2019 AWARD FINALIST SPOTLIGHT: IBM - Finalist in the Cultural Transformation & Sustainability to deliver a high performing Enterprise Excellence Culture Category

Read this article about IBM, one of our finalists, in the category Best Achievement in Cultural Transformation & Sustainability to deliver a high performing Enterprise Excellence Culture, selected by the independent judging panel, for the 2019 Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards program. Click here to read articles on other finalists.

The Global Knowledge Buddy (GKB) Program has played a key role in achieving the organization’s strategic objective of enabling the right skilled workforce ready to meet future and changing demands. The network of Global Knowledge Buddies (GKBs) participating in the GKB Program provide support in knowledge sharing and skills development across the globe, enabling IBMers to share expertise and experience on topics deemed critical by the organization and specific locations.

A crucial aspect of the program is that GKBs are performing their program related tasks on a voluntary basis on top of their primary job role. GKBs can apply for a GKB Achiever badge, that is a validated indicator of their accomplishment, skills, knowledge and dedication in leading high-quality internal training courses at IBM.

In order to enable locations to become self-sufficient in addressing their skill development needs we have piloted an agile-aligned approach structured around GKBs.  To satisfy locations’ learning needs in a timely manner and to the best effect, the GKB Program aims to build a local team of trainers – Subject Matter Experts (SME) who are the best fit to conduct learning considering the local cultural and language requirements. By engaging Subject Matter Experts who have hands on experience with a given topic, the learning sessions have a focus on real business challenges and employee needs.

GKB Program has beneficial impact on employee engagement on two levels. It allows SMEs to share expertise and experience, grow training skills and provides them an opportunity to be exposed to a wider audience and progress their career. On the other hand, attendees of classes delivered by GKBs benefit of the training courses run on their locations enabling them to grow specific skills, if needed in the local language and tailored to their business needs. The program has become key to close employees’ skills gaps who then can achieve better business results by being more productive and adopting new ways of working. GKB Program is also crucial to manage and retain talent.

The program helped spread a new culture in IBM, the culture of self-sufficiency. Instead of relying on others, IBMers thrive to become self-sufficient not only on the field of Learning and Development but on other areas of work as well. By leveraging the GKB program, local teams are prepared to be more self-sufficient in meeting their education needs. 

Continuous improvement is a pillar of the GKB Program, feedback is provided to GKBs after class delivery and retrospective calls are scheduled to discuss the outcomes and agree on actions on how to improve. Ongoing monitoring of feedback results helps Learning and Development team to track which locations and GKBs need further support. Besides social media channels, quarterly showcase and retrospective calls provide additional forum for engagement and collaboration. These practices have an impact beyond learning and has become part of the organizational mindset.