Enabling your people to improve personal and organizational performance is challenging in today’s  expanding business environment. Priorities must be set and time must be managed to not only survive the challenge but to prosper as a global organization. The articles in this issue provide insight into mobile technologies, what drives job satisfaction, and developing leaders for a global workforce. Click here to read the full newsletter.

Recently Bob Mosher wrote in Chief Learning Officer about Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) handing off their well-established roles in learning and development as the "keepers of knowledge" to what he calls Business Matter Experts (BMEs). Mosher asserts these changes are necessary in the dynamic world of agile training design and need to manage BMEs in a different way than we are used to handling SMEs. As an instructional designer, I agree and I disagree with Mosher’s reasoning. Yes, I agree that simple knowledge sharing expected of SMEs of the past is not enough to complete useful and applicable designs for today’s learner. Where he and I differ is that I believe SMEs and BMEs are not two entirely different creatures. I see many SMEs transforming into BMEs because they have been tasked with not only keeping the knowledge, but also are being held accountable for understanding the whole business process, often contributing to the development of these processes on some level. On a current project, I am designing training for an auto part retailer/distributor, and although we still refer to those with the knowledge keepers as SMEs, often they are also project managers and are well aware of the business processes, including both the whys and the hows. It makes my job easier as a designer because they provide knowledge with necessary context that the training might lack otherwise. In all it makes for better training for the end user since it reflects what they would actually see/do in their world. Perhaps we should call them SME-BEES?  

The Anywhere, Anytime Workplace From smartphones to tablets, today’s business users are adept at using multiple devices and applications in their personal lives, making them the most technologically astute group of users ever. The experiences they’ve become used to when shopping, paying bills, locating information, and being entertained through technology have caused them to come to expect a high level of features and functionality from their technology. With this expectation, they have brought their personal technology experiences and expectations into the workplace. They want the same look, feel, and usability in their business/professional lives as they receive in their personal lives. But they’re not getting it. Yet. The year 2014 will be the year in which the questions and frustrations that business users experience will begin to be answered. Having disconnected technology is no longer expected or accepted. The organizations that will meet these needs successfully will be those who not only look at personal computing advances, but who also work with their business users to develop policies, procedures, and applications around these needs. The result? The Anywhere, Anytime Workplace. Creating content and sites specifically for mobile devices. Practically everyone has a smartphone, and a growing number also having tablet devices as well. These tools are key for helping users conduct business anywhere at any time. Up to this point, the online experience has mainly been through websites that were traditionally designed to be viewed on a PC. In 2014, however, we will see an increasing number of websites convert their content, design, and layouts to cater to mobile devices. Developing systems and applications for mobile users. In the past, connectivity limited the use of mobile devices; however, hardware and communications companies have now greatly alleviated this issue. Because of this, users have now come to expect that if they have a connection to the Internet, then they should be able to conduct their business. As a result, the conversation quickly evolves to the applications that are being used in the enterprise. Most business programs are PC-based and were not designed to run on mobile devices. So there is a certain level of frustration with having to go from a mobile device to a PC or laptop to accomplish tasks, which has raised questions around the following points: What information does a person truly need in order to be effective? How do people actually conduct their daily work? How can an application assist them with what they are trying to do? By answering these questions, businesses are able to design applications that strip away extraneous information and deliver applications to meet needs. In the meantime, the user base is bringing applications that were initially intended for personal use to the workplace. While the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) debate continues, the next debate will revolve around users bringing in their own applications and platforms as well. Coming out from behind the firewall. As we all know, enterprise programs are interconnected to some level behind the firewall. Traditionally, organizations have shied away from surfacing information in front of the firewall. When they do, the scope of that information is severely limited. Until recently, this has been accepted. However, business users are now questioning this approach. In order to be productive in the Anywhere, Anytime Workplace, users will need to have the same information available at their desks that is also available in the palm of their hand. It is not beneficial to have an application that only surfaces a limited number of data points from one application. Applications will also have to be able to connect to each other in order for the business user to be productive. GP Strategies™ is leading the charge in helping our clients take advantage of the Anywhere, Anytime Workplace trend. By aligning training to the ways people prefer to work, our clients are seeing measurable improvements in performance. To learn more about mobile content, apps, and other emerging technology trends, look for Part 2 of this three-part blog series, "Mobile Integration" and Part 3, "LMS and LCMS." Learn more about Learning Technology Trends for 2014

Mobile Integration Over the past year, GP Strategies™ has spoken with our clients, collaborated with research groups, and continued to keep our hand on the pulse of the industry. Through our interactions, we predict that 2014 will be an exciting year for the Learning and Development technology space. We believe that while there have been many applications, platforms, and process improvements, technological advancements have been small in comparison to the scope of change we are experiencing in the business world. In Part 1 of this three-part blog series, we spoke of the Anywhere, Anytime Workplace. With the use of smartphones and tablets becoming ubiquitous in the professional world, mobile technologies are the key area of focus as training organizations strive to deliver learning aligned with the way professionals work. We predict the most advancement will come in three areas: the production of mobile-specific content, the development of functional business apps, and the leveraging of Application Platform Interfaces (APIs). Developing content for mobile first. Today, people use mobile devices more than their desktop or laptop computer, and the use of mobile devices continues to increase in the workplace. This increased usage will require organizations to provide content for mobile devices. Therefore, in the near future, it will no longer be enough to have "mobile-friendly" content. Organizations will have to shift from a "PC strategy" to a "mobile first strategy" when producing content. This means any content, website, or application presented to the end user will need to be purpose-built for mobile devices, leveraging the unique features of the devices in order to create more engaging, compelling, and useful interactions with viewers. Mobile device manufacturers are steadily improving on the size, weight, and capabilities of devices. In doing so, there are a tremendous number of opportunities for business intelligence and process interactions using these devices. Instead of users interacting with static (and in many cases old) content, they are able to work with real-time content. While the addition and optimization of onboard sensors and increasingly higher quality displays on mobile devices have greatly benefitted the individual users, they can benefit the enterprise as well. As users are working and collaborating through their daily interactions, mobile devices are transparently collecting and leaving data traces. It is possible to analyze this information. In doing so, meaningful process optimization and risk reduction methodologies can be implemented and more closely monitored. GP Strategies is currently working with clients to assist them with redeveloping their stance on mobile technologies. In some cases, we have even collaborated with our clients to develop mobile content from the ground up. Filling voids with mobile apps. For a long time, IT departments have led the enterprise in the application of technology for process and data management initiatives. Businesses, however, are asking for faster delivery of projects and information. In some cases, IT simply cannot keep up with the demand. With mobile devices more prevalent in the workplace, people do not want to sit at a desktop or a laptop in order to complete their tasks. At the same time, it is not always practical to build an entire enterprise level tool just for mobile devices. Mobile apps fill the void very well. People are now accustomed to having tens of apps on their mobile device, with each app having a specific purpose for that person’s lifestyle. As such, users want the same experiences in the workplace. By having these various apps, one has the specific information they deem important for their lives. If the enterprise were to take this concept one step further and not only develop apps relevant to their business, but also combine this data along with user-specific data (gathered from mobile devices), it would have an enterprise tool that would expose actionable insights into their business. GP Strategies is working with clients and vendors, as well as internally, to develop apps for use with learning and development, and human capital systems to provide the tools businesses need to be successful. Leveraging APIs to make mobile strategies work. In order to have a mobile first strategy or develop next generation apps for the enterprise, APIs will become more prevalent. Currently, only relatively few enterprise platforms have an API. Even fewer have API structures that provide a rich level of information. This trend will decrease. As next generation business tools are developed, APIs will need to become more robust. Organizations have tons of data that is restricted to single systems or applications. With APIs, it is possible to use and re-purpose this data into other systems and processes. In doing so, businesses will be able to service their customers faster and with a higher level of customer service. In addition, the increased demand for mobile apps will create additional needs for connections to back-end data services via APIs. Enterprises are not limited to using APIs that originate from their internal systems. In spring 2013, Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) released version 1 of the Experience API (xAPI) specification. This is an API that is independent of any platform and allows for the collection of data from sources not traditionally utilized by the enterprise. The data that this API can collect is a rich source of information that can provide context for user experience delivery. Because it is not bound to a platform and is open-sourced, the possibilities are practically limitless for the use cases it can meet. GP Strategies continues to work with our partners and clients to develop API connections to surface additional data that was previously not possible. We have also completed our research and initial prototyping of xAPI use cases and are now working with clients to bring this additional information to their businesses. To see what we predict for your LMS and LCMS, read Part 3 of our Technology Trends blog series. Learn more about Learning Technology Trends for 2014

