T + D

Ai Lite

Although mostly applied to create large-scale, companywide changes, appreciative inquiry (AI) can be scaled down and used by nearly any leader. The principles of AI compel users to search for and appreciate the best of what already exists within their group or organization. Instructional designers and trainers can adapt these AI principles far midlevel managers in courses such as business analysis, improving productivity, or teamwork. Knowing the principles that make AI effective can help you...

All Aboard!

A mid sized global pharmaceutical company had been without an employee onboarding program for several years. It sought a best-in-class method to differentiate itself from competitors, create greater employee engagement, and attract and retain high-performing talent. During an action learning initiative for high-potential employees, an onboarding program idea was born. Nitzberg was hired to help the company implement the program. New employees' rates of productivity increased as a result of th...

Begin with the End in Mind: The Goal-Driven Mentoring Relationship

Clarifying and articulating learning goals is indispensable to the success of a mentoring relationship. While some mentees come to a mentoring relationship with well-defined goals, it is more the exception than the rule. Most mentees come with a general idea about what they want to learn. That idea becomes the starting point for a mentor's assistance in the goal-setting process. "Starter goals" are the initial goals a mentee brings into a mentoring relationship. As the mentee and mentor work ...

Coaching for Catalysts: Creating Great Coaching Moments

Coaching is a service that people have the opportunity to provide when performers seek their assistance. It occurs as a conversation that could be done in person, over the phone, in writing, or through other connections. The service of coaching might look like many things, depending on the varying needs and requests of the performer. Sometimes coaching feels like being a scout on a nature expedition -- where they are asked to share what they see, hear, and think about something from their van...

Corporate Integrity Pays Off in Better Performance

Fostering a culture in which employees feel free to speak up about company wrongdoing does more than promote open communication; new research shows that it is also improves company performance and productivity. According to a Corporate Executive Board (CEB) survey of nearly 500,000 employees from 150 global companies (120 US-based) in 85 countries, companies that encourage employees to speak up about misdeeds and communicate openly deliver shareholder returns an average of 5% higher than thei...

Creating a New Mindset: Guidelines for Mentorship in Today's Workplace

Mentoring has proven again and again to be an effective workforce development tool. A 2009 study by Triple Creek looked at the impact of e-mentoring (specifically "open mentoring") on productivity and effectiveness. The practice of mentoring has changed during the last decade, expanding into the world of virtual relationships and multiparticipant interactions. Those who lead mentoring programs need to help reposition the user mindset around what mentoring is, what it can be, and how it can af...

Customer Service Training 101: Quick and Easy Techniques That Get Great Results, 2nd Edition

Gallup: Wellbeing Is the Next Employee Engagement

In recent decades, major change initiatives such as Total Quality Management and employee engagement have taken hold in organizations -- and for good reason. They've reduced costs and fueled growth. As a result, early adopters have gained a competitive edge. This leads to question where the next seismic shift will occur. After exploring this matter in great depth over the last five years, the answer is clear. The next major workplace initiatives will focus on wellbeing. Gallups global data su...

Generations Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters-Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work

Improving Economy Boosts Talent Management Efforts

As the economy turns around, companies are looking to retain and attract top talent to drive innovation, and they're renewing their focus on talent management programs to support these efforts, according to a new global study on rewards and benefits. The "Towers Watson Global Talent Management and Rewards" survey, which included results from 1,176 global companies, including 314 from the US, showed that most respondents reported that cuts made during the recession hurt their ability to not on...

Learning with and From Others: Restructuring Budgets for Social Learning

Given this pending calamity, it's time for learning leaders to rethink their strategy to make social learning an important piece of the learning spectrum. Leaders should be embracing it, but it does require new approaches in leadership and budget planning to successfully execute. Despite recent and modest gains in the economy training budgets continue to decrease, and doing "more with less" is a repeated utterance throughout the profession. No matter the study, training budgets have been and ...

