Teach employees to fish... for training

You know how it goes, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.”

Well, the same holds true when it comes to employee training. When you teach employees how to fish, or find training on their own, they’ll continue on the same path for a lifetime, or at least for the time they spend at your company.

Teaching employees to fish for training begins with a course in company culture. Only by fostering a culture that promotes education and skills training will employees feel that learning is not only encouraged, but a necessary part of their career.

Getting started doesn’t have to use up a ton of resources either. Encourage employees to fish, for training, that is, by implementing a few of these ideas:

• Improve education from the inside out. Instead of having employees look outside to seminars and courses, give them opportunities to learn within the walls of your workplace. Something as simple as an in-house learning library can give employees the tools they need to make a difference.


• Create your own trainers. Some of the best training resources are right there under your nose – you hired them. Create a peer-to-peer training program where employees share their expertise with others. Without ever stepping foot outside, you’ll be fostering teamwork, improving engagement and encouraging employees to seek out training on their own.


• Embrace technology. These days, finding new learning outlets can be as simple as turning on your computer. From Twitter to online learning courses, technology has made learning more accessible, and affordable, than ever before.


• Try something new. Start a new in-house learning program, like “lunch-and-learn” training sessions. Typically more relaxed and less structured than traditional training courses, lunch-and-learns are a great way to fit training into everyone’s busy day.

Sign up an employee for a training course, he’ll have training for today. Encourage an employee to seek out training on their own, and he’ll have training for a lifetime.

Any more ideas on encouraging employees to discover training on their own? Please leave a comment and let us know.

Free online learning webinars

The kids are finally back to school and you, too, can “hit the books” starting with this great list of free online learning webinars compiled by Jon Udell and Tony Karrer of eLearning Learning (via Workplace Learning Today).

From increasing your webinar effectiveness to coaching and even growing your business, their list is a great place to get back into the learning groove after a long, hot summer.

Upcoming eLearning Events from eLearning Learning.

Senior executives report drop in professional development

Slightly more than one-quarter (26%) of senior executives report reductions in their company’s professional development programs in the past 12 months, according to a new survey.

Though many companies are cutting training out of the budget, another 28% of the 150 senior executives surveyed by Accountemps said their company has expanded their training initiatives.
When asked, “Compared to 12 months ago, how, if at all, have your company’s professional development programs changed?” Their responses were:

• Expanded significantly – 9%
• Expanded somewhat – 19%
• No change – 45%
• Been reduced somewhat – 17%
• Been reduced significantly – 9%
• Don’t know – 1%

"While employers may be tempted to eliminate or scale back training in challenging times, they should think twice before making these cuts," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps. "Skimping on employee education can dull your firm's competitive edge and undermine your recruitment and retention efforts."

"Providing targeted training enables staff, particularly those who have taken on new or expanded roles, to become more versatile and increase their contributions to the firm. In addition, employees who feel their company is invested in their careers will be more motivated to perform at a high level and less likely to resign when an improving economy spurs new job opportunities," he added.

Has your company been able to hang onto employee training during the past 12 months? How have your professional development programs changed?

Free e-book: E-Learning Survival Guide

Whether you’re currently enrolled in an online course, or have employees signed up for e-learning opportunities, there’s a new free guide available online to check out.

Susan Smith Nash (aka. the E-Learning Queen) is offering a free pdf download of her E-Learner Survival Guide, “everything you need to know to succeed in the wild and wooly world of mobile learning, elearning, and hybrid college, K-12, and career courses.” (Thanks to those at Workplace Learning Today for sharing the good news.)

The book contains hundreds of essays on a broad list of topics from student engagement and institutional leadership, to mobile learning and corporate training.

Nash writes that the book is especially focused on creating successful outcomes for students and educational programs. Her essays also explain how to handle “often-overlooked” niches of learners, including generational differences and training.

Take a quick trip over to the E-Learning Queen to download your free copy of the E-Learner Survival Guide.

Study: Online, blended learning better than face-to-face

Incorporating technology in classroom instruction can enhance learning, according to a U.S. Department of Education analysis of controlled studies comparing online and face-to-face instruction.

The Department of Education analyzed 46 studies comparing online learning to face-to-face education and concluded that “blended learning,” or program that utilize both online and face-to-face learning, is more effective than using one method alone.

