Implement Marketing and Communication | Built to Learn: The Inside Story of How Rockwell Collins Became a True Learning Organization

The last step before you build the business-case document is to create a catchy or sexy name for your project. Naming your project is critical. A name gives it life and creates a picture in the minds of end users about what it is and what you are trying to do with it. The name should represent the transformation you are trying to effect at your company. Once your project is named, you can build images and campaigns around that theme. Create a marketing and communication plan outlining how you intend to promote the new system, involve learners, and keep the company abreast of the changes and impact your efforts have had at the company.

Our team named our initiative Project Oasis, because it would give employees "relief from the routine ... an oasis of learning." We crafted an island logo with palm trees against a blue ocean. Because Rockwell Collins is in the midwest and thus landlocked, we thought that theme was different enough to catch the eye of employees . That became the theme for our project, and we used the imagery liberally throughout the strategic plan and business case. That island would come to represent the changing face of learning at Rockwell Collins.

Using Microsoft Project, we built a marketing plan that laid out every step our team would take to promote Project Oasis. It began with defining the look and included campaigns targeted at business leaders to buy their support, introduction programs, feedback collection, CBT launch parties, virtual-classroom introductions , global awareness programs, and ongoing learning fairs. The marketing plan, which would be included in the business case, showed our audience not only that we had defined Project Oasis but that we knew how to implement it with excitement and fanfare to maximize its acceptance and ultimately its results.

HOW TO BUILD A BUSINESS CASE

Define the current state of training.
Define the future state of training: your strategic plan at a high level.
Make the connection between training and business success.
Close the deal: Define your decision and support requirements.

With the details of the strategy thus broken down, you have all the information you need to create a dynamic, sellable business case that will amaze and impress your executives.

Using your strategic plan, budget, and work-breakdown structures, create a document that walks executives through your process, assumptions, and results. This document will be the structure from which you will build your presentation. It should highlight themes and issues from the strategic plan that you want to have jump out at your listeners, such as projected savings, effect on the business, and cultural-change issues that need to be addressed.

Your audience won't read a lengthy written document on the reasons why training is valid. They want to skim a presentation that instantly offers exciting sound bites of information. Avoid using excessive training terms and educational theory. Focus on the business and the language of the company. Put everything in a context they will understand. The most important thing you can do is appeal to your audience. As in an engaging training seminar, you want to capture the audience members ' interest as quickly as possible by showing them the personal value of what you offer and how you intend to accomplish it.