LMS and LCMS In Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-blog series on Learning Technology Trends, we talked a lot about the use of mobile devices for both learning and conducting business. This will have a direct impact on learning management technology in 2014 as leaders ask more and more, "do I need my LMS?" The LMS will need to keep up with the fast changing business world and adapt to be more mobile and app friendly. If that does not happen then we would expect to hear a lot of learning leaders say that their LMS is looking old and tired. This will relegate the role of the LMS to strictly compliance tracking. To prevent that from happening organizations will need to move more quickly to use their existing corporate portal software to give the LMS a "facelift" and to incorporate the required features and functionality in 2014. Curating learning assets will become key. Learning content management suppliers continue to promise nirvana with their products. "The LCMS will develop content, store content, track content and reuse content!" While their products certainly have these capabilities, we have not seen a successful implementation that achieves all these promises. If your investment in your LCMS is to continue to hold value in 2014 and beyond, it must deliver on its promises. As we continue to produce more and more digital learning assets across multiple platforms and devices, the problem of tracking these assets has reached a critical stage. In 2014 curation - defined as the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of learning assets - will become a skill that learning and development organizations will not be able to function without. Our final prediction in this three part series on 2014 trends is that, as the learning and development business continues to adapt and innovate in 2014, GP Strategies will sustain its role as a visionary thought leader in the areas of learning technologies, training strategy and performance improvement! Learn more about Learning Technology Trends for 2014

We are often asked to look at what content, skills training, and tools new hire salespeople receive as part of their onboarding process in an attempt to "make the new hire experience better." This request is usually in response to sales and business unit leaders asking learning and development teams to create more globally consistent new hire training programs that drive costs out of a fragmented process with multiple stakeholders, no real clear-cut owner, and lack of accountability. When taking a step back and looking at new hire training and the overall onboarding process, we often find a lot of work going into creating new hire training content or building more distributed methods to reach and teach remote salespeople. For example, there has been some good work in building ramp-up toolkits and even creating communities that new hire salespeople can use to get the help they need. But, have you ever stopped to ask your team, "What is the business benefit of all the new hire training-related work we do?" or better yet, "How do we know our sales new hire training program is effective?" If you think about it, newly hired salespeople face a very real challenge: "How do I (as a new salesperson) meet with buyers who will buy from us and then sell them something so I can hit my quota?" Unfortunately, more often than not, the new hire training process doesn’t get close to helping salespeople answer this fundamental question. Instead, we often find an altogether different reality in existing new hire sales training programs. What we usually find looks something more like this: 500 different content assets including courses, modules, and reinforcement guides 370 hours of available training to participate in at the time of their choosing 4 different portals/internal websites to sort through 2 different internal social networking websites to engage in In more real terms, we find that only 15% of this content is really about the buyers/customer that salespeople need to actually talk to in order to "sell them something." Yep, that’s right, 15%. And, to make matters worse, this lack of focus on customers in the new hire training process increases the burden on internal subject matter experts. Oftentimes we find that salespeople have to navigate to 10 different subject matter expert functions or people to in order to figure out how they can add collective value to clients (yet these internal groups are largely ignored in the new hire training process). So, let’s recap: New hire training isn’t about customers and it’s not designed to help newly hired salespeople reach the internal subject matter experts who can help communicate value. No wonder the executive team is often wondering what the return on investment is for their new hire sales training program. Having worked in this space for a while, it’s easy to see how new hire programs can evolve over time to diffuse customer focus. Increased executive expectations and pressure by product/business unit leaders to ensure product knowledge is pumped into the heads of new hires can create a confusing web of complexity that salespeople simply need to "understand" in order to get up to speed more quickly. Suffice it to say, we often find that new hires face a steep learning curve—especially within the first 90 days.  The good news is that some learning and sales leaders are looking at the sales new hire and onboarding process as an area of targeted improvement. They are beginning to work cross-functionally to upgrade, optimize, or even transform the new hire sales training experience.  I thought it would be helpful to share some of the challenge I am seeing as they begin this work. If addressing the new hire training challenge is on your radar screen, let me offer you a brief categorization of the several barriers that get in the way of new hire productivity. No matter your path forward, these barriers need to be addressed, especially, if you’re looking to apply more than just a temporary Band-Aid to the sales new hire training challenge. Barrier 1: Failing to confront the new hire salesperson’s reality. While the future growth strategy is tied to reaching C-level executives, is it realistic to turn your new hire salespeople loose on the C-level inside your best clients the first day on the job? When we look at new hire sales training, we often hear that mandate: You just need to go sell to the C-Level! The challenge is that it might be a good idea to actually practice those conversations in the new hire experience instead of letting them practice on your customers. For many sales and learning leaders, just trying to figure out what to train and what to teach people to say is daunting—but it models the reality that your new hire salespeople face (and they just started working in the company). Barrier 2: Failing to define new hire sales training clearly. Many organizations define onboarding as the "stuff that HR does," while defining new hire training as the "stuff HR doesn’t do." This leads to a lot of gray areas in the overall new hire experience. Can you define where new hire training ends and where it begins? What about the HR onboarding process? How much of the new hire training experience is about success in role? And how long does it last? Without a clear definition of where new hire training begins and ends, you end up with multiple perspectives (like product, marketing, and sales perspectives) all asking for more time in the poorly defined process, and they seem to be all "good ideas" but together may not actually be meaningful to the new hire. While adding value to the new hire process is important, it’s doubtful that internal content providers can create valuable content if they can’t define what the new hire process is. Defining the new hire process clearly is an often very real barrier that needs to be overcome to get the right help you need internally. Barrier 3: Failing to align content, skills, and tools to the specific sales conversations that new hires need to have. If salespeople need to get in front of C-level, how much time is actually dedicated to helping reps engage at the level (not just mandate action) in the new hire experience? Or more specifically, which training content and materials are specifically aligned to helping reps get access to a specific C-level role? New hire training content needs to help salespeople achieve tangible results in their sales process. Unfortunately, overgeneralizing what it takes to be successful with all buyers doesn’t help the cause. Aligning the content that new hires need to be successful with the real-world conversations they need have with those buyers is a barrier that needs to be overcome to increase new hire productivity. Removing these barriers can dramatically affect the speed to which new hire salespeople get up and running in their role. By addressing these barriers, you are well on your way to decreasing new hire ramp-up time and giving new hires a leg up by decreasing the slope of their learning curve. Additionally, by working cross-functionally to remove these barriers, you can build a new solid foundation for new hire sales training and start focusing on decreasing the time it takes to achieve quota by: Increasing buyer empathy. Focus on helping different kinds of salespeople develop understanding and empathy with the buyers they’ll be working with and communicate in the way those buyers need. This will eventually trump run-of-the-mill product training, which has been the emphasis of onboarding and training for more than a century and had a dramatic role in getting reps sent to procurement instead to the C-suite. Driving sales objectives. Develop reps based on specific and measureable sales objectives that map to their sales process and are in relationship to the types of buyers they work with on a daily basis. Tailoring the experience. Fine-tune the experience to enable different types of reps with different messaging, stopping the one-size-fits-all new hire training experience. Building a value-added program. Engineer an ongoing new hire development process that sales leaders find more valuable (as opposed to creating a one-off time bound fragmented series of activities). Watch Brian Lambert’s latest thought leadership video on Sales Productivity.

