Top 10 Chief Learning Officers - 2022

A chief learning officer (CLO) oversees organizational learning in a corporation. The role came about in the late 1980s to align corporate learning strategy and people development with business goals. Since then, it has helped to make organizational learning a key player in the success of an organization.

A chief learning officer does much more than manage training and development. Successful CLOs are experts in enterprise learning, change management, leadership development, performance consulting, data and analytics, financial acumen, and learning technologies. They have strong organizational development and strategic business capabilities. They drive company culture and influence strategic direction through talent development. Today CLOs are transforming learning strategy through more personalized, digitized, and curated learning experiences. They manage learning ecosystems that support current and future workforce skill needs, and they emphasize agility and foresight when designing and executing learning programs. They assess and implement technology solutions that fit their learning needs. Business integration is a key priority for all learning organizations. Linking learning strategy to business strategy ensures business impact and longevity of a learning function.

One of the CLO’s main goals is to develop key skills of the employees, but also to advance the company as a whole. A Chief Learning Officer is a C-suite employee so they need to be steering the learning of the organization in the same direction as the overall goals of the corporation. A Chief Learning Officer needs to be flexible and creative. ince he or she will be implementing a new learning platform, they can’t be rigid. The program they put in place also cannot be static. The CLO also develops relationships with external trainers and instructional designers to create custom programs that meet the specific needs of the organization. In addition to these responsibilities, the CLO also plays a key role in evaluating the effectiveness of training programs and making improvements as needed. By working collaboratively with other members of the leadership team, the CLO can ensure that all employees have the opportunity to grow and develop professionally.