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In the book "Five Temptations of a CEO" by Patrick Lencioni of the Table Group, you read about the mental games we play that destroy our ability to grow others.  Growing others is a priority if you are a leader, whether the people work for you or with you.  Working with people is sacred; it's messing with people's lives so we must always lead carefully. ​ Here are the Five Temptations:Results vs. StatusAccountability vs. PopularityClarity vs. Certainty Conflict vs. HarmonyTrust vs. InvulnerabilityYou've likely read this pivotal book on leadership.  I found that when I read it the second time, I noticed some deeper thoughts.  It's a great book to pick back up and review. This time, do you see the dependencies in this list?  If I can move from invulnerability to trust,  I can lead more harmony and less conflict.If I can move beyond conflict, I can have the difficult conversations that lead to clarity rather than the certainty of one right answer.If I'm open to difficult and authentic conversations that don't always generate a right answer, I can take the risk to be accountable to find the best way, and worry less about being liked and popular.Finally, if I'm doing all the things above I'll generate results, not just delusional status reports.  It's the difference between DONE and CHURNING.Now you try it.  Start from #1, and work up the same way I worked down.  I'll start for you:If I value measurable results rather than status, I have to become more accountable and sometimes, less popular.  Your turn… share your list on Twitter and tag us @nolecture so we can share each other's work.The build is the magic.  Clearly, you will work on the tension of each level always.  This is a process not a project. Where do you need to do the work? What will be the benefit?  What will be a barrier for you to growing your leadership?  What will be your reward?

The latest TalentLMS update that just landed on a Cloud near you brings several major new features, a couple of oft-requested customization options, and the usual assortment of enhancements, workflow improvements and bug-fixes you’ve come to expect from a TalentLMS update. So, let’s open the package and see what’s inside this new release. Custom reports Reports got some special love in this update cycle, with several new customization options added, including a whole new type of custom report. Specifically, TalentLMS’ updated reporting engine gives you the ability to add, remove and reorder columns, and to add your own "user fields" to custom reports. Furthermore, this release introduces the "Learning progress" custom report type, which gives you an overview of the course progress for a select subset of users. The new report can easily answer questions like: I want an overview of the courses that my people have completed within the last month (and schedule that for delivery in my email) I want an overview of what courses my people are assigned to and what their status is. Revamped messaging TalentLMS’ messaging system is another feature that has seen big improvements in this release. Among those is the ability to forward emails, to include individuals to replies and, last but not least, a WYSIWYG editor for composing your messages. User Infographic Everyone seems to love infographic visualizations, so in this release, we’re introducing a new one built-in to TalentLMS. The "User Infographic" gives you the most important information about a user’s account in an easy-to-read visual form. Full Grid Exports Got grids? Now you can export them too, and not just page-by-page, as in previous versions. The Grid Export functionality has been extended to cover the full grid and not just the current page — allowing users to export up to 50.000 rows at once. More awesomeness The above were the headlining features of this release. There are a lot more included, perhaps less prominent, but sure to improve a lot of use cases, and make the lives of TalentLMS administrators, instructors and content creators even easier. These include: • Support for unlimited custom user fields • Support for the date-time custom field type • Reset gamification stats for Groups or Branches • Easy way to switch between course edit and report mode • Option to exclude specific users from emails • A new action that calls a user-specified URL on course completion Plus, a number of usability improvements and workflow enhancements on Branches, Unit Creation, and more. Recap A new TalentLMS update has just landed on the Cloud, with major updates to Custom Reporting and Messaging, a new User Infographic visualization, and enhanced Grid exporting. On top of these, there are several smaller features, and UI improvements, that are all about more flexible workflows. Log in to your TalentLMS account to check out and enjoy the new features, which have been already rolled out for all TalentLMS users, and don’t forget to give us your valuable feedback on what you like about the new features, what could be improved, and what you would like to see next. P.S. This update introduces an important structural change in how we handle custom user fields. Although the change was designed to be transparent for everybody, a technical issue may have negatively affected a small portion of users. If you use custom fields in your TalentLMS portal, please make sure that everything works properly. If not, please contact our support for assistance. The post New TalentLMS update landed! appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

