In our book Mission Possible, my coauthor Terry Waghorn and I state that the most important earthly relationship you can cultivate as a leader is your relationship with yourself.  That might sound self-serving, but think about it—how well do you really know yourself? Every leader should have a purpose—a reason for being—something to strive for. A purpose is different from a goal because it is ongoing. It has no beginning or end. As a leader, your purpose comprises two elements: a personal mission statement and a set of values that define your strengths and help you make values-based decisions on a daily basis. Having a clear purpose gives meaning and definition to a leader’s life. Some people have asked me if making money is a good purpose.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money—and it may be a goal to work toward—but it’s not a purpose. Purpose isn’t about achievement. It is much bigger. Your purpose is your calling. It’s about what business you are in as a person. I ask leaders to spend time developing their personal mission statement by answering these four questions: Why am I in the world? What is my overarching purpose? What would I like people to say about me after I’m gone? What difference will it have made that I was here? The next step is to identify your personal values by answering these questions: What is really important to me? What do I stand for? What three values do I want to live by? Which of those values is most important? Going through this process takes some soul searching and quiet, thoughtful time. This isn’t an exercise to rush through. Once you clearly understand your motivation and intention as a leader, you are able to monitor yourself on a daily basis. You’ll begin to notice certain actions that are more in line with your purpose than others. And you’ll begin eliminating behaviors that don’t support your purpose—and staying on a path of continuous personal improvement. When you really know who you are as a leader, you can operate more efficiently and calmly while making meaningful decisions. But the best part is that you’ll also be able to bring out the magnificence in others. And isn’t that the most important role of a leader?

eLearning course collaboration is one of the hardest things to achieve. Without course collaboration, learning is incomplete, as eLearning is an inherently social process. Trainers become overwhelmed at the prospect of engaging course participants. With each batch of learners being more unique, challenging and intellectually advanced than the previous one, trainers and online facilitators soon run out of strategies to engage and collaborate with learners. In this article, we’ll share the top 12 questions trainers need to ask while revising the course before delivery to boost collaboration. The best eLearning courses are usually the ones that have been improved in iterations. The answer to these questions are one of the fastest methods to achieve higher quality courses. Also included are a few more questions for learners, to further aid in the eLearning course improvement. Use the following exercise for note taking and final tweaking of the course towards establishing eLearning collaboration: 1. What is the content of this course? What areas of this content encourage collaborative learning? What areas are surplus? Some pieces of content may need to go, no matter how important they seem. There is a place for the surplus (and seemingly worthwhile) content, and that is the "Resources and Extra Reading" section. Have learners review this section by providing direct links from the main content. But try not to clutter the main content. 2. What are the goals of the small group activities already established for this course? Do they lead to rich collaboration environments? The best way to ensure that collaboration will be successful is to merge the course goals with your current registered learners’ goals. 3. What are the team sizes for these activities for efficient eLearning collaboration? Based on the age groups of your learners and their competency level, create appropriate team sizes and composition to ensure that collaboration actually happens in the desired manner and is an improvement. 4. How are groups or teams formed? Are they formed by the trainer or by the learners themselves? Are they formed based on interests or strengths? Responding to these questions will yield better and satisfying learning experiences. 5. Should teams be homogeneous or heterogeneous? Research indicates a JIGSAW-style group formation in which high capability individuals are mixed with lower capability ones. This creates a culture of helping, caring and inspiration, and helps all learners learn better. 6. Do the groups remain the same throughout the course? Or does each activity require different groups? If the course is short, try maintaining the teams throughout the course. Longer courses can benefit from team member shifts. It will help instill better team spirit and leadership skills. 7. How will activities be structured to ensure participation? Everyone needs a chance to express themselves. When learners submit their resume/introductory email, try to analyze the strengths of each. Create activities that everybody can relate to, identify with and contribute towards. 8. Do the group dynamics lend themselves to labeling groups or individuals with roles? Identify strong characteristics of your learners and provide roles to them. This way, the peers are more likely to benefit from each other and actually learn more efficiently. 