Transformational Learning: Renewing Your Company Through Knowledge and Skills

In their headlong rush to transform themselves to meet the challenges of global competition, companies have invested millions in new technologies and grand reengineering schemes. In all too many cases, the outcomes have been smaller, disgruntled staffs and, from a competitive standpoint, business as usual, or worse. As Daniel R. Tobin demonstrates in this groundbreaking book, while technology may help to facilitate change, change always originates with people. That's why today's most successful businesses are those in which individuals at every level—from the mailroom to the executive suite—are committed to acquiring new knowledge and skills that will help their company win the battle for market share. While the concept of the learning organization is not new—it has been a major theme in corporate America ever since Peter Senge's 1990 classic The Fifth Discipline—until now, no single source provided the tools needed to translate that vision into everyday reality.

The first nuts-and-bolts guide to building a learning organization, Transformational Learning supplies step-by-step guidance and the tools you need to put learning organization concepts into daily practice. You'll learn how to align your group's learning initiatives with long-range company goals, develop a renewable learning system, measure the group's learning "vital signs," develop partnerships with key leaders throughout the organization, and much more. And with the help of many instructive and inspiring case studies from major North American and international companies, including Corning, PPG, Amoco, and Sun Microsystems, you'll discover how real people have successfully implemented transformational learning principles to help their organizations bounce back from crises, sustain and magnify successes, and forge a powerful new competitive edge.

Drawing upon more than 20 years of experience as a leading corporate education expert, Tobin also introduces an array of original tools and techniques that have yielded remarkable results in case after case. He describes a dynamic new model that helps companies maximize the capture and use of crucial information. He details a revolutionary approach to benchmarking that helps you zero in on and exploit the best knowledge and skill resources available both within and outside your company. And he provides a comprehensive new method for building a knowledge network and tying it effectively into your company's transformational goals.

A comprehensive guide to making learning organizational principles a practical reality in your organization, Transformational Learning is a must read for every manager, executive, and team leader.

"The solid linkage Dan Tobin forges between the core value of continuous learning and the never-ending quest for profitability is an essential extension to the idea of the Learning Organization. Small, medium, and large companies can use Tobin's ideas to create a learning strategy that directly supports corporate renewal and long-term growth." —Theodore B. Kinni Founder, The Business Reader

"To survive in this constantly changing new world, a company will have to renew itself many times in its life cycle; the key to renewal will be learning. This book is a must read for both the CEO and the training manager of the company who want to better understand their roles for that life cycle and the attainable future." —Ray Morrison, PhD Administrator, Lockheed Technical Institute

"Transformational Learning focuses people on a vision of what they need to learn to take action and ownership for changing themselves and their jobs. It is the engine that drives people to achieve their company's strategic goals . . . that is what measures the real success or failure of a corporate training function." —Joe Slezak Mercury Marine

"This is the best book I know of that can be used by leaders to build organizational commitment to understanding and achieving excellence." —James R. Marchant Vice President, Human Resources Avenor, Inc.

"Dan Tobin's Transformational Learning: Renewing Your Company Through Knowledge and Skills aids business leaders in understanding how to use information technology, not be victimized by it. I recommend that business leaders expecting to prosper beyond the next five years read this book." —Steven J. Bomba Vice President, Technology Johnson Controls, Inc.

"This immensely readable book can help improve any manufacturer, large or small." —Joan Carvell Vice President California Manufacturing Technology Center

DANIEL R. TOBIN, PhD, is a consultant in the field of developing corporate learning systems with more than 20 years of experience in the field of training and education. His clients include AT&T, EDS, and Mercury Marine. Dr. Tobin earned his doctorate in the economics of education from Cornell University. He is a frequent speaker for groups such as the American Society for Training and Development and the International Society for Performance Improvement, and the author of the critically acclaimed Re-Educating the Corporation.