What made Facebook the most extraordinary place to work – for me personally

Over the past number of years my work in Facebook, lead us to being well regarded by our business leaders in EMEA. I would love to say that it was a long term strategy, but it wasn’t, we just had the freedom to go after the most impactful work.

The 10% (formal learning, workshops, online resources etc)

We built a ‘solid’ 10%, consisting of new hire orientation, workshops and online resources and then we stopped building anymore. We concentrated on workshops that have the greatest impact on growing our culture positively. I feel many L&D functions get stuck here, in the 10%, by continually building new and interesting workshops that are requested by the business, but either don’t real impact on the business results or the impact is impossible to measure.

We then operationalized and outsourced the vast majority of these workshops to a set of ‚hand picked‘ trusted partners

Measurement of the 10

For many L&D people this is their reality. It is so difficult to measure how this work impacts on business results, that we revert to measuring through learning outcomes. We return to attendance numbers, happy sheets and post workshop questionnaires to justify our existence. In all honesty I’ve not met a CEO/senior business leader who really cares about these numbers, but it’s all we have. Instinctively leaders know there is value to these sessions and so we continue to deliver them (until there is a recession), which is when we really understand how much we are valued.

The 20% (Coaching/mentoring)

Coaching

We have had a positive attitude towards coaching/mentoring for many years. It has always been seen as a benefit, rather than a ‘development’ tool. We have had many different forms of coaching and all have worked. As examples, we have used face to face coaching, virtual coaching and coaching circles. Now we offer coaching to everyone through a remote coaching provider, which is basically a way of outsourcing this part of the 20. This move again allows us to move closer to the 70

Mentoring

Our instincts are pushing us towards “instant mentoring‘ where people can get just in time, just enough and just for them information. This is done through identifying the people who are able and ready to teach certain topics and connecting them with the people who are ready to learn. I think we are onto something here. Once more we are using others to help us scale our philosophies

Measurement of the 20

Providing the objectives are clearly stated at the start, measuring the success of coaching is easier than attendance to a workshop, but it’s still not exact. The impact of a coaching assignment should be easier to quantify than attendance to a workshop.

The 70% experiential, on the job

I think if we all reflected on the greatest learning experience of our careers, then it certainly wouldn’t come in to 10%, it could have been assisted by something in the 20%, but there always has to be a lot of the 70%. I believe that that we learn the most, when we are outside of our comfort zone, doing something we enjoy, with the right level of support

Where we have made a real difference is in this area is with Real Team Development, which in Facebook last usually between 3 and 12 months and is our door to the 70%.  It allows us to join and partner with people as they really learn. Leaders don’t ask about ROI on this type of activity as they experience it in real time. They see their team grow and results improve. If results aren’t improving, then we do something different until they do.

Measurement of the 70

Providing we agree objectives and real business targets at the start of an assignment then this work should be easier to measure than the 10% and the 20%. The distance between learning intervention and learning application is so much closer in real team development.

If L&D professionals are going to create the biggest impact, then we have to let go of the 10% and focus primarily on the 70% and in my experience the best, or maybe only door to this area is Real Team Development.

Beim HR Inside Summit von 09.-10. Oktober wird uns Jeff in seiner Keynote mit anschließenden Session mehr zum Thema „What made Facebook the most extraordinary place to work – for me personally“ erzählen – come and join!

About the author:

Jeff is a qualified and experienced Learning and Development professional, who, by creating effective relationships with people at all levels, has managed the delivery of optimum performance, through the development and motivation of others.

His philosophy of effective learning is to connect those who have something to teach with those who are ready to learn and I believe that coaching is probably the most effective way of people developing to their full potential.

He is a certified ICF coach who works with Directors in Facebook and help them make maximum impact. He has already worked as Learning & Development Manager & Head of Talent Management at O2.