Well, not really, but it’s the closest thing that the e-learning industry has to offer in the area of "prestigious awards for doing awesome things". The Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program is the most prestigious awards program in the e-learning industry, and was the first awards program put in place in the e-learning industry (back in 1994). So what cool things have we been doing and what did we win? ADL released the official 1.0 version of the Tin Can API in April of 2013, and the e-learning world was then able to do amazing new things that weren’t possible with SCORM alone. SCORM serves its purpose, but the really exciting things happen when you start using the Tin Can API. LifeWay Christian Resources wanted to deliver and track video content in a way that would produce metrics that SCORM alone couldn’t produce, so we outfitted their systems with the Tin Can API, and tracked all the metrics they wanted to track with the Learning Record Store that’s built into SCORM Engine. What did that get us? A Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award! You can read a lot of the details here. AT&T wanted to do things with their training program that they couldn’t do in a traditional SCORM environment, so we set them up with the Watershed LRS and they began learning what motivated their employees to learn and how various types of learning affected employees’ real-world performance. And yep, another Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award! While we’re talking about awards, we’d like to acknowledge our friends and customers that also won Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards: Accenture American Red Cross BizLibrary CA Technologies, Inc. Convergys Corporation CypherWorx KFC-US (Yum! Brands, Inc.) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NogginLabs, Inc. PANDORA A/S Tata Consultancy Services Ltd Tribridge Triple Creek Workplace Answers We’re happy to see so much innovation happening in the e-learning industry, and proud to know that Tin Can is at the heart of revolutionizing a fair bit of it. Click here to see a full list of this year’s winners. If you have any questions or would like to talk to us about how you can use the Tin Can API in your organization, please get in touch. We love talking about this stuff! The post We won two Grammys! appeared first on Rustici Software.

Just having a great product is not enough. Many people forget that exceptional customer support is one of the most important parts of an organization’s ongoing success. Why? It’s most often the only contact a customer has with your company. Receiving the help they need (while interacting with awesome people) encourages customers to stick around. Further, it reinforces the lifetime value of your products and increases customer loyalty. Why does it matter? We’ve had continuous, award-winning growth over the past 10 years. That’s because we love to delight our customers with excellent products and exceptional support. We hold ourselves accountable with a running tab of how our customers rate our support for SCORM Cloud and SCORM Engine. All 2517 tickets that have been opened this year are followed up with a satisfaction survey that is posted around the office and on the website. That’s why we get really excited when the Delight-o-Meter has 100 smiling Jenas in a row: What qualifies as exceptional? We looked at the global benchmark analytics from Zendesk, the help desk tool we use. The average global satisfaction rate for all Zendesk users is 83 percent. But, average is not exceptional, so we try to shoot higher. Here’s a quick look at where we stack up next to the industries in which we operate:So how do we keep our numbers close to 100 percent? 1. Giving the right help: We shoot to give customers the best answer, not just the fastest one. And when we can’t help them, at the very least, we provide a path forward. 2. Being real: "We’re two dudes in an office. You can call us on the phone, you can see our photos on the website—you can find us. We’re accessible and we want to help. People often call us and are surprised: ‘Oh, there really is a Joe?’" -Ryan Donnelly, half of the Donnelly Support Team It’s okay to want people to like you A previous boss used to tell me "people don’t have to like you, as long as they respect you." Good advice. But wouldn’t you rather have customers who respect AND like your company? A delighted customer is a heck of a lot easier to work with than one who hates your guts. So why not shoot for both? Continue to celebrate in the delight of your customers—it pays off. The post Measure your success by the delight of your customers appeared first on Rustici Software.

