Many companies are still fighting the leadership "War for Talent." But they are fighting over too few people for too many positions. A better strategy would be to focus on building their leadership talent from within, starting with the solid performers already on the team. Press the play below to listen to the full podcast The War for Talent. Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Have you ever heard, "I know that at some point our company worked on a project similar to this one."? Chances are you have. And typically when this statement comes up, thoughts of wishing that the notes, people, calendars, and artifacts were readily available began dancing in someone’s head. Sadly, however, a lot of organizations do not have the ability to rapidly gather this information together. This could be due to the information being contained in old email messages, file shares, people’s minds, or in some physical archive location. Not to mention, even if the information could be gathered, how do you know that you have a complete record of what occurred previously? And to gather this information would take more work than simply starting from scratch. This past weekend, a friend of my wife’s came over to discuss her upcoming wedding plans. She was a bridesmaid at our wedding and wanted to pick my wife’s brain as to ideas that she could use for her wedding. After all of the squealing and congratulatory words were exchanged, my wife immediately went to the home office to gather all of her notes from our big day. As the discussion progressed, it became very apparent that my wife did not have all of the notes that she was looking for, as was evident by the number of times I was asked questions. Our wedding was a pretty big affair; as such, I had trouble keeping up with all of the moving pieces. As I am in computers and I use SharePoint in my professional life, I decided that this was a major project that needed to have a SharePoint solution implemented if for nothing else than to allow me to keep my sanity. I set up a SharePoint site with the appropriate lists and libraries that I thought I would need to have and then called a meeting with my bride to be and our wedding planner. I went over the purpose of the site and how to use it with them. As a part of our "training session," we uploaded or entered the information that we had at the time. They also had other ideas that they wanted to have incorporated into the site, and we were able to kick off our SharePoint solution.  Through the remaining months of planning for the wedding, we used the site constantly to keep information updated along with discussing different aspects of the wedding. As time went on, the site became pretty large and extensive. After our wedding, I was really pleased when our wedding planner told me that our wedding, though large, was the easiest wedding she had to keep up with. She did not have to wonder if a certain vendor was selected or what the different choices were that we made. Now fast-forward to this past weekend. When I realized that a lot of the small details were forgotten, I logged into the wedding solution, and almost as if by magic, we all were transported back in time to the months leading up the wedding. If the information for the wedding could be scanned or entered into the solution, it was available. We even had all of the email messages that were going back and forth in the appropriate libraries. Needless to say, the questions directed at me were greatly diminished at this point. Although I specialize in using SharePoint to develop solutions to complex problems, the wedding site was really simple. It consisted of a handful of lists and libraries, a discussion board, and calendar. And through using this simple site, we were able to coordinate the details of a wedding, reception, and honeymoon. And if I recall correctly, it only took me about an hour to set up the site along with another 30 minutes of training. And the value of the having the information in the site readily available for my wife to share with her friend allowed her to get a huge jump start on planning her upcoming wedding. In the end as I was reflecting on this, I thought that this is exactly the type of experience that businesses are looking for as well. Traditionally, there may have been paper files scattered throughout the organization or electronic files located in different file shares. In the end, the possibility of not seeing the whole picture always exists. We have to remember that the SharePoint platform is a great resource to use for coordinating the efforts of a current team’s activities. It also continues to pay dividends for organizations as serving as an archive platform.  After all, why start from scratch if you are able to leverage a previous project in order to gain an advantage?

Watch to see  how maintenance reliability and a learning strategy can enable business growth objectives.

Addressing the Craft Skills Trade Shortage: How to Find and Train Talent in Today’s Economy

