November / December 2012

By Dr. Stephen A. Laser When faced with a potentially problematic hire, organizations must face a difficult decision. They can either reject the candidate outright based on the findings from the initial hiring process or they can bring the person onboard and coach him or her in the hope that the person’s behavior will change for the better.

As part of Brandon Hall’s Analyst Insight program, it received a recent member question concerning leadership development. The member wanted to know the benefits or disadvantages of creating a GE-style leadership program that takes recent MBA graduates and rotates them through the organization for a year or more with a focus on learning an organization’s culture and succession planning. The idea sounds great—but what works for GE may very well be a disaster for a smaller, less global organization.

By Greg Bell, Founder, Water The Bamboo Center For Leadership Have you watered your bamboo today? When I ask that question, I often get some rather puzzled looks. What does cultivating a crop of giant timber bamboo have to do with training, human resources, or even leadership for that matter?

By Nate Kelly, Senior Strategist, Cerner Corporation In 1970, Malcolm Knowles identified six characteristics of adult learners that became—and remain—the backbone of many Training departments’ learning strategy. In today’s learning environment, which resembles more of an information battlefield than a classroom, those characteristics might be the most important weapons trainers can wield as they compete for the time and attention of would-be learners.

 

After rebounding last year, the training industry hit a bump in the road in 2012 as it followed the downward economic trend that dogged the U.S.: Total 2012 U.S. training expenditures—including payroll and spending on external products and services—fell 6.5 percent to $55.8 billion, according to Training magazine's 2012 Training Industry Report. Some 65 percent of organizations either saw their training budget remain the same or decrease in 2012.

The wild ride continues: After rising slightly in 2010-2011, average training salaries nose-dived nearly $8,000 to an average of $75,657 in 2011-2012, according to Training magazine’s Annual Salary Survey of 1,281 readers. The average increase in salary in the last 12 months (not including a promotion or change of employer) rose slightly to 2.81 percent in 2011-2012, up from 2.57 percent in 2010-2011. Some 43 percent of respondents said their salary was low relative to their responsibilities, while another 49 percent said it was equitable.

Training magazine taps 2012 Training Top 125 winners and Top 10 Hall of Famers to provide their learning and development best practices in each issue. Here, we look at strategies for communication/customer service, employee retention, and sales training. COMMUNICATION/CUSTOMER SERVICE By Jon Kaplan, Director, Training Center of Excellence, Discover Financial Services

By Gail Dutton “If it’s not adding value, eliminate it,” says Juan Amador, director of LEAN Six Sigma at Underwriters Laboratories (UL). That’s the idea behind LEAN Six Sigma, but although leadership often “gets it,” selling the idea to employees can be challenging.

By Margery Weinstein Like many companies, your organization likely is expanding to international markets with overseas employees or affiliated workers who need training. Before you worry about developing learning plans and content for each market from scratch, consider what three 2012 Training Top 125 winners do to make their training materials ready for overseas learners. With the right plan and enough flexibility and cultural understanding, your core training messages can cross oceans and continents. Consistent Lessons, Culturally Relevant Delivery