Self-Deception and the "Box" 1  Bud It was a brilliant summer morning shortly before nine, and I was hurrying to the most important meeting of my new job at Zagrum Company. As I walked across the tree-lined grounds, I recalled the day two months earlier when I had first entered the secluded campus-style headquarters to interview for a senior management position. I had been watching the company for more than a decade from my perch at one of its competitors and had tired of finishing second. After eight interviews and three weeks spent doubting myself and waiting for news, I was hired to lead one of Zagrum’s product lines. Now, four weeks later, I was about to be introduced to a senior management ritual peculiar to Zagrum: a daylong one-on-one meeting with the executive vice president, Bud Jefferson. Bud was the right-hand man to Zagrum’s president, Kate Stenarude. And due to a shift within the executive team, he was about to become my new boss. Click below to download this excerpt from Leadership and Self-Deception.

The time and energy company managers spend trying to keep their people focused on results is substantial. In fact it is a major resource drain that significantly undermines company performance. Managers must, therefore, find effective ways to unleash the potential of their people and ensure that they are in sync with their company’s visions and objectives. But how? Click below to download this White Paper.

Implementing a new training program or initiative can be overwhelming. There are a lot of moving parts, and it's easy for things to fall through the cracks. Oftentimes, the main focus is the launch, and then program managers adopt a "set it and forget it" mindset once the program is up and running. But every phase from planning to execution to analysis is important! Breaking down the process into phases and creating an overview of what you need to accomplish in each phase will help you prioritize and ensure nothing gets missed. In addition to helping you feel more organized, this approach will help guide your program. You'll determine how you'll calculate ROI, as well as how you're aligning initiatives to organizational goals and values - two things that are important for leadership buy-in and continued support! In this comprehensive checklist, you'll learn what should be done in each phase to make your program successful. You'll also learn: All the details you need to think through before launch What your focus should be during implementation How to gather feedback and refine your program Also, check out the new BizLibrary Video Lessons Collection - TrainingMagNetwork.com membership benefit.  

Action-based learning allows learners to implement what they have learned in real-world scenarios. Although content-based learning has been dominating the training industry for the past few decades, action-based learning is the only way to really get employees to practice, apply, and improve their skills. This infographic shows how active learning affects the brain and encourages knowledge retention, engagement, and team work. Click below to download.

A sales rep turns a corner while driving to one of the biggest calls of the year when a jolt from under his car forces a change of plans: he just ran over a pothole and now needs to swap out his tire, except he’s never actually done a tire change by himself before. There’s no time to wait for AAA so he must figure it out himself. What does he do? In 2019, he calmly pulls up YouTube and watches a user-generated video demonstration of exactly how to perform the tire change on the make, model and year of his car, before turning around, grabbing his tools, and successfully executing the task himself. Within twenty minutes he’s back on the road driving toward the meeting feeling ready for anything. This is what it feels like to be ready in a world where you can pull a device out of your pocket and extract whatever day-to-day lessons you need from somebody else’s life experiences. Sales reps already use consumer apps like Waze to learn about open routes in real time based on other drivers’ experience of current road conditions, or Duolingo so they can practice and learn new languages using friendly competition with other would-be travelers. But what about the tasks involving the actual substance of salespeople’s work? What if our rep were to hit a different kind of "pothole" that day: one in the form of a text message from his internal champion letting him know that the company’s CFO would be joining the call unexpectedly? He doesn’t normally call on CFOs, and would need a five-minute debrief with a colleague to understand the pertinent discussion points to use, but no one is available right now. Click below to download this eBook.

In today’s workforce, change is the only constant - and the pace of change is accelerating. Again and again, organizations must adapt to a competitive environment filled with emerging disruptions. Even the disruptors are being disrupted! No industry is immune, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. How can you make sure that your organization is prepared to navigate through periods of transformation - to not merely do things a little differently than before, but make fundamental changes? This guidebook takes a deep dive into a people-first approach to true transformation. Experts like Dean Carter and William Tincup offer their perspectives on: Putting your people first when planning for digital transformation Navigating the future of talent management Leveraging transformational changes in recruiting Ensuring HR plays a pivotal leadership role in your transformation plans Meeting the challenges of AI and automation head-on

Employers are beginning to realize the vital role that feedback plays in employee development. In an effort to provide more meaningful feedback, many organizations are moving away from traditional yearly performance reviews in favor of ongoing coaching conversations. When managers act as coaches, they provide employees with timely and specific feedback that helps them grow and develop continuously. Ongoing coaching allows employees to correct or continue behaviors on a regular basis, instead of leaving them wondering what they should have done differently to receive a five instead of a four on their yearly review. Developing the coaching skills of your managers and leaders will give them the tools they need to deliver feedback and create real change in their employees and the organization. It won't happen overnight, but developing your managers' coaching skills is a worthwhile endeavor that can help reduce turnover, improve employee engagement and performance, drive business results, and move your organization forward. In this ebook, your managers will learn about popular coaching methods and have a chance to work through prompts to help them identify areas of improvement. They'll also learn: Why coaching skills are important Key competencies for effective coaching The coaching formula that helps improve performance

How do you know if your learning management system is effective in developing your employees? As talent leaders, you need to upskill, reskill, and continually expand your employees' capabilities. The urgency of developing your workplace has never been greater. Here's why: 34% employees have already left a job because they lacked career development opportunities. Effective 2020, approximately 35% of the skills needed for jobs across industries will change. According to research by SHRM, over 50% of HR professionals believe the skills shortage has gotten worse instead of better. Many use an LMS to help solve for these challenges, but most learning platforms aren't equipped with effective tools to tie learnings to long terms skills and career development. That's where this guide comes in. Get the 7 questions you should be asking now to see if your platform can solve these challenges.

Engaging Your Students through Unconventional Teaching and Online Technology In the last decade, academic institutions at all levels have begun introducing nontraditional pedagogies that combine traditional brick-and-mortar teaching with online, on-demand learning. These new approaches to teaching, referred to as "blended learning," have been driven by advances in video technology, increasing network speed, and changes in student expectations. They aim to improve student engagement, knowledge retention, and ultimately, academic achievement. Among all of the approaches to blended learning, one has garnered more media attention, reported more tangible results, and gained the support of more educators than any other — the "flipped classroom." In just the last four years, flipping the classroom has evolved from an obscure experiment to a mainstream model for improving the student learning experience in universities and school districts around the world. Click below to download the eBook.

The Playbook to Driving Employee Engagement with Language Learning. In collaboration with HR Dive, this playbook covers everything you need to know about driving employee engagement and retention with a language learning program. Learn about how organizations are expanding their benefits packages to include language learning, the business outcomes that language learning leads to, and how to get started with implementing a program.