M AY/J U N E 2 0 1 9

UNDERSTANDING
YOUR LEARNERS

DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT | 16
Leveraging Diverse Thinking in the Workplace

LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE | 32

How to Become an Effective Digital Learner

THE HUMAN FACTOR | 42

The Value of Human Interaction in Training

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES ON MANAGING WORLD-CLASS TRAINING

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RIGHT LEARNING
STRATEGY
TODAY TO DRIVE
EMPLOYEES
TOMORROW

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create optimum employee
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performance.

To explore how we can assist

your organization with the right
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STEP UP YOUR DIGITAL LEARNING

Mobile Learning Gamification

Microlearning Videos and Interactive Videos

Adaptive Learning AR/VR

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UNDERSTANDING
THE LEARNER
How well do we really understand the
corporate learner? Training managers
suggest that the most common strategy,
by far, used to understand what learners
need is to approach the employee’s
manager or employee directly. While
that is not necessarily a bad approach,
I believe it adds to one of our biggest
challenges – aligning the goals of training
with the business outcomes we are trying
to support.
As a function, learning and development
(L&D) should consider learner preferences
when developing training programs. Both
managers and employees can provide
valuable insight into the direction of
training development, including insight
into specific topics, skills or knowledge
needed to improve job performance. To
make effective decisions, however, L&D
must also consider how the training is
delivered. This matching process is one
where the learner’s preferences can be
a key indicator of their willingness to
actively participate in the program.
Training Industry recently conducted
research on what learners want and
how they want to learn. Not surprisingly,
the research concluded – it depends. It
depends on the topic, it depends on the
department, but most importantly, it
depends on the quality of the training.
A learner’s perception regarding the
quality of the training changes based on
the likelihood that they experienced at
least some portion of the program in a
modality they prefer.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
PERSPECTIVES
KEN TAYLOR
Understanding why learners liked or As always, we would love to hear
didn’t like a program is a challenge for your thoughts about the perspectives
L&D. Learning is not linear and extends shared in the magazine, and please
beyond the training event. The success of feel free to send any content ideas for
new products in the market indicate that future consideration.
the future of training design will be self-
directed, with the learner determining Ken Taylor is president and editor in chief of
how much time they are willing to invest Training Industry, Inc. Email Ken.
in the training and the order they prefer
to consume the content. A LEARNER’S
In a world with tight budgets and lofty PERCEPTION
demands on the L&D team, this can be REGARDING THE
overwhelming. But I believe the secret QUALITY OF THE
may be in how we assemble our programs. TRAINING CHANGES
Microlearning content may be the key
since it is easier to edit, update and keep BASED ON THE
current. Bite-sized learning empowers LIKELIHOOD THAT
the learner to learn when they need it, THEY EXPERIENCED
even in the flow of their job. It also allows AT LEAST SOME
the learner to decide what parts of the
program they want to consume, which PORTION OF THE
does introduce some risk. PROGRAM IN A
MODALITY THEY
Approaching training design with a focus
on understanding the learner is where the
PREFER.
L&D team can have significant impact. Sure,
the content must still be great, but how
it is structured and delivered can enable
L&D to meet the need for flexibility that
today’s learners crave. Having empowered
employees spending less time on learning
and more time performing is really one of
our core objectives.
From my perspective, asking employees
how they want to learn is not really a bad
thing. It’s an opportunity to improve the
learner experience.
|3
 CO N T E N TS
TA B L E O F

VOLUME 12 I ISSUE 4 I MAY/JUNE 2019

|4
 F E AT U R E S

16 32 42
DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE THE HUMAN FACTOR

EV ID FO ECNAT RO P MI EHT
16
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT
By Rick Bowers
Embrace diversity of thought to push your teams to new heights of creativity and authenticity.

20
TRAINING MYTHS THAT WON’T GO AWAY
By Le’a Kent
Examine training myths and assumptions to ensure an unbiased, fair approach to learning.

24
WHAT DOES PERSONALITY HAVE TO DO WITH IT ANYWAY?
By Lori Preston
Approach training design with your learner’s personality traits and motivators in mind.

28
BACK TO PSYCHOLOGY BASICS: HOW TO KEEP YOUR LEARNERS ENGAGED
By Tiffany Poeppelman
Leverage the principles of human motivation to improve employee performance over time.

BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE LEARNER IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL EVOLUTION

32
By Matt Donovan
Learners must develop their own learning plans that guide them through the changing
L&D landscape.

36
4 KEYS TO MAKING CONTENT MORE CONSUMABLE FOR THE JUST-IN-TIME LEARNER
By Laura Whitaker
Learn how to develop training programs that keep learners engaged and increase accessibility.

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF CHARACTER FITNESS AND HOW THEY GROW

39 LEADERSHIP AGILITY
By Pam Boney
Develop character fitness across four key areas to increase productivity and engagement.

42
THE HUMAN FACTOR
By Caroline Murphy
Improve employees’ learning experiences by adopting a human-focused approach to learning.

ACCOUNTABILITY IN TEAMS: CHANGING PERCEPTIONS AND MOVING

46
TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION
By Jason Weber
Increase communications and decrease conflict by implementing accountability in the workplace.

T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
|5
 I N THIS
I S S U E

THOUGHT LEADERS

3 PERSPECTIVES
By Ken Taylor
Learn why L&D should consider
15 BUILDING LEADERS
By Sam Shriver and Marshall Goldsmith
Sharpen your leadership skills by
learner preferences when developing indoctrinating early, embracing reality
training programs. and measuring relentlessly.

9 GUEST EDITOR
By Leslie Yurocko
Model leadership behavior that will
57 WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH
By Stella Lee, Ph.D.
Incorporate thoughtful
allow your employees to flourish in instructional design to create
the workplace. effective adaptive learning.

11 SCIENCE OF LEARNING
By Srini Pillay, M.D.
Brain science can enable smart
59 SECRETS OF SOURCING
By Doug Harward
Training designers must understand
learning design that improves the the environment in which the employee
learner experience. works and learns.

13 61
PERFORMANCE MATTERS LEARNER MINDSET
By Julie Winkle Giulioni By Michelle Eggleston Schwartz
Meet the needs of employees by Training is quickly becoming a key
tailoring L&D programs to their vastly differentiator between companies
diverse backgrounds. competing for talent.

INFO EXCHANGE

50 CASEBOOK
Follow Deloitte’s journey to gamify
onboarding for new analysts using a
62 CLOSING DEALS
Emerald Group acquisitions create a
portfolio of learning businesses across
zombie apocalypse. leadership training market.

52 GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Drive customer needs by
understanding social and cultural
63 COMPANY NEWS
Keep up with the latest in the training
industry by reading news from the
makeups in their individual regions. last quarter.