From the Department of Education press release:

The meta analysis showed that “blended” instruction – combining elements of online and face-to-face instruction – had a larger advantage relative to purely face to face instruction or instruction conducted wholly online. The analysis also showed that the instruction conducted wholly on line was more effective in improving student achievement than the purely face to face instruction. In addition, the report noted that the blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions.

From the authors’ discussion section of the study:

That caution [not to assume that an effect is due to a given medium] applies well to the findings of this meta-analysis, which should not be construed as demonstrating that online learning is superior as a medium. Rather, it is the combination of elements in the treatment conditions, which are likely to include additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration, that has proven effective. The meta-analysis findings do not support simply putting an existing course online, but they do support redesigning instruction to incorporate additional learning opportunities online.

Read Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies (2009).

The department noted that this new meta-analysis goes against previous studies, which generally found that online and face-to-face education methods were comparable in their learning effectiveness.

Are “lunch and learns” bad for business?

“Lunch and learn” programs are used by countless businesses to fit training and development into everyone’s busy day by turning employees’ lunchtime into informal training sessions.

While some feel that squeezing more learning into our jam-packed days with “lunch and learns” is a boon for business, others strongly believe that they can be quite a bother.

Nick Milton of Bath, UK, recently explained why he thinks “lunch and learns” are a bad idea in a post last week. While learning during lunchtime makes sense at first glance, it may be sending employees the wrong message. He writes:

But what message are you giving? You are giving the message that learning and knowledge sharing is not something that should be a priority during working hours, and should be fitted into spare lunchtimes. You are giving the message that learning is not real work, to be done during work time. You are giving the message that learning is something you can do while eating, and that you don't need to give it full attention. You are making the tacit assumption that people will not turn up to learn something unless you bribe them with cookies.

If learning is important, don’t relegate it to lunchtime. How many other business activities would you hold at lunchtime, so people could eat as they participated? Would you have "lunch and budgeting?" "lunch and project planning?" lunch and personal appraisal?" "lunch and recruitment interviewing?" No you wouldn't, so why relegate learning to lunchtime? (read the full post)

We’ve written before on the benefits of “lunch and learn” training, and how it can help businesses save money and improve employee productivity. But what works for one person or company may fail with another and it’s our job to learn from both sides of the equation.

So, we want to know what side you’re on. Have you tried “lunch and learn” seminars? Are you a fan? Why or why not?


Please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Top 10 learning tools for training pros

For the past few years, Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has been asking learning professionals, from education and training, to chime in on what productivity tools would make their personal top 10 list.

Right now, Jane is in the process of compiling the Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2009 and it’s looking like a tough race. As the rankings stand today, here are the Top 10 Tools for Learning:

1. Twitter - Microblogging tool
2. Delicious - Social bookmarking tool
3. Google Reader - RSS/Feed reader
4. Wordpress - Blogging tool
5. Google Docs - Web-based documents
6. Skype - Instant messaging/VoIP
   
7. Slideshare - Hosting presentations
8. Google Search - Web search tool
9. PowerPoint - Presentation software
10. Firefox - Web browser and extensions

It’s interesting to see what other professionals out there are using, but even more interesting to see how the trends have changed over the past few years. Last year it was Delicious, Firefox and Google Reader at the top and Twitter ranked down at number 11.

Almost 100 learning professionals have shared their top 10 learning tools so far this year. Visit Jane's site and suggest what tools you think should be at the top.

Companies restructure faster by firing and hiring, not retraining

As many of the country’s largest employers eliminate thousands of jobs, they’re simultaneously hiring workers for new positions to adapt to the market’s changing needs, according to a Wall Street Journal article published yesterday.

U.S. employers eliminated 539,000 jobs in April alone, said the Labor Department on Friday. However, the government also estimates that employers hired roughly 4.4 million workers in February, the most recent numbers available.

"It's not just routine turnover," says Lori Kletzer, an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "Quite often the people being laid off don't have the requisite set of skills or experience to move into the growth areas."

Some experts say the churn also shows changes in workplace policies. In past decades, many employers retrained and relocated underused workers, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. “Now they've discovered that you can restructure even faster by laying off and hiring.” (WSJ)

Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Yahoo and Time Warner are among the companies laying off thousands, while hiring new workers to fill positions in different business units, other places or to fill a need for new skills.

These latest employment numbers support a belief that many Americans currently share -- without continued training and skills development, their current workplace skills will be outdated within the next few years.