9. Are there any rewards and motivations built into the course? Think of adding gamification techniques, like points or badges awarded to all members of a group that succeed in a given task. 10. Is there accountability built into the course? Have learners contribute towards rule-making activities. Give them choices and responsibilities. This will engage them even more into the course, and facilitate active learning. 11. How will evaluation of individuals and groups take place? Is the evaluation completed by the trainer or by the learners? 12. How will feedback to performance be provided? Will it be completed by peers or by the trainer? Or perhaps by both? The importance of feedback in eLearning is indisputable, as it helps the learners improve their performance, whether provided by their peers or the instructor. Trainers and eLearning course facilitators need distinct answers to these 12 questions in order to establish collaboration from day one. Having answers to these questions creates strong leadership and mentoring capabilities in the trainer. In addition, you should also have the learners answer the following questions (in the middle or towards the end of the course) to ensure collaboration: 1. How do I rate myself as a participant in group activities on a scale of 1 to 5? (5 being a great team player) 2. Did I make a worthwhile contribution to the group? 3. Did I share my chores in the team? 4. How comfortable was I with the group process on a scale of 1 to 5? (5 being at ease) 5. Did I feel comfortable in expressing my problems and concerns openly? 6. Did I provide reasonable feedback to my peers? 7. How did the collaborative process contribute to my learning goals for this course? Trainers need to further improve the course for eLearning collaboration, based on the responses by the learners. Conclusion Establishing collaboration is an explicit and a deliberate effort. It needs prior planning. Sometimes, collaboration plans need to change according to the group responses. Have a meeting with the eLearning development team to discuss your answers and those of your learners to these questions. You will be surprised at how much easier it becomes to have learners engage and communicate with each other on a regular basis. The post 12 Questions to Promote Collaborative Learning appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

You’ve ensured that your website and social media pages fall in line with your brand. But is your eLearning course a true reflection of your company’s image? In this article, we’ll highlight 5 ways that you can brand your eLearning course. How To Brand Your eLearning Course Chances are, you’ve spent a great deal of time polishing your brand image. You pride yourself on your online reputation and do everything in your power to build credibility with your online learners. However, you may be missing a golden opportunity. Take a closer look at your eLearning course. Does it feature your company logo? Do the images and color palette align with your company’s message? Here are the top 5 ways that you can integrate your branding into your eLearning course design. 1. Company Colors Many eLearning authoring tools allow you to customize various aspects of their pre-built eLearning templates and themes. Take advantage of this by changing the color scheme to align with your branding. For example, you can modify the colors of your borders, backgrounds, fonts, and navigation icons. If you don’t already have a pre-set color palette, use your logo as inspiration. Just bear in mind that more is usually less when it comes to colors. So, opt for two or three colors rather than a veritable rainbow. Also, ensure that every eLearning course page, activity, or social media page has the same color scheme. The goal is to make your eLearning course materials instantly recognizable. Quick Tip: Another important consideration is color associations. For instance, the color yellow typically symbolizes energy and optimism. On the other hand, red is linked to urgency and danger. Think about the emotions behind the colors you are using and whether they’re a good fit for the subject matter. 2. eLearning Templates Featuring Your Logo eLearning templates featuring your logo and company message can be used time and again. If you are using an eLearning authoring tool with pre-built eLearning templates, simply add your own branding images to the layout. You should also create an intro or outro screen for eLearning videos that prominently displays your logo and contact information. The same goes for social media banners and any other eLearning course materials. If you are creating your eLearning course from scratch, you might consider a reusable eLearning template to make the process easier. This saves time in the long run, because you’ve already integrated the logo into your layout. Quick Tip: Before you create an eLearning template featuring your logo, it may be wise to evaluate your current eLearning course design, especially if you’ve had it for some time. Is it outdated? Are there elements you’d like to add to the image? You don’t want to add the logo to all of your eLearning course content only to realize that it needs a modern makeover. 