Content about Science

June 8, 2012
Developing Skills in Irrationality

The standard approach to employee development, management, and even selling is to break tasks down to observable components and expect the factual evidence to be sufficiently overwhelming to convince people of the logic of the need to change. But that approach fails to meet a key need of the receiver of the message. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, training in an understanding of irrationality is needed.

By David Zahn, President, Zahn Consulting, LLC

May 11, 2012
6 Steps to Sustain a Coaching Relationship

It is important for the coach to focus on the coachee’s learning style early in the relationship and find alternate ways to continually engage the learner. To support these principles of effective coaching, an organizing framework will help drive an intentional progression to the coaching relationship. The goal of this framework is to develop and sustain a coaching relationship that enhances personal and organizational value.

By Stephen Monk, Director, PwC Advisory People and Change
Successful organizations recognize the strategic advantage of increasing employee value over time and the subsequent benefits for both the enterprise and individual development. Transferring capability to build competence and commitment is key in helping people be more productive and agile in hopes of sustaining their value over the long term.

March 31, 2012
Managing Mindset to Break the Cycle of Reactive Decision-Making

Mindset is the underlying beliefs and assumptions we bring to a situation, conscious or unconscious. It is our inner dialogue reflecting our view of reality, and it shapes how we interpret situations, how we act, and how we are acted upon. Defining and managing mindset, along with developing a responsible mindset, offers leaders the key to fundamental change.

By Andrew J. Blum, Managing Partner, The Trium Group

March 27, 2012
Talent Tips: Onboarding Recognition

There are lost opportunities when onboarding is not used as a loyalty-boosting retention strategy right from the beginning to engage employees the first day they start on the job. All it takes is some careful planning and synchronizing with all of the company’s engagement initiatives.

By Roy Saunderson

Most orientation and onboarding programs are manager-initiated or online portal-delivered sets of steps, policies and procedures, and general ground rules to function on the job. Whether it is health and safety guidelines, learning the full benefits package, taking assigned online learning presentations, or signing off on required Human Resources documents, it can turn into a lot of information cramming and a check-box mentality of task completion.

January 13, 2012
The Agony and the Ecstasy—Building Innovation Capability

Many firms fail at innovation because they lack the right management capability in the areas of discovery skills, execution skills, and leadership behaviors. The good news is that while innovation is a difficult capability to develop, it can be done.

By Peter Mulford, Executive Vice President, BTS

Does your organization have the managerial know-how to innovate? If so, do your managers know the behaviors they must change in order to cultivate a culture of innovation?

For most companies, in our experience, the answer is no. And the problem is neither a lack of resources nor of creativity itself, but of management capability—specifically, the capability to convert new ideas into value creation. The good news is that building innovation capability is not easy, but it can be done. Here’s how.

December 28, 2011
Ask for Feedback

There are two overriding goals of getting constructive feedback, says Jodi Glickman, author of “Great on the Job”: Make the feedback as useful as possible to you. And make the request as easy as possible on the person giving the feedback.

By Jodi Glickman, President and Founder, Great on the Job

There are two overriding goals of getting constructive feedback—they are both equally important, and neither trumps or negates the other:

  1. Make the feedback as useful as possible to you.
  2. Make the request as easy as possible on the person giving the feedback.

Goal #1: Make the Feedback as Useful as Possible to You

December 2, 2011
Understanding (and Maximizing) the Work Practice of the Digital Native

Digital natives have a different set of habits, standards, expectations, and social norms that stem from being raised in a culture deeply immersed in technology, writes Brynn Evans in Chapter 1 of “Dancing With Digital Natives.” While their differences may not always clash with non-natives, their work practice is unique and demands patience and compromise from non-natives to understand it and make the most of it.

The following is taken from Chapter 1: “When Facebook Comes to Work: Understanding the Work Practice of the Digital Native,” by Brynn Evans.

Work as a Practice

November 4, 2011
Learning From Customers

In our Six Sigma world, we tend to get anxious about showing customers unfinished, unpolished “stuff.” Get over it, say Tim Ogilvie and Jeanne Liedtka, authors of “Designing for Growth.” Innovation is about learning—and customers have the most to teach you. The sooner you get something in front of them that they can react to, the faster you’ll get to a differentiated value-added solution. And they will love being involved.