Workers across all generations depend on training and development to stay competitive in the changing labor market, but more than three-quarters of Americans believe the training provided by their employers will fail to meet their future career needs.

Has your company decided to fire and hire, instead of training existing employees for new positions? Is it the employer’s responsibility to develop workers’ skills for their future career needs?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Skills training failing to meet employee needs

Without continued training and skills development many Americans believe their current workplace skills will be outdated within the next five years, according to a recent global workplace survey by Kelly Services.

The survey found that more than three-quarters of Americans surveyed predict that their job skills will be outdated within five years and believe the training currently provided by their employers will fail to meet their future career needs.

“Many organizations in an effort to cut expenses may eliminate or reduce training opportunities, but this will cause businesses to become less innovative and without the capacity to compete,” says Mike Webster, Kelly Services Executive Vice President and General Manager.

As revealed in the survey, people across all generations in the workforce depend on training and development to stay competitive in the changing labor market.

People’s views regarding their workplace skills varied in different regions of the U.S., according to the survey:

• Workers in the West are most concerned about their skill sets, with 82% worried that they are becoming outdated.
• People living in the Northeast are the most confident that their current skill levels are sustainable.
• Gen Y workers (18 to 29 years old) living in the West and Midwest are the most worried about their workplace skills.
• Gen X workers (30 to 47 years old) are more concerned about the adequacy of their skills than any other age group in the U.S.
• Workers in the South are the most satisfied with the quality of training provided by their employers.
• More than half of the Baby Boomer generation (aged 48 to 65) feel they have been let down by their employer’s human resources departments in managing their careers. Workers in the Northeast are the most critical in this area.

The majority of those surveyed (77%) believe that training should be a joint responsibility between employers and employees. The workers surveyed said they most prefer on-the-job training (42%), followed by professional development courses (26%), self-initiated learning (20%) and formal university or college courses (12%).

“The current economic environment has made people very aware of their skills and whether they will be sufficient to survive the recession and beyond, into a period of economic recovery,” Webster says.

Do you think our current economic situation has put an added significance on employee training and skills development? Are you concerned that your current workplace skills will become outdated in the coming years?

Leave a comment and let us know.

Take a peek at Ivy League learning for free

Developing an in-house learning library is one of the most cost-effective and easiest ways to promote ongoing employee education. If you don’t have the room or resources for a physical library, there are countless resources on the Web that promote learning and usually for free.

“Whether you'd like to learn algebra from a mathematician at MIT, watch how to make crawfish étouffée from an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America or study blues guitar with a professor at Berklee College of Music, you can do it all in front of your computer, courtesy of other people's money.” (TIME)

Making these lectures available to the public is part of a widespread movement among universities and learning institutions to open their once exclusive classrooms to the general public. New sites have been cropping up all across the web to deliver world-class learning to anyone who want’s a peek inside.

Take a look at these free online learning sources with information from some of the top colleges in the world:

YouTube Edu - YouTube’s central education hub dedicated to videos from more than 100 schools that have official channels on the site. Viewers can find videos from schools like the Grand Rapids Community College to Harvard.

Apple’s iTunes U - In a win-win situation for educators and Apple, users can find more than 170 schools offering free content through iTunes U.

Academic Earth - Smaller and more edited than YouTube’s videos, Academic Earth assembles playlists of related lectures on topics ranging from “Wars Throughout History” to algebra.

TED.com - A central broadcasting site for online lectures from some of the top innovators in the fields of technology, entertainment and design.


Whether you’re wanting to learn more about ancient Egypt, or looking to develop your own presentation skills by watching some of the best in the business, there’s a world of free online tools just waiting for you to get started.

Improve training with guerrilla tactics

From art to gardening, and even marketing, people have been using guerrilla-style tactics over the past years to side step the usual outlets and get their work noticed.

Take guerrilla gardening for example. It’s a practice where environmental activists target a piece of seemingly neglected or misused land and give it a new, more beautiful purpose. Some guerrilla gardeners practice their trade overnight and in secrecy to reveal a flowering garden or lush vegetable patch in the morning.

Through the inconspicuous act of gardening, these activists are able to get their message across to a much wider audience than what they could reach in their own backyard.

So, what does gardening have to do with training?

Not much, until I read a recent post on guerrilla learning by Michele Martin at The Bamboo Project blog. After reading Keri Smith’s Guerrilla Art Kit, Michele started thinking about how the same tactics artists use could be put to work in the learning world.