3. Workplace Imagery Including workplace images is one of the most effective ways to integrate your branding and personalize the online training experience. This includes photographs of your physical location, employees, and other work-related snapshots. The best images are usually candid pictures that are relatable, such as a customer service associate helping a customer. Branding images enhance the realism of your eLearning course, as well. For example, including pictures of the work equipment or machinery that is used on a daily basis. Online learners have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tools before they enter the workplace. It also tells them that the online training is custom tailored for their needs, which increases its overall value. There is a variety of sites for free eLearning stock photos where you can find industry-specific images. Using your own photos is always best, but only if they’re of high quality. 4. Social Media Links Your social media presence is an integral part of your brand image. This is particularly true in this day-and-age, when millions of people are using social networks daily. All of your eLearning course materials should display your social media contacts, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Your social media presence is an integral part of your brand image.Click To Tweet Online learners must be able to click through to the pages without having to search for them online. If you don’t have any social media links, then now is the time to create them. Signing up for the major networking sites takes just a few minutes, and they also feature your branded images. Quick Tip: Instead of using hyperlinks or standard buttons, customize your social media icons to match your branding. For example, embed the links in company images or use your color scheme in the button design. Don’t forget to align your social media thumbnails and headers with your existing branding materials. 5. Associated Fonts Your organization probably has a go-to font that they use for all their memos and emails. You can carry this over to your eLearning course design by changing the font type. It doesn’t necessarily have to be all throughout. In fact, just changing the header or button fonts can make a difference. If you don’t have a favorite font, consider choosing one now to use for all of your future eLearning course materials. The secret is selecting a font for your eLearning course that accurately conveys your brand message, but is still legible in digital formats. For example, elegant or artistic fonts may reflect the sophistication of your brand, but online learners may not be able to read the text. Quick Tip: The simplest way to narrow down your typography choices is by opening a word document and typing the company name. This gives you the opportunity to compare the sample fonts side by side to find the one that’s just right. You should also have other members of your eLearning team take a look and offer their input. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of eyes and a different perspective. In addition to using these 5 techniques, evaluate all of your online platforms and ensure that they are cohesive and up-to-date. They must all feature the same logo, color scheme, and font type to establish your brand. This also helps to build brand awareness and foster trust among your audience. Facebook and Twitter are great brand-building tools, but don’t forget about YouTube. Read the article 4 Simple Steps To Launch Your eLearning YouTube Channel to discover the benefits of creating an eLearning YouTube channel and simple steps to follow in order to get started on this adventure. Don’t forget to check how you can customize your TalentLMS portal to improve your users’ learning experience! The post 5 Ways To Brand Your eLearning Course appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Everyone is too busy.  For great leaders, busy is an opportunity to do great things more effectively than others. For poor leaders, busy is an excuse to be ineffective.  Victims cannot be great leaders.As I was watching Andrew Luck work his magic at the end of a Colts (loss) game, I was struck by his ability to see the whole field and then instantly switch to a laser focus on the person he was passing to.  In this case, unfortunately, a Denver player was able to sneak up on him and interrupt the play. Had he been seeing the whole field at that point, he might have been able to avoid the tackle.  However, he would likely not have been able to accurately make the pass.  Great leaders intentionally pick what they will focus on.   Bad leaders let every interruption interrupt their brain. Our brains are not built to jump between multiple points of focus.  Write down 25 random words. Give yourself a minute or less. Turn the list over.  Quickly write down what words you remember.  You'll notice a couple of things from memory theory:You'll remember the first and maybe last word you wrote down.  You'll remember any strange words.You'll remember emotional words.You'll group words together that make sense. Words that don't have pictures (for example, love) will be more difficult to remember. Focus requires intention.  Chunking, pictures and other memory techniques are required for our brain to remember more than 7 +/- 2 things.  Bad leaders have a to-do list that has 100 items on it to get done today.  Great leaders have 1-3 imperatives for the day.NOTE: More details on mitigating busy-ness in the September Learning Flash

Just assessing for more intelligence isn’t enough. You need to diagnose with a purpose.

