Workforce education office focuses on training, support
Last July, a well established enterprise at Vanderbilt University Medical Center acquired a new director. And soon they got a new name, to boot. For many years it was called the Learning Center, and then Learning Operations, but as of last November it’s been called Workforce Performance Operations.
They’re a growing team of workforce education experts engaged with managers and groups across VUMC.
“We supply the tools and consulting that enable best practices in the area of learning delivery,” said Laura Levy, director of Workforce Performance Operations. “The name change reflects a new emphasis on supporting the transfer of learned skills and knowledge to on-the-job performance.”
Laura Levy
Levy and her team are charged with helping VUMC improve access to learning resources and their usability, ensuring workforce education is delivered using the most cost-effective methods, and achieving documented results in workforce knowledge transfer and increased competency.
“To help the organization become leaner and smarter, learning will need to be yet more integrated with workflow at VUMC. In part, that means blending formal and informal channels of instruction and knowledge transfer.
“Our objective is to connect people to content, then connect them to each other in ways that enrich learning and performance,” Levy said.
Her group is focused on six areas:
• Integrating learning technology with the workforce and with workflow (learning management systems, social media, mobile technology)
• Analyzing existing gaps in on-the-job performance and recommending solutions to close those gaps
• Facilitating strong instructional design practices, for organization-wide initiatives as well as more targeted instruction
• Measuring the impact of workforce education activities on performance toward organizational goals
• Supporting the efforts of department educators
• Leadership development to assist managers to mount strategic and tactical workforce learning activities.
Levy said she looks forward to collaboration with Nurse Education, VMG Training and Organizational Development, Quality and Safety, the Division of Continuing Education, Finance, Systems Support Services and other groups across VUMC.
Levy reports to C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System.