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We received several reader responses to the challenge we posted in a recent Training Top 125 Best Practices e-newsletter: After the formal orientation process, how can work groups be guided in making new co-workers feel welcome and comfortable?

Public speaking is one of the most important leadership skills and one of the most neglected. The very thought of giving a presentation strikes fear in the hearts of many people. But it doesn’t need to be so. With a reasonable amount of effort, you will be able to deliver effective talks with confidence. Here are some pointers to get started.

Talent—and HR’s ability to manage it—is the bedrock of agility. As competitive advantage shifts inexorably from the resources a company owns to its ability to mobilize talent, HR is poised to become the critical driver of company success in the new competitive reality. To step into the new role, however, HR will have to transform its talent management approach and how it delivers service.

Although an important benefit of learning is to keep us employable, the purpose of learning is much more significant. Learning, growing, renewing is the core process of life itself. Learning stimulates and gives nourishment to our hearts, minds, and souls. It keeps us fresh and vigorous.

Every person in every audience you speak to shares one thing in common: Each has a certain “radio station” playing in the back of his or her mind while listening to your presentation. You know what they’re tuned into: the famous WIIFM—What’s In It For Me? And if you don’t deal with WIIFM ASAP, audience members will start side conversations with their neighbors or check their e-mail.

In physics, potential energy is defined as “the energy stored in a body or system.” This concept is a useful analogy when thinking about the development of high-potential leaders and decision-makers. Potential energy is a necessary condition for subsequent action, but the potential energy of an emerging business leader, like that of a stretched spring, has no value unless it eventually is converted into kinetic energy through action.

In the new millennium, the corporate learning management system has developed into a business-critical technology platform. Trends include open source code, compatability with just-in-time learning, cloud-based functionality, and integration with talent management.

ABF re-engineered its sales and operations training, making a large portion of the material from the instructor-led course available in a series of online modules that participants are required to complete prior to the instructor-led class. Results: cost savings, improved content retention, and increased productivity.

As a senior executive, it is all too easy to become disconnected from the troops. It is only by making a conscious effort to stay connected to the front-line experience that you can avoid the ego trap. Otherwise, the trappings of your position likely will throw up blinders along the way that can disconnect you from your core business.

The results from the most recent survey conducted by Gallup show that fewer than 1 in 3 or 30 percent of American workers are committed to the success of their organization and are engaged in their work. And 1 in 5 workers are actively disengaged, actually working against their organization, bosses, or both. That lack of engagement costs the U.S. economy about $370 billion in lost productivity annually.