Looking down the road, the year 2014 will be a year in which the questions and frustrations that business users experience will begin to be answered. With smartphones and tablets extending from the personal space and becoming nearly ubiquitous in the business space, technology will scramble to keep up. As a result, new technology trends will emerge. Learn more about Learning Technology Trends for 2014

A recent study published by EY  looked at the perceived strengths and weaknesses of Gen Y/Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers, the research opens up the discussion on managing a multi-generational workforce and the emergence of Gen Y/Millennials as managers. The study included more than 1,200 US, cross-company professionals with evenly split responses from managers and non-managers in three select generations: Gen Y/Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. At a minimum, the findings from this study continue the valuable dialogue into how to engage employees across generations. One of the findings of interest to me was the perception of Gen Y/Millennials in terms of collaborative team members and of them as managers. A small selection of the perceptions of Gen Y as peers: Scored high marks for being "enthusiastic" (68%) Had lower scores for being perceived as a "team player" Gen Y(45%) compared to Gen X(65%) Perceived as "difficult to work" with (36%) compared to Gen X (16%) Every generation view their own generation as entitled, including Gen Y(60%), Gen X (49%) and baby boomers (27%). Outscored baby boomers for being the "best" at "collaboration" (27% vs. 20%), "adaptability" (41% vs. 10%) and being "entrepreneurial" (29% vs. 15%). A small selection of the perceptions of Gen Y as managers:  (69%) just surpassed Gen X (68%) managers in displaying "diversity" managerial skills, or the ability to build culturally competent teams and to not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, etc. Earned the fewest mentions for being the "best" at displaying eight out of 11 management skills, They outpaced boomer managers (33% vs. 16%) in their ability to be the best "inclusive" leaders, or involving a diverse set of people in providing opportunities, developing strategies and making decisions. In developing leaders, GP Strategies appreciates that there is a conundrum: effective leaders need to be aware of how they are perceived by others, yet the foundations of effective leadership transcend labels.  As with the debate over female leaders (as discussed in this month’s eNews from GP Strategies division Blessingwhite), young leaders need to identify what makes them unique, compelling leaders to those they aspire to follow. As our own research indicates individual engagement increases as we build confidence in our skills and as we develop a stronger sense of how to contribute to the organizations goals (see 2013 Employee Engagement research - http://www.blessingwhite.com/EE2013 )  But the engagement levels and the leadership competence of millennials can be greatly increased with the deliberate support from the organization. When engaging Gen Y/Millennials in your workforce, think about the following: How can you nurture more agile Gen Y characteristics like adaptability and entrepreneurial, while managing the downsides of being perceived as difficult to work with? How can you maintain diverse managerial skills, while building upon their managerial tool kit? How to provide multiple development opportunities for millennials to engage with the organization and develop leadership skills through on-the-job challenges? Ensure millennial leaders have mentors and managerial support to help them develop self-awareness and provide guidance along the way. Share your thoughts in the comments section below and then join us for a 20-minute webinar to hear insights from the perspective of a Gen Yer.

For years, blended learning has been implemented across organizations of all sizes. Typically, blended learning is defined as some sort of combination of live, instructor-led training (ILT); web- or computer-based training (WBT or CBT); and distance, or virtual instructor-led training (VILT). Before learning about HILT, let’s briefly explore the characteristics, and pros and cons of each of the aforementioned platforms: ILT Held in a classroom Synchronous Highly interactive, with face-to-face contact Live event "vanishes" when done WBT/CBT Requires a computer and, in most cases, an Internet connection Asynchronous Varying levels of interactivity Little or no personal contact VILT Requires Internet and a web conferencing tool (Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting, WebEx, etc.) Synchronous Moderately interactive, depending on design and instructor Can be recorded Organizations that have unlimited licenses or cost-effective license agreements for their web conferencing tools can realize added synergies by incorporating the best of both live and virtual instructor-led training: hybrid instructor-led training (HILT). What HILT Is HILT fully leverages the web conferencing tool inside the live classroom. Examples of web conferencing tools include Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting/GoToTraining, and WebEx. Whiteboards inside the tool replace or augment physical whiteboards in the classroom. This allows for easy archiving of the whiteboards created and marked up during the event. The chat panel can be used for recording participant thoughts and informal polls. Again, this gives an instant record for reflection and future use. Polling tools (if available) can be used for a certain level of anonymity when appropriate. Screen-sharing capabilities can be used to replace or augment any classroom projector. Lighting and vision issues are greatly reduced, and there is no need to worry about burned-out projector bulbs. It’s much easier to let someone else "drive" and share with the entire class when using HILT. What’s Needed to Implement HILT In order to effectively deliver HILT, a classroom will need to be equipped with a computer for every participant, unless the event is a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) session. HILT works best for technical training sessions, where the use of a computer is integral to the skills being taught. The Advantages of HILT HILT can offer many advantages and possibilities over traditional "stand-up" ILT. It’s much easier to capture the components of the training for playback or archiving. While not the primary intent of HILT, remote participants can more readily join in if circumstances prevent them from attending one or more of the live sessions. By acquainting participants with web conferencing tools, HILT creates a springboard for remote follow-up or refresher sessions, as well as post-training evaluations. As you prepare upcoming training sessions, consider the resources at your disposal and see if HILT can add value to your training event, enhance the experience of the participants, and better streamline learning transfer. Is this a model that you can use in your classroom training? What barriers do you anticipate? How else can you leverage existing technology in new ways?

