General Electric, of course, is one of the world’s most-respected businesses, although it might be more accurate to say it’s several of the world’s most-respected businesses. With divisions covering everything from healthcare to aviation, from lighting to water, from your refrigerator to a massive locomotive, GE is a leading manufacturer of all manners of services and solutions.
The innovation certainly doesn’t stop there. The company is also continuing to bring good things to life in terms of workforce development.
Of course, GE is already well-known and well-respected as a leader in the business of developing leaders. GE’s famed Crotonville training facility is still the shining example of hands-on, 360-degree corporate learning environments, churning out generations of business leaders throughout GE and beyond.
So it’s not surprising that commitment to education and innovation has spread far beyond the Crotonville facility, impacting all GE businesses and training professionals, even those whose focus is not on leadership development. People like Max Herrell, for instance.
Herrell is a learning leader with GE Energy in Atlanta. With a background in nuclear power as a plant manager and training manager, Herrell had already developed an interest in e-learning when he was recruited to join GE about 10 years ago, and the chance to work for a world-class learning organization supported that need nicely.
Today Herrell is responsible for manufacturing and sourcing training for the power and water operations under GE Energy, overall charged with the training needs of 22,800 professionals at 56 plants worldwide. He also focuses on technical training, with a staff of five overseeing the design, development and delivery of training, often turning to other GE leaders to deliver real-world learning in various areas of expertise.
When it comes to determining the need for learning, Herrell and his colleagues are the leaders. In the past year Herrell and division manager Karen Toren built a self-assessment, career-planning tool that allows learners to assess their skills for advancement and set up a game plan to take their careers to the next level.
That tool, which in the height of nonchalance is just being called the self-assessment and career-planning tool, also helps the busy manager, who can also use it to evaluate employees, review their self-assessments and view a learning plan for his or her staff members. The tool even allows for a side-by-side comparison of assessments, to help determine common ground for performance conversations.
GE Energy, Herrell said, is also using the tool for budgetary purposes. When people leaders use the tool for staff assessment, and view suggested courses to increase productivity, they’ll also get a sense of the types of courses and resources they need to allow for in the coming months or year.
“In GE we encourage people to take control of their careers,” Herrell said. “This is a tool that helps you do that. I think the biggest value is it keeps employees engaged in their careers. It helps employees see there are jobs that you can move into, so there’s always opportunity. It can help them plan out a path to get from job A to job B. Being armed with this information helps them set down with their managers and have conversations about their careers.”
It’s likely the self-assessment and career-planning tool will move deeper into the company, with other functions paying close attention.
“A month or so ago we demonstrated it to the corporate training organization. It went very well,” Herrell said. “They’re probably going to adopt it. One of the things they’re working on in their professional leadership area is generating a larger pool of people available for leadership positions. They’re going to use that tool to help identify what they need to prepare for. “
Clearly innovative thinking is on that list. It’s obviously already being used at GE Energy.
