Online Articles

Last year, U.S. corporate training groups spent $67 billion to train and certify employees to improve productivity and worker effectiveness (Bersin & Associates, 2012).As government and industry regulations continue to increase, so does the need for training and certification. In addition, businesses constantly are looking for competitive advantages, and a well-trained, knowledgeable talent pool can be a company’s most a strategic asset.

By Dulce Gonell-Holderby, Training Account Manager, Signature Worldwide The word, “connect,” means to relate, associate, link, or join to one another. In the customer service world, it means to establish rapport or foster a relationship. So how do we go about making these connections? How do we know if we have done it right the first time? How do we know if it is working?

By Amy Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins When we lead executive programs, we start by asking people to think of someone they know who has effective presence. Then we ask them to describe that person’s impact. Why do they identify that particular person as having great presence? What are the qualities he or she exudes? Typically, this is what we hear:

By John Buelow, Executive Vice President, Shapiro Negotiations Institute

By Steven L. Ossad, Founder, Applied Battlefield Concepts LLC

Authors Paul H. Elliott, Ph.D., and Alfred C. Folsom, Ph.D., advocate a business strategy that drives greater results with existing resources based on benchmarking internal star performers. While their book, “Exemplary Performance: Driving Business Results by Benchmarking Your Star Performers,” is primarily targeted at executives and business leaders, it will serve to elevate their perception of the value that trainers produce when leveraging a human performance improvement approach.

Edited by Margery Weinstein To reach aggressive business goals, Farmers Insurance says it needs leaders who understand the destination and can inspire others to reach objectives as a team. Launched in February 2011, Farmers’ Presidential Leadership Program (PLP) develops emotionally intelligent, “whole” leaders who will engage the company’s employees to exceed business goals.

By Jill Burroughs, Director of Test Security, Pearson VUE

By Dana Brownlee, President, Professionalism Matters, Inc.

By David Grebow, Principal Learning Analyst, Brandon Hall Group The eTextbook, a digital and greatly enhanced version of the print textbook, is in the process of transforming how we learn. The evolution has been fast, and the pace of change promises to increase even faster through the increased use of RFL (Reading for Learning) apps. These appsenable learning, make eTextbooks “smarter,” and give rise to Content as a Service (CaaS), according to new research by Brandon Hall Group.