Continuous learning is critical to the professional success of adults, whether they're learning about the latest innovations in their industry, updating their sales skills, receiving customer service training, developing their leadership abilities, or simply getting onboarding training as few hires. Today, using technology to aid in learning is critical. For some organizations, training provided by a basic learning management system (LMS) is sufficient if you just need to launch and track completion of canned content. But if you want to drive knowledge throughout your workforce, your organization requires more.  

Sales is in an effectiveness crisis, with 47% of sales professionals failing (according to CSO Insights studies). It's easy to blame outside factors. But the truth is, if we're going to turn sales performance around, we have to take a good, hard look at sales process.  To achieve consistent results, your sales team needs an actionable and measurable sales process consisting of your best practices. It needs to be repeatable and easy to follow. Download this white paper to: Learn why mapping out a formalized sales process is worth the effort. Get practical guidance on how to do it successfully. Learn how technology makes effective execution achievable for any sales organization. See inside an organization that increased their profit margin by 50% by better executing their sales strategy.

Recursive learning and Creativity   Learning is a creative process. We start with a question, a challenge, a problem, an opportunity or possibly simple or complex tasks. Then we go back to asking more questions. Because of what we want to do, accomplish or learn, our minds go through discovery and creativity.   The focus of this tip is on Recursive Learning and Creativity. People learn recursively. We connect past experiences, with new experiences, and formulate new insights.    These then, become part of our new and improved expertise. Doing these repeatedly help us build skills, mastery and expertise.   The compounding effect of incremental insights show us where our interest areas are, and where our vocation and our passion lie. People tend to do things that give them pleasure. What gives them pleasure allows them to pursue interests. Eventually and along the way, our expertise is rooted in our passions and vocations, whether we are consciously or just unknowingly pursuing them.   Generating insights is normal and common. But deepening insights which is a creative process requires some level of intensity and penetration of desire. Is it difficult to attain? Not really.   It is easily provided when it is incremental - thinking through your insights as it happens is where the epiphany is. It is like when you eat really great food at a 5-Star Michelin restaurant. It is at the moment when your taste buds savor the flavor - at that moment - where experience is highest. This is the moment of ecstatic insights, sometimes euphoria or the Aha! moment. This is similar to the feeling when one generates fresh ideas to change a product and improve services in order to achieve organizational goals. This is similar to the Aha! moment when one discovers the connection between two previously unrelated concepts. According to David Jones, "Aha! moments may be sudden, but they probably depend on an unconscious mental process that has grown slowly." Jones argues further that we can't truly have new ideas, rather, we can connect existing facts or notions by observing others.  The Social Component of Creativity Creativity does not occur in a vacuum. Experts agree that while creativity or insight is a personal experience, "creative thinking is not so much about an individual trait but rather a social phenomenon involving interactions among people within their specific group or cultural settings."   By curating and sharing back to the community "prompt questions," members find it easier or faster to direct their attention to answers and therefore facilitate discovery and insights.   The most intriguing part about prompt questions is that it sends or kicks off learners into an automatic recursive learning process. When we ask questions, our minds go on autopilot to find what we already know, then search outside to discover what else we can learn about. This allows us to reflect and gain insights -- this is recursive learning or creative musing in action. This happens in milliseconds. Although this is most often unconscious, it is most effective in learning and gaining insights.   Prompt Questions Facilitate Thinking To help members in TrainingMagNetwork.com, we provided a prompt-question-driven search engine. It starts with "I want to learn about__________." After members search a phrase, the results go beyond showing a list of resources. It also presents related prompt-question search outcomes.  See the list under "Also try..." (See Image - 1)  Furthermore, when the member clicks "See all questions", a list of prompt questions appear in a categorized format. See Image-2) Both these steps facilitate the learners’ "creative musings." We introduced the process called "Path2X trending" which means that as you add and record insights, you are able to see your "crumbs" - where you have been and what you have been thinking aloud, and the interests you are pursuing and the knowledge and learning that you are accumulating. In essence you are building expertise, but instead of a whimsical and tentative way, we allow members to see the trends of their insights. Here are the two phases of creative musing:  1. Generative phase - During this phase, one tends to generate different solutions to a given problem. Also known as the divergent phase, the creative mind is in a brainstorming mode and tries to consider a variety of ways in which a problem can be approached and a solution can be had. This is what we commonly call "out of the box" thinking.   2. Exploratory/Evaluative phase - Also known as the convergent phase, during this phase the creative mind tends to focus on the best solution to the problem. No longer is the mind brainstorming ideas, rather, with surgical precision, it decides on what to do and faces the problem head on.  According to Robert L. DeHaan, "During the generative process, the creative mind pictures a set of novel mental models as potential solutions to a problem. In the exploratory phase, we evaluate the multiple options and select the best one." Conclusion Creativity is the result of incremental and recursive learning. While we tend to think of it as an innate talent, it cannot be separated from the social context. As a matter of fact, it is enhanced by social interaction as observed from the curated "prompt questions" by TMN members. With "Path2X trending," members can focus and see the trend of their creative musings.

