Guiding Learning Portfolios: The Role of the Chief Learning Officer

After a company allocates its learning investments, patterns of learning activity are created which culminate in the establishment of the company’s learning portfolio. As an organization’s learning portfolio takes shape, a learning architecture is created with the hope that what gets learned adds value. Many firms have come to recognize the need to take a systems view of learning and to proactively shape their learning architecture. Many firms have created corporate universities to oversee all learning activities, while others have developed roles for learning strategists and chief learning officers (CLOs).

Companies that are oriented towards the use of computers or information technology to promote learning have created the role of the chief knowledge officer. In some cases the transition to this role merely involved re-labeling previous job titles such as chief information officer or director of management information systems. In general, their focus is on managing and utilizing existing, computerized databases through data mining rather than learning portfolio management.

The role of the CLO is, however, to oversee a company’s learning architecture and ensure that what’s in the portfolio actually matches the architecture. Doing so involves several activities to design, develop, and maintain learning. First is the task of designing the learning architecture in the light of the organization’s culture and learning demands. A CLO should take a comprehensive view of the entire organization or firm to understand learning requirements and to profile current and desired learning. The second task is supporting those learning practices required to meet the firm’s strategic needs; and the third is to evaluate practices for their quality and impact, and redesign the learning architecture as necessary.

Many firms have given their CLOs the role of running their corporate universities. Unfortunately, the activities of corporate universities emphasize practices that engender formal learning such as training and classroom teaching. The domain of a strategically focused CLO should be on all learning practices that exist within the firm’s learning portfolio and on how best to allocate resources among them.

With a systems view, a CLO looks comprehensively at an organization’s learning portfolio, sees how it aligns with the strategic demands on the firm, and allocates resources accordingly. Yet, perhaps more importantly, the role of the CLO is to be the organization’s or firm’s learning advocate. As economies transition more and more into the post-industrial age with an emphasis on services, companies are placing greater emphasis on knowledge management. When firms learn by creating or acquiring knowledge, they develop a growing capacity for effective action. It is difficult to place a value on that capacity since it is an intangible asset; a CLO must champion the allocation and use of resources that produce such intangible assets.

Learning use and learning impact are important markers to look at in allocating resources among alternative learning practices. Yet it is the value created from learning practices that many managers view as the ultimate criterion. The challenge for many CLOs is to promote learning, which in many cases creates intangible assets, in contexts that may only value what is tangible.