In reflecting on the holidays and looking ahead to our 2013 resolutions, we all wish we had more time in December to enjoy the season. Despite the Mayans believing that time is finite, we know time moves on and our to-do list awaits with many tasks for work, family, holidays, and all the fun activities we want to do and enjoy. I recently attended a conference for the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) in San Diego. Marshall Goldsmith discussed how the norm in our lives is BUSY! Our lives are extremely fast-paced with technology at every turn and all the work and family commitments we have. This is now the norm, it won’t end after a day off or a relaxing weekend - it’s the norm and everyone is busy! It actually relieves a lot of stress to realize it’s more important to prioritize then it is to fight how busy we are. I liked this list of ideas, from Ezine Articles, to help us through this month - focusing on problem solving: Make a TO DO list. Write down everything you need to get done over the next few weeks to help you stay focused! Prioritize the items on your list. Some things MUST be done, and others may simply not be possible now. Decide which things will have to wait. Say no to Procrastination. The more we put off, the more stress piles on. Plan some down-time for yourself with a book or seeing friends and family. Take time to ENJOY the season - holiday concerts and public decorations around cities and malls abound. Most importantly, be sure to ask for help when you need it. When you start to feel overwhelmed, reach out to others. You’ll be surprised at how a few helping hands can make all the difference. Providing an extra set of hands is what we specialize in at Locus. We can help increase your productivity with budget-savvy programs that are always on-strategy and impeccably delivered. No matter how you spend your time this month, we hope you do find a successful way to manage all your tasks. We wish you a peaceful and happy season with much success for 2013!

Anytime - Anywhere Learning In the recent explosion of on demand availability through the power of smart phones and tablets, more and more companies are turning to mobile learning to train and educate their learners. Adapted from the article by Bill Roberts titled "From E learning to Mobile Learning", it is very important to give the learners the ability to access videos and learning content whenever they need to, even if that is in the middle of the night. Mobile learning is changing the way that companies approach teaching. The physical classroom is not dead, but it is very important to augment this with mobile learning availability. "Within the next five years, we are going to be not just changing but transforming how we train and educate based on mobile," says Daniel Burrus, chief executive officer of Burrus Research Associates Inc., a Hartland, Wis.-based consulting firm. This changing landscape of learning is something that we are all embracing to avoid being left behind on the technical side of business. Some ways to get the most out of the mobile learning process is to Divide content into smaller, shorter pieces that the learner can manage and absorb in 5-10 minutes Understand that your learners approach mobile learning in the same way they learn in the classroom and be able to cater to all styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) Provide examples of coaching and mentoring in order to get the most out the learner’s potential Create content that is easy to understand and use, much like a video game uses easy to read instructions - very visual The technology boom of the past 5 years has allowed business to be approached in a whole new way, companies have more resources to make training and learning fun and easy, and most importantly convenient for the learners trying to grasp a new concept. The ability to market mobile learning will make your company more adaptable and able to adjust to our changing world of technology! Locus can work with you to transition your programs and learning into convenient and effective mobile programs. We can be your extra set of hands to help you embrace the changing landscape of learning and technology.

You might say I got lucky. In 2003, with virtually no industry experience under my belt, I was hired as a technical writer for the marketing department of a publicly traded software company. My new boss was an old friend who trusted my natural smarts and grad school writing skills. Let’s just say I was catastrophically underprepared. Having only recently mastered the art of sending of email attachments, I faced my first prodigious technological assignment: translating our network architecture into internal documentation the marketing team could understand. The divide between marketing and development at this company was hard to miss. The engineers occupied the west side of the office, marketing the east. Developers dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts and worked quietly with headphones on; the marketers wore skirts and suits and carried on lively conversations throughout the day. The divide was also gendered: men developed the software programs, women marketed them. The seemingly superficial nature of these differences underscored a very real cultural divide. The developers and marketers struggled to communicate with each other. They didn’t understand each other’s lingo. And I suspected they genuinely disliked each other. Over the course of my first few meetings with the engineers, it became clear that I too, had no idea what they were talking about. It also became clear that we shared a love for Star Wars. That’s when something interesting happened: by naming