Firm Management
Maryland CPA Society introduces new talent-focused leadership tools
These new tools include the Bounce, a learning framework based on the latest competency research about the top five critical success skills for the future, social learning tools to increase learner engagement, a leadership academy, on-demand leadership courses and a learning management system that supports a strategic and systematic approach to talent development and succession planning.
Aug. 20, 2013
The Business Learning Institute (BLI) has announced a set of new tools to help organizations win the war for talent. These new tools include the Bounce, a learning framework based on the latest competency research about the top five critical success skills for the future, social learning tools to increase learner engagement, a leadership academy, on-demand leadership courses and a learning management system that supports a strategic and systematic approach to talent development and succession planning.
The Business Learning Institute (BLI) is the leading provider of customized, competency-based curriculum and education for the Finance and Accounting Profession. Founded in 1999 by the Maryland Association of CPAs, BLI is a center facilitating the development and sharing of competencies and strategic knowledge required for leadership in today’s rapidly changing business environment. BLI delivers competency-based curriculum, courses, content, and community to enhance learning and grow intellectual capital for organizational and executive leadership.
The war for talent is just beginning. A 2012 survey by the Corporate Executive Board found that 60 percent of organizations were experiencing a leadership shortage, an increase of 40 percentage points from the previous year. Another survey by Ernst & Young titled, “Paradigm Shift: Building a New Talent Management Model to Boost Growth” states, “The scarcity of talent is quickly turning out to be the biggest obstacle to growth.”
“BLI’s strategic approach and tools to support learning begin to address the paradigm shift referenced in the E&Y study,” said Tom Hood, co-founder and CEO of the Business Learning Institute.
The Bounce is a learning framework that takes the latest competency research on skills needed, maps them to a career ladder and creates a simple 5×5 matrix that gives organizations a learning framework to systematically develop their talent. This matrix is mapped to a portfolio of hundreds of courses available in multiple formats that address talent development needs in today’s rapidly changing and complex environment.
The Business Learning Institute has a catalog of more than 400 courses in multiple formats that are mapped to the competencies and career ladder, allowing organizations to quickly develop and manage a portfolio of learning that includes live, instructor-led, webcast, on-demand e-learning and social learning components.
Recent research has identified social learning as one of the top trends in learning. The Business Learning Institute has been an innovator in this area, using the latest learning technologies to increase the impact of learning through better engagement and more peer-to-peer experiences. Social learning tools include Conferences.io, ThinkTank by Group Systems, Inc. and i2a:Insights to Action, in addition to Twitter, Slideshare and other web 2.0 applications.
With leadership being the No.1 issue facing organizations, BLI developed a Leadership Academy based on a highly participative, experiential model that builds critical competencies in strategic thinking, collaboration, and network leadership. This program is in its fifth year for the American Institute of CPAs and has been customized for CPA firms, and several State CPA Societies.
On-demand and just-in-time learning are also major trends in learning and BLI developed BLI Leadership Express to bring on-demand leadership training with over 50 hours of CPE/CPD to individuals and organizations.
“In a period of rapid change and increasing complexity, the winners are going to be the organizations and people who can learn faster than the rate of change and faster than their competition,” said Tom Hood, CEO, “We believe learning and talent development is the only sustainable competitive advantage.”