Training Industry Blog

As each day ticks by we all wonder when will this economic downturn end and what will that end look like? It makes little difference whether you are sitting in the heartland of the US or the jungles of Borneo, everyone is wondering. Maybe those outside of the West (North America and Europe) are at a decisive advantage because they live in regions that understand and have endured hardship. But even for them the question of getting work, operating in a global economy and establishing credibility remains a continual challenge.

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Innovation is often viewed as a "silver bullet" solution by leaders and managers in today’s challenging business environment. However, it is important to note when it makes sound business sense and when it doesn’t. As a guiding principle, Innovation makes sense when a business is faced with unfavorable conditions that call for different solutions, not just better execution, for instance ...

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A well-craft online simulation of a sales call, operating a piece of equipment or troubleshooting a difficult situation can impact a learner’s behavior and serve as a powerful educational tool.

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Seems all we are hearing about is “The Cloud”. As a diehard fan of the TV series Lost I fully expect them to rename the black smoke monster to something like the Cloud Monster to get in tune with today’s hype. Seems lately that references to the Cloud had made it on the front page of just about every IT magazine and while the cloud does offer a tremendous potential to institute enormous cost savings by effective management of apps, it is still seems to me to be the far off. That was until yesterday when both Cisco and Google announced their new products and services…Now, things are starting to come into focus.

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In response to a reader’s request, my previous blog entry presented an example of the financial analysis that a learning professional could and should perform to determine “when employee training is the right thing for a company to do.” The example that I used was relatively straightforward—a training program designed to reduce the scrap rate of a manufacturing company’s production line. In this case, both the costs to implement this program, as well as the benefits that would be realized (reduced scrap), could be quantified without too much “brain damage”.

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The NNSA is a fairly new governmental agency building on more than 60 years of science and fueled by heightened levels of need in the post-9/11 society. With such precise levels of information and such intense needs for success, it’s important that all knowledge be managed, and passed on, carefully. A new mentoring program is meeting those needs, and catching attention of other governmental bodies.

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As I sat listening to the nightly news and the troubles for Toyota, I thought about social responsibility as new far flung accusations were being hurled in towards them. Without passing judgment on Toyota, I couldn’t help but feel that some of the accusations were getting a bit out of hand. Fueled by our legal system to bring justice, it is claimed that Toyota chose to make safety second to monetary gain. Yet as we all know, we as a capitalist society have forsaken many things in the name of money. Have we not seen similar situations amongst our own auto manufactures? Yet the idea of social responsibility is not simply a responsibility of business, but every member of society. Whether it is the consumer, the share holder, the investment banker or the manufacturer, each and every person has a responsibility to do what is right for society and not just for them. Maybe this fervor would excite our economy into a turnaround. Instead we see the endless string of up and down movements in the stock market and each time being manipulated by opportunists.

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