At Leggett & Platt, we value people who never stop learning. We hire character and train skill; we work diligently to maintain a culture of continuous improvement. That’s why we established the Learning & Development (L&D) team back in 2010: we’re a small group of passionate professionals who fill the learning needs of our salaried and corporate employees. Here’s an overview of how we do L&D at L&P:
The Why
To put it simply, we live for the a-ha moment: that sudden realization, insight, or comprehension that happens as people learn. This neurological event, paired with the continual growth of our employees and a lasting impact for the company is our purpose, our cause. It’s why we get out of bed in the morning and come to work for Leggett & Platt every day.
The How
We achieve this a-ha moment, continual growth, and lasting impact by engaging our employees in new ways. We draw unusual comparisons in our classes, provide a safe place to fail (and learn), keep it quirky, keep it real, and provide practical applications our employees can take back to their desks.
The What
We use a “Leaders as Teachers” model when developing our courses. We choose topics that our learners request and then find Leggett business leaders with the expertise and credibility to teach those topics. We then pair our leaders (the Subject Matter Experts, or SMEs) with instructional designers so the content looks as fresh as it sounds on presentation day.
This way, our employees learn topics like “Team Management” from one of our Leggett Business Systems Office (LBSO) Directors, Cari Southern, or “Big Picture Thinking” from Senior VP of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations, Dave DeSonier. Customized content from the people who have actually been there and done that. Pretty neat, huh? Afterward, we record these courses and make the videos available to all on-network employees for convenience and review.
Since we built our first class in 2011, we’ve offered 27 unique topics to our employees both on-site and in virtual classrooms. Examples of the classes we’ve offered so far include:
- Career Confidence
- Change Management
- Difficult Interactions
- Effective Communicator
- Goal Setting
- Innovation and Creativity
- Leading and Motivating
- New Manager Transitions
- Personal Investing
- Persuading Others
- PowerPoint 911
- Project Management
- Social Media
An Investment in our People
In order to prepare for future growth and to start taking advantage of social learning, we’ve recently made a large investment in a new technology with plans to roll it out to our employees in 2016. Stay tuned!
About the Author
My love of words began at an early age: speaking in rhymes and alliterations just because I liked the sound of them. As I grew, I began to appreciate the way words connected to create images in poetry and the impact they had on others as a story. I believe it was this initial fascination (paired with a little design and technical knack) that led me into the Learning Design Specialist position at Leggett & Platt. Now I get to leverage words, visuals, and learning strategies to contribute to the professional development of our people. The work is challenging and creative which keeps me engaged, but it’s the give back element that makes it all worthwhile.