By Tim Ogilvie and Jeanne Liedtka

Want the biggest bang for your growth investment dollar? Dave Jarrett, a partner at the consulting firm Crowe Horwath, is happy to share his philosophy: involve the customer very early in the process. Here’s what Dave told us recently:

November 1, 2011
12 Simulation Facilitation FAQs

How do you prepare a “senior person” to participate in a simulation with other members of their team or organization? How do you handle a participant who chooses to dominate the simulation or debrief process? Find out the answers to these and other questions training professionals face when training via simulations.

By Chris Musselwhite, Sue Kennedy, and Sue Probst of Discovery Learning Inc.

1. Early in the simulation, participants often look confused, lost, or skeptical. How much should the facilitator intervene?

August 12, 2011
6 Best Practices to Achieve Implementation Success

Having a project assurance methodology gives you the power to go beyond traditional project management barriers and gives you the answers you need to assure project success. It helps you to identify and resolve the strategic, tactical and intangible issues—and manage the human factors—before issues become insurmountable. And best of all, project assurance gives you (and everyone else involved) peace of mind that the project is on the right track.

By Rob Prinzo, Founder and CEO, The Prinzo Group

August 11, 2011
Supercompetent Speaking: 4 Tips to Maximize Vocal Skills

Your voice creates an immediate impression—and needless to say, that impression must be a good one. Among other things, it’s a powerful indicator of your emotional state, including how you feel about your topic and the people you deliver it to. It follows, then, that you must learn to use your voice as a musician would use an instrument, to deliver your message with precise, positive emphasis.

By Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

As a speaker, you communicate your message through your spoken words and your body language. However, the characteristics of your vocal delivery will have a tremendous impact on whether your message lands. The most brilliant message can come across as dry and boring if delivered insipidly, whereas a dull message can come alive if delivered with enthusiasm and energy.

June 27, 2011
Business Simulations: Begin with the End in Mind

By investing more time in determining the primary purpose and desired outcomes of the simulation, organizations are more likely to be successful in providing on-target learning opportunities for their employees.

By Eliza Helweg-Larsen, Owner and Chief Creative Officer, Andromeda Training, Inc.

For several decades, corporations and academicians have used business simulations to provide a business context and rapid learning environment to increase business literacy and acumen. These simulations have a wide focus, including finance, marketing, distribution, management, decision-making, strategy, teambuilding, and other related topics. Regardless of the specific discipline or topic, business simulations have several goals in common, among them:

June 22, 2011
Co-Destiny: Overcome Growth Challenges—Yours and Your Customers’

So, do your training teams and their business consultants know how to solve a service paradox? If not, they will not be successful with their bottom line, or their clients—not a smart move in this time of corporate and consumer financial conservatism. Business consultants and global strategy experts Atlee Valentine Pope and George F. Brown, Jr., co-founders of Chicago-based Blue Canyon Partners, answer that dilemma in their new book, “CoDestiny,” and offer trainers four other questions to ask their management teams, clients, or business consultants.

By Atlee Valentine Pope and George F. Brown, Jr.

June 6, 2011
Last Word: A Worthwhile Destination

When life becomes bogged down in analytic thinking, piecemeal and either/or thinking, we lose any far-reaching vision or goals beyond making current problems disappear. This shortsighted approach hinders us with its many unintended negative consequences. In Systems Thinking, the whole is primary and the parts are secondary. Systems Thinking approaches problems proactively and holistically.

By Stephen Haines

With Systems Thinking as your “thinking guide,” your journey through work and life will be more clear, simple, and quick. Systems, like ourselves, are made up of a set of components that work together for the overall objectives of the whole. We are all living, human systems and so are our teams, organizations, communities, and societies.

May 16, 2011
Teambuilding Across Cultures

Few workforces are entirely mono-cultural these days, and the challenges of welding disparate cultural elements (whether based within the same office or from offices dotted around the globe) into effective teams are challenges faced by an ever-increasing number of organizations. The key factor when it comes to teambuilding across cultures is to get every member to focus on the objectives of that team.