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As a Leader, your job is to grow the leaders of the future.  How much of your day is doing versus leading?  Many of us have to balance both, but leadership is less measurable and is often neglected.  Do any of these benching mindsets sound familiar?​This is an emergency, it will be easier to do it myself than explain it to someone else.No one else is as effective as I am, so I really can't delegate. The customers prefer that I be involved.  I am shocked at how many of our large and small customers have no succession plan.  Mission Critical business knowledge is at risk. Aggressive hiring has created a revolving door of employees.   Someone is trying to hire your staff right now, or you have the wrong people.  The old adage "people leave bosses" is still true.  Your annual engagement survey is not sufficient - by the time you see the results, the people will have left. Establish a process for growing talent.  There are only three main actions of growing talent:FINDENGAGEGROWWhen you are looking for a new employee, FIND is the process of picking the best candidate for the specific job.  If you are still hiring great people and not looking at how they'll do in the job, you're backwards.  If you do not use Job Benchmarks to hire, your bias is creating churn. ENGAGE is another word for onboarding.  There is a critical window (some say 1 day) within which an employee decides whether or not they like their job.  Poor leaders are too busy to drop everything to enable new employees.  Instead, the new person is spending days on boring compliance training or unstructured meetings with people who are too busy to meet with you. Or the new employee is thrown into the deep end with no help and no hope.  The expense of this behavior is staggering to a business. Instead, leverage the Job Benchmark to create a unique onboarding plan for new employees, provide a mentor and get them to work.Finally, learning can't just occur at the hiring point, although that seems to be the new norm.  To get promoted and move up in the company, if that's your goal, requires learning new strengths and competencies.  The Career Plan drives a Succession Plan (GROW).  Who are the leaders ready to replace you so you can move up?  The process repeats for every job move: FIND (the job or employee), ENGAGE, GROW.  NOTE: More details on this approach in the August Learning Flash, and in our book to be published in 2017 Talent GPS.  If you are interested in being a volunteer editor of this book written by Brittney Helt, Michelle Baker and me email us, info@russellmartin.com.

We are proud to finally press the publish button on this post and announce to the world that the Android version of TalentLMS is, as of this minute, ready. The TalentLMS for Android and for iOS have both been carefully designed and meticulously crafted to be the perfect companion for mobile and offline learning, microlearning and micro-certifications. Instead of trying to cram everything the web (and mobile web) version of TalentLMS does into it, we optimized TalentLMS mobile for learning on the small (screen) and on the go, while still allowing you to deliver rich multimedia courses complete with a intuitive, mobile-optimized, experience. And now, before we go into introducing the app and its features, let me just say one thing… From expertise to app You’d think developing a strong Cloud based LMS platform would have prepared us for this, but mobile development, and specifically, fully native mobile development, is a whole new ball game. Especially when you factor in all the differences between the two major mobile platforms, all the different screen sizes and devices that you have to support on Android, and all the peculiarities of the iOS development platform. When it comes to mobile, we are an equal opportunity development shop: we like both Android and iOS, and our team members use both platforms. So when we shipped TalentLMS for iOS ahead of Android, it wasn’t because we didn’t care about the latter platform: it’s just hard work to test and code around all the different form factors and feature sets available in the Android world. But I digress. What’s important is that we’re now ready, we finally have a great mobile app out for both major platforms, and we have the foundation and experience to build even greater and more ambitious things in subsequent releases. And why go mobile when the computer is mighty fine? Because you want to have a great learning experience on the go, obviously! TalentLMS for Android lets your learners access their content from everywhere, even when offline, in a secure, fast, mobile (and battery) friendly platform. Your learners get to study while they commute or travel (on and off the grid), leveraging all the capabilities of their native mobile platform, and escaping the limitations of mobile browsers. Features? Yes, please! A few of the features the TalentLMS Android app boasts are: •  Offline Learning & Synchronization Mobile learners are as often online as they are offline (on a flight, on the metro, in areas with poor coverage, in developing countries with