Content about Company Technology

February 21, 2012
Training Top 10 Hall of Fame

Microsoft Corporation and SCC Soft Computer are the newest inductees into the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of the 11 companies named to the hall since its inception in 2008.

February 20, 2012
Farmers Insures Success

It’s not surprising an insurance company would have an insurance policy for the future. But Farmers Insurance takes that strategy one step further, setting its sights on 2020 with a far-reaching plan to foster growth, productivity, and leadership development through intensive training.

By Lorri Freifeld

It’s not surprising an insurance company would have an insurance policy for the future. But Farmers Insurance takes that strategy one step further, setting its sights on 2020 with a far-reaching plan to foster growth, productivity, and leadership development through intensive training.

February 20, 2012
How-To: Motivate, Engage, and Involve Your Team

It is no easy task to motivate, engage, and involve your team, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Even today’s most prominent business tycoons admit the most difficult part of their job is managing and leading their people. But there are a few strategies you can employ to improve the engagement of your team and, in turn, your bottom line.

By Brad Karsh

It is no easy task to motivate, engage, and involve your team, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Even today’s most prominent business tycoons admit the most difficult part of their job is managing and leading their people. Take the late Steve Jobs, for instance. Jobs obviously made extraordinary contributions at Apple, but he spoke openly about his struggles in his role as CEO. Jobs learned from mistakes, and his analogy for what builds strong businesses was spot on:

February 20, 2012
Successful Store Managers at Dollar General

Dollar General Corporation doesn’t leave the leadership of its stores to chance. The company’s signature program is designed to ensure that newly hired or promoted store managers are trained to achieve operational excellence—to achieve “Retail Excellence, Every Day.”

By Margery Weinstein

Dollar General Corporation doesn’t leave the leadership of its stores to chance. The company’s signature program is designed to ensure that newly hired or promoted Store Managers (SMs) are trained to achieve operational excellence—to achieve “Retail Excellence, Every Day.”

February 20, 2012
Verizon’s New Number is 1

One may be the loneliest number, but Verizon isn’t complaining. After appearing five times in the Top 10 over the last six years, the telecommunications company captured the No. 1 spot on the Training Top 125 for the first time in 2012.

By Lorri Freifeld

One may be the loneliest number, but Verizon isn’t complaining. After appearing five times in the Top 10 over the last six years, the telecommunications company captured the No. 1 spot on the Training Top 125 for the first time in 2012.

Despite a relatively flat training budget and a work stoppage that resulted from the expiration of union collective bargaining agreements, Verizon remained steadfast in its commitment to effective training tied to corporate strategic goals—and had the results to show for it.

February 13, 2012
Content Curation Strategies for Corporate Learning (Part 2)

With content curation, the running theme is to enlist yourself and other knowledgeable and passionate subject matter experts to filter and provide context to the resource materials that they value the most—trusting that your knowledge also will provide value to others interested in the same subject. Then the communities and portals we develop and support will become sought out as trusted sources of sustainable learning and performance in their own right.

By Chris Frederick Willis, CEO, Media 1

February 10, 2012
Conference Highlight: StrategicPlay

Training is child’s play if you have the right system.

 

Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Jacquie Lloyd Smith offers the ins and outs of StrategicPlay® with LEGO® bricks and why it works.

How many times have you attended training or a meeting and thought it was a waste of time? Organizations in North America cannot afford to do this anymore. And life is too short to be bored by another PowerPoint or lecture about some discombobulated concept.

February 10, 2012
What’s an LMS? Part 1

Recently, a Training & Organizational Development manager implemented the first Learning Management System (LMS) in his company, Multi-Chem. He says it has been a rewarding venture, providing functionality the company has needed for some time. The experience yielded many lessons that might be helpful for others. Here are some of the lessons he learned along the way.

By Glenn Drysdale, Training & Organizational Development Manager, Multi-Chem

Recently, I embarked upon an adventure: implementing the first Learning Management System (LMS) in our company. It has been a rewarding venture, providing functionality we have needed for some time. The experience yielded many lessons that might be helpful for others. Here are some of the lessons we learned along the way.

