February 23, 2015 Estimates tell us that up to 70 million Americans cannot even read at a level that would allow them to function fully in the workplace! And, reading is not the only basic skill workers are lacking. Millions cannot perform the simple mathematical problems now required in their jobs. On the other side of this equation lies the share of U.S. manufacturing establishments requiring basic reading, writing, math, and computer...
February 18, 2015 “Many business people think of training as something distracting or often a waste of time. And despite the fact that US business spends more than $60 billion a year in employee development (2013 Corporate Learning Factbook), many executives question its return on investment. Well our research shows that one of the most important sources of competitive advantage is your entire corporate learning strategy. . . . “ (“How Corporate...
February 16, 2015 A couple of years ago, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL summarized the federal government’s efforts to “retrain Americans”: “The Obama administration has been promoting the retraining of unemployed workers as a linchpin of its economic-recovery plan. The federal government spent about $18 billion on training and job-search programs, running 47 separate programs offering training, in the year ended September 2009, the most recent tally by the Government Accountability Office. And...
February 11, 2015 In Wikipedia’s discussion of “competence” (human resources), we read: Competencies are also what people need to be successful in their jobs. Job competencies are not the same as job task. Competencies include all the related knowledge, skills, abilities, and attributes that form a person’s job. This set of context-specific qualities is correlated with superior job performance and can be used as a standard against which to measure job performance...
February 9, 2015 This past weekend, ITC began its 38th year of doing business — something few training suppliers have ever been able to achieve. While I have tried to be conscientious in not using this blog for cheerleading, today I’m going to make an exception and mention a few of the highlights associated with this company. On February 7, 1977 ITC began business as a corporation. William J. Schmidt, Gerald H....
February 4, 2015 Beware of the oft-used title — “customer service.” Unfortunately, those two words can often be misleading. Kate Nassar in her “Smart SenseAbilities” blog clearly describes both what they are —- and, what they aren’t: “In Wikipedia, you will find customer service defined as: the provision of service before, during, and after a purchase. Customer service defined this way (as an operation) inspires few to the heights of service greatness....
February 2, 2015 Universities, with their ever-increasing emphasis on graduate degrees in Instructional Design, are having a dilatory effect on corporate training. Higher education has a place in preparing our next generation of trainers and instructional designers. Theoretical understanding is important. However, when it comes to teaching “templates of learning design,” graduate programs in instructional design seriously misdirect their students. Cookie-cutter solutions are never the answer. Every training initiative challenge undertaken has...
January 28, 2015 As I’ve posted many times, higher education is, unfortunately, crossing over into traditional training objectives — and, away from its historical goals. We see the movement away from a liberal arts exposure (with its attendant focus on thinking) and toward an almost exclusive emphasis on “skills training” in a specific academic discipline where the almost-sole intent of preparing students for professional labor becomes the norm — the historical province...
January 26, 2015 Sometimes you’re in the market for a special training project —- a training initiative that is unique to your organization. For example, you might well be tasked with addressing items that are specific to your organization’s procedures, policies or operating equipment. What should you look for in a potential partnering vendor? To begin, you should select a producing organization that has a long track record of developing similar training...
January 22, 2015 In order for your online training to be most effective, you should seek those courses created by instructional designers who include creativity into their finished products. Creativity, born from the designer’s imagination, is the single most important quality that distinguishes those courses with which your trainees will fully engage during the learning process. Imagination is the catalyst that drives creativity. In his book, THE DRAMATIC IMAGINATION, one of America’s...
January 19, 2015 Some of you will have already spent many years in the training field. You’ve long ago earned your stripes. Other readers will be new to the training profession. You’re anxious to learn. Whichever group you are in, however, is faced with the same challenge: “Making the best training initiative choices in order to maximize the learning opportunities for your trainees.” Today, we’re going to look at the most important...
January 14, 2015 Two interesting items form the basis for today’s blog — one, general and the other, more specific. The current AMERICAN SCHOLAR features an article by Mike Rose, “School Reform Fails the Test.” In 1995, Rose had published a book, “Possible Lives: The Promise of Education in America” and now has chosen to revisit many of the teachers he had, years before, interviewed for his book A couple of quotes...
January 12, 2015 One of the fundamental principles that characterizes successful organizations goes something like this: “To stay competitive, today’s organizations have to realize maximum productivity from each and every employee!” While readily investing training dollars in task skills building, too often, many organizations ignore the basic skills knowledge-gap that exists throughout their workforce. Unfortunately, when they do take the time to examine that gap, many find that their employees simply don’t...
January 7, 2015 What force separates the winners from the losers in today’s marketplace? The same force that has shaped survivors throughout history — change! Since the beginning of time, it has been those who have learned to control change who have prospered. “ Any business in today’s fast-moving environment that is looking for the pace of change to slow is likely to be sorely disappointed. In fact, businesses should embrace change....