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March 27, 2012
Bridging Generational Workplace Chasms

The Department of Labor projects that by age 32, today’s young adults will have had approximately eight jobs, an average of about 1.5 years at each company. Here are best practices Ambius employs to attract and retain Gen Y/Millennial workers while honoring and empowering its Gen X and Boomer employees.

By Jeff Mariola, President, Ambius

 “All Baby Boomers who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964, are afraid of technology.” “Gen Y/Millennials (born between 1982 and 2001) don’t want to work hard.” Have you heard these stereotypes? As a “Boomer” who oversees thousands of people in North America and Europe, I believe there are inherent challenges in managing divergent generations of colleagues, but the opportunities for growth and renewal are far greater.

March 27, 2012
Salespeople Are Different—and So Are Companies

If your company’s sales training program isn’t in tune with the organization’s culture, history, and preconceived notions, it may bring polite nods but deliver little else. Here are five aspects that can’t be overlooked.

By Ken Wax

My recent article explored “10 Reasons Why Training Salespeople Is Different and What You Can Do About It” (http://trainingmag.com/article/yes-salespeople-are-different%E2%80%94and-so-training-them). It showed why the very nature of their work makes them different than most other groups.

March 23, 2012
The Do’s and Don’ts of Decision-Making

Great decision-makers know the necessary tools to cover all their bases before formulating the decisions: correctly framing the problem, using ignorance as a quest to gain additional knowledge, closing the gap between where you currently are and where you want to be, creating a questioning strategy, and embracing feedback.

By David Goldsmith

Great decision-making skills have never been more important then in today’s business environment. The playing field has been leveled because most individuals and organizations basically have access to the same technology, information, and markets as their competitors. What ultimately will distinguish competitors is their ability to make better decisions.

High-performing decision-makers act and think differently. Here, a look at the decision-making actions to be avoided and the tools for making higher-quality decisions.

March 23, 2012
What NOT to Say

When it comes to customer service, tell learners about the bad things that happened to you—primarily to make them laugh about it, but also so they think about what notto do or say to a customer. Document every customer service interaction you have, or the experiences of others you hear about—especially the bad ones—so you can pass along the dos and don’ts to your learners.

By Gisele Canova

March 19, 2012
How OD and CoPs Influence Performance

There is never one correct method to follow in prescribing training and/or performance interventions. A variety of solutions can be implemented based on knowledge sharing and a company’s organizational structure. Here’s a look at how Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Organizational Design (OD) influence employee performance.

By Alexandra Harocopos

There is never one correct method to follow in prescribing training and/or performance interventions. A variety of solutions can be implemented based on knowledge sharing and a company’s organizational structure. The best solution is figuring out what works well for your project and your organization. This article will examine how Organizational Design (OD) contributes to performance. It will focus specifically on the influence of knowledge sharing through Communities of Practice (CoPs).

What Is a CoP?

February 29, 2012
Training Corporate Workers Like Fighter Pilots

Creating a virtual environment provides context and focus during training that is difficult to achieve using any other method. It’s your best bet for creating aces within your own organization.

By Eric Vidal, Director of Product Marketing, Event Services Business Segment, InterCall

February 27, 2012
How to Teach a Course That Doesn’t Exist

People—usually successful, senior-level people—will speak of this course easily, almost casually. They seem to know it well, as if they’ve taken it themselves. And the day may come when you hear it requested, with little further explanation, as the cure to some pretty serious problems. What course is this? It’s called “Sales 101”—and no one has ever taken it.

By Ken Wax

People—usually successful, senior-level people—will speak of this course easily, almost casually. They seem to know it well, as if they’ve taken it themselves. And the day may come when you hear it requested, with little further explanation, as the cure to some pretty serious problems.

What course is this? It’s called “Sales 101”—and no one has ever taken it.

February 20, 2012
Best Practices: T&D for Global JVs and M&As

Between 50 and 70 percent of international joint ventures (IJVs) fail, yet the number of IJVs, mergers, and acquisitions continues to increase. It is estimated that companies are making a combined investment of upward of $500 billion a year in these high-risk/high-reward ventures. What must not be overlooked is the role Training and Development can play in increasing the likelihood that these ventures will be more rewarding and less risky.

By Neal Goodman, Ph.D.

