T + D

In the early 1990s, the author worked in the "educational services" department of a very large computer company. They delivered a lot of training to both customers and employees. At the end of each quarter, they would gather for a pep rally, at which time their VP would discuss their performance. But the business cycle changed, and money got tight. Budgets were coming under scrutiny, and training became an expense instead of an investment or, perhaps, a cost of doing business. Training profes...

A Leadership Skills Gap?

Surveying 2,200 leaders from companies in the US, India, and Singapore, the "Understanding the Leadership Gap" study identified the four most important leadership skills for the future as leading people, planning strategically, inspiring commitment, and managing change. All four areas are weak points among today's leaders. Social media tools can also play a role in helping to develop these skills quickly. Significant advances in collaborative technologies during the last two years have made i...

Developing the Leaders of Tomorrow Today

Fifty-four percent of companies surveyed by the global career transition and executive coaching firm said they do not have enough qualified candidates working for them to succeed their executives and managers. The survey included responses from 212 primarily large and mid-sized employers throughout North America. Many organizations surveyed realize that they must address the lack of leadership successors for tomorrow by developing their bench strength today. Seventy-two percent of these compa...

Getting to the Foundation of Talent Management

Seventy-seven percent of employers have not analyzed projected employee retirement rates, and 69% have not analyzed the demographics of their workforce, according to a report titled "The Pressures of Talent Management" released by the Sloan Center for Aging and Work at Boston College. Stephen Sweet, one of the co-authors of the report, notes that there are several causes behind this discrepancy. Sweet notes that much of the work structure seen today is based on the mid-20th century, whereas t...

Critical Healthcare It Training Spurs Training Grants

Few industries have shown resilience during the global recession -- the healthcare industry is among these exceptions. A cursory look at the jobs section of any newspaper reveals myriad opening across the healthcare spectrum. The shortage is especially critical in the health IT field as the country moves toward the adoption of electronic health records. The US Department of Health and Human Services recently announced $80 million in grants for new workforce training programs to address the pr...

New Career Rules Redefine Today's Workforce

With the unemployment rate in the US close to 10%, employed and unemployed people need to re-examine new career rules, according to ClearRock, an outplacement and executive coaching firm. ClearRock outlined eight new career realities: 1. Expect to have several different jobs. 2. Always be prepared for unexpected career events. 3. Have a fallback plan, including consulting and self-employment. 4. Never stop networking. 5. Focus on perfecting your own personal employment brand. 6. Keep your res...

Don't Delete the E-Messenger

Sixty-five percent of companies plan to increase their use of social media in 2010 according to the 2009/2010 Watson Wyatt Communication ROI Study, which surveyed 328 companies around the world. Among those organizations that did not expand their use of social media, 36% indicated the reason as being a lack of IT support or inadequate technical capability. Another 40% cited a lack of knowledge, and 45% reported a lack of staff or resources. The survey additionally showed that 78% of responden...

Can You Hear Me Now?

Mobile learning is "the exploitation of ubiquitous handheld technologies, together with wireless and mobile phone networks to facilitate, support and enhance and extend the reach of teaching and learning." Mobile learning comes in various forms including short courses. It can reach back to physical course materials in the form of audio or video capture, job aids, study aids, test preparation, updates, and alerts, and open up access to coaches, mentors, or reference materials. The first thing ...

Buyer Beware

E-learning today involves enough moving parts -- instructional design, graphic design, sound design, and programming -- that it can be very difficult to know everything necessary to ensure that your e-learning vendor delivers a quality product. At times, it can feel like building a new home. You end up going on faith that everything is going well until the roof starts leaking. Here are the tips on leak-proofing the roof: 1. Choose the right tool or the content. 2. Validate that the instructio...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Growing a Stronger Workforce

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has presented countless opportunities for organizational, business, education, and community renewal nationwide. Workforce development represents a particularly vital area of growth for the refinement of human capital that represents the engine for stimulating economic and community recovery. The rapid allocation of much-needed stimulus funds to workforce development organizations has necessitated a veritable flash flood of energy and ...

