I worked with a company recently whose sellers had to drive their own demand. In one case, a seller engaged a buyer in a discussion about an opportunity, and the buyer was interested. They had a few meetings, but then the sale fizzled out. When the seller asked why, the buyer told him that they simply weren't going to pursue it further. The seller said to me later, "The business impact story here was tremendous; more than a 10 times return on investment was easy to see. That this sale didn't move forward...I can't believe they just didn't see it." We then talked to the buyer as a part of our analysis of the lost sale. When we mentioned the ROI case to the buyer and asked him about it, he said, "Oh, I saw the ROI case. I got it. I would have loved to achieve it. I just didn't believe it would come true." The buyer saw the ROI; he just didn't believe it. There was too much risk.     Related StoriesHow to Measure Your Client Relationship StrengthSell with Hustle, Passion, and Intensity5 Changes in B2B Buying Behavior You Need to Know About 

Client loyalty is tough to earn. Fred Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect and creator of the Net Promoter System, found that most corporations lose 50% of their customers every 5 years, 50% of employees in 4 years, and 50% of investors in less than one year. It's not surprising. It isn't easy to achieve the highest levels of satisfaction and relationship strength needed to keep clients loyal at a higher clip than average. There's a lot of research out there supporting the link between overall client satisfaction after they buy and their loyalty. It's not, however, just about what happens after the buyer buys. The RAIN Group Center for Sales Research has found a link between loyalty and satisfaction with the buying process itself.     Related StoriesTake the New Survey: The Top-Performing Sales OrganizationInfographic: 10 Steps for Growing Your Key Accounts10 Essential Selling Skills 

Today's sales winners harness the power of ideas. Our latest book, Insight Selling, outlines exactly what sellers need to do to transform into insight sellers, and start inspiring buyers with valuable new perspectives. These bite-sized quotes pulled directly from the pages of Insight Selling can provide you and your sales team with the motivation and tips to help you do just that. Tweet them and share the sales quotes.     Related StoriesBringing Insight to B2B Sales: Sell Like the Winners Do5 Ways to Get the Most Out of B2B Sales TrainingBuyers Want to Talk to You 

As a line manager, one of your principal responsibilities is to develop your direct reports. Coaching and mentoring are two of the most powerful and well-publicized ways to support the development of other people—but how do these relationships work best in the context of a work team? Whatever approach you take to developing direct reports, it’s clear that there are potential conflicts of role. For example, between: Being the person responsible for discipline versus being a supportive friend Having a strong input on issues of bonuses/promotions versus having fully open and honest conversations about performance and careers Focusing on achieving short-term results versus focusing on medium- or long-term career plans To resolve these conflicts, it’s essential to look at coaching and mentoring as two complementary relationships that take place in an environment of trust. Mentoring will typically concentrate on issues relating to career development and will often emphasize role modeling. It typically takes a longer term, much less task-focused perspective than coaching, which concentrates on performance and often involves direct feedback to the learner. Mentoring tends to require a much deeper level of self-disclosure on the part of both mentor and mentee than is normally required in a coaching conversation. It’s not surprising, then, that it is much more difficult to be a mentor to a direct report than to be a coach to them. This separation of mentor and mentee roles is particularly important, where the amount of time the manager has for developing directs is limited. It can easily lead to situations where those who are mentored are seen as unfairly privileged. Coaching is much more likely to be evenly distributed because it is focused on short-term issues. Some useful guidelines for getting the best out of coaching and mentoring are as follows: Become part of a mentor "pool" in which you offer mentoring to people in colleagues’ teams and they do the same for yours. Use the mentor as a resource of learning and support for yourself as coach and mentor. Clarify with your team what to expect from coaching and from mentoring. Be prepared to discuss career issues with your direct reports, but make them aware of the value of exploring these issues with someone who has a different perspective. If appropriate, suggest topics that direct reports might like to explore with their mentor, but don’t make them feel obligated to do so. Don’t expect or ask to be told what mentee and mentor have discussed, but be appreciative of anything the mentee does tell you. Ensure all your direct reports have personal development plans that include short-, medium-, and long-term objectives. Discuss with them where coaching, mentoring, or both together can be instrumental in achieving those objectives. Have regular conversations with your direct reports about tasks they could take on that would stretch them. Place the emphasis of coaching and mentoring on building on strengths, rather than on overcoming weaknesses, and on opportunities, rather than problems. Conduct a regular review (at least once every six months) with your team to explore how coaching and mentoring are working.

