Developing, Documenting, and Distributing Learning 31Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtena very similar Challenge, albeit in a different business unit or geography. Connecting
cross-function and cross-geographical border issues and people continues to be a focus
for discussion around the return on investment for the event. The postprogramme
conference calls have begun to identify business opportunities across divisions in the
organization and direct revenue-generating projects as a result of the network estab-
lished and promoted at the event. It is hoped that in time these trends and successes will
be recorded by delegates on an Internet-based platform for any employee to see, learn
from, and follow.
The networking and quick understanding of the knowledge and business represen-
tation in the room is a fundamental quick win of the curriculum and the platform on which
further learning will be maintained and shared. Feedback after the first few programmes
in 2002 alluded to the struggle to get to know everyone and how they contributed over
the three-day event. As a result, Europe implemented an additional prework assignment
named Background Information. Each participant was asked to complete a brief electronic
proforma prior to the event documenting his/her name, office location, business unit,
three to six month Business Challenge, time of service with the company, greatest
achievement while at Marsh, and what they do on a Sunday afternoon. These data are
e-mailed to the Programme Manager to be collated into a simple spreadsheet and
circulated to delegates at the beginning of Day 1 of the event to help people know and
remember colleagues they meet and learn from. This document is also circulated after the
workshop by e-mail, along with an e-mail distribution list to encourage the network to
sustain and grow.
Post Event
Marsh Europe invested in a questionnaire distributed to a random selection of
colleagues who had attended the programme. These questionnaires were sent out to
delegates six to eight months post event through an online Web-based interview tool
allowing the results to be recorded electronically and transferred into a database for
future reference. The outcome of the questionnaires was verbatim comments leading to
a number of conclusions about the event itself, the impact of efforts to sustain learning,
and the needs for KM tools.
The feedback identifies that while colleagues felt that the programme gave them
much material to enrich their personal effectiveness, few were able to make the connec-
tion to how the learning had impacted the organisation. The Business Challenge template
has been revised in the third year of delivery of the programme to include a specific
question to the delegate of the hard-dollar value of the business challenge they hope to
complete as a result of their learning. These documents are signed before each delegate
leaves the event and sent to a central global team to collate. The next step proposed in
this process, with a high-man-hour intervention, is to go back to each delegate three to
six months after the programme to reconcile proposed dollar return with actual return to
clearly demonstrate a tangible bottom-line impact. One particular Business Challenge has
estimated a return equal to the financial value of delivering one Managing Essentials
event for 30 employees.
It has been agreed to investigate the development of a leadership “portal” which
would also enable colleagues across Europe to interact, share learning and lessons
learned to a greater proportion of delegates with the tool targeting all those who have
attended Managing Essentials, rather than those who attend each individual programme.