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Reinventing Training at Rockwell Collins
By Sarah Fister
Publication: Training
Date: Saturday, April 1 2000
A strategic plan and reallocation of training resources brings an oldline co!pany"s e!ployee
training into the 21st century#
$oc%&ell 'ollins( ne& learning strategy &ill allo& the co!pany to e)pand its training offerings by
*0 percent &hile it sa+es ,1* !illion o+er three years(and that"s a conser+ati+e esti!ate#
Did that get your attention( -t should# During the ne)t three years, training at the co!!unication
and a+iation electronics giant &ill e+ol+e fro! a frag!ented classroo! curriculu! into a
centrali.ed, technologybased approach to learning#
To pull off this feat, $oc%&ell 'ollins began by for!ulating a plan, an /2page strategic plan, that
outlines a !o+e fro! pri!arily classroo!based training to 0alternati+e0 learning for!ats(self
paced 1ebbased training 21BT3 at the des%top, co!puterbased training 2'BT3 courses on 'D
$45 +ia %ios%s and learning labs, and li+e training +ia online +irtual classroo!s# By 2006, year
four of the plan, 70 percent of the curriculu! &ill be deli+ered +ia technology, and !any of the
courses that re!ain in the classroo! &ill ha+e 'BT or 1BT co!ponents to !a%e the! !ore
efficient, says 'liff Purington, !anager of learning and de+elop!ent at $'"s head8uarters in
'edar $apids, -A#
A %ey co!ponent of $oc%&ell"s transfor!ation is the collaboration it created a!ong training
+endors to ensure it could build an efficient training syste!# But !ore on that later#
9istory :essons
An organi.ation &ith ;0 years of history behind it, $oc%&ell 'ollins today !anufactures coc%pit
instru!ents, inflight entertain!ent syste!s and groundco!!unication tools# -t has 1;
international offices in addition to its *2 do!estic locations# 9o& do you change the approach to
learning in a co!pany as +ast as this(
First you need to find out &hat you"re dealing &ith# Purington &as hired in Septe!ber 0</ to
change the &ay the co!pany deli+ered training to its 1*,000 e!ployees, half of &ho! are based
outside the 'edar $apids head8uarters# 9e and his tea!, &hich included The Perfor!ance
=ngineering >roup -nc# 2peg3, an organi.ational effecti+eness and change !anage!ent
consultancy in Santa Barbara, 'A, began by in+estigating the training en+iron!ent and collecting
e)isting training data#
01e needed a thorough understanding of the culture, structure, infrastructure, perceptions of the
current training, and any other data that &ould allo& Purington to get a clear picture of the
organi.ation,0 says 'hris Butler, president of peg# 0$oc%&ell 'ollins has al&ays been co!!itted
to training# They"+e al&ays in+ested a lot of !oney and resources on training#0 =+en in hard
ti!es, &hen !any co!panies &ere cutting bac% training staffs, $oc%&ell !aintained its training
in+est!ent, he says#
0The proble! &as that 100 percent of the in+est!ent &as going to classroo! instruction,0 says
Purington# The training depart!ent si!ply couldn"t %eep up &ith the co!pany"s changing needs
through classroo! training alone, he says#
The learning and de+elop!ent tea! inter+ie&ed and sur+eyed hundreds of e!ployees about
their reactions to traditional training and their ta%e on outsidetheclassroo! alternati+es# The
tea! re+ie&ed past training budgets and deli+ery !ethods, digging up figures on hours spent in
training per e!ployee per year, repeat rates for certain classes, student cancellation rates, no
sho& rates and class e+aluations# They also analy.ed $oc%&ell"s 0best place to &or%0 attitude
sur+eys, &hich are conducted e+ery t&o years to !easure ?ob satisfaction#
Se+en years( &orth of historical data, results fro! !ore than 600 e!ployee sur+eys, inter+ie&s
&ith %ey leaders, and se+eral focusgroup discussions re+ealed so!e startling facts# For
e)a!ple, of the 1,*00 courses offered during that ti!e, 72 percent &ere conducted only once# 4n
