Computer Sciences Corporation: Building a Scalable Senior Leader Development Program

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How eCornell helps power CSC’s holistic learning model and meets the special needs of executive learners.

Summary
Computer Sciences Corporation’s 1,800 senior executives carry the future
of the $15 billion information technology and business services giant
in their hands. Training these senior leaders has always been a
top priority for CSC, but delivering that training optimally has become increasingly difficult. CSC’s vast size–encompassing 80,000 employees in 92 countries–and multiple corporate hierarchies have made it impractical to centralize the company’s Senior Leader Development Program (SLDP), which serves VPs, Division Presidents, succession plan candidates, senior leaders ready for key roles,
and leaders with the potential to fill key roles in three years.

SLDP participants come from all CSC Operating Groups and Lines of Business from the USA, UK, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. Acknowledging the challenges posed by corporate scale and diffusion, Beverly Bacon, Senior Manager of Global Development Solutions for CSC, notes that the company’s “most successful programs will have to be scalable to large numbers in a  virtual environment.”

Accordingly, SLDP has partnered with eCornell to transition executives from a traditional learning model to a virtual environment. The end result is a blended approach to learning that incorporates the best of the classroom with the best of the computer: what Bacon calls an ability to “make assets available on demand.”

Outcomes & Program Highlights
The soundest proof that the eCornell approach is working for CSC is found in the survey data collected from each learner. CSC’s remarkable 95% completion rate for eCornell courses, which culminate in an Executive Leadership Certificate, is the first step toward gaining true business impact from professional development or executive education.

CSC found the applicability of the content and transferability of the skills learned and used the workplace to be particularly meaningful. 95% of participants agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that “the material presented in this course is applicable to my current or desired job” and 90% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that “the skills and knowledge presented in this course transfer directly to my workplace responsibilities.”

These indicators helped CSC decide to have eCornell synthesize the assignments and discussions taking place in eCornell courses so that themes and strategies for improving the business’ competitive advantage could be captured and institutionalized.

SLDP participants have high praise for the eCornell experience based on post-course surveys. Participants rated the following statements on a scale  of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest):

• Material presented in course was applicable to my current or desired job: 4.47
• Overall rating of the content: 4.09
• Overall rating of the course: 4.06
• Course met my expectations of quality: 4.25
• Appropriate level of difficulty: 4.13
• Overall rating of the instructor: 4.12
• Instructor was knowledgeable about subject matter: 4.29
• I would recommend course to my colleagues: 4.31

The satisfaction rates of SLDP members have convinced CSC to implement eCornell for its Leaders at Large Program, whose executives are given access to Management Essentials and Proactive Leadership courses. In this way, eCornell is the de facto learning service for all CSC executives, an important demographic that is underserved by traditional elearning courseware.

CSC’s satisfaction metrics are a testament to the blended eCornell model, concludes David Shoemaker, eCornell’s VP of Learning Solutions. “The model combines the structure, discipline and rigor of the classroom with online flexibility,” he says. “It fosters a learning community.”

The creation of such a learning community both outlasts and complements the formal learning experience. Once the eCornell courses and other learning activities are over, SLDP members go back to the day-to-day work in their respective CSC divisions and country offices—but they will have made personal connections with peers, and formed bonds with corporate and academic mentors, that will last throughout their careers.

The relationships have endured and have become an important conduit for information and expertise exchange across business units. CSC further enables this process by having all eCornell course participants personally meet with CSC’s Chief Innovation Officer, and by notifying the company President, COO and individual managers when SLDP members complete their courses.

Solution Details
CSC wanted to retain the rigor and social environment of classrooms while adding the asynchronous, on-demand experience of online learning. eCornell enabled this model via what eCornell’s Shoemaker calls “structured flexibility.”

The structured component of the learning experience is inherent in eCornell’s curriculum and course design. The Executive Leadership program was delivered in CSC-only cohorts of the following four courses: Strategic Thinking, Scenario Planning, Executive Decision Making and Leading Through Creativity.  Each course has a clearly defined schedule with clearly communicated milestones to provide participants with a framework for their coursework. A subject-matter expert instructor leads each course to facilitate the discussions, drive peer-to-peer interaction, and engage the participants to apply the concepts back in the workplace.

However, while the eCornell experience captures and replicates much of what happens in a real classroom, the model also allows for flexibility that is absent from traditional learning environments.

A typical learning experience is linear and inflexible; it comes to an end as soon as the course is over. By contrast, eCornell’s innovative asynchronous approach captures both the main course materials and the discussions generated by learners. Any eCornell user can go back and access discussion board posts and other valuable ad hoc material that goes unrecorded in a real classroom.

Archiving what students say in discussions is important because, as Shoemaker points out, “People learn as much from their peers as they do from instructors.”

The online modality also provides learners more opportunity to reflect on materials and their application before contributing to a discussion, a benefit that is normally absent from a face-to-face learning experience.

Shoemaker is quick to point out that learning does not happen in a vacuum; it relies on an underlying model of learning and teaching and an integrated requirement to collaborate and discuss. eCornell’s problem-based approach, or pedagogy, is one of it’s most valuable differentiators.

eCornell has heavily invested in pedagogy, just as it has in course delivery. For example, eCornell’s proprietary Learning Molecule methodology employs five components (scenarios, resources, utilities, collaboration and evaluations) that holistically address every dimension of online elearning. The scenario acts as the nucleus of the molecule and sets the context. Scenarios are used either as anecdotal references upon which the problem is based or as a situation in which the learner is immersed.

Resources provide the knowledge the learner relies upon to solve the problem and utilities facilitate the application of new information.

The collaborative component enables learners to share and compare insights and solutions while the evaluative component provides the opportunity to assess mastery of the content and application.

The collaboration inherent in eCornell’s programs served a dual purpose for CSC learners. It not only motivated them to participate since they had an exceptional opportunity to learn from peers with whom they otherwise would not have access, but it also gave them a chance to demonstrate their own abilities broadly inside the organization. It had the effect of “flattening” the world of CSC’s leadership.

Continuity of Knowledge
Close contact and cooperation between SLDP and senior management emphasize how the CSC and eCornell learning models aim to create a community built around continual and communal learning.

The very purpose of SLDP is to ensure the continuity of the “culture of learning and performance,” by transferring knowledge from the company’s current leaders and academic experts to up-and-coming executives, and then encouraging those executives to share and employ knowledge in the service of innovation and leadership.

Many organizations face an impending, irreplaceable loss of the knowledge, experience and wisdom that has been a primary source of competitiveness and profitability. But thanks to SLDP and eCornell, that is a problem CSC does not have to face. The culture of learning in place at CSC will enable it to remain competitive for years to come.