Emory University was recently honored with a 2016 gold award through Chief Learning Officer magazine’s LearningElite awards program. The annual benchmarking program honors the best companies and organizations for learning and development.
Ranking 17th out of a competitive field of more than 300 organizations that applied and 70 organizations that were selected to be in the prestigious program, Emory was also the only academic institution selected for the award.
"This is the sixth year in a row that Emory has been recognized with a LearningElite award," says Wanda Hayes, senior director of learning and organizational development. "Placing in the top 20 this year is a significant accomplishment which truly demonstrates that Emory's internal learning and development programs are among the best in the country."
Developed under the guidance of a group of chief learning officers and senior learning and development practitioners, the LearningElite program recognizes individual companies and organizations for their efforts in functional areas, including leadership development, use of technology, executive buy-in, and content development and delivery, among others.
The aim of the LearningElite program is to:
- Identify and recognize industry leaders.
- Promote recognition of the critical role that learning and development plays in organizational success.
- Support organizations in achieving best-in-class levels of performance.
- Identify and share best practices, principles and strategies for learning and development.
- Provide powerful benchmarking data for world-class learning and development.
Emory's Learning and Organizational Development (L&OD), a department of Human Resources, provides development programs for new, experienced and executive leaders, administrative professionals and HR representatives. The department also oversees Mentor Emory, and provides custom designed programs to meet division or school specific requests.
In 2015, L&OD significantly expanded its leadership development programs, adding new programs for emerging and aspiring leaders.
“We introduced these new programs in response to a need we identified,” explains Hayes. “We heard directly from schools and departments that there was a development need for employees who were in earlier stages of leadership. These programs have been very well received across the university and our cohorts continue to fill up quickly.”
Emory faculty and staff also have access to a variety of other learning opportunities through L&OD such as individual classes, customized workshops and classes for intact teams and departments.
“Emory reflects the qualities of the LearningElite by making learning and development a top priority,” adds Hayes. “We are very fortunate that Emory’s leadership has been so supportive of our internal development programs — that has been the key to our success.”
For more information about Emory's Learning and Organizational Development department, visit www.learningservices.emory.edu.