When you think about compliance training, do you think it’s about knowing something or doing something? Last week, and in previous opportunities to speak on the subject of taking compliance beyond read and agree, I introduced the concept of Performance-Based Compliance Training, or PBCT. This concept is about expecting the learner to go beyond just knowing something. It’s about expecting them to actually do something. The concept of PBCT always brings a lot of questions, not so much about what it is, but more about how you do it. How do you create training that actually results in improved performance? So I challenged the group to do the following: Pick a compliance topic (one that could be a performance improvement opportunity) Determine terminal objective (what you want them to be able to do when they are finished) Develop enabling objectives that have the side benefit of improving job or task performance Think of one creative way to help the learner apply what they have learned (interactivity) If you would like, you can review the recorded webinar by clicking here. I’ll start you off with an example. Say you need to train someone on the topic of how to interact with vendors. You have specific policies and guidelines on this subject, but there can be many gray areas, so it’s just not good enough to tell them that whenever they have contact with a vendor who is related to them, they must report it. They may actually need to be placed in the situation so that they can make the best decisions. Notice how I use the term "best" decision. Not all decisions are completely right or completely wrong, but some are better than others. In the end (note: terminal objective), you want the learner to use his/her best judgment to comply with the policy, and that means you have to enable them (thus, enabling objective) to make that decision in a safe, virtual environment rather than when they are put on the spot in real life. It’s a perfect opportunity for a conversation-based scenario like the one seen here:   We can all benefit from sharing how we would turn a compliance training need into a performance improvement opportunity. Please feel free to post your responses here. Also, stay tuned for our follow-up, with lots more examples using simple tools, at the upcoming webinar Taking Compliance Beyond Read and Agree - Part Two. October 4, 2012 at 2 p.m. ET- Register here: https://gpstrategies.webex.com/gpstrategies/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=254255716 Please share and see you in a couple of weeks.

The other day I heard a news story about the validity (or not) of user reviews on consumer products. To make their point, the reporter interviewed a marketing research expert, and together they profiled hotel reviews on the well-known sites TripAdvisor and Expedia. The question asked of the expert was how the average person can tell if these reviews are authentic, a competitor looking to sabotage, or self-promotion by the establishment. It didn’t surprise me to learn that well-written false reviews are nearly impossible to spot. Recently, I have been engaged in a number of conversations about this topic in relation to the use of user-generated content combined with social technology in the learning space. When it comes to training and user-generated content, the questions are numerous, but the one that is asked by every stakeholder (and supported by their general council office) is the same: How do we ensure that the content published by users is accurate and supports our message? I’ve heard a number of responses to this question, but ultimately it breaks down into two main points: trust the learners and provide strong governance. I find the notion of trusting the learner to be very compelling. On the news report I listened to, the expert’s words of wisdom about verifying accuracy of product reviews included telling savvy readers to look skeptically at reviews that rank a product on the extreme ends of the spectrum, and then cross-check reviews with other sites and sources. The expert assured us that with enough research, we will probably arrive fairly close to the truth of the matter. When it comes to matter of vacations or making dinner reservations, I am motivated enough to take the extra steps needed to verify the accuracy of reviews—especially if it’s for an important event or I’m spending a significant amount. Learners are taking similar steps. When collaborative learning environments provide enough information and input from a variety of roles and positions, we see learners engage with the user-generated content to ensure it is accurate and what they need. Similar to users on consumer sites, the learning community is also providing self-governance of the content, often quickly correcting information or providing additional context or details. Going forward, user-generated content and collaborative learning strategies should deliberately include tactics that will support and encourage this level of learner ownership and involvement.

RWD is now GP Strategies! RWD has adopted the GP Strategies name, logo and tagline. Though they may look different, they are still putting innovative learning strategies and transformative performance solutions into motion as part of GP Strategies. Rest assured - with GP Strategies, you will always find the knowledge and performance your company needs to make a lasting impact in the marketplace. Visit our new solutions page at www.gpstrategies.rwd.com.

The Keys to Mobile Technology User-Adoption: Motivation, Excitement and Value

Maintaining momentum after a program launch is often problematic. The core implementation team disbands and moves on. Energy flags. What is needed instead is the enduring support of communities of practice, populated not only with rising stars, but also with the normal mix of personalities. That means we will have to deal with a normal variability in commitments to the new direction and in the willingness to absorb change. The sad reality is that most team efforts don’t live long beyond the spark and fire of the original burst of change. Click the play button below to listen to the full podcast.