each of the servers after a Star Wars character, the developers used my knowledge of the relationships between the characters to help me map the relationships between the servers. I came to understand the role of each server, in part because I understood Yoda’s role in the Star Wars saga. Metaphors and analogies continued to bridge the gap between the developers’ world and mine. They linked "techie" things like our transaction management system to things I could understand, like my Amazon shopping cart. In my work as an Ariel Group facilitator, I’ve likewise seen participants use metaphors to illustrate "techie" concepts to non-technical audiences. One participant described having to explain to his non-technical manager how the front-line employees were failing to use a system the way it was designed, which was affecting their reporting. "You do karaoke, right?" he asked his manager. "Well, imagine you’ve programmed the karaoke machine to play a particular song, but when the song comes on, the lyrics are in Japanese. Your performance would suffer, right?" His boss got it. A great metaphor can prompt a quantum jump of understanding. The key is to use metaphors that are rooted in the knowledge and culture of your audience. My participant made the effort to learn that his boss did karaoke, and that made all the difference. Using well-suited metaphors not only helps you explain tricky concepts but also helps you build a personal connection with the people you are interacting with. Over time, I felt less intimated by the developers and even began eating lunch with them. Through metaphor, they took me from barely being able to send an attachment to typing Unix commands. Plus, I got invited to tag along with them to see Revenge of the Sith. The post Information Translation: Using Metaphors to Describe and Explain Technology appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal ProcessInspire, Motivate, Engage - While Doing More with LessThe Power of the Present is in the Tense 

As we enter the presidential primary debate season in America and the political candidates burn the midnight oil studying the details of policy, economics, and international relations, all that studying could be for naught if they don’t pay attention to their stage presence. Many candidates spend time and money developing innovative policies, only to sabotage them on delivery through their physical behavior or tone of their voice. This first hurt Richard Nixon in the televised debate between him and John F. Kennedy in 1963. Nixon’s nervous demeanor—he constantly wiped sweat from his brow throughout the debate—undermined his message to the voters and Kennedy was considered the clear winner by the television audience. Interestingly, those who listened to the debate on the radio gave the edge to Nixon because his voice and message were compelling—and were not undermined by his body language and appearance. A quote from a Boston Globe story reinforces the point. "The twitchiness is seen unconsciously by the viewer/voter as reflecting on the personality [of the candidate]," said Joseph Tecce, a psychology professor at Boston College who studies nonverbal communication. "It can influence the viewer’s vote." The home television audience was able to factor in the inherent flaws of Nixon’s delivery—ignoring his words and focusing instead as we typically do on his body language. So how much of our communication is actually attributed to our words? According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian, the author of Silent Messages, only 7% of any message is actually conveyed through words. Another 33% is conveyed through vocal elements (pitch, tone, etc.) and a whopping 55% is through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, and posture). When we speak to someone, it is essential that we convey the same message through our body language and facial expressions. By using expressiveness (pitch, tone, facial expressions, and gestures), you provide your audience with information and clues to understand how they should feel in the situation. Keith Johnstone, considered many as the father of Improvisational Theater, has a lot to say about this. Johnstone was very interested in the "status" an audience infers from the slightest change in their physical behavior. His "signals of status" are taught in Improv classes around the world and form the basis for the great work at Second City and Improv Olympics. Johnstone’s signals (see box below) can seem simple on the surface but even the slightest change in any one of them can change an audience’s perception of the speaker from someone they admire, respect and trust to someone not worth listening to. SIGNALS OF PRESENCE - Adapted from Keith Johnstone’s signals of status Standing still, breathing evenly, and maintaining steady eye contact has a profound impact on an audience. Johnstone says the following, "Our behavior-reinforced by our appearance-signals our importance or lack of importance." And he goes on to say, "No behavior is insignificant. When we interact together, our brains are counting the blink rate and registering even the tiniest head movement." George H. W. Bush infamously looked at his watch during the only debate he had with candidate Bill Clinton. To the audience, it appeared he as though he was bored and that what Bill Clinton was saying wasn’t of interest. It looked like he "had better things to do than this." His second—no pun intended—of non-engagement that night is to have said to have lost him the election. The implications are clear when the stakes are as high as they are during presidential debates. But they are equally relevant in our daily interactions? Think about your next job interview, a presentation to your team, or an interaction with your spouse. What message do your signals of presence say about you? And do they support or undermine your message? You need more than just a compelling message to reach the heart as well as the head of an audience. The post Political Debates: Where Presence Speaks Louder Than Words appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesThe Eyes Have It: Quiet Your Nerves, Connect with Your AudienceHow to Influence Without AuthorityForget WIFM, Try WIFT: The #1 Skill Millennials Need To Get Promoted 

