Corporate Training Materials

Great companies value employee training and development. Take your team to the next level with corporate training materials that will improve vital business skills like communication and negotiation.

2
oct
0

Do You Know Your Audience’s Learning Preferences? Tips for Better Instructional Design

Posted by Corporate Training MaterialsNo Comments

Trainers tend to choose training models that focus on the content that they need to be addressed. However, they also need to know how their target audience learns the best. Learning preferences is the missing link in almost every instructional design model. There are also ways that trainers can design their sessions to create a better learning environment.

Tips for Better Instructional Design

Before trainers design their training sessions, they should determine what participants actually need to learn. According to Bob Pike, rather than waste time covering material that the audience already knows, trainers should do the groundwork to learn where the critical learning needs are so they can keep their session focused and engaging.

Trainers should make sure they design training that communicates a specific outcome for participants. Learners should be able to understand how gaining new skills or knowledge is tied to their own job success and career path. When audiences can see the training’s benefits, they are more likely to stay interested and motivated to finish it.

Pike has revealed that the foundational principle of the instructor-led, participant-centered training approach is “90-20-10.” This is the key to maximizing learner engagement, and the goal is to keep the total course length under 90 minutes, changing pace every 20 minutes, and promoting participant interaction every 10 minutes.

Trainers should think about their audience and objectives to determine what kind of sequence they should deliver content in to best enhance learning. Also, a tiered content approach works for many audiences. The tiered approach is a hierarchical triangle:

  • Tier 1 – High-level audio-visual information should be up top. This is where learners get an overview of the topic and learn the basics.
  • Tier 2 – More text-based “meat and potatoes” content is second. This includes detailed strategies, instructions, helpful tips, and more.
  • Tier 3 – Interaction happens last. Trainers should encourage participation through quizzes, games, or the application of new skills. Hands-on engagement has been proven to improve retention and learning outcomes.

Instructional Design is an ongoing and ever-changing process. Even when trainers find a successful session format, they should still keep looking for ways to improve engagement, retention, and on-the-job results.

Learn more here!

 

6
feb
2

Youngest Workers Need This

Posted by Corporate Training Materials, HR TrainingNo Comments

written by Lynne Waymon

A sense of community at work.  Yet, according to researcher Sara Konrath, they haven’t yet developed the skills that will help them build lasting relationships. She reports

“. . . a 40% drop in empathy among college students in the

past 20 years, as measured by standard psychological tests.”

What’s the evidence?

Konrath is with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.  She collated data on this from 72 studies.  She attributes the decline in empathy to young people being so digitally-oriented that they haven’t developed experience in building face-to-face relationships.

“Taking on another person’s thoughts and identifying with their emotions are two habits at the core of empathy. Empathy is a delicate cocktail, blending assorted elements of inborn aptitude, social conditioning, personal history, and practice and motivation. The ability to empathize is like a muscle – it’s capable of growth.”

What does that mean for people in Training & Development?

That “soft skills,” often relegated to last place in the training calendar (and budget!) must come front and center.   It means that teaching practical relationship building skills can have a positive effect on your employee engagement scores and productivity.

Can people really be taught to empathize, engage, connect?

Yes. We’ve seen it happen with our clients, whose employees are in many different functional roles.   Relationships don’t just happen. The ability to trust, engage in give and take, appreciate each other, celebrate and commiserate together, ask good questions, listen, collaborate, and express liking and be likable . . . are all LEARNED skills.

What’s the next step?

Review your programs in Orientation, Mentoring, Diversity, Leadership, Business Development, and Professional Development.  Do they include the practical, how-to’s for connecting, conversing, and collaborating?  If so, congratulations!  If not, how can you include them?

Lynne Waymon is a co-founder and principal at Contacts Count LLC, the international training firm that specializes in teaching business and professional networking skills.  The firm’s clients during the last 25 years range from CPA firms to banks, from engineers to HR professionals, and from attorneys to Fortune 100 companies.  

Contacts Count’s training programs, keynotes, webinars, and train-the-trainer events help people put the tools of networking to work in the service of business goals.  Their Networking Competency Assessment measures skill in 8 competency areas.  Their newest book, Strategic Connections: The New Face of Networking in a Collaborative World is available in bulk from the publisher and by single copy at Amazon.com.

 

 

 

 

    

 

19
oct
0
breakthrough creativity

New Webinar! Breakthrough Creativity: How to Use Your Talents for More Creative Leadership

Posted by Corporate Training Materials, HR TrainingNo Comments

We are excited to announce a new webinar!

Event Date: 1/24/2018 (2:00 pm EDT- 3:00 pm EDT)

Organizations that integrate creativity into their DNA achieve significant benefits, including better team performance, increased flexibility, greater retention rates, creative problem solving, and strategic decision making. And when it comes to leadership, creativity is the key to gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

But just as there are multiple styles of intelligence, there are multiple styles of creativity that produce different yet equally valuable results. Variations in how individuals look at the world, gather information, and respond to challenges all have an impact on creative contributions. That’s why self-discovery is an important first step in realizing a leader’s creative potential.