Creativity is an elusive beast: turning up in the most unusual places, but also liable to be scared off like a rabbit at the first sight of a dog. You can’t just assume that it will turn up and, once it’s there, you can’t assume it will be good. In terms of project management, it’s like a flood: something you can kind of plan for, but don’t really fully appreciate the severity of until the cold water pours over the top of your rain boots. Good learning solutions are often creative ones. Creative within a framework that is: according to a great learning methodology. Whilst learning doesn’t have to be structured, often within corporate settings it is, and in this context we want learning to be creative, to make it interesting, but rigorous, and to ensure it’s valid and actionable. So what is creativity and how do we capture it? Creativity may mean ‘not just doing it the same as last time’. It may mean coming at a subject from a different angle. It may simply mean great storytelling or great technical design. In fact, it means all of these things and more. It doesn’t mean ‘expensive’, and it certainly shouldn’t just mean using lots of flashy animations or special effects. Creativity may mean we use lots of clever features, but just using clever features doesn’t make something creative. It may just make it incoherent. If it’s so hard to define creativity, how can we capture it? Who is responsible for the creativity within your project? Is it one person, or is there a shared responsibility and, if so, can you manage collective creativity? Or are you being too creative and need more of an anchor in structured reality? It’s easy for the cart to overrun the horse and pull us along in a frenetic and slightly terrifying ride! At a practical level, I think we need to recognise that creative solutions are often more engaging than uncreative ones because they capture our interest and attention. Having accepted this, we need to ensure that we create space for creativity to flourish. We may not be able to guarantee that it grows, but we can help to ensure that it’s not choked by weeds. The things that typically stifle creativity are process and review. Process can deliver the structure for a piece of learning without ever thinking about creativity and review can easily take something creative and neuter it. So we need to counter this by retaining a broad perspective: we need process and we need review, but we need to be able to rise above this and look down to ask the question: is this still creative? Is this still effective? Creativity should not be something we seek to deploy, it should be at the heart of what we do: creativity but with rigour. Producing learning experiences that feel attractive, that capture your imagination and attention, but which also have the structure that helps us learn. They set a context, they demonstrate what we have to do and give us room to explore and reflect on this. They just do it in a creative way and then help us take individual footsteps from the learning back into our everyday reality.  

Searching for art that "speaks" to me is very similar to taking training. I am pulled in when the course resonates with my emotional sense and doesn’t just talk to my intellectual mind…click the play button below to listen to the full podcast.

How often have you attended a virtual training session and really had to interact with the presenter or other members in the meeting? Think about the last time you dialed into a virtual meeting: Were you multi-tasking and only paying attention to 50% of the information that was being delivered? Be honest! Did you hear any background noise, such as a lawn mower outside? Did several people talk over each other on the phone? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then you may be in agreement with the statistic that only one in five people consider their company to be very effective at virtual training. As companies are cutting travel budgets to attend instructor-led training, they are seeking new ways to deliver the same material virtually. Many times they will schedule a virtual training session and have the facilitator present the material over the web. How can this facilitator gauge audience participation and ensure that the three questions above do not happen in his/her training session? To start, the format of the material has to be specifically designed for virtual training; the same design that was used for instructor-led training will not work for virtual training. When designing the materials, use lots of images to convey the ideas and content, rather than text on a page. Build in short activities to engage participants every three to five minutes, such as sending chat questions, pointing to objects on the screen, and asking poll questions. Ideally, for a 60-minute virtual training session, there should be 35 minutes devoted to actual lecture and 25 minutes for interactions. Given all of these interactions, you’re probably wondering how one facilitator can be presenting material, sending out chat questions, collecting responses, and speaking on the phone all at the same time. What if a participant has a question about performing an interaction or has difficulty joining the virtual session? This is where having a moderator available will help. The moderator can help participants with technical issues, send out chat questions, ask poll questions, and review responses. It also helps to have another voice speaking on the phone to keep the session interesting. The facilitator and the moderator will control the session by asking participants to mute their phone lines until it is time to answer a question. This will eliminate any background noise and distractions on the phone. Then, in order to avoid people talking over each other, the facilitator or moderator can ask specific people to speak at certain times or raise their hand to speak. This allows the conversations to be controlled at all times and keeps the virtual session focused. There are many other best practices and tools used to facilitate a virtual training session. I hope you can now comprehend the different preparations a facilitator must make for instructor-led training vs. virtual training. Studies have shown that participants can benefit by learning from virtual training just as much as instructor-led training. Now it’s time for more companies to build strong virtual training materials and practice delivering to virtual audiences so they can see the cost savings and benefits.