The world of work has changed immeasurably since the rise of the Internet: Now, your employees may literally be a global team, working from locations all around the world, all through the day, 24/7. Chances are that they’ll rarely, if ever, meet. While this new way of working is exciting and liberating, it also raises its own challenges. One of these is how to train your teams to the same excellent standard. The obvious answer, of course, is to deliver your training online. The advantages are obvious: the materials you need to deliver are available anytime, anywhere, and deliverable at the learner’s own pace. But there’s more to it than that. The truth is that there are an awful lot of, well, awful or just plain dull online training courses out there: click-to-download pdfs of course manuals, death-by-Powerpoint presentations, a few hastily collated videos. It’s no wonder that some online courses are barely used or have poor outcomes. You need to ensure that your online training is just as engaging and just as exciting as face-to-face sessions, and delivers the best possible outcomes for you and your people. It comes down to two things: thinking about what you’re trying to achieve, and considering what the user needs to learn to help you achieve it. So, if you want to create an amazing online training course, read on! Creating awesome online training courses 101 It’s vital that your learning targets and objectives are absolutely clear - and that starts with you. Do you understand what you are trying to achieve? Here’s a tip: imagine you’re talking with someone who speaks your language fairly well, but not fluently. Imagine you’re explaining your desired training objective to them, saying what it is, why you’re doing it and how it’ll be delivered, and you can only use 100 words. Not easy, is it? If you can’t explain your objectives clearly and simply to yourself, then course users just aren’t going to get them either, and that’s a guaranteed way to turn people off your course. So, here are four questions to ask yourself when you’re creating your online training course: 1.What is the objective? It may seem ridiculous to ask this to yourself, but trust me on this, it’s important! You’ll sometimes find that what you think is a fairly straightforward learning target is anything but. In fact, it may turn out that a single objective is actually the culmination of several targets. For example, let’s imagine that we decide that the user is going to learn how to fly a plane. Okay, that’s pretty ambitious, to put it mildly - and also an unwieldy topic for eLearning. How many hours do you want your course to be? How many hours do you think that it takes to learn to be a pilot? What separate skills need to be learned in order to be an air ace? You can see immediately that in fact this apparently single objective can be broken down into many constituent parts - and each of those is a learning objective. The flying the plane bit, in fact, is the outcome of these targets. So, ensure that your objective has clarity and narrow focus, because if it does, the user is more likely to achieve it successfully. 2.Why is this course necessary? Again, this may seem a redundant question on the face of it, yet it is well worth asking. Can you answer it clearly and concisely? If you can’t, it could be a sign that you haven’t considered your learning objectives well enough. It’s also important for the learner to recognize the necessity of the course. If they do, they’re more likely to want to engage with it intellectually and emotionally and are more likely to succeed. 3.How is the objective to be achieved? This is actually a two-part question: first, you have to consider the steps required to achieve the objective. Secondly, you have to think about the methods and content you’ll need in each of these steps. Break the course into clear, easy-to-follow steps that give the learner a sense of achievement when completing each of them. By breaking it up like this, it also helps you consider your methods and materials for each step. Think variety when it comes to how you present content: use video and audio, animations and podcasts, talking heads and illustrations - and don’t be afraid of using good old, plain reading texts sometimes! You’ll also need to develop quizzes and tests that provide the learner with a sense of achievement, and you with data about how each user is doing. 4.What should the users learn? If you’ve considered the three questions above, you’ll find yourself naturally arriving at this one. Yet it’s amazing how many people, start from this, when creating course content! It’s vague and nebulous learning objectives that are the real anathema to great online training course content. All learning is guided to a greater or lesser degree, no more so when the user is involved in self- study. Ask the questions above, and you create a clear path for them to follow. Get the adoption rate as high as possible. Self-study and online learning are not necessarily easy options for the learner. It takes discipline to complete a course by yourself, so as the eLearning designer, you need to ensure there are as few obstacles in the way as possible. To create truly engaging online training courses, make sure your course content is: Highly accessible - available on any device, any time Visually and intellectually engaging - if it looks good and the user feels it’s doing them good, they’ll be happier to participate Clear in its objectives - understanding the outcome drives learner motivation Clear about its time frame - users want to know how long they can expect to complete a course in. If it’s too long, it drags down the learner’s interest. Follow this advice, and you’ll soon find that you’re creating amazing online training courses! The post Want to create amazing online training courses? First, you have to ask the right questions! appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

In this classic business book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey shared this framework for attention,  that most of us can recite by heart.  You may never have seen this, so I repeat here:1. Be Proactive2. Begin with the End in Mind3. Put First Things First4. Think Win-Win5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood6. Synergize7. Sharpen the Saw​Covey reminds us that there are two factors that influence our effectiveness: Urgency and Importance.  He numbers the quadrants like this for the four combinations:  #4 Why would you do this? Be mindful of how you evaluate the tasks you map to these quadrants.  For example, vacation is not in Quadrant 4.  Vacation is in #2 since it is very important to stress and mental health, etc.#3 These are favors we do for others, helping them with disasters that have nothing to do with us.  In an HBR article "Who's got the Monkeys", William Oncken, Jr. and Donald Wass write that leaders must, when people come into the room with monkeys on their back, know how to send them out with their original monkeys and some of the leaders. I'm a pleaser at heart, so I often take too many monkeys from others.#2 These are important things to us but they are strategic and aren't on fire, so we ignore them to our peril (that will eventually turn them into #1)​#1 These are our own 'fires' likely based on poor execution: multi-tasking, neglecting self, family, etc.Make a quick list of your Top 10 to-do items and map them to this table.  Be brutal.  As Gallagher the comedian once said "You can't have everything, where would you put it?"