Her ideas can be used as pre- and post-training activities, or even ongoing tactics to reinforce training points. Here are just a couple of Michele’s ideas for Guerrilla learning:

• Public Chalkboard--Install a chalkboard and chalk in a public space and invite comments or ideas. For learning, I'd post a provocative question related to the learning and then invite responses. You could also do this with a notebook that was passed from person to person or with a poster in a public place that has a pen attached.


• Installations--Use Post-It notes in a central location to create a trail of words, quotes or drawings. This could be a semi-permanent, ongoing project for a lunchroom, hallway, etc.

All of her ideas would undoubtedly make workplace learning more enjoyable and imaginative. Guerrilla tactics like these could get employees excited about the learning process again and improve learning retention over the long run.

Have you ever used guerrilla-style tactics to reinforce your employee training points? Do you think they would work in your organization?

Improve employee education from the inside out

“Give the proper tools to a group of people that want to make a difference, and they will.”

The above quote is a header on the Benefits page at Google Jobs, a company that was built on the premise that work should be challenging, but fun at the same time. For the hardworking employees who accept the challenge, Google offers some outstanding benefits.

From dining facilities, to gyms and even laundry rooms, Google tries to help out their employees in every way. That practice also holds true when it comes to continuing employee education.

The company offers up to $12,000 per calendar year for employees pursuing outside education that is relevant to their career. As long as employees show they’re serious about furthering their education and keep grades of “B” or better, Google will continue paying for it.

Though your company may not have the funds available to support a $12,000 education reimbursement program like Google, there are creative ways to promote employee education without spending a fraction of that kind of money.


From office to classroom

One of the easiest and most affordable ways to promote ongoing employee education is to create an in-house learning library.

Find a spot in the office, it can be anywhere from an empty cubicle to a hallway cabinet, to turn into a library. If possible, find a location that is central for everyone in the office to ensure accessibility.

Start building your library by asking everyone in the office to contribute and bring in books related on industry topics or career advice. Visit local used book stores and stock up on interesting titles that employees would find value in.

Don’t have the space for a physical library? Take it online. Set up a company Wiki using sites like PBWiki or Wikispaces and create an online learning library. Encourage employees to share information and post valuable resources that others in the office can learn from.

Give employees time, whether daily or weekly, to explore new topics with resources from your learning library. There’s no reason for creating a library if employees don’t have the time to use it.

For employees with the desire to further their education or learn more about their industry, an office library is an indispensable resource that they don’t even have to leave the office to take advantage of.

Providing employees with the tools they need to make a difference doesn’t have to cost a fortune. All you need is a great idea and anything is possible.

Now kick your “learners” out of the office

Yesterday we told you to kick your trainers out of the office (not for good, but at least to the park down the street) and today we’ve decided to throw a few more people out. This time, it’s your “learners” that will be finding an eviction notice in their inbox.

I came across the idea in a recent post at the Informal Learning Blog, by Jay Cross. When it comes to learning, he suggests that we stop calling those on the receiving side of instruction “learners.”

By calling people “learners,” it suggests that they’re deficient in some way. Instead, we should all become partners in learning and turn the process it a collective group effort.

In his own words, here’s Jay’s “three-and-a-half minute rant about leveling the preacher-and-congregation model of learning in favor of recognizing we’re brothers and sisters here, not parents and children.”

Training the trainer: From employee to instructor

Informal training occurs everyday in the workplace, from one employee showing another how to put together a report to a coworker sharing advice on how to handle an angry customer. Training is usually delivered from coworker to coworker or from manager to employee.

But what happens when the tables are turned and managers find themselves being trained by a subordinate?

It may not happen often, but when your employee becomes your instructor, some managers may find themselves in an unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable position.

In a recent post at Jobacle, Lauren Kleinman explains that when employees train managers, it can be a “tough pill to swallow” for the manager involved and shares some great tips on how managers can successfully “maintain the balance of powers” throughout the process.

While it may not be said in the same exact language, employees training managers is a common practice in most workplaces. It often takes place when a new manager joins the team or even when an existing manager wants to learn about the latest online tools employees are using.

Learning from your employees can be a rewarding experience for any manager. We liked Lauren’s tips for getting through it, but would like to explore the added benefits for both parties when the tides change and the trainee becomes the trainer.

Top 5 benefits of learning from your employees:

1. No training costs. Learning something new from a peer or employee requires no subscription fees and no shipping costs. Better yet, you don’t even have to leave the office.


