T+D Blog

The T+D Blog Is on the Move

2011-03-31T16:32:00.003-04:00

You may have noticed that most of ASTD's blogging activity (including for T+D) is over on the official ASTD blog. Please head over there to view news stories and other ASTD topics. The T+D category is located here, so check it out, and leave a comment if you are so inclined.

Cheers!
T+D Editorial Team

Improv....As a Training Tool

2010-09-10T15:12:00.002-04:00

The world of improv is gaining steam as a accepted method of training in the workplace. Years ago, workplaces used to hesitate to use improv as a form of skills training because there was a stigma attached that anything fun and entertaining is not proper in the workplace. Just as games and simulations are becoming accepted and preferred training methods, improv is gaining in popularity.

A recent article highlighted two hotels--one in Chicago and one in New York--that were looking for a new, unconventional way to train employees. The hotels were looking for ways "to improve hosts’ communications skills, to help them read guests’ body language, and to establish an immediate rapport with guests," according to the article in The New York Times.

What new and innovations training methods have you or your staff used to make learning stick?

The Story Behind Employee Engagement

2010-08-20T13:23:00.002-04:00

Check out the great article in Bloomberg Business Week this week on employee engagement. It delves into the issue of employee engagement, examining what it is, how managers need to approach the issue, and the definition of it. As Dov Seidman writes, "Employee engagement is a condition—manifested by the inspiration an employee unleashes in his or her work when he or she is deeply connected to a mission, purpose, and the values that connect us."

Do you have best practices for how you keep your employees engaged? How do you teach your managers to approach this workplace issue? And, why are so many workers disengaged?

Employee engagement is a hot topic today because the workplace is changing at lightning speed and if companies don't take the time to build a culture of engagement in their workplace, they will had a hard time retaining valuable employees.

2010-08-02T14:43:00.003-04:00

Culture of Learning

I ran across an interesting article today that examines workplace cultures and asks the important question, "What are you doing to help the people who work for you or with you to be better?"

Have you ever taken the time to create your defiition of the perfect learning culture? What does it look like? What role do you, as learning professionals, play in that culture? Do you even know what a learning culture looks like? What tools, initiatives, and competencies does a learning culture need to sustain continuous learning?

These are important questions that need to be answered. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this topic.

It’s Complicated: Organizational Risk Management

2010-07-16T17:53:00.002-04:00

The biggest challenge in improving enterprise risk management is the complexity of implementation, according to 45.9 percent of respondents of a Deloitte online poll.

"Executives relying on conventional wisdom often miss the unconventional realities that can make risk management appear insurmountably complex," said Frederick Funston, a principal with Deloitte & Touche LLP and author of the recently released book, Surviving and Thriving in Uncertainty: Creating the Risk Intelligent Enterprise.

Respondents reported that most risk management initiatives spearheaded by senior leadership within organizations are focused on developing sustainable and repeatable skills, processes, and tools (29.7 percent) and improving the transparency of risk management for the board, employees, and other key stakeholders (17.9 percent).

Meanwhile, target areas for improvement include failure to challenge fundamental business assumptions (22 percent); inability to anticipate potential causes of business failure (15.6 percent); and failure to maintain constant vigilance for threats and opportunities (13.1 percent).

Funston recommends that executives and boards work toward risk intelligence as opposed to mere risk management. Methods he recommends include acting on knowledge on-hand, but being prepared to adapt; creating the tone at the top to incorporate risk intelligence into core business processes; leveraging the best of organizational culture, while improving cross-functional preparedness and coordination; focusing efforts on the few vital risks and opportunities, as opposed to ones that are trivial; and demanding discipline and accountability in execution by linking metrics to compensation and performance management.

The poll was taken during an April 2010 Deloitte webcast, which included more than 1,650 business professionals from the following industries: consumer and industrial products; financial services; technology, media, and telecommunications; and energy resources.

Recession Woes Change to Talent Management Worries

2010-07-12T13:31:00.002-04:00

As the recession gradually wanes in its intensity, companies are growing increasingly concerned about key talent leaving. Sixty-four percent of companies are worried they may lose managers in a better job market, according to a survey of 262 companies by global talent management firm OI Partners, while 48 percent are worried they may lose executives.

Organizations may not be off base in their fears as more employees voluntarily quit their jobs in February, March, and April of 2010 than were laid off, based on information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. February 2010 marked the first time in 15 months (since October 2008) that this was the case.

"There is a lot of pent-up frustration among employees who have survived layoffs, cutbacks, salary freezes, and other givebacks," said Tim Schoonover, chairman of OI Partners. "Companies have to demonstrate to employees that they are valued by investing in their career development, or they may lose them.”

The costs of replacing employees at the managerial and senior levels are quite significant when considering recruitment and training of both the employee who leaves and the new worker, lost business, and severance pay and benefits. For an executive, these expenses would amount to two and a half times her salary, and for a manager, two times his salary.

To retain managers and executives, 44 percent of companies are offering better salaries and benefits, and 60 percent are using in-house trainers and coaches.

In addition, organizations are also paying closer attention to who they hire in the first place as hiring the wrong managers and executives has been reportedly tied to low employee morale (83 percent), decreased worker productivity (78 percent); lost business and market share (53 percent); and high employee turnover (54 percent).

“Companies need to adopt an effective talent management strategy to identify, develop, and retain top talent and ensure that employees are achieving their full potential,” says Schoonover. “The survey demonstrates that businesses need to focus on coaching executives and managers in motivating employees, engaging them in their jobs more fully, and promoting better teamwork.”

Matrix Management

2010-07-05T18:42:00.001-04:00

1. Is the matrix structure increasing in your organization? Let us know if you are seeing a trend towards flatter reporting lines and increased emphasis on collaboration. How does this relate to the strategy? What are the implications for the training function?

Vetting the Veteran Hiring Process

2010-06-30T17:53:00.005-04:00

While military veterans already have trouble translating their experience to the civilian job market, HR departments also overlook Department of Labor programs that identify military veterans who are seeking jobs.

Forty-eight percent of HR professionals polled said that transitioning from the hierarchy and structure of a military culture to the civilian workplace presents a challenge, according to a Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) report called “Employing Military Personnel and Recruiting Veterans - Attitudes and Practices.” Another 36 percent of respondents said that another hurdle is the amount of time it takes military vets to adapt to the civilian workplace.

The survey did show that 50 percent of organizations that hired veterans made a specific effort to hire these candidates, but raising this percentage is a necessary objective to assist in lowering veteran unemployment. Nearly 70 percent of HR professionals reported they are mostly unaware the Local Veterans’ Employment Representative (LVER) program while another 70 percent said they were unfamiliar with the DOL’s Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program (DVOP).

“The high unemployment rate of military veterans is startling,” says SHRM President and CEO Laurence G. O’Neil. “SHRM is committed to working with federal agencies such as the Department of Labor and civilian HR professionals to create initiatives that get veterans hired.”

In fact, among the HR organizations that hired military employees, approximately 97 percent of HR professionals reported they bring a strong sense of responsibility to their work. In addition, other outstanding qualities reported included working well under pressure (96 percent); seeing a task through to completion (92 percent); strong leadership skills (91 percent); a high degree of professionalism (91 percent); and strong problem-solving skills (90 percent).

Good response on potential solutions explored to help hiring of military veterans by HR departments included instituting programs to train veterans with additional skills for the civilian workplace (39 percent); instituting programs to help veterans transition their existing skills to the civilian workplace (36 percent); and providing assistance in identifying and reaching out to qualified veterans (32 percent).

The survey sample included 429 randomly selected HR professionals from across different industries and the U.S.

Talent Glass Is Half Full

2010-06-15T19:19:00.003-04:00

Executives believe in the possibilities of high-potential performers. Sixty-four percent of global leaders said they currently have or plan to implement high-potential talent management programs in 2010, according to the Pulse on Leaders survey from PDI Ninth House.

Respondents were leaders from 100 global organizations based in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

High-potential leaders are defined as “those with the capability to take on significantly more responsibility and challenges—often in an accelerated timeframe—and to climb several levels beyond a current role.”

Focusing on exceptional talent for professional development programs can often have a significant return-on-investment. For example, one global technology organization that worked with PDI Ninth House on a program to help top employees lead important projects led to a 20 percent, or roughly $25 million increase, in revenues.

However, 26 percent of respondents reported they don’t have a high-potential program in place nor do they plan to implement one this year, and another 10 percent reported they don’t have the resources to institute a program.

PDI Ninth House recommends these programs because they focus on skills, values, and motives; they provide networking opportunities and relationship-building; and they enforce versatility, as well as providing intensive feedback, hands-on opportunities, action learning, and stretch assignments.

Getting Smart About Job Prospects

2010-06-09T18:21:00.002-04:00

There may be a gap between the career outlook of the average American worker and his actual job qualifications as dependent on education level.

According to a survey conducted by eLearners.com, although three in four Americans who plan to work in 10 years report that they have the education to remain competitive, the U.S. Census Bureau would counter that fewer than 20 percent of Americans 25 years of age and older have a bachelor’s degree and fewer than 10 percent have an associate’s degree.

This means that many workers will not be able to stay competitive since 18 of the 30 fastest-growing job fields require at least an associate’s degree according to the Employment Projections Program (EPP) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The survey also found that 29 percent of Americans who do not have a college degree and do not plan on retiring before 2020 do not feel they have the education to remain competitive as compared to 20 percent who graduated from college who feel the same way.

In addition, more working women (31 percent) as compared to men (20 percent) do not think they have the education they need to be competitive in their field.

Roughly 40 percent of survey respondents possessed a college degree of some kind.

While some of these statistics may seem troubling, online education and distance learning programs do afford many adults lacking time, money, or both the opportunity to go back to school.

Formal Evaluations Get a Positive Report

2010-05-28T18:09:00.002-04:00

The performance review might not be something that employers and employees look forward to with excitement, but this type of assessment still prove to be a useful appraisal tool. Ninety-one percent of respondents thought that formal evaluations are valuable in improving job performance, according to a recent OfficeTeam survey of human resource managers.

Their confidence is perhaps testament to the investment they put into this type of measurement. Sixty percent reported that they conduct these performance review meetings once a year, while 18 percent said they conduct reviews at least two to four times a year. Only 5 percent said they never conducted this type of assessment.

OfficeTeam offers tips for making performance reviews successful such as employees asking their managers for a copy of their assessment forms to seek clarification on any points of doubt; making review meetings a two-way conversation between employer and employee, especially in the form of sharing ideas for improvement; having employees showcase their accomplishments both as a reminder to themselves as well as their supervisors; and providing follow through on goals for the sake of accountability and progress.

The survey was based on phone interviews with more than 500 HR managers at companies with 20 or more employees.

Worldwide Jobs in Demand Are Still Skills, Sales, and Techs

2010-05-20T17:55:00.004-04:00

Unemployment might have reached record highs within the past year, but global talent shortages still run amok. According to an annual survey from Manpower Inc. that polled 35,000 employees from across 36 countries, 31 percent of employers have difficulty filling key positions within their organization. In addition, the seats for jobs that have been in demand for four years running remain tough to fill.

The top jobs for 2010 are skilled trades, sales representatives, technicians, and engineers, which are exactly the same as in 2009.

“As the global economy slowly recovers, employers will remain focused on maintaining financial flexibility and doing more with less,” says Jeffrey A. Joerres, CEO and chairman of Manpower Inc. “Applying the same mindset to their workforce, employers have gotten more specific about the combination of skill sets that they are looking for, not only seeking technical capabilities in a job match, but holding out for the person that possesses the additional qualities above and beyond that will help drive their organization forward. This conundrum is upsetting to the ubiquitous job seeker, who will need to take more responsibility for his/her skills development in order to find ways to remain relevant to the market.”

A copy of the survey, including additional information on the specific job shortages in different global regions, and a whitepaper on how employers can address the talent mismatch are available at Manpower Inc.’s Research Center.

Disks That Flop: Implementation of New Technology Prevented by IT Understaffing

2010-05-13T19:15:00.000-04:00

Does your company computer run slower with every passing day? You might just be one of many employees in the same predicament.

Sixty-four percent of chief information officers (CIOs) reported that understaffing in their company’s IT department at least partially interfered with their ability to implement innovative or emerging technologies, according to a survey by Robert Half Technology.

The company offers the following tips for companies that may be facing an IT staffing shortage: asking IT employees to provide workload updates to ensure that their to-do lists are manageable; getting other employees involved and brainstorming creative solutions and workarounds; taking stock of current skills to see if employees have the necessary ones to implement an emerging technology; and finally, considering reinforcements, in the form of cost-effective project professionals and other types of independent contractors.