CONNECT WITH US 1 (866) 298-4203 editor@trainingindustry.com TrainingIndustry.com

|6
 A B O U T
OUR TEAM

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HELPING PEOPLE FLOURISH
THROUGH GREAT LEADERSHIP
Employee experience is essential in
today’s work environment. The way
we experience work impacts our
personal growth, our motivation and
our interactions with the world around
us. Simply put, employee experience
impacts everything.
Understanding what motivates our
workforce is more important now than
ever before. How do they experience
their work environment? What are their
skills and passions? As their leader,
how do you help people thrive? Use
these four leadership strategies to
create a workplace where employees
can flourish.
UNDERSTANDING
WHAT MOTIVATES OUR
WORKFORCE IS MORE
IMPORTANT NOW THAN
EVER BEFORE.
1. BUILD TRUST
Building trust requires vulnerability and
courage as the leader. Demonstrating
vulnerability allows leaders to share
times they were wrong and the lessons
they learned as a result. When leaders
open up, employees feel comfortable
sharing their struggles and triumphs
as a result. This is how we create
trust. Humility can go a long way when
leading others.
Building trust also requires a genuine
curiosity in the people you lead. Learn
what excites, frustrates and fulfills your
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
employees in their work environment.
Ask why they chose your company and
why they stay. When we dig deeper and
ask questions, we learn how to best
support our people.
2. LISTEN
Listening is a simple concept that most
people struggle to master. Constant
distractions create an environment
where it’s easy to be inattentive as
a leader. When someone stops by to
speak to you, you may be distracted by
incoming emails or upcoming deadlines
and respond ineffectively. How are you
eroding trust in this moment? Can you
listen now or is there a better time to
talk later?
Address the situation and avoid
distractions in that moment. Plan
another time to talk if you can’t give
someone your undivided attention.
When people feel heard, they are
more likely to approach you again in
the future when they need your help.
Listening builds equity in relationships
over time.
3. MODEL GROWTH
To help people flourish, we need to focus
on our own growth as leaders, too. Set
goals for yourself and your work in order
to model the importance of personal
growth in the workplace. Then, share
what you’re discovering in your learning
with your employees. Remind yourself
of why you chose the company and your
beliefs in the people and communities
the company serves. Our employees
need to see us living these values, so
GUEST EDITOR
LESLIE YUROCKO
they know how to model and reflect
positive workplace behaviors.
4. PROVIDE CLARITY
For our people to thrive, we need to be
clear with them. Do you wait for a yearly
performance review to let your people
know how they are doing and what they
need to work on? Clearly communicating
your expectations regarding employees’
strengths, shortcomings and progress
should be consistently practiced
throughout the year.
Clarity defines success. As the leader, it
is also important to clearly communicate
your own vision for your team. Share
with your people what success looks like
and how you can support them along
the way. Guiding your team toward
success requires honest feedback, even
when the feedback may not be easy
for the receiver to hear. Constructive
criticism is the greatest gift you can give
someone who truly wants to grow.
Helping people flourish is the greatest
responsibility and gift as a leader. The
ultimate employee experience occurs
when people feel supported to become
better versions of themselves. Creating
this experience requires intentional and
focused leadership that builds trust,
listens carefully, models growth and
provides clarity.
Leslie Yurocko is the director of talent
development for RevLocal in Granville,
Ohio. In her role, Leslie oversees training and
professional development for operations
employees. Email Leslie.
|9
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free report detailing this year’s top 10 learning trends, go to skillpath.com/trends19

SMART LEARNING DESIGN:
HOW BRAIN SCIENCE CAN
IMPACT LEARNING DESIGN
A lot of discussion surrounds the
consideration of different learning styles
when designing learning programs. Some
people learn more effectively by seeing;
others prefer hearing. Then, there are
those who prefer reading and writing as
educational tools. However, there is little
evidence to support this approach to
learning. In fact, most professionals either
regard this approach to learning as a
myth or agree that learning design should
incorporate all styles.
Still, most brain experts agree that
the brain changes in differing ways
for different people. Age, gender and
psychological traits all impact brain
responses over time. If this is the case,
what are some fundamental brain-based
principles that may better inform learning
design, and how can you implement them
in your programs?
PUT RATIONAL LEARNING
IN PERSPECTIVE
For simple things, like learning how to
use a new piece of software, following
instructions may be enough. However,
when complex leadership decisions are
made under uncertain circumstances, the
rational brain is a weak instrument.
Action: Change your organization’s
approach to complex problem-solving by
emphasizing that all rational approaches
require engagement on an individual’s own
terms. Phase out the use of rational strategies
for complex problem-solving matters. To
enhance engagement, present rational
frameworks in user-centric experiences. Use
your business approach to customers with
your learners, too. Ask them what they want
and build this into the design.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
DON’T EXPECT FACTS TO
SHIFT THINKING
People do not live their lives by factual
evidence. They cling to their beliefs. For
example, in 1975, social psychology
professor, Lee Ross, and his colleagues
demonstrated that, when results are initially
reported inaccurately then accurately at a
later time, people still hold on to the initial
information. Numerous other studies have
confirmed this tendency.
Action: If you want people to change
their behavior, aim for deep change rather
than instruction and data. Design learning
that allows people to explore their beliefs
and how their beliefs differ from the facts.
Then, ask them to design actions to honor
their new beliefs. Forming new beliefs is
essential for new action.
PRACTICE DOES NOT MAKE PERFECT
When you want to teach people how to
navigate new systems or operate outside
of siloes, don’t expect practice to make
much of an impact. A recent meta-
analysis by Princeton psychology professor,
Brooke McNamara, and her colleagues
demonstrated that deliberate practice
only makes up 4% of the “success pie” for
education and less than 1% in the workplace.
Action: People are not automatons. Pay
attention to how they practice rather than
how many times they repeat the action.
When designing learning, ask: “How might
they be more engaged with this practice?”
For this reason, experiential learning
is important. However, the experience
should mimic the real-life challenge and
SCIENCE OF LEARNING
SRINI PILLAY, M.D.
should take the following factors into
account: How relevant is this learning? How
congruent is the learning with students’
needs? How interactive is the learning?
FORMING NEW BELIEFS
IS ESSENTIAL FOR NEW
ACTION.
MAKE UNFOCUS PART OF
LEARNING DESIGN
Too much focus can drain your brain of
energy, create tunnel vision, prevent you
from seeing upcoming opportunities
and limit your creativity. Your brain needs
breaks between periods of focus to allow
your resting mind to piece together
new information.
Action: Five to 15 minutes of napping
can give you one to three hours of clarity.
Doodling can enhance memory. There
are many other unfocus techniques that
can improve learning as well. So, build
napping or doodling breaks into your
learning design. This will help learners
absorb and retain information more easily.
The learner’s needs are important when
designing learning. However, the emphasis
should not be placed on preferred learning
styles. Rather, emphasize creating learning
programs that are user-centric, engaging
and congruent with their beliefs. If you
really want learners to absorb and process
information, ensure that strategic unfocus
is included in your learning design.
Dr. Srini Pillay is the CEO of NeuroBusiness
Group. He is also assistant professor (part-time)
at Harvard Medical School and teaches in the
executive education programs at Harvard
Business School and Duke CE. Email Srini.
| 11
THE MOST INCONSISTENT THING
YOU CAN DO IS TREAT EVERYONE
THE SAME.

