Training & Development

Training & Development

How Tony Roma’s Encourages Workers to Use Smart Phones at Work

by on Feb 21, 2013, 11:25 AM  |  1 comment
Smartphone

There is an epic war being fought along the front lines of every business in the world.

Business owners and managers across all industries are engaged in heavy conflict with employees who aren’t able to get through a shift without checking the screen on their smart phones, many of whom check it every couple of minutes.

To the manager, the almost ubiquitous smart phone has become a distraction that limits performance and interferes with customer service. To a young employee, being separated from their phone is like having an arm or leg amputated. Read more…

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Talent Management, Training & Development

Developing Young Leaders: The Key Is Bridging the Education Gap

by on Feb 18, 2013, 11:40 AM  |  No comments yet
123RF Stock Photo

I am about developing young leaders. Students who see beyond surviving school and getting a job.

At Growing Leaders, we want to equip students to lead the way into the future; students who solve problems and serve people. The time has never been more ripe for this mission.

A large employer of young people recently spoke with a representative from the Georgia Department of Education. In essence, he said, “We are not asking grads about their GPA or their SAT. We are hunting for soft skills, communication skills and leadership skills. And we are not finding them.”

But is it the kids’ fault? Read more…

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Leadership, Training & Development

Developing Leaders: A Little Frustration Can Help Them Grow

by on Jan 24, 2013, 9:14 AM  |  2 Comments
Illustration by Dreamstime.

This week, I’m focusing on leadership lessons from top executives.

Today’s insight comes from Kon Leong, co-founder, president and chief executive of ZL Technologies, in an interview in The New York Times “Corner Office” column.

When asked what it’s like to work for him, Mr. Leong responded: Read more…

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HR News & Trends, Training & Development

New Study: Spending on Training Jumped by 12% Last Year

by on Jan 23, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  No comments yet
Employee training

Here’s another small sign that the economy is slowly and gradually starting to improve: overall spending by businesses on workplace training and development increased by 12 percent on average last year, according to a new study.

The research in Bersin by Deloitte’s new industry study, The Corporate Learning Factbook 2013: Benchmarks, Trends, and Analysis of the U.S. Training Market, is based on a study of more than 300 training organizations representing a broad cross-section of company sizes and industries.

According to the study, the technology and manufacturing industries showed the biggest budgetary gains last year with both sectors showing 20 percent increases in training spending. Bersin’s analysis says that these significant investments are each backed by strong rationales because technology is a high-growth, fast-paced arena that demands almost constant change, and, U.S. manufacturing is undergoing major shifts to remain competitive at a global level. Read more…

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Training & Development

The Leadership Coaching Dilemma: Contextual Coaching Is the Answer

by on Jan 11, 2013, 11:00 AM  |  No comments yet
Illustration by istockphoto.com

In January 2013, a new Chief Talent Officer took his Senior Leadership Team seat at a Fortune 100 Manhattan-based international financial services firm.

Before the chair was warm he had cancelled every one of the firm’s dozens of leadership coaching engagements taking place around the world. Such a sweeping, immediate, and disruptive gesture smacks of support from the CEO (if it wasn’t the CEO’s idea to begin with).

You can imagine the conversation: Read more…

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HR News & Trends, Training & Development

Weekly Wrap: Why Don’t We Do More to Train, Engage Our Workforce?

by on Dec 21, 2012, 12:15 PM  |  No comments yet
mayan-apocalypse

Editor’s Note: This is the final Weekly Wrap of 2012. We’ll return in January with more HR news and trends.

If you’re reading this, it means that the Mayan apocalypse has flamed out and the world did not end on schedule

Yes, we’re all still here. That’s good news, unless you were hoping you wouldn’t have to finish your Christmas shopping, or that you might avoid the joy of another dysfunctional family holiday get-together.

I was amused by all the hype over the Mayan prediction because it seemed to spawn so much silliness and media overkill — everything from parties in Colorado and Michigan closing down schools early, to the best movies and books to digest before the world ends, to how some New Yorker’s were looking for what the New York Post called one last “steamy climax” before the end came. Read more…

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Leadership, Training & Development

Management 101: The Key to Delegating? It’s Failure

by on Dec 13, 2012, 7:00 AM  |  No comments yet
Photo by istockphoto.com

Delegating is not just about assigning work.

Delegating is about making sure that the right work gets done at the right level, and making your team more capable.

As a leader, you always need to think about building a more capable team.

Building capability requires learning — and there is no learning as great as that which comes after failing. Read more…

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HR Insights, Training & Development

Why Does it Take a European to Tell Us How Thin U.S. HR Practices Are?

by on Nov 5, 2012, 10:25 AM  |  1 comment
Razor thin

The speaker’s thinness comment woke me up. I’d been nodding off all week due to horrible jet lag, and sitting there in the opening keynote of the 2012 HR Tech Europe conference last week was no exception.

Until the thinness comment. Snickers came from the Europeans, and uncomfortable chair shifting from the American contingent. He might as well have said vagina.

The keynote speaker was the brilliant and cynical idealist, Thomas Otter, a 15-year Gartner HR technology analyst out of Germany. His entire speech kept the room real for both buyers and vendors alike as he talked of cloud computing, big data, and social technologies. Read more…

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Talent Management, Training & Development

Passing the Baton: What’s So Hard About Succession Planning?

by on Oct 29, 2012, 7:00 AM  |  1 comment
Photo by istockphoto.com

“One of the things I did best was provide a successor. Adam has the respect of the owners and the players, he has expertise in the very important areas of social media, international and television, all of which report to him.”

That was a statement this week from the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, David Stern, in announcing his retirement. Stern steps down on Feb. 1, 2014, 30 years to the day after taking charge of the league, and he will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver.

“I decided that things are in great shape and there’s an organization in place that will ultimately be led by Adam that is totally prepared to take it to the next level,” Stern said.

As the saying goes, “That’s what I am talking about.” I could almost see Stern’s checklist: Read more…

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HR News & Trends, Training & Development

Weekly Wrap: Survey Says Shortage of Skilled Workers Not That Bad

by on Oct 26, 2012, 12:45 PM  |  No comments yet
Hiring jobs

You know that shortage of skilled workers you keep hearing about?

Yes, I’m talking about what we keep getting from companies that say they can’t find people to fill open positions despite 8 percent national unemployment and millions who say they keep looking but can’t get hired — THAT shortage of skilled workers.

Lots of people who watch and analyze this kind of stuff — including people like Dr. Peter Cappelli, who called the notion of worker shortages “an illusion” — have questioned whether we really have a shortage of talent or if it is really just something else, like a lack of investment in training and development by all-too-many businesses.

That’s why this recent study by the Boston Consulting Group and reported in USA Today resonates with a lot of people, because it says that, “manufacturers may have openings they can’t fill, but it’s not because workers aren’t out there. It’s because companies are being too selective about who they hire and are unwilling to pay a competitive wage.” Read more…

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