Corporate Social Responsibility Is Alive and Well: Pepal’s Innovation in India Program

2010-05-07T18:09:00.001-04:00

The freshest ideas in corporate social responsibility may come from uniting representatives from both the private and public sectors. At least, that’s what social enterprise Pepal believes. This past March, the organization launched its Innovation in India program, which offers a new take on executive development.

Innovation in India pairs private-sector professionals with senior staff from Indian non-profit organizations over a six month period to help create and execute community projects tackling problems such as HIV/AIDS, children’s health, youth unemployment, and women’s rights.

Partners will also receive joint training from London School of Economics Professor of Innovation and Management, Harry Barkema. This training will focus on two primary goals: how to build economically sustainable and scalable business models that address the needs of specific communities and exploring how building networks with partners (such as multinationals, local companies, NGOs, and governments) can create better business models.

"I expect this to be a life-changing journey for many of our private-sector participants. They will be working on challenging problems in new and often difficult circumstances," says Pepal’s Executive Director, Julie Saunders. She adds that it’s also equally beneficial for non-profit participants.

Younger People Have More Workplace Injuries

2010-04-26T16:21:00.003-04:00

I found it ironic that while surfing the Internet I came across two articles that have more to do with each other than most people would think. The one article focused on OSHA's training compliance and the need to state that safety training should be conducted in a foreign language when there are people on the work site who do not speak or read English. And the second article examines workplace data that shows that younger people in America's workforce are twice as likely than older workers to suffer an injury on the job that requires treatment in an emergency room.

Younger Hispanic workers had a fatality rate (5.6 per 100,000) that was significantly higher than for non-Hispanic white workers (3.3 per 100,000), and also for non-Hispanic black workers (2.3 per 100,000).

This is a surprising fact because it seems logical that workers who are given safety training should be able to understand all of the training. Safe work sites save lives and money, so why is there such a disconnect between tailoring training to fit a student's language and education level?

What Would an Executive Do to Keep a Star Employee?

2010-04-09T18:21:00.000-04:00

More than three-quarters of chief financial officers are willing to curry favor with their best employees to retain them once the recession dies down, according to a survey by Accountemps. In fact, 50 percent of CFOs plan to promote their top performers once the economy picks up while 48 percent plan to give raises.

These actions were chosen in response to the question: “Which of the following steps are you taking or do you plan to take to retain your employees as the economy improves?”

Other picks included increasing investment in professional development (41 percent); enhancing benefits (32 percent); and reinstating or increasing bonuses (26 percent). Only 24 percent of respondents chose “no steps.”

“Now is the time to re-recruit your standout employees,” says Max Messmer, CEO of Accountemps. "Let your top performers know they have a clear career path within the organization and re-evaluate compensation levels to make sure they're in line with what other firms in your industry are paying for similar positions."

What other measures do you think companies should take to keep high-performing employees?

The Disappearing Career Discussion

2010-03-29T13:33:00.003-04:00

According to a recent survey by Right Management, more than one-third of all employees (37 percent) never discuss their career development with their managers and another 30 percent have that discussion just once a year.

Why are employees so hesitant to talk about their career aspirations with their managers? Is it because they are too busy to think about their future or do they lack the skills to ask the right questions?

Although individuals should take the responsibility to manage their own careers, managers should reach out to employees to discussion career objectives because that is a key step in keeping employees engaged in the workplace.

Are your managers equipped with the skills to discuss an employee's strengths, growth opportunities, and developmental needs? If not, do you have a strategy for how to teach those skills to your organization's managers?

Deloitte: The Future of Recruiting Is Social Media

2010-03-24T19:12:00.004-04:00

Recruiting doesn’t have to be relegated to job fairs and visits to college campuses. Deloitte is taking a multifaceted digital approach to recruiting by using a blend of social networking resources and multimedia elements. A versatile introduction to their company is available at the click of a button.

The program integrates several interactive social media outlets including a micro-site, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and LinkedIn group, and a YouTube channel.

The recruiting micro-site offers visitors an in-depth look into the lives of Deloitte’s Gen Y workers, by showcasing a series of profiles and short films about working in the company’s different practice areas. The site also highlights the personal and professional pursuits of its youngest workers such as hobbies, community activities, favorite music, and TV shows.

The "Life at Deloitte" Twitter feed, offers daily tweets with a different business leaders (that rotate weekly) about their day-to-day lives inside and outside of the organization. Followers can study what’s on a senior professional’s mind and gain an understanding of the company’s different practice areas and latest hot topics.

The “Your Future at Deloitte (U.S.)” Facebook page, displays up-to-date information on initiatives and developments in progress at the company. It also has event photos, videos, and interactive message boards where potential candidates can join in the discussion. Deloitte also has a campus-focused LinkedIn group to help connect college students with employees and recruiters.

Finally, the "Your Future at Deloitte" YouTube channel has video testimonies from employees on why they chose to work at Deloitte and what working there means to them. The videos follow employees’ day-to-day roles, including working on site at a technology client and participating in a sustainability project.

Deloitte was recently ranked first on BusinessWeek’s 2009 “Best Places to Intern” and “Best Places to Launch a Career” lists and is also included on the DiversityInc “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” as well as the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” lists. The company plans to hire roughly 4,800 employees for both full-time employment and internship positions this year.

Employees Are Full of Feedback

2010-03-13T21:10:00.001-05:00

If you have a suggestion to make in the workplace, do you make it or do you keep your mouth shut? Many people take advantage of their right to express themselves.

Fifty-seven percent of employees say they regularly make suggestions in the workplace, according to a survey by Right Management. In fact, 27 percent of employees report that they make more than 20 suggestions per year. Another 30 percent made at least 10 suggestions per year. Only 6 percent made no suggestions at all.

The poll, which was conducted on LinkedIn and included 614 participants from all over North America, found that the most vocal employees are those in management and C-level executives.

Other interesting findings were that number of suggestions does not vary by company size and sales people were the most likely to make suggestions at 50 percent followed by those in HR at 28 percent. In addition, workers ages 55 and over were more likely to make 10 or more suggestions at 76 percent as compared to their colleagues ages 25 to 34 at 51 percent. Women, at 61 percent, were also likely to make 10 or more suggestions as compared to men, at 46 percent.

"Our findings suggest a surprising number of employees go the extra mile by making suggestions in the workplace," says Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier, senior vice president of global solutions at Right Management. "At the same time, however, in our experience there is little evidence that companies really listen to employee suggestions—or, more important, try to benefit from their perspective and enthusiasm."

She advises that companies should not only listen to their employees, but make sure their ideas are acknowledged and acted upon.

Businesses need to remember that communication is a two-way street.

What Will the New Workplace Look Like?

2010-03-12T15:46:00.004-05:00

The economy changed the face of the workplace in 2009. More boomers continued working, delaying their retirement; organizations focused on performance and efficiency, expecting workers to do more with less; and technology made more mobile, 24/7 employees.

Expectations for learning changed also. Workplace learning and performance professionals were charged with the task of getting employee skills up to date, finding the company's key competitive advantage, and keeping employees engaged.

What will the workplace look like when the economic recession ends? What efficiencies gained during this cost-cutting economic downturn will emerge as new ways to do business in learning and development?

Age Is Just a Number, Not a Title, Right?

2010-02-18T18:11:00.001-05:00

How would you handle the fact that your boss is younger than you?

The question is one to ponder considering that 43 percent of workers ages 35 and older reported that they currently work for someone younger than them, according to a CareerBuilder survey.

Similar circumstances abound with different age groups. Fifty-three percent of workers ages 45 and older and 69 percent of workers ages 55 and older say their boss is younger than them.

Occasionally, this situation can create some friction between older and younger workers. Sixteen percent of workers ages 25 to 34 reported that they find it difficult to take direction from a boss younger than them.

However, the percentages go down as the ages go up. Only 13 percent of workers ages 35 to 44, 7 percent of workers 45 to 54, and a mere 5 percent of workers ages 55 and up agreed with the same statement.

Some of the reasons that were cited as creating tension between an older worker and a younger boss included micromanagement; playing favorites with younger workers; having a sense of entitlement; giving a lack of direction; and acting like they know more than the employee when, in fact, they don’t.

Visions of Better Vision

2010-01-29T15:41:00.003-05:00

Employees may be thinking clearly about their work, but they may not be seeing quite as clearly. A WellPoint survey found that 40 percent of American workers have trouble with their eyesight while on the job. As a result, mistakes occur, and some of them are not caught right away and can cause unfortunate errors.

For example, 1 in 10 respondents reported sending emails to the wrong person or misreading a text message or a caller ID. According to the Vision Council of America, uncorrected vision can decrease employee performance by as much as 20 percent, and vision disorders can account for more than 8 billion dollars in lost productivity per year.

Making sure employees have the option of vision benefits so that they can get their vision checked regularly is a smart and easy way to manage this problem within the workplace.

Skills Gap

2010-01-12T15:10:00.006-05:00

Does your organization have a skills gap? If so, you're not alone. In a recent American Society for Training & Development survey that was published in the new white paper Bridging the Skills Gap, 79.2 percent of organizations admitted that the skills of their current workforce did not match the changes in their business strategy.

The education system and organizations in the United States, along with the local, state, and federal government, bear equal responsibility in closing this skills gap. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 75 percent of the job growth in the future will come from three occupations: computer and math, healthcare practictioners and technical, and education, training, and library.

Have you assessed the skills and compentencies needed by your workforce now and in the future? Do you know how to bridge that gap?

There is no time to waste. Organizations will be left behind if they can't drive their business strategies forward.

What Does IT Have to Do with Corporate Responsibility?

2009-12-30T13:54:00.002-05:00

Apparently everything, according to some workers. A Deloitte online poll showed that more than 40 percent of employees believe their company’s IT department is very involved in corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts. They aren’t so far off the mark in their expectations, but as far as actual demonstration of proof, there is still a ways to go.

The survey showed that 25 percent of companies have a green IT program in place while another 9 percent plan to have one within the next year. In addition, close to 17 percent reported that IT is directly involved in their corporate responsibility and sustainability strategies, programs, and activities throughout their company, rather than just limited to carbon management.

The poll was conducted during a Deloitte webcast called “Competing in the Low-Carbon Economy: The Essential Dialog [sic] between the CIO and C-suite.”

“Companies today are relying more on CIOs to help drive business strategies and innovation, and our polling indicates that IT is becoming recognized as an essential enabler of sustainability efforts throughout the enterprise,” said Lee Dittmar, principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP.

Dittmar advised that CIOs need to be prepared to make a business case for IT in evolving sustainability strategies and programs. Points of preparation he suggested include knowing how to establish baseline measurements; aligning with corporate responsibility and sustainability goals and investments; determining information needs to measure progress at all levels; ensuring information availability and accessibility; and evaluating IT capabilities to measure, monitor, and report corporate responsibility and sustainability.

Moving Employee Mobility Programs Forward

2009-12-23T13:10:00.001-05:00

The 2009 Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Report, released by Runzheimer International in early October, shows that though businesses are investing in remote workforce programs, they do not have control over the associated risks, costs, or benefits.

Some of the major report findings included that 51 percent of the workforce is mobile on any given day, whether that means traveling, working from a virtual office, or driving for business. This number has gone up by 31 percent since 2006.

The total investment in workforce mobility has also gone up considerably in the past four years, and the number per-employee, per-year is $7,426, a figure that has gone up three percent year by year.

Despite this steady growth in investment, 73 percent of respondents have no policies in place when it comes to virtual office programs while another 56 percent are unaware if the programs they have instituted are productive. Sixty-four percent of companies reported that corporate travel costs are loosely managed.

One possible reason behind this lack of metrics could be that mobile workforce programs often involve multiple departments. For example, 80 percent of employees full into multiple categories of drivers, travelers, and virtual offices, and often have to interact with more than one department in order to fulfill their job responsibilities.

Since the mobile workforce is a growing body, and not an issue that will disappear anytime soon from organizational agendas, what are steps companies can take to better harness employee mobility programs?

When Your Boss Is Too Boss to Keep It a Secret

2009-12-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

Do you wish other people outside your company could know about your boss who goes above and beyond his responsibilities? Well, now there’s a new website for that very purpose. GetaGreatBoss.com is a recently launched site that reviews employers and highlights jobs that have great bosses. Potential candidates can read the reviews which are completed by current employees.

The website rating system is composed of professional online profiles with an employee review element. All reviewer responses are kept anonymous and all employers can follow up on any anonymous comment by starting a private online chat with the relevant employee in order to receive helpful feedback and improve upon their management styles.

Furthermore, if the boss likes the review, she can link it to a job ad for prospective applicants to read, or also to her resume for executive recruiters or head-hunters. If a boss does not like her results, she can choose not to share them with anyone.

“We're not here to penalize bad bosses but rather to celebrate great ones,” notes the site’s CEO Gavin Symanowitz.

Job applicants may also be more willing to be financially flexible if they know that they will be in good hands at their prospective place of employment.

