Content about Cognition

March 23, 2012
The Do’s and Don’ts of Decision-Making

Great decision-makers know the necessary tools to cover all their bases before formulating the decisions: correctly framing the problem, using ignorance as a quest to gain additional knowledge, closing the gap between where you currently are and where you want to be, creating a questioning strategy, and embracing feedback.

By David Goldsmith

Great decision-making skills have never been more important then in today’s business environment. The playing field has been leveled because most individuals and organizations basically have access to the same technology, information, and markets as their competitors. What ultimately will distinguish competitors is their ability to make better decisions.

High-performing decision-makers act and think differently. Here, a look at the decision-making actions to be avoided and the tools for making higher-quality decisions.

February 23, 2012
A Unified Vision for Talent Management

A holistic approach to Talent Management would be to put all these functions— Recruiting, L&D, OD, Talent Management/Development, Content Management (Knowledge), and Performance Management—under one roof and have it report to the C-suite. Some will say that many of these functions already exist under one area, usually HR, but is there a unified vision and an integration of how and why all these units work together?

By Richard Lynell

February 23, 2012
A Unified Vision for Talent Management

A holistic approach to Talent Management would be to put all these functions— Recruiting, L&D, OD, Talent Management/Development, Content Management (Knowledge), and Performance Management—under one roof and have it report to the C-suite. Some will say that many of these functions already exist under one area, usually HR, but is there a unified vision and an integration of how and why all these units work together?

 

By Richard Lynell

February 21, 2012
The Battle for Great Talent

Heidrick & Struggles recently commissioned a survey in partnership with The Economistof more than 400 CEOs globally to tell us about their attitudes on hiring prospects for the future. The survey results, along with other data and input from global economists, formed the basis of the Heidrick & Struggles Global Talent Index, which shows that the demand for talent across the globe is outstripping supply.

By Judy Braun,VP, Global Talent Development, Heidrick & Struggles

Human Resources (HR) executives know all too well that despite continued high unemployment, one of the major risks to a business is the difficulty in locating and attracting the right talent. When it comes to shaping the future health of a business, the ongoing practice of retaining and hiring top talent is crucial. Recent research from Heidrick & Struggles supports the idea that as the economy improves, competition to find and keep this top talent will only become fiercer.

February 21, 2012
The Battle for Great Talent

Heidrick & Struggles recently commissioned a survey in partnership with The Economistof more than 400 CEOs globally to tell us about their attitudes on hiring prospects for the future. The survey results, along with other data and input from global economists, formed the basis of the Heidrick & Struggles Global Talent Index, which shows that the demand for talent across the globe is outstripping supply.

 

By Judy Braun,VP, Global Talent Development, Heidrick & Struggles

February 20, 2012
Training Today: Products and Services (Jan/Feb 2012)

The latest products and services launching in the training industry.

>> Whiteboard Products launched a suite of its environmentally friendly products that will help improve the way businesses in the U.S. and Canada train, present, learn, teach, and brainstorm. The supercharged whiteboard on a roll sticks with static to any flat surface. Users simply unroll the whiteboard, tear off a sheet along the perforation (or roll it out to make a 65-foot-long whiteboard), and place it on the wall. Additional products now available include the Magic Blackboard for colored displays and a Clearboard that can be written on with dry erase markers.

February 16, 2012
New Article: Reward in Real Time

Robert Vetere, author of “From Wags to Riches,” explores the human-animal bond and looks at moving from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation for both dogs and people. In the business world, he says, intrinsic motivation is widely believed to be the key to employee engagement and one way to ensure people get the highest degree of satisfaction from their work.

 

By Robert Vetere

When you train a puppy, you say, “Good dog!” and immediately hold out a treat. If you wait too long, you lose your chance to reinforce good behavior. This principle is important to remember when you’re training employees, as well. The best management advice I have to offer: Don’t wait for the end-of-the-year annual review. Instead hand out your treats on the spot.

February 15, 2012
Reward in Real Time

Robert Vetere, author of “From Wags to Riches,” explores the human-animal bond and looks at moving from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation for both dogs and people. In the business world, he says, intrinsic motivation is widely believed to be the key to employee engagement and one way to ensure people get the highest degree of satisfaction from their work.

By Robert Vetere

When you train a puppy, you say, “Good dog!” and immediately hold out a treat. If you wait too long, you lose your chance to reinforce good behavior. This principle is important to remember when you’re training employees, as well. The best management advice I have to offer: Don’t wait for the end-of-the-year annual review. Instead hand out your treats on the spot.

