Training Jumps +95% Thanks to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development's ‘IDEA Learning Highway’
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) is the federal agency responsible for national policies and programs
that address America’s housing needs. It’s not surprising, then, that
agency leaders have become adept at “building from the ground up.”
HUD’s Chief Learning Officer Matisha Montgomery and Susan Farrell, Senior LMS Administrator & HR Specialist, are working in tandem to build an agency-wide culture that values continuous learning, encourages knowledge sharing, and supports the ongoing development of every employee.
Establishing a culture of learning at HUD will:
Promote a mindset of continuous improvement, enabling employees to stay informed about industry trends, technological advancements, and best practices.
Encourage employees to explore new ideas, think critically, and embrace change – fostering a creative, respectful, and forward-thinking workplace.
Help employees stay informed about potential risks, allowing the agency to address and mitigate challenges proactively.
Montgomery and Farrell believe that building a learning culture is an investment in the long-term success of HUD. It not only benefits individual employees but also contributes to the overall growth, innovation, and resilience of the entire agency.
However, building a culture of learning isn’t a small feat, likely taking years to realize. And while the vision is clear, the team had to first remove obstacles to learning.
We’ll know that we’ve successfully built a culture of learning when our employees tell us they feel supported to grow at HUD,” Montgomery said. “When we see them gaining key skills that will help them in the future of work.
MATISHA MONTGOMERY
HUD’S CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER
THE CHALLENGE
“One of the main reasons people tend to leave any job is because they believe they lack opportunities for career development or training,” Montgomery said. Despite offering many training and learning opportunities at HUD, a critical challenge to achieving an effective learning culture was a lack of employee awareness.
Moreover, many HUD learners feel they don’t have time to incorporate learning into their workday. They were open to attending live learning events or taking formal classes, as these activities could be blocked in their calendar. However, prioritizing individualized learning often moved to the backburner.
“For us, it was critical to remove that roadblock and give our learners permission to set aside dedicated time each week to focus on their career development,” Montgomery said.
To retain top talent and encourage employees to invest in their development, the talent development team at HUD needed to raise awareness of the
tools, resources, and opportunities available to employees.
Here's how they got started:
GET LEADERSHIP BUY-IN.
When leadership actively supports and promotes a culture of learning, employees are more likely to follow suit. Securing leadership buy-in ensures the necessary resources, such as time and budget, are allocated to learning initiatives and aligned with the organization’s overall strategic goals.
This includes the goals like those reflected in the Biden-Harris administration’s Executive Order “Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Government.” This Executive Order strives to weave DEIA into all facets of the federal government, partly by expanding the training available to employees.
COMMUNICATE THE VALUE OF LEARNING.
Through every email, update, and meeting, everyone within the agency must understand that cultivating a learning culture is a priority for HUD.
“The only way you’re going to be able to impact any aspect of your organizational culture is to make sure you permeate all aspects of your organization with a consistent message,” Farrell said.
SET EMPLOYEES UP FOR SUCCESS.
“We’re asking both employees and leaders at HUD to prioritize their growth and development,” Montgomery said. “We’ve put tangible learning experiences at the fingertips of every individual. How can we give them leeway to make use of these resources?”
Achieving these goals requires a multifaceted approach and thoughtful strategy, often with influence from the highest levels of the federal government. The HUD team needed a solution to help promote a culture of learning, comply with regulations and federal policies, and entice employees to invest in themselves.
THE SOLUTION
HUD invested in Skillsoft’s Percipio catalog, including the DEIA, compliance, and leadership development portfolios to equip employees with up-to-date knowledge and skills so they can be better positioned to safely and effectively contribute to their roles.
HUD also launched its own channel in Percipio called the IDEA Learning Highway — putting inclusion first — which aligns to the federal government’s mandate for advancing DEIA in hiring and employment practices. The Executive Order requires all federal agencies to expand the training offered, “so that Federal employees are supported in building skillsets to promote respectful and inclusive workplaces and have increased understanding of implicit and unconscious bias.”
HUD offers a plethora of accessible training options through Skillsoft – having purchased access to Skillsoft Percipio for each of its 8,000+ employees. And because Skillsoft Percipio offers a wide variety of content, HUD is focusing its efforts on
a simple success metric: A global increase in overall learning engagement.
“We want to see increased attention to career development,” said Farrell. “We want our organization to understand that HUD is providing them with the resources – and time – they need to focus on their career development.”
Montgomery’s team, Talent Development and Workforce Planning (TDWP), hosts monthly internal webinars to help employees learn about Skillsoft Percipio, how to use it, and what’s available to encourage them to explore the platform and further their development.
“We make this available to all of HUD’s employees,” said Farrell. “We also specifically invite new employees so they realize how many great career development options they have at HUD.”
TDWP also recently kicked off a new initiative, called Empower Hour, which is a time set aside for all HUD employees to focus on professional development. Several one-hour topic sessions are offered as options, or the employees can use the time in other ways to work on their professional development. Employees can use this time to meet with a mentor, read an article, check out a book on Books 24/7, work on an individual development plan, or complete mandatory training requirements.
The first Empower Hour also included a Percipio overview. To date, the team has reach more than 1,200 employees in webinars sharing the many options available on Percipio for HUD employees.
Actions like these support HUD’s long-term goal of building a culture of learning.
The team envisions the future of the organization like this:
LEARNING IS A PRIORITY.
Everyone on the team respects training time as part of the job. It is just as important as every other meeting on the calendar.
“We want to ensure that learning is just as important to your success as the deliverables that you produce and the outcomes that you are a part of in your role,” said Montgomery.
IT’S EASY TO LEARN.
Learners can easily find and access the content they need to hone specific skills.
“Percipio makes it easy for the user to quickly narrow down to what they need for their development, along with the recommendations that are provided with the various personalized settings. That means less time searching, more time spent learning,” Farrell said.
HUD EMPOWERS EVERY EMPLOYEE.
In partnership with Skillsoft, HUD has compiled some high-level journeys for employees to jump into if they can’t decide what to pursue. Suggested topics range from artificial intelligence or customer experience to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
HOW DID THE PROGRAM PERFORM?
97%
of Learners Had Positive Course Experiences
98%
Understand the Material and Plan to Apply the Learning
69 (NPS Score)
Learner Feedback: “It was very informative, and it helped me to see how being aware of diversity and inclusiveness builds a better organization and environment.”
THE OUTCOME
Providing the IDEA Learning Highway as a learning option to all employees contributed to a 95% increase in learning from the previous year, and it’s been praised by those who’ve engaged with the program. Here is what learners have said:
“This whole series of DEI conversations has been especially informative and constructive. Thank you!”
“I’ve been with the Department for 12 years now and this is the first time I’ve taken a course like this. I’m very pleased DEI is being shared within the Department.”
“Excellent subject matter delivered in a conversational manner. The presenter and moderator shared information. It was not a lecture. It was a discussion. Big difference in the end result. Thank you.”
Steadily, the number of employees accessing training content in Skillsoft Percipio continues to increase — helped along by a steep spike in engagement after the IDEA Learning Highway launched.
The learning team’s hard work and constant drive to make training materials accessible
help reinforce the message that professional development is a priority at the agency.
Montgomery and Farrell are confident that they have established the building
blocks of a learning culture, and the data from Skillsoft Percipio proves this.
“We’ll know that we’ve successfully built a culture of learning when our employees tell us they feel supported to grow at HUD,” Montgomery said. “When we see them gaining key skills that will help them in the future of work.”