Creativity, educators tell us, is declining in America. Whether this is due to a TV overdose or changes in school curricula, over the decades our kids are apparently doing worse and worse on standard psychological measures of creativity. So when they get to the workplace, can training make up for some of these deficits and...
Read moreWhen we think of social learning, we often knee-jerk react by saying that we need to implement social media technologies in our organizations so people can connect and learn. Then the pundits chime in and say it’s not about the technology, that technology comes and goes, and that it’s truly about the learning — or...
Read moreMost employees are great about showing up on time every day. Significantly fewer show up fully present — ready to make a difference with customers and the business. Many employees don’t pack their brains when they pack their lunches because many managers don’t ask their employees to think at work.
Read moreSo I'm giving a presentation at the California Society of Association Executives' annual conference later this month, and I want to deliver something a little different from just about all of the presentations I'm used to seeing these days — in which a speaker simply talks through a series of slides. For starters, I want my presentation...
Read moreThe workplace learning space tends to split into two camps. The first camp believes that learning hasn’t changed fundamentally, only the tools and technologies used to enable learning. The second camp believes that learning has completely changed and that we must embrace a new fast-paced, social, mobile, and learning 2.0 world. In fact, the second...
Read moreMost startups these days recognize the critical importance of collaboration tools and other Web apps that can deliver huge value to an organization at minimal cost. But they're the exception, still, not the rule, in the wider business universe, where breakthrough apps and tools are still uncharted — and often confusing — territory for decision makers....
Read moreAs a learning and development professional, I have often struggled with the question, “how can we keep up with the constant and increasing need for learning and demand for training?” Organizations of all sizes are moving so fast, that as soon as we finish learning something new about products, customers, a change in the competitive...
Read moreRecently I read through a discussion on the Chief Learning Officers Network that caught my eye: “Should L&D report to HR or operations?” As a learning professional, I have reported directly to both operations and HR, and I definitely have a strong opinion about where the learning department should report. However, when it comes right...
Read moreWhenever I feel like my training efforts will never scratch the surface of the real problems, or that I'll never make headway with a project stakeholder, win over that difficult SME, or build trust with an audience full of skeptics, I find that a little perspective goes a long way in helping to renew my...
Read moreSocial learning is not new, but we still do not know what it is. Albert Bandura wrote a book called Social Learning Theory in 1977, and he didn’t even have a Facebook account. Who would have thought? Bandura wrote that people learn through observation of other people. So social learning is about watching others and...
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