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MEET TODAY’S LEARNER
Offering learning and development (L&D)
solutions has never been more important
or complex. This importance comes
from a growing acceptance that today’s
dynamic and disruptive environment
demands an ever-refreshing flow of
information and skills throughout the
organization. This complexity comes
from many different sources.
VIVA LA DIFFERENCE
Today’s workforce spans four generations
toiling side by side. And, as people work
longer, that population will continue to
become older over time. Age isn’t the only
diversity factor at play, either. Now, more
women are part of the workforce than
any other time in U.S. history. But gender
is just one part of the picture. Today, we
enjoy greater diversity in terms of sexual
preference and identification as well.
The workplace also represents the
richness of various ethnicities and
religions that help characterize the
melting pot that is our nation. This
diversity contributes directly to the
bottom-line. According to McKinsey &
Company, “ethnically diverse companies
are 35% more likely to outperform their
respective national industry medians.”
Legislation and greater workplace
accommodations allow those with
a range of abilities to contribute
in ways they might not have in the
past. According to research from
Deloitte Insights, “the U.S. labor force
has become more educated in each
EXPECTATIONS OF
LEARNING CAN BE
DRAMATICALLY
DIFFERENT FOR
EVERY INDIVIDUAL.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
progressive generation.” Yet, many
organizations find themselves with a
population ranging from marginally
literate individuals to those with
multiple advanced degrees.
BEYOND THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF
DIVERSITY
But the differences don’t end there.
Beyond who comes to work, where
and how they work differs dramatically.
Some still show up to a shop or store.
Others are co-located with colleagues
in offices. A growing number travel to
shared work spaces or work from home.
Once employees arrive wherever they
might find themselves working, additional
layers of differences emerge. How
information and learning is consumed
varies widely based on age, education,
experience and evolving available
technologies. And expectations of
learning can be dramatically different
from individual to individual.
MEETING THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S
LEARNERS
As a result of the diversity that’s at the core
of today’s workplace, L&D practitioners
cannot view training audiences as the
monolithic populations we once did. Even
segmenting an audience into sub-groups
may not be sufficient in understanding
and appealing to the broad and varied
learning needs that exist within it.
Instead, it’s time for L&D to reframe its
thinking and update its fundamental
mission to include “offering necessary
and tailored learning to audiences of one.”
We must advance our thinking and build
on evolving practices that enable us to
meet the needs of each individual. And,
many of the pieces of this philosophy are
already in the works, such as:
PERFORMANCE MATTERS
JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI
• Microlearning: Being able to chunk
content down into discrete and
digestible elements is the first step.
But accommodating audiences of one
doesn’t mean pushing all of the same
assets to everyone. Flexible systems
will allow for customized sorting,
configuration and deployment of
individualized solutions.
• On-demand learning: Pull (versus
push)- based systems put the learner
in the driver’s seat. This helps to
accommodate the variability in terms
of when, where and how learning is
accessed. However, this only works
when the right assets are curated or
created, with an eye toward the wide-
range of needs that exist from person
to person.
• Knowledge management systems:
These internal repositories of
information are naturally self-tailoring
tools that meet individual needs, but
only when they operate at close to
the typical learner’s gold standard of
Google searches. All of this demands an
improved user experience that enables
learning assets and resources to
satisfy knowledge and skill acquisition
requirements at critical points of need.
• Coaching: Whether in real life or
virtually, with advancing technology-
enabled tools, coaching is a natural
way to address the needs of individuals
and support their success.
Today’s learners are unique. And L&D is
well-poised to offer solutions that will
help individuals grow, optimize their
talents and contribute to powerful
organizational results.
Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of
experience working with organizations
worldwide to improve performance through
learning. Email Julie.
| 13
 June 17-19, 2019 // Raleigh, North Carolina

INSIGHTFUL AND ENGAGING

MEET THE 2019 KEYNOTES

WHITNEY MORTIMER SCOTT HARTLEY ERICA JAVELLANA

Partner and Chief Best-Selling Author and Speaker of the House,
Marketing Officer Venture Capitalist Zappos Insights
IDEO Zappos.com

The 2019 Training Industry Conference & Expo (TICE) is an event for leaders and
aspiring leaders in corporate learning and development (L&D). Our 2019 keynote
speakers will offer insightful and actionable information on design thinking for L&D,
human skills in an age of technology and creating a culture of service.

Learn more and register at TICE2019.com.