a+erage, 2/ percent of registered participants &ere nosho&s, and the 7,000 $' e!ployees
outside the 'edar $apids head8uarters had +ery li!ited access to training# Al!ost *0 percent of
the! recei+ed 1; or fe&er hours of training per year#
Fiftythree percent of those sur+eyed said &or% de!ands had forced the! to cancel out of a
scheduled training session# Another */ percent said they"d had to lea+e training because of &or%
de!ands, and <2 percent said they"d been unable to attend scheduled training three or !ore
ti!es#
Sur+eys also reflected support a!ong $' e!ployees for a ne& approach to learning: Si)tyt&o
percent &anted to recei+e training outside of traditional classroo!s@ 72 percent &anted to be able
to start and stop training &hen they &anted to@ and 7; percent &anted to learn at their o&n pace#
-n other &ords, $oc%&ell e!ployees &ere ready for the change to co!puterbased training#
A 5ap for the Future
1ith this data in hand, the tea! de+eloped a plan outlining the future of training at $oc%&ell
'ollins# -t calls for deli+ering 70 percent of $oc%&ell"s curricula +ia co!puterbased learning
!ethods by the end of 2001# -n Dece!ber of 1<<<, the co!pany &as already at the 60 percent
!ar%#
The ne& learning syste! &ill use a nu!ber of ele!ents to create a rich training en+iron!ent# All
business units &ill ha+e learning councils, !ade up of $' !anagers and internal learning
consultants, &ho &ill o+ersee training needs analyses and e+aluate &hether training is the right
solution for perfor!ance proble!s# $' &ill participate in an industry cooperati+e of large
organi.ations that share specific training needs, creating an e)tranet of co!puterbased courses
that all coop !e!bers can use, thus reducing the cost of training for all# $' also hopes to offer
online graduate courses and possibly degree progra!s to e!ployees through Aansas State
Bni+ersity#
The learning and de+elop!ent 2:CD3 tea! tied the strategic training plan to the co!pany"s +ision
and botto! line to ensure upper!anage!ent buyin# But the ne& approach to learning &asn"t
too tough to sell once the tea! deter!ined that technologyassisted deli+ery &ould reduce
$oc%&ell"s training budget by a !ini!u! of *0 percent during the first three years of
i!ple!entation#
The :CD tea! e+entually calculated that o+er the threeyear life of the grand plan, the co!pany
&ould sa+e ,1*!illion on labor, tra+el and offsite e)penses(airfare, hotel costs, and reduction of
onthe?ob hours lost to offsite training# 01e used !ore than *0 algorith!s to sho& paybac%, and
those nu!bers &ere +alidated by the finance group,0 says Purington#
The ,1* !illion sa+ings does not reflect the return on in+est!ent attributable to i!pro+ed ?ob
perfor!ance or better retention rates e)pected fro! offering increased ?ustinti!e training# That"s
&hy the :CD tea! feels ,1* !illion is a conser+ati+e esti!ate# Factor in these less 8uantifiable
paybac%s, contends Purington, and he"d e)pect a sa+ings of t&ice that !uch#
=+en though s&itching to online and co!puterbased training re8uired a significant in+est!ent in
1<<<, the :CD tea! did it &ith the sa!e training budget it had in 1<</(D#D percent of annual
payroll# 01e deli+ered all of the necessary training, bought the hard&are and soft&are, and hired
four !ore people &ith the sa!e budget,0 says Purington# 5ost of the sa+ings ca!e fro! the
purchase of a library of infor!ationtechnology courses fro! S!artForce 2for!erly 'BT
Syste!s3, &hich sa+ed $' the cost of sending 6,000 people to classroo! courses#
Tea!ing Bp Eendors
-n Fanuary 1<<<, &ith !anage!ent"s support and a plan in place, the :CD tea! started loo%ing
for +endors# $ather than inter+ie&ing a sle& of co!panies indi+idually, listening to proposals, and
handing do&n his decisions, Purington in+ited ;0 +endors to a group !eeting# First he outlined
the plan, then he !ade an announce!ent: 0Go one of you can offer !e a turn%ey solution, and -
don"t &ant to !anage a &hole lot of +endors# - &ant a tea!, &ith e+eryone on a le+el playing