2. Team building. One of the easiest ways to strengthen a team of coworkers by having them teach each other new skills. When subordinates train managers, it fosters teamwork and shows that the manager is an active part of the group.


3. Fun. Some days you can spend an entire workday stuck inside your cube or office, barely coming up for air long enough to grab your sandwich out of the lunch room. Training a coworker will help you get out of your bubble and maybe you’ll have a little fun in the process.


4. Confidence. When employees train managers, there’s an added sense of accomplishment employees feel when it’s all over. Boost their confidence by asking an employee to explain something you’re unfamiliar with.


5. Building connections. Sometimes it’s easy for managers to lose touch with what is going on with employees’ everyday projects. When employees become trainers to their managers, it helps build connections and keep managers in the loop.

As a manager, have you ever been in a situation where an employee has become your instructor? How did you benefit from it?

Productivity tips: How to become a ‘task ninja’

Throughout the day many of us get stuck in periods of inaction. Whether you’re procrastinating, completing small tasks to avoid the important ones or too distracted to get started on anything, the fact is, we’ve all been there.

So, what's the best way to get yourself out of a state of inaction?

Well, you can start by training yourself to become a “task ninja.”

I recently came across the idea in a post by Leo Babauta at his blog, Zen Habits. He’s also the author of The Power of Less, an insightful new book on personal productivity.

Instead of focusing on our inaction, Leo suggests that you “get all Ninja on your actions” and start forming an “Action Habit” instead.

Here are Leo's five quick steps to help you get started:

1. Figure out your key actions. Focusing on the right actions is just as important as the doing. Don’t spend a lot of time in this step — just quickly decide your Top 3 actions for today.

2. Pick one key action, and visualize the outcome. How will it look when you’re done? Again, don’t spend a lot of time here — just form a quick picture in your mind.

3. Just start. Tell yourself, “Do it now!” Make it a mantra. Don’t mess around with tools, with distractions, with anything that will get in the way of doing this task. Strip away everything but the task, and get going!

4. Focus on the moment. Just be in this task, don’t worry about the future or what mistakes you might make or might have made before. Just focus on doing this task, as best you can. Immerse yourself in it.

5. Get to done. Complete the task. Feel good about it! Pat yourself on the back!

After you’ve gone through all of the steps, repeat the process with your next habit. Like any habit, it will get easier with practice.

Improve your success rate by eliminating some common barriers to the Action Habit:

• Perfection isn’t necessary. Just focus on completing the task now. You can go back and improve it later.
• Don’t worry about the unnecessary. If you’re writing for example, don’t worry about the font or format of your document, just write.
• Eliminate distractions. Turn off instant messaging, Twitter, and let your phone calls go to voice mail. If you can’t concentrate in the office, get up and move to another location such as a quite conference room or cafe down the street.
• Break it up. If you’re intimidated by the size of the task, break it up into manageable pieces.

Training yourself to get more done is possible, but only if you know where to start. Zen Habits is a great blog to read if you’re looking for ways to new ways to improve your personal productivity on a daily basis.

You can also check out a few of our past posts on training yourself to be more productive:

How to be productive when business is slow

Productivity: Rules for effective meetings

Productivity: How to get started and avoid pitfalls

Personal productivity training, six simple tips

How to deliver employee training like a ninja

Employee motivation tip: Keep it simple

In a recent experiment at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, two psychologists decided to investigate the idea that the simplicity of how a task is described and processed affects our attitude toward the task and our willingness to try it.

The two psychologists wanted to see if they could motivate a group of 20-year-old college students to exercise regularly. All of the students were given a set of instructions for a regular exercise routine.

Some students in the group received a set of instructions printed in Arial typeface, an easy-to read plain font. Other students received instructions printed in Brush typeface, a font that resembles hand-written script with a Japanese paintbrush, something that was unfamiliar and harder to read.

After the students had a chance to read over the instructions, the psychologists asked them a series of questions regarding the exercise routine: how long would it take, would it be boring or exciting, how likely would they be to make the exercise plan a part of their daily routine, and so on.


The findings

The psychologists found that the students who received the easy-to-read instructions were much more open to the idea of fitting the exercise routine into their daily schedule. They thought the regimen wouldn’t take up much of their time and would feel easy.