Like Billy Crystal in City Slickers, many L&D professionals could benefit from seeking the answer to the eternal question—What is "The One Thing"? The L&D measurement transformation has been underway for many years, yet it has only been recently that some client L&D efforts have shifted from trying to justify their existence and show ROI on the learning infrastructure investments, like LMSs and "butts in seat" to providing a measureable link to direct business impact. I remember primitive data-gathering techniques and prehistoric analytics efforts when I was an instructor and designer for nuclear training programs in the ‘80s. If you had any training or testing data on a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, or later in an Advanced Revelations database, you were golden. We worked with the rudimentary tools we had and made the best decisions we could to improve training program effectiveness. And for the most part, it worked. Granted, it was a highly regulated industry with a plethora of government rules and regulations, and extensive testing, certifications, and licensing that needed to be complied with. But the training evaluation systems had outcomes that were directly impacting the business: the number of students who were issued a license to operate the plant, the reduction in human errors, the plant’s availability and capacity factor, the days it took to complete a refueling, etc. But today there remains a huge disconnect between what executives want for data and results, and where current effort is allocated by L&D. Data from the Forum Corporation’s Customer Driven Training Organization are shown in the illustration below and clearly indicate a misalignment. Surprised with the results contained in this graphic? I’m not! Very few organizations have had the courage or foresight to leave meaningless data behind and report on information that will give the learning leaders and the business leaders input to make rational decisions for continuous improvement. As shown above, the only area where stakeholders and the L&D organization seem to be somewhat closely aligned is on delivery metrics; otherwise, it’s like a 180-degree difference in priorities. Is there evidence that shifting to different measurement will provide higher impact? Absolutely! In fact, a recent study by Knowledge Advisors and Bassi Investments (cited in a CLO Magazine article titled "Emerging Issues in Measurement") illustrated that a group of companies with high learning and development measurement acumen outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in terms of share price appreciation by more than 15 percent. Now, that’s significant! So, be controversial and provocative. Next time you are reviewing your scorecard metrics, SLAs and KPIs, line out the ones that are not business-related and see how many that remain are really important to business results or stakeholder desires. The results may surprise you. At your next business review, just report on those that are measuring business impact. You may get an approving nod on the other side of the table, both for relevance and for simplicity. Be like Curly in City Slickers, seek and report on "The One Thing" that will quickly align your L&D measurement efforts with your stakeholders’ desires.

Change was in the air at the 2012 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The theme of this year’s show was "The Great Content Shift".  The shift being discussed revolves around how content is delivered. As one writer put it, "…by 2020, ‘broadcasting‘ is a term that will be foreign to anyone under 40." With more and more content being delivered digitally, and to a rapidly growing number of devices, what larger content trends from the broadcasting world are applicable the Learning industry? Availability. Users expect to be able to find what they want, when they want it, and now more than ever, where they want it. Vendors were proudly showing off their capabilities to deliver content to TVs, computers, tablets, and mobile devices. As learners become more accustomed to engaging with content in different locations, learning strategies that don’t accommodate this mentality could face backlash. This could come in the conscious form, where a learner notices and complains about the lack of availability. Or, even worse, the learner who never gets to the content at all and quietly fades away. The time of a mobile component in a learning solution being treated as an add-on, or a bonus, are quickly fading away. Quality. The bar for quality is constantly being raised. Not just quality of the content, but the entire infrastructure surrounding it. This includes the user interface, technical quality, and overall experience. Tiny videos delivered in a clunky player, and locked inside a defined area on a webpage are out. Full-screen videos are in.  You may assume that your target audience isn’t part of this streaming generation. Even if they aren’t now, they likely will be soon. Often, good design isn’t noticed, but bad design is. Technology. An enormous amount of space was devoted to vendors showcasing their distribution technologies and platforms. This is a great boon to the learning industry. As the major players (TV, films, etc.) drive more demand, technology advances and prices become more competitive. The media and distribution needs of a Learning solution are typically a small fraction of a typical broadcast installation.  This is a good time to be a small fish in a big pond. I sincerely doubt there’s not a solution out there already for whatever learning needs you have. The key is knowing who to partner with. Being aware of the trends driving the entertainment and information industries can help us delivery a quality learning experience that will meet learners’ ever increasing expectations.

