March / April 2013

Employers want certain skills. Employees don’t have them. Why? And what can organizations and Training, employees, and the educational system do to eliminate the disconnect?

Edited by Margery Weinstein Last year, Caesars Entertainment Corporation was facing stagnant customer service scores on weekly and quarterly surveys, the metric that determines success of customer loyalty and satisfaction. Each quarter and annually the organization strives for a 3 percent shift of non-A to A scores on customer service surveys year-over-year. Ingrained customer service behaviors helped keep the scores near the same level as the previous year, yet improvement to meet the goal of continuous improvement was becoming a challenge.

By Bob Pike CSP, CPAE, CPLP Fellow How long should training be? Almost every time I lead a seminar in the U.S. I get feedback that trainers are being pressured to deliver training faster. If, as a trainer, you believe it will take three days to develop the needed skills and knowledge, you’re asked to deliver it in two. If it can be done in two, then do it in one. If one, then a half-day should do it. If in an hour, then don’t you just have a pill people can take? In the U.S., it seems, it always will take too much time.

By Tony O’Driscoll Last month, I was sitting in a leadership development program listening to two talented executives share personal stories about how they had learned to lead. As they shared their leadership lessons with the participants, I noticed that one word kept coming up over and over again. That word was “CONTEXT.” “Before I tell you this story, let me set some context,” one said. “To understand why I made the decision I did, it is important for me to give you some more context,” said the other.

By Stacey Harris, VP of Research, Brandon Hall Group

By Margery Weinstein

By Gail Dutton Ask a project manager what he or she does, and you’ll probably get an answer along the lines of “bring order to chaos.” And while “chaos” may be overstating the situation a bit, project managers do provide guidance and drive to keep projects moving in the right direction and, for clients, a consistent experience and single point of contact. Often, professional management is included in a customer’s project requirements. Consequently, organizations are realizing that project managers provide a strategic advantage.

CUSTOMER SERVICE   By Dave Fogleman, Vice President, Sprint University

By Lorri Freifeld In the land where dreams come true, Training 2013 Conference & Expo took attendees down new learning paths that stimulated the mind, challenged the body, soothed the soul—and dared us to attempt the impossible. Some highlights from the three-day conference held February 17-20 at the Walt Disney World Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL:

By Martha J. Cardi, JD, Reed Group Chief Compliance Officer, and Megan G. Holstein, J.D., Reed Group Senior Counsel, Compliance and Employment Law An employee’s request for a leave of absence as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) poses Human Resource (HR) challenges. The EEOC is pursuing violations of employers’ ADA obligations, obtaining multi-million dollar consent decrees against employers for absence policies that violate the ADA. Employers are asking when, why, and how much leave must be provided as an ADA accommodation.