Learn about the 5 early warning signs for leaders who make flawed decisions.

Micro-Learning has gained traction these recent years, thanks in part to millennials entering the workforce who are clamoring for results with the least amount of effort. The learning strategy is popular and in fashion today. But how do you know that it works? How do you capture the data to demonstrate its value? How do you use MICRO as a technique in tracking Micro-Learning?A Study on Micro-Learning Even Before It Became PopularIn 2007, I developed a small study on how to measure the impacts of Micro-Learning. Through it, I wanted to find out what methods participants use to apply learning and if these methods work and produce measurable results for businesses and organizations.To achieve my goal, I developed two sets of tools as shown in the table below. The Seven-Step Process works with a questionnaire about participants’ activities. Meanwhile, the Web-Based Tool allowed participants to track real-time data as well as network and collaborate with their leaders and peers.One of the study’s participants is Elle Callahan, who was cMarket’s Training Manager. She joined the training to improve her goal-setting skills. Elle learned to create shorter and smaller goals. This helped her boil down her objectives and break down her action steps so that she was able to meet daily expectations. All throughout the training, she received feedback from her VP. Elle was also able to share her simple plan with her team.In summary, these are salient points from the study. Participants learned that: Micro-learning enables trainers to be more intentional with what topic they choose and how they’re going to deliver it. Being clear on the topic and delivery method makes it possible for trainers to improve systematically how they work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).Micro-learning allows learners to focus on taking immediate action on their learning, rather than having it sit on the shelf gathering dust.Measuring return on investment (ROI) doesn’t require complex details.Measuring training results is quick, easy and verifiable.This immediate demonstration of value allows for rapid and instant feedback.Micro-Learning is a big win-win for the employee and the organization.In what way do you envision using metaphors in your next training session? Share your thoughts below.Related tips and blog postsTip #61 - Case Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-LearningTip #67 - How to Add Depth to Micro-IdeasTip #90 - Be A Scientist - Set Up Your Own Learning Behavior Lab on Micro- Experiences and StoriesTip #105 - Breaking 10 Training Rules Using Micro-LearningTip #106 - How to Combine Gamification with Stories and Micro-Learning (Live Prototype)Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

Micro-Learning has gained traction these recent years, thanks in part to millennials entering the workforce who are clamoring for results with the least amount of effort. The learning strategy is popular and in fashion today. But how do you know that it works? How do you capture the data to demonstrate its value? How do you use MICRO as a technique in tracking Micro-Learning?A Study on Micro-Learning Even Before It Became PopularIn 2007, I developed a small study on how to measure the impacts of Micro-Learning. Through it, I wanted to find out what methods participants use to apply learning and if these methods work and produce measurable results for businesses and organizations.To achieve my goal, I developed two sets of tools as shown in the table below. The Seven-Step Process works with a questionnaire about participants’ activities. Meanwhile, the Web-Based Tool allowed participants to track real-time data as well as network and collaborate with their leaders and peers.One of the study’s participants is Elle Callahan, who was cMarket’s Training Manager. She joined the training to improve her goal-setting skills. Elle learned to create shorter and smaller goals. This helped her boil down her objectives and break down her action steps so that she was able to meet daily expectations. All throughout the training, she received feedback from her VP. Elle was also able to share her simple plan with her team.In summary, these are salient points from the study. Participants learned that: Micro-learning enables trainers to be more intentional with what topic they choose and how they’re going to deliver it. Being clear on the topic and delivery method makes it possible for trainers to improve systematically how they work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).Micro-learning allows learners to focus on taking immediate action on their learning, rather than having it sit on the shelf gathering dust.Measuring return on investment (ROI) doesn’t require complex details.Measuring training results is quick, easy and verifiable.This immediate demonstration of value allows for rapid and instant feedback.Micro-Learning is a big win-win for the employee and the organization.In what way do you envision using metaphors in your next training session? Share your thoughts below.Related tips and blog postsTip #61 - Case Study- Reducing eLearning Cost to 50% by Using Must-Learn Lessons and Micro-LearningTip #67 - How to Add Depth to Micro-IdeasTip #90 - Be A Scientist - Set Up Your Own Learning Behavior Lab on Micro- Experiences and StoriesTip #105 - Breaking 10 Training Rules Using Micro-LearningTip #106 - How to Combine Gamification with Stories and Micro-Learning (Live Prototype)Ray Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

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Pretend your life is a movie. You just woke up and looked around and miraculously, you have the perfect life.  What does that look like? How does it feel? How are you spending your time each day in that perfect life? Jot down some of the immediate ideas or words that come to mind. Now, create an action plan for getting this perfect life, and tape it to your bathroom mirror.  I'm happy to send you reminders for your due dates if you'd like info@russellmartin.com.