What are the obligations of managers? The answer to this question varies from organization to organization based upon a number of factors such as industry, culture, department, skill level of the team, etc. Regardless of the organization, at the very heart of this question lies a dilemma. If you need compliance, or supervision of employees, the things your organization needs managers to do well has a clear, well-delineated set of guidelines and boundaries. On the other hand, if the answer leans towards the successful achievement of goals, the things you need managers to do well are probably less defined. The objective of this eBook is to offer some insight into what we see as emerging principles in employee coaching for managers. The marketplace is changing, and so are our workplaces. While many traditional coaching models provide excellent guidance, they may not fully prepare our managers for success, without some modifications, for successful coaching experiences with today's workforce.  

As a training program manager, you likely spend a significant amount of time thinking about how to increase employee participation to ensure impact, value, and return on investment. Check out BizLibrary's "A Reason For Learning Every Season" resource to foster marketing & awareness for learning and development, so you can help your people take it upon themselves to learn something new and improve efficiency. Click below to download this White paper.

This is the second installment of of my five-part blog series on helping members of TrainingMagNetwork understand their expertise better. We believe in unshackling our thinking and providing learners as much access to content and this is what this post is about.   Trainers and content developers can no longer hold back learners from using other sources of knowledge. There is a breaking away from control as these new discoveries continue to sprout like mushrooms. This allows them to accelerate learning. It is in this openness that we encourage the learners to explore, create and develop. The Proliferation of Open Learning We have witnessed the dramatic increase in open learning. If you have been following the online trends, you will have noticed the popularity of sites like Coursera, edX and other spinoffs. The dramatic decrease in cost of producing learning materials contributes to the proliferation of open learning.   According to Caswell, Henson, Jensen, and David Wiley, "This marked decrease in costs has significant implications and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At relatively little additional cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of life of learners around the world."   But the cost is just one aspect. While technology made open learning easy, it is the current attitude requiring more flexibility and collaboration in learning that made this possible. Rigid and traditional approach to learning is a thing of the past.     According to Liyanagunawardena, Adams, and Williams, "Connectivity is usually provided through social networking, and a set of freely accessible online resources provides the content or the study material... For example, MOOC participants may create their own blog posts discussing aspects of the MOOC in different spaces and/or may use microblogs such as Twitter to express themselves."   eLearning pioneers like Jay Cross are advocating informal learning wherein unofficial and impromptu encounters between learners and people in the know take place. Jay posts that "formal training and workshops account for only 5% to 20% of what people learn from experience and interactions."   If you are a lifelong learner, you can find free and open courses at Harvard Open Learning. Are you looking for a new recipe to cook for lunch? You can just head to Youtube, watch a video and turn yourself into an instant chef. We haven't witnessed this level of openness before and this is just the tip of the iceberg. With technological development mostly done in the open, the high level of interactivity required to respond to modern challenges and the attitude of modern learners all converge to spice up Open Learning. The concept of Open learning is far more vast than what we have witnessed and I believe the best is yet to come.   The Philosophy Behind TrainingMagNetwork's Open Learning  Richard Baraniuk shares his vision of open learning which led to the creation of OpenStax, an open-source, online education system which allows teachers to share and modify course materials freely and globally. Different programs have varied degrees of openness and diverse implementations of the concept of Open Learning.   Over 50,000 (growing) blogs, white papers, articles, webinar recordings, live webinars, case studies, special reports, and many more At TrainingMagNetwork.com, we allow the members to search over 50,000 blogs and resources (growing each day). We believe we can only serve the learners by enabling them to access quickly, assist them to search with prompt questions and discover what they want in the abundance of content. They drive the learning - not us nor the designers, or any form of formal structure. In fact, we don't have a hierarchical learning design that is typical of other associations and learning providers. 

