Capital One: 2024 BEST Award Winner, #6

New learning initiatives at Capital One enable employees at every level to maximize their professional career growth within the company.

Capital One says it was founded on a simple principle: to recruit great people and give them opportunities to be great.

The company knows that, to change how customers experience banking, it must first challenge associates to become continuous learners and teachers, constantly developing their skills for the future. The L&D organization, Capital One U, focuses on precisely that.

Company leadership recognizes the importance of prioritizing career development by empowering every associate to develop a growth mindset and seek opportunities that align with their potential and interests—both in current and future roles. Enabling associates to enrich their careers by moving roles internally is foundational in promoting continued engagement and success.

Through the Customer-Facing Associate Mobility program, the company is opening new pathways for associates who interact directly with customers to advance their careers and transition into new roles. The workforce training initiative upskills employees within areas that match Capital One's business needs.

The business lines, talent acquisition, and L&D teams partnered to devise the six- to 12-month experience focused on the entire ecosystem of a successful job pivot.

"If selected for the program," says Amy Cormier, vice president of learning, "we help them identify the job family most aligned to their skills and interests, provide a job shadowing opportunity to confirm their selection, and then move them through a series of learning offerings." She notes that throughout the program, the teams enlist mentors and dedicated hiring managers to offer on-the-job training through a six- to nine-month fellowship.

"The program doesn't provide learning for learning's sake," Cormier explains. "Rather, it pivots individuals into new career paths with strong long-term trajectories." More than 320 people have participated in the Customer-Facing Associate Mobility program, 92 percent of whom have accepted full-time roles upon graduation.

A companion initiative, Capital One Developer Academy, creates a pathway into technology for noncomputer-science students from diverse backgrounds, academic disciplines, and experiences. The intensive six-month program prepares participants for successful software engineering careers with the company. The academy bridges to a technology development program, which is a two-year software engineer rotational initiative.

Advances in AI learning

In 2016, Capital One decided that it would build and run all new technology applications within the cloud and migrate all existing applications there. To produce the full range of benefits the cloud provides, engineers invested thousands of hours in the growth of their cloud skills, then demonstrated their proficiencies through certifications.

To meet demand, the learning organization leverages an artificial-intelligence-enabled platform where associates can identify the skills they currently possess, determine future skills needed for job growth, and learn how to bridge the gap.

The technology supports the development of curated recommendations that can accommodate associates throughout their skills journeys. As associates complete their training experiences, for example, they receive new learning solutions optimized for the appropriate next step of their development.

"We take the guesswork out of tech upskilling and enable our associates to access learning at their convenience," Cormier says.

In addition, Cormier started a program last year that aims to ensure the learning team itself maintains a consistent knowledge base on evolving topics such as adult learning and behavior change, measurement and evaluation, and promoting inclusion through learning design and delivery. Team members receive two questions every other day in their flow of work. The learning tool asks questions multiple times to ensure proficiency, and the learning team offers detailed feedback. "We leverage the data to determine where people are struggling and provide targeted resources accordingly," Cormier states.

Product management learning

Another learning investment is in the product management learning function. New product managers participate in Product Manager Bootcamp, a nine-week program designed to prepare participants for their new roles. Approximately 9,000 learners have completed the boot camp.

The company uses external vendors to provide best-in-class industry knowledge, including topics such as machine learning and AI. It customizes that experience by inviting internal experts to teach associates using real company problem statements.

In addition, the L&D team partners with a public university to provide a 10-week experience working through graduate-level modules. From there, participants go through a two-week, internally curated experience taught by Capital One data science and product experts. Finally, they complete a capstone project to pitch an actionable, machine-learning-enabled solution. Selected pitches receive company resources and come to life. More than 400 participants have graduated from the program.

People leadership

Capital One's belief is that every associate deserves a great people leader, and the company is committed to helping leaders grow their skills.

In response to internal survey feedback, the company recently launched a new experience to more than 500 new leaders. The nine-month program is "a robust, engaging learning experience for people leaders of two or more direct reports," Cormier notes. It enables participants to step into their roles, manage teams with clarity and empathy, and inclusively lead their team to deliver exceptional results.

A healthy obsession

In reflecting on the results of her team's activities, Cormier puts it succinctly: "In L&D, we're obsessed with equipping our associates so they can best serve our customers. We know that learning is core to inspiring creativity, innovation, and disruption. We have the privilege of supporting associates to reach their career aspirations while ultimately helping customers achieve their financial goals. It's an honor to serve our associates every day in this capacity, and an inspiration to watch them take on each new challenge, creating a better tomorrow for our customers."

View the entire list of 2024 BEST Award winners.