"High-quality career-seekers are far more negotiable on salary if they know they will be working for a high-quality boss," says Symanowitz. "By showcasing their management skills, great bosses are therefore able to keep their staff costs down.”

Australians Value Work Culture

2009-12-09T10:19:00.002-05:00

What is more important to you: workplace culture or salary.

According to a recent study by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, 96percent of Australian employers use engagement activities, flexible work options, or incentives to create a quality work environment.

Family and caregiver leave, and part-time work are the most common flexible work options available. More than half of all employees surveyed consider flexible work arrangements as one of the five most important contributors to job satisfaction.

As we slowly move out of this economic recession, organizations are going to need to evaluate employee engagement and really find out what makes employees satisfied and engaged with their work. Myriad studies are finding that many employees will jump ship when the economy turns around, so how can you as workplace learning and performance professionals engage and retain your high potential employees?

What matters to your employees? If you don't know the answers, you better not waste time before finding out because sooner rather than later, it's going to be too late.

Career Resolutions May Mean Pursuing Ambitions Elsewhere

2009-11-20T17:33:00.002-05:00

The impending arrival of a new year may mean the desire for a new job for many employees. Sixty percent of respondents intend to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010, according to a survey of more than 900 North American workers by Right Management.

In addition, 21 percent self-identified as “maybes” that have been networking in case something sparkly and better might come along.

“Employees are clearly expressing their pent up frustration with how they have been treated through the downturn,” says Douglas J. Matthews, president and CEO of Right Management. “While employers may have taken the necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable, it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process. The result is a disengaged and disgruntled workforce."

Only 13 percent of workers indicated that they intended to stay at their jobs, with another 6 percent saying a job change was unlikely though they updated their resumes to be safe.

“A segmented, customized and flexible talent strategy is critical to stem the alarming levels of employee turnover anticipated next year,” says Matthews.

I guess it’s not so far-fetched to say that as the recession reluctantly makes its way out of the hot buzzword arena, it just might bump into talent management brashly pushing its way back in.

Getting the Most out of Your Meetings

2009-11-06T17:59:00.002-05:00

Have you ever been sitting in a meeting just watching the clock tick?

Well, now there’s a product that measures exactly just how much money is being wasted during unproductive meetings.

From Bring TIM! LLC comes Bring TIM!®, a time management cost calculator and clock. Users simply enter the number of attendees and the average hourly rate, and then press the start button to begin calculating.

Brad Johnson, president and founder of Bring TIM! LLC, created this device out of his own experience with meetings that ran four hours or longer.

A light-hearted gift with a valuable lesson, this machine literally demonstrates the meaning of the expression, “Time is money.”

Bring TIM!® is available for order now from BringTim.com for $24.95 plus shipping and handling.

Are You Undermanaged?

2009-10-30T16:13:00.003-04:00

According to Bruce Tulgan, author of Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, more employees are undermanaged than micromanaged—missing the two-way communication that is craved by many employees.

Just as micromanagers can cause employees to lose interest in their work or leave the job, those managers who undermanage—fail to give the day-to-day feedback to employees—also lose their employees to disengagement.

The job of the middle manager is complex and is often overlooked when it comes to training. Supervisors and managers need to spell out expectations every step of the way, ensure necessary resources are in place, track performance constantly, correct failure and reward success.

Middle management is one of the most important jobs in the organizations—as learning and performance professionals, you must take the time to give managers to skills and development they need to succeed.

Stealing Focus at Work

2009-10-26T18:28:00.000-04:00

There is more at risk of being nabbed at work than just your lunch leftovers.

An OfficeTeam survey found that 29 percent of employees have had an idea stolen at work. Even more surprising is that 51 percent of these employees have done nothing about it in response.

In contrast, 26 percent of these employees spoke up to take credit for what was their idea while 13 percent told a manager and another 13 percent confronted the person who stole the idea.

One major reason behind this behavior could be a competitive and anxious workplace atmosphere due to the current job climate. Employees are eager to look like active and useful contributors, and may unconsciously pounce onto someone else’s idea.

OfficeTeam lists a few recommendations to prevent intellectual property theft in the workplace.

Firstly, give your manager regular status updates so that she is reminded of your ideas and their progress.

Also, look for patterns. Is one of your ideas being stolen a one-time occurrence, or is your work regularly attributed to others? This could be a sign that you are not assertive enough.

Finally, don’t act too hastily. If someone takes credit for your idea, make sure you hear his side of the situation. Similarly, if you are wrongfully given credit for someone else’s idea, make sure you clear up the situation to demonstrate your integrity.

Are You Engaged?

2009-10-13T15:35:00.004-04:00

A survey by MidlandHR finds that although most companies agree that employee engagement affects retention and overall organizational performance, 49 percent of the companies don't understand the level of engagement of employees and 42 percent don't know how to engage them.

The survey of more than 100 business leaders in the United Kingdom's public, private, and charity sectors had some astounding results. Almost a quarter of all companies don't conduct employee engagement surveys. Of the companies that do conduct surveys, only 23 percent conduct them annually, while 14 percent do one every two years.

Do you do employee engagement surveys? Are they anonymous?

Engagement Loses Ground

2009-10-09T16:22:00.002-04:00

Apparently having a job when many others don’t is no longer sufficient.

More than 50 percent of workers say their jobs are stagnant, according to a recent survey by DDI.

Among the reasons employees cited are having no room to advance, not being asked to do more, and not being challenged enough. The reasons are ironic given that many workers say they are burdened with too much work following layoffs and budget cuts.

Were it not for the abysmal job market, even more people would look to better horizons. Half of the respondents who said their jobs are stagnant plan to look for a new job when the economy recovers.

What the survey indicates above all else is that just because people are busier does not mean organizations should ignore engagement. It’s something leaders should focus on regularly.

The number of people who choose to do something else at work other than work is likely the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago. Social networking sites are just a new diversion for bored employees. Spring and summer fever is not new either. Twenty percent of employees called in sick as many as three times over the summer.

We should not read too much into the statistics and ignore the larger problem. Engagement of employees is an ongoing issue, not something that emerged in the Internet age. It is just as easy to ban use of the Internet, social media or personal phones as it is to find challenging roles and assignments for ambitious employees.

Actually Sick, or Just Sick of Working?

2009-10-09T15:48:00.002-04:00

While we are entering flu season and people are lining up to be vaccinated, some employees may stay home because they just don’t feel like going to work. According to CareerBuilder’s annual absenteeism survey, 32 percent of employees have played hooky from work at least once this year under the pretense of being sick.

However, not all bosses are pointing fingers, or think that their staffs are lazy. Twenty-eight percent of employers reported that they think their workers are using fake excuses because they are burned out or stressed due to the recession.

Regardless, some employers are vigilant as to their missing people. Twenty-nine percent reported they have checked in on an employee who called in sick with 70 percent requiring a doctor’s note and 17 percent even driving by the employee’s house. Fifteen percent of employers have fired an employee for missing work without an acceptable excuse.

Twelve percent of employees who reported calling in sick said it was because of a work-related item such as missing a meeting, giving themselves more time to work on a project, or avoiding a supervisor or colleague. Other reasons for missing work included a doctor’s appointment (31 percent), needing relaxation time (28 percent), catching up on sleep (16 percent), running personal errands (13 percent), catching up on housework (10 percent), or spending time with family and friends. Nearly one-third of employees (32 percent) reported they didn’t feel like going to work that day.

The survey sample included 4,700 employees and 3,100 employers.

Employers shared some of the more unusual responses they’ve received from employees for missing work. Some of the more creative ones included:

“I hit a nun with my motorcycle.”

“A random person threw poison ivy in my face and now I have a rash.”

“I got sunburned at a nude beach and can’t wear clothes.”

“I got caught selling an alligator.”

“A bee flew in my mouth.”

“I’m just not into it today.”

Abundance of Talent

2009-10-07T15:38:00.002-04:00

The year 2006 seems like a decade ago. At the time executives sounded off about how difficult it was to find and retain the “right” people.

Now there’s definitely more talent in the marketplace. Instead employers are concerned with slogging through the pile of resumes in their inboxes and spending more time with the qualified candidates and less time with the undesirables, according to a survey by TalentDrive.

The recession turned the whole talent “war” into a myth.

With more people competing for scarce jobs, employers list improving their search techniques as the top priority for the coming year. Selecting the brightest just got a lot harder.

Online job boards are a giant void. Employers realize that to find the best workers among the younger generation, they must cast their nets online and through social networking sites. Their ease of use means a lot of unqualified people simply send their resume out hoping for the best, like buying a lottery ticket.

Employers now have to spend more time wading through resumes sent by people who should not have applied in the first place. Fifty-nine percent of organizations surveyed said the best means of finding top talent is through employee referrals.

Strangely enough, 54 percent of organizations said the quality of candidates was up to par once initial selections were made.

Maybe employer expectations are just too high. The best candidates are typically not in the market at the same time. They’re already working.

For all the false optimism about an economic recovery, there truly is no recovery until the job market is no longer flooded with resumes. Forty-eight percent of companies surveyed said their budgets for talent acquisition were cut or nonexistent. We’ll known when a true recovery occurs because at that point, employers will be looking for talent instead of people looking for jobs.

Attracting and Retaining the Mature Workforce

2009-10-06T16:00:00.005-04:00

Just when you thought that Baby Boomers were exiting the workforce en masse, the economy went in the tank and the mature workers remained in the workplace. Some of the stereotypes about these workers haven't gone away either: Older workers can’t or won’t keep their skills current and older workers are not tech-savvy.

But as Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre showed in last night's Monday Night showdown with the Green Bay Packers, mature workers still have a lot of knowledge, experience, and heart to help their organizations succeed.

Does your organization have strategies to attract and retain older workers? Do you have a mentoring process in place that includes these invaluable employees?

Baby boomers are not leaving the workforce anytime soon, so you need to find ways to keep them engaged and ways to incorporate all generations into one workplace. The time is now.

There's No Business Like Small Business

2009-09-18T14:21:00.001-04:00

Bigger isn’t always better. A recent CareerBuilder survey finds that 22 percent of workers who were laid off within the past year found new positions with small businesses. Of those who didn’t find jobs, 59 percent reported that they were interested in working for a small business and 29 percent said they would like to start their own small business.

Small businesses employ half of all workers in the private sector and provide half of the private gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

There were a multitude of reasons that working for a small business was an attractive option. Some of them included the family-like work environment (56 percent); more recognition of employees (49 percent); a sense of being able to facilitate change (48 percent); and the lack of corporate red tape (46 percent).

What are some other perks of working at a small business?

Does Your Company Have Clear Expectations Regarding Diversity?

2009-09-17T11:24:00.003-04:00

According to the Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace survey results—commissioned by Capital H Group and released today—91 percent of managers and senior managers from DiversityInc Top 10 companies and a comparison group of Fortune 500 companies report that their organizations set clear expectations regarding diversity.

92 percent of those surveyed said their company's current diversity and inclusion practices have helped their organization's ability to attract and retain talent.

Does your company have a diversity policy? What is your company's definition of diversity?

One-third of respondents said their diversity policy only includes gender and race/ethnicity.

When you look for a job, is diversity an important factor in choosing which company to work for?

Productivity at All-Time High

2009-09-08T15:46:00.004-04:00

Last week, news surfaced that productivity—basically the amount of work per hour—increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent during the second quarter. That’s the best performance since the summer 2003 and easily exceeded the 6.4 percent gain economists expected, according to the Labor Department.

So what does that really mean? Are workers being asked to do more in less time? If so, how is workplace training playing a part in this productivity?

Are the workers who are remaining on the jobsite the older, more experienced group or are those workers left behind during a RIF being upskilled quickly to meet the demands of the organization?

2009-09-02T13:52:00.005-04:00

Fear of Management

Did you see the most recent Harris Interactive survey that reported that most U.S. workers do not want to be managers? Increased stress is apparently the no. 1 reason why American workers are afraid to take on more responsibility.

Fifty-one percent of the people surveyed said they don't want to become managers, and 69 percent older workers—those over the age of 64—are not interested in moving up the career ladder.

Are you surprised? Why isn't more responsibility enticing for U.S. workers?

Are leadership development programs scaring away high potentials, or maybe it's the lack of good development programs that has workers weary of taking on more responsibility?

Whatever the reason, scaring away would-be managers is a sobering reality that could have company executives scratching their heads in the not so distant future.

2009-08-28T18:15:00.003-04:00

Office Buzz, Buzz: All Talk and No Substance

During this recession period of bailouts, downsizing, pay freezes, and similar signs of doom and gloom, it’s important to circle back in the workplace and really reach out to leverage engagement among employees, and value-add whenever possible in creating cutting-edge, customer-centric solutions. It is what it is.