Managers Still Positive Despite Tough Times

Managers and professionals are pretty happy with their jobs and organizations even after the economic turmoil of the past two years. But they also feel overloaded and have issues with work-life balance, according to a new report from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). Findings from CCL's "Workplace Attitudes 2010" report reflect the feelings of 1,500 North American managers, executives, and professionals who have maintained their employment throughout the recession and are engaged in i...

Putting Hard Numbers to Soft Investments

Editor

Talent Management Can Be Taught

The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan, is reviewed.

The Long View: Henry Mintzberg

In an interview, coachingourselves.com founding partner Henry Mintzberg talked about his career. He said somebody once said that you don't have experiences; you have happenings, and they become experiences when you reflect on them and learn from them. They discovered that the most effective way to train managers is to get them thinking about their own experiences. Management is management. It is not about techniques or the latest gimmick. Management is a fundamental human activity, so that do...

The Professional Pigeonhole: How to Escape and Expand Your Career Options

As professionals, they pride themselves on developing expertise and becoming invaluable members of their organizations. But what happens when they become too valuable -- when their well-developed and widely admired expertise becomes the very thing that keeps them pigeonholed? Here are some pointers that may help: 1. Identify areas of interest. 2. Look for fit. 3. Observe differently. 4. Shift from tasks to relationships. 5. Communicate your interest. 6. Get feedback. Expanding your options ca...

The Weary Middle

After a recent survey of 2,001 midlevel leaders worldwide, combined with additional contemporary data, Development Dimensions International offers suggestions for organizations to prepare their midlevel talent to ensure business success in today's postrecession workplace. Midlevel leaders cite leading change executing work priorities, and making tough decisions as the most pressing challenges they face now, and only 11% of respondents feel well prepared to handle these challenges over the nex...

Top Suite in Corporate America Still Eludes Women

Recently released statistics from the US Bureau of Labor show that for the first time in history, women have begun to outnumber men on the nation's payroll. Yet, according to a key finding in Calvert Investments' "Examining the Cracks in the Ceiling: A Survey of Corporate Diversity Practices of the S&P 100," women continue to be significantly underrepresented on corporate boards and in C-level positions. Of all the S&P 100 companies surveyed, less than 10% of women were found to be to...

University Graduates

Nearly 80% of UK businesses say only some graduates are equipped with skills they need for the world of work, and those skills can be obtained through a geography degree. Nearly one in five of the business leaders surveyed have a degree or equivalent in geography and 67% would recommend a geography-based qualification to their children. Nearly all employers said that they would like more employees with core skills in their organizations noting that it would help them address their priorities,...

Virtual Classroom Immersion Training: Safeguarding the Health, Safety, and Resiliency of Emergency Responders

For more than 60 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has responded to a broad spectrum of natural and human-caused disasters, including food- and waterborne illnesses, disease outbreaks, chronic health challenges, terrorism incidents, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Until recently, the highly educated professionals who deploy to hot spots around the world received little training on how to deal with the potential mental and emotional effects of the stressors to which they...

Virtual Learning and Class Participation in Real Time

EMC2 is a global leader in the design, building, and management of flexible, scalable, and secure information infrastructures. Historically, EMC's IT employee training had been presented at EMC's headquarters in Hopkinton, MA. Employees outside the area were typically required to travel to the site for their courses. In 2008, the economy forced EMC to take a hard look at how it could continue to effectively train its staff as travel budgets were being slashed. Learning Tree accepted the chall...

What I Didn't Learn in Business School: How Strategy Works in the Real World

What Worries Ceos Now?

Many surveys track the tides of CEO opinion showing people what matters to them and why. Lately these surveys have shown an understandable anxiety about doing business in an increasingly complex, volatile, and unpredictable world. It's not just the Great Recession that worries CEOs; it's a whole range of factors including markets, technology, regulations, globalization, and yes, talent. The 2010's crop of CEO surveys from PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM, The Conference Board, and the Business Rou...

What's On Henry Mintzberg's Bookshelf?