On July 30, author and keynote speaker Bob Kelleher will present a webinar for Training Mag Network members and our  guests based upon his research and findings on the topic of his new book, Employee Engagement. Bob has generously provided several chapters of the book for you to download as a preview.  We start with Chapter 7. Chapter 7 People Who Lead People: Engaging Employees through Leadership In This Chapter: Differentiating between management and leadership Identifying leadership‐based engagement drivers Knowing why top leaders must buy in Identifying behaviors and traits of engaged leaders Training engaged leaders Recognizing the importance of coaching Identifying leadership best practices  

It’s common for venues to claim to be one-size-fits-all, but most are equipped for one type of event and ill-suited for others. So how do you find the ideal venue for your group’s needs? To help you navigate the labyrinth of offerings, the expert planning team at The National Conference Center has put together a comprehensive list of key factors any planner should consider when selecting a venue for a meeting, training or event. Click below to download this White paper.

This is the third installment of the five-part blog series about the The All-New TrainingMagNetwork.com Open Learning Environment. At Training Magazine Network, we capture the crumbs of insights as they happen. This level of self-awareness enables our members to keep track of their train of thought. While in webinars, reading white papers, watching videos, etc., members can quickly record the ripple of their insights. They also encourage real-time noting, sharing and tracking of other members' insights.   Savor the moment. As members go through all types of content that they find interesting through the help of a powerful search engine, they are constantly encouraged to record their insights as it happens. The key idea is to allow them to document what piqued their interest at the moment. Their learning preferences and interest areas are captured by the system. This provides them a unique perspective of their pursuit of expertise. Why Evaluate Insight? The idea behind evaluating one's insight is established by a huge quantum of studies. Organizations discover that giving appropriate feedback enhances personnel's ability to grow. As a matter of fact, neglecting a good evaluation or feedback mechanism is a recipe for disaster. According to Jane Bozarth "We often treat evaluation as an afterthought, focus on measures that offer little real information, or, when the effort looks difficult, just don't do evaluation at all. In looking at evaluation strategies, choose those that will get you what you need. Are you trying to prove results, or drive improvement? And above all, remember: some evaluation is better than none."  A founder of Triad Consulting Group and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, Sheila Heen delivers a talk on the importance of feedback. Giving the right kind of feedback takes center stage in sharing and tracking of other people's insights. Technology-Enhanced Feedback Mechanism  There are a lot of advantages in using technology as a feedback mechanism. First of all, the time and distance constraint is easily overcome. A good LMS (Learning Management System) can easily incorporate feedback mechanisms like forums where learners can discuss the ripples of insight.   Through this mechanism, peer learners can easily assess and give feedback on each other's ideas. This can be personalized even in a large group. On top of that, real-time tracking of feedback is easy with fast data transfer.    Insights Leading to Path to Expertise (Path2X)   The Training Magazine Network just released the first-of-its-kind member service we call Path to Expertise or Path2X. It incorporates a technology-enhanced feedback mechanism.

On July 30, author and keynote speaker Bob Kelleher will present a webinar for Training Mag Network members and our  guests based upon his research and findings on the topic of his new book, Employee Engagement. Bob has generously provided several chapters of the book for you to download as a preview.  Here is Chapter 10. Chapter 10 Brandy, You’re a Fine Girl: Driving Engagement through Branding In This Chapter: Looking at the relationship between branding and engagement Defining who you are through your employee value proposition Branding internally and externally Using tri-branding to your advantage