Abstract

The case ‘L&D at Cisco Systems: Shifting from Competency Model to Skills Mapping’ describes how Cisco decided to shift away from its competency model based Learning & Development (L&D) approach to a more consistent, skills-based approach through Degreed, a learning experience platform. The case first touches upon the issues that the company faced due to legacy L&D system. Various internal challenges included outdated learning infrastructure, siloed learning experiences, slow content creation process, and a reactive approach to skill training requirements. The case then discusses Cisco’s solution to its legacy LMS by shifting from a monolithic architecture to a more modern and user-friendly L&D platform in partnership with Degreed. The Degreed platform helped its employees discover, consume, organize, share, and track all relevant courses and skilling programs taking place in different offices across the company and facilitate self-guided learning. Cisco also decided to switch focus from content creation to content curation and redefined its L&D roles and harnessed the knowledge of subject matter experts (SMEs) from across the company, in addition to those within L&D teams. Cisco also tracked the impact of this new learning platform on employee engagement and found that nearly half of its employees became active users of the Degreed Platform by 2020.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify the need to align the L&D Roles in accordance with learning and development programs
• Describe the difference between the competency model approach and skills-based approach
• Discuss the importance of evaluating the learning and development programs on timely basis
• Evaluate the contribution of learning and development to support an organizational business strategy

Keywords

Training and Development; Employee Engagement; Training Implementation; Proof of Value; Skill Development; Learning Management Systems; Training Evaluation; Competency Model