sky-high data plan prices, etc.). TalentLMS allows you to download any course you want, and study while disconnected. And when you are back online, it will synchronize your progress to the TalentLMS Cloud. • Mobile-first UX The TalentLMS Android app offers a fresh way to get through courses tailored to the needs of modern corporate training. We minimized the interface distractions that get in the way of learning, allowing the user to easily navigate between different content. • Mobile and Offline compatibility check Each lesson unit created in TalentLMS is now labeled as mobile and/or offline compatible. This way, instructors can see at a glance which content and features work on mobile devices, and easily optimize their courses. In the opposite case, the platform will inform you that a given unit is not mobile-compatible. • Assessments The TalentLMS mobile app supports "Assessments" (even in offline mode), and gives you access to all major question types and most of the assessment customization characteristics (e.g. number of retries, allowed time, or question shuffling). • Unit completion and course rules All unit completion methods available in the web version of TalentLMS are supported on the mobile version too. This holds true for content traversal and course completion rules as well. • Branches If you use Branches in your TalentLMS web portal, then you’ll be happy to know that the Android app is fully compatible with those too, letting your learners log in to any custom domain and Branch that you have set up. • Full profile access We have tried to keep the mobile app functionality focused on learning and content delivery. However, the mobile app also lets you access your full TalentLMS web account details (via the Profile page). Handy for light administrative work, like getting new courses or seeing extended reports. And there’s a whole lot more — which you can easily discover for yourself by using the app. We’ve designed TalentLMS for Android so that you don’t need to have a rocket science degree or go through some hefty manual to take advantage of its features. But you probably knew that from using its web version, which is renowned for its intuitiveness and ease of use. We also took extra care and did extensive testing to ensure that the app works perfectly in the huge range of devices that Android runs on. The future Even before TalentLMS Android app 1.0 hit Google Play, we had already started designing and planning features for the next versions. First to arrive will be the ability to save and display uploaded videos and documents (such as MS Office and PDF) offline. Furthermore, we plan to implement a large chunk of the Instructor- and Administrator-related functionality, starting with reporting. And this is just the beginning, or as we experts call it, version one. With mobile devices getting beefier by the minute, both Android and iOS are great platforms for us to build an even richer, and more expressive, eLearning experience. We strongly believe in mobile and mobile learning, and we want TalentLMS to become a leader in the eLearning platforms in both web and mobile. Last, but not least, a big thank you to our beta testers. We have been really excited by your participation in the testing process, and your bug reports and feedback have been a great help in allowing us to deliver the best product that we could. In fact, all TalentLMS users are welcome to share their suggestions and wish-lists for future versions. As per standard practice, all great ideas, most requested features, and workflow enhancements, will be prioritized for upcoming versions. And this ends the announcement of version 1.0 of the TalentLMS Android app. It is officially released. The post We’re live: Introducing the TalentLMS Android App appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

Leadership is a much-discussed topic in all professions. However, especially in the technology realm, few people can lead with wisdom and effectiveness. And when it comes to software development you need both of these qualities, and a few more, if you are to produce something your customers love to use. In this series of posts, we look at the talented people behind TalentLMS. This time, we’re talking to Emmanouil Kounalakis, our Lead Mobile Developer - and a fairly recent addition to our team. Please, introduce yourself, and tells us a little bit about your background, and how you got involved with programming. My name is Emmanouil Kounalakis, but my friends call me Mano. