The Traditional "Education" Model is Waning
Interest in online learning is growing rapidly, while interest in traditional education is waning. From 2012 to 2013, distance education enrollment rose 1.8 percent, compared with a drop of 4% in overall higher education enrollment, according to the US Department of Education.
About one-eighth of students take all their higher education courses at a distance (online or through video, satellite or correspondence work), while another eighth take at least some classes at a distance, according to Russell Poulin, director, policy and analysis for the Eastern Interstate Comission for Higher Education Cooperative for Educational Technologies, a Boulder, CO, based organizations that focuses on best practices and technology for distance learning.
Source: HR Magazine, May 2015
Quotable: Thomas Handcock
Worldwide, organizations spend at least 11% more on training per person than is cost-effective, according to Thomas Handcock, senior director at Corporate Executive Board Co. (CEB) in London. That's time employees spend away from their core jobs engaged in learning that is not germane to the business.
You May Go Out of Business in the Next Five Years....
There is no lack of chatter in business and human resource journal's these days regarding the imminent brain drain as the Baby Boomers retire at a rate of 6,000 to 10,000 per day, depending on the source of your information. By 2030 all of the Baby Boomers will be over age 65. This means that the next generation(s) need to be ready willing and able and to fill critical roles. The problem is-they are not ready.
Your lack of a skilled workforce may cause you to go out of business in the next 5 to 10 years. What are your options?
Plan A - Hire skilled workers
While the younger generation cohort (those born in the 1980s and 1990s) is actually the largest cohort in history, they've had a tough time securing employment while the Baby Boomers have been in place. Therefore, while there are a lot of them, they often lack skills.
Plan B - Promote from within
Many employee satisfaction surveys over the years have revealed that the most frequent cause of an employee leaving his current employer is because they see a lack of career advancement. This is often coupled with a lack of training which would enable that career advancement. Therefore, without a concerted plan to develop incumbent workers (see plan D), this is not a realistic option for most organizations.
Plan C - Hire from the competition
While this a somewhat logical short-term solution, the reality is you're simply exchanging the current talent pool. At some point in their tenure with you, an employee will leave for your competition because they don't see career advancement with you.
Plan D - Grow your own
College graduates may demonstrate an ability to learn but have few-to-zero skills. While this might seem like a challenge, it is actually a wonderful opportunity for you to be the first employer to shape the way in which they work. Since they will not have preconceived notions about how work is done or their roles and responsibilities, you can " design" the ideal employee with the future in mind. If you have a well thought out career / curriculum path, you not only will "build" the perfect employee but they will stay with you for many years to come as well.
Employee's aren't so satisfied with their career advancement opportunities
This year marks the greatest increase in the number of employees satisfied with their current job since SHRM began administering the Employee Job Satisfaction Survey in 2002.
However, they appear to be least satisfied with their ability to advance in their careers. The satisfaction levels that relate to training and development include:
Organization's commitment to professional development - 23%
Job specific training - 22%
Career development opportunities - 21%
Company paid general training - 24%
Quotable: John Medina
Before the first quarter-hour is over in a typical presentation, people usually have checked out. If keeping someone’s interest in a lecture were a business, it would have an 80% failure rate.
John Medina, author, Brain Rules
Quotable: Heidi Grant Halvorson
Mastering new skills is not optional in today’s business environment.
“In a fast-moving, competitive world, being able to learn new skills is one of the keys to success. It’s not enough to be smart – you need to always be getting smarter.”
Heidi Grant Halvorson, author: Nine Things Successful People Do Differently
Training Doctor in the media this summer!
The Training Doctor was featured in the Staples Small Business Hubarticle, 4 Ways Apple Devices Can Help your Small Business
Also, the founder of The Training Doctor, Dr. Nanette Miner, was featured in an article from The American Express Open Forum, Successful Entrepreneurs' Secrets toMastering Work-Life Balance.
What's the Difference between Gaming and Gamification?
Game-based learning is the use of a game to teach. Gamification, on the other hand, only uses a few elements of games. A learning game is a self-contained unit. There is a definitive start, game play and ending to the game. In a learning game, the learners know they are engaged in a game activity and at the end there is a “win state.”
Source: www.trainingindustry.com/magazine Training Industry Magazine-Spring 2014
Here is a sample of a "game" we use to teach overcoming objections in a sales curriculum - feel free to copy!
Step 1 - Divide your group in to three: Team A, Team B, Team C
Step 2 - Each team is given 5 minutes to discuss among themselves and come up with the 5 "hardest" objections they have encountered when selling "x" (this assumes a group that is already selling a product or service and you are enhancing their abilities).
Step 3 - Conducted as a round robin. Team A "announces" one of their Top 5 Hardest objections. Team B has a few moments to discuss among themselves and come up with what they believe to be an appropriate response. Team C also discusses among themselves because they have the ability to "challenge" Team B's answer
Team B then provides their answer to Team A. If Team C thinks their answer is better, they can say "we would like to challenge that" and provide THEIR answer to Team A. Team A then decides "the winner" and a point is awarded.
The process then repeats with Team B providing one of their objections to Team C and Team A having the ability to challenge.
This should take about 45 minutes to conduct. The Team with the most points "wins" and everyone wins by having at least 2 great rebuttals to all the tough objections.
We're not name droppers... but....
TrainingIndustry.com just announced its Top 20 Training Content Developers and three of our clients are on the list! Congrats!
Training is essential for public safety!
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended the repair station certificate of Aviation Service, Inc. (ASI), a Lexington, Kentucky-based aircraft repair station.
The FAA alleges that ASI failed to establish an Employee Training Program (ETP) that met FAA regulations. The FAA notified ASI numerous times between July 7, 2011 and October 9, 2012 that its ETP did not meet FAA regulations.
After ASI failed to modify its ETP, the FAA issued an immediately effective action to suspend ASI’s certificate, determining that an emergency existed related to the safety of the traveling public.
An FAA-approved ETP is critical to ensure that employees performing maintenance for a repair station are capable of completing such work.
The suspension will continue until ASI develops an ETP that the FAA approves.
Source: AviationPros.com
Training in Decision Making Crucial to Business Success
According to a survey of 562 US based senior-level business, human resources, and management professionals, conducted by AMA Enterprise (a division of the American Management Association International) - a fear of failure or making a mistake often causes employees to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.
The solution? According to 46% of respondents: Training in decision-making and problem-solving which will, in turn, lead to more confidence in taking responsibility.
You Can Stop Doing Performance Reviews - Let the Peers do it
In The Crowdsourced Performance Review: How to Use the Power of Social Recognition to Transform Employee Performance, Eric Mosley argues that social recognition, a practice in which many people use social media to consider and recognize an employee's performance on a daily basis, can improve performance more effectively than either the one-on-one performance review or 360-degree feedback.
Does "Social Media" Limit our Ability to think Independently?
The word "social" has shifted its meaning and has been redefined within the last five years. Today, it often defines social networks, media and marketing. The bubblization of society poses great opportunities to segment people by interests and other characteristics, which in turn, can over-expose people to like-minded peers and distance them from those who think and operate differently. - ManpowerGroup