Case Study: Picture This—Canon's Talent Development with Deloitte

With a combination of central and local training delivery of programs within each of the 20 European countries where it operates, Canon Europe decided that they had to design a more efficient and effective learning and development (L&D) organization. They asked Deloitte to help.

The Challenge: The first step was to find out exactly how Canon was doing. The initial benchmarking assessment, based on APQC's open standards benchmarking research, reinforced management's belief that the current L&D organization was not as effective as it could be—full-time equivalent L&D employees as a percent of all Canon Europe employees (2.2 percent) exceeded the median ratio for the company's peers). Deloitte also found significant differences between countries in the number of L&D employees by business unit, department and type of training.

The Solution: Deloitte quantified the gaps between the current state and the required capabilities; calculated the costs and benefits to restructure; and recommended a high-level design for the new training academy. Deloitte's recommendations: remain responsive, agile and flexible; create a simple organization, free of redundant work; clearly define strategic and administrative activities; establish Centers of Excellence; provide one HR/L&D face to employees and managers across countries; share best practices for organization and content; follow one career structure and accreditation path; create flexible, module-based content; and use external training providers more effectively.