Making learning a habit that matters at Ericsson

The real objective (of learning) is to create a workforce that creates value for customers

In this week's episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, my guest is Vidya Krishnan, Chief Learning Officer and Global Head of Learning & Development at Ericsson, who is at the cutting edge of driving a culture where learning is a habit that matters.

When we were planning this episode, Vidya and I quickly discovered that we had a mutual passion for people data and analytics. Vidya also shared with me a view that I found quite profound: Vidya told me that “learning is oxygen – invisible but necessary to survive. Analytics will make it visible.” This is something we dive into deeper in our conversation.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

In our conversation Vidya and I discuss:

• The relationship between learning and business outcomes ("We exist to solve business problems. We exist to create and build future critical skills that enable and unlock business performance, that is the ultimate purpose of what we do.")
• How to cultivate a growth mindset across your workforce ("We want our people to believe that they are on the move and that there is a zero tolerance for zero learning.")
• How to build a skills-driven organisation and help employees identify the skills they need ("You have to get the whole company to just speak the same language of what skills are, how we describe them, what they consist of, where they matter, how they relate to jobs to be done.")
• Why skills, learning and opportunity need to be brought together (“It will allow people to think differently, not only about their skills and their learning, but about what directions they could go in and maybe realise that there are directions they just never considered before that they could pivot quite easily.”)
• The importance of re-skilling ("When you can re-skill and re-deploy rather than release, then when you recruit, you are really recruiting with a very high intentionality.")
• Why the future of learning is wrapped up in the future of people analytics ("What better way to show the business the impact of learning, not just by net promoter scores and how many people took it, but did we actually shift the workforce composition?")  
• How technology and 5G will impact the future of learning and transform education ("5G is a watershed moment for education. 5G allows us to be ever more digital and ever more human.")
• How the learning function and Chief Learning Officer role is set to evolve ("The role of Chief Learning Officer will be so much more about performance and development and not just learning for learning's sake.")

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested or involved in learning, skills and culture development, so that’s business leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning or HR Business Partner role.

In order to have a really effective learning culture at Ericsson, we have to have an equally strong teaching culture

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Vidya, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: Making learning a habit that matters at Ericsson

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Vidya and I covered in our conversation. In the video below, Vidya explains how Ericsson is building a skills-driven organisation.

GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to Vidya for sharing her time, expertise and twin passions for learning and data with listeners of the podcast. You can connect with Vidya on LinkedIn, as well as find out more about Vidya on the Ericsson blog and read her article the future belongs to the learners, which we referenced in our conversation.

Thanks also to Degreed for sponsoring Series 9, and also Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa, Caroline Styr and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.

CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

• EP 44: Simon Brown - How Novartis promotes learning curiosity to drive business value
• EP 43: Kat Kennedy - Improving Employee Experience through Learning, Skill Development & Mobility
• EP 42: Gianpiero Petriglieri - How Do You Create a Learning Culture in the Workplace?
• EP 41: Lynda Gratton - How can HR help shape the re-skilling and learning agenda?
• Bonus Episode: Diane Gherson - How IBM is Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics
• Summer Special #5: Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui - Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation
• Summer Special #4: Dan Cable - How to help people love what they do at work
• Summer Special #3: Torin Ellis - What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations?
• Summer Special #2: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - What is the role of leadership in times of crisis?
• Summer Special #1: Amy Edmondson - How to create Psychological Safety at work
• EP 40: David Green - How can People Analytics drive business value?
• EP 39: Jeremy Shapiro - How People Analytics has progressed in the last ten years
• EP 38: Heather McGowan - How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work
• EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen - How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
• EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan - Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
• BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer - What is the future of People Analytics?
• EP 35: Peter Hinssen - What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
• EP 34: Bruce Daisley - What do business leaders want from HR?
• EP 33: Dirk Jonker - Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
• EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic - The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
• EP 31: Piyush Mathur - How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
• BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) - How to develop the HR skills of the future
• EP 30: Katy Gray - How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
• EP 29: Uri Ort - What is the future of talent assessment?
• EP 28: Zara Nanu - The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
• EP 27: Julia Shaw - How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
• EP 26: Stela Lupushor - How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
• BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs - How to scale Employee Experience
• EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant 
• EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC 
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology 
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company 
• EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data 
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.