Bottom Line: Experiential Learning Works

By Martha Soehren

SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo is still months away, but here’s one topic that will be on the agenda: how learning paradigms that seamlessly combine education with direct experience increasingly are delivering business results, enabling companies like Comcast to improve the performance and confidence level of newly hired field professionals, while also contributing to improved retention.

Since its launch two years ago, the apprenticeship-like nature of our own Comcast CT-90 (CommTech New Hire) program has netted positive improvements in employee retention within the first six months in almost all markets, and in some markets, by a factor of as high as 30%. Additionally, this new program provided our operating divisions with fully functional three-product — data, video and voice — technicians who demonstrate more confidence in their capabilities and are better positioned to deliver on the company’s promises to our customers.

CT-90 is a three-month onboarding program, not simply a training regimen. It’s the product of recognition by our leadership that the first 90 days with the company are critical in the successful integration process for new employees. We’ve successfully built the program around three immersive elements that maximize assimilation of knowledge and corporate culture, notably:

• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL),in which some of our senior technicians work one-on-one with new hires to teach routines in the field and to provide expert oversight as those trainees hone their skills in real-world situations;
• The CT-90 Mobile App,an educational “North Star” that provides supervisors, trainers, PAL technicians, and trainees with common access to the training progress and a clear picture of the roadmap ahead; and
• Accelerated development of supervisory relationships— including lunch with the supervisor on Day 2 and weekly progress connections — that is designed to ease transitions from the training program to the workforce.

Specifically designed to address key needs and opportunities articulated by our division presidents, CT-90 is the product of intensive collaboration between Comcast University and the division Field Operations teams. During a five-day face-to-face collaboration and ideation design session, our team executed a dramatic rethink of the process needed to make new hires feel welcomed as members of the Comcast family.

On Day 1, CT-90 participants get the tools they need to do their jobs, including iPads — a real plus as we empower millennial hires to take charge of their own education. They’re shown their vehicles and how to care for them. Ultimately, we want them to understand how happy we are that they’ve joined the company and how we care for them and our customers.

The program itself features 10 modalities of content. Like SCTE•ISBE’s CORTEX Expert Development System™, it provides appropriate learning for a variety of different situations. These include both instructor-led and self-paced content such as eBooks, eLearning, a library of videos and even a mobile platform where trainees can video record themselves for peer evaluation. Between the content and the field experience, we’ve found that new hires almost always have the skills and confidence they need to be fully productive by the start of the final month of training. (Mark Dzuban will discuss in his next “Follow the Leader” column how SCTE•ISBE training aligns with CT-90.)

While CT-90 is designed for new hires, an interesting side benefit has been with the PALs themselves. An early lesson was that our best techs and our best PALs often are two very different types of individuals. During the course of the program — which includes training and orientation for the PALs themselves — we’ve also seen that the experienced PALs develop in providing guidance and leadership, which can position them for increased responsibilities within our organization. In some instances, PALs have been promoted as a result of their performance in CT-90.

The best news is that we’re just beginning to see the fruits of CT-90. As we continue to use the program as a gateway for new technicians, we anticipate that the benefits of improved employee retention will pay off in a team that provides service that improves outcomes for our customers, for Comcast and for the technicians themselves. It is important to note that the success of this program is a result of the Learning and Development function being tightly aligned with Operational Business Leaders and HR partners — a phenomenal success story for Comcast.

Martha Soehren, PhD

Comcast
Chief Talent Development Officer

Martha spent 25 years with the defense industry and is in her 18th year at Comcast. She serves as an advisor for the Doctorate of Learning for the University of Pennsylvania’s GSE/Wharton School. With SCTE•ISBE Martha serves as a non-voting observer for the Board of Directors, chair of the Compensation Committee and Learning & Development Subject Matter Expert. She is Past Chair of the WICT BOD, was 2014 Chair of the Association of Talent Development’s (ATD) BOD and serves on the ATD’s Selection Committee.

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