field#0
>athering the +endors together in this fashion caused a certain, shall &e say, apprehension#
0They &ere all fairly unco!fortable,0 says Ste+e Funion, an -T specialist at $oc%&ell and !e!ber
of the :CD tea!# This is an unco!!on approach, peg"s Butler ac%no&ledges# There"s not one
contractor and a lot of subcontractors@ there"sno leader, e)cept Purington and his tea!# -n fact,
!any of the +endors bal%ed at the idea# After the initial !eeting, a fe& told Purington that it &ould
ne+er &or%#
But it has# :ess than a year later, 12 +endors &ere on board, sharing secrets and !odifying their
products to &or% &ith co!petitors( products# A!ong those +endors are Allen 'o!!unications
and >ulli+er $itchie, both of &ho! are custo!i.ing specialty courses for $' such as training on
the da!aging effect of static electricity@ Pinnacle 5ulti!edia is pro+iding its :earning
5anage!ent Syste! to !anage all of $oc%&ell"s training online@ S!artForce and The Belgard
>roup are supplying co!puterbased offtheshelf -T and softs%ills courses@ 'entra Soft&are is
bringing its +irtualclassroo! offering to the table@ and se+eral others are pro+iding hard&are and
soft&are#
After their initial hesitation, +endors ha+e o+er&hel!ingly endorsed the tea! for!at# 0- li%e this
approach because the co!pany has the %no&ledge and can ?udge the ability of the people
helping the!,0 says Ste+e Allen, technology chair at Allen 'o!!unications in Salt :a%e 'ity# 0-t"s
the !ost inno+ati+e approach &e"+e seen,0 says Bill Belgard of the Belgard >roup, a leadership
training consultancy based in Portland, 4$# 0All of the +endors are &or%ing together li%e a
sy!phony instead of a bunch of solo acts#0
Still, putting a group of +endors in a roo! and telling the! to &or% together isn"t enough to !a%e
it happen# -n this case it"s &or%ing because $oc%&ell 'ollins has a detailed plan that !aps out
e)actly &hat it &ants and &ho is going to pro+ide it# 0The strategic plan is %ey to the process,0
says Fi! Aosse, regional account !anager for S!artForce# 01e can see &here &e fill a role#0 For
e)a!ple, the plan lays out the criteria and contributions re8uired to !eet its returnonin+est!ent
goals for the 'BT rollout in the first year# 0-t gi+es us a target,0 he says# 0They"re saying: 09ere
are our goals# 9o& can you help us !eet the!(0 0
01ithout the plan it &ould be chaos,0 says Allen# A co!prehensi+e strategic plan helps +endors to
be less co!petiti+e because they see their place in the o+erall strategy and ho& they &ill profit
fro! it# 0This is &hat"s !issing fro! !ost organi.ations,0 he says#
A 5eeting of the 5inds
-n Go+e!ber, Purington in+ited all the +endors &ho !ade the cut to 'edar $apids to celebrate
&hat they"d acco!plished so far and to discuss the future# Thirty representati+es fro! 1; +endors
spent the !orning sharing ideas#
The occasion !ar%ed the fact that in fi+e !onths al!ost all of the Hear 4ne goals had been !et,
includingdeli+ering 60 percent of the curriculu! +ia co!puter, establishing a co!!on design
process, creating learning labs for e!ployees &ithout co!puter access, and launching the first
+irtual classroo!#
5ean&hile, e!ployees got their first taste of the ne& and i!pro+ed $oc%&ell 'ollins learning
syste! last su!!er# The syste! &ent up in Fuly 0<<, but &ith little fanfare, says Purington# And
that &as by design# =!ployees 8uietly disco+ered the 260 courses, allo&ing the :CD staff ti!e to
gauge responses and iron out any bugs#
-n Go+e!ber, $oc%&ell 'ollins officially rolled out the ne& syste! &ith posters, articles,
corporate&ide e!ail announce!ents, and a de!o 'D$45 featuring highlights fro! the ne&
training for all 1*,000 e!ployees# 01e"+e had e)cellent responses,0 says Funion# 0:ots of people
outside head8uarters had been neglected in the past, and they are +ery e)cited about 1eb
based training#0
Full Te)t '4PH$->9T
'4PH$->9T Bill 'o!!unications -nc# 2000# All $ights $eser+ed