February 2008

Employee Development
Look before you leap

According to a recent article published in The Wall Street Journal, “next to the stock market, what CEOs talk about most is their lack of bench strength.” There is conflicting data in the media that predicts a looming recession in 2008. A portion of the gloom and doom talk may be driven by the upcoming presidential election. But even if there is only a slim chance of a recession you need to be fully prepared if it does occur. Read more…

Trends
Does one size fit all?

As you are well aware, there has been a shift with a demand that training is aligned with business strategies, goals and objectives to produce documentable results. I feel this trend is going to continue as companies move away from standardized training programs to performance-based initiatives engineered to meet the specifications of the company as well as the needs of the employee to competently perform their job. Read more…

Innovation
It’s a cultural thing

Companies that want to stay ahead of the competition are looking to incorporate innovation principles and practices into their training efforts. They understand and embrace the reality that, in this age of hyper-competition, they have no choice but to bow to the forces of change or become irrelevant. Turmoil and uncertainty rule the day at ever-accelerating rates and it’s causing fits for many managers, who can’t handle the pace of change. Read more…

Kirkpatrick’s Column
Reasons for evaluating training