Does the previous paragraph sound familiar in that there are a lot of hot-topic terms and expressions used but not much is actually being communicated or clarified? All the italicized words turn out to be some of the most overused terms in the world of business jargon.

In an Accountemps telephone survey of 150 senior leaders from 1,000 of the world’s largest companies, executives were asked, “What is the most annoying or overused phrase or buzzword in the workplace today?"

Some examples included:

• Viral: As in, "Our video has gone viral."

• Game changer: As in, "Transitioning from products to solutions was a game changer for our company."

• Disconnect: As in, "There is a disconnect between what the consumer wants and what the product provides."

A similar survey that was conducted in 2004 had many repeated expressions and words from 2009 including “think outside the box”, “on the same page,” and “at the end of the day”, and also words such as “synergy” and “customer-centric.”

“When business or industry terms become overused, people stop paying attention to them," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps. “The best communicators use clear and straightforward language that directly illustrates their points.”

At a time when organizations are doing more with less, perhaps budget cuts need to include office buzzwords.

2009-08-14T14:16:00.003-04:00

New Dynamics in Mentoring Women

Not long ago the thought of men being ideal mentors for women would have sounded absurd. How could a man possibly understand a woman’s experience in the workplace?

Not only has the workplace changed, but the debate has changed along with it. If the end goal is to promote more women into positions of power, who better to teach them than the men who are already there? Most women agree that women seeking to become executives should find a male mentor.

When building an internal mentoring program, common ingredients for success do exist. There needs to be an active facilitator who pairs a mentor with a protégé. Throughout the process the woman interested in being mentored must take the initiative. Observers agree that absent a real determination from a woman seeking to learn from colleagues, an informal program whereby the organization sets the table and then steps out of the picture is unlikely to work.

The most effective mentoring relationships should last for one year. Partners should meet monthly. If time constraints do not permit such frequency, they should meet for an extended period of three hours per quarter. No topic should be considered irrelevant.

There are plenty of issues to discuss such as how to prepare presentations, speak the language of the board or build rapport with male executives. Maybe a female protégé needs to work on strategic thinking or develop greater financial acumen. Whatever they choose to focus on, the protégé should select an area that is crucial for them to reach the next level.

What distinguishes men from women in terms of mentoring is men’s willingness to seek and be guided by a mentor. Too often, according to workplace analysts, women fear asking for advice on professional matters out of fear that they will be perceived as incompetent or under qualified. On the flipside women are still reluctant mentors to other women.

Why are women at the executive level often unwilling to take on a guiding role? Reasons vary from a shortage of women in power to the limited time and heightened spotlight that the few at the top operate under. Possibly they suffer from the same affliction as doctors who express little sympathy for the brutal hours required of residents. If they had to struggle through days of 12-hour shifts without sleep, then why shouldn’t the next generation suffer the same?

Structured mentoring programs are effective. What makes or breaks it is the willingness of the protégé to keep the process going. It is not up to the mentor to set a schedule or select topics to discuss. The protégé has to take charge of the process.

2009-08-12T13:54:00.003-04:00

Downturn Spurs Proactive Ingenuity

One could argue that the recession has inspired many people to reinvent their careers and seek new possibilities. The Foundation for Job Creation is one of the phoenixes that has risen from the ashes of the current economy.

Founded by inventor and entrepreneur Mark Nejmeh, attorney Francis X. Taney Jr., and businessman James Flattery, the purpose of the non-profit corporation is to “support ideas, innovations, and concepts through development and into prototype.”

Says Nejmeh, “We can no longer ignore ideas that are born in unexpected places…This new Foundation must mine the brilliance of the ‘can do, will do’ modern American scientists, creative minds, and entrepreneurs in garages, basements, and elsewhere.”

The industries of focus for the Foundation are entertainment, biotechnology, renewable energy, and any type of high- or low-tech industry. All development projects must create jobs and profit, as well as be strong candidates for export outside the U.S.

The foundation is open for various forms of membership, ranging from volunteer status (at no cost) to lifetime membership at $25,000. General annual membership amounts to $175 with significant discounts for those who are retired, serving in the military, students, or educators. A key benefit of being a member includes the right to vote on development of technology and the allocation of funds.

Some of the organization’s plans include creating three to five think tank-like facilities across the U.S. as well as one laboratory and prototyping facility, all open for member use by mid-2010. Anyone is allowed to apply for assistance with intellectual property protection, engineering software, business plan software, website development, branding, engineering services for assisting in concept and prototype design, and professional business mentoring and prototype production at these service centers.

The first fundraiser for the Foundation, Lift America Up, is slated for November 2009, and is a national bench press contest that is open to all individuals as well as schools, gyms, and military bases. A $5000 prize will go to the gym, school, or military base that cumulatively lifts the most weight among all the registered participants. Individual prizes of $1500 are also available.

2009-08-07T14:59:00.006-04:00

Learning in Tough Economic Times

This economic recession has brought many challenges in the corporate world. From the market fluctuations to reductions in staff, all companies and all employees are feeling the effects of this downturn in the economy.

ASTD recently partnered with i4cp to produce a research report on how the learning function can partner with organizational leaders to help organizations increase employee productivity. Thirty-eight percent of survey participants reported that this recession is much more challenging than past downturns, and 70 percent of learning executives are looking for ways to become more efficient at delivering learning.

Explore the specific methods that organizations are using to cope with deep financial uncertainty and read about the best practices that learning organizations are using to survive this economic recession.

2009-08-05T09:52:00.005-04:00

Measuring What Really Matters

Training is an investment. If your organization is investing money in workplace training, then training and development should be treated like any other investment—goals need to be aligned with business strategies, and accountability needs to be measured.

The recession has magnified the need for accountability. Learning professionals need to show how learning affects corporate performance by speaking the language of business when communicating the value of learning to executives, and by identifying ways in which the learning function supports the organization’s goals.

It is critical that professionals know what to measure, how to measure it, and how to present the results to the rest of the business. This includes understanding the business, the needs of employees, and how the training strategy links to business results.

To help learning maintain credibility, learning executives must think about results, measures, metrics, and analytics when designing and delivering workplace training programs. It is time to start delivering the data that executives demand, because if you fail to prove value, learning programs may be perceived as a waste of time and money.

Read Jack and Patty Phillips' article in this month's T+D.

2009-07-30T09:23:00.005-04:00

The Power of Talent Management

When I scanned Google News for workplace training and development, two of the top five articles focused on "safeguarding and developing talent" and "engaging and retaining Millennials." Managing talent has never been more important.

During these tough economic times, people are your most valuable asset. The difference between competing businesses comes down to people, their performance, and their service to customers. Cost savings may be front and center on the minds of business executives, but cutting corners on employee development may be fatal to a company's future success.

2009-07-28T14:50:00.004-04:00

Resume Versus Interview

Even if you found a potential employee with the perfect resume, it’s still too early to relax. The job interview could quickly damage her image in your eyes, especially if your expectations were already high from what you read on paper.

Seventy-two percent of senior executives reported that it is common for job candidates with strong resumes not to pass muster in the interview, according to a survey by Robert Half International, a staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance.

"In making crucial hiring decisions, nothing replaces in-person interaction to ensure the candidate has the requisite technical qualifications and the soft skills that will likely make him or her a good fit with the organization,” says Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International.

Robert Half International offers several tips for employers to avoid running into this common hiring pitfall including networking, creating finely tuned job ads with strategic placement, narrowing the initial candidate pool with a phone interview, bringing in workers on a temporary basis, or using specialized recruiters.

2009-07-16T15:06:00.002-04:00

SMS Your Way to Success!

Those Twitter skills may do more than broaden your professional network; they could land you your next job.

Teimlo, a British mobile phone content provider, has a position open for a new marketer, but here’s the catch. The company is only accepting job applications via text message—160 characters or fewer. All applicants who make the shortlist will be texted back.

The announcement on their website reads, “If you are qualified, sassy, good with words, dynamite at events, Adobe compatible, have working knowledge of mobile and social media, and are a determined multi-tasker and networker we want to hear from you.”

Those who make the cut will be invited to send in their CVs and eventually, may be lucky enough to land a face-to-face interview.

Though only Britain-based candidates are allowed to apply, the gimmick does offer a glimpse of a future where everybody has a tagline for his own unique personal brand.

What would yours be?

2009-07-14T15:11:00.005-04:00

Workplace Readiness

Just as the Obama administration pledged to provide $12 billion to community colleges this week and focused a light on the training and skills workers will need for the jobs of tomorrow, a new report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills. For the most part, employer-sponsored readiness training is not successfully correcting these deficiencies, according to the report, The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, produced by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

“In any economy, having a knowledgeable, skilled workforce is critical for organizations to grow and be successful,” said Tony Bingham, ASTD President and CEO. “As the skills gap widens among new entrants to the workforce, it's clear that all stakeholders –employers, education, and the public workforce system – must collaborate to effectively prepare workers to be successful on the job.”

This topic is crucial if laid off individuals are going to find new jobs, spark the economic recovery, and compete in a challenging global business climate.

2009-07-02T18:02:00.003-04:00

Bonding Together Through Hardship

Work relationships, sometimes fraught with tension in times of stress, seem to be holding up well despite the recession.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents reported they have a “very good” or “good” relationship with their supervisors, according to a recent survey released by Accountemps, a staffing service for finance professionals. That number jumps to 95 percent when respondents were asked of their relationships with other co-workers.

When compared with the same survey distributed in 2005, the numbers were surprisingly consistent at 87 percent for “very good” or “good” relationship with supervisors and 91 percent for “very good” or “very good” relationships with co-workers.

“Workers who enjoy interacting with each other not only make the office more pleasant, but also produce better work,” says Max Messer, chairman of Accountemps.

Do you think the economic downturn is actually strengthening office relationships, or rather, are employees afraid to report the truth in these risky times?

In shades of gray, the truth may lie somewhere in between.

2009-07-02T16:38:00.005-04:00

The Working Lives of Men

Yes, men are racing home to be with the kids in higher numbers than before.

Guess that whole work/life balance is starting to sink in. According to a recent survey by Accenture, 68 percent of men said it’s important for them to be available to their families when needed, compared with 49 percent of women.

The survey focused on attitudes about vacations and work/life priorities. Another surprise is that men are now more likely than women to take advantage of working from home. The breakdown was 91 percent of men versus 75 percent of women.

Once they go on vacation however, it’s back to work. Men are more likely to be tethered to email or calls from colleagues. The whole concept of separating work from vacation is still cloudy. Ninety-four percent of men said they work on vacation. Whether that means completing quarterly financial reports or simply browsing company emails, the survey did not make clear.

What has changed in the past generation as everyone with an iPhone or Blackberry knows, is that you no longer have to be in the office from sunup until sundown to get work done or schmooze a client. There’s only a slight gap between men (52 percent) and women (44 percent) who participate in conference calls while away from the office.

Really, both men and women need to get one thing straight when on vacation: go back to the beach.

2009-07-01T12:40:00.004-04:00

Surviving a Corporate Meltdown

ASTD's monthly online publication, Learning Executives Briefing, talked with Ed Cohen,
head of Satyam’s learning organization, about the role his Satyam Learning World team played in first communicating the crisis, then helping the workforce to deal with its unexpected ramifications.

Corporate crises are all over the news, but the tale of Satyam Computer Services and its corrupt CEO sent shivers through the IT world. Read how the company’s learning organization dealt with the unenviable task of communicating with a workforce that had no real experience with job loss or the loss of respect and status. Read about it here.

2009-06-30T15:39:00.004-04:00

Federal Reforms

I was shocked to see a recent article in FederalTimes.com that said that the federal government spent 1.9 percent of their payroll on training between 1997 and 2000. In contrast, the private sector spends averages about 4 percent of its payroll on employee training.

Most of that training money is on upgrading efficiency on job-related tasks, not soft skills pertaining to customer service relations or helping managers communicate with employees.

Apparently, the Obama administration finally recognized the injustice and is set to legislate action to set mandatory spending levels for employee training, retool the performance appraisal process, and create a performance-based pay system.

What percentage of your payroll is spent on employee training? What percentage of payroll should be spent on employee training?

2009-06-23T13:05:00.004-04:00

An Eye Toward Better Performance at Scripps Health

Perhaps the bigger a company grows, the more conscientious it gets in terms of tracking the quality of its workers.

For example, one of the tools used for performance management at Scripps Health, a San Diego-based non-profit community health care system, is called "The Eye Chart."

Designed by an outside consulting firm, "The Eye Chart" is a large-scale visual tool that looks at factors such as leadership performance and cultural engagement across the entire company.

After compiling data from employee satisfaction surveys, the feedback is transformed into a bottom-up multi-rater leadership assessment. Departments that have healthy "mini-cultures of excellence" are represented in green and yellow quartiles while those that are struggling or failing are represented in orange and red quartiles.