INDOCTRINATE,
EMBRACE AND
MEASURE!
If you ever have the opportunity to
hear Jack Zenger speak at a conference,
take it. There is perspective that comes
with 63 years in the arena of leadership
development that, quite frankly, is next to
impossible to replicate.
As you might imagine, Zenger is a thought
leader who has “been there and done
that.” He not only understands people at
a level most of us can only aspire to, but
also understands the organizations that
employ them.
In general terms, and in active
acknowledgement of the alignment
between Zenger’s thinking and our own,
we offer the following observations:
INDOCTRINATE EARLY
This is a partial list of leadership skills most
often worked on by C-suite executives
participating in executive coaching:
• Building trust
• Listening
• Delegating
• Collaborating
• Holding others accountable
• Taking appropriate risks
• Matching one’s leadership style to the
specific needs of others
Do any of these skills strike you as
development needs reserved solely for
the top echelons of management? As
we have addressed in previous columns,
one of the most significant professional
advances many of us ever make is our
first promotion into people management.
That’s the career juncture where we
transition from being responsible for
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
SAM SHRIVER & MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
“doing it” to a position where we are
responsible for seeing that someone else
“gets it done.”
Each of the skills listed previously are as
critical to front-line supervisor success
as they are to orchestrating targeted
results in middle or upper management.
Therefore, introducing core, foundational
leadership and influence constructs as
early as possible must become a priority.
Is leading people more complicated
in the C-suite than it is at the base of
an organization? In a word, yes. But,
distinguishing achievement at either level
— and all of those in between— is the
product of executing simple strategies in
an effective manner.
EMBRACE REALITY
Understand that leadership has very
little to do with being an effective leader.
Effectiveness is focused on having the
courage to take definitive action and
becoming a catalyst for productivity.
In that regard, building leaders in an
organization is a function of translating
vision into targeted action. In large part,
the key stewards of that migration are the
managers of the people going through
leadership training. That is the reality.
Ultimately, leaders develop leaders. That
process can be significantly accelerated
with effective leadership training, of
course, but the best leadership training
program ever developed, deployed in the
absence of reinforcement post-training by
line management, leaves you with little
more than a random chance of training
transfer and targeted behavior change.
Further, systematically developing leadership
skills is one of the most iterative processes
BUILDING LEADERS
imaginable. It requires the courage of
the trainee to engage in a real-world
setting, the intentional availability of the
trainee’s manager to observe and provide
feedback, and the willingness of the
trainee to receive that feedback and act
upon it — repeatedly.
ULTIMATELY,
LEADERS DEVELOP
LEADERS.
MEASURE RELENTLESSLY
To tap into the wisdom of Zenger one more
time, consider that organizations that are
serious about leadership development
measure their efforts actively and
experientially as opposed to passively and
educationally. Stated differently, those
organizations place a premium on what
leaders practice and produce, as opposed
to what they ponder and pontificate.
Typically, measuring the impact of leaders
has always been a function of bottom-
line results, employee engagement and
employee retention. If the organization is
achieving objectives, that has something
to do with leadership — likewise if they
are not. It is the same with engagement
and retention of key talent. Attrition
and 360-degree survey trends are real,
measurable data that indicate the degree
to which leadership truly understands
their people.
Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority
in helping successful leaders get even better.
Sam Shriver is the senior vice president
of commercial operations and product
development at The Center for Leadership
Studies. Email Marshall and Sam.
| 15
 THE IMPORTANCE OF D
The word “diversity” often conjures
images of a workplace consisting of
people from different backgrounds,
cultures and genders. While those
things certainly explain a component of
diversity, it’s only part of what diversity
includes. Realistically speaking, physical
and social aspects only make up about
half of diversity. The remainder lies in
diversity of thought.
| 16
Not long ago, Denise Young Smith,
Apple’s vice president for diversity
and inclusion, received criticism for
making remarks about white
men t hat many con sidered to be
co nt rover sial. S h e said, ”1 2 wh ite,
blue -eyed, blonde men could be
diverse.” Despite the way she framed
her statement, Smith may have been
on to something.
The point she seemed to be making was
that you can have 12 different ethnicities
of various ages with an equal number
of males and females, yet you may not
be fully maximizing the opportunities
to drive diversity if you are not also
considering diversity of thought.
What good is promoting diversity if
everyone thinks the same way? The key
DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT
to successfully implementing diversity is
to have a staff with diverse backgrounds
and diverse thought. Only then will true
innovation and growth be possible.
DIVERSITY IN HIRING
When hiring, it is important to distinguish
potential employee’s whose values align
with the company’s core values. Once
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
BY RICK BOWERS
a core value connection is established,
another important consideration is diversity.
Different backgrounds and thought
processes bring unique viewpoints
to the organization that help tackle
problems for optimal results. It’s important
to understand that while diversity
can enhance team per formance, it
can just as easily disrupt it. That ’s
where the alignment to core values
becomes critical.
How do you know whether someone’s thought
process is going to fit into the framework
of the team and the organization? Utilizing
assessments can be a great indicator of how
and why a person acts as he or she does on
a regular basis. In addition, these assessments
can be a predicter of future behavior.
| 17
Understanding a person’s behavior style
is a great place to start. Having this
knowledge explains how the person
regularly operates. When you add the
component of motivators, you now also
understand why a person behaves in a
particular way. Taking it even further,
including additional information, such
as their level of emotional intelligence,
can be a strong indicator of how a person
will perform in a certain situation and
whether they are capable of succeeding
under pressure.
DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS IN
THE WORKPLACE
When people of diverse backgrounds
work together, it can sometimes produce
a slower, but more effective, overall
process. Consider a workplace where
several people on a leadership team
have a dominant behavior style. They
are motivated by maximizing resources
and controlling their own destiny.
One member of the team, however, is
completely the opposite. This employee
is driven by experiencing the moment
and by having an insatiable desire to
help people. Behaviorally, the employee
seeks out stability.
From time to time, those on the team
with similar behaviors and motivators will
get behind an idea and believe that their
idea is the way to go. In these situations,
the less dominant member of the team
will lean into his or her steady behavioral
style and, on occasion, demonstratively
explain why the rest of the team might
be missing the forest for the trees. This
leader has been k nown to sit back ,
listen, let the others reach some sort of
consensus, and only then speak up and
voice an opinion. These leaders are
known to get everyone’s attention and
slowly, but emphatically, explain why the
rest of the team might not be seeing the
whole picture.
It’s this diversity of thought and behavior
that allows the leadership team to see
all sides of a situation before rushing
to take action. While it may take a little
longer, the result is an aligned team
| 18
that moves in the same direction, to the
advantage of the organization.
DIFFERENT LIFE
EXPERIENCES LEAD TO
UNIQUE AND DIVERSE
THINKING
Someone who has only lived their life
in one city, one state or one country
simply won’t have the same experiences
as someone who has lived abroad or
traveled extensively. Big ideas come from
unique perspectives. Safe thinking won’t
change the world, but diverse thinking
can. Think about the impact of inventions
like the iPod or the smartphone. Great
ideas like those were generated from
teams willing to challenge the status
quo, try things untried and maybe even
fail, before wildly succeeding.
THE KEY TO
SUCCESSFULLY
IMPLEMENTING
DIVERSITY IS TO
HAVE A STAFF
WITH DIVERSE
BACKGROUNDS
AND DIVERSE
THOUGHT.
ACQUIRED DIVERSITY
Some diversity comes from traits people
are born with; other forms of diversity
are acquired through life experiences.
Experiential diversity comes from prior
work experience. Educational diversity
comes from things we’ve learned
throughout our lives from schools, parents
and friends. Ideological diversity comes
from viewpoints and belief systems we
develop over time as we decide what we
believe and how we choose to live our lives.
DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT IN
ACTION
They key to using diversity to an
organization’s advantage is to use the
strong relationships, unique backgrounds
and diverse experiences of the team
members. You may not always agree with
each other, but the strong relationships
will help overcome the disagreements,
allowing the team to uncover the best
plans of action.
Frans Johansson, renowned public speaker
and author of the best-selling book “The
Medici Effect,” says, ”Innovation happens
at the intersection of ideas, concepts and
cultures.” Taking two ideas that seemingly
are not related and finding a way to
join those ideas together is where true
innovation occurs.
I n 2 0 0 4 , Anthony Lising Antonio, a
professor at the Stanford Graduate School
of Education, said ”When we hear dissent
from someone who is different from us,
it provokes more thought than when it
comes from someone who looks like us.”
THE PROOF IS IN THE
NUMBERS
The McKinsey Study revealed some
interesting statistics about diversity. The
study concluded that gender diverse
teams are 15% more productive and
ethnically diverse teams are 35% more
productive. The study went on to claim
that for every 10% increase in ethnic
diversity on the senior team, there is a
0.8% increase in earnings.
CREATIVE DISAGREEMENTS
FOSTER GROWTH
While the concept of diversity may be
a relatively new concept, especially
the focus on diversity of thought, the
idea has been present in workplaces
for generations. The former CEO of
General Motors, Alfred Sloan, h a d
these thoughts in response to his team
being in complete unison during one
meeting: “Gentlemen, I take it we are all
in complete agreement on the decision
here.” Everyone nodded. He continued,
“Then, I propose we postpone further
discussion of this matter until the next
meeting to give ourselves time to develop
disagreement, and perhaps gain some
understanding of what the decision is
all about.”