More and more companies are forgoing traditional hierarchical workplace structure, creating matrixed environments of employees who are expected to "lead laterally" to get work done. But how do you align people around your point of view without the right to command that something "needs to be done this way?" It all comes down to influence. Influence is not the same as manipulation. It’s the ability to motivate or inspire a desired outcome by being seen as credible and communicating a vision that people can get behind. It’s a skill that can help you at every level—whether you are recommending a simple process change or galvanizing teams around a global initiative. Build Credibility Credibility is defined as "the quality of being trusted and believed in" and is formed when people see you as thoughtful, authentic, confident, and having integrity. This means that in addition to having these qualities, you need convince other people you have them by the way you show up: Start by Listening. And I mean really listen. I’ve been in enough high stakes meetings where I’ve seen C-suite executives engaged, fully listening in the conversation. Why? Because they see listening as part of their job. Listening allows you to understand the landscape, gain insight into other people’s POV and advance your own thinking. Assert yourself appropriately. If you have an opinion, have the confidence to say it. Don’t have one? Ask questions to help you form one. Many times, professionals try to insert themselves into a conversation for the wrong reasons. Are you trying to sound intelligent? Or do you actually have a valuable insight? Stopping yourself and checking will help you in the long run. Plus, as someone who is seen as consultative, you will build a reputation as someone of integrity: one who listens, thinks, and will collaborate for a greater solution that will benefit all. Give yourself a pep talk. I often see people holding back good ideas due to insecurity. Are you seeing yourself as "less than" or as someone who feels as though they shouldn’t have a say? Or, do you see yourself as a human being with good ideas who has a right to participate in the conversation? We all, regardless of our titles and corner offices, should see our POV as valuable. If you understand the problem, have listened to other points of view and feel passionately about what to do about it, there is no reason to not speak up. Build and nurture relationships It’s as simple as this: You can’t influence people without some kind of relationship. When I was working at an international engineering firm, my company gave me the responsibility for designing and managing a series of training programs for a top client. Over the course of the implementation, I attended the meetings that our executive held with the client as well participated in sector conferences. I always made a point of saying hello to our client lead;  sharing my learnings from working on the project, getting to know her key goals for the initiative, as well as talking to her about our personal interests.  Later in the engagement, the client needed us to take on a new strategic project and she specifically asked our executive if I could be put on as the lead. She knew that I didn’t have extensive experience in the task area, but shared that she had come to trust my judgement and ability to work well with others and I was someone she enjoyed working with. I took on the task, and am happy to say that it was a success! The experience confirmed for me the positive influence that comes with putting that extra effort into nurturing key relationships. Make sure you take the time to build positive relationships with those both higher and lower on the totem pole. Network inside and outside the office. Find out who is responsible for what in the company. Learn what people enjoy outside of work, what motivates them at home, and what they put time into (volunteer organizations, etc.) away from the office. If you can help someone achieve a goal or help with a project, help them. If they helped you, try and pay it back. These tactics will help you exponentially throughout your career. Communicate Dynamically After you’ve established good two-way relationships with your peers and higher ups, you should ask yourself what they will need and want to ally with you and your vision and then use this information to shape your communication strategy: Think about your audience. Take what you have learned from getting to know these people and apply it! What is important to them? Are they interested in the big picture or are they curious about specific process implications? Explain the benefit through their POV. Use expressive language, metaphors and stories. Sometimes different departments speak different languages. Rather than fight against the tide, see if there’s a common thread. Use metaphors and analogies to bridge the gap. Insert colorful and informational language they’ll appreciate. Customize your language to something your audience can’t say "no" to. Once you master these skills, you’ll be surprised at what you—and your company can achieve. The post How to Influence Without Authority appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsHi "Me" - It sounds to me like you are a good candidate ... by Margie MeachamInteresting… I enjoy the Ariel Group's information overall ... by MeVery thought provoking. Thank you, Elsa. I especially liked ... by Jack WhitacreRelated StoriesInspire, Motivate, Engage - While Doing More with LessClaim It until You Make ItForget WIFM, Try WIFT: The #1 Skill Millennials Need To Get Promoted 