As learning and development professionals, we know the value of locating resources, sharing ideas, and learning from best practices from the experts in the field, so why then do we seem to underestimate or ignore the value of our own, hard-earned knowledge and insight? Our experience and expertise are unique assets we can share in the workplace. They are a professional advantage that we can leverage within the organization to mentor colleagues and use to gain new clients. The expectation that all learning and development professionals should be comfortable sharing can be intimidating; knowing how to share the insight appropriately and usefully can be misleading. We often have more opportunity to share because of the nature of our work but may feel unprepared or aren’t sure how to distill, organize, and communicate what we know and have learned from a project. By organizing the information into digestible chunks, the material becomes useful and shareable. Why share? Sharing what we know and what we’ve learned allows us to embed and process our past experiences. Both good and bad endeavors can offer a wealth of information, but sometimes it takes reliving it from another angle to realize lessons learned. Sharing these situations can help others gain a fresh perspective and avoid pitfalls. What are some methods to use for sharing? Write about it. Write clearly, concisely, and professionally about your experiences in professional journals, blogs, and social media. Speak about it. Use any and all opportunities to share specific examples from past projects via webinars or face-to-face engagements. Mentor about it. Assist colleagues and staff to understand your experiences by sharing and being open to learning from those you share with. Once you have shared your information, have a discussion to capture additional ideas. This type of collaboration not only helps capture essential organizational knowledge, it also keeps this intrinsic knowledge from disappearing when you leave an organization. Chrissy Scivicque, in her blog post 5 Ways to Share Your Professional Expertise and 4 Reasons You Should, writes about the virtues of sharing best practices: "…your expertise is a powerful gift that deserves to be shared. It’s yours, yes; you earned it. But why keep all that wisdom to yourself? Why not send it out into the world to be free and lift others to new heights as well?" Sharing your expertise, whatever the form it takes, lends professional credibility and spreads knowledge throughout the field. Leveraging knowledge can also become a part of career development strategy. It can also become another organizational asset—a way to develop and manage intrinsic organizational knowledge assets.

Engagement and retention are key factors in the success of any learning initiative. Yesterday I had the pleasure of partnering with Justin Mass, Head of Learning Technology at Adobe, to present a webinar focused on how Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) has become a crucial component in today’s learning strategies. During the webinar, Justin and I discussed the future of the learning industry: the integration of VILT. Justin demoed a case study around how Adobe successfully used VILT to launch a new orientation program within their organization. During the session, several of our attendees posed really great questions, and Justin and I want to share our insights with you: Q: I worry that the level or quality of interaction does change with larger class sizes. As we transition from 20 participants in soft skills training to 50, 100, 200, what would your advice be? A: JUSTIN - Open-ended questions scale to the largest volume. Ask questions that help surface themes you’re trying to drive home. Polls work well, too, but couple a poll with an open chat pod to get the best of both worlds. "My choice is A," could be a poll. "Here’s why," could be a chat pod that asks the participant to explain their answer. Also encourage cross-participant engagement. DENNIS - Consider adding a facilitator for every 25-50 folks if you have a lot of interactive exercises that require feedback and observation. Q: Your assumptions seem to be massive, global, but most companies are smaller with smaller learner cohorts. How would this change your recommendations? A: JUSTIN - Design for the size of your organization. Not every VILT activity will scale to 1,000 or more. If you’re smaller, that’s great; you should be able to create an even more intimate and personalized experience for participants. DENNIS - Most typical VILT sessions are not currently being designed for massive population rollouts, but for populations of around 25-35 participants. This allows for more personalization of the content and richer interaction per participant. Q: The demo in Adobe Connect was very interesting but so busy and felt a bit distracting. Has that been an issue? A: JUSTIN - We live in a multi-stream, digital world. I try to design for the total experience and keep it alive and dynamic. It has many layers; it’s true. That’s intentional. We haven’t received any feedback that it’s overly busy or distracting. Q: Does Adobe Connect have the capability to do breakouts? A: JUSTIN - Yes, breakouts are a core feature of Adobe Connect. Q: How do you handle questions throughout a VILT session? Are there stopping points for Q&A? A: JUSTIN - We use a persistent chat pod as part of our layout design, which gives participants an "anytime channel" for asking questions. Q&A is open and ongoing. Remember, participant questions help shape the experience. Skilled facilitators will embrace that type of learner centricity and leave room to be guided by questions. DENNIS - The subject matter, audience size and logistics practicality will dictate the format of Q&A; the smaller the audience, the easier it is to stop and start Q&A sessions. If you are teaching complex topics that require audience feedback frequently throughout the session to gauge understanding, frequent Q&A pulsing is essential. Q: Do you have an outline or format for training that you recommend? A: JUSTIN - I use a storytelling format for learning design. What’s your opening? What’s your close? What’s your emotional hook? What important messages or content must you deliver? These are all leading questions that help inform a design direction. I don’t believe you can actually design learning, but I do believe you can design the conditions and environment for learning to be provoked. DENNIS - We create a very specific, detailed Playbook for the facilitator that guides the session almost minute by minute. It drives more consistency between facilitators. Q: Do you have a VILT "checklist" for creating VILT (to ensure talent profile, size volume, etc.)? A: JUSTIN - I don’t have a particular design template or checklist I use consistently. I do think about a blueprint for what makes a VILT session "high touch digital," however. Some of the blueprint elements include setting a participatory tone immediately, being seen on webcam/video, integrating a constantly moving "alive" screen display, and using video to create a media rhythm. All of our VILT sessions will use this signature. You have to define what signature you want in your experience and design toward it. Q: Do you plan to have any alternatives to testing (that can be captured and retained) if a company doesn’t have an LMS or the Adobe Training Center, that is, how to capture test results for episodic training, non-employee events? A: JUSTIN - Everything we capture in polls and chat pods in Adobe Connect lives in a digital archive. We have cumulative results on the back end. You can also send chat pod transcripts to yourself or other facilitators directly from the chat pod to collect key themes within a session or between sessions. DENNIS - There are stand-alone assessment software packages that do not require an LMS. Q: Do you have the people delivering the session involved in the design? A: JUSTIN - If they happen to be a skilled designer or can contribute to the design process, of course. Where they are just in a facilitation-only role, it’s better to spend your time preparing them for delivery with as much practice as needed to get them comfortable. Again, think about those on your team who might translate well to an "On Air" environment, especially if you’re using streaming webcam video—which I highly recommend you do. DENNIS - If possible and necessary, yes, but not always. Q: I think VILT would work for technical training, but I am not sure about other types of training where the goal is to change culture or change people’s habits at their job. What are your thoughts? A: JUSTIN - You have to ask, What changes people’s behavior in any environment? What triggers a personal "a-ha moment" for you? If YOU BELIEVE you can change a person’s behavior as a result of a learning event or intervention, I BELIEVE it can be done in a VILT environment. DENNIS - Properly designed, it can be extremely effective, especially as part of a blended program. Q: What are examples of VLIT? I heard webinar mentioned. A: JUSTIN - VILT is just the synchronous/live use of a learning platform like Adobe Connect to provoke learning. Q: How would you address localization (translation) issues? A: JUSTIN - Find skilled global facilitators and translators, and leave room in your core design to have the final product tailored by those in region who know it best. DENNIS - Same as for other modalities; see Justin’s answer above. Q: Do you build the content directly into the different layouts? It appears that you click through almost just like PowerPoint. A: JUSTIN - Yes, I architect directly in Adobe Connect. Q: Do you have to create a new meeting room for each meeting? A: JUSTIN - No. I reuse the same environment every week we deliver orientation. Once it’s built, you can keep using it over and over. That’s what you call scale, my friends. Q: How do you avoid bandwidth issues for individuals on webcams when you have a large group and not all may be on a robust network? A: JUSTIN - We don’t require participants to join by webcam for the entire session. We do a quick hello so everyone can see each other at the end. Q: Can VILT be used on a tablet or is it just desktop? A: JUSTIN - Adobe Connect has a really nice iOS app that works on iPhones and iPads. DENNIS - All devices are appropriate today, especially with the ubiquity of tablets and smartphones. Q: Do you preset the video, poll questions, etc. in those layouts? A: JUSTIN - Yes, everything is designed and set in advance, so any facilitator who is prepared can jump in at any time and deliver a consistently awesome experience! Click here to watch a recording of the webinar Reimagining the Learning Experience - A Look at How Adobe Successfully Implemented a New VILT Orientation Program