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.

com, dislikes “social cohesion” and, instead,
prefers open disagreement in meetings.
A leadership principle on the company’s
website reads, “Have backbone; disagree
and commit. Leaders are obligated to
respectfully challenge decisions when
they disagree, even when doing so is
uncomfortable or exhausting.”

It’s hard to argue with the success of

either of these two mega-corporations.

BIG IDEAS COME

FROM UNIQUE
PERSPECTIVES.
HOW TO MAKE DIVERSITY
WORK IN THE WORKPLACE
Organizations need to embrace an
appreciation of differences while
promoting an inclusive and welcoming
work environment. Finding common
ground despite our differences is a way
to build team rapport.
Organizations need to operate
differently under this new model.
They need to train, hire, manage
and promote differently. Posting job
d e s c r i p t i o n s t h a t a t t r a c t d i ve r s e
individuals is a good place to start.
Companies will attract opinionated
candidates who are willing to challenge
the status quo to apply for open
positions. When training new hires
a n d p ro m o t i n g, p ro g r a m s s h o u l d
emphasize the company’s core values
and how the employee upholds
those values.
Great leaders push teams to new
heights of creativity and encourage
task-focused conflict. Most importantly,
t he o rgan iz ation n eeds to foster
an env iron ment wh ere ever yon e
feels comfortable sharing their views
and b e in g th eir auth entic selves.
Creating teams with people from
diverse backgrounds, departments
and specializations can be a great
checks and balances system for
any organization. These teams can
challenge company strategy, products
and preconceived notions with unique
and different viewpoints.
CONCLUSION
According to Employee and Family
Resources, Inc., “Reinforce an inclusive
culture by integrating both demographic
diversity and diversity of thought. By
integrating both, your organization will form
a mosaic of differences that fuels ideas and
new strategies for growth and innovation.”
Focusing on diversity in the hiring process
may be an entirely new mindset for
your company. Even if it is a whole new
way of approaching the employer and
employee relationship, diversity in the
workplace is integral to growth and
innovation within an organization.
Rick Bowers is president of TTI Success
Insights. R ick ’s role is to envision the
company’s future endeavors by creating and
implementing cutting-edge solutions. Rick
has led development at TTI Success Insights
for over 30 years and is a current member of
the Hartman Institute’s Board. Email Rick.

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 There are some training myths out there
that just won’t go away — even if they
really should. Some of the most common
training myths include the following:

THAT WON’T GO AWAY • If you build it, they will come

• In-person training is the best way to

teach soft skills
BY LE’A KENT
• So-so learning experiences will have
an impact anyway

• Gamification is an automatic motivator

It is imperative to ensure these myths

aren’t hindering your critical learning
initiatives and that you’re remaining
realistic when designing your next
learning program. Now, let’s look at
these myths and their corresponding
realities in more detail.

MYTH #1:
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY
WILL COME
Reality: Marketing communications are
a basic fact of life when it comes to
modern learning.

Even required courses need people to

show up — as in be present, willing to
participate and ready to learn. It’s even
tougher with non-required learning. This
is one of the inherent difficulties with
offering learning catalogs or Netflix-
like learning experience platforms
and then calling your organizational
learning efforts complete. Some learners
might seek out personal development
topics but, without support from their
managers to take the time in their
workday for learning, how many really
will take advantage of a vast catalog,
especially one that’s difficult to navigate
or presents an overload of choices?
Paralysis of choice is a real problem
when it comes to this approach.

Learning and development (L&D)

must do more than simply throw

| 20
resources out there and hope for the
best. You can’t expect the learner to
find business-relevant content and
SO-SO LEARNING
programs. The learning you’re offering SIMPLY ISN’T SATISFYING
must be successful in solving specific
business and development challenges, ENOUGH FOR TODAY’S
and it needs to be easy to find. Then,
you must guide the learner toward that
TIME-STARVED LEARNERS.
information. Meet learners more than
halfway. Then, they can do the learning
and take your business initiatives the
rest of the way home.

But even engaging learning needs

marketing to show why it’s worth the
time investment for learners – and
managers. For instance, when Microsoft
launched a voluntary, but critical,
series of business acumen courses for
salespeople, the course was marketed to
managers and learners as an exclusive
opportunity and privilege, hoping to get
500 learners interested. As a result, they
ended up with a waitlist of over 1,000
learners interested in the program.
Make sure you are telling your learners
why the company feels the course is
important — pulling in a quick webcam
video from a C-suite executive can be a
great way to do this — how and why it will
be a great experience and what skills they
can expect to take back to the job from it.
Just a title in a catalog won’t do the trick.
You need to reach out and explain why
busy learners will want to pay attention to
your particular initiative.
MYTH #2:
IN-PERSON TRAINING IS
THE BEST WAY TO TEACH
SOFT SKILLS
Reality: Collaborative online learning
has proven to be as effective, and even
more so, than instructor-led training
(ILT) for soft skills.
ILT is often treated as a flagship or
premier experience. But translational
difficulties to real application (e.g.,
awkward role playing) are inherent in ILT
because you’ve uprooted people from
the work context and from repeated
opportunities to practice. With sustained
online approaches like corporate MOOCs
or even self-directed experiences that
are expected to last over a period of
time, you can get the sustained real-
world practice and reflection that is the
foundation for behavioral changes.
ILT is no longer the gold-standard; not only
because you can now replicate classroom
collaborative interactions online, but also
because you can do so many things that
aren’t available in the classroom through
online learning. Facilitators are finding
that their online learners are better
prepared than their classroom learners,
and with good reason.
For example, with online learning
modalities you can:
• Leverage the wisdom of multiple SMEs
at once
• Have all the learners in a course
participate in discussions, not just the
loudest or most extroverted
• Space out practice, reflection and
application over more than just a few
days in a classroom
• Let learners learn from each other’s
practice attempts (via video teach
backs, for example)
MYTH #3:
IRRELEVANT OR
GENERIC LEARNING
EXPERIENCES WILL HAVE
AN IMPACT ANYWAY
Reality: No, they won’t!
Think back to the last crappy training
you were forced to take, most likely for
compliance. Maybe it was ethics, maybe
it was sexual harassment, but chances
are, if it was LMS-based or classic
e-learning, it was boring and the only
parts that stuck in your head are the ones
that make a good water cooler story
about how unsuccessful the training
was. The multiple-choice quizzes you
guessed your way through, the videos
you multi-tasked through, the scenarios
you barely read — did they change your
behavior? Chances are, they did not.
Perhaps that’s too extreme an example.
What about generic training that starts
everyone at the same level without
regard for previous experience, so you
have to wade through the basics when

