-centric learning options to meet specific needs and assure your organization will develop a well-trained workforce that can meet the demands of rapidly-evolving marketplaces

Keynote Presentation

L&D’s New Role: Strategic Business Partners and the Rising Impact on Organizational Success

Business decisions are no longer made without consulting key HR executives, and now, more than ever, learning leaders are involved in crafting the strategies needed to ready the workforce of the future. Hear how Learning Leaders with Johnson Controls are creating a team of learning professionals that are so deeply embedded into the business, that they are seen as true Business Partners, critical to the success of the enterprise. Join this session to hear best practices, including:

• Learning to report like a business, not like a learning function
• Say ‘Yes’: Find a way to say yes and sneak the education in that your learners need
• Embrace a “No Learner Left Behind” ethos that reduces territorial and functional boundary conflict

Closing Panel Discussion

Remote Work is Here to Stay: Leadership Development in a Virtual World

With the world of work going virtual, leaders must adapt their skills and improve their ability to manage remote teams. Now more than ever, a focus on Leadership Development is crucial to the success of companies who hope to thrive in a virtual world. Being a leader can be challenging at the best of times, but even more so in a crisis situation like the current pandemic –  if leadership development services hope to stay relevant, they must be delivered effectively in the virtual format.

Join us in the informative session as we discuss the essential elements of an effective virtual Leadership Development program, such as:

• Creating the leadership development programs with remote engagement in mind by balancing content delivery with engaging online games and activities
• Offering group workshops and one-to-one training to introduce participants to new concepts and give them opportunities to connect, network, and learn from their peers
• Designing multiple development phases over an extended period of time to create meaningful impact
• Providing frequent opportunities for coordination to spontaneously interact and coordinate engagement

End of Summit