In this video, Eric Bruner discusses how to appropriately use micro-learning during employee training initiatives. He covers how to use micro-learning to prepare employees, equip them with the correct knowledge, apply new education back on to the job, reactivate education so the learning turns into knowledge and support employees in their new endeavors. Prepare: Introduction, orientation, alignment, inspiration. Equipping: Detailed knowledge transfer through the use of courses, campaigns, coaching and cohorts. Apply: Transferring learning back to the job through practical factors, checklist, certifications and active coaching. Reactivate: Recapping learning into knowledge through reflecting, reinforcement and repeating. Support: Performance support through the help desk, expert network and community. How can these micro-learning steps help enable your employees to be successful on their learning journey? Leave your reply below:

Spring is here and the opportunity to refresh, renew, and regenerate is irresistible. Yes, it is time to dig out those tried and true programs and begin to think about them differently. The advances in the ways we design and deliver learning enable us to begin to think about redesigning learning for today’s time-squeezed, media-driven, geographically dispersed, globally influenced audience. Where to begin? Here are a few tips for getting started: Identify one of your solid, proven, critical, traditional programs that could really use an update. Take one topic, module, or lesson out of that program that has the potential to have the most impact to your organization.  Review the learning objectives and make any updates, adding any new business objectives and removing any obsolete elements. Dissect the elements of the module to see what content might be delivered differently.  Re-approach the content with the new delivery format in mind.  Rethink your program to consider how all of the redesigned pieces fit into the bigger picture. This can be a huge undertaking for a large program, but if you start this way, you don’t have to complete the transformation all at once. You can begin to transform it slowly, introducing the redesigned elements to the audience and adjusting along the way. Here is a great example: Let’s say you have a fantastic one-week, instructor-led course on becoming a manager of managers. It is not realistic for you to continue to bring this audience together for a one-week session, and the training hasn’t been sustainable after the learners leave the classroom experience. Take one of those topics, something like Assessing Talent. Ask the following questions: What about this topic absolutely needs to be addressed in the classroom? What existing assignments can be done in an eLearning format prior to the classroom? Can I make some of the reference material more engaging in an interactive PDF? Are there some scenarios or case studies they can work on before coming to the classroom? What are things I can move to a mobile delivery for just-in-time learning as they are exercising the competency? What tools can I create for a manager or supervisor to use as pull-though learning after the classroom event? By just thinking about this content a little bit differently, you can increase the engagement and effectiveness of those tried and true, proven programs to meet the needs of a more complex and contemporary audience. Let us know if you have any great strategies you have used in redesigning learning content by posting a comment. Be on the lookout for an upcoming webinar on redeveloping learning content.

Before we talk about creating engaging courses, I want to start by defining what that means to me. And it is best when working with a client to understand exactly what they mean as well. Often what I mean by "engaging" and what they mean are two different things! Engaging design is a design that makes people think about what they are reading, seeing, or hearing. It is sort of like the statement, "Engage your brain before putting your mouth in gear," except we want to engage learners’ brains while they are in a safe environment before putting them in the workplace where they have no safety nets. This leads me to the first tip: Engage learners in activities that allow them to practice what they need to DO differently on the job. Engaging design is NOT bling, bells, and whistles unless that helps to accomplish the goal of letting them do what they need to do in real life. And even then, I would contend that bling, bells, and whistles are more likely to become distractions than add value, but I digress. Many times our clients (or their bosses) want their employees to "know" something—and it usually isn’t a little something; it’s a laundry list of somethings. It takes work and often multiple conversations to get them to talk through what they really want. What are the desired outcomes, and what do they want people to do differently after the training? Often, clients identify through this process that they want some people in one role to do one thing, but they need people in another role to do a different thing. Or sometimes, we identify through observing the employees that top performers are doing several things that others are not doing at all. In both cases, we try to design a curriculum that is relevant to the specific role or group of learners and that focuses on the actions or behaviors that produce the greatest value—outcomes of value. So that’s the second tip: Focus content on the outcomes of value rather than create a scrapyard of information. And here’s a scandalous addition: You might even want to let learners discover tidbits of information as they look for help in completing the tasks or activities. That might even mean you don’t need to list learning objectives in the course! (Oh my!) This leads me to a discussion of information and job aids to help the learners as performers. There was a great article in Learning Solutions magazine that references a Do-Know-Access model. It is very similar to the models we use in resolving our clients’ performance challenges. The authors use the Access leg of their triangle to explain what we typically call performance support. We are talking about the same thing, though (and my third and final tip): Provide learners with access to the same tools in the same way that they, as performers, will retrieve and use them on the job. That may or may not mean you will need to build new tools. Often it means simply co-locating the tools, such as on a single website, or creating a new website that links to existing tools. Learners can then practice finding and using the tools during the training and will be much more comfortable finding what they need when they need it when they are back on the job. So those are my three tips to keep learners thinking, discovering, finding, using, and doing things better. That’s what I call engaging!