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| 21
what you really need is an advanced
application idea? Or learning programs
that don’t draw a straight line to how
you realistically do things at your
company, such as the sort of sales plans
expected of you? Whatever small impact
such programs have will surely fade by
next week. So-so learning simply isn’t
satisfying enough for today’s time-
starved learners.
DEVELOPING
LEARNERS IS BOTH AN
ART AND A SCIENCE.
MYTH #4:
GAMIFICATION IS AN
AUTOMATIC MOTIVATOR
Reality: Without real human emotions
related to motivation, bells and
whistles are only dinging and whistling
to themselves.
Making people “play” during their
learning experiences is only a successful
form of gamification if it reinforces
information or behavior change. Don’t
get me wrong, gamification can be
an outstanding way to supplement
the learning in a program. However,
it should be done with intention and
an understanding of human behavior.
Gamification doesn’t incentivize people
on its own. When it works, it is tapping
into an existing motivation within the
target audience, who can see that the
points and badges are stepping stones
to achieving their goals. If those goals
are meaningful and motivating, they
will resonate with the training audience
outside of the course itself. Goals such
| 22
as career advancement and leadership
opportunities, or simpler motivations
like money or glory, are all possible
outcomes of gamification.
It is important to remember that, with
gamification, some learners are motivated
by accumulating points and badges,
and some aren’t. Not everyone wears
a Fitbit! Therefore, be sure to provide
a wide-range of reinforcements, like
discussion notifications, peer rewards, the
opportunity to interact with peers and
ample chances for instructors to highlight
good work done on the job by applying
the course’s skills and knowledge in order
to impact the business.
Developing learners — getting them to
change behavior and stretch themselves
in new ways that impact the business’s
bottom line — is both an art and a
science. We need to understand what
motivates our learners and show them
how the training is relevant to them and
what they need to achieve. Talk to your
learning audience and meet them where
they’re at — your gamification efforts
will pay off tremendously.
CONCLUSION
Overall, we find these myths to be both
prevalent and counterproductive in the
world of training. Take a moment to
examine your own assumptions about
learning in 2019 and your business’s
specific audiences, and then ensure
you’re looking at the challenges facing
your L&D organization with clear eyes.
Once you’ve done that, implementing
engaging learning initiatives rooted in
the realities of learners’ lives becomes
much simpler.
Le’a Kent is the senior director of learning
experience design at Intrepid by VitalSource.
Email Le’a.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Want to go deeper into the science and
facts? Check out these resources about
Myth #1: If you build it, they will come.
“Online Interaction Quality Among Adult
Learners: The Role of Sense of Belonging
and Perceived Learning Benefits“
By Nguyet Diep, Celine Cocquyt, Chang
Zhu, and Tom Vanwing
Technology does not guarantee
increased success of learning. Learning
success still requires effective facilitation
by real people.
“Teaching and Learning in Workplace:
Contemporary Perspectives”
By Amit Bhardwaj, Kavitha Nagandla,
Esha Das Gupta, and Saadon Bin Ibrahim
Learn about the four critical aspects
to building professional competence
through learning in the workplace: active
participation, self-regulation, reflection,
and ability to learn from experiences.
“What Makes Professional Development
Effective? Results From a National
Sample of Teachers”
By Michael Garet, Andrew Porter, Laura
Desimone, Beatrice Birman, and Kwang
Suk Yoon
Quality professional development
activities are necessary to achieve
meaningful outcomes. Learn how
sustainment of learning over time
and substantiality of learning hours
have positive influence on enhanced
knowledge and skills.
Power Talent Development

Onboarding

Career Pathing

Development & Learning

Succession Planning & Talent Assessment

Performance, Goals & Compensation

LEARN MORE
 What Does Personality
Have to Do With It Anyway?
By Lori Preston

What? He kept trying

It was a complete disaster. He was so excited
to high-five the CEO?
that he closed the sale, he thought the client
Is he crazy?
was as excited as he was. I was so embarrassed
for him. We have a real problem now.

Business managers look to their
training professionals to share
Behavior = knowledge and support behavior
change. Training programs typically
Knowledge + focus on sharing knowledge and
building skills while staying away from
Skill + personality. However, personality has a
significant impact on behavior.
Personality +
The business world moves fast. Therefore,
Attitudes + overly-simplistic models are often used
to make quick decisions. Asking, “Is it
Motivation a skills issue or a personality issue?” is
one of those over-simplifications used
to assess a performance situation.
Unfortunately, this simplification creates
the illusion that personality and skill are
distinct, separate and easily identifiable.
When you observe a behavior, the reality
is it is hard to know what you are seeing.
Knowledge? Skill? Personality? Attitude?
Motivation? The cause of the behavior
can be easily misdiagnosed. What if it is
a personality issue? Is that fixable or, as
adults, is it too late for change?
Business Professionals
and IO Psychologists Don’t
Always Agree
In the cross hairs of business practice
and the science of psychology is
the topic of personality. What is the
disagreement? Consider this exchange
between a CEO and an industrial and
organizational psychologist:

