CLO: A Day in the Life
I get asked quite often in Taiwan about what it is exactly that a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) does. The fact is that I myself didn’t know before becoming one at Pershing Technology Services Corporation (PTSC) in Taipei, Taiwan. Sometimes we just have to make our jobs up as we go along. I decided that I would write up periodic “day in the life” entries to give a clearer picture of what this job entails and how it evolves over time.
I begin my day by cycling to work alongside the Keelung River. The entire ride takes me about 25 minutes, and I use one of the city’s shared bicycles (Ubikes) to get to my destination. On the flood wall that lines the banks of the river, there is a colorful mural that is a work in progress. It depicts a scene from a dragon boat competition. I enjoy seeing the bits and pieces of the mural come together slowly each day, and the process of the indecipherable color scheme slowly starts to assemble as it makes sense over time. I find this mural an analogy to my work — in the beginning all color splashed over a wall — slowly, the plan comes together to form an overall picture and grand design.
I’m sure the city chose this location to paint the mural because it directly parallels the segment of the river where the dragon boat races take place during the annual festival in June. The weather is almost always extremely hot during that time. It’s challenging just to watch the competition during the oppressive summer heat (I usually only last 3 or 4 races as a spectator)— I can only imagine what it must be like toiling away on one of the boats, the beating of the drums echoing in the rib cages of those sweaty bodies rowing away during the race.
After swiping my card at the office’s front desk, I move my computer stand to the standing table in the common area. I prefer to work in this area rather than at my desk due to the overbearing silence in the office. From this vantage point at the entrance I can watch as people come and go, sometimes making conversations with them, should I lock eyes. Sometimes I have to wonder if people purposely look down to avoid that awkward moment.
As one of the tasks of CLO, I’ve also taken it upon my shoulders to be part of the onboarding process with new hires. On this morning I have invited the most recent batch of newbies to the Louisa coffee across the street from our office. In order to break the awkwardness (a running theme in an IT company), I sent out forms a couple days prior and asked those joining to place their order, as well as suggest one topic of conversation — exercise habits, future work plans, travel preferences — these are amongst the topics that people suggest for the gathering.
Coffee is a huge part of our company culture, with one of the managers, Bird, even hosting a kind of private “coffee club” two times per week — once in the office where he works (B office), and once at the other office building (A office). Colleagues bring bags of coffee beans and those that join get a few rounds of coffee tasting to enjoy just after lunch. I bump into my colleague named “Bird” later in the day — he’s the head of our Digital Finance Unit (DFU). With almost half of the company’s employees, DFU is by far the engine of PTSC, and I want to make sure to support the coffee club he’s started, as well as making visits to the employees in his department who work offsite. I have a short meeting with him on the way to lunch in order to promote a learning initiative where department managers promote speakers or workshop facilitators who are specifically recommended for their areas of expertise that can attract cross-departmental participation for future learning events.
In the afternoon, one of my first priorities is writing up an internal application for a business trip that I am taking to joint the Association for Talent Development (ATD) International Conference in San Diego. The chairman of PTSC, Sean Chen, is a great believer in in helping to create a learning organization, and the company has maintained active membership in ATD since I joined in 2020. for the previous two years, I have joined the conference virtually, but this is the first year where I’ll get a chance to participate in person after busting my chops as CLO in Taipei. I’m extremely grateful to be representing PTSC as part of the Taiwan delegation heading to join in San Diego. As the only foreigner, and only CLO within the delegation, I know that I will stick out in the crowd with a unique perspective, and I am looking forward to learning from the other Taiwanese participants (mostly from HR), as well as the plethora of speakers and networking events that I’ll have the opportunity to join and sponge off of learning and talent development professionals.
After finishing up my application for the ATD conference, I meet with two colleagues of mine who are in the marketing department. I book them in order to record a short 15 minute podcast about the topic of “Generative AI for Good.” The initiative involves various colleagues across departments taking turns to introduce recent advances in AI tools such as Chatgpt, Notion AI, Dalle-2, Microsoft Teams Premium, Copilot, Midjourney…the list goes on and on, and for a CLO who focuses on sharing and non-centralized learning it’s a dream come true. Creating the internal company podcast, titled “Digital Voice” has been somewhat of a pet project of mine that allows me to discuss topics in the IT industry or about company culture. In the process I get to learn about my colleagues and polish my Chinese and podcast editing skills simultaneously.
Taking charge of PTSC’s Linkedin account is also another task that I have taken upon my shoulders. As Linkedin is still up-and-coming and seen as more of an English-language focused platform, I take great joy in promoting our company’s activities and employees’ efforts from a different perspective. On this day, the post I write about looks back on our Earth Day volunteer activity where a group of 30 colleagues and friends/family collaborated with the Taiwan Nature Trail Society for a mountainside cleanup and hike. We spent the whole morning hiking and collecting loads of trash along the way while members of the Nature Trail Society gave us background information about the flora and fauna along the way. Each year, I make sure to promote and publish our efforts for volunteer and ESG activities, as well as celebrating the local organizations PTSC partners with.
In the afternoon I want to continue to maximize office time with colleagues and arrange two face-to-face sit downs. The first is with a member of the Technology Committee and manager in our Technology Services Unit (TSU) named Ryan. Although he’s relatively new to PTSC, he’s been in the industry for years, leaving a position where he worked at IBM to work with our company. Earlier in the week, I arranged a voluntary one on one professional development sit-down with one of the colleagues he manages, and today’s meeting with Ryan is to follow-up with him on some action points as well as take-aways for us to act upon. Getting face time with colleagues to talk about professional development has been one of the aspects of CLO I have enjoyed the most, and I’ve made a concerted effort to increase these encounters as my experience accumulates. Each of these professional development chats bring about small revelations and points of action that help the company and individuals.
For the last meeting of the day, it’s another 1–1, this time an exit interview. Although not part of my job description when I entered into PTSC, and technically within the purview of HR, I offer employees who are leaving the company another chance to speak their mind and share reasons why they have decided to take their skills elsewhere. As CLO, and especially as an outsider to the industry (and to Taiwan), I feel that it is part of my role to be a healthy disruptor and conduit for feedback (Priya Parker would call it “healthy heat”).
One of the things I have discovered is that it’s very challenging for employees to speak up about proactive changes in Taiwan, and especially in a traditionally more conservative working culture. Many of them would choose to leave and take their ideas elsewhere rather than taking the risk to voice their concerns. These exit interviews are precious opportunities for learning — potentially the last chance for vital feedback. Although I wouldn’t say that I enjoy seeing people leave, the benefits and learning that take place in an exit interview are immensely valuable, especially when there are trends that occur across departments.
In the span of one working day I attempt to cover the full spectrum of a professional journey at PTSC through the lens of CLO as I examine multiple employee perspectives— onboarding, professional development, exiting the company. Like planting a seedling and watching it bloom and wilt away, the circle of life cycles itself throughout a day’s work.
There is more gardening to be done, and each day is an adventure into the unknown.