Spring is here and the opportunity to refresh, renew, and regenerate is irresistible. Yes, it is time to dig out those tried and true programs and begin to think about them differently. The advances in the ways we design and deliver learning enable us to begin to think about redesigning learning for today’s time-squeezed, media-driven, geographically dispersed, globally influenced audience. Where to begin? Get a few tips for getting started here. Click here to read the full issue of Performance Matters.

In the latest issue of Chief Learning Officer, Bloomsburg University Professor and Author Karl Kapp wrote a thought-provoking article around gamification and game-based learning. These topics point to a critical need in the learning industry that is frequently forgotten. So often, we are focused on our organization’s needs, whether it be compliance requirements, travel restrictions, or simply the time we have available for these training interventions. Unfortunately, these business drivers are very real and often create a gap between the content presented and knowledge acquisition. And in the middle of that gap is a single word—motivation. There are several methods to approach motivation in a training intervention, and we will discuss a few below: Gamification As Kapp aptly put, gamification can motivate learners through the process of creating a training journey full of challenges, scenarios, and interventions (as well as the points and tools we are familiar with) to increase engagement with a learning program. Game-Based Learning A common myth not addressed in the article is the myth that game-based learning is a complex, cost-prohibitive learning solution. Rather, game-based learning is a different way of looking at learning to wrap the core content around a story or a challenge to provide context and engagement for the learner. Collaborative Learning Environment In this incredibly virtual world we live in, collaboration becomes increasingly challenging. While technology has granted us the ability to be more cost effective and time efficient by developing eLearning training solutions, this also leads to learner isolation. Building a collaborative space where learners can work together can increase motivation as they feel a part of a larger team. Learner-Centered Approach Together these strategies and others can be combined into a learner-centered approach. It is possible to meet the needs of a business from a cost and speed to market perspective while focusing on what the learner needs. A learner-centered approach focuses on delivering content in a blended learning strategy that accommodates multiple learning styles and is mapped to the type of information being conveyed and learner preferences. An ideal learner-centered approach may include gamification, game-based learning, collaborative learning environments, as well as blended modalities. How many times have we selected a training method based on budget, travel restrictions, or time? These challenges will always exist, but they do not have to be a barrier to learner motivation. By considering learner needs when developing a learning strategy you can develop a curriculum that creates the impact you are looking for and the outcomes you need. Join Sheri Weppel, Director of eLearning Development and Training for GP Strategies, in a 20-Minute Webinar on Wednesday, April 30th at 2:00 pm EDT to discuss how to bring game-based learner motivation into your enterprise today.

There has been an automotive industry shift from traditional mass communication efforts to the need for experiential marketing events. During these events, consumers actively participate in the marketing effort. The events are geared to connect the audience with the brand on a personable, no pressure level. These events reinforce consumer opinions of a brand or change behavior towards it. Listen to Bob Pientrantonio as he explains how GP Strategies leverages experiential marketing events for customers. How could your company benefit from experiential marketing events? Leave a reply or an example about how your company leveraged an experiential marketing event to gain or retain customers:

The increased development of new technology and the expanding global workforce has encouraged organizations to rejuvenate the learner experience. Through the use of Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) and open-online courses, organizations are making an effort to predict the future of the learning industry and which practices need to evolve. Recently, GP Strategies’ VP of Learning Solutions, Dennis Bonilla (@MedsnMan) and Adobe’s Head of Learning Technology, Justin Mass (@jmass) discussed these topics, among others, in a one-hour GP webinar. Furthermore, Justin Mass went on to explain how Adobe was able to make an impact on their new hire orientation by implementing a VILT program. Following the webinar and heightened interest in the virtual learning process, GP Strategies took the conversation to Twitter to answer questions, engage with followers and further shed light on VILT and open-online courses. The following are the highlights from our recent #VirtualLearning tweet chat. Q2: Are there design considerations you would approach differently with VILT v. more traditional mediums? @medsnman @jmass #VirtualLearning — GP Strategies Corp (@gpcorp) April 23, 2014 To see how folks on Twitter responded to this question, visit here. Q3: What key components are needed to help support a compelling VILT experience? @medsnman @jmass #VirtualLearning — GP Strategies Corp (@gpcorp) April 23, 2014 Click here to see what Justin Mass believes are the key components needed to help support a compelling VILT experience. In synchronous VILT how should we think about designing for a quality experience when we reach 500+ learners? #virtuallearning — Justin Mass (@jmass) April 23, 2014 To see how those on Twitter responded to Justin’s question, visit here. Q4: Do skills transfer assessments have a place in VILT? How can learning leaders measure effectiveness? @medsnman @jmass #VirtualLearning — GP Strategies Corp (@gpcorp) April 23, 2014 To see if skills transfer assessments have a place in VILT, go here. Q5: As the capabilities of #technology expands, what does the future of #learning look like? @medsnman @jmass #VirtualLearning — GP Strategies Corp (@gpcorp) April 23, 2014 To see what the future of #learning looks like, visit here. @jmass @MedsnMan @gpcorp Hi! - do any of the VILT tools offer a "newscrawl" app or component? (To compete with the likes of CNN… — Steve Swink (@SteveSwinkTN) April 23, 2014 Want to see which tools offer newscrawl? Visit here. The full webinar "Reimagining the Learning Experience: A Look at How Adobe Successfully Implemented a New VILT Orientation Program" along with the slide deck and link to Q&A follow up are available for download in our Webinar Archive.

