Situation
My first task in leading Microsoft’s talent development strategy for accessibility managers, leads and engineers across the company was to uncover the training needs these leaders and developers had in their job roles. As part of that enterprise-wide needs analysis, these leaders told me that the centralized organization needed to move drastically in relation to their product teams in order to grow their skills and support them effectively.
Task
I set about creating a strategy for moving my organization and its relationships to Microsoft’s many product teams in 3 major areas: Identity, Training Development Roadmap, and Ecosystem Alignment.
The strategy’s Identity plan focused on reintroducing and marketing our central role in the company: thought leaders of accessibility as a competitive advantage.
Training Development Roadmap laid out the training tools and deliverables I would need to create to effectively develop both my organization’s Identity and Ecosystem Relationships effectively.
Ecosystem Alignment looks at ways to develop stronger relationships and connections between the many accessibility-related groups, products and interests at Microsoft. The plan’s primary tool was communities of practice, a method for allowing experts to share cross-functional expertise and best practices.
Results
My change management plan provided a practical roadmap and link between what our managers needed to be doing every day, and the Chief Accessibility Officer’s high-level strategic plan for developing Accessibility as a feature across all employees, products and processes at Microsoft. As a result, my team adopted it as the driving learning and development template for the future.