Training Magazine Current Issue

Which is safer: bungee jumping over crocodile-infested waters, or business as usual? As it turns out, the numbers are against you.

The Paychex Train-the-Trainer Partnership enhances the training skills of a select few business unit subject matter experts, giving them the tools and confidence to educate peers and fellow employees. It also allows the Training Department to become a more integral partner with the business unit, providing support and resources to achieve mutual goals.

For the first time in two years, training salaries grew, increasing nearly $800 to an average of $84,142 in 2010-2011, according to Training magazine’s Annual Salary Survey of 952 readers. The average increase in salary in the last 12 months (not including a promotion or change of employer) rose slightly to 2.57 percent in 2010-2011.

Verizon Wireless’ Critical Thinking training program helps leaders make better decisions and stimulates new thinking that can drive breakthrough innovation.

A changing mindset combined with changing technology is driving the use of games and simulations, says Karl M. Kapp, a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University. “People are becoming more open to using games and simulations for learning, and the technologies are making the development of games and simulations easier and faster.”

Strategic thinking too often is learned in the heat of a business crisis—unless, that is, you take advantage of computer-based simulations that replicate the experience in a no-consequences environment.

A common misunderstanding of “informal learning” is that it can’t be intentionally designed, implemented, and measured. This assumption is wrong. Informal learning is actually a defendable discipline better known as Performance Support. Performance Support (PS) is providing intuitive, tailored aid to a person at his or her moment of need to ensure the most effective performance.

Italians generally like social interaction and respond better to training when their active participation and input are required. Role plays and on-the-job training encourage participants to assimilate the new information they have acquired by immediately putting it to use.

To mark the 35th anniversary of the Training Conference & Expo, at Training 2012, our aspiration is a simple but audacious one: to take what we know about what works and what does not in driving human performance and to apply it in a way that allows everyone to achieve their utmost potential.

VThere is a lot of talk about gamification today and how we can use it in business—with consumers, as well as with our employees. But what about learning? Bill and Melinda Gates think gamification can make a difference in how children can learn. They recently opened their foundation purse strings and invested $20 million partially toward developing innovative digital and game-based learning tools for children in the U.S.

Global research performed by the HPO Centerin The Netherlands shows that many organizations make the wrong choices when undergoing a reorganization. The HPO Center surveyed the most important qualities needed to be and remain successful at more than 1,400 organizations in 50 countries. Results showed that five success factors give organizations the right focus in a reorganization.

We hear a lot about work/life balance, but it actually is a myth, says Jon Gordon, author of “The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work” (Wiley, 2011, www.JonGordon.com). “Rather,” he explains, “I’ve come to realize that the dance between work and life is more about rhythm than balance.”

In today’s competitive marketplace, few organizations believe they are capitalizing upon the full potential of their human resource capital. To maximize employee performance, it is critical to have leaders who can assist employees in moving quickly through the development levels to peak performance.

The latest products and services launching in the training industry.