February 3, 2012
Conference Highlight: The Reframing Meeting

Help your company or clients understand that you have more to offer than simply executing their orders. Here are resources to help you prepare for a make-or-break reframing meeting.

 

In the third of three posts, Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Dick Handshaw talks about establishing your position as a strategic partner.

February 1, 2012
Conference Highlight: Proactive Performance Consulting

To transition from an “order taker” to a strategic partner, start acting the part today.

 

In the second of three posts, Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Dick Handshaw talks about establishing your position as a strategic partner.

January 30, 2012
Conference Highlight: Market and Monetize Your Training Programs

Training, marketing, monetizing and social media can synergize, resulting in a high-quality, high-impact, high-return experience.

This industry insight is provided by Training 2012 Conference & Expo partner Citrix, providing e-learning platforms for development professionals.

January 30, 2012
Conference Highlight: Tired of Taking Orders? Part I

Your function is to train, but in the minds of your co-workers and employers, you may be anything from an order taker to a strategic partner. In the end, that perception determines how effectively you can do your job.

 

In the first of three posts, Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Dick Handshaw talks about the transition from “order taker” to “strategic partner.” Check back for posts two and three February 1st and 3rd. 

January 3, 2012
The Integrated Learning Manifesto

The time has come for a new, integrated model for corporate learning. Technology should provide a platform for seamlessly delivering carefully selected, timely, role-appropriate learning opportunities at the right point in career development. Learner needs must drive the LMS, not the other way around.

By Chris Frederick Willis, CEO, Media 1

December 19, 2011
Client Service Cycle Training at Grant Thornton

With 4,200 accounting professionals in six service lines supporting diverse industries, delivering consistent client service was challenging at Grant Thornton. In response, the firm created the Client Service Cycle (CSC), a well-defined, repeatable, six-step process for developing relationships and delivering value.

Grant Thornton LLP describes “distinctive client service” as its calling card. Yet with 4,200 accounting professionals in six service lines supporting diverse industries, delivering consistent client service was challenging.

In response, Grant Thornton created the Client Service Cycle (CSC), a well-defined, repeatable, six-step process for developing relationships and delivering value.

Here is how the firm put this program together, including the results it generated:

November 23, 2011
AAA – The Auto Club Group: Simulating Good Customer Care

The last thing you want is for front-line workers to learn lessons at the expense of your customers. An effective simulation can teach your service representatives stellar skills and save your customers angst.

By Margery Weinstein

In an effort to continuously improve member service levels, AAA – The Auto Club Group faced a learning challenge: It needed a simulation that would address the specific service issues its customer-facing employees handle. The company decided the best way to meet this learning need was to develop its own custom simulation, says AAA – The Auto Club Group Vice President and Chief Learning Officer Daniel Hill.

November 23, 2011
Cox Enterprise: Computer-Driven Behavioral Simulation

Strategic thinking too often is learned in the heat of a business crisis—unless, that is, you take advantage of computer-based simulations that replicate the experience in a no-consequences environment.

By Margery Weinstein

When Cox Enterprise’s Cox Leadership Program (CLP) needed an action-learning simulation to support its curriculum, the company turned to PressTime, a computer-driven behavioral simulation created and distributed by Discovery Learning. After observing the simulation at a company in Canada, Susan Edwards, Cox’s business effectiveness and executive development consultant, decided it met the leadership program’s learning objectives.

November 23, 2011
Get Your Head in the Game

A changing mindset combined with changing technology is driving the use of games and simulations, says Karl M. Kapp, a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University. “People are becoming more open to using games and simulations for learning, and the technologies are making the development of games and simulations easier and faster.”

By Margery Weinstein

A changing mindset combined with changing technology is driving the use of games and simulations, says Karl M. Kapp, a learning and technology expert and professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA. “People are becoming more open to using games and simulations for learning, and, at the same time, the technologies are making the development of games and simulations easier and faster than a mere five years ago.”

November 23, 2011
L3.0 Wrap-Up: The Next BIG Thing

Some 310 training professionals gathered at Training’s first Learning 3.0 Conference in Chicago last month to discover the industry’s next transformation and how it will affect their organizations. Conference attendees also had the opportunity to test their social media skills in the Tower Challenge Twitter Game and to take a special Navy tour of Recruit Training Command.

