Magazine Articles

By Jeffrey C. Thomson, CMA, and Janie Copeland, CPA Caterpillar Inc., a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, knows infrastructure: Caterpillar machinery and engines can be found all over the world. Just as Caterpillar equipment is used to make progress possible, the company also understands the importance of developing a diverse and well-trained accounting staff.

By Jann Freed, Ph.D. At 45, most executives have reached their peak and are bored. While they are very good at their jobs, they often are not learning and are no longer challenged. Yet, they are likely to have another 20 to 25 years of work. So managing oneself often leads to beginning a second career.

By Kendra Lee When we as trainers create training, it’s not enough to just deliver it. If we want to make it stick, we need strategies to cement the content long after the program appears to be over. One of the most common ways to reinforce key content is to make it available in a bite-sized format that’s easy for participants to review, useful for managers to reinforce, and easy to integrate as pre-work into related programs.

Many people think William Shatner is the master negotiator based on his priceline.com commercials, but I believe my husband actually owns the title. His dad was in auto sales, and he has continued the family tradition. In fact, he practices his wiles—I mean skills—on me on a regular basis.

By Lynn Taylor In a time of record unemployment rates and job insecurity, many people get stuck having to deal with less-than-ideal bosses. The boss’ tantrums and stubborn, whiny, or needy behaviors are reminiscent of a boss stuck…in his Terrible Twos, a.ka., a Terrible Office Tyrant or TOT. 

The best learning and development organizations support business initiatives tactically and help drive strategic change. Verizon did just that, earning it the No. 1 spot for the first time on the Training Top 125. Verizon and the other 2012 Top 125 winners continued to invest in training, collectively dedicating a mean of 4.52 percent of their payroll to the training budget. Some 24 newcomers earned a spot on the list this year, the 12th in a row Training has ranked the top companies of employer-sponsored workforce training and development.

BEST PRACTICES Edward Jones: Practice Makes Perfect (Sales Training) Each month, Edward Jones hires more than 150 new recruits with little financial background, then trains them to serve clients well. This organic growth is achieved through extensive training, including coaching by veterans, online study, virtual classes, weeklong stints of classroom training, and recorded role-play.

>> Novero introduced the Solana Tablet/PC. With a simple twist, this slim laptop screen rotates to create a mobile 10-inch tablet for reading, games, or hundreds of applications. It contains two USB ports, audio and microphone jacks, video output, built-in card reader and SIM card slot, Windows 7, and Android 2.3.

As London taxi drivers in training are learning how to navigate the city’s thousands of streets, the experience actually changes the structure of their brains, according to a report published online in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The findings add to evidence that learning changes the adult brain and should come as encouraging news for life-long learning, says Eleanor Maguire of University College London.

>> Whiteboard Products launched a suite of its environmentally friendly products that will help improve the way businesses in the U.S. and Canada train, present, learn, teach, and brainstorm. The supercharged whiteboard on a roll sticks with static to any flat surface. Users simply unroll the whiteboard, tear off a sheet along the perforation (or roll it out to make a 65-foot-long whiteboard), and place it on the wall. Additional products now available include the Magic Blackboard for colored displays and a Clearboard that can be written on with dry erase markers.