Caring is often overlooked in eLearning design. If a curriculum focuses only on the analytical objectives, then the program is at risk of being interpreted by the learners as anything from traditional, boring or even negative. As organizations deal with 21st century challenges such as corporate mistrust, distributed workforces, and pressures for mobile and agile learning, learning leaders and designers can make an enormous impact on their stakeholders by using relational learning strategies as a pillar of their future curriculum design. Click the play button below to listen to the full podcast.    

In an effort to counter the effects of jet lag when I fly a conference next week, I’ve been getting up ever earlier in the morning. Singapore is nine hours ahead of me here in England, a painful transition meaning that my midnight is their nine AM. Today I was up at four and out walking soon after and, let me tell you, the world is a very different place. By habit, I am a night owl. I would much rather be up late at a gig than up early to catch a train, so heading to bed at nine PM is a struggle. But, to compensate, there’s a whole world of people and views available to me in the pre-dawn light that I normally miss. It seems as though Westbourne is serviced at around five AM. Garbage trucks, telephone engineers, grocers, coffee shop proprietors, all seem hard at work at this time. Whilst it’s alien to me, this is their reality. In learning design, we need to understand the everyday reality of the learner: if their reality is getting up to start work at five AM, we need to understand this. The only thing I know with relative certainty is that their reality is unlikely to be like mine, so I need to do some work to tell any kind of story effectively. Somewhat like a newspaper pitching its editorial choices to their readership, so we need to pitch our learning design to our learners, and a core part of this is understanding their reality: are they used to formal learning in this role? Are they office based or on the road? Will they be assessed? Will the results of this learning impact their performance review? Does anyone case what we are doing? Is English a first language? What are the cultural dynamics of messaging coming from head office? And so on. It’s a long list. But it’s not just about pitching it right; it’s about using the right tone of voice and the correct level of pragmatism. When we are responsible for a particular piece of training, it’s so easy for us to work too hard setting the context. This is important to us all for all of these very important reasons… sometimes we even get someone senior in a suit to explain all this to people. If we spend so much effort setting this context, then we fail to recognise the everyday reality of the learner. This will only be one piece of learning amongst many that they do. Many will have a similar context and some may be concurrent. Is the guy in the suit part of my everyday reality? Does he have any relevance to me and my role? If not, why am I listening? Unless we subscribe to the positional view of authority, then do I listen just because he is in a suit, or my boss? Understanding everyday reality is not incidental to building successful learning: it’s integral, essential. For a story to have coherence, to have relevance, to stand a chance of being read and understood, it needs to have the right pitch, the right tone of voice. If your reality is early mornings and mine is late nights, we only have a narrow period to cross over in the middle of the day; we have to do everything we can to maximise this crossover and use it effectively. Originally published on Julian Stodd’s Learning Blog.

