Is the Chief Learning Officer the Executive of the Future?

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Chief Learning Officer

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest,” says Benjamin Franklin.

Though this might sound peculiar but being a chief learning officer has been around for quite some time now. The CLOs core responsibility was to drive the organization’s learning towards a more strategic role. During the past, most people have quote mistaken the CLOs to be populating the learning management. However, this may not be true since the world is taking on towards the digital space, things are changing drastically. Like mentioned here, this job role was not something that just rose out of thin air. It had already existed; the only difference was that previously it was called director of training.

Who is a CLO (Chief Learning Officer)?

A CLO is someone who possesses the distinctive features such as having an eye towards collaboration and someone who has the capability of embracing e-learning in all kinds of format. Their primary job role includes formulating strategies that will drive corporate goals and policies along with corporate learning direction. Both the CLO and the CTO work unitedly wherein the CLO often spreads knowledge and learning to the learners via social media, human resources professional and at times through technology. To be precise, an expert being in the top C-level leadership is often responsible for taking up such responsibility under budget.

Learning officer are still underway in becoming the executives of the future. It is without a doubt that we’re all moving towards the era filled with adoption in social businesses. At situations, such as this, most companies and organizations have now accepted in implementing these changes.  Besides this, it is good if organizations start activating social employees around new tools and philosophies along with social processes.

According to John Hagel, he said that in the coming days the CLOs (Chief Learning Officer) might have an opportunity in becoming the next CEO, even if not the CEO but get the opportunity to grasp a position in becoming one of the board members.

If you’re still now aware, Steve Kerr, who revolutionized GE’s learning programs was the first chief learning officer. He only started his journey near about 25 years ago, and the legacy still continues to grow. Although it is still unclear as to how many organizations have started adopting the chief learning officer in their organizations, but this for sure we still know that the adoption for the CLO role will continue to rise drastically.

The chief learning officer heads almost every division is a company i.e. learning and training development, e-learning and many other divisions as well. The best part is, making an investment in these areas have proven beneficial over the past few years.  As a result, $70 billion was spent for corporate trainings only in 2014 alone. And over $160 billion is said to be spent per year.

The way businesses are approaching has empowered the CLOs to grab these opportunities and move along with the market trends. So, if you’re asking whether the chief learning officer can become the executive of the future, then a simple answer to this question is, Yes! Without them businesses would come to a halt.