Some 310 training professionals gathered at Training’s first Learning 3.0 Conference in Chicago last month to discover the industry’s next transformation and how it will affect their organizations. They heard from innovative thinkers on topics such as “When Games Invade Real Life and Gamify Work,” “Leveraging Social Media to Change the Enterprise,” “How the Brain Science of Attention Will Change the Way We Learn,” and “Cultivating the Imagination: Building Learning Environments for Innovation.”

November 23, 2011
Training Today: Partnerships&Alliances (Nov/Dec 2011)

The latest training industry mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and more.

  • SSI Investments II Ltd., a parent company of SkillSoft Ltd., a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of on-demand e-learning and performance support solutions, announced that its indirect subsidiaries, SkillSoft Corp. and SkillSoft Ireland Ltd., acquired Element K from NIIT Ventures Inc., a subsidiary of NIIT Ltd. Element K’s offerings include e-learning content, virtual labs, ILT print materials, and custom development services. Under the terms of the agreement, the Element K business was acquired for $110 million in cash, subject to adjustments.
November 23, 2011
Training Today: Products and Services (Nov/Dec 2011)

The latest products and services launching in the training industry.

  • Kudos Inc. launched its peer-to-peer social recognition and employee engagement system. With this interactive system, team members and management can recognize one another for any act, effort, or attitude that supports their culture, values, or objectives.
October 28, 2011
Mobile Apps and Training

We asked 2,793 recent training participants about the use of mobile devices and apps in the workplace. Of our respondents, 42 percent said they used mobile apps at least sometimes to very often with training. And nearly half of the respondents had downloaded a mobile app to improve their job performance—even though their employer did not require it.

By Mark Scullard, Director, Research, and Jeffrey Sugerman, President and CEO, Inscape Publishing

October 7, 2011
Is Technology Fulfilling Its Promise?

How has access to training technology affected your ability to hold onto workers? Is it enabling them to do their jobs better? Several trainers consider whether their investment in training technology has been worth it.

By Margery Weinstein

September 27, 2011
Transform Corporate Training into Strategic Engagements

To keep employees operating at peak performance levels, corporations must recognize the benefits of on-the-job instruction that occurs before, during, and after the learning event. To deliver training with a real impact on the company’s bottom line, knowledge of strategy and tactics is no longer enough—continuous learning is essential.

By Tim Hill, President, Professional Education (ProEd), Blackboard

Corporations constantly struggle with engaging learners, achieving business metrics, keeping content up to date, and efficiently sharing information. To keep employees operating at peak performance levels, corporations must recognize the benefits of on-the-job instruction that occurs before, during, and after the learning event. To deliver training with a real impact on the company’s bottom line, knowledge of strategy and tactics is no longer enough—continuous learning is essential.

August 10, 2011
What’s Next? 3-D Internet?

With the help of 3-D virtual worlds, we now can engage in training by observing and coaching participants even when they are a thousand miles away from us. Participants in this type of virtual training no longer just passively listen to teacher tell a story. Instead, they’re able to “live” the story—virtually. Here are some examples of how virtual training using 3-D virtual worlds can become a simple and memorable framework for programs on effective negotiation.

By Mark Jankowski, Co-Founder, Shapiro Negotiations Institute

3-D movies have made a comeback and the popularity of 3-D TV is catching on quicker than we could have imagined, so we can safely assume it’s only a matter of time before 3-D Internet follows suit. That said, what does the emergence of 3-D virtual worlds mean for the training business?

July 25, 2011
Free LMS for the Small Business

Many companies, especially smaller ones such as search engine marketing firm OrangeSoda, often find that building a learning management system (LMS) is too expensive for their limited budgets. Find out how OrangeSoda developed several in-house LMSs for virtually nothing.

By Evan James Griffin, Manager, Training and Development, OrangeSoda Inc.

It’s hard to ignore the influence of technology in our lives. It has changed the way we shop, travel, and communicate, affecting literally everything we do. Its power also recently has changed the world of training, resulting in a booming $50 billion industry. This is no surprise to those who understand one of the greatest training challenges: scalability.