I hate the phrase "Fake it ’til you make it." There I said it! I hate that phrase. What does it even mean anyway? I think it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Most of us have done it. You are in a meeting and, despite the endless descriptions you’ve read over the past week, think, "I still don’t understand this new initiative we’re embarking on or what my role is supposed to be." You sit there and nod your head, hoping everyone thinks you know what’s going on. A little voice inside your head reassures you that the false nodding will work. That little voice is a liar! It’s also dangerous. Think of how much time and money you waste by not asking questions! I know countless projects that have passed deadlines or collapsed because someone didn’t know how to speak up, and instead pretended they knew what was needed. What about the phrase "Name it and claim it"? Now that’s what I like! "Name it and claim it" focuses building awareness of your own strengths and areas for self-growth. At the Ariel Group, the "S" in our PRES model stands for "Self-Knowing." We teach that the more you know about yourself, the more authentic you’ll be. If you know your shortcomings, the skills you need to develop—and you are honest with yourself—the more trustworthy you will appear to your fellow colleagues. If you’re acclimated at a job and your manager asks you to take on a new task you don’t know how to complete, don’t say "Right away captain!" and run off to spend the rest of the day Googling "How to…" Google may be a great resource, but you’re forgetting the biggest resource you have at your fingertips: your boss. Before you dive right in, ask your manager clarifying questions to develop a deeper understanding around items you may not be as familiar with. A good manager will guide you on where you can look—or what you can Google—so the task is done right. Keep in mind: I am NOT encouraging you to go up to your manager and tell them "I don’t know how to do anything!" every time you’re not 100% sure. (There would likely be a group of managers with pitchforks coming after me if I was implying that—and I’m not. Put your pitchforks away please.) What I’m suggesting is to start opening doors you would normally keep closed. Be curious about projects. Ask questions and do research to become familiar with new initiatives. Speak to what you know and what you’re passionate about. More importantly, speak to what you’d like to learn. Share best practices with colleagues to see what tidbits you can all take away. Are there going to be moments when you may need to fake it to get by? Absolutely. Someone may throw something at you and say "I need this ASAP!" and you won’t have the time (or the relationship) to ask for help. But as you name and claim your strengths and challenges, you’ll be surprised at the impact it will have on your teammates. Being self-aware of your strengths, even with the skills you need to develop, will make others aware of them and willing to take the risk with your talents on future projects. You will be seen as authentic and curious, a team player who is passionate about quality and continues to seek out new ways to contribute to the company’s growth. Someone who…I don’t know, is ready for greater responsibility and additional leadership opportunities perhaps? Now that has a nice ring to it too…   The post Claim It Until You Make It appeared first on Ariel Group.          CommentsNice, Drewski! Thanks! by NattyRelated StoriesHow to Influence Without AuthorityForget WIFM, Try WIFT: The #1 Skill Millennials Need To Get PromotedPolitical Debates: Where Presence Speaks Louder Than Words 

In the Urban Dictionary, "algebraic" roughly translates to some event or action so unbelievably awesome—and it has absolutely nothing to do with math! Is there an "algebraic" formula for managing Employee Engagement? I would argue yes. In fact, I have seen this formula work time and time again in my many years of being led, leading others, and working to develop leaders in both the non-profit and for-profit fields. Employee Engagement at an organizational level is really about "how we create the conditions in which employees offer more of their capability and potential." As David MacLeod writes in Engage for Success, employee engagement cannot be seen as an add-on to their jobs, but as an integral part of their daily activity at work. Now, let me give you a fair warning: If an employee’s motivation comes from external forces and that force subsides, so too does the motivation. Just like a competitor who is competing for a cash prize and the cash prize is suddenly eliminated, so too is the competitor’s motivation to compete. They may even withdraw from the competition entirely. The same applies for an employee who doesn’t develop the motivation from within. Some employers, if desperate in the short term, could even manipulate an employee’s commitment and emotions to improve performance and productivity, but sadly these sorts of actions would only back fire and lead to cynicism and demotivation. Manipulation never prospers. What we know is that high employee engagement yields low employee turnover. Peter Diamond explains the concept for Entrepreneur, "Most