Be Responsive and Effective Can you have short, breezy learning opportunities that your learners take whenever and wherever they want that won’t make the training gods cringe? Now more than ever, learners don’t want to spend hours sitting through synchronous learning. They also don’t want to read volumes of text or sit through a lengthy […]
Read MoreCategory: Performance Improvement
Performance Objective Pitfall
The Danger of Describe If you’ve worked with me recently and turned in performance or learning objectives starting with “Describe…” you’ve most definitely gotten feedback from me questioning your choice. If you work with me sometime soon, you’ll know this is one of my pet peeves and be prepared for the questions! Yes, I do […]
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Four-in-One!
Tips to design Role-Specific Systems Training Picture this — you’re meeting with a business services client who wants to develop a custom-learning course to walk learners through the functionality of a time sheet system. You think to yourself, sure, we can do that! But then the client adds that this training must cover the requirements […]
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The Learning Experience Evolution
From Relationship Managers to Business Consultants Many Moons Ago… …I began working with a great team at Amway on transitioning its global sales account managers from administrative/relationship-building roles to strategic, business consultants or trusted advisors. This revolutionary change in position and perspective prompted the global sales learning and development team to also radically evolve its […]
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Why Is It Important to Know What Learners are Thinking and Feeling?
Using Empathy to Create Impactful Learning At the end of 2020, a colleague and I were recapping the year’s experiences and the abrupt shift that had to occur in learning for many companies. In particular, we’d both noticed how often the word “empathy” had come up in client conversations, and in industry articles, blogs, and […]
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Audience… Objectives… Chunk It Up!
Three Simple Steps to Create a Blended Learning Solution I think we’d all agree that 2020 forced a lot of change to training solutions in a very quick and reactionary manner. Did anyone not convert hundreds of instructor-led training (ILT) to virtual ILT on the fly? It’s now more important than ever to create and […]
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Unsolved Mysteries: Problem-Solving with Lateral Thinking
Four Lateral Thinking Techniques to Help You Get “Outside the Box” Have you ever encountered an unsolvable problem? One where, no matter how much you pound on it, the solution never presents itself? This reminds me of an old TV show, Unsolved Mysteries (recently rebooted by Netflix). Over some dramatic theme music, we would see […]
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Systems Training Is Not One-Size Fits All
Best Practices For Developing Systems-Based Training Innovative Learning Group has developed custom training for many systems, from talent management and customer relationship management to banking and financial systems. After managing many of these projects, I’ve learned that systems training is definitely not one-size fits all. However, along the way I’ve discovered three best practices that […]
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Are We In This Virtually Forever?
Five Actions to Take to Advance Your Learning Future Now that we are many months into this pandemic, I think we’ve come to realize that many of our normal routines have changed forever — at home and at work. For learning professionals, those whose work weeks were largely filled with maintaining and delivering live instructor-led […]
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Is Now the Time to Revisit Your Learning Strategy?
Adding A New Delivery Method Will Impact Your Strategy I recently finished conducting a review of the technology sections of a client’s comprehensive learning strategy. Looking back on this effort, I was surprised to see how many parts of the strategy needed to be revised when a new delivery method was added, in this specific […]
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