The chart is intended to help managers find both the good and the bad aspects of their department, and to aid executives and operational leaders in making staff decisions.

What other types of performance management tools help companies find the pulse of their workplace cultures?

To find out more about performance management at Scripps Health, read "Prescription for a Turnaround" in the June issue of HR Magazine (SHRM members-only on the web). It details how matching talent with business needs and using rewards-tailored compensation for high achievement helped the company recover financially.

2009-06-22T10:34:00.005-04:00

The Mother of Innovation

In a world starving for fresh ideas, innovation is being tossed around like pennies as the solution to corporate ills.

If only it were so simple. Employees and managers don’t fall out of bed one day, decide to be innovative and voila, a new idea enters the marketplace. Most innovative companies dedicate resources and significant staff time to scouting new ideas. Oftentimes such companies find a niche before the average consumer and the marketplace is ready for it.

Being innovative does not mean creating a new gadget that did not exist in the marketplace. It refers to addressing a customer need or improving an existing product or service.

Decades ago IBM hired an expensive marketing firm to research the potential of high speed copying machines, according to Scott Anthony in his book, The Silver Lining. There was no need for such technology, marketers said. Good thing IBM didn’t listen.

The conservative nature and absence of creativity inside the walls of most organizations are two prime reasons why innovation is stifled. When executives declare that it is an employee’s job to be innovative that fails to inspire anyone. 3M famously allowed employees to spend 20 percent of their time generating ideas. Spending human capital is just as crucial as greenbacks.

It is possible to be innovative even among laggards like General Motors which developed the On Star hotline service, a highly successful mobile service that customers are willing to pay for.
Where is the best place to start? Try talking to customers first because they are the ones who are most likely best able to express their needs and wants. Few businesses do this today, focused as they are on survival or maintaining unrealistic standards of growth just a few years ago.

The perceived high cost of failure is another barrier to innovation. Most executives blanch at the thought of investing money in an idea that might not yield high returns.

For innovators, failure is only temporary as 3M discovered when its early attempts to create a semi-permanent glue planted the seeds for Post-It notes. Innovation requires the kind of thinking that breaks established convention, the kind of person who says why can’t we do this? It means not being afraid to submit an idea that others shy away from out of fear that it is “stupid” or might draw ridicule.

2009-06-19T15:46:00.002-04:00

Serious Gaming in the Workplace

Is serious gaming being taken seriously in your workplace?

What if I asked the same question a different way: Does your organization support simulations as part of your training regime?

Is the word "gaming" scaring off organizations? It shouldn't, because more and more companies are beginning to accept high-tech gaming software as a necessary part of blended learning.

Serious games can be powerful educational tools, allowing users to experiment, learn from their mistakes and safely experience risky or dangerous situations.

It is time to change the perception of "gaming" among CEOs and other corporate executives. It is a valuable learning tool that is taking too long to become a mainstream part of everyday learning.

2005-05-02T15:28:00.002-04:00

The T+D Blog Has Moved!

The new T+D Blog is now officially launched.

I have the option of importing all this existing content into the new blog, but it will cause this blog to be unreadable.

Until people update their bookmarks and Webpage links, though, I want to leave this one up. So for now, the two versions will co-exist.

I've replicated my past few posts from this blog onto the new one to get it off and running.

Enjoy, and please feel free to let me know what you think.

2005-04-28T14:38:00.000-04:00

Best you might've missed

I'm posting this week's best early because I'm taking tomorrow off to enjoy some rest and relaxation before our crazy conference season starts. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Traditional training/business

Book report: Resilience at Work: How to Succeed No Matter What Life Throws at You. A study showed that workers who showed resilience and succeeded in the face of change demonstrated "three basic attitudes...: commitment, control, and challenge."

Leading Ideas: Grow the People Around You. The Fast Company blog reports on Jack Welch's new book on leadership and some key points on how leaders can develop the people under them.

E-learning

"PBS drops its middleman role in college telecourses." The end of an era.

Emergent learning

"A Model Patient." A fascinating article from the New Yorker describes how doctors are being trained on sophisticated simulated patients.

A Learning Blogosphere: Parts I and II. How a professor and students used blogging at the University of Michigan.

Educational podcasts. Have you gotten into this new digital trend? Here's a list of podcasts for and about learning. (Thanks, e-learning Centre.)

Definition of emergent workers. The senior VP and chief human resources officer at Spherion defines them at the Future of Work Congress.

Mind research

"Unleashing Creativity." "Moments of brilliance arise from complex cognitive processes. Piece by piece, researchers are uncovering the secrets of creative thinking." (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

Technology

Keynote on the Semantic Web by Tim Berners-Lee. The inventor of the World Wide Web opened MIT's Emerging Technologies Conference last fall.

2005-04-26T15:35:00.000-04:00

Redesign soon to be launched!

I can't wait to show it off. I've been working on the redesign of this blog and the new version is so much better!

I'm waiting for some technical help with the logo, but once that's done, I'll be able to unveil it.

In the meantime, here's a sneak preview of what the new Typepad (paid software) has allowed me to easily add:

--much prettier design without having to get deep into the html (my coding skills are very minimal)

--an about link--standard with Typepad, lets you get to know the blog's mission and a little bit about me

--my picture, for a personal touch

--an archive by topic category--as I post and the list gets full, it will allow this blog to be used as a knowledge base!

--list of recent posts--lets you see their topics at a glance rather than having to scroll

--a list (blogroll) of bloggers and Websites I read regularly and gather linking fodder from.

--better support for Firefox users.

Stay tuned for the new link!

2005-04-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

Infomania affects IQ more than marijuana

Shocking news from a study by Hewlett Packard: Excessive use of technology such as email and text messages can cause a fall in IQ greater than that caused by smoking marijuana.

The study of more than 1000 adults was commisioned by HP and conducted at the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry.

The research showed that the average reduction of 10 IQ points as participants' work was interrupted by emails and text messages is more than double the four-point loss caused by smoking marijuana.

A third of all adults will respond to an email immediately or within 10 minutes, the study showed. But women are more effective at multitasking: Their drop in IQ was only five points, compared to 15 for men.

Read more here and here.

2005-04-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Trends article on mobile learning

My most recent Trends article for Learning Circuits, "Mobile Reality (A Tale of Two Experts)," has been posted to the Website. The article includes Q+A with two leading experts in the field--Chris Koschembahr, IBM's Worldwide Mobile Learning Executive, and Clark Quinn, executive director of the consultancy OtterSurf Labs and co-founder of the Meta-Learning Lab.

Koschembahr says that mobile learning is easier than you think, and you can get started immediately. Quinn asserts that m-learning's gold rush hasn't happened yet.

2005-04-22T17:16:00.000-04:00

Best you might've missed

Today it seems spring went into hiding. It's cold and rainy here in DC, but I hope you all have a good weekend anyway. Here are the best articles from this week.

Emergent learning

What is Workflow Learning? A good basic outline (along with entertaining graphics) from Jay Cross, co-founder of the Workflow Institute.

"War Games." "In offices created by an ex-Star Trek designer and using techniques and technology from movies and gaming, some of Hollywood's top creative talents are helping the US military to train for war in the 21st century."

E-learning

"The Distancing Question in Online Education." Glenn Russell examines "the affective domain—in particular, the ability of students to empathize, connect, and interact with their distant peers and instructor, and the ability of instructors to adequately respond to the emotional states and needs of students from afar."

The Interface is the Content. Clark Aldrich writes, "One of the big 'ahas' of the next generation of elearning designers is that the interface is a significant piece of the content, not just a conduit to the content."

Traditional training/learning

EducationForAdults.com Uses Blogging Technology to Inform Busy Adults About Educational Opportunities. "An online directory of nontraditional education programs for busy adults has created a blog...to form a community where adults contemplating going back to school can interact with people in similar situations..."

Wiki on Becoming a Better Thinker. A host of resources. Also look for my June Intelligence column, which will cover three software programs that say they can boost brain power.

Business

Leading Ideas: Embrace the Lunatic Inside You. Ideas on tapping into your crazy (but ultimately good) ideas, from the Fast Company blog.

Recovering the Lost Art of Note-Taking. Tips on taking notes at work from the Working Smart blog.

Information

"'Infomania' Worse Than Marijuana." Can it be true? A new study says excessive use of technology reduces workers' intelligence more than marijuana use. (Thanks, e-Learning Centre.)

"The Infinite Library." A fascinating and in-depth article on how Google's plan to digitize millions of books will affect libraries. Also see an item on this program in April's Intelligence column in T+D.

2005-04-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

More free Webinars

Interwise is offering a wide variety of free Webinars in the next few months, including sessions on such topics as

--Merging Live Conferencing with Collaborative Group Workspaces
--Succession Planning: Beating the Panic
--Getting Started with E-Learning
--Running Learning Like a Business
--Formalizing Informal Learning
--and more.

Check out their full schedule here.

TrainingOutsourcing.com is presenting a free online session on How to Increase Business Value Through Customer Education on May 26th at 2 pm EDT.

Their email on the Webinar says it is "designed for corporate executives considering innovative customer and channel partner learning strategies that can provide positive impact on business performance by

--increasing customer satisfaction and retention
--building customer loyalty
--reducing costs for product training
--gaining market share and top-line revenue
--improving shareholder value
--generating additional revenue from channel partners and resellers
--enhancing quality of customer learning initiatives
--mitigating risk and product liability
--implementing best practices in customer and product education."

2005-04-15T13:58:00.000-04:00

Best you might've missed

Here are the best articles and resources I came across this week.

Business

"Leadership Decision Making." A paper by a University of Baltimore professor (yay, Baltimore! I'm a native daughter) gets deep into this issue. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Best site for travelers. The Business 2.0 blog links to SeatGuru, a great resource for business travelers that can give you detailed info about seats on many commercial aircrafts before you book your ticket.

Free small business websites. Yahoo is offering a free website for companies who list themselves on Yahoo Local.

Learning theory

"Can Blended Learning Be Redeemed?" A scholarly paper from the United Kingdom examines this question.

New Paradigms for Learning. "Can training departments, with all of their post-industrial-revolution baggage, rise to the challenge and effect the kind of post-knowledge-revolution changes that are both necessary and inevitable?"

National Education Summit on High Schools. A speech by Bill Gates: "Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It’s the wrong tool for the times."

Traditional training/development

ATLAS (Assessing the Learning Strategies of Adults). A short test that lets you determine what type of learner you are. (Thanks, eLearning Centre.)

"Great Managers Understand Their People." "Average managers treat all their employees the same. Great managers discover each individual's unique talents and bring these to the surface so everyone wins. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review."

What are topics about which a Learning Professional should be uniquely proficient? A thought-provoking post on the redesigned Learning Circuits blog. Add your comments.

Emergent learning

"A 'Sim' That's Dead Serious." The Army is using interactive video to train officers for Iraq. From the Washington Post.

2005-04-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

Google poised to take over the world (Google Learning to follow?)

(Commentary alert!)

I'm going to go on record right now to say that Google is going to be the next Microsoft or IBM. It seems like every week they come out with a new product that makes our lives easier in a way that no one has done before, or that no one has done nearly as well.

A good way to be one of the first to know about their new offerings is to read the Google Blog.

Google Labs is where you can access all the new projects they're working on.

Today I was blown away by Google SMS. Using text messaging on your cell phone, you can access driving directions, business listings, answers to short fact-based questions, movie showtimes, stock quotes, and more.

I tested it out, asking for directions from my home to my work, and within a few minutes I got directions in two text messages that were dead on.

For someone who often drives around lost in DC without a map, this could be invaluable. I printed out the wallet-sized tip sheet to keep handy so I can remember how to send in queries.

You can do a lot more with Google on your mobile phone with Google Mobile. I had tried out some of these features before but my phone didn't support them.

But if you have Web browsing on your phone, you can search the Web, images, and more with Google using it.

Many people already use Google tools for personal knowledge management (see this blog entry I wrote). Can a Google Learning application be far behind?

2005-04-13T11:03:00.000-04:00

Free Webinar and free intriguing seminar

Wilson Learning is offering a free Webinar by Harvard’s Dr. William L. Ury, "world-renowned negotiations expert." Principled Negotiation: Reaching Agreements While Strengthening Professional Relationships will be held from 11 am to 12 noon CST on April 29, 2005.

Dr. Ury is the founder of Harvard's Program on Negotiation and the co-author of Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In and Getting
Past No: Negotiating With Difficult People and Getting To Peace.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of my readers located in or near the Washington, DC area, there is a very interesting-sounding talk taking place on April 22 from noon to 2 pm in the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Herb Rubenstein, an attorney, member of the World Future Society and its US National Capital Region chapter, a founding director and member of the Association of Professional Futurists, and a founding member and advisory board member of the Society for Leadership Change, will be giving a free talk on The Future of Leadership.

