In reaction to the current climate, many organisations have pushed pause on workplace learning programmes. But in reality, we cannot afford to put capability building on hold. Businesses are facing company-wide transformations or at a very minimum, re-skilling at business unit level in order to rebound and thrive in ever-changing markets. Research shows that companies with effective capability-building programmes as an integral part of business transformation projects have higher rates of success than companies without. So how do you equip your marketing, sales and product management teams to maximise their commercial capabilities for a sustainable competitive advantage?

1. 1

2. 4
A CRISIS
PRESENTS
A CHOICE
The Chinese word for crisis
is made up of two symbols
– one symbolising danger
and the other symbolising
opportunity:
CRISIS
The fallout of COVID-19 is expected to fundamentally
change the way we do business.
Danger Opportunity

3. 5
TO MAKE A TRANSFORMATION
SUCCEED, INVEST IN
CAPABILITY BUILDING
90%
believe that the COVID-
19 crisis will
fundamentally change the
way we do business over
the next 5 years*
85%are concerned that the
COVID-19 crisis will have a
lasting impact on their
customers’ needs and wants
over the next 5 years*
21%have the expertise,
resources and commitment
to pursue these changes
successfully*
2/3believe that this will be the
most challenging moment in
their executive career*
Source*: McKinsey Insights Study, 200 organisation, 2020
TRANSFORMATIONS
ARE
4.1
TIMES AS LIKELY TO
SUCCEED**
DERIVE
2.2
TIMES THE BENEFITS
FROM EBITDA**
Source**: McKinsey Insights Study, 2017

4. 6
What are the greatest challenges impacting your
organisation and the capability of your people right now?
Our company has paused all
learning programmes as we
cannot meet physically.
The company has initiated cost-cutting
and stopped all learning programmes
due to budget constraints.
People and functions have different
agendas and views on the importance
of capability building.
We do not have the expertise to
pursue the changes we anticipate.
We don’t know what capabilities
to focus on in the future.
6
POLL

5. THE UNTAPPED
POTENTIAL OF RAPID
RE-SKILLING
Rapidly identify the capabilities your recovery
business depends on
• What are key capabilities to win in future?
• What are key employee groups affected?
• How can you rapidly re-skill them?
Move fast and adopt agile principles
– start now, test rapidly and iterate (90 days).
Defend capability building budget …
or risk paying the price later.
7
1
2
3

6. WHAT IF WE COULD
BUILD A
COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE
IN JUST 90 DAYS?

7. 9
WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
9
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
COMMUNICATE
to motivate
Create
MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Make it
PERSONAL
BUILD LEARN BUILD LEARNMEASURE BUILDMEASURE

8. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
10
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

9. 11
GET CLEAR ON THE IMPACT
YOU WANT TO CREATE
State the desired business impact on relevant dimensions:
• Customer performance
• Financial performance
• Process performance
State the desired behavioural impact along relevant dimensions:
• Behaviour such as specific practices applied
• Organisational capabilities demonstrated
• Competencies, knowledge and abilities of employees
Translate the impact case into a vision for the commercial capability
programme.
Develop an impact case to get clear on why you are doing this.
11
Impact case
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Capabilities
Behavioural
impact 1
Behavioural
impact 2
Overall impact
Business
impact A
Business
impact C
Business
impact B

10. 12
DESIGN YOUR WAY
Rapidly identify the capabilities your recovery business depends on:
• What are key capabilities to win in future?
• What are key employee groups affected?
• How can you rapidly re-skill them?
Capability building must be rooted in your company’s DNA
and deliver against your strategic agenda:
• The PAST: what made you great (founder stories, purpose, values, archives).
• The FUTURE: what is required of you (vision, mission, corporate strategy).
Determine what you want to be famous for. These choices will
determine what your capabilities of focus are, which will define your
curriculum. And focus – don’t try to do everything.
Don’t follow the crowd. Design your way.
12
DESIGN
30-day sprint
12
CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT
FUTURE
What is required of
you?
ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
PAST
What made you great?
YOUR WAY
Defining your curriculum