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. I’ve chosen computer science, and specifically programming, because I find the ever-changing world of technology fascinating. My greatest strength is my attitude — it gives me confidence to complete my task, no matter how hard it might be. Like answering this interview question for example. How and when did you start working for Epignosis? I was working in Northern Ireland until a few months ago, and while I was there a recruiter approached me about some new exciting job spot at a company called Epignosis, which I found enticing because I really love eLearning and I always wanted to be involved with that technology. So, I did a little digging to find more out about the company and its products and services, liked what I saw, and jumped at the chance to become the newest member of the team. Your title is that of the "Lead Mobile Developer" for TalentLMS. What does the role entail? In my book, a leader has to be someone with great technical knowledge and an excellent work ethic. Leaders champion best practices for their team, and are not afraid to get their hands dirty to ensure the best results. The ability to listen, write and communicate effectively is also a job requirement. My responsibilities, in particular, are designing and implementing major architectural improvements to the TalentLMS app, starting from advising on the feasibility and implementation of agile stories, and going all the way to ensuring that any code written is clean and efficient and comes with comprehensive test coverage. As a tech leader I’m sort of a guardian of the codebase - one of a small group that reviews and assesses each and every commit. I’m also responsible for mentoring other team members (and especially junior developers). What does the native TalentLMS mobile app offer over accessing the regular, responsive TalentLMS portal from your smartphone browser? A better mobile experience! You can access it from everywhere, even offline if needed, and it is fast and, most importantly, secure. You are able to learn and educate yourself in an easier, and more intuitive way, without all the limitations of mobile browsers. And this goes for both the iOS and Android TalentLMS apps. How did you approach porting an established LMS for mobile using native mobile frameworks? From the beginning, we were committed to designing and building a secure, high performance and scalability design that leverages the best available tools and techniques. Were there any corners you had to cut? Or, inversely, things that writing native code enabled you to add more easily? The easiest part of the app was to embed Vimeo, YouTube and MP3. On the other side, the hardest part of the app was to implement the functionality which would allow for the user to complete the Tests with the best possible user experience. Regardless of web VS native, do you think that mobile TalentLMS requires a different UX philosophy, to emphasize microlearning or offline use, for instance? Our UX philosophy requires: Consistency, Constraints, Shared Vision, and Objective evaluation — and all of those must be respected. For example, we’d never approve of an application that has great design, but bad usability. As for the app’s focus, or feature set, we always focus on the users, trying to listen to their needs and suggestions, and iteratively improving ourselves and our offerings. Any plans for future TalentLMS for mobile versions you can share with us? Future versions of the app will have the ability to store and display uploaded videos and documents such as MS Office and PDF, even when offline. Furthermore, we plan to add functionality to help Administrators and Instructors do more with the mobile app, and generally make their job easier. Last, but not least, how do you like working at Epignosis? And where do you see yourself, and the platform, in 5 years? It’s great to work with people that are passionate about their work and about doing a good job. As for the work itself, it is challenging, interesting, and fulfilling. It’s hard to find such an environment today, because so many people just don’t care about honesty, hard work and integrity. I consider myself lucky to be here. For the next 5 years, we plan a whole roadmap of innovative technologies, and we’re also planning on becoming the leading player in the eLearning space. As for me, I see this job as an opportunity to further master my profession, by learning new skills, interacting with different people and integrating novel programming methodologies. The post The talent behind TalentLMS: A chat with our Lead Mobile Developer appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

As the NFL season kicks off, there's always fascinating drama about which players will make it, sit or disappear entirely.  I'm not a big fan of football, but I am always interested in the interaction of people and leaders.  Clearly, top players have amazing natural talent but they will all tell you that it was hard work and focus that got them in the game. In the non-football world of work, similar dances occur all year.  Many of my customers are in the midst of change. Concurrently, large companies are flattening, increasing the span of control, 'making offers' and demoting.  Hiring is also occurring with new leadership replacing the old.  'It's going to be REALLY different' is the rallying cry.  Even here are Russell Martin & Associates, we are looking at new approaches and questioning everything we spend time and money on. A place in the GAME is never guaranteed.   I'm 'wicked old', so I've seen and lived this cycle many times before. Here are my thoughts about getting benched or staying in the game as a leader.Grow Your TalentMitigate Busy-nessKnow Your PurposeLead as a Whole Person