| 24
CEO: I won’t hire someone into a sales
hunter role unless persistence is part of
their personality.
IO PSYCHOLOGIST: I wouldn’t be so
quick to call persistence a personality trait.
CEO: I disagree. It is absolutely a
personality trait. I have seen it exhibited
in many situations.
IO PSYCHOLOGIST: Research shows that
you don’t know if the persistence you are
seeing is a sustainable personality trait
or if it is a situational behavior caused by
some external motivation, such as fear
of failure or promise of reward.
Why is this disagreement important?
Einstein believed the quality of
the solution you generate is in direct
proportion to your ability to identify the
problem accurately. Quickly and wrongly
labeling something as a personality trait
predetermines management and training
decisions that often miss the mark.
Behavior must be examined more closely
to determine if it is a personality issue or
a gap in skills or knowledge before we
decide how to address the behavior.
Which is Personality and
Which is Skill?
A former NHL hockey player, now in the
business world, is intensely quiet and
focused. He always chooses a seat in
an empty row in a classroom. He rarely
smiles or looks around. When his turn
to present comes, he shocks the room
with a charming sense of humor and
animated smile. He engages each person
with high energy and eye contact. And
when he is done, the moment passes
and the quiet intensity returns.
So which part was personality? Which
was skill?
You likely guessed it. Two well-known
personality tests confirmed his
personality was thoughtful introversion.
When asked about his presentation
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success, he said he was motivated
by another personality trait: drive to
achieve. He did what he had to do to
achieve the results he wanted. If that
meant he had to master the skill of
presenting, he would master that skill.
Will People Overrule Their
Personality Preferences to Get
a Different Outcome?
Only if they want to. This is called self-
management. Yet, self-management
comes at a personal cost. Acting in
opposition to your personality is paid
in emotional labor, the energy it takes
to regulate feelings and expressions
to fulfill the requirements of the job
despite your natural approach. It might
sound like, “Does acting this way come
naturally to you?” or “Would you be
willing to act outside of your comfort
zone to achieve a different result?”
So yes, people can regulate their
personality to exhibit the behavior they
need, but they need to be motivated to
expend the emotional labor to do so.
Training can teach skills, but, without
the specific personality traits present
to fuel the interest and energy, it may
never transfer to the job.
What Can Be Done When
Traits Best Suited for a Desired
Behavior are Not There?
Trainers fall in love with the people who
have the personality type that naturally
fuels the skills being taught. Those
are the participants you see quickly
excelling in the program and are excited
to put the training to work.
Then there are participants who feel out
of their comfort zone and require more
emotional labor to practice the behavior
in class. They may exhibit frustration,
impatience or negativity. They may need
a substitute fuel to drive their interest
and behavior.
Training must serve those with and
without desired personality traits. This
can be tackled through the training
program design.
Behavior must be
examined more closely
to determine if it is a
personality issue or
a skills gap before
deciding how to address
the behavior.
Design Training to Include
the Fuel Needed to Drive
Behavior Change
Intentionally designing elements into
training programs for those without the
personality traits to fuel the behavior
change is a new opportunity. Yes,
training is in the business of personality.
Consider these factors when designing
a training program that promotes
behavior change:
• Use personality assessments when
benchmarking star performer’s behavior
to identify the personality traits most
correlated to the desired behavior.
• Show participants that their personality-
based preferences don’t necessarily
control their destiny. Share success
stories that demonstrate they can
perform the new behavior with or
without the personality trait.
• Consider personality traits that predict
the degree of emotional labor needed
to execute the desired behavior. Design
training to provide the fuel for those
without the driving personality traits.
You achieve better training outcomes
by including and engaging this group
of learners.
| 25
What can provide the fuel to replace
the natural enthusiasm the others
are feeling?
• Include the emotional appeal for
using the new skills. Experiential
learning is better than simply relaying
information in this case.
• Connect participants during and
after training to leverage the social
motivation to use the new skills.
• Connect the use of the skill to something
intrinsically rewarding for them.
• Help them anticipate the external
rewards that await their changed
behaviors (i.e., higher job performance).
Design Fuel That Transfers into
Learners’ Work Environments
Include these factors in your program
design in order to hold learners
accountable for using their new skills on
the job:
• Ensure there is a job feedback
mechanism that demonstrates
how the new skill is enhancing
their performance.
• Establish a process that expects the
use of the skill upon their return.
• Enable leaders and others to coach
learners on their new skills.
Training must serve those
with and without desired
personality traits.
| 26
• Create social pressure or rewards to
use the new skill regularly on the job.
• Ensure their leaders understand,
reinforce and recognize the
new behaviors.
Support Leaders in Helping
Them Overcome the Cost of
Emotional Labor
“How long will I have to do this?” is
the cry of an individual living outside
of their comfort zone. This is where
people may run out of fuel to perform
the new behavior, as it is using up
valuable energy.
Will they last? Will they still be happy
and engaged? Can they excel? These
are legitimate questions for the leader
to address once employees return
from training. The goal is to create new
desired habits in their people. Give
leaders recommendations on how to
foster behavior change in their newly-
trained employees:
• Explicitly reward the use of the
new behavior.
• Ensure there are other parts of their
job that are rewarding enough to
make this a worthwhile trade-off.
• Acknowledge this is outside their
comfort zone. Ask them how
motivated they are to make the
change and for how long.
• Continue to acknowledge the extra
effort needed by those without the
desired personality traits to sustain a
level of performance, even though a
habit will ease the effort over time.
• Remove the permission to use
old habits.
Energize Learners to Produce
More Behavior Change from
Your Training Programs
Facilitators are expected to be
motivating in the classroom. Arm them
with the skills they need to motivate
learners by highlighting the personality
traits that support the desired skills. This
enables them to identify those that will
require more emotional labor to do so.
To provide more value to the learner, give
them tips on how to refuel themselves
following the training program, such
as working with a peer who excels,
practicing with a colleague on a weekly
call or utilizing a personal coach. The
fuel will be needed until new habits are
formed and they taste success. Design
your programs to provide these practical
fueling plans.
Training is the business of personality. It
is essential to design and deliver training
solutions for learners who naturally
possess personality traits that align with
the desired skills and trainees who will
have to expend additional emotional
labor due to their personality. By
accounting for both groups of learners,
you will see a significant increase in
workers adopting behavior change.
Lori Preston is an organizational
development consultant at Revenue Storm,
a global sales consulting firm. With 30
years of experience in the industry, Lori has
become a change management expert with
her latest research focused on neuroscience.
Email Lori.
Success in the Digital Age: New Skills, Mindsets and Roles
Success Success
in the Digitalin the
Age: NewDigital Age:
Skills, Mindsets and Roles
Success in the Digital Age: New Skills, Mindsets and Roles
New Skills, Mindsets and Roles
Digital technologies and tools are transforming how we live, work and interact with each
Digital technologies
other—and raisingand tools areexpectations
everyone’s transformingabout
how we live,
what work andshould
businesses interact with each
provide.
other—and raising everyone’s expectations about what businesses should provide.
Digital technologies and tools are transforming how we live, work and interact with each
other—and raising everyone’s expectations about what businesses should provide.
Smart companies are adopting radical new
Smart companies
business are adopting
models and reapingradical
big new
business models and reaping
business benefits.1 big
business benefits.1
Smart companies are adopting radical new
business models and reaping big
business benefits.1

58.1% 42.6%
Operational
58.1% Business
42.6%
Efficiencies
Operational Innovation
Business
Efficiencies Innovation
58.1% 42.6%
Operational 53.8% 54% Business
Efficiencies Business
53.8% Customer
54% Innovation
Performance
Business Satisfaction
Customer
Performance Satisfaction
53.8% 54%
Business Customer
Performance Satisfaction
To score these kinds of successes with digital, organizations need employees
To score these kinds
andof leaders
successes
whowith
candigital,
excel atorganizations
new skills. need employees
and leaders who can excel at new skills.
To score these kinds of successes with digital, organizations need employees
and leaders who can excel at new skills.