February 7, 2012
Conference Highlight: Are You Tactical or Strategic?

Four characteristics that constitute the most valuable skill sought by organizations.

Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Rich Horwath explains four themes and the most important level of strategy.

Do you get it? Translation: Are you strategic? How often have you overheard a group talking about a leader and saying, “She/he just doesn’t get it”? Do they say that about you?

January 26, 2012
Rethinking the Games People Play

Applying game sciences to recognition and performance improvement programs is much more than just creating a game. It’s essentially a way of creating a series of interlocking and customizable experiences that enrich a relationship with a brand or company. Gamification is about finding new ways to appeal to the basic human drives that motivate us every day.

By Jerry Klein, Senior Solution Design Strategist, Maritz Motivation Solutions

We live in a world increasingly obsessed with games. From celebrity athletes performing before worshipful throngs to teenage boys lost in World of Warcraft, games engage and delight all ages. Businesses can capitalize on this trend toward play. Applying the mechanics of gaming to non-game activities can help to engage people in new and exciting ways.

January 23, 2012
Conference Highlight: Make Training Stick

Your work means the most when it's shared, learned and applied. Carl Eidson offers three steps that will help your training have an impact.

 

Training 2012 Conference & Expo speaker Carl Eidson answers the question, “What can we do to make training stick?”

January 12, 2012
Nurturing the Learning Tree

The Learning Tree has seven major parts: five branches, a trunk (six) and the base (seven). Like organizations, most people address only three or four categories at any given time...some effectively and others not. Trees with thicker bases and deeper roots will sprout greener (be happy and productive), shed less often (fewer career mistakes), and live longer (create and sustain a Body of Work).

By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist

Organizations are populated with individuals who possess a plethora of education, skills, and talents. Companies are composed of human beings, who bring their culturalization (or lack of it) to the job. Thus, they set the pace for the tree (company) in question.

Business professionals are the sum of their life experiences. People, like organizations, develop, grow, and thrive. If not, they are of little market value in a career.

January 3, 2012
Soapbox: Paychex Train-the-Trainer Partnership Program

The Paychex Train-the-Trainer Partnership enhances the training skills of a select few business unit subject matter experts, giving them the tools and confidence to educate peers and fellow employees. It also allows the Training Department to become a more integral partner with the business unit, providing support and resources to achieve mutual goals.

By Lisa Green, Training Manager, HRS and H&B Operations, at the Paychex Training and Development Center

Kelly Schnupp never thought participating in a three-month program to enhance her training skills would have such a powerful and immediate impact on the company’s bottom line, but her experience with the Paychex Train-the-Trainer Partnership has left her pleasantly surprised.

November 23, 2011
It’s All in Your Head

Verizon Wireless’ Critical Thinking training program helps leaders make better decisions and stimulates new thinking that can drive breakthrough innovation.

By Lorri Freifeld

November 23, 2011
Talent Tips: Making Learning Fun

VThere is a lot of talk about gamification today and how we can use it in business—with consumers, as well as with our employees. But what about learning? Bill and Melinda Gates think gamification can make a difference in how children can learn. They recently opened their foundation purse strings and invested $20 million partially toward developing innovative digital and game-based learning tools for children in the U.S.

By Roy Saunderson

Are there really benefits to using rewards and recognition through games to help individuals learn more effectively?

There is a lot of talk about gamification today and how we can use it in business—with consumers, as well as with our employees.

But what about learning?

October 19, 2011
8 Tips to Fill Your Training Room

As an HR professional, you are thrilled to organize compelling training programs for your employees, but how do you guarantee high attendance and participation? Fortunately, there are a few simple and (mostly) free techniques for filling your training room every time.

By Brad Karsh, President, JB Training Solutions

As an HR professional, you are thrilled to organize compelling training programs for your employees, but how do you guarantee high attendance and participation? No matter how great the program is on paper, if attendance is low, then the impact is lost. So what can you do?

Fortunately, there are a few simple and (mostly) free techniques for filling your training room every time:

October 7, 2011
Soapbox: Old Habits Die Hard

Many organizations give tips, tools, and techniques that can help employees enhance their performance and businesses increase their revenue, but most of the time, articles are read and seminars are attended, and that is where the learning stops. It’s not a mistake that the saying goes, “Old habits die hard.” The key to successful learning is training reinforcement.