Bridging the Skills Gap: New Factors Compound the Growing Skills Shortage

"Bridging the Skills Gap" is the third report from ASTD to cover the growing importance of talent to organizational performance and the skills gap that threatens so many organizations today. This report updates the picture, including the role of job losses during the current recession, and examines the influence of Web 2.0 and the Net Generation on workforce skills. While recent economic challenges have forced public- and private-sector organizations to execute their strategies with more prec...

The Connected Employee: The 8 Networking Competencies for Organizational Success

"Unconnected employees" do not have the skills necessary to create, cultivate, and capitalize on face-to-face relationships. There are more of these people than you might at first imagine. The unconnected may be introverts, who comprise about half of the U.S. population; they say things such as, "I do a good job. Why do I have to network?" They may be people who have chosen careers in what have traditionally been thought of as "behind-the-scenes" jobs, such as engineering, IT, research, finan...

Capitalizing On Coaching Challenges

The benefits of coaching are realized when coaching relationships are strong and when employees are dedicated to adhering to the process and to making positive changes. But what can you do when these benefits are thwarted by challenging circumstances-when coaching stalls or when employees aren't following through on coaching assignments or realizing their goals? If you recognize any of these signs from your own coaching relationships, congratulations! Yup, I said congratulations. Why? First, ...

Turning Diversity Into $: A Business Case for Hiring People with Disabilities

Turn to any page in the Wall Street Journal or flip to your local news station, and you will read or hear about organizations trying to cut back in today's bleak economy, and for many human resource departments that means traditional cost cutting practices, such as hiring freezes or cuts on training programs and fringe benefits. But, cost cutting doesn't have to mean cutting back. Employing people with disabilities may be an excellent source of productive talent for your company. This group o...

Overcoming Barriers and Valuing Evaluation

Findings from the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) study, The Value of Evaluation, highlights that progress is being made in measurement practices, as the pursuit of excellent learning evaluation continues. However, there is still room for development because few organizations think that they've mastered learning evaluation, and many admit to facing some ongoing challenges. ASTD and i4cp partnered to explore the compl...

The Long View: Pam Eyring

In an interview, Pam Eyring, president, The Protocol School of Washington, talked about protocol and etiquette services. According to Eyring, protocol consists of the rules that dictate the behaviors in society. Many times, people think it only applies to military and diplomatic circles but it really goes back to the caveman days when he who was the mightiest made the rules. In other words, there are guidelines that help you prevent issues or chaos. Protocol is the science behind those rules....

Blink or Think?

The idea that your brains can make sophisticated decisions without consulting you (your conscious minds) is one of the most unexpected realizations to emerge from the field of neuroscience. Much of what you are doing when you develop expertise involves learning to recognize patterns. Many leaders base their decisions on tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is knowledge that people possess but often find hard to articulate. Some leaders look at research along those lines and conclude that managers...

Using Myers-Briggs Personality Type to Create a Culture Adapted to the New Century

Hallmark Cards has helped people celebrate life events, commemorate important occasions, and express their most intimate feelings for nearly 100 years. Although Hallmark's mission and core philosophy have not wavered, the market, the workplace, and the competitive landscape have become more dynamic, global, and diverse. The company has set a goal to change its overall mindset from one of a manufacturing organization focused on putting product on shelves to that of a consumer-centric company t...

Business Gets Personal

Warren Buffett on Business: Principles From the Sage of Omaha, by Richard J. Connors, is reviewed.

Seating Matters: State of the Art Seating Arrangements

The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders, Third Edition

Leading the Virtual Workforce

Presenting Course Outlines in a Flow Chart Format

Trainers can help learners develop an early and appropriate "mental set" for learning programs by reviewing the course objectives, describing upcoming activities, and helping learners see the future advantages of the instruction to them and their work. Usually, course outlines are presented using bullet points. Another option the trainer can use is a flow chart. Flow charts are easy-to-understand diagram showing how steps in a training event fit together, making them useful tools for communic...

To Centralize or Decentralize? That Is the Question

Several years ago, Performance Development Group grew rapidly through various mergers and acquisitions. When learning leaders attempted to adopt an e-learning platform, they struggled to do so effectively within the expanded company. The institution hired Karl Kapp, assistant director for the Institute for Interactive Technologies, who completed a pulse check of the organizations learning and development function. Kapp and Sherry Engel, performance consultant with Performance Development, wor...