In the previous article, I discussed some large trends evident at the 2012 NAB Show. But, is that why a Media Producer such as myself really wants to attend the show? Nope. I want to get my hands on all the new gear. Here’s a few things that stood out related to tools for media production: 1. Mobile video tools I saw individuals and small crews shooting and posting videos right from the show floor using tablets and phones. One of the best looking setups was The Padcaster. I watched as one crew edited and posted their piece using Avid Studio for iPad, which offers some more professional features than the also excellent iMovie for iOS. I also saw a few people using the Steadicam Smoothee. Yes, that’s right, a Steadicam for a phone. But I tried it and it works great. GoPro had one of the most active booths of the whole show (tossing free cameras to a crowd doesn’t hurt). The new Protune Firmware for the HD HERO2 will allow for higher quality production. In fact, with the upcoming Wi-Fi accessories and app, you could do a very affordable and dynamic multi-camera shoot. I can see lots of potential for this in the learning world. If wearing a GoPro on your head is too dorky for you, check out these Pivothead Sunglasses that record in 1080p. If you need to do any POV learning, this could be an exciting option. 2. iPad audio add-ons. Good sound is crucial to production. Since the iPad is silent, portable, and powerful, it makes a great recording device. MicW had the most options for display on the show floor. Check out their iSeries of microphones for some great options. The iPhone Boom Mic looks great and is only $40 (works on iPad too). There was still no sign of Blue Microphone’s highly anticpated Mikey Digital device. For a more stationary approach, I’d recommend the Blue Microphone USB line using Apple’s connection kit. Nothing helps the sound like a good quality sound booth, like the ones on display from VocalBooth. Check out the video from this post to hear the difference it can make. 3. DSLR Dominance. It was hard to walk around the floor without bumping into someone shooting with a DSLR camera. There’s a reason they’ve become so popular, especially for lower budgets that still demand high quality video. One piece of evidence for this was Nikon’s first ever booth at NAB to support their D800. Canon had the largest booth of the entire show as they featured their new cameras from all ranges. I think that any learning company could find dozens of uses for the new 5D Mark III for both video and photos. If that’s out of budget, the 5D Mark II is still a great choice. The floor of NAB was filled with tons of different rigs, add-ons, and tools for DSLR production. The Zacuto Z Finder EVF is a fantastical product. The ultraCage from Redrock was a popular item. There was one surprise announcement that could pose the first challenge in the DSLR price point. The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera is going to be very interesting to watch. At $3,000, including $1,000 worth of software, this is going to be a popular device if Blackmagic can deliver on its promises. 4. LED Lighting. I was surprised by how many different manufactures were offering LED lighting. If you’re in the market for some LED lights, it’s more important than ever to research carefully. Not all LEDs are created equal. Poor quality lights will make skin turn green and plastic. I recommend sticking with proven companies such as Litepanels, Lowel, and Flolight. If those are out of budget, a good tungsten kit or florescent setup is a better bet then cheap LEDs. If you need lighting in a tough and/or remote environment, check out the innovative Remote Area Lighting Systems from Pelican.  5. New Products from Wacom Wacom was showing off their Cintiq 24HD, a 24-inch screen and tablet combo. It’s a totally different way to use a computer. The size of the screen lets you dive completely into your work. Even on the busy show floor I was totally engrossed in what was in front of me. The Inking is a fascinating little device that was also on display. This lets you draw or write on any paper and automatically convert it into a digital file. I’d recommend checking out the reviews on Amazon as there is some concern with its accuracy. 6. 4K and 3D. There was a lot of floor space devoted to 4K Video and 3D. Let’s face it, unless you’re developing learning for James Cameron, this isn’t likely to impact you. Let’s just hope it continues to drive down the cost of regular HD equipment. New technologies and equipment can help create high-quality learning content, but it’s only a small piece of the puzzle. You still need a solid strategy, reliable platform, and professional team in place to maximize the impact that media can have.

Watch in accelerated time the construction of Encana’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) station in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana via their YouTube channel. The transportation sector is the single largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, making it all the more urgent to create a low-carbon economy based on natural gas. GP Strategies is proud to have been able to help work on the construction of the site.  

