Employee engagement is often seen as the cornerstone of high-performing organisations. Research shows that positive employee perceptions of management and engagement practices are linked to increased job satisfaction and organisational commitment, and reduced turnover intentions. According to Gallup, highly engaged workforces can boost organisational productivity and profitability by at least 20%.

The rapid adoption of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) continues to bring significant changes in how work is performed inside and outside the office. While investments in these technologies can bring numerous benefits and opportunities, ICTs also have a pervasive "dark side" that leaders must address.

Organisations depend on their workers to generate new knowledge and ideas that will lead to profitable innovations. But as the business environment grows ever-more complex and competitive, and as organisations and workplace demands change continuously, workers are under increasing pressure to perform at their best.

Leaders of well-established organisations are engaged in a market war to innovate faster and smarter than ever before. But even when companies are staffed with enthusiastic teams willing to generate ideas, "intrapreneurship" (entrepreneurship inside of companies) often disappoints. In fact, intrapreneurship projects in big companies fail between 70% and 90% of the time.

If you’ve written or created course materials in the past decade, you’ve probably heard of SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed). But are we really being SMART when it comes to creating objectives? Objectives are important in training content, and the objectives we create should fit the SMART plan. But do they need to be written in a way that’s more difficult to achieve? For example, consider the following objectives: "Recall the core function of the Agent Tool for Tier 1 support agents" "Save, edit, and delete a search in your article database"

Support agents rely on a number of tools during the support experience to deliver excellent service to their customers. These tools are constantly in development. In addition, new tools are often added to provide a better experience or combine the functionality of multiple tools into one robust tool. When new tools are developed, training is needed to help agents transition smoothly to the new experience. I recently had an opportunity to develop training

As I described in part 1 of this blog post, I was recently presented with the challenge of training agents in a new support tool that they wouldn’t have any access to until they began working in the production environment. This meant that the first time that they actually used the tool, they’d be taking customers. My goal was to prepare them thoroughly, so that the transition would be smooth.

A repost from July 14 and another great video interview by Jeff Tillett, where he chats with John Delano of Saltbox Services about Experience API. This is a fascinating look into the future of learning, learning technologies and analytics; and how businesses will benefit from the evolution of the L&D industry.

Learning on "the Curve" Applying the five moments of need to enhance your learning strategy Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher identified the "five moments of need" for any learner who needs support while performing a task or activity: Inform Learn Apply Change Troubleshoot

Learning on "the Curve" Applying the five moments of need to enhance your learning strategy Problems and opportunities What problems is the Curve trying to solve? These problems can be stated as a series of comments from the perspective of both learners and management.