Increase ROI with Experiential Learning

By Mark Dzuban

From my earliest days, I was blessed to have mentors who were willing and able to help me take the steps needed to forge ahead in my career and in life. From a Westinghouse engineer eager to transfer a passion for science to his son to a high school speech and drama coach who would gain fame as Susan Sarandon and ultimately people like Dr. John Malone in business, I was fortunate to be guided by individuals who understood how hands-on experience would flourish when combined with expert guidance.

So when I read Dr. Martha Soehren’s column in the Summer issue of Broadband Library, I couldn’t help but smile. As Dr. Soehren laid out the particulars and the successes of Comcast’s CT-90 onboarding program, I marveled at how effectively experiential learning is driving business results for the company and thought about how SCTE•ISBE is helping to use programs akin to CT-90 to accelerate the knowledge and skills of operator workforces across the cable industry.

One of the things I took away from Dr. Soehren’s column is something that is core to our learning and development philosophy at SCTE•ISBE: the principle that training manuals are only small parts of the educational process. The most successful programs in the corporate world also include roadmaps that enable a structured approach to each individual’s career, measurement and analysis of the steps taken and the results achieved and — this is key! — peer assisted learning that engages the trainee and develops a personal mentoring relationship between company leadership and the employee.

For operators without comprehensive training programs — or for operators looking to improve on what they have — SCTE•ISBE training represents a sustainable catalyst for the transfer of knowledge across the entire industry. As the pivot of applied science for the industry, we leverage our relationships and our L&D tools to bring apprenticeship-style hands-on training to the entire cable community. Through building blocks such as our collaboration with operators and vendors on course curricula, our partnerships with NCTA, CableLabs and other associations, our unique chapter structure, and, of course, SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo^®, we create the foundation for a muscular program that helps to drive corporate ROI.

A few years ago, we talked about how Suddenlink used SCTE•ISBE resources and mentoring as cornerstones of its Careerlink program, which was intended to boost employee retention and create a consistent standard of excellence for its workforce to achieve. Suddenlink became the first cable operator to achieve 100% certification of its technical workforce for employees with 90 days of service or more. The program spurred a 60% boost in Suddenlink’s Net Promoter Scores and a J.D. Power rating for industry improvement that was the best in the industry at that time.

Our CORTEX Expert Development System™ builds on the lessons of our Suddenlink experience by integrating SCTE•ISBE’s vast catalog of training courses and certifications with state-of-the-art, brain-based learning environments. With CORTEX, we enable any operator to achieve success by giving the mentor a clear picture of an individual’s accomplishments, and by identifying areas that should be targeted for improvement to ensure rapid and lasting career progress. It’s recognized throughout the industry that our network of Chapters — and Cable-Tec Expo — are hubs for knowledge sharing and new thinking; CORTEX and the CORTEX app provide the visibility operators and their mentor teams require to plan, track and course-correct workforce participation in those activities, as well as to measure results.

Elsewhere in this edition Ed Marchetti talks about how Comcast has created a team of Ambassadors and Fellows who are instrumental in leveraging SCTE•ISBE’s Corporate Alliance Partner program, our training curriculum, our chapter resources and now CORTEX. The goal is to achieve Comcast’s objective of “First Time Right” for installations, service calls and engineering and operational activities. I invite you to read Ed’s insights and to visit our CORTEX lounge, Booth #2519, at SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo to learn more about how mentoring — so important in my life — can boost individuals’ careers and operator business results.

Mark L. Dzuban

President/CEO, SCTE
mdzuban@scte.org

As President and CEO of SCTE•ISBE, Mark Dzuban is continuing a lengthy career of telecommunications leadership. Mark has been instrumental in positioning SCTE•ISBE as a leader in energy management and technical education, driving creation of the Energy 2020 program, the CORTEX Expert Development System™ and other programs and services that build value for the cable system operators, technology partners and individual members. Mark was honored with the prestigious NCTA Vanguard Award in 2011.

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