By Christian Arno, Founder, Lingo24

The presence of talented individuals is important for any organization that wishes to innovate and excel in its field, but good teamwork is essential, providing the bedrock on which future success can be built. The importance of having an effective teambuilding strategy in place is widely acknowledged throughout the business world, with a plethora of resources offering advice and tailored teambuilding services.

March 16, 2011
Breakdowns Between Silos
In this excerpt from “Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work,” Russell Bishop looks at the breakdowns between silos that can occur among internal groups, departments, or business units, as well as among external partners, subcontractors, or teammates on joint development projects.
  By Russell Bishop, Editor-at-Large, Huffington Post, and President, Bishop & Bishop A recurrent challenge confronting organizations large and small is that of silo behavior. We broached this subject when we began talking about misaligned leadership. Breakdowns between silos can occur among internal groups, departments, or business units, as well as among external partners, subcontractors, or teammates on joint development projects.
March 16, 2011
Flex-Time Technology Fix
More companies are offering flexible work environments. But companies only reap the benefits of flex-work plans when they are well managed. This means making shared workspace available to employees when they are on site, and making it easy for them to schedule needed resources wherever they are. That’s where technology comes in.
By Margery Weinstein
October 1, 2010
How-To: Help Them Retain What You Train

Knowledge retention rates can be improved significantly with just a little extra effort. Here are eight principles to increase the return on your learning investment.

By Mike Hawkins

You attend a seminar, read a book, talk to an expert, participate in a training session, or conduct some research to expand your knowledge. You learn something new about a topic you wanted to know more about. Yet after a week or two, what often happens? You forget much of what you learned.

May 22, 2008
Five Things Not to Do in Front of an Audience

Audiences don't usually throw tomatoes or pound their shoes on the table in response to a bad presentation. But they do respond in more subtle ways: they don't buy your product, they don't sign up for your cause and they won't refer you.

Audiences don't usually throw tomatoes or pound their shoes on the table in response to a bad presentation. But they do respond in more subtle ways: they don't buy your product, they don't sign up for your cause and they won't refer you.

September 14, 2006
Communications Expert Presents Public Speaking Program

Communications expert Peter Fogel says his program, "Peter 'The Humorator' Fogel's Guide to Effective Public Speaking," can make anyone an effective public speaker. This former stand-up comedian and current motivational speaker asserts from his own experience that in general people's greatest fear is public speaking...

August 17, 2006
New Portable Document Camera from AVerMedia

AVerMedia Technologies recently released its new portable document camera, the AVerVision150.

AVerMedia Technologies recently released its new portable document camera, the AVerVision150.

July 6, 2005
More slides, less time, less satisfaction

As a presenter, you are creating more presentations with more slides, but you are less than happy with the time it's taking, the quality of the results and the amount of time you get to rehearse. These are the findings of a recent survey of 750 profession.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

As a presenter, you are creating more presentations with more slides, but you are less than happy with the time it's taking, the quality of the results and the amount of time you get to rehearse. These are the findings of a recent survey of 750 profession.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

March 1, 2004
Podium

At the very least, Edward Tufte's incendiary essay, "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint," (addressed in depth in our cover story on p. 24) has opened up a previously dormant dialogue about PowerPoint's influence on the world of ideas. But, as I mention in .⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷䀹ퟤ૩欸/縨૩蠏焸膿焸蕑焸૩ۘ૪蠏焸ی૪纗焸ۘ૪軸焽ퟤ૩舸焸塰焽絑焸ퟤ

At the very least, Edward Tufte's incendiary essay, "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint," (addressed in depth in our cover story on p. 24) has opened up a previously dormant dialogue about PowerPoint's influence on the world of ideas. But, as I mention in .⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷䀹ퟤ૩欸/縨૩蠏焸膿焸蕑焸૩ۘ૪蠏焸ی૪纗焸ۘ૪軸焽ퟤ૩舸焸塰焽絑焸ퟤ

January 10, 2003
Presentations magazine

A sampling from the print magazine's January 2003 table of contents.

A sampling from the print magazine's January 2003 table of contents.

January 1, 2003
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3M Visual Systems

3M Visual Systems