Those who had to read through the unfamiliar Japanese brushstrokes wanted nothing to do with the gym. Trying to decipher what was said in the instructions was enough exercise for one day.

To double-check their findings, the psychologists set up another experiment where a group of people were asked to prepare food. Again, some were given the easy-to-read instructions and others were given the difficult set.

The second experiment backed-up their findings from the first study. People who read the “more digestible” instructions were more likely to attempt preparing Japanese sushi. Those who read the harder to read instructions did not want to try it themselves.


Keep it simple

Whether you’re training employees on the correct way to wear personal protective equipment or how to put together a sales report, explaining the process in a simple format will increase the likelihood that they’ll want to try it.

Employee motivation tip of the day: Don’t make something sound or look harder than it is. Keep it short, sweet and simple.

Top 8 ways trainers can use Twitter

Social media and networking sites expand daily, connecting users of every age group from across the globe and in every professional industry. Corporate trainers are also harnessing the power of social media to connect with those they instruct, and aid in their own personal learning and development.

Twitter is one social network connecting millions of people by asking one simple question: “What are you doing?”

In 2008, Twitter recorded over two million unique visitors, marking a 422% increase from the year before. There are Twitter users from every age group, nationality and profession using the tool to answer one simple question: “What are you doing?”

If you’re still unfamiliar - Twitter is the free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (or tweets), which are text messages of a maximum of 140 characters.

When you first sign up for a Twitter account, you may be asking yourself some questions - Why did I sign up for this? What am I doing here? How is this thing supposed to be useful?

Before you get frustrated and quit, just stop and take a deep breath. Not everyone uses Twitter for the same purpose and it may take some experimenting to find what works for you. Try it out for about a month and then ask yourself again if you still think it is useful.

If you’re still struggling to find meaning in the social networking site, read over these 8 ways trainers can use Twitter:

1. Connect with experts. Twitter gives you the ability to connect in a conversational way with top experts in your industry from around the world. Through those conversations you can learn new processes, training tips and advice on how to improve your courses and seminars.


2. Discover new information. As you start following more people on Twitter, you’ll find that it’s a great place to find new studies, data and interesting articles to expand your knowledge.


3. Research new ideas. Having trouble finding information on a certain topic? Ask your Twitter followers to help. Whatever your question may be, Twitter users are generally happy to help. It’s a great platform for brainstorming that leaves a trail of every shared idea.


4. Connect with trainees. In the past, trainers would finish their course and send trainees on their way, rarely hearing from them again. Today, trainers can give trainees their Twitter username to follow to stay in contact after the course is complete. Trainers can share extra information, upcoming events and helpful tips on how to utilize information from the course.


5. Keep the discussion going. After you have connected with attendees, you can keep the conversations from the classroom going on Twitter. Attendees who may have felt uncomfortable speaking up in the classroom can get their point across online.


6. Get feedback. Students from your training course or seminar can give you helpful and almost immediate feedback on what they thought of the course. You can use their comments and critiques to improve your next course.


7. Facilitate collaborative learning. By connecting with you, trainees will also be able to connect with each other on Twitter and learn together. Attendees can send direct messages to find out if other classmates are experiencing the same hardships and share advice with one another on how to work through it.


8. Monitor the learning process. As trainees put what they learned in the classroom into action, they’ll probably have some questions for you along the way. Students can tweet and retweet about new things they learned, difficulties implementing new techniques, personal tips and new resources they found that help facilitation.

How do you use Twitter to add value to your training? Have any more ideas to add to our list on how trainers can use Twitter? Please leave a comment and let us know.

On hugs, stimulus packages and shoes: This week’s must-reads

There’s a ton of great information out there this week, so much that breaking it up and discussing it all separately would take months. Instead, we’ll just direct you strait to the sources of all it. Here’s some of the best HR and training related information posted on the Web this week:


Try to give hugs to more people at work. After just four sips of wine, read how Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk made an amazing discovery - hugging in the workplace can make you happier. If President Barack Obama can bring hugging into the White House, you can find a way to bring it into your workplace.


While we’re talking about Obama, he just signed the $787 billion stimulus package that included some important HR action items. The team at G.Neil’s HR Forum put together a quick overview of how the stimulus plan will impact HR and U.S. businesses.


Obama signed the billion dollar stimulus package yesterday and now is the time for the Leadership Development Economic Stimulus Package, according to Dan McCarthy at Great Leadership. The total cost of Dan’s plan is only a fraction of that Obama signed, but the impact on business leadership would be huge.