By Tim Hagen, President, Sales Progress

September 8, 2011
Training’s Importance to the Big Picture of Business

More often than not, “training” is a vehicle to tout one’s viewpoint, tinker with old problems, or blame someone else for the course of events. If training is viewed as band-aid surgery to fix problems, then it will fail. Managers who have this “fix those people” mindset are, in fact, the ones who need substantive training the most.

By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist

Professional education is the most important ingredient in corporate development. Today’s workforce will need three times the amount of training it now gets...if the organization intends to stay in business, remain competitive, and tackle the future successfully.

I advise CEOs, board chairs, and the upper echelon of companies on business strategy. Often, I find myself defending and promoting training as an important ingredient to success.

August 3, 2011
Engagement Training for Leaders

Once leaders have bought into the importance of the four key intrinsic rewards—sense of meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress—and have validated this framework against their own experience, you then can shift the focus to the intrinsic rewards their direct reports are receiving, and what the leader can do to provide the building blocks for those rewards.

By Kenneth W. Thomas, Ph.D.

July 25, 2011
Last Word: Motivating Factors

Instead of guessing what motivates individual employees, managers should start out by asking them. On an individual basis, explore what is important to each contributor. What are their goals? Which tasks and responsibilities would they prefer? What could the manager do to make their jobs more fulfilling?

By Michael Rosenthal

Q: I am a Training manager supporting our organization’s largest business unit. Given the economy, we haven’t been able to offer much in terms of bonuses and other perks in recent years. My client has asked me to teach managers how to motivate their staff in the absence of those perks, and I’m out of ideas. Any advice?

July 25, 2011
Why Doesn’t Cash Motivate...

If money is the root of all evil, is it also the root of all motivation? When talking about workplace performance and training, the experts’ consensus is a resounding “No.”

By Lorri Freifeld

If money is the root of all evil, is it also the root of all motivation? When talking about workplace performance and training, the experts’ consensus is a resounding “No.”

First, a look at some research:

July 15, 2011
Developing Business-Savvy Leaders

Business acumen training puts all of the organization’s other development efforts into the context of overall strategy. It not only helps managers make faster and better decisions, it aligns everyone around a common language, provides clarity of purpose, and shows them how to leverage all their skills to strengthen the company’s financial position.

By Catherine J. Rezak, Chairman and Co-founder, Paradigm Learning

Three Stories About Managers

Tim manages an operations department. A long-timer, he makes sure his people do what must get done. He doesn’t always agree with company decisions and insulates his staff from “turmoil.”

Barbara runs a sales team. She diligently focuses on customer relationships as “the key to success.” She can’t stand to lose to competitors, so she does whatever it takes to get business.

July 8, 2011
Effective Onboarding Leads to an Engaged Workforce

As soon as employees start a new job, the clock begins ticking. An effective onboarding program is essential to quickly bring new hires up to speed on an organization’s mission, policies, objectives, systems, and daily practices, as well as ensure they can be productive as soon as possible. Surprisingly, only 60 percent of employees believe their company’s orientation program for new employees is adequate, and only 63 percent believe their organization currently provides effective on-the-job training.

By Michael P. Savitt, PR/Communications Marketing Manager, HR Solutions, Inc.

June 22, 2011
How Attitudes Toward Change Affect Decision-Making

Change style assessment creator Chris Musselwhite knows firsthand how personal change style preferences can not only make you more effective in times of crisis or change, they also can help you make better decisions on a daily basis. “Depending on whether people see change as a danger, a challenge, or an opportunity,” he says, “they have corresponding individual preferences that reflect their relationship and reaction to structure, rules, and authority when dealing and making decisions involving change.”

By Tracy C. F. Brown

Change style assessment creator Chris Musselwhite knows firsthand how personal change style preferences can not only make you more effective in times of crisis or change, they also can help you make better decisions on a daily basis.

April 27, 2011
Moving Along the Pathway to Success

 In “Develop the Keys to Successful Living, Lydia Anti shows how to develop your abilities, talents, and skills while looking at some of your daily practices, which might include habits that could affect you on your pathway to success.

By Lydia Anti

In life there are two categories of people: the dreamers and the achievers. Dreamers dream how they will one day be successful, but they never take the necessary steps to make their dreams become a reality. Achievers, on the other hand, make an effort to look for the right people who can make their dreams come true. They take the necessary steps to achieve their dreams by seeking and gathering information in the right places to enable their dreams to flourish. Achievers become successful people; they get things done, and in doing so, they make things happen.