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April 15, 2009
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Textron’s talent leadership and development process - Textron University - has grown into a world-class learning program in just four short years. This growth is evidenced by recent awards from leading experts in the enterprise learning and development field.
Bersin & Associates Learning Leaders program identifies the “best of the best” in organizational learning annually – and has presented Textron with two top 2008 Learning Leaders awards.
Textron’s Material Excellence Program, offered in partnership with the Ohio State University (OSU), won in the Operational Program Excellence category. This program is a learning solution that Textron developed to address a very specific business need – the optimization of inventory levels and product flow. Since launching in 2008, employees have introduced more than 40 improvement projects across the company. Ten have been completed so far, including one that resulted in $1.2 million in cash flow through reduced inventory.
Textron’s Growth Leadership Program (GLP), also offered through OSU, was recognized in the Leadership Program Excellence category for its effective use of real-life learning. This hands-on curriculum enables employees to apply course content to an actual Textron business challenge and then share ideas and best practices with colleagues from across the enterprise. The consistent support and involvement from Textron senior leadership for the GLP was also highlighted by Bersin & Associates as an industry best practice. Nearly 90 growth-enhancing projects have been launched at Textron as a result of the GLP.
For Kevin Brady, performance solutions manager in Textron’s Global Leadership Development group, these awards validate the foundational goals of each program: “We designed these programs to develop the knowledge of our participants, while enabling them to apply their new skills to a real-world business challenge. The resulting projects reinforce what they’ve learned and provide direct business impact to the organization in return.”
Importantly, Textron continues to focus on the proactive development of employees through Textron University, despite the current economic climate. “The go forward success of Textron and each of our businesses lies in our future leaders,” says Gwen Callas-Miller, executive director of Global Leadership Development for Textron. This is why Textron has aligned talent leadership and development to support Textron’s long-term business goals.
“The ultimate goal is to help employees and the future leaders of the company grow the skills and competencies they need to develop their careers, while impacting the long-term growth of the business,” added Callas-Miller.
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