Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture [Paperback]

Donald Vanthournout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2008

Like most corporations at the turn of the millennium, Accenture was faced with business, economic, and operational changes affecting its renowned internal training program, which shapes and supports the work of its more than 126,000 employees in 48 countries. The company quickly reinvented its training and development capabilities through effective planning and governance, strong leadership, groundbreaking ROI methods, operational rigor, and the application of advanced technologies, as well as "phenomenal learning." This accessible book explains how it happened, and how to apply the lessons to any business.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donald Vanthournout is chief learning officer and associate partner at Accenture. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Agate B2; First Trade Paper Edition edition (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932841423
• ISBN-13: 978-1932841428
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I often think that I achieved literacy while getting my MA from the University of Chicago's Divinity School (where I focused on the history of Chinese religions), numeracy while getting my PhD from the University of Chicago (in measurement, evaluation and statistical analysis), and efficacy as Director of Performance Measurement for Accenture. As for achieving a legacy, well, time will tell, but Lasting Contribution has won six awards so I've made a start.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth its weight in gold, July 27, 2006

By 

Louise McCauley (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture (Hardcover)

It's always challenging to bridge the gap between high-level theory in Human Resources, and the confusing mire of on-the-ground action. It's all very well to `know' that you need your HR and training practices to align with and support your business strategy. But how is this accomplished? When you're faced with convincing executives, with other priorities and little time, to support what are often costly initiatives in Content Management and Corporate Training, and trying to make a good fit between what vendors offer and what your organization needs, when your budget has been cut and your employees have high-standards- it can seem as if you've been asked to juggle cats.

Return on Learning is the story of how one organization, Accenture, managed to successfully align training with business strategy, working on a budget that was cut in half, while maintaining extremely high-standards for the learning delivered to employees. The story is delivered from an in-the-trenches perspective for HR and Training professionals. There are no pat and `easy' answers here, but there are several ideas and innovations about `how' they did it that make this book worth it's weight in gold. Among these innovations are the V-Model (that guides training from goal through design and delivery to measurement), and an award-winning, innovative methodology for measuring the ROI of training that takes you out of the realm of estimates and into the promised land of hard data. Accenture manages to run training like a business, and not just as a catch-phrase. If you want to see how it's done, when it's really done well, this is a good place to start.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both practical and "big vision" ideas, October 8, 2006

By 

Rolf Swenson (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture (Hardcover)

I'm guessing that "Ed" and I (see other review) might have been at the same conference together where we received a copy of this book. I can second much of what he says, and also add that when it comes to one of my personal measures of a book's value--"number of significant ideas per page"--this book scores very high. I liked the "phenomenal learning" stuff in particular, and I also liked the discussion of Accenture's decision support capabilities that it developed as part of its learning management system.

I'd have to classify myself as one of those getting somewhat disillusioned by the big discrepancy between what a company's leaders say about their workforce ("People are our most important asset, yadda yadda yadda") and where they really invest their money. (Guess what budgets get cut first when things get tight?) I don't know enough about Accenture's inner workings from an employee's perspective to know if it's business really rises above that, but it is clear they are wrestling with it, and that certain core leaders really do "get" it.

There are practical ideas in this book and there are some "big vision" kinds of ideas -- something for about everyone.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, well-written, with practical business insights, September 29, 2006

By 

Ed Sampson (Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture (Hardcover)

I finished this book on a cross-country flight this week (the book is admirably short and punchy) and I'm still shaking my head over it. The book is incredibly honest about how business change and a down economy had apparently temporarily weakened Accenture's commitment to its workforce to provide training and development opportunities. (Actual quote from the book, when Accenture's Chief Learning Officer is trying to convince his executives that something had to be done: "The deal we have made with our people has been broken.")

But then the book proceeds to tell an entirely believable story of how they turned things around. Sure, there is the ocasional bit of consulting-speak in here, but most of what you get are practical ideas about how to plan, how to get your executives on board (please give this book to your local CEO/COO/CFO), how to use outsourcing in a smart way, how to use technology, ect., ect. And its not filled with theory but practical experiences of real people. For those with the background/interest, there is also a chapter on the number-crunching. Doubt it if you want to, but these guys proved that Accenture gets a 353 percent return on every dollar it spends on training. From what I can tell by reading that chapter, the real number probably is even higher since the ROI model they created only used a few parameters that they were absolutely sure they could quantify.

The book is really targeted at executives, but there is also a lot of good stuff for learning and HR professionals. One thing I really liked: Accenture's admission that in previous years they're training people had gotten lots of awards for training courses but weren't as good when it came to delivering projects on time and on budget. This new team got the respect of senior executives by saying, "Yeah, we're still going to deliver great training, but we're also going to do it by being good stewards of your investment dollars."

Not everyone is going to have the money Accenture has to throw at problems like this, but they, too, learned to do a lot with a much smaller budget -- and I can't think of a single thing here that another CEO or HR/learning executive like myself couldn't apply in some way to his or her organization.

On top of it all, the book is written in a totally compelling way. Other writers of business books, take note: it's written such that the authors are actually characters in a story. As a reader, your brought along as if you were reading a novel. Even if learning or HR isn't your thing, take a read to see how you can plan any kind of reinvention business program.

A really well done book, and worth the time it took for me to write a few words saying, "Way to go."