Although the talk is free, registration is recommended due to limited seating. To sign up, visit the National Capital Region World Future Society Website.

Here's more info from the press release on the talk:

"Herb Rubenstein distinguishes between 'leaders' and 'leaders of leaders.' Leaders are people who see existing problems and develop solutions for those problems with the support of the group they lead. 'Leaders of leaders' employ foresight and organizational tools to envision and avoid entire classes of problems from arising. They guide leaders when problems arise within the organization.

The future would be brighter if society encouraged more 'leaders of leaders' to emerge. Herb believes that most Western societies only encourage the emergence of leaders, not leaders of leaders. In his talk, Herb will explore how we can encourage the emergence of more leaders of leaders in the future through improved technology, more ethical decision making frameworks, and other tools.

2005-04-08T16:47:00.000-04:00

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, all. Here are the most interesting articles and resources to hit my eyes this week.

E-mergent learning

"Games for Learning." This article focuses on children's use of video games, but since they are your future learners and workers, it's worth reading.

E-learning/e-content

Standards for online content authors. A good practical tip-sheet from a company in New Zealand.

"Online Learning: Social Interaction and the Creation of a Sense of Community." "This paper centres on the sense of isolation that online study may engender among learners, a factor...that may make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful online learning environment for many students."

Traditional training/business

10 steps to develop learner support - a guideline through the key issues. The eLearning Centre links to a useful PDF.

Searchforclasses. Another training-finding Website. I've written about a few of these over the past couple of months.

"The New Steps to Career Advancement." "A recent study comparing Fortune 100 executives in 1980 with their counterparts in 2001 reveals changes in the path young executives take along the way to the C suite."

In Our Humble Opinion: What Will a World of $5 Gas Be Like? This musing by Future of Work gurus Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware posits that remote work is really going to take off with gas prices soaring.

"How to Start a Startup." An irreverent essay based on a talk given at the Harvard Computer Society.

"Got a Good Strategy? Now Try to Implement It." A Q+A with the author of Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change.

Theory

Learning vs. Training. Thoughts on the re-designed Learning Circuits blog.

2005-04-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

Training for Dummies

Not that I'm saying you're a dummy or anything, but if you're interested in a good basic book on training, Training for Dummies was just released by Wiley Press and ASTD (co-published). It's part of the familiar Dummies series.

The description on the ASTD store reads:

Learn how to design and deliver effective training courses with Training for Dummies. Filled with hands-on advice, you'll use modern instructional techniques and dynamic delivery to reach and teach trainees. With real-world examples, author Elaine Biech shows you how to follow a training cycle from start to finish; and along the way you'll discover how to

--conduct needs and assessments

--custom design training courses

--adapt for different learning styles

--enhance participation and learning

--prepare for the new certification process

2005-04-05T16:16:00.000-04:00

T+D April issue online

The April issue of T+D magazine includes

--"Relevance2," an article on the future of the profession by ASTD CEO Tony Bingham
--"Steelcase: Demonstrating the Connection Between Learning and Strategic Busines Results," by George Wolfe
--"Five Experts Speak Out," What's ahead? What skills should you have? Five industry sages show you the way
--"A Monstrous Welcome," by Dan Sussman, on orientation at Monster.com.

In addition,

--my Intelligence column covers the coming talent gap
--the new Re:Search column looks at keeping employees happy
--Development discusses coaches for training professionals
--Books reviews Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

and more.

2005-04-05T16:06:00.000-04:00

"Good people are worth keeping"

I don't usually post about products and services for sale, but this brought a smile to my face and thought you all might enjoy it as well.

T-shirts, mugs, a teddy bear, clock, buttons, bags, and more with the "good people" slogan.

I think this is sponsored by trendspotters The Herman Group--the link was in their latest newsletter.

With CafePress, anyone can cheaply sell all kinds of items with their own slogan, logo, etc. on it. Check out the site for your own use.

2005-04-05T15:14:00.000-04:00

What Keeps You Up at Night?

The Masie Center is offering a new free e-book containing 672 issues and challenges reported by workplace learning and training professionals.

Chapter heads designated categories of worries, such as Learning Management Systems, Company Culture/Structure, Time and Resources, Technical Requirements, and so forth.

Very interesting reading, and you can't beat the price.

2005-04-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, all. Still catching up on my reading (and work) from being out part of last week, but here's what I've found so far for your reading pleasure.

Emergent learning/communications

"Extreme Learning: Decision Games." Jay Cross's latest column for CLO magazine discusses "thin-slicing" or rapid cognition.

Virtual Meetings Through 'Telepresence.'"Pierre Boulanger, professor of computing science at U of A, has just received $1.7 million to develop new and inexpensive 'telepresence' tools."

Traditional training/business

"How to Battle the Coming Brain Drain." An article from Fortune magazine discusses how to keep older workers' knowledge from leaving the organization with them.

"Employee-Driven Design Moves into the Workplace." A novel idea: Let employees design the spaces where they spend the majority of their time. (Thanks, Future of Work Weblog.)

"Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs." Tips from the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference.

Theory

Will That Be Coordination, Cooperation, or Collaboration? Another thought-provoking post from blogger Dave Pollard.

Cool tools

Free conferencing calling. A great deal from Freeconference.com: Conference calls with up to 25 participants at no charge.

Design Your Own Anti-Procrastination Plan. "Below are several lists of specific, concrete things you can do to confront and change your own tendencies to procrastinate. Choose several suggestions from among the four lists and put them into practice."

Answers.com. This is a site worth exploring more. SmartMobs pointed out that Answers.com just launched a mobile service. I'm curious about the site in general.

2005-03-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

Free teleseminars

I received the following press release:

In an effort to help plan the coming months, we offer this handy reference for the 2nd Quarter 2005 One Person Training Department FREE teleseminars.

You might want to print this out and tack it up in your office.

You’ll definitely want to pencil these dates in to your calendar NOW.

= = = = = = = = = =

All calls occur on Tuesdays from 1:00 – 2:00 pm Eastern.

Just call in!

The call-in number for ALL teleseminars listed below is:

1-805-620-4000 and the passcode is: 58543

= = = = = = = = = =

The 2005 schedule (2nd quarter) of speakers includes

Date Guest Expert & Topic

4/26/2005 Bill Walton

Strategies for Teaching Adults: The Making of a Maestro in the Classroom

5/24/2005 Lenn Millbower

Razzle Dazzle Design: Developing Training for 21st Century Learners

6/28/2005 Carolyn Balling

Managing the One Person Training Department

2005-03-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

Out the rest of the week

There will be no best-you-might've-missed this week, as I will be out of the office spending time with a Marine friend who just arrived safely back from Iraq. (Yay!)

Have a great weekend, all!

2005-03-23T12:10:00.000-05:00

Customer service training that worked

(Commentary alert!)

Those of you who read my Intelligence column in T+D might have guessed that customer service is a bit of a pet peeve for me.

I've written on the topic quite a few times--most recently the column "Unbelievable Service" in August 2004 and a two-part series "Just One Thing" and "Strategic Service" in October and November 2003.

I'm always on the lookout for good customer service, and I had an experience over the weekend that I'd like to share with everyone.

I had gone to a restaurant in my neighborhood for a nice brunch with a couple of friends. After ordering, we sat there for about a half an hour without any food. I noticed, but didn't think much of it, as the restaurant was quite crowded and I remembered waiting a while last time I was there for brunch. I figured it was just the price we had to pay for eating at this popular restaurant at a popular time.

However, all of a sudden a man appeared at our table. "I'm the manager," he said, "and I want to apologize for your food taking so long. Frankly, we dropped the ball. I want to you to know that your food will be out shortly, and the meal is on us."

The waitress came over about 10 minutes later with the food and explained that there was some mixup in the kitchen and the cooks thought they had made it when they hadn't.

I was impressed. Although the principles of take responsibility, apologize, fix the problem, and go above and beyond aren't hard ones to understand or master, it seems rare that an organization follows them these days. But the manager's words were magic. Any irritation I had at being left waiting melted away in the face of his speech.

I might've thought that we had just encountered a particular good manager, except that my friend said, "That's great. The only other time that happened to me was in this other restaurant" that's in a neighboring town.

I said, "As a matter of fact, they're owned by the same people." So it became apparent that this type of service for mess-ups was a company-wide policy that managers were trained to enact.

A round of applause. It did my customer-service-hunting heart good.

2005-03-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

Free webinar on outsourcing

TrainingOutsourcing.com presents a Webinar on Identifying and Driving Value Through Key Learning Indicators and Outsourcing next Wednesday, March 30th from 1 to 2 pm EST.

"This interactive e-Intelligence Webinar will look at how new models for assessing and measuring the value of learning in the enterprise are emerging. This executive webinar probes the challenges corporate learning executives face when trying to show the impact of learning and presents concepts that help determine if outsourcing training is right for their organization.

Chris Moore, President of Zeroed-In Technologies, introduces key learning indicators, a component of performance-based measurement for learning, as a means of measuring and predicting value. Dan Cantwell, Vice President of Performance Solutions at RWD Technologies, follows with an assessment model that gathers and assesses key measurement areas to determine the effectiveness of your learning organization and your candidacy for improving value through outsourcing."

2005-03-21T11:39:00.000-05:00

New T+D managing editor

Congratulations to Sabrina Hicks, former senior associate editor of T+D, who was just promoted to managing editor!

Sabrina's eagle-eye and attention to detail keeps us all on track.

If you have any comments about the magazine (especially the redesign), feel free to contact her at shicks@astd.org.

2005-03-18T16:38:00.000-05:00

Write a chapter in book on learning objects?

I received a press release the other day inviting me (and others) to submit an abstract for a book chapter. The book will be Principles and Practices of the Effective Use of Learning Objects.

I won't be submitting, but here's the info if you're interested:

You are invited to submit a 500-word abstract (the initial proposal) to write a chapter (theory & practice) on one of the following topics:

1. Learning Object Architecture
2. Learning Object Standards
3. Syntax and Semantics of Learning Object Metadata *
4. Learning Object Repositories *
5. Learning Content Management System (LCMS) *
6. Historical & Philosophical Foundations of Learning Objects
7. E-Learning & Learning Objects
8. Instructional Theories and Principles
9. Instructional Design of Learning Objects *
10. Learning Objects’ User Interface *
11. Granularity & Reusability of Learning Objects *
12. Multimedia & Learning Object
13. Learning Object Overview
14. Creating Learning Objects
15. The Future of Learning Objects *
16. Open Source & Learning Objects

(* Needed most)

The mission of the book is to inform clients of the above topics emphasizing their implications to learning.

Your abstract must contain an explanation about the topic you have chosen from the list above. It should summarize what it is that you are proposing to write. Please be concise (a maximum of 500 words), clear, and persuasive. Once the abstracts are accepted the authors will have 90 days to complete their chapter.

The deadline for submitting the abstracts is March 30, 2005. Once your abstract is accepted you will be receiving the author’s guideline and will be given thorough instruction for writing your chapter.

Look forward to hearing from you. Please reply to ijkloeditor@ijklo.org.

Best wishes.

Alex Koohang
Editor-in-Chief, IJKLO

Keith Harman
Editor, IJKLO

Alex Koohang
Editor-in-Chief
Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects
www.ijklo.org

2005-03-18T16:03:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Happy weekend, all. Here are the best articles and resources I came across this week. (A shorter list--I'm busy and a bit behind on reading.)

Learning theory

What is Learning? A good breakdown of the differences between data, information, knowledge, and learning.

Emergent learning/collaboration

Simulations and the Future of Learning. If you've meaning to try out this podcasting phenomenon, here's a good 'cast to download and listen to, from Clark Aldrich.

Microsoft, Groove Networks to Combine Forces to Create Anytime, Anywhere Collaboration. A not-unbiased press release from Microsoft, but it includes an interview with Groove founder Ray Ozzie. Read unbiased opinions here and here and here.

"Blogging Clicks with Colleges." Discusses how blogs and wikis are being used in higher education.

E-learning

More Real Dirt on eLearning (replay). Jay Cross links to the archived version of his recent presentation.

Business/organizational behavior

CEO Skill and Excessive Pay: A Breakdown in Corporate Governance? "What do Disney, AT&T, Exxon, and Verizon have in common?...a new academic study argues that all these firms were headed by CEOs who were paid too much."

Can Pessimists Ever Be Great Leaders? A good question and an answer, from the Fast Company blog.

Reinforcing Values: A Public Dressing Down. "Often the hardest part of a turnaround is improving bad interpersonal behavior in the organization. A Harvard Business Review excerpt by professors David Garvin and Michael Roberto."

