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Case Study

Published September 2008

Rising to the Top Down Under

  John Clifford and Richard Clarke

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When Australian telecom Telstra wanted to transform from a traditional utility model into a modern integrated media company, it created the Telstra Learning Academy to build its 21st-century workforce. The result: world-class skills that drove higher productivity.

When an industry undergoes dramatic change, only a dramatic response will suffice if a company wants to not only maintain, but expand its marketplace position. Such is the case for Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company.

In November 2005, Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo announced a five-year, end-to-end business strategy to move the organization from a 20th-century telephone utility with a government-style culture to a 21st-century growth business with a customer service culture.

The move included an investment of $200 million (Australian) to develop a next-generation engineering, technical and operations workforce to deliver on Telstra’s transformational business strategy. As part of the investment, the company created the Telstra Learning Academy in collaboration with Accenture.

With a governance structure in place, mechanisms to keep learning investments aligned with business strategy, innovative delivery and great content, the academy model positions learning as a core part of Telstra’s transformation program and growth strategy. And company officials said they have the metrics to show the initiative’s impact on the business.

Converging on the Future
Telstra enjoys a leading position in the telecommunications marketplace and is one of Australia’s top 10 publicly listed corporations. However, maintaining and extending this leading position required staying ahead of the enormous changes convulsing the communications industry.

Telstra’s transformational strategy had two primary components, each targeted at creating a telecommunications company poised for high performance in the years ahead. First, move from a products-based organization to an integrated, converged telecommunications company focused on the customer. Second, create long-term shareholder value by growing revenue from new value-based services while reducing costs.

The strategic review that preceded Trujillo’s announcement found several areas that needed reinforcing. The workforce review revealed that, despite experience and a high level of commitment, the company’s people needed next-generation skills to plan, build and work with the new systems, networks and technologies that were to be at the heart of Telstra’s new business and technology strategy.

Greg Winn, Telstra’s chief operating officer, said Telstra needed “a world-class workforce equipped to offer a differentiated customer experience as products and customer needs evolve.”

Setting the Direction
To design a new learning approach and program capable of meeting these comprehensive strategic needs, the company first outlined several imperatives for the program. These included:

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