HR Magazine interviewed Jim Lygopoulos, Vice President of Human Resources, Asia Pacific, The Walt Disney Company Limited to get his take on training and development in Hong Kong.
What is your comment on the overall quality and standard of training and development in Hong Kong?
At Disney, we are very pleased with the overall quality and standard of training and development in Hong Kong. We hire high calibre professionals in this area and have partnered with many experienced and progressive training and development organisations in Hong Kong.
Some organisations see training as a luxury or a waste of money. What do you think?
From the Disney perspective, we know our employees make the magic happen. Since our brands are innovative, entertaining and inviting, we aim to create a similar learning environment that encourages employees to learn and develop in engaging and empowering ways. We do not see training as a separate independent process. Continually developing and growing our people is part of what we do. Investment in targeted and customised training can provide employees with the support they need to build their capabilities and lead to continuous improvements in the way we do business.
How do you increase the return on training investment?
At Disney, we believe in a holistic approach to training. By hiring the right people, ensuring an immersive and comprehensive orientation and providing ongoing feedback and coaching, we see return as our people grow their skills and knowledge to better perform their jobs. For specific programmes, we develop metrics to measure improvement and also solicit feedback from participants and their managers. Ongoing check-ins and follow-up sessions also contribute to participants learning and retaining knowledge or ability and willingness to try new things.
Do you think e-learning is really better than a traditional approach and will e-learning eventually replace face to face training?
This is a great question. At Disney, we use technology to both make our entertainment more compelling and to reach out to more people. The mission to find innovative applications of technology is never far from any business unit’s agenda. We have to acknowledge that there are many facets to development and they all play a part. We maximise effectiveness by matching the best medium for our specific objectives, while leveraging multiple platforms to deliver training that is relevant to our business and meaningful to our employees.
Social networking tools have become increasingly popular modes of entertainment and self-expression. Some organisations are now working on strategies to leverage social networking for corporate training. Do you think social networking platforms, such as Facebook, blogs, etc. are useful for training?
At Disney, we acknowledge that social networking is such a powerful platform that enables staff members to comment about our products to their friends and do commerce. We do see the potential growth of using social networking tools in recruitment, and we are also seeing opportunities to leverage them for training and development. We are constantly exploring the possibilities of leveraging new platforms to provide flexible options for diverse learning preferences.
What should be considered when designing a training and development programme?
We consider the current and future needs of our company, our customers, and the needs of the team and/or the individual involved. It is also important to be focused on a collective goal and message. Our CEO, Bob Iger has a clear vision for Disney to be the most admired company in the world. This vision permeates through all aspects of the business. I believe this is a strong, unambiguous statement that allows us all to strive to achieve the vision collectively and is an important facet to laying the right foundation for an effective training and development programme.
What makes an outstanding trainer?
In my view, there is no magical formula. It is all about being authentic, having the knowledge, capability and being a great communicator who can adapt to different training styles as needed. Thinking on your feet, being flexible in delivery and being passionate about the job at hand are all very important as well.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
