May 12, 2021

Learning & Development: Critical Lessons from the Essential Workforce

Among the many lessons that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the extreme value and dedication of our front-line workforce in critical infrastructure operations and health care. This half-day virtual event will feature panels, interviews and networking with chief learning officers and learning practitioners from some of these sectors, sharing how they have been able to pivot their learning function to get learners the information they need in an immediate time frame and under extreme duress, as well as how we can prioritize employees’ mental health and their ability to learn — and thrive — in all workforces in 2021 and beyond.

2021 Breakfast Club Speakers

Ashley St. John
Chief Content Officer, Editor in Chief
BetterWork Media Group

Daniel Gandarilla
SVP & Chief Talent Officer
Atrium Health (NC, SC, GA)

Joe Hart
President & CEO
Dale Carnegie

Ryan Laverty
Co-founder and President
Arist

Michael Loffe
Co-founder and CEO
Arist

Justin Lombardo
Chief Human Resources and Staff Development Officer
The Archdiocese of Chicago

Erin Mara
Vice President of Talent Management
BJ’s Wholesale Club

Andrea G. Procaccino, CMT
CLO and VP, Talent Development and Diversity
New York Presbyterian Hospital

Keith Varner
Manager of Learning & Development
Love’s Travel Stops

Agenda

9:30 – 9:45 am CST: Welcome Address/Networking

Kick off the morning in one of our virtual networking rooms, enjoying fresh conversation with professional peers who share your energy and excitement for the day’s essential learning and development takeaways.

9:45 – 10:00 am CST: A Conversation with NY Presbyterian’s Andrea G. Procaccino

Andrea G. Procaccino, CMT

CLO and VP of Talent Development and Diversity Andrea G. Procaccino, CMT, sits down for a 15-minute chat with Chief Learning Officer’s editor-in-chief, Ashley St. John, focused on the role that learning has played this year in addressing ongoing racial injustice while simultaneously meeting her organization’s needs in fighting the pandemic.

10:00 – 10:05 am CST: Coffee Break

Grab a coffee, take five or explore the Breakfast Club platform.

10:05 – 11:05 am CST: Panel Discussion: Learning Heroes: Supporting Health Care Workers During COVID-19

Our health care workers have always been heroes, but this has perhaps never been more evident than during the COVID-19 crisis. Over months and months of uncertainty, crushing workload, medical supply shortages and fear, they’ve shown up each day, risking their lives to save the lives of others. Learning leaders from the healthcare industry will join us for this panel to discuss how they have been able to train staff to treat COVID patients quickly, remotely, and in a time when everyone is overworked and overstressed, as well as help them understand and adhere to recommended infection control practices and protect their own health.

11:05 – 11:10 am CST: Coffee Break

Grab a coffee, take five or explore the Breakfast Club platform.

11:10 – 11:40 am CST: Leadership Strategies for Building a Positive Workplace Culture

Joe Hart

Organizations, teams, and individuals have been pushed to the limit by the heath crisis. Stress and worry have been compounded by the rapid rate of change. Organizations now have the opportunity to confront these changes, to better equip the people who stepped up in the crisis and build a workplace culture that is resilient and engaged.

As the pandemic fades and economies grow, only the most proactive organizations will attract, retain and grow talent, and level-up their organizational resilience. Learn four strategies that can help your organization’s leaders improve collaboration, innovation and organizational agility in the post-pandemic recovery by:

Uncovering potential leadership blind spots that have may been exacerbated in virtual communication
Building trust and transparency
Creating an environment of psychological safety
Developing resilience across the organization during tough times

Don’t miss this opportunity to build your organization’s resilience, strengthen your culture and engagement, and grow your next generation of leaders.

11:40 – 12:00 pm CST: Think Tank 1

Challenge 1: Develop a program to help leadership address unconscious bias and behaviors

You’ve been tasked with developing a program to help leaders and managers in your organization address their own unconscious bias and behaviors, actions and assumptions that get in the way of creating a diverse environment.

What initial steps do you take?
How do you establish buy-in?
How will you measure the outcomes of the program? What will you measure?

12:00 – 12:05 pm CST: Coffee Break

Grab a coffee, take five or explore the Breakfast Club platform.

12:05 – 12:20 pm CST: A Conversation with BJ Wholesale’s Erin Mara

Erin Mara

Erin Mara, vice president of talent management for BJ’s Wholesale Club, sits down for a 15-minute chat with Chief Learning Officer’s editor-in-chief, Ashley St. John, to share the story of her organization’s 2020 Gratitude Challenge.

12:20 – 12:25 pm CST: Coffee Break

Grab a coffee, take five or explore the Breakfast Club platform.

12:25 – 1:25 pm CST: Panel Discussion: Essential Learning for the Essential Workforce

When we think of the front-line workers who have bravely faced the threats of COVID-19 head-on, those in health care roles and first responders often are the first to spring to mind. But there have been many heroes of this pandemic in other essential roles, including — but certainly not limited to — people in food service, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, transportation, retail and media. L&D professionals from some of these industries will join us for this panel, where they will talk about how typical training efforts have changed since the onset of the pandemic, whether fear and stress among workers required to be on the front lines have affected their ability to learn, and how they are prioritizing employees’ physical and mental health.

1:25 – 1:30 pm CST: Coffee Break

Grab a coffee, take five or explore the Breakfast Club platform.

1:30 – 2:00 pm CST: Presentation Spot: Meeting Essential Workers Where They Are, One Text at a Time

Michael Ioffe

In this one-of-a-kind session, Michael will share how Fortune 1,000 companies and leading nonprofits are using text message-based courses to teach and train essential workers, with spectacular results.

2:00 – 2:30 pm CST: Think Tank 2/Closing Address

After more than a year of sustained stress, fear and anxiety, morale among your workforce is low and people are disengaging. Design a creative initiative to improve positivity, resilience and morale among your people.

Describe the initiative. What does it involve?
What need does it fulfill?
What are the steps you take to launch this initiative?
How will you measure effectiveness?
How will you sustain the program’s outcomes?

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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Register

CLO Breakfast Club – May, 2021
SOLD OUT

CLO Breakfast Club – June, 2021
SOLD OUT

*Please note that there are two ticket types for Breakfast Club this year. Entry for one person or entry for two people at the price of one, bring a colleague or a friend from the industry at no cost. Select a ticket type above before checking out.

Registration for Chief Learning Officer events is restricted to internal learning & development practitioners and a limited number of sponsors with clearly defined roles. This policy is in place to assure that every live CLO event offers a respectful, relaxed environment where active professionals can network, learn from one another and have frank discussions about what is happening in their industry, organizations and careers. All registrations are subject to review. If it is determined that the registrant does not qualify, the registration will be cancelled and a refund issued to the card supplied.

Simple litmus test:

My primary responsibility is for the development of my company’s internal workforce = QUALIFIED.

I work primarily with organizations other than my own to support their workforce development = NOT QUALIFIED.

All vendors, consultants and suppliers interested in participating should visit our sponsorship page to request more information.