Differentiating Your Workforce Strategy. "Even the best managers often forget to craft a workforce strategy along with their overall company strategy, but the two really need to be linked. An excerpt from the new book, The Workforce Scorecard."

Tools

Find Similar Items with Google Sets. Lifehacker points out a pretty cool tool.

2005-03-15T12:55:00.000-05:00

Free tips on selecting an authoring tool

Brandon-hall.com is offering a free PDF excerpt from the company's "Authoring Tool KnowledgeBase: A Buyer's Guide to the Best E-Learning Content Development Applications."

Register here to download "Tips on Choosing an Authoring Tool."

2005-03-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

More free Webinars

From Interwise and CLO magazine:

Managing Human Capital for Strategic Advantages

March 16 , 2005
at 2 pm Eastern / 11 am Pacific
Presented by: Carolyn Koenig, SVP of Human Resources, MasterCard International and Curt Lockton, VP Marketing & Business Development, Success Factors

"This Chief Learning Officer e-seminar, powered by Interwise, will offer a lively, interactive discussion that will show you how organizations invest in learning technology because of the value of the data the technology provides and the dramatic impact it has on driving strategic decisions. Panelists will discuss their views on the business impact and outcomes of learning technology implementation within organizations."

Leveraging Executive Development to Drive Corporate Strategy

March 31, 2005
at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific
Presented by: Albert Vicere, President, Vicere Associates Inc.

"In this presentation, Al Vicere, a well-known expert, author, and professor in the field of individual and organizational development, discusses how to blend executive development with strategy formulation and execution, using both innovative frameworks as well as examples from working with dozens of executives from Fortune 500 organizations. Al will also reflect on his recent book, Many Facets of Leadership, which was written with Marshall Goldsmith among others."

The CLO Position: Critical Issues and Changing Roles

April 13 , 2005
at 2 pm Eastern / 11 am Pacific
Presented by: Jim L'Allier, Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, research and development, NETg, a Thomson Learning Company and Susan Resner, Vice President, ITG Competency Group

"In addition to reviewing results of a CLO survey on the future of learning, this highly interactive e-seminar will help learning professionals benchmark their own skills, qualifications and career objectives against their corporate peers. Working interactively with audience members, panelists will define specific competencies and a job description for the successful CLO."

2005-03-15T11:51:00.000-05:00

Training among 20 fastest-growing jobs

In the March 21st edition of Fortune, an article entitled "Hot Careers for the Next 10 Years" names training and development as one of the 20 fastest-growing professional jobs.

Growth is estimated at 22.3 percent, from Bureau of Labor Statistics projections.

This is good news for t+d practitioners. Ready to jump-start your career? Check out the ASTD Career Center and Job Bank (free for job seekers), with these added features.

2005-03-11T18:06:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

A slightly shorter list this week, but maybe that's best. Trying to find the best balance between too many and too few!

Emergent learning

Bioteaming: A Manifesto For Networked Business Teams. "Virtual, networked business teams gradually emerge as the wave of the future."

Educating The Net Generation. An e-book from Educause.

E-learning

Taking E-Learning on the Road. How to globalize your e-learning offerings.

Current Trends in E-Learning Research Report. Analysis and commentary from the eLearning Guild.

Mark Rosenberg is Postive About the Future. Ryann Ellis, editor of ASTD's e-learning Webzine, interviews the management consultant, educator, and leading learning expert.

Traditional training/learning

Training 2005. All the handouts from the recent conference are now free online.

"Skills Availability and Finding Qualified, Appropriate Talent." A good primer for what's coming down the pike. The lead item in my April Intelligence column covers this issue--coming soon.

"'Old School,' 'New School:' Changing Workforce Retention Rules." "As different as are children from adults and schools from the workplace, so are the rules regulating workforce retention in the 21st versus the 20th century."

Questions for Success. "Powerful questions have the ability to shake people out of stale ways of thinking and critically reflect on faulty assumptions. Wise leaders know this."

Business

20 Ways to Say No. Have too much on your plate? Here are ways to politely avoid taking on more tasks. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Mixing Friendship with Business is a Mixed Blessing. Examines what can happen when your customers are also your friends.

Top Corporate Hate Websites. A good lesson for any company: Bad customer service can lead to a Website all about how horrible your company is.

Blogging is good for your career. Despite what the news may tell you.

2005-03-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

Bersin & Associates LMS study

Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning, recently released a study on customer satisfaction with learning management systems.

"LMS Customer Satisfaction 2005: An Industry Analysis of the Customer Experience" is the result of input from 660 system administrators, training managers, and executives on 24 satisfaction criteria across 15 LMS offerings.

A few findings from the press release:

--Externally hosted LMS customers are significantly more satisfied than those who run LMSs internally. Outsourced LMS systems reduce cost, complexity, and resource requirements and are much more likely to be completed on schedule and within predicted budgets.

--The LMS market is in a high state of churn. Approximately 15% of organizations are planning on switching LMS vendors or replacing their systems.

--The LMS market is growing fast and still very fragmented. Although the LMS market encompasses more than 70 vendors, the largest has only 15% market share. Forty-five percent of respondents installed their systems within the last two years.

--Older customers are less satisfied then new customers. The study shows that customers with systems more than four years old are most likely to plan on switching vendors. This finding is likely related to the fact that many older implementations are running on old technology platforms or are using outdated software versions (80% of all LMSs in use are at least one version behind and 60% are two major versions behind).

--Overall satisfaction is highly correlated with a vendor's implementation and support services - and far less correlated with satisfaction with product features. Of those respondents who are highly satisfied with their LMSs, 83% are highly satisfied with their vendors' implementation services and 82% are highly satisfied with their vendors' support services.

--Of all products areas evaluated, reporting and analysis received the lowest average satisfaction rating (5.97 out of 10). Reporting is a notoriously difficult area for LMS vendors because of the wide range of data and varied needs of report users. Other areas of customer dissatisfaction are customization, system upgrades, and HR/ERP integration.

The study also rates vendors. For more info, see the press release.

2005-03-09T13:40:00.001-05:00

Webinars galore!

These are all free to the best of my knowledge.

--Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's New PowerLink for WebCT Vista
Aaron Bond & Matt Wasowski, Horizon Wimba
Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 3 pm EST

--The Real Dirt on E-Learning
Jay Cross, Internet Time Group
Friday, March 11th at 2 pm to 3 pm EST

--Building Community Among Educators
Vance Stevens, Petroleum Institutue (Abu Dhabi)
Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 12 pm EST

--Referral Marketing: Get Your Customers and Colleagues to Grow Your Business
Presentation Excellence
Wednesday, March 16th at 1 pm to 2 pm EST

--Benefits of Using Voice in Online Courses
*Presented IN FRENCH
Professor Bernard Curzi, EDHEC
Pier Giovanni Fontana, Horizon Wimba
Friday, March 18, 2005 at 10 am EST

--Experience Macromedia Breeze
Macromedia and Binatech System Solutions
Wednesday March 23rd, March 30th, April 6th, April 13th, April 27th at
2 pm EST

--Adding Oral Assessments into Questionmark Perception
Donovan Lytle, Horizon Wimba
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 2 pm EST

--Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's Blackboard Building Blocks
Thursday, March 31, 2005 at 3 pm EST

2005-03-04T11:22:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, everyone. Here are the articles and resources I found most interesting this week.

Learning theory

Connectivism. A new site from George Siemens on the learning theory he recently developed. Includes a blog, wiki, and discussion forums. Also see his recent presentation.

E-mergent learning/community

"Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles." A fascinating article on how new technologies are influencing the way young people learn and gather information, and how education should adapt.

"Blogs & Wikis: Technologies for Enterprise Applications?" Examines in-depth the possibilities of using these tools in corporations and compares them with standard content management systems. (Thanks, e-Learning Centre.)

Are Social Networking Sites Useful? Recruiters are starting to use them to fill positions. One blogger poses the question and offers some thoughts from various people.

E-learning/community

Elearningeuropa. This packed-with-info site from the European Commission calls itself "a portal about the use of information and communication technologies to improve learning." (Thanks, eLearnopedia.)

"From e-Learning to e-Knowledge." This chapter from Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques focuses on "the growing importance of e-learning as knowledge scaffolding; the emerging significance of knowledge management practice in informing strategic directions for the development of e-learning systems; and, a conceptual framework that brings together these first two ideas..."

"Elements of Effective e-Learning Design." A scholarly article from the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning that examines six components: activity, scenario, feedback, delivery, context, and influence.

Interview with Frank Russell, CEO and President of GeoLearning. Much of this could be viewed as a PR pitch, but if you're interested in learning more about the company's products, you may find this helpful.

"Meet Me in Cyberspace." "To evaluate how the benefits and disadvantages of virtual meetings stack up in real business situations, Computerworld took a look at how three companies are using virtual meeting software."

Traditional learning/business

The 18 Commandments of Knowledge-Conscious Managers. "I like the idea that Knowledge Management is really about Knowledge Conscious Management," says this blogger, a director of knowledge management.

"Confessing Error: Can a Leader Admit Confusion and Still Lead?" The Wharton Leadership Digest summarizes an article and describes a five-step process for "taking advantage of 'Oh, no!' moments to 'embrace confusion,' open up better lines of communication," and more. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

Job Satisfaction Declines in the US, According to New Conference Board Survey. U.S. workers are less happy with their jobs than they were 10 years ago.

Top 10 Business Movies. A list from the Inc. Weblog.

Strategies for Creating a Catchy Business Name. Starting up a consulting business or new training company? Check out these tips from the Wall Street Journal.

Misc.

How to Read and Digest a Book. A helpful blog post on getting the most out of your reading experience.

"Experiment Shows You Really Should 'Sleep on It.'" Sleep really can help you solve tricky problems, this study showed.

2005-03-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

March (redesigned) T+D online!

Go to the T+D homepage to access articles from our March issue. (After March, go here.)

You'll notice there's less white space, photos rather than illustrations (more real people), a now six-page Intelligence column, a now monthly New Guard column (used to be an annual feature), a new Re:Search column that gives you practical stats you can take to the bosses, and more.

There will be a few more small tweaks in upcoming months. Feel free to email feedback to me at ekaplan at astd.org.

This month's features:

--"The Unnatural Leader," by Peter Cairo, David Dotlich, and Stephen Rhinesmith (free feature)
--"BP Refines Leadership," by Julie Brown, Ryan Eagar, and Paul Lawrence
--"Teach Your Buyers Well," by Kevin Oakes
--"Improving Work Life," by Dan Sussman
--ASTD BEST Award Profile: "Yielding the Best Teachers, Leaders," by T+D senior associate editor Sabrina Hicks

Also:

--The Intelligence column (free) starts off with Mother Leads Best, a look at whether motherhood is the ultimate leadership training program, and packs in double the content as previous months
--The new Re:Search column (free) asks and answers, "What do you spend on training? What should you be spending on training?"
--The Books column (free) reviews Malcolm Gladwell's Blink
--Development discusses MBAs for trainers
--and much more!

2005-03-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

Win free participation in Virtual Teams and Collaboration conference

Online collaboration expert Robin Good writes, "For three days, March 29-31, participants will come together for online presentations from experts in the field - all focused on how geographically distributed organizations can work together in a virtual work environment to successfully achieve their business goals and objectives."

The conference normally would set you back $199, but he is giving away five free passes to those people who post the best five requirements for a virtual team's success.

Go here to read about the conference and put your ideas into the hat. Good luck!

2005-02-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Workflow Learning Symposium, online

You might think workflow learning is just another buzzword and the Next Big Hype, but it's my and others' opinion that it's where learning is going. Jay Cross, co-founder of the Workflow Institute, pointed out on the institute's blog recently that the proceedings and support materials for the October 2004 Workflow Learning Symposium are available online.

The materials include presentations from and interviews of such notable names as Gloria Gery, Tony O'Driscoll, Harvey Singh, Clark Quinn, and of course Jay Cross. A discussion space is also provided.

2005-02-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

Webinar on connectivism

George Siemens of elearnspace will be presenting at a free Webinar based on his popular article on connectivism.

The Webinar will be March 2nd. See details here. He'll also be announcing the launch of a new Website and blog on connectivism.

2005-02-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Here is this week's roundup of articles.

Emergent collaboration/community

The Online Collaboration Potential For The Networked Small Business Company. "Here is the open thought of a collaborative business developer [and] a reader of Kolabora."

"How are new capabilities within communications technologies going to change the shape and scope of human communities?" The president of the World Future Society provides some thoughts to answer this question.

E-learning

"Can Interest in Distance Training be Sustained in Corporate Organizations?" "... the ability to sustain distance training is deeply rooted in the success during the early stages of implementing distance training and the integration of the work and learning environments."

"Honesty in Online Education." "This article attempts to critically analyze the arguments on both sides of the online cheating debate while presenting techniques for circumventing and alleviating issues related with online education."

