Magazine Articles

By Stacey Harris, VP of Research, Brandon Hall Group

The woman who checked me in at the Walt Disney World Coronado Springs Resort for the Training 2013 Conference & Expo last month was friendly, courteous, and helpful. She handed me my room key, drew the route to my room on the map, told me where I could get food and go swimming, and asked if I had any questions. I cheerfully (and, it turned out, mistakenly) replied, “No, I’m good.”

By Kent Sipes, Senior Consultant, CedarCrestone In customer service offices around the world, employees interact with customers, then intently study their computer screens, then interact with customers again. Often, the switch from customer to screen and back is awkward, and most customer service professionals are more comfortable dealing with people than with computers. There’s often a tendency to do all the “computer” work, then all the “people” work.

By Peter Post, Director, The Emily Post Institute Are companies really embracing social media? It appears so. The average midsize or large company (1,000 employees or more) has 178 “social media assets,” according to the Business2Community Website. That means that, on average, 178 individuals are tweeting, blogging, or posting on behalf of their organizations on company social media outlets.

By D’Anna Flowers, IT Training Manager, Accretive Health, Inc.

By Diane De Re, President, 321 FastDraw Inc. Since the dawn of time, mankind has used images to communicate. From the El Castillo cave in Cantabria, Spain, with artwork of bison, horses, aurochs, and deer painted on the cave walls by our ancestors nearly 40,000 years ago, to ancient Egypt as far back as 3200 B.C. where hieroglyphs were used as a writing system, it is clear that the use of artwork is one of our most basic and powerful forms of communication, seemingly hardwired into our genetics.

By Jason Bickle, Manager, Instructional Design & Development, Experlogix, Inc.

By Neal Goodman, Ph.D., President, Global Dynamics, Inc. Afundamental impediment in human interactions is the lack of trust. According to Stephen M.R. Covey, author of bestseller “The Speed of Trust,” training programs to promote trust enhance performance and profitability.

By Roy Saunderson, Chief Learning Officer, Rideau’s Recognition Management Institute There is a classic cliché definition that meetings are where minutes are kept and hours are lost. However, someone I know recently challenged that perspective by suggesting the idea that every meeting should be a revelatory experience.

By Dr. Neil Orkin, President, Global Training Systems Bondi Beach, The Sydney Opera House, koala bears, kangaroos. Is there a training world in the “Land Down Under?” Yes, yes, and yes! Ignore this beautiful country at your own risk. Business opportunities abound in Australia for your organization, and there is an interest and need for human resource development. Your training investment will return a significant profit.