Since 2000, significant changes have occurred in Talent and learning technologies. Numerous products have undergone considerable change by adding or creating features and functions that address changing market trends and government regulations.  Mergers and consolidations have integrated and aligned the best technologies.  While these changes and advances have been significant to the ability of organizations to define and manage talent, there is a greater, untapped opportunity for software vendors that will likely provide the strongest market impact yet.  This opportunity might allow proactive organizations to differentiate their companies by the talent and quality of their workforce and truly accelerate performance.  We know that organizations with good talent management strategies see higher returns per employee than organizations without such strategies—now those strategies should be harvested for the betterment of all companies. With the markets shift to Software as a Service (SaaS) and the culmination of large data repositories, vendors are now armed with more data and intelligence on how great companies use talent to improve operations, create sustainable competitive advantage, and increase time to knowledge than ever before. I believe the largest untapped opportunity today remains in the use of this data for predictive talent analytics, workforce analytics, and industry benchmarking. Let’s look at an example outside of talent like Amazon’s "Anticipatory" shipping. This patented concept predicts what buyers are going to buy next and then stages items for near term or immediate shipping. What if a learning management system applied the same concept, but instead of shipping courses, it predicted what each individual needed to learn based upon long-term organizational goals and objectives? What if your talent vendor could tell you what talent operations looked like at comparable companies and could predict the development and training your organizations needs to accelerate revenue and profitability? One of the most exciting concepts in today’s talent marketplace is workforce analytics & planning. Workforce analytics (WFA) improves decision making by helping companies find answers to key questions about workforce challenges and provides guidance to help solve them. WFA systems today look at all types data across organizations, HR metrics, and industry trends to help provide actionable insight that has long-term strategic value. The company that can supply knowledge married with cross-industry best practices will be the company that moves beyond the historical trends of training and tracking to creating long-term strategic value for its customers. The industry has been collecting data for years and now it is time to create actionable insight with it.  With industry analytics and predictive talent capabilities can you imagine the speed at which organizations can grow their talent base?  Proactive planning for skill attainment and development would mean that companies will be ready to execute on the most strategic goals of leadership.  What an exciting day that will be! Paul recently participated in an excellent panel discussion at HR2014 with SuccessFactors, Aasonn and hyperCision around the future of learning management solutions. Click here to watch.

As learning and development professionals, we know the value of locating resources, sharing ideas, and learning about best practices from the experts in the field, so why then do we seem to underestimate or ignore the value of our own hard-earned knowledge and insight? Our experience and expertise are unique assets we can share in the workplace. They are a professional advantage that we can leverage within the organization to mentor colleagues and use to gain new clients. The expectations that all learning and development professionals should be comfortable sharing can be intimidating and know how to share the knowledge can be misleading. We often have more opportunity to share because of the nature of our work but may feel unprepared or aren’t sure how to distill, organize, and communicate what we know and have learned from a project. By organizing the information into digestible chunks, the information becomes useful and shareable. I’d like to offer a list of Best Practice resources to help you on your journey to better knowledge-sharing—enjoy! Where Knowledge Management Has Been and Where It Is Going- Part One by Dr. Nancy Dixon Developing and Sharing Best Practice: Some Key Issues and Principles by Della Fazey Leadership by Example: A Conversation With Frances Hesselbein Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It by Peggy Klaus Summary: Knowledge Management Best Practices on KMT, an educational KM site Knowledge Sharing: Moving Away From the Obsession With Best Practices by Peter Holdt Christensen Quality Service - Benchmarking and Best Practices: An Update (Guide X) from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Share your ‘Best Practices’ as a First Step into Knowledge Management by Luc Bouquet 5 Ways to Share Your Professional Expertise and 4 Reasons You Should by Chrissy Scivicque 18 Ways to Leverage the Internet to Enhance Your Professional Credibility on Positively Magazine.com How In-House Training Can Boost Your Team’s Morale by Mark Arnold What Does the Term "Best Practices" Mean Today? On the Lean Mining LinkedIn Group Best Practice on the Info Entrepreneurs Blog For more information, watch Karen’s latest webinar on Best Practices for Sharing Best Practices where she discusses: Why sharing can build professional credibility and retain organizational knowledge How to share knowledge through writing, speaking, and mentoring Where some places are to share best practices

The first girl I ever had a crush on was an "older woman." I was six; she was eight. The crush materialized at a drive-in movie theatre. For the millennial reading this, ask your parents—or perhaps your grandparents—what a drive-in was (imagine an outdoor primitive IMAX). Built into the foundation of the mammoth movie screen was a concession stand. I had accompanied my father to the stand, navigating the gravel waves of cars with bulky, wired speakers clamped onto the windows. This concession stand offered more than popcorn, candy bars, and sugary soft drinks—it was set up to serve families "fast food-like" meals including hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and onion rings. Another part of the business model was that customers dressed their own burgers with condiments on a table across from the counter. Just as we were ordering, I spotted a pretty girl at the condiments stand. There was something about this girl, or more so what she did, that gave me an adrenaline-like rush I will never forget. Just as she spooned a dollop of relish onto her burger, the girl went to grab a plastic knife to spread it, but there were none to be found. I watched in awe as she turned the spoon over and used the back of the spoon as a knife. She had improvised¸ and I was in love (well, at least until my family’s order of onion rings arrived). The girl had made a spoon serve one of the roles intended for a knife. (Granted, had she tried to cut the burger in half with the spoon, she would have likely become quickly frustrated, but she adapted and made the tool at her disposal perform the task at hand.) In school and at work, many of us have been told and taught to use the "right tool for the right job." But what do we do when the right tool isn’t available and the task is urgent? How many times have you been forced to improvise when the "appropriate" tools were not available? Perhaps a projector bulb has blown, a particular system was not available, the fancy authoring tool was not in the budget, teaching materials have not yet arrived, or a guest speaker has been unavoidably detained. Have you discovered that improvisation leads to innovation? Kleenex facial tissues were originally intended for make-up removal, but the market moved them to a much different application. Have your audiences or team members (learners, stakeholders, clients) surprised and even delighted or inspired you with their improvisations and innovations when presented with a challenge, regardless of whether that challenge was circumstantial or engineered? How many times have you found that a "spoon" can do the job just as well as (or perhaps even better than) a "knife"? Tell us your stories about improvisation and innovation in learning by leaving a reply below.

Did you know? • Less than half of all US employees expect their employer to provide clear career paths. • Less than half talk to their manager about career. • About half expect their next career move to take them outside the company. What can organizations do to improve this situation? Developing people is paramount to maintaining future competitiveness, but difficult when roles and required skills are evolving quickly. The need to be nimble makes it very challenging for organizations to plan people’s development, create definitive career paths, or make long-term commitments. From an employee’s perspective, relying primarily on an employer to provide opportunities or a clear career path is a thing of the past. It is well understood that the best options for career growth, professional satisfaction and job security reside in building skills and experiences that make the individual highly valued. External opportunities are often more obvious and more appealing than internal ones. Get a snapshot of the results from the recently published research, "Navigating Ambiguity: Career 2014" or download the full report.  

