A partnership with speech analytics company CallMiner has helped contact center provider Afni harness the power of big data, become more effective in coaching its agents, and identify opportunities for targeted training.

The more you know your customers and how each of their interactions with you is experienced, the better you can enhance their total experience to make it legendary.

Versatility is the ability to recognize differences in communication preferences and to adapt to make others more open and receptive—creating more effective and productive relationships.

Research shows that common characteristics of what makes a good boss include: My best boss listened. My best boss backed me up. My best boss respected me.

Host leadership is about building relationships—at work, in the community, in society, at home—to engage others. This engagement is the key ingredient that leads to increased performance and results.

As you move your programs to the virtual classroom, start by making sure your instructional designers are virtually competent. Then, task your trainers with the following goal: facilitate virtual classroom learning experiences that meet or exceed the learning outcomes expected in a traditional face-to-face experience.

When people become comfortable questioning and challenging assumptions about work, it often becomes clear that redesigning the work—doing it in a new way than was originally specified—is often the best option.

Sixty-seven percent of employees report that more than half of the meetings they attend are of no value, according to a recent study. Apparently, we’ve cured many diseases, but not one for the common meeting.

Nearly 50 percent of Tenaris’s white collar employees indicated on two separate surveys in two years that their performance reviews were not helping improve their job performance. In response, Tenaris implemented the Feedback Actions Campaign to improve the annual performance evaluation process for more than 7,000 employees.

No matter how thoughtful and well-designed the training, you still need to make sure all the right factors are in place to care for and nurture it through that critical and precarious incubation period. If the climate is suitable for learning transfer, the training sticks, thrives on its own, and ultimately blossoms into fruitful returns.