Content about Disaster

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
Good Employee Health Leads to Improved Company Performance

Historically, businesses have viewed employee wellness as a way to lower health-care costs. But the rewards of wellness go far beyond reducing the price of employee benefits. If people feel good, they perform better. And if they perform at a higher level, so will your company. Here’s the evidence that shows the direct links between good health and improved company performance.

By Dr. Jack Groppel, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Human Performance Institute, and Vice President, Applied Science and Performance Training, Wellness & Prevention, Inc.

January 11, 2012
Executive Coaching Gives Leaders a Chance to Change

One-on-one coaching allows leaders the opportunity to overcome problems ranging from poor public speaking to a lack of executive presence.

By Annie Beecham, Marketing Coordinator, Connect the Dots Consulting

January 4, 2012
The Year Ahead in Leadership and Training

Sluggish economic recovery, the debt crisis in Europe, and ongoing political uncertainty are creating challenges for many businesses, particularly when it comes to human capital management. As companies continue to face these challenges in 2012, effective collaboration and communication will become mission critical in maintaining a business’ health, and human resource directors and CLOs will have to adopt new practices and new perspectives to meet them.

By Halley Bock, CEO, Fierce, Inc.

December 30, 2011
7 Steps to Stress Prevention

A 2011 study commissioned by the American Psychology Association indicates incidents of stress are commonplace, with 36 percent of employees reporting feeling some degree of stress on a daily basis and 20 percent feeling extremely stressed. Here are some tips to help mitigate stress in your workplace.

By Michael Rich

We all have seen it in the workplace: an employee so overcome with stress he or she struggles to complete work and becomes a distraction to others.

November 15, 2011
Re-Inventing Learning at Whirlpool University

Whirlpool University leveraged the opportunity of marketplace-driven circumstances to create the “Closed Loop Learning Method.” This method integrates: the power of the online learning environment, face-to-face classroom, application of skills, and the employee’s manager.

By Tamara Patrick, Director, Whirlpool University

October 28, 2011
Instructional Design: Results-Based vs. Results-Capable

In the traditional results-based approach, management identifies skill gaps as potential threats to achieving corporate goals. Training initiatives are launched to develop the skill, but mission-critical corporate goals can shift like the wind. A better approach is a results-capableworkforce: a team of people who can move with the tide, accept and internalize new strategies, and execute change with confidence.

By Joseph Gianni, CEO, 2logical

“Change on a dime!” “We need to do more with less!” “Innovate!”

These are the battle cries from the executive ranks to the troops, and in today’s business world, they are the reality we face virtually every day. This drive toward continuous innovation has rendered the traditional reactive method of people development—closing individual skill gaps that seem to stand in the way of results—obsolete.

October 17, 2011
The Leadership Imperative: Mission Success

If a leader inspires, aligns, motivates, and enables the organization around a common vision, then a company has taken the first step toward becoming fearless.

By Tom Rieger, Senior Practice Expert, Gallup

There are no fearless leaders, but there are courageous ones. Everyone has fears they need to face. The key is to learn to overcome those fears. Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” To create a fearless company, leaders must master fear—their own and others’. They have to have the courage to fix what’s wrong.

October 11, 2011
Improve Your Organization

Is it possible  that  an organization’s performance could hang  on somethingas soft and gushy as how individuals deal with crucial conversations? “Yes,” say Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, authors of “Crucial Conversations.”

By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Is it possible  that  an organization’s performance could  hang  on something as soft and gushy as how individuals deal with crucial conversations?

Study after  study suggests  that  the answer  is yes.

October 10, 2011
War of the Generations: (Re) Entering the Under-Employed Workforce

A war of the generations is emerging. Employed, under-employed, and unemployed workers of all generations are colliding in the marketplace. And no one is going home soon. Everyone is seeking meaning, motivation, and above all, money. Be prepared to compete—and compete fiercely.

By Jim Finkelstein, President and CEO, FutureSense, Inc.

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 26, 2011
Improve Morale AND Results: Invest in Your Workforce in Tough Times

Despite budgetary challenges, St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers took the approach that the best way to ensure the highest quality of care for the people who come to it for treatment was to demonstrate the greatest care for the people who work for the organization.

When the Great Recession began early in 2008, both for-profit and not-for-profit companies struggled to react to the uncertainties of a prolonged economic challenge. A common response was entrenchment through reducing salaries, benefits, and positions.

And this approach seemed to make sense. After all, for most companies, payrolls represent one of the largest, if not the largest, cost centers. Additionally, people—unlike most other assets—can be relatively flexible, and when asked to work longer for less, are generally grateful during hard times to be employed.

September 16, 2011
Turning Customers Into Advocates

Training employees in rapport-building skills goes some way to improving their performance in real interactions with customers. However, no amount of training in the techniques of rapport building will improve an employee’s real behavior with a customer if that employee is stuck in a mindset that, wittingly or unwittingly, drives rapport-destroying behavior.

By Jonathan Chalstrey, Jonathan Chalstrey Associates

August 5, 2011
Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts of Talent Development

According to the Talent Management Survey conducted in 2009 by the Best Practice Institute, more than 82 percent of companies surveyed utilize either a formal or informal talent management program, indicating an awareness that human capital considerations must be among the foremost goals of strategic planning. Less common, however, is consensus on what talent development strategies and methods yield the best results.