Between 50 and 70 percent of international joint ventures (IJVs) fail, yet the number of IJVs, mergers, and acquisitions continues to increase. It is estimated that companies are making a combined investment of upward of $500 billion a year in these high-risk/high-reward ventures. What must not be overlooked is the role Training and Development can play in increasing the likelihood that these ventures will be more rewarding and less risky. Here is one current example:

February 20, 2012
World View: Focus on Republic of Singapore

Singapore believes in providing the best basic and higher education to supply and maintain the required skills needed by the economy in order to develop continuously and improve its economic competitiveness.

By Jessie Lee Mills

February 14, 2012
Training magazine Ranks 2012 Top 125 Organizations

Trainingmagazine recognized the 2012 Training Top 125 winners with crystal awards and revealed their rankings during a black-tie gala held last night during the Training 2012 Conference &Expo at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Training also inducted two more companies into its Top 10 Hall of Fame.

Excelsior, MN (February 14, 2012)—Telecommunications company Verizon rang in the New Year by capturing the No. 1 spot on the Training Top 125 for the first time in 2012. Farmers Insurance claimed the No. 2 spot, while Top 5 newcomers Miami Children’s Hospital, Mohawk Industries, and McDonald’s nabbed Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

January 27, 2012
Yes, Salespeople Are Different—and So Is Training Them

In surveys and interviews with training professionals, one group always stands out as being particularly challenging: salespeople. Here are 10 reasons why, and then 10 ways to work with those differences. By understanding their world, pressures, and what makes them tick, you can improve their experience in classes—and yours.

By Ken Wax

In surveys and interviews with training professionals, one group always stands out as being particularly challenging: salespeople. Here are 10 reasons why, and then 10 ways to work with those differences. By understanding their world, pressures, and what makes them tick, you can improve their experience in classes—and yours.

December 7, 2011
Screen for Wolves in School Volunteers’ Clothing

The practice of background checks for school employees is standard issue for all employees with access to children. Background checks reduce organizational liability, and help protect children. But background checks often are not done for school volunteers, and this is a big mistake.

By Bill Tate, President, HR Plus

November 29, 2011
Making It Stick

How can educators possibly keep training consistently interesting or make relevant connections to each individual in the classroom every 15 to 30 seconds? The only viable answer is effort—curricula built primarily around engaging students through a deliberate difficult practice methodology.

By Kevin R. Glover, M.S., M.Ed., Vice President, Corporate Communications, Clinical Education and Sales Training, and Connie Murray, R.D., M.Ed., Director of Clinical Education and Sales Training at B. Braun Medical Inc.

November 23, 2011
Best Practices: Diversity Dimensions

Global diversity rollouts can—and should—be implemented successfully, but too frequently problems arise because the company’s original diversity initiatives, based purely on an American perspective, are merely expanded geographically without regard for cultural approaches to diversity.

By Neal Goodman, Ph.D., President, Global Dynamics, Inc.

November 23, 2011
Last Word: Remember When

Trainingmagazine graciously asked me to write the final Last Word column for 2011 in view of my 50-plus years as a training professional, my creation of the Four Levels of Evaluation, and my recent
retirement. Much has happened through these last 50 years.

By Don Kirkpatrick

Trainingmagazine graciously asked me to write the final Last Word column for 2011 in view of my
50-plus years as a training professional, my creation of the Four Levels of Evaluation, and my recent
retirement. Much has happened through these last 50 years.

October 28, 2011
You Can’t Want Anything

When it comes to creativity, wanting something does seem to get in the way of actually achieving anything. That’s why organizations should consider creating “creative zones,” little oases within the company that allow for goal-less creative activity. The oasis could be a room or it could be a certain time each week, when employees can pursue any creative assignment they like without the pressure of instant success.

By David Intrator, president, The Creative Organization

A few years before his death in 2004, Charlie Rose interviewed Henri Cartier-Bresson at his home in Paris. For years, Carier-Bresson had been recognized as one of the greatest photographers of his time, having produced an uncanny amount of photographic masterpieces. Rose was curious as to how Cartier-Bresson went about his work.

“What’s the secret?”

Without missing a beat, Cartier-Bresson answered: “You can’t want anything. You just need to be receptive.”

October 26, 2011
Equipping Contact Center Agents to Deliver Personal Service

Intelligent workflow technology that integrates with call routing systems to identify agent idle time and push training and coaching activities to the agent’s desktop is one way contact centers are improving the customer experience.

By Matt McConnell, President and CEO,  Knowlagent

“Wow! That automated attendant really delivered great service!” In an age of automation, how often do you hear a customer enthusiastically share a positive experience with a self-service or instant-service communication channel?