The discussion of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is certainly a hot topic today, but even with the trending conversation, I still get asked, "What is a MOOC, anyway?" Channeling my inner Dr. Seuss, I’ll do my best to answer this and outline questions and concerns I also hear. Of course, there is much more to MOOCs than what is in the poem, but you’ll have to read all of the way through to see what it is! In a Massive Open Online Course, Folks join in, Some with remorse. Others might say wow, wow, wow! MOOCs are here, MOOCs are now! Stanford, Harvard, and Yahoo, too. They have MOOCs, but should you? Some MOOCs are free, But others cost. Help me please, I am so lost! Are MOOCs big or are they small? Do I show up, Or do I call? MOOCs are new and MOOCs are fun, But many enroll and then run, run, run! If workers have a learning gap, Should MOOCs be on your training map? Are MOOCs taught by a doc? If they’re "open," do MOOCs lock? If I learn via peer, Are they far or are they near? When the learning’s said and done Have we all taught or only one? All should learn Both young and old. MOOCs are popular But are you sold? When class is done and the budget’s spent, MOOCs might be a supplement. How do you get the folks to stay? Play a game, or test all day? Participants learn, but can teach, too, What comes from them, Might help you, too. To muse on MOOCs and find out more Join us on July twenty-four! Not by train and not by car But a 20-minute webinar. Now that you’ve read this blog today, About MOOCs what do you have to say? Send your thoughts, do not delay. Like, LinkedIn, or send a Tweet, Share the wealth and on MOOCs we’ll meet! Click Here to register for my upcoming webinar: Musing on MOOCs

Delivering the right content to your audience exactly when they need it can be challenging for many reasons. The mobile workforce is always on the go, always pushed for time and always online. Rapid change makes it difficult to offer content while it’s still fresh. Formal training and internal communications compete with information that reaches your workforce through social media, blogs, radio and TV. How do you get the right information to the right people at the right time? Tjeerd Veninga, Program Manager for Microsoft and Kim Hansen, Project Manager for GP Strategies recently hosted a webinar with the Brandon Hall group discussing how our organizations partnered together to create the "Always On" program. This program is focused on bite-sized training that has been successful by offering information that is "just in time," "just for you" and "just enough" for Microsoft’s worldwide workforce. The session raised several great questions around Just-in-Time training, and while the presenters didn’t get to answer all of the questions live during the session, they were able to address them and add their thoughts below: Q: Is the "Always On" program internal only? A: Yes, our goal is to inform our people of the latest product updates so that they can represent the products to customers and stakeholders. The information focuses on "what’s new?" and often we focus on how to demo or sell the product. Q: Can you please elaborate more on the hosting platform? Is it through a video site, LMS or something else? A: It is built on a Microsoft internal solution, which we call "Academy." This is an internal web site that runs on Microsoft SharePoint and it serves (live) streaming video. The video is searchable and it is possible to build channels where content that focuses on a particular product is gathered (i.e., the Windows channel, the Office channel, etc.). Q: What video equipment do you use for production, and what software do you use for editing? A: We employ a few media specialists, and we have our own studio and equipment. This team produces video for various groups within Microsoft; we are just one on their customers. They work on a cost-recovery basis. We have invested in modern high-definition cameras and professional video editing equipment. Q: How many working hours go into a 5-minute video, and how many people are involved? A: We spend most of our time preparing for the recording, i.e., determining the topic/identifying and briefing a presenter and writing an outline for the demo. Recording a 5-minute demo typically takes up to 90 minutes. It then takes another hour or two in editing. We can upload the video in 5 minutes; we typically spend another hour or two driving internal marketing. Our core team consists of one FTE (Tjeerd Veninga) and two vendors (Kim Hansen and Kim Ritchie at GP Strategies). We enjoy a lot of support from subject matter experts on our readiness team as well as at the various product teams. Q: You mentioned to "Lead with the product." But I’ve been taught to "Think about the learner task." What are your thoughts on focusing on task vs. product? A: Good question! I would say we are both right. Leading with the product is a great way of telling the story quickly. But we don’t create "feature shows." We know we don’t sell products, but we sell what our products can do. I basically meant to say, "Don’t start the video by introducing the product, don’t lose the audience by going through strategy or marketing slides, etc." Dive right in, show the product and show what it can do and which customer needs it. Q: How do you handle translations and localization issues? A: The mandatory course is localized into Chinese and Japanese. That course also offers transcripts and captions so people can read along, which often helps. Given the need for agility, we often do not localize the "Always On" content. Q: Apart from reach, what other metrics of success do you monitor? How do you track completions of the videos? A: Great question! We can see how long people watch videos; we can also see how often they watch a video. If we see that people discontinue quite early into the video, we know there is an issue with that video or the way we set expectations for that video. I’m not sure what to make of people watching a video three or four times; it could be that they are studying the video or it could be that video is hard to understand. We use Yammer, which enables people to chat about the videos they are watching. We would like to run some focus groups to find out more. So far we have relied on consumption metrics and (admittedly) anecdotal feedback. Q: What has your business impact been since launching "Always On"? A: There are a few different ways to evaluate business impact. First of all, I think we benefit most from the great agility this program offers. It used to take us a minimum of 6 weeks to design, script, produce and distribute content. Today we can do that within 12 hours. Having a complete story out that quickly, a story that details the positioning as well as compete aspects, is super valuable to us. In the past, the media would sometimes beat us to the punch and—after products were just announced—our colleagues would go to blogs, TV and YouTube to find out more. That is breakable; they would not find complete messaging there. The messaging might even be incorrect or confusing. That is now a thing of the past. Another way of looking at it is to see what our stakeholders (our internal customers) are saying. We have supported the internal product launches for Windows, Windows Phone, Surface, OneDrive for Business and Office for iPad primarily through this channel. Our internal customers love the breadth of the reach we generate and the "just in time" and "just enough" aspects that help land the key messaging across the company. Finally, I compared notes with our internal communications team; they attend conferences where they meet peers from other companies, and they determined that reaching more than 10% of the internal audience is considered a huge success. After 3 years, we reach more than that 10%. While we feel really good about the program’s impact, I cannot yet answer the most important part of your question: How much more did we sell thanks to this program? I only know that "the pain" we used to experience from not having this level of agility is now a thing of the past. Q: With the frequencies of short videos you produce, is it harder to engage learners eight times vs. one time for example? A: I think it is easier for the audience and harder (more work) for ourselves. The audience loves the fact that they can pick and choose the "readiness snacks" they need, whenever they need them. Driving this program has certainly added more to our workload and our workload also has more "spikes." There are quite a few moments in the year where we are fighting deadlines and working late. From the learners’ point of view, readiness is offered at 8:00 AM on the day the product launches, and they can lean back and learn what they need to in just 5 minutes. It’s a light time allocation and they can usually fit that into their day quite easily. The traditional course would require them to find 30 minutes of uninterrupted time, often a much tougher task. Q: How much of your video content is actually learning content vs. news or updates? A: In terms of "consumed volume," demos drive the bulk of our viewership. People are effectively learning some of the new features in updated or new products. We give them the highlights, the "hero features" that we feel everybody should know and ideally also should be able to demo. Of course we cannot demo the full product, and we point people to additional resources so they can learn more. The news videos are also popular, but these have a very short lifespan. We create them so that we can share the full and official story; we realize these videos compete with internal email/briefings/information from colleagues and the media. Demos tend to have a lifespan that runs up to a full year; news is "old news" within a few days. It’s quite telling that our "top 25" videos are all demos. And one of them was an April Fools’ joke featuring products that do not exist. Miss the session? Click here to watch a recording of the webinar: Redefining Just-in-Time Training: A Look at How Microsoft and GP Strategies Developed Training That Is Always On.