By Louis L. Carter, CEO of Best Practice Institute,and Brian Fishel, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Leadership Development, Bank of America

July 27, 2011
Knowing Who You Are and What You Believe

If we are to become the leaders we have the potential to be, it is essential that we understand who we are and what we believe, says Doug Moran, author of  “If You Will Lead: Enduring Wisdom for 21st Century Leaders.” While there is a great deal of self-awareness associated with all of the “If” Sixteen Leadership Attributes, these first four in particular—character, authenticity, integrity, and self-efficacy—provide a strong foundation for self-awareness.

By Doug Moran

Why Self-Awareness Matters

If we are to become the leaders we have the potential to be, it is essential that we understand who we are and what we believe. While there is a great deal of self-awareness associated with all of the “If” Sixteen Leadership Attributes, these first four in particular—character, authenticity, integrity, and self-efficacy—provide a strong foundation for self-awareness.

July 25, 2011
Best Practices: Talent Development in a Global Economy

Training departments face the dual challenge of providing talent development and reward and recognition in a culturally appropriate manner, and developing employees to lead and work in a multicultural, global economy.

By Neal Goodman, Ph.D.

Training departments face the dual challenge of providing talent development and reward and recognition in a culturally appropriate manner, and developing employees to lead and work in a multicultural, global economy.

Cultural Assumptions

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 6, 2011
How-To: Reinforce Training

Training is not an end to a means. It’s part of the journey. When you’re going on a trip, typically you plan ahead and buy tickets, make reservations, and line up transportation. With training, you need to do the same thing. You must choose your destination before you plot your course. This is why you should include behavior reinforcement in your training design—it’s part of planning how you’re going to get where you want to go.

By Kendra Lee

Training is not an end to a means. It’s part of the journey.

When you’re going on a trip, typically you plan ahead and buy tickets, make reservations, and line up transportation. With training, you need to do the same thing. You must choose your destination before you plot your course. This is why you should include behavior reinforcement in your training design—it’s part of planning how you’re going to get where you want to go.

June 6, 2011
Soapbox: Good to Great to Gone

The story of Circuit City’s meteoric rise and catastrophic fall reveals myriad leadership lessons. It also underscores the critical strategic role that training and development play in a company’s continued success.

By Tom Wulf

In early 2009, 34,000 American workers lost their jobs and one of retail’s greatest stories of entrepreneurship abruptly came to an end. More than 250,000 people—families, suppliers, supporting businesses—were impacted directly by the closing of Circuit City Stores, Inc. The 60-year-old retailer, with a presence in every major U.S. city, seemed to just disappear.

June 2, 2011
Measuring Customer Service Training’s Impact

By investing in customer service training, employees will learn skills to provide better service up front and also uncover ways to reduce customer dissatisfaction. But the employee contribution is only part of the equation. A company must do its part by completing the pre-planning, goal setting, measurement, and readjustment phases.

By Kristen Meletio Kmetz, Regional Training Account Manager, Signature Worldwide

May 20, 2011
Resilience: The Foundation of Organizational Success

Scientific evidence supports the fact that to be fully effective, employees need greater soft skills to complement and enhance their hard skills. Becoming more resilient is the soft skill at the very foundation of all other work activity. Discover the seven pillars that serve as the gateway to resilience training.

By Jim Hornickel, Director, Training & Development, Bold New Directions

May 18, 2011
Coaching: What Are We Talking About?

Many of us are still unclear about what coaching is. The key is to clarify the notion of coaching in the organizational context and to assist the person responsible for coaching (human resources director, sales director, or manager) to identify the most appropriate form of coaching in the circumstances.

By Carole Trépanier, DBA, and Anne Mathieu, Ph.D.

We are presently in the midst of a full-scale coaching boom. According to recent research, books on the topic are being published at a rate of more than one a week and there now are more than 18,000 professional personal and business coaches registered as members of the International Coaching Federation compared to 11,000 in 2006 (http://www.coachfederation.org/about-icf/).

May 3, 2011
Measuring the ROI of Training

In an ideal world, what if we could pick a company, look at every measurement that training personnel might possibly impact and then train that staff from hello to goodbye. After three months, six months, 12 months, etc., of coaching and reinforcement to ensure the employees continue to use their new skills, we’d compare all the measurements. Would that be the perfect solution to the training ROI quandary?

By Holly Zoba, Senior Vice President, Hospitality Sales, Signature Worldwide

How do you measure the ROI of training? Is it through an increase in sales? A decrease in employee turnover? Better delivery of customer service?

In some ways, measuring the ROI of training is not unlike answering the question, “What is the ROI of putting on your shirt?” It doesn’t seem like there is a lot of value, until one day you don’t do it and you show up at work shirtless. Unless you are a professional surfer, you probably will regret it.

March 24, 2011
Hiring Again?

When hiring starts again after a recession, workers often need a new skill mix. If so, it’s the trainer’s job to make sure employees—both current and those being hired—have those skills.

By Marc Hequet

When hiring starts again after a recession, workers often need a new skill mix. If so, it’s the trainer’s job to make sure employees—both current and those being hired—have those skills.

March 24, 2011
How-To: Use Webinars for Training and Revenue

Many of you have been searching for ways to develop new revenue streams and expand the reach of your firms. What many are discovering is virtual training. Ready to take the plunge into the world of attendee- funded Webinars? Here are six success keys to get you started.

By Lee Salz

You are accustomed to using Webinar technology for virtual meetings, product demos, and infomercials. But there is a growing trend of using Webinar technology for employee training. The last few years have caused many companies to slash their training budgets as a strategy to restore profitability. But study after study reveals that the key to a healthy bottom line is investing in employee skill development. This has forced business executives to search for cost-effective ways to enhance employee proficiency. What they have discovered is virtual training.