October 14, 2011
Are You Dumb Enough to Be Creative?

In the all-important opening phase of the creative process—aka, “making a mess”—stupidity is your greatest asset. The more you get used to moving ahead on a problem without knowing exactly where you’re going, the more you get comfortable with hanging out in a zone that’s tentative and ambiguous, the better you’ll get at generating the stuff you need to come up with a successful creative solution.

By David Intrator, President, The Creative Organization

In my seminars and workshops on creativity, I spend a lot of time emphasizing the value of being an idiot.

Because in the all-important opening phase of the creative process, which I call “making a mess,” stupidity is your greatest asset. This is not the time for clarity, precision, or cleverness. Rather it’s the time for sloppiness, incoherence, and the mindless generation of stuff.

October 7, 2011
Best Practices: After You Train, Retain

Companies increasingly are moving toward the implementation of robust knowledge management systems to collect and share existing information. The truly effective systems improve an organization’s ability to take full advantage of the knowledge and experiences of its employees and make it easily accessible to the entire organization at any time.

By Neal Goodman, Ph.D., President, Global Dynamics, Inc.

All too often, companies invest in the professional development of their workforce only to lose that investment after employees leave (or when they simply forget what they learned). According to Ernst & Young, 44 percent of employees are “poor or very poor” at transferring knowledge.

October 7, 2011
How-To: Train for ERP Implementation

Implementing an ERP system is often a complex process, with many factors affecting the organization’s ability to achieve the ROI within the original business case. Of these factors, training is second only to leadership involvement; however training often is overlooked or not considered an equal partner within the organizational transformation.

By Jeff Carpenter, President and CEO, Caveo Learning

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrates internal and external data across an entire organization, embracing everything from finance/accounting to manufacturing and customer relationship management solutions and automating all activity within an integrated software application. SAP is a large provider of ERP software.

October 7, 2011
Last Word: The Electronic Brick Wall

Technology allows us to be more productive and, potentially at least, more profitable. The dark side of technology is the electronic wall that has grown brick by brick over the last 20 years. As more and more technical opportunities arise that allow workers to communicate without being “face to face,” people are learning less and less about how to communicate effectively.

By Peter Post, Director, The Emily Post Institute

It’s happened over and over again:

September 21, 2011
Training as a Partnership

The best training development and delivery experiences come to life when training and the business professionals collaborate. Unfortunately, there are many instances when the business or operations become disconnected with training, meaning they are doing things independent of each other that they should be doing in conjunction with. That where the “No Important Personnel Left Behind Act” (NIPLBA) comes into play.

By Jason L. James, Jr., MSSL and Scott A. Gesty, CPA

During our careers, we have experienced several approaches to training across different organizations. We have found that the best training development and delivery experiences come to life when training and the business professionals collaborate. Unfortunately, there are many instances when the business or operations become disconnected with training, meaning they are doing things independent of each other that they should be doing in conjunction with.

September 12, 2011
Develop Talent That Delivers Business Results

What does it take to develop talent—through training—to get results, especially under demanding circumstances? While simple training as a strategy won’t contribute enough, an overall program with an integrated action-learning, workshop-oriented, and results-focused approach can deliver powerful business results.

By Evan Smith, Senior Partner, Schaffer Consulting

September 8, 2011
Training and the Accountable Government Initiative

Congress and the executive branch have taken steps toward implementing performance improvement measures in the federal government. How can federal training executives lead their own staff to improve the performance of government? They must develop performance measurements for each training program and attendee, and they must create an individual Action Plan to address performance gaps.

By Brian Green, Federal Sector Manager – Performance Solutions, Learning Tree International

The national debt of the U.S. is $14,344,503,407,708 (source: http://www.usdebtclo...)―give or take a couple billion dollars. Now is not the time for government agencies to accept more of the status quo. What the country demands now is leaders within the halls of government agencies who are able to identify business problems and fix them. What the country needs is an Accountable Government.

September 7, 2011
Slow Down, You’ll Learn More

We’re used to moving so fast, employing a “think it, do it” mentality, that we wind up breaking our own concentration, ultimately forcing ourselves to work longer or extra on tasks and projects that don’t really deserve that much of our attention.

By Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA

Have you ever been listening in on a conference call, pressed mute on your phone, and checked your e-mail?

Have you ever been watching a Webinar, glanced over at a second screen, and “kind of” paid attention to the recorded presentation?

Have you ever been reading a book, reached the end of the page, and realized you have no idea what you just read?