We are all experiencing a great transformation in our personal and consumer lives with the onslaught of amazing social platforms and functional utilities on our mobile devices. We see it every day, from apps that find us lunch and the best prices on products to ones that show us the constellations in the night sky and play our favorite music. Our amazement regarding these technologies is warranted, but we are slowly shifting from amazement to expectation. We are now expecting that there is an app for whatever we need and expecting to be empowered in a way that we weren’t just yesterday. At a recent business conference, I turned down the standard set of pamphlets, maps, and agendas, assuming I would be able to find it all on my phone. I was not disappointed. Is the transformation we’re experiencing in our personal lives being replicated in our workplace? For most, it is not. For both technical and philosophical reasons, some organizations—and some entire industries—have not been able to fully take advantage of these advances as quickly as they happen in the personal and consumer environments. Where adoption is more readily happening, it is usually in core business applications and rarely in learning and performance support solutions. Going social and mobile with learning. Social and mobile modalities are not new. We’ve been discussing them for over a decade. What is new, however, is the question for Learning and Development organizations: "Is there an app for learning and performance support in our workplaces, and are we using it effectively to meet our users/learners’ expectations?" First, let’s recap what we mostly agree on regarding these modalities: Mobile Mobile’s flexibility for the user/learner to engage outside of work and during non-business hours helps both the user and the organization tremendously. Short, digestible snippets work best. Mobile devices are perfect for communicating system or process changes and the resulting impacts and workarounds. Mobile devices are best suited for instances in a performance support mode when you are troubleshooting or trying to remember.  Social The power to connect across time, geography, culture, role, and business area is undeniable with social media. Social platforms very quickly allow a body of knowledge to be built, as opposed to dreaded email silos that trap nuggets of learning forever between the sender and receiver only. Success has been seen when allowing: Users to Rate Subject matter experts to Curate Business leaders to Moderate Corporate instances of social networks rarely discuss politics, lunch, or dancing cats. Blending the new with integral parts of the old. There are many more discussion points to consider regarding both social and mobile, but the key topic that must be addressed is that neither social nor mobile can stand alone. Just like ILT or WBT rarely provide a complete solution, neither will social or mobile when it comes to achieving a set of learning objectives surrounding a new initiative or desired performance shift. While these modalities do not provide a complete solution, they do provide significant affordances to positively influence learning and performance support solutions and will go a long way in boosting user engagement. GP Strategies is using the concept of Agile Learning to improve performance through the integration of both social and mobile as key elements of outcome-based learning campaigns. The flexibility and portability of these platforms make them perfect for tailoring programs to specific audiences and quickly updating program content based on learner feedback and changing business conditions. Look for more info regarding Agile Learning and outcome-based learning campaigns coming soon.  In the meantime, let us know how you’ve altered traditional ILT/WBT interventions by incorporating mobile and social into your curriculum/program design.

Recently I’ve attended two business conferences and two smaller gatherings of learning leaders. I’ve spoken with individuals who are initiative stakeholders, technical team leaders, and training directors about many of the same themes, including:   Workplace knowledge Its shelf life How to easily capture and disseminate it Lateral moves as a preferred professional career path Advances in the workplace happen so rapidly that if workers don’t continually educate themselves, their knowledge may become out of date. If we, as learning professionals, don’t evaluate and update the organization’s education resources and methods, learners will figure out their own avenues, many of them informal and collaborative. Years ago I was trained as an engineer and worked in that field for a decade before making a lateral move into consulting. Would I be equipped to return to work as an engineer today after years of doing other work? Probably not, unless I could refresh myself on the basics, and then fold in what has changed. Sounds like either a daunting task or an opportunity, depending on your outlook. But today, I’d have at my fingertips things like YouTube videos and online communities of practice that weren’t accessible "back in the day." When building or refreshing your skills, you add layers and build upon your foundational knowledge. Most of us experienced this gain moving from K through 12, and it’s held true for me in my professional and personal life. I draw analogies when I’m learning something new—analogies make the new tasks seem more familiar and easier to absorb. I heard an energy company retiree say that millennials actively seek out many different experiences in the workplace, versus starting in one organization and building a base of knowledge in that "silo." They aren’t opposed to lateral moves, and in fact, they volunteer for special assignments. The retiree’s concern was, "Does that type of movement help or hurt the corporate knowledge base?" I would argue that it helps as lateral moves give workers exposure across silos, not just inside of them. One could argue that is what consultants may enjoy about their work—the cycle of meeting new colleagues, gaining exposure to a new corporate culture, transitioning knowledge back into the organization, and then repeating the process somewhere else. I know of many people, millennials and other generations, who actively position themselves for future changes—purposeful lateral moves—so that the cadence of their work will better fit with their personal passions and obligations. So in closing, I challenge you to examine your environment, professional or personal: What’s the shelf life of your knowledge? What are the measures you have in place to capture and share knowledge? What types of moves are you planning (or dreaming about) in the next 5-10 years?