11. 13
MEASURE WHAT YOU TREASURE
Ideally, start by taking a baseline competency assessment so you can
monitor improvements and uplifts.
Establish clear picture of success and measurable KPIs for the
programme. Link to business metrics so you can speak the universal
language of business.
Align development and rewards – ensure competency frameworks
and evaluation process are linked to capability curriculum to set
clear expectations and drive behavioural change.
Clarify expectations on roles and behaviours and anchor in KPIs.
13
Performance
Importance
High
focus
RAISING THE
FLOOR
NURTURING OUR
STRENGTHS
Low
focus
Competency assessment
DESIGN
30-day sprint

12. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
14
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

13. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
15
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

14. 16
DESIGN A LEARNING JOURNEY
Design a blended learning journey. Learnings become capabilities when
they live and breathe in the organisation. Keep engaging the learner and
mix multi-touchpoint blended classroom learning with immersive,
interactive learning.
Be there at the moment of need – modular, accessible on demand.
Ensure there are organisational hooks to anchor learning in the
organisation – on-the-job coaching, train the trainers, pioneers/first movers.
Design the learning experience based on the 70/20/10 principle.
Make it live!
16
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
Before/during/between/after

15. 17
DEVELOP BRAIN-FRIENDLY LEARNING
Design learning experiences that are engaging and hands-on –
theory, inspire, practice, solve.
Tailor to needs – business-oriented, relevant, inspire with case
studies (codify internal best in class and infuse with external best
practice).
Keep it simple so that it sticks! Rule of three, mnemonics, stories,
analogies, gamification.
Engage the head, the heart and the hands.
17
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
Sample training platforms

16. 18
BUILD AND TEST LIVE ACTION LEARNING
Learn by doing and practice with live action cases. 70% of
learning is created on the job. Therefore, it is a prerequisite that new
skills and methods are applied immediately in daily operations.
Link it to your company’s cadence. People are most receptive
when focusing on this when it is relevant and needed.
Encourage learning communities. Engage and share across.
Aim to break down silos.
Apply the learning immediately in daily operations.
18
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
18
18
Live action and peer groups

17. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
19
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

18. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
20
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
COMMUNICATE
to motivate
Create
MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Make it
PERSONAL
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

19. 21
COMMUNICATE TO MOTIVATE
Communicate to create purpose, awareness and motivation.
21
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
Understand the
organisation
and the people
who must
change
1
Create a
common
language about
the change
2
Identify
segments and
develop key
messages
3
Plan how to
communicate
with impact
4
Launch
communication
5
Evaluate
impact
6
Reinforce
7
Step approach to
change
communication
7
Start with why. If you want people to move, you need a clear why.
Consider both the organisational why and – more importantly – the
individual why.
Showcase the successes and the failures. Build on great stories
and showcase hero projects. Celebrate and learn from failures (fuck-
up Fridays).
Ensure leaders walk the talk. Employees follow leadership
behaviour. Leader engagement stresses the importance of a matter,
and the direct manager plays an important part in anchoring
learnings in daily operations.
Change communication

20. 22
CREATE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES
Create memorable experiences, not just great content. Also online.
22
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
Build magical learning events that reach hearts and
minds of the learners.
Make it fun so that it sticks – gamify, Dragons Den,
guest speakers – the ideas are limitless.
Create energy around it – venue choice, themed, catering,
evening events etc.
Magical learning events

21. 23
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Develop personalised learning journeys. Monitor and mentor.
23
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
Behaviour is individual. Make it personal and relevant
for the individual.
Link career path and development plans to multi-channel
learning to empower individuals and personalise their
learning journeys with career progression ambitions.
Monitor and mentor. Design coaching system to support
in anchoring learnings in daily operations.
Personalised learning journeys

22. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
24
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
COMMUNICATE
to motivate
Create
MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Make it
PERSONAL
Building a commercial capability engine in just 90 days

23. WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD A COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITY ENGINE IN JUST 90 DAYS
25
Design
YOUR WAY
Get clear on the
IMPACT you want
to create
MEASURE
what you
treasure
Develop BRAIN-
FRIENDLY learning
COMMUNICATE
to motivate
Create
MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES
DEVELOP
30-day sprint
DEPLOY
30-day sprint
DESIGN
30-day sprint
Design a
LEARNING
JOURNEY
Build and test LIVE
ACTION LEARNING
Make it
PERSONAL
BUILD LEARN BUILD LEARNMEASURE BUILDMEASURE

24. CRISIS
The fallout of COVID-19 is expected to fundamentally
change the way we do business.
Danger Opportunity
COMPETE ON
COMMERCIAL
CAPABILITIES