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Association for Talent Development (ATD): Cognizant Ranked #1 in ATD’s Prestigious BEST Awards Program for the Second Consecutive Year for Organizational Commitment to Employee Learning

Cognizant has ranked #1 in the Association for Talent Development’s (formerly ASTD) 2014 BEST Awards program. Ranked #1 in 2013 as well, Cognizant is the first organization in the 70-year history of ATD to earn top honors in the BEST rankings for two years in a row.

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest association dedicated to those who develop talent in organizations. The BEST Awards are the talent development industry’s most rigorous and coveted recognition, and recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success through employee learning and development. This is the twelfth year of the BEST Awards.

ATD BEST Award 2014Cognizant competed against nearly 100 organizations from 14 countries and is among 46 organizations from six countries to receive a 2014 BEST Award. The BEST Awards were presented during a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. on October 2, 2014.

“These 46 companies excel in creating innovative, vibrant learning cultures that clearly align with strategic business goals,” says Tony Bingham, ATD President and CEO. “They get it. The leadership of these organizations values the impact that talent development achieves, and knows that having a knowledgeable and skilled workforce drives success. ”

“Talent development is very personal at Cognizant,” writes TD, ATD’s flagship magazine. “Every one of Cognizant’s employees, from new hires to mid-level managers, has an individualized development plan that supports his long-term career goals. For senior leadership, development comes through customized initiatives…The learning function is highly engaged with strategic teams in every aspect of the business.”

Francisco D’Souza“Our learning and development organization ensures that we develop a talent base that has both the technical skill and the leadership mindset to deliver new ideas to help our clients build stronger businesses,” says Cognizant CEO Francisco D’Souza.

“Our business is a knowledge enterprise,” says Hariraj Vijayakumar, Global Head of Cognizant Academy. “The execution of our strategy is fully dependent on our workforce talent and capabilities.”

Hariraj Vijayakumar, Global Head, Cognizant AcademyCognizant’s learning strategy is to respond to the organization’s growth needs by developing business-aligned capabilities organization-wide, according to Vijayakumar. “An integrated talent development platform enables career planning through its role-based learning solutions,” the magazine notes. “Learning goals are aligned to performance goals that aim to produce higher job impact.”

The magazine cites the Cognizant Career Architecture program (CCA). “Established for select business units more than a year ago, CCA is a well-defined, multidimensional career framework that helps employees choose a career track best suited to their interests and capabilities. It includes structured training and job rotation,” it notes. “CCA addresses domain, functional, and behavioral skills of employees with integrated programs that ensure business readiness. With CCA, Cognizant is able to monetize knowledge value and identify employees with business-optimal skills, thus running efficient operations with an engaged workforce, and with a lower delivery cost.”

The magazine highlights that Cognizant's global workforce clocked more than 18 million learning hours last year.

“Cognizant Academy aims to strike a balance between the immediate needs of the business and sustainable learning and development practices required to ensure the health of enterprise talent,” the magazine writes. “L&D planning is fed both by the immediate business requirements funneled through the performance consulting engagements, and by the long-term requirements stemming from talent planning discussions.”

The magazine notes that the L&D function drives innovation with a two-pronged approach. “First, the L&D team employs a lean startup model that supports the ideation, funneling, and creation of 10 to 15 L&D innovation projects funded by Cognizant Academy every year,” it writes. “Second, a grassroots movement of tiny changes encourages all L&D practitioners to use an innovation toolkit to improve their practices incrementally for efficiency, effectiveness, or impact.”

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