CEO Insights Magazine

Organizations nowadays are implementing various strategies to stay dynamic and adaptive to changing market scenarios. One of the most vital factors behind developing organizations has been creating an effective Learning and OD framework that drives Performance, Skills, Competencies, and overall Organizational Productivity. A global business leader with overall 30-years’ and 22-years’ experience in learning & organizational development Respectively, Seema Bassi has worked for Fortune 500 companies in BFSI, BPO, and Telecommunication domains in various leadership and managerial roles. Using her extensive experience in Learning & Development (L&D) and consulting, she has been helping organizations boost their performance and RoI by designing strategic learning frame works and learning solutions through her firm, Hopper Modern Learning and Advisory Solutions.

Seema Created Hopper With A Vision To Make L&D A Profit-Making Unit. As Business Impact/ ROI From The L&D Function Is The No 1 Challenge For Ceos Globally As Reported By Linkedin Learning Report 2020 And As Experienced By Seema All These Years Working With The Ceos. Hence Hopper's Complete Focusis On Closing This Gap By Supporting The Ceos/ Business Leaders In Increasing Their Business Profitability With A High-Performing L&D Unit.

In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Seema discusses Hopper Modern and its position in the market, her leadership style and success mantra, and many more:

Define Hopper Modern Learning and Advisory Solutions as an organization and its position in the Learning industry.
Hopper Modern Learning and Advisory Solutions is a leading global e-Learning and advisory firm that offers customized solutions for organizations’ performance related

issues that are challenging and need an outside in perspective. At Hopper Modern, we have a team of experienced L&D and Consulting professionals who are specialists in their niche. We have also partnered with a US-based top global eSimulation company. Our approach is to reach out to the top management of an organization and ask them if they are facing any challenge with their L&D function’s performance. We analyze organizational issues with an Organizational Gap Analysis based our Research, Six Sigma and Performance Improvement tools for the CEO/ CXOs. Basis the findings, we create a Strategic Learning Framework aligned to the org goals and create an innovative modern eLearning/ OD Solution based on the ADDIE Model. We follow it up with an organization wide Measurement of the Learning RoI. This methodology creates a Learning Impact, specially designed to solve their problem while enhancing their productivity.

Could you reflect on some of the major challenges you have encountered in your journey so far and how did you mitigate them?
Driving L&D is an uphill task and full of challenges. A Learning Leader constantly has to work on creating his or her value with the management team. Other functions like Sales, Operations that make numbers and have a direct impact on the bottom-line are traditionally normally more valued.

A major challenge that I have faced when working with CEOs/ CXOs some times is that some of them CEOs don’t wish to work towards a change. For example, in order to launch a new OD(Organizational Development) or Learning strategy across the organization, you need to create a huge mindset shift in the leaders and the employees and it has to start from the top. However, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company whom I was working with, said no to change. It’s very tough to work with leaders who have a fixed mindset. It took time to convince him to be part of the change and kick off the

Change Acceleration Process with a Town hall. But yes, it takes time and persistence.

Linked to this is the employee mindset of resistance to learning and implementation. Even if they take the online course, the skills/ behaviors are not implemented. This is due to a lack of'connect’and supervision.

To mitigate this challenge, my primary strategy has been to keep the CEOs/CXOs of the respective organization in the loop regarding the ongoing process. They kick off the new Learning program launch and cascade it to their leadership teams, who further cascade it to their managers. They also announce that they will be monitoring the results from their managers in the next three months. This strategy works very well as it creates enthusiasm and accountability across the organization!

What is the future destination you are heading towards?
We will be moving more towards our advisory services where we will start offering Interim Chief Learning Officer solutions to the CEOs/ CXOs who are facing challenges in their L&D function or just need it to be more productive. We are mentoring senior L&D professionals who can support businesses for 12-18 months to set up L&D functions or grow them.Once the new system is fully operational and giving returns, they exit.

On the course development side, technology and employee attention are moving so fast that the L&D team has to run with it. We are looking for more and more interactive solutions that can engage all generations of employees. And they will be based more on the 70:20:10 model and high technology similar to game-based learning and high-end business simulations.

Seema Bassi, Founder & Chief Learning Officer, Hopper Modern Learning & Advisory Solutions
Seema Bassi is a global leader with overall 30-years experience and 22-years of experience in learning & organizational development. In the past, she has been leading the Learning & Development function for Fortune 500 companies in BFSI, BPO, and Telecommunication domains, and is currently working as the Founder & Chief Learning Officer at Hopper Modern Learning and Advisory Solutions, a Gurgaon-based leading global e-Learning and advisory firm.