people quit a job because they can no longer tolerate their boss or they have lost faith in senior management…Conversely, people will stay at a company or in a job during thick and thin if they respect and believe in their boss." What is this algebraic formula that can help leaders and senior managers to enhance productivity and performance, lower employee turnover, and help people to believe in their leader(s), even when they are asking them to do more with less? Employee Engagement = Relationship: the quality of an employee’s relationship with her leaders. Does she feel connected to them? Does she trust them? Does she believe they are all working for the same side? Feedback: According to Ken Blanchard, "Feedback is the breakfast…of champions!" It is also a critical ingredient for a fully engaged employee. Is the feedback timely, specific and genuine? Do endorsements (positive comments) exceed (constructive) feedback? Is feedback consistent, both during good and difficult times? Vision: both the quality of an employee’s relationship with the leader and the leader’s consistent, genuine feedback allow the employee to have a clear understanding of where she fits into the organization’s success. By having a clear vision of her contribution to the company’s success, she should understand the context for why she should follow the leader and why she should care about feedback. As she receives continued feedback and develops a further relationship with the organization’s leaders, the connection to the overall vision will only multiply. Personal Self-Interest: whether perceived or actual, personal self-interest can destroy any attempt at increasing employee engagement if the employee thinks a leader is just in it for himself—a divisive quality no matter what the extent of self-interest. The more present self-interest is at a company, the more divided the engagement becomes. Employee Engagement is equal to the quality of your relationship with your employees and the feedback you share with them, within the context of a shared, inspiring and clear vision, in service of the organization and others and not your own personal self-interest. So next time you or one of your employees does something really awesome and you want to praise her, in addition to being timely, specific and genuine of course, you could end with a closing word for a job well-done, in your best 90’s teen voice and say: "That was algebraic, dude!"     The post The Employee Engagement Equation appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesClaim It until You Make ItHow to Influence Without AuthorityForget WIFM, Try WIFT: The #1 Skill Millennials Need To Get Promoted 

We have all heard the expression that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the true definition of insanity.  Indeed it is. Yet, when it comes to our behavior, many of us believe that we can have different outcomes in our lives without doing the hard work of instituting change.  Behavior change is a process - one that is often long and difficult. And, while there is no specific data that consistently confirms how long it takes to change behaviors or form new habits, conventional thinking suggests it can take as little as 3 weeks and as long as nearly a year. In reality, you cannot simply adopt a new behavior. Just thinking you want to change something is not enough to actually force the new behavior. Your brain literally needs some rewiring. Behaving differently takes time and practice. It requires introducing a new way of thinking, a new approach to doing something and allowing your brain to catch up.Think about it.  If you have been smoking for 20 years and you decide you want to quit, the most challenging way of doing that is by giving up the cigarettes cold turkey. Expecting your body to stop craving the nicotine simply because you have made up your mind that you no longer want to smoke is not a realistic option for most. Your brain is still looking for not only the substance but also is conditioned to expect the behavior of smoking the cigarette in various situations. Changing this behavior requires a gradual reduction of the intake and an alteration of the behavior. For instance, no longer smoking when out at a bar. Reducing the narcotic intake after meals. Over time, your brain will stop expecting the cigarette and you will gradually see a behavior alteration.When we work with clients to help them overcome their challenges with public speaking, we approach it much in the same way. Often, the obstacle they are most challenged by is fear. Fear is a mental state that causes behaviors that, in the case of public speaking, can fundamentally alter one’s physiology. Suddenly, you are sweating in a freezing cold room. Or, perhaps, information that typically comes easily is inaccessible in your head. In order to overcome these struggles, we work with clients to help them feel more confident about their skills to reduce their nerves and fear and allow their minds and bodies to operate in a natural and productive way. By practicing their skills - strong posture, meaningful gesturing, engaging eye contact and using your voice in a powerful way - even the most anxious speaker can learn to perform naturally and confidently. But, like any other behavior change, it requires time and commitment. You can’t just change overnight but you are definitely capable of becoming a better speaker or presenter.  Even those who claim they will never be comfortable speaking in front of groups have found that, with practice, they have been able to shift their behavior to think and act differently.It just takes time and the first step, as in any change, is deciding you want to make the change.