The role of chief learning officer (CLO) was coined in the early 1990s by Steven Kerr, a management consultant at Goldman Sachs, and John Coné, who at the time was the head of human resources at Motorola. 

They recognised the importance of having a senior executive focused on learning and development within an organisation, and thus created the title of CLO.  

Since then, the role of the CLO has become increasingly important as organisations recognise the need to invest in their employees' skills and development to remain competitive in today's rapidly changing business environment. 

That being said, most organisations still use a different term although they may have a similar role, such as VP of Learning and Development or Director of Training and Development.

The title may vary from company to company depending on the organisational structure and culture. 

Some companies may have a Head of learning who, while they don’t sit at C-suite level, are still the person accountable for learning in that organisation. 

For the sake of this article, let’s assume CLO means the person accountable for learning and development in an organisation. 

Approaching your first 90 days

The role of the CLO is a critical one in any organisation.  

As the person responsible for developing and implementing training and development initiatives, the CLO plays a key role in ensuring that employees have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their roles. 

For new CLOs, the first 90 days on the job can be a challenging and overwhelming time.  

Here are some key things every new CLO should know during their first 90 days:

1. Get to know the organisation

To develop effective training programs, it's essential that you understand the culture, values, and goals of your organisation. 

During your first 90 days, take the time to meet with stakeholders, department heads, and employees to learn about their needs and priorities. 

Find out what life is like in different parts of the business. This will be invaluable to you later on, especially when it comes to marketing learning.  

As the person responsible for developing and implementing training and development initiatives, the CLO plays a key role in ensuring that employees have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their roles

2. Build relationships

As a CLO, you'll need to work closely with other leaders in the organisation to ensure that training programmes align with overall business goals and overall strategic direction of the business. 

During your first 90 days, focus on building strong relationships with these leaders so that you can establish trust and credibility.

3. Check the foundations

When I refer to ‘foundations’ I mean the important elements that need to be in place before you can successfully build and develop on them. 

In this case, you need to understand the level of appetite for learning, if people know how to learn, does the environment support, and encourage learning to happen? 

If you start deploying new learning interventions before understanding the current landscape, you could be wasting time and money. 

As you begin to implement learning interventions, it's essential that you communicate clearly with employees about what to expect

4. Assess the current training solutions

Before embarking on the development of anything new, you need to understand what's currently in place. 

Take the time to review existing training and development programmes, identify any gaps or areas for improvement, and gather feedback from employees. 

Are the current solutions working? Are they creating the change that’s needed? 

5. Develop a strategic plan

Based on your assessment of the organisation's needs and priorities, develop a strategic plan for learning and development. 

This plan should include specific goals, timelines, and essentially, metrics for success. 

Note: Don’t obsess with ROI, it’s clearly an important measure but consider ROE when you’re developing your metrics, the return on expectations is just as important, if not more so. 

It is absolutely vital for your success as a CLO to have a high performing L&D team in place to support you

6. Market learning

As you begin to implement learning interventions, it's essential that you communicate clearly with employees about what to expect. 

Be transparent about the goals and objectives of the programmes and be open to feedback and suggestions for improvement. 

Most importantly communicate the ‘what’s in it for me’ message. 

7. Invest in your team

Whilst this is last on the list, it is by no means the least important.  

It is absolutely vital for your success as a CLO to have a high performing L&D team in place to support you. 

You will need to spend time with your team getting to know their strengths and development areas, but more than this, you will need to be clear what skills and capabilities you really need in the team to ensure you can deliver on your strategy. 

Tip: To do things properly takes time, but it’s worth it, don’t be tempted to give in to ad hoc and frequent requests that will pull you off track. That said, it’s often a challenge to ‘take people with you’ when you’re new into an organisation, as people are waiting for you to ‘deliver’ or ‘prove’ yourself. It’s worth identifying some quick wins that will keep your key stakeholders happy, but not distract you from the bigger plan. 

By following these key steps during your first 90 days as a CLO, you'll be well on your way to driving employee development and business success. 

Remember to stay focused, communicate clearly, and be open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.

If you enjoyed this, read: Corporate training is failing employees and killing their career paths