Put yourself in their shoes. Knowing your audience will put you on the road to success when designing your next training program. Take some advice from Chris Morgan at Learn2Develop, put yourself in the shoes of your trainees and look at your training from a new perspective.


Is the traditional training course dead? If so, technology is the killer. Technology gives us the power to learn what we need to know, when we need to know it and most of what we learn is through informal methods. Learn more about the potential death of the instructor-led training course by reading this Training Zone article by Vaughan Waller.

Investing in leadership development during a downturn

Despite deep budge cuts, many companies have found a way to refocus during the downturn and are reexamining their employee training programs.

Right now many employers are focusing their efforts on leadership development to grow strong managers, in order to not be caught empty handed when the economy turns around, according to a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this week.

Identifying and grooming leaders is important in good times, says Bret Furio, senior vice president of consumer lifestyle for Philips Electronics North America. "In times of crisis when the economy is struggling," he adds, "it's imperative."

Companies spent 11% less on training per employee last year and more than twice as many corporate and government training professionals expect training budget decreases rather than increases in 2009, according to recent research.

Philips Electronics NV is part of that group of businesses cutting back on training this year. Instead of eliminating anything, the company found ways to save on their annual leadership development program, called Inspire, and still deliver the same quality training.

In a nod to the tough times, Philips trimmed the budget for Inspire, eliminating one tutor and tapping more employees, rather than outsiders, as trainers. It's holding the program near Seattle and Boston, where Philips has many employees, saving the company transportation costs.

Another big name, Estee Lauder Cos., is also continuing its leadership development programs even after reporting lower sales and profits last quarter and the announcement that the company will be cutting 2,000 jobs over the next two years.

During better times, the company would send 120 executives to a two- or three-week summer college program. This year, it will be sending 60 and only for one week. All of its leadership programs are emphasizing “innovation and managing change in volatile business conditions.”


Saving on employee training

A well-trained employee is one of your most valuable assets, especially when your business is facing tough times.

With training, employees can will save their employers more money by making less mistakes, being more productive and being able to take on more work. Along with saving money, training improves engagement, loyalty and an employee’s confidence in their work.

Training doesn’t have to be expensive in order for it to be effective. Consider these cost-saving training options:

• Video training. Instead of sending a group of employees to outside courses that incur expensive travel costs and lost hours, find a comparable video training program to bring in house. For the cost of one ticket to an expensive seminar, you can train an entire room full of people.
• Online training. Similar to video programs, online employee training or e-learning allows you to train many for the cost of a few and eliminates travel costs. It also gives employees the ability to work at their own pace and complete courses as they go.
• Smart shopping. Tools like TrainingTime.com can help you find and compare employee training programs that will fit in your budget. Shop smart and know you’re getting the best deal for your business.

Spice up compliance training with poetry

When you think of compliance training, it’s pretty rare that words like “entertaining” and “fun” would come to mind.

Even though it may still be one of the “least glamorous” topics in corporate training, someone has found a poetic way to make it a little more interesting.

Yehuda Berlinger, an internet professional and game designer from Israel, has rewritten US and Canadian copyright laws as poetry. By putting them in verse form, Yehuda has made intellectual laws memorable and fun to learn.

From Multimedia Learning:

Yehuda links each verse to the actual copyright law. It’s a brilliant exercise in creative summation and would make great learning activities.

For example, here’s a line from US law § 114. Scope of exclusive rights in sound recordings:

(a) The exclusive rights of the owner of copyright in a sound recording are limited to the rights specified by clauses (1), (2), (3) and (6) of section 106, and do not include any right of performance under section 106(4).

And Yehuda’s verse:

Sound recordings, but not music
Can be re-performed
As long as it’s attributed
And not grossly malformed

Yehuda has rewritten US Copyright Law, US Patent Code, US Trademark Code, Canadian Copyright Code and UK Copyright Law. All of it is posted on his blog.

Whether you’re looking for a new employee learning activity or wanting to improve training retention, try mixing a little rhyme or two into your lesson.

As the instructor, you could turn an otherwise dry piece of information into a memorable moment by rewriting it in verse form. Or, turn the poetry into an activity where trainees take the information they learn and write a poem to summarize the main ideas.

What do you think? Have you ever used poetry or rhyme to make a learning activity more enjoyable? Could you think of any other ways poetry could be used in the learning process?