SCTE•ISBE: L&D Opportunities for Technical Employees
By Jill Banks, Director of Learning Operations, SCTE•ISBE

Whenever we speak with our operator partners regarding training issues, our conversations always come around to at least one salient topic: how does an individual’s industry involvement help impact career success, the employer and customers?

At SCTE•ISBE, our research parallels the results of cross-industry studies by some of the world’s most respected institutions. In each, there has emerged a common theme that an individual who is engaged in learning more about or giving back to the industry stands a greater chance of achieving success than less-involved peers.

While the big data science behind that theory is new to cable telecommunications, let’s look at some of the studies that have influenced that thinking.  In a series of findings cited by Dynamic Signal last year, the Gallup organization found that:

• Employees who are engaged are 27% more likely to report “excellent” performance.
• Employees who exercise their strengths on a daily basis are 8% more productive and six times more likely to be engaged.
• High performing employees have three things in common: talent, high engagement and 10+ years of service within the company 

Additional proof points cited last year by Dynamic Signal were a University of North Carolina Kenanflager Business School study that showed that organizations with highly engaged employees had an average three-year revenue growth that was 2.3 times greater than companies whose employees were engaged only at an average level.  Cvent notes that customer retention rates are 18% higher when employees are highly engaged. On the other hand, the Queens School of Business and Gallup reported that DIS-engaged workers had 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents and 60% more errors and defects.

It is clear that employee engagement can make a significant difference in MSOs’ ability to reduce subscriber churn and costly repeat service calls.  By harnessing science-based approaches to learning and development, operators can gather and use comprehensive workforce data to achieve measurable business results.

At SCTE•ISBE, we provide a variety of ways for technical professionals to learn and immerse themselves within the industry:

• Learning and development courses and certifications that can accelerate service deployment and ROI;
• Active participation in the creation and modification of industry standards;
• Promoting the transfer of knowledge through involvement with local and regional meetings;
• Attendance and sharing of expertise at industry events like Cable-Tec Expo; and
• Involvement with executive leadership programs as well as foundation programs that promote diversity within the workforce.

While direct cause-and-effect correlations are not always possible to prove, SCTE•ISBE identified links between activity within industry programs and employee performance.  For example, more than one-third of the technical workforce from one MSO who attended the industry’s leading technology event were promoted within the following 36 months.  We’ve also seen evidence that individuals who spend the additional time mastering every step of a course are far more likely to perform in an outstanding way in associated certification exams.

SCTE•ISBE is focused on building an expert technical workforce for the industry and we invite the industry’s HR community to explore all we have to offer. We are currently building an all-star roster of experts for Cable-Tec Expo® 2018’s Learning & Development and ROI Experience in Atlanta on October 24, 2018. The program will bring together learning and development leaders from Comcast, Charter, Cox, Altice, Rogers, and others. Features include a workshop titled “Modernization of Learning Through Technology,” a panel discussion titled “Future of Technical Training/Education and You,” and a tour of the CORTEX Lounge. SCTE•ISBE will release more details soon at https://expo.scte.org/.