March 26, 2014 In Monday’s post, we examined the first big trainer/vendor mistake. We’re now ready to address the second “killer.” In many ways, the arguments are similar to the one’s we made two days ago — only, this time, the fatal mistake comes from a trusted employee or loyal customer. For example, an educator or a trainer listens to a respected colleague, who expresses an idea that seems to make sense....
March 25, 2014 Today and Wednesday we’re going to look at the two fatal mistakes corporate training departments and training vendors make. And, “fatal” is not an exaggeration when discussing the many otherwise technology-smart people who come up with exciting ideas but drown in their own ocean of misguided premises. I cannot begin to enumerate the number of great concepts and brilliant adaptations of technology that I have seen fail. It’s all...
March 19, 2014 As a follow-up to Monday’s post, it is imperative that we get a more complete perspective on the current composition of our workforce and the opportunities to improve both their education and their training. 75% of the high school students that our education system graduates each year are not likely to earn a college baccalaureate degree. These students eventually comprise the majority of America’s front-line workforce, and the prosperity...
March 17, 2014 In a well-reasoned article by Bob Williamson (Maintenance Technology: “Replacing the Maintenance Apprenticeship Training Model), Williamson opens with a short review of the traditional model: “We’ve recently realized that our current apprenticeship model for training and developing maintenance technicians is obsolete. Very few, if any, people are interested. Those who sign up rarely stick with it for very long. Those who have completed the training often lack the equipment...
March 12, 2014 Quoting from Paul Davidson’s article (“More Employers Spend to Raise Workers’ Skills”) in USA TODAY this week, we find some good news for those of us committed to training and learning: Employers say a skills gap that’s keeping them from finding qualified job candidates is widening. But they finally may be doing something about it. About half of businesses say they plan to train new hires this year, up...
March 10, 2014 The arguments over “best learning medium,” that readily ensue when training professionals get together, are becoming commercially meaningless today. Why? Because most large, and many medium-size, companies have already decided the issue. For a variety of reasons, these corporations have chosen “e-Learning” as the training medium of choice — and, that’s that! And, as trainers, we should not fret too long over that decision. Technology continues to evolve and...
March 5, 2014 In one of his WASHINGTON POST columns, Thomas Heath begins: “I said something disrespectful about salespeople many years ago, and my wife Polly, upbraided me straightaway. ‘Selling is a real talent,’ she said. ‘If you can sell, you can always find work.’ I immediately gained a respect for salespeople that I have never lost.” Heath’s column is devoted to a story that features Karen Edwards (owner of a successful...
March 3, 2014 Combined with an extensive vocabulary —- without something resembling a liberal arts education, in-depth thinking becomes restricted. It also follows that without the skills training one receives in high school and college, as well as from corporate training departments, the ability to excel in one’s chosen career becomes limited. In terms of the former, most individuals are on their own as a liberal arts education becomes more and more...
February 27, 2014 I’ve pointed out in many-a-blog, how ineffectual most e-Learning is today. The marketplace is full of word-heavy examples of, what can better be called, e-Information. Most of it relates facts well (but, only if you’re a fluent reader) and, invariably, fails to deliver on skills acquisition and retention —- the two bottom line tests of any good training. However, we have recently forgotten a far better technology —- when...
February 24, 2014 When committing to an LMS, you want it to market, schedule, run and analyze your entire learning strategy —- but, you don’t want to pay for a plethora of bells and whistles that do little to make your job easier. You want to make the planning, delivery, management and tracking of workplace learning more functional and affordable than ever before. You’re looking for an intuitive learning management experience that...
February 19, 2014 When selecting a courseware supplier, demand to know their definition of “customer service.”. As practiced today, customer service is, too often, merely a response-department in which its sole job is to respond to complaints, error reports and other problems. What you should be looking for is a courseware vendor that practices “customer assurance” — a supplier that is thinking “customers” from initial development through after-the-sale service. For skills training...
February 17, 2014 “Do you have a supplier who will take your business, but only on his terms? It seems to me that when a supplier is not aligned with your long-term interest, then you should stop buying from him — or at the very least, limit your buying.” (4 THINGS YOU MUST CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A SUPPLIER by Jay Steinfeld, Moneywatch, 11/17/2010) With that thought in mind, how should you prepare...
February 12, 2014 From a Money Magazine interview with Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen and reported by CNN, we find our first definition: You apply a lot of business-school thinking to life. What’s one example? “In organizations, once you articulate how success will be measured, everybody tries to game the system so that they are measured in the best possible way. If you judge schools based on test scores, every school...
February 10, 2014 My friend, and GASCO Corporate Competence Senior Analyst (UAE), Kamran Ahmed Siddiqui, published an article today in the “GULF NEWS” that provides an apt introduction to today’s blog: “ . . . You are supposed to be on the way of constructing your superstructure — but without the necessary foundation work, imagination and detail design and project quality plan, where are you headed? Think about the future consequences that...