"The world is drowning in vast amounts of data!" - Mark Hurd, President, Oracle Software October 22, 2012 One of my key tests to evaluate where a technology trend is in terms of passing the tipping point and going mainstream is my extended family. Fortunately, they are not deeply immersed in the technology sector, so they are not exposed to marketing smoke and vaporware, and are not early adopters. However, they are all employed in organizations that would be impacted greatly by these trends. With regards to big data and the Cloud, I get blank stares from some of them, and some "boilerplate" gibberish from most of the others, but the majority claim to have heard the terms mentioned at work. That’s the beginning of significance on the trend for me! So, the buzz is spreading. The marketing hype is reaching astronomical scale. October’s Harvard Business Review cover highlights Big Data and its impact on the "Art of Management." The real caution point for me is that, yes, there is irrefutable evidence that data is growing exponentially. In fact, there are forecasts that state 50 billion devices will be supplying data back to businesses and enterprises by the end of the decade. However, there is scant evidence of companies either implementing big data analytics on a wide-scale basis or making significant ROI on their efforts. I am not saying that it’s not happening, but the big data vendors are doing most of the presenting of fictitious "case studies" and the potential benefits of big data applications versus actual companies reporting "case studies." In some cases, it’s because they are keeping those successes "internal" to maintain competitive advantage, but for the most part, it’s because we are still in the infancy stage and not everyone has the horsepower to attack it on a grand scale, even large companies. That, combined with the scarcity of data scientists, is holding many efforts back. For L&D, there are strong implications as this trend continues to build steam. It will impact every facet of your operations. CEOs will be asking for "actionable recommendations" to drive business outcomes based on the data in your LMSs and Talent Management databases. In many cases, they will expect that through the investments they have made in learning infrastructure over the last five years, combined with the existing resources/skills/competencies in the organization, they should to be able to gather, extract, assimilate, and analyze the learning data. They will be surprised at the pushback! The most succinct clarification of what big data means came from Gregory T. Huang’s report on Xconomy’s the Future of Big Data event in Boston: Depending on whom you ask, "big data" is either: A. Bullshit (Brad Feld) B. No substitute for judgment (David Friend) C. The marriage of corporate data with external data (Chris Lynch) D. Data that’s growing faster than Moore’s law (Richard Dale) What’s your answer? A, B, C, D, or All of the Above? So whether you are dipping your toes or beginning to feel like you are drowning, big data has arrived and you will be expected to swim in the deep part of the pool at some point. Get ready!

Engagement over time is valuable in learning, giving us time to reflect, to try things out back in the real world, to draw together our learning. Providing appropriate, flexible and easily accessible social learning spaces around formal learning experiences is one of the easiest and most effective ways of expanding our professional practice. The point of these spaces is to facilitate discussion and enable learners to play with the learning. Through appropriate challenge and moderation, it’s a way of making the learning more relevant, of making it more immediate. At a practical level, I find that it’s valuable to choreograph the spaces for social learning much as we would any other parts of the experience. Not choreograph the content of the discussions, after all, this is a semi formal social space and we want spontaneity, but rather to create the spaces and times for the discussion to take place. In a six week programme around coaching, I have looked at building in three distinct spaces for social learning: one at initiation, aimed at building common definitions and reflecting on current practice, one in the middle to explore new dimensions of the topic and challenge understanding and one at the end to share implementation ideas and bring issues back to the group. Three identical spaces, but each dealing with a new part of the narrative. The moderation needs to shift accordingly, from pulling people in at the start to keeping discussion on track in the middle and then building out a narrative at the end (more on stages of moderation here). This is a more nuanced approach than simply creating one space and leaving it to run: we are building a syllabus and a structure, a scaffolding for the conversation. Scaffolding the learning in this way is a valuable way of intervening without smothering the social aspects of the learning. Originally published on Julian Stodd’s Learning Blog