Traditional training/learning/human capital

"Seven Key Indicators Measure Value of Learning." A CLO magazine article about Zeroed-In Technologies. Request a more-detailed paper on this from the company here.

Five Takes on Creative Leadership. A special section based on presentations from the Wharton West Leadership Conference. (Also see our March Leadership issue of T+D next week.)

"Case Study: Investing in People who Invest in People." Based on ASTD research showing that companies that invest in training perform better on the stock market, Laurie Bassi launched an investment company. (See this 2002 T+D article as well.)

"Climbing the Pay Scale." Business 2.0 takes a look at labor shortages happening now and their effect on salaries. Expect even more of this in the future; I report on the issue in my upcoming April Intelligence column.

Create your own mission statement. An interactive exercise from Franklin Covey. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Five Mini-Quizzes to Test Your Customer Service Email Writing Skills. Each quiz is based on a chapter from Clear, Correct, Concise Email: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents.

General business

Is Business Management a Profession? A long but worthwhile read from Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge publication.

A Day in the Life of Tom Peters. A collection of photos. Not all that informative, but kind of fun to check out.

"Ego Makes Entrepreneurs?" BusinessWeek's Q+A with researcher Brian Wu on his award-winning paper "Entrepreneurial Risk and Market Entry."

Why Do We Overcommit? Study Suggests We Think We’ll Have More Time In The Future Than We Have Today. Interesting research from the American Psychological Association. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

"Build a Great Brand for Your Business." An article from the Small Business Times. (Thanks, Small Business Blog.)

Technology

How to Receive and Listen to Podcasts. Podcasts are one of the new big things. This informative article from Amy Gahran gives you the basics. (Also see this article on videoblogging vs. podcasting.)

The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time. From Mobile PC magazine, an interesting and fun article that might also make you nostalgic.

Forget Spam. Have You Been Spimmed? Instant messaging, which is being used more and more as a business tool, has its own breed of spam.

2005-02-24T13:49:00.000-05:00

Press release on T+D magazine redesign

This press release on our redesign went out today. The expansion of my Intelligence column was highlighted--nice.

We hope you like the changes. I'll post the link to the March issue when we have it up.

ASTD’s T+D Magazine to Unveil a New Look, Content Enhancements

Publication Re-design will debut March 2005

(Alexandria, VA) February 24, 2005 – Readers of Training + Development (T+D) magazine, published by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), will see a more practical and personality-driven magazine as it launches a new design and some content changes in the March issue. For almost six decades, T+D magazine has covered the art and science of developing people and the systems in which they work to produce results.

Rex Davenport, editor of T+D magazine, anticipates positive reactions to the enhancements in the March issue. “Real-life, actionable items are the name of the game with this re-design,” he said. “Readers will notice that the articles are more applicable to the profession, with less focus on theory. We will incorporate business authors as a complement to the industry writers.”

Some of the new additions and modifications include:

- One page dedicated to research from ASTD and other organizations

- An expanded Intelligence section will open the magazine with news and developing trends

- Shorter, more succinct articles

- An increased focus on “hot-button” topics, or burning issues, in the profession

Readers will also begin to see themselves in the magazine, as the content will profile individuals who make up the workplace learning and performance industry. “New Guard,” a special section that recognizes professionals who separate themselves from their peers through innovative and unique practices, was formerly part of one issue each year. Now, every issue will end with a “New Guard” profile.

In 2004, T+D magazine was named by ICA (Independent Consultants Association) on its list of "Ten Essential Magazines for Consultants.” The American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded special recognition to the column “The Web” in 2002.

For more information on ASTD’s flagship publication, T+D magazine, visit www.astd.org/t+d.

2005-02-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

Free Webinar: Campus Recruiting in the Public Sector

This Webinar, co-sponsored by the Human Capital Institute and Monster.com, will take place Wednesday, March 23rd from 1 to 2:30 pm EST.

The HCI Website reads:

"Faced with a rapidly aging workforce and a potential wave of retirements, the public sector is turning once again to colleges and universities in search of new recruits. But you may already have noticed that the competition for recruiting students and recent grads has intensified in recent months. Career fairs are bursting with more employer booths, Recruiters are returning to campuses, and students are finding that they have more choices when seeking a new career. Join campus recruitment experts Graham Donald and Roger Campbell as we discuss pressing topics like building a presence on campus with constrained resources, attracting the right candidates and connecting with today's students."

2005-02-22T15:19:00.000-05:00

Blogging applicance for corporate communications

A company called WhatCounts has just announced the first "blogging in a box" applicance for companies that want to incorporate blogs into their communications strategies.

BlogUnit is "tuned to network security requirements and can be up-and-running in 15 minutes." It can be used to "author, manage, measure, deliver, and syndicate" blogs.

According to E-Media Tidbits, which pointed me to this news item, the appliance helps resolve one concern companies often have with blogs: employees posting unreviewed content. An approval and permission system is built in.

The president and CEO of WhatCounts says, “Blogging is a growing reality for corporations worldwide as they look for ways to improve communications with their key audiences...But there are a myriad of issues, such as accountability, accuracy and security that corporations have to address as they get into this new territory.”

At a quick glance, it seems as if this could be a good solution for companies that want to get into blogging but are nervous about the security and permissions issues. And blogging can be a KM solution, as explained in this T+D blog post and the additional posts listed at the end.

2005-02-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Happy weekend, all. Here are this week's picks.

Traditional business/training

Organizing for Performance: How BP Did It. BP pulled off some amazing feats. Read this article now, and then in March read T+D's training-focused take on the company, "BP Refines Leadership."

India: The next knowledge superpower. Don't say you're surprised. "Big changes are making the country a centre of innovation," this article says.

The Importance of Face Time. The Telework Times links to a thought-provoking article and adds a videoconferencing spin on it.

How to Establish Credibility. The key is to listen--not talk!

E-learning

"Relative Effectiveness of Computer-based and Human Feedback for Enhancing Student Learning." "...instructors cannot rely on computer-based feedback alone to correct errors in student understanding..."

Access for All: How Distance Education Addresses Learning Needs. E-learning and accessibility . (Thanks, elearnopedia.) Also see "Accessibility: What You Should Know," from Learning Circuits.

"Creating Flexible E-Learning Through the Use of Learning Objects." A case study and lessons learned from the University System of Georgia.

The Huge Opportunity in Online, Video-based Instruction Guides. Kevin Kruse of e-Learning Guru says, "If I was a product manager for anything...I'd make online instructional videos my #1 priority for 2005."

"Diploma mills provide phony credentials." ...the federal government has paid more than $7.5 million in tuition reimbursements, making the United States 'the largest supplier of diploma mills in our country.'" I wrote about avoiding diploma mills here.

Emergent learning

YahooGroups, Groove Or Socialtext Wiki: My Personal Impressions. Robin Good compares and contrasts the tools as he works collaboratively with people across long distances.

Workflow Learning Gets Real. An important article by Jay Cross and Tony O'Driscoll from Training magazine.

Emergent Learning: Social Networks and Learning Networks. The most recent paper from the always-at-the-forefront Stephen Downes.

Technology

Cultural divide in IM: presence vs. communication. An interesting reflection by Ph.D. student Danah Boyd.

Writing for Websites. A good basic primer from Crawford Killian, author of the classic manual Writing for the Web.

2005-02-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

Mobile learning

I'm beginning research for an upcoming Learning Circuits article on mobile learning, with the focus being the hype versus the reality.

If your organization is currently doing mobile learning (via cell phone, PDA, etc.) or is investigating it for possible launch in the future, please email me at ekaplan at astd.org. I'd love to ask you a few questions.

Thanks!

2005-02-16T12:07:00.000-05:00

TrainUp.com

I received a press release on this portal that enables users to search for classroom and online training offered by various providers. (In November I wrote about a similar service, Findaseminar.com.)

In any case (here comes the commentary you all asked for), I think this kind of thing is a good idea, but in both cases I found the offerings pretty slim compared to the number of providers and courses I know are out there.

It's kind of a catch-22: You need providers to add their courses to have a good service, but people won't add their listings if the service isn't good in the first place.

What I like about TrainUp's idea is that it attempts to offer course reviews provided by learners (the Website says "coming summer 2004," but none seem to be available yet) as well as a way for individuals to track the training they've signed up for.

Does anyone know of a service that does this kind of thing well? Or is a centralized database of training offered across the U.S., in a wide range of subject areas, and from a large number of providers just a Holy Grail that's too difficult to pull off?

2005-02-14T12:28:00.000-05:00

More original commentary

So the winner on the survey of what readers want to see more of on this blog is original commentary. Thanks for letting me know that you'd like to see more of my thoughts. Original commentary is the type of information that takes the most time to develop, so I had reduced the amount I was offering as I've been juggling other things. It's good to know my thoughts are missed, though, so I will try to include more of this as my schedule permits!

Thanks again to all who answered the survey.

2005-02-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day tidbit: executive romances at work

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Here are some stats that may surprise you: More than two-thirds of executives say they've had a secret crush on a co-worker. Close to half have been involved in an office romance. An excerpt from a press release I received is below.

"The survey of 734 executives in the $100k+ job market found that a combination of long hours, close quarters and the slow hum of the photocopy machine may be the perfect recipe for romance. When asked: Have you ever harbored a secret crush on a co-worker; a full 68 percent of the executives surveyed said, 'yes.' Only 32 percent said, 'no.'

As for those workers who’ve taken the crush one step further, 42 percent of those responding to a related survey of 1,044 executives said that they have been involved in a full-fledged office romance.

How many of these PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheet-fueled romances involved infidelity? When asked in a third survey of 1,349 executives: Have you ever had an extramarital affair with a co-worker; 17 percent of respondents said, 'yes.' Thinking better of the repercussions of this type of romance, the 83 percent majority said they had not been adulterous with a co-worker.

'At its best, a healthy work environment is an intense, inspiring, challenging and gratifying place,' explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. 'While this combination can sometimes create a hothouse for emotional ties to the people we spend so much time with, office romances are not generally good for your career track. Executives who are serious about their careers need to think about business first; courting Alice in accounting isn’t the best way to maintain that killer instinct.'

TheLadders.com’s look at Office Valentines is based on a series of three independent surveys of registered $100k+ executives conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between January 11, 2005 and February 3, 2005."

2005-02-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

Best you might've missed

Here is this week's collection of articles. I tried to cast the net a little wider, since the survey indicated that you all want more of these. I may have gone somewhat overboard. :)

E-learning/meetings

"Database Fights Diploma Mills." The U.S. Department of Education has created a searchable database of accredited institutions.

"Improving Retention in Distance Learning Classes." Focused on higher education, but offers some transferable information.

"A Content Analytic Comparison of Learning Processes in Online and Face-to-Face Case Study Discussions." "The findings provide evidence that [asynchronous learning networks] generate high levels of cognitive activity, at least equal to, and in some cases superior to, the cognitive processes in the FTF classroom.

"Assessments through the Learning Process." A free whitepaper from Questionmark available for download.

Emergent learning/community

When Will Business Embrace Blogs? Dave Pollard talks about their use for KM and the value proposition.

Vloging. You know all about blogging; now get ready for the next wave. (Thanks, Business 2.0 blog.)

Videoconferencing And Avatars To Complement Lack Of Non-Verbal Clues In Online Meetings. A good look at what's up-and-coming.

The Connecticon: Learning for the connected generation. A short book review from the e-Learning Centre. Back in my We Learning part I article, I called this the Age of Connection--this book looks like it might expand on that idea.

Cooperation, Sharing And Social Networking As Emergent Economic And Production Forces. A short review and summary of a long PDF.

PacMan Must Die: Cooperative Physical/Virtual Gaming. Implications for game-based learning? Also see my "Augmented Reality Check" article, which discusses some PDA games like this.

Traditional training/business

"HP After Carly: What Went Wrong?" Not to jump on the media bandwagon, but this is a good article from Wharton examining the leadership and strategy side of the hot topic.

"20 Frequently Asked Questions About ROI." A CLO magazine article from ROI guru Jack Phillips.

How to Manage Smart People. A manifesto from Change This. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

"Top 10 Practices in Knowledge Management." "The first three practices detail how companies create forums for exchanging ideas, the next two focus on aligning knowledge management with strategies and the final five focus on best practice identification."

American Management Association Offers Business Lessons Learned from The Apprentice. Each week offers a new lesson. January 20th focused on training. (Thanks, Fast Company blog.)

"Don't Put Your Company in a Purple Haze: Let your retiring Baby Boomers go, but not their knowledge". From CIO magazine, this short article has an IT slant on it but still contains some useful info.

Misc.

"Gray Matter and Sexes: A Gray Area Scientifically." Are men's and women's brains fundamentally different? The New York Times examines the issue.

New resource for business travelers. Google announces its new Google Maps service.