Join creativity and leadership development expert Dr. Lynne Levesque for an hour-long exploration of creativity in the workplace. She’ll discuss how creative talents impact a leader’s performance, introduce eight creative talents, and offer a practical framework you can use to accelerate the growth of creative strengths in leaders and their teams.

Participants will learn

  • What it means to be creative as a leader—and why it’s critical to performance
  • The different ways leaders can be creative
  • How the eight creative talents work on a team
  • How to apply the eight creative talents to inventive problem solving, strategic decision making, and resilient change management

Save your seat! 

Dr. Lynne Levesque is a leadership and creativity consultant based in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to launching her consulting and training practice, she was a vice president at Bank of America. Lynne also spent several years as a senior researcher at the Harvard Business School. She is the author of Breakthrough Creativity: Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents and the Breakthrough Creativity Profile, as well as several cases and articles. Lynne holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

2
oct
0
flexible leadership

New Webinar! Flexible Leadership: How Forward-Looking Leaders Adapt and Create Value

Posted by Corporate Training MaterialsNo Comments

We are excited to announce a new webinar!

Event Date: 12/6/2017 (2:00 pm EDT- 3:00 pm EDT)

Why do some companies triumph even when the rest of their competitors are struggling? In our work with some of the world’s best companies, we have found the greatest predictor of a company’s success is the strength of its leadership. The best leaders seem to have an almost supernatural ability to see into the future and adapt their behavior accordingly.

There’s a name for this superpower: Flexible Leadership.

Flexible Leadership defines effective leadership in today’s fast-changing and challenging environment. The Flexible Leadership model refers to the processes that determine the success of an organization- efficiency and reliability, agility, and talent management- and the ways leaders can, directly and indirectly, influence these processes. Leaders and managers can use it as a “mental map” to diagnose their situation and guide their short- and long-term choices. It’s also a useful framework for HR professionals to identify and develop future leaders.

This webinar will offer an in-depth look at the Flexible Leadership model and provide strategies leaders and other professionals can apply immediately to become more forward-thinking and adaptable stewards of their company.

Participants will learn 

  • Understand the leadership challenges that impact work performance and assess the importance of each one
  • Identify the leadership practices that are best suited to address each challenge and understand when and how to apply them
  • Help leaders increase their flexibility and be better able to deal with multiple challenges simultaneously while balancing the trade-offs among leadership practices
  • Use the Flexible Leadership model to enhance leadership development strategies

Save your seat! 

Rick Lepsinger is President of OnPoint Consulting. His career has focused on helping organizations and leaders identify and develop leaders, work better virtually, enhance cross functional team performance, and get from strategy to execution faster.  He conducts numerous seminars and workshops on succession management, leading from a distance, leading cross functional teams, and enhancing execution.  Rick has written numerous articles and is the author or co-author of several books. Click here for more information.

18
apr
0

New Webinar! Your Time Mastery Revolution: How to Cut 20+ Hours While Doubling New Client Growth

Posted by Corporate Training MaterialsNo Comments

We are excited to announce a new webinar!

Event Date: 05/10/2017 (2:00 pm EDT – 3:00 pm EDT)

You tried every time management trick in the book, but you still find yourself staring at the clock at 5 PM wondering, “Where did the time go?” And no matter how much you plan your week out on, you’re at a loss for how you didn’t finish that project by Friday.

It’s frustrating, but the good news is that you’re not alone.

In this one-hour webinar training expert Kelly Roach will teach its attendees who may be currently overwhelmed, frustrated, and at a standstill in their business growth to gain control of their time, how to eliminate 20 hours from their workweek while growing their income, how to conquer the productivity traps that are keeping them small, and how to double new client growth in the next 30 days.

Participants Will Learn

  • How to move from playing defense in your business to playing offense (and describing the daily activities that fall into both of those categories)
  • The simple 4 step process to remove 80% of the working hours that AREN’T contributing to the bottom line
  • Key mindset shifts to take you from short term thinking to long range vision when making key business decisions
  • Top ways to get more engagement and turn more leads into paying clients in just 30 days

Save your seat!

Kelly HeadShot

Kelly Roach is the founder of Kelly Roach Coaching, a rapid growth coaching and consulting company for business owners, entrepreneurs, and executive leaders. A few years ago Kelly was successful, but was yearning for more. She knew she was meant for something bigger, and wanted to create a business that allowed her to serve others, make a difference, and create unlimited income while doing it. After personally producing more than $30 million in sales in record time, Kelly charged to the top of a global Fortune 500 firm, netting 7 promotions in 8 years. That’s when she launched Kelly Roach International, to help businesses do the extraordinary by using innovative strategies to rapidly increase productivity and profits.

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