Leaders read the headlines. They know about the survey data. The linkages between career development and productivity gains, expense reduction, quality improvements, innovation, and bottom-line results are obvious. And yet most organizations are still poor at growing talent. It's time to elevate the career conversation to its rightful ranks - give it the respect and title it deserves. Talking with people about their careers is a competency - perhaps the most powerful and under-utilized one at the leader's disposal.

Global virtual teams are becoming the "new normal" as businesses expand across borders and as skill shortages force companies to tap into broader talent pools. Made possible by technology advances, the global virtual team offers many advantages, including:   obtaining an international perspective on business challenges and solutions achieving economies of scale leveraging complementary work cycles that allow 24/7 productivity harnessing best talent, wherever it is located accelerating innovation and product launches enhancing local knowledge and presence Companies increasingly rely on global virtual teams to foster growth and innovation, yet too often these teams are assembled without a clear process to ensure success. Global virtual teams represent a high stakes commitment, so it is imperative that these teams have a proven framework to promote optimal functioning.

Many companies approach orientation like it's a formality. It has to be done, but no one wants to waste too much time on it. So, new employees are ushered in, given a quick tour of the office and a rundown of the benefits offered, and then they're expected to get right to work. It seems leaders assume that more detailed information on things like the company's processes and customers will simply be absorbed by new hires as they go along.  

How can companies expand when voluntary turnover is high and building employee engagement is tougher than ever? In a recent webinar, "Creating an Organization Built to Last - Based on the Bestseller ‘The Alliance," celebrated author and high tech startup advisor, investor, and industry influencer Chris Yeh discussed how The Alliance Framework can transform the way employees and managers view their relationship.. The Alliance Framework is a management strategy born out of Silicon Valley’s unparalleled success in attracting, retaining, and engaging employees. This new approach to recruiting and talent management challenges companies to think of their employees not as hired guns, but rather as partners within the organization. The partnership is built around common goals and the framework suggests that each can still thrive, even when individual goals differ.

Discover how a Whole Brain® approach can transform the ideation process. Explore some of the specific Whole Brain® ideation, experimentation and problem-solving processes the team used. Learn how this global liquor giant was able to come up with and successfully implement a number of groundbreaking new marketing ideas by injecting Whole Brain® Thinking into their innovation process. Find Out how the "killer" marketing ideas that resulted from the Whole Brain® approach directly led to increased merchandising sales that outperformed the competition, as well as double-digit brand growth.

"Getting by" calls for answering some age old questions in a brand-new year. As the American economy continues to try to recover, many workers begin to wonder if another round of layoffs will occur in their companies. While jobs are being added in the government sector, the growth of new jobs in the private sector has been slow.  Businesses, even those doing well, have shown a reluctance to invest when there are so many uncertainties.  

I’ve come to realize over the years that some of life’s best lessons are learned in some rather strange locations. One of the oddest places at which I’ve "gone to school" has to be the ice show at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. The teacher was a performer named Albert Lucas.

It’s probably occurred to you that the comedian’s art and the trainer’s art have a lot in common. Over the years, I’ve worked with Disney Institute and Disney University and their trainers a number of times. And on these trips, I take advantage of the opportunity to learn from them, as well.

The comparison between training games and videos (or lectures, or textbooks, or e-learning, or webinars, or any other training technique) is as meaningless as comparing apples and oranges.

Motivation is the energy that accelerates behavior. Often trainers and instructional designers devote a lot of effort in designing reward strategies, convinced that finding the right reward for the right participant will endow the participant with the motivation to learn. Many of us think of motivation as a "carrot and stick" kind of enterprise, with the mechanism influencing motivation located externally. This chapter will help trainers to choose whether to use reward strategies, and if so, how to use them wisely, with a greater understanding of the consequences of their choices.

The real benefit of e-learning is being able to create a design that improves learners’ skills and behavior while simultaneously achieving the operational advantages that e-learning offers organizations. Yet much e-learning is composed of largely wasted opportunities for useful interactivity. What most people fail to understand about e-learning, is that the mere presence of technology in a learning environment does not change the essential aspects of how people learn. Learning does not occur passively. In live teaching, lecture formats with minimal activity on the part of the learner do not work very well. Yet some e-learning designers tend to create e-learning lessons that are little more than exercises in listening or reading. Learners need to be intellectually engaged for learning to happen. Lasting change requires meaningful and compelling mental engagement and interaction.