Often I am called upon to meet with clients who are interested in using the SharePoint platform. One of the first questions that I ask is, "Why do you want to use the platform?" I receive a variety of answers, but the prevailing answer is, "So we can collaborate better." This sounds great, and in fact, if you go to Microsoft’s SharePoint site, you will see that collaboration is listed as one of the main reasons that the platform is in place. However, I have noted that several of the groups I have had the pleasure of working with seem to miss what the meaning of collaboration is. It’s almost as if the word collaboration has differing meanings for each group that I work with. In fact, I would venture to say that many people confuse collaboration with communication. For example, when I ask follow-up questions around what they are trying to accomplish by collaborating with each other, the conversation usually takes a turn towards, "We want to be able to share information that we have more effectively with the rest of the organization." In my mind, I instantly think that what they are really trying to do is to have a communication venue for the conveyance of information. Now, I understand that communication has to precede collaboration. Wikipedia actually refers back to communication when defining collaboration. But if we look at what collaboration truly means, it is almost a meeting of the minds of sorts—where one person or a group of people have a skillset that they would like to partner with either another person or group of people in order to develop a solution to an issue or to innovate something new. When I was younger, I read the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series. The one thing I enjoyed about that series was the basis of community that the characters engendered. Each person in the clan had a skillset and they learned that they had to work together in order to protect their village, hunt for food, search for resources, or to cure each other. The storyline taught me that no one person can stand alone. It took the combination of each of the members of the clan in order for each person to survive. In order for the clan to work together or "collaborate," they needed to be able to communicate with each other so they would be able to convey to the other members what their different skillsets were. Luckily, the clans had a single spoken language that they used, which allowed them to communicate with each other. But, at the same time, they had to demonstrate their abilities (or prove themselves) as being able to do what they said they could.  When the main character Ayla entered the clan initially, she was unable to communicate with the rest of the clan members. The clan was nice to her. They fed her and gave her a place to sleep. But after a while, they began to worry that she did not have any skills that would be of use to them. It was only after the clan’s Healer noticed Ayla picking herbs and other medicinal plants that the clan saw that she had the ability to heal. After which Ayla became an accepted member of the clan and rose through their hierarchy to become a very respected member. This early story demonstrated to me that there is a difference between communication and collaboration. Communication gives us the ability to interact with each other. Once there is great communication in place, then collaboration can occur. If I take the example from the Clan of the Cave Bear series and apply it to business today, I do see parallels between the two. An organization has several members who each have a different skillset. They are brought together in order to achieve the organization’s goals. However, over the last few decades, I have noticed that the groups (or departments) tend to go into their own little corner of the organization and only interact with the rest of the departments when they absolutely have to. In the past, this may have been acceptable, but today we are seeing that the truly great and successful organizations are innovating and opening up new markets and opportunities. A lot of organizations have noted this as well. And the message from on high is, "We have to collaborate in order to come up with new and innovative opportunities for ourselves." But do you recall what I said has happened over the last few decades? Each of the self-imposed silos is being called upon to do this innovation. And some have tried to come up with innovative ideas on their own with varying levels of success. It is only after they realize that while they may be able to come up with new ideas on their own, they will not have the type of impact that is needed in order to drive their organization further.  This is where the model of the silo departments fails. After all, they do not have the pathways of communication needed in order to reach across departments to pull in the talent that they need. So, now we are seeing these departments wanting to leap into the collaborative space in order to work with other departments. But do you recall the two things I pointed out from the Clan of the Cave Bear series, related to collaboration? Communication has to be in place first. After all, how will the different departments know what each is capable of? And then each department has to be confident in knowing that the other department can actually deliver on their claims.  Once the communication is in place, then collaboration can begin.

As a follow-up to my last blog "I Hate My LMS", I would like to take a look at a more fundamental question, "Do I need an LMS?" I have been asked this question by several of my clients over the last few months. All of the recent hype on social collaboration and informal learning seems to be overshadowing formal learning and has resulted in companies questioning the need for an LMS. I was actually surprised the first time I was asked the question, and my quick response was "Absolutely." But I took some time to think and reflect on the question to make sure my gut reaction was correct. If we take a look at the basic functionality of an LMS, it was designed to electronically register, deliver, and track learning assets. Over the past 10 years as LMS vendors realized that they would not survive unless they continued to add features and functionality, we now have bloated systems that in the next release will probably brew your morning coffee. But the basic functionality of the LMS is still critical to all organizations. When we are considering eliminating an LMS, we may be forgetting about that core tracking functionality. I remember a conversation I had with a Fortune 500 CLO that said his job was to keep his company from being on the front page of the newspaper. We all know that the front page of a newspaper is not where the good news is printed. We get on the front page when employees make big mistakes, and when asked why, their reply is "I was never trained." Try to prove they were trained by using existing social collaboration systems or showing informal training methods. For those of you that are old enough to remember the training business prior to having the LMS, we would document attendance at a training session on paper and then store them in file cabinets until they could be copied onto microfiche ( if you need to look up what microfiche is, then you are not old enough to remember pre-LMS). When asked by an auditor or some other official to prove training occurred, it would take days to retrieve the information. Today we live in an environment of I want and need the information now. Any attempt to delay the delivery of information looks like a cover-up. So the next time you are brewing your morning cup of coffee through the LMS, remember quick proof of training is why we have and need an LMS.