I know a young lady who intended to run her first marathon. She was active and did a lot of rock climbing, bike riding and ran some 5K races, but she never ran more than 7 or 8 miles at a time. She agreed to run this marathon because her boyfriend was doing it. Love does crazy things to a person. She is very driven and has always achieved the goals she set for herself and anyone who knows her knew she could do it, but more than once during the months of training preceding the 26.2 mile race she wondered if she was going to be able to cross the finish line. Like I said, she is driven, and she knew when she said "ok, I’ll do it", she needed a clear plan that would prepare her body and mind for the task. She researched training plans, diet requirements necessary to support such rigorous training, and identified the people who would supportively hold her accountable. The Marquette Marathon is a pre-qualifier to the Boston Marathon held in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was a cold, rainy September day when she finished the 26.2 miles a little slower than she anticipated, and half an hour behind her boyfriend. She was a little disappointed in her time, but she achieved her goal to run the marathon and the process of preparing for the event helped her stay focused through some difficult events in her life. Strategic intent can give us fortitude for dealing with tough times, too. People set intentions on all kinds of things; to get married or have children, to get a job or make a career change, lose weight, or travel to a foreign country. When you proclaim your intention and then act on it to demonstrate your commitment, amazing things occur. Here are some suggestions for taking the first steps towards successful strategic intent: 1. Get clear about your goal and write it down. 2. Share your intention with someone in a way that will supportively hold you accountable to taking action. 3. Do something today to demonstrate your commitment to your intention. 4. Acknowledge that you did what you said you would and then, take the next step. The same holds true when talking about an organizations’ strategic intent. As the speed of business continues to accelerate and change becomes even more of a constant, the ability for organizations to be nimble, agile and execute flawlessly can be the difference between thriving and extinction. Just as it is for individuals, the health and success of an organization depends on initiatives driven by clear strategic intentions. What is the health of your organization’s strategic intentions? Are you inspired to start running and cross the finish line?

As a follow-up to the blog post and podcast "I Hate My LMS", Don Duquette takes a look at a more fundamental question, "Do I need an LMS?"   Click the play button below to listen to the full podcast.

In today’s business environment, we are witnessing a momentous shift in the way that things are being done at organizations around the world. With the full-on acceptance of automation, multi-tasking, just in time information, Big Data cubes, and others, organizations have had to change the way that they conduct themselves in order to remain competitive. Listen to the full podcast "Answer the Why Question with SharePoint Solutions" by clicking the play button below.

GP Strategies’ Chief Financial Officer, Sharon Esposito-Mayer, discusses the corporation’s growth through the third quarter of 2012.

The ever-evolving business model is based on the orchestration of information and human capital—this harmonious combination must be delivered in a clear, concise format. More so, the barrage of information in the operation of any business must be tempered with how the delivery mechanism is designed. Without a delivery format and effective distribution system, information can become lost to the abyss. Training companies can solve that issue when they implement methodologies proven to elevate the benefits of supply chain management learning. With globalization, the field of competition has increased and the marketplace changes at a much more rapid pace. In order to maintain a forefront position on the knowledge curve, companies, namely multinational corporations, need to create a learning atmosphere conducive to capturing the knowledge and skill sets needed to advance a supply chain learning model. The challenge is incorporating learning methodologies into the supply chain without impeding the current supply chain mechanics. Supply chain learning models play a pivotal role in the optimization of supply chain management; more simply, supply chain learning models are the orchestration within the supply chain cycle. Agility and responsiveness become quintessential terms in supply chain optimization, yet at the root of it is the element of learning. Each supply chain learning model may differ, but here are seven essential basics to the supply chain structure: Create for cultures - One of the challenges for the multinationals includes handling the diversity of multiple cultures and seasons. Certain parameters and guidelines need to be made. Collaborate - Share "best practices" captured in the learning model and release them to the supply chain value streams. Communicate - Both internal and external communications must clearly illustrate who, what, when, where, and how. Additionally, benefits need to be well defined and expectations need to be set. Implement - The methods for broadcasting the learning content and tracking its application are a must. Innovate - Look for common ground or synergies in the supply chain. Determine if supplier groups work in conjunction relative to timing to optimize delivery (for example, bottles, labels, and caps). Sustain through measurement - Sustaining the learning network requires a consistent scheduling. Required due outs and reports of progress and cost avoidance need to be captured and tracked. Compete - The supply chain becomes the harmony within any business model; any interruption or threat weakens its competitiveness. Initiative success is a result of synchronous collaboration between finance and accounting, engineering, operations (learning), maintenance, health/safety, and quality. Global leaders bear the responsibility of engaging all departments, soliciting feedback, and delivering the critical information through training models. Best-in-class organizations that are examples of supply chain optimization have demonstrated the ability to tap into the importance of learning models as a basic element of the decision-making process.