Algorithmic Data Critical

Algorithmic
Thinking Data
Literacy Critical
Thinking
Thinking Literacy Thinking
Algorithmic Data Critical
Thinking Literacy Thinking
The ability to be “T-shaped”—bringing deep knowledge and expertise in specific functions, fields, or
The ability toalso
industries—while be “T-shaped”—bringing deep knowledge
conversing in other disciplines andorganization
across the expertise in is
specific functions,
a critical attributefields, or
for success.
industries—while also conversing in other disciplines across the organization is a critical attribute for success.
The ability to be “T-shaped”—bringing deep knowledge and expertise in specific functions, fields, or
industries—while also conversing in other disciplines across the organization is a critical attribute for success.
LEARN HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS
Organizations need workforces that include new roles:
Organizations need workforces that include new roles:
+1-866-757-3177 | skillsoft.com
Organizations need workforces that include new roles:
Experience
Cloud Engineers Data Scientists
Experience
Designers
Cloud Engineers Data Scientists
Designers
1 “The 2017 State of Digital Transformation.” Brian Solis and Aubrey Littleton, Altimeter, October 2017.
Experience
Cloud Engineers Data Scientists
Designers
 HOW TO KEEP YOUR LEARNERS ENGAGED
BY TIFFANY POEPPELMAN

When trying to design a learning strategy, learning and development (L&D) professionals often focus heavily on the
initial knowledge gained through the learning event or technologies, rather than approaches for long-term information
retention and application. So, how can L&D leaders draw on well-established science to ensure the shelf lives of their
skills do not decay over time on both an organizational and individual level?

Beyond new technologies that allow
for the creation of microlearning
experiences (small, bite-sized content
that can help “drip feed” information
over time), there remain core elements
missing from training programs;
these core elements are rooted in
basic psychology principles, such as
motivation and influence tactics, that
tap into human emotion and make
training stick.
The principles of human motivation go
back decades, when many psychologists
began to uncover new ideas such as
goal-setting theory, needs-based theory
and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For
training experiences specifically, this
article will focus on goal-setting theory,
which was originated by organizational
psychologist Edwin Locke.
Locke’s theory includes self-efficacy — an
individual’s self-confidence in knowing
he or she can be successful in a task —
and goal commitment — ensuring one is
committed to seeing a goal through. Using
these continuously-proven principles,
learning programs can be designed and
leveraged to motivate employees toward
high-caliber, efficient work.
There are three critical psychology
elements that can help L&D programs
sustain skills and make learning
engaging, including:
• Embedding motivational and goal-
setting strategies into training
• Using influence tactics to build
emotional connection and appeal
with learners

| 28
• Making programs memorable through
marketing and branding tactics both
before and during the training event
1. Embed Motivational
Strategies in Training Through
Goal-Setting
Locke’s goal-setting theory is grounded
in the impact of goal commitments,
which have been shown to improve
individual task performance. When
applying this idea to training, one best
practice is to ensure learners set goals
within and beyond the classroom. By
doing so, learners are more likely to
commit their time to goal completion
and create a learning plan, which can
ultimately lead to better performance.
INCORPORATE BASIC
PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES
THAT TAP INTO HUMAN
EMOTION AND MAKE
TRAINING STICK.
For goal commitment, consider the
following tactics:
• Aligning the individual’s goals with
the company’s goals and vision
• Asking learners to individually set and
clearly write down goals that will help
them succeed in their current and
future roles
• Ensuring learners’ goals are SMART
— specific, measurable, achievable,
realistic and timely
• Encouraging the learner to openly
share his or her goal commitment —
for example, with a partner or team
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
member during or immediately after
the training
• Incorporating opportunities that build
a learner’s self-confidence in training
programs, especially when tasks feel
“too challenging,” including practice
application opportunities such a as
role-plays, video recordings, behavior
change reinforcement through
feedback and/or real-life practice with
a coach
All these strategies work to ensure
the learning program’s objectives are
both meaningful and timely — and
can increase a learner’s motivation
to achieve specific goals. By raising a
learner’s level of self-efficacy, he or she
will likely put more effort into tackling
challenging tasks; this increased self-
efficacy may also lead to long-term
retention and knowledge transfer.
2. Leverage Influence
Strategies to Engage and
Persuade Learners
Persuasion and influence aren’t just for
sales professionals and senior leaders.
In fact, many L&D professionals must
leverage their own influence strategies
to keep their learners’ attention. One
notable author and researcher on
this topic, over several decades, is
Robert Cialdini. Through his work,
including “Influence: The Psychology
of Persuasion,” Cialdini presents a
clear breakdown of the tactics used to
influence others, including consensus
or “social proof,” liking, authority,
reciprocity, consistency and scarcity.
Below is a brief overview of these tactics
and examples to apply in training:
• Consensus or social proof: People
are more likely to do something if
others are doing it as well. Sharing
specific examples of good behavior
already seen in a company is impactful.
Reference actions from well-respected
leaders and leverage best practices
from organizational top performers.
This strategy will increase awareness
of best practices in the industry and
will inspire learners to follow suit.
• Liking: People are more open to
opinions from those they like. People
learn and seek guidance from those
that they’re similar to and that they
personally like. Try to find examples
that are localized to your office or
market to truly have a message
resonate in learners. For instance,
consider embedding memorable
speakers or other internal stakeholders
who have a likeability trait to ensure
course participation.
• Authority: People tend to follow
people of authority. Quite simply,
encourage senior leader involvement
in training and/or ask them to help
reinforce commitment and goal-
setting strategies that ensure people
follow those in authoritative positions.
Ask trainees to share their goals with
senior colleagues who can provide
feedback and hold them accountable.
• Reciprocity: People feel a strong
pressure to give to those who gave
to them along the way. One way to
bring this idea to life through training
is to include a mentorship model
that involves contributing back to
the learning program over time. This
might look like a coaching session or
paired matching approach to invest in
practice opportunities or drive more
self-efficacy after the training.
• Consistency: People will make
sacrifices to appear consistent in
their actions. If a person agrees to
do something, most will do anything
to ensure they honor that agreement
consistently over time. By writing goals
that can be completed alongside daily
habits and sharing commitments with
others, learners will be encouraged to
embed consistent practices as part of
their daily routine.
| 29

LEVERAGE THE PRINCIPLES
PERFORMANCE OVER TIME.
• Scarcity: Lastly, the more a person
sees something as rare, the more
valuable it becomes. By building a
sense of rarity into a learning program,
either through individual sign-ups or
limited participation, it can help drive
the value of completing the program
for any learner.
3. Make Programs Memorable
through Marketing and
Branding Tactics
Making training stick can also happen
before the training begins. By embedding
cutting-edge marketing approaches and
unique messaging, learners will already
be interested in learning before they hit
the classroom. Fortunately, L&D and HR
professionals don’t need a marketing
or communications background to
understand that memorable, engaging
messaging works to promote programs
of all kinds.
Learners, just like any consumer,
appreciate creative communications
| 30
GO BACK TO THE BASICS
OF PSYCHOLOGY AND
OF HUMAN MOTIVATION
TO ENSURE IMPROVED
that have an emotional appeal. One way
to achieve this appeal is by embedding
stories into learning, which helps humans
remember information. Leveraging
messaging from senior leaders about
the importance of attending a specific
program, or only opening up a limited
number of seats for the training, can
help amp up its appeal.
Applying gamification principles to a
training program not only makes learning
more engaging but also lures learners
into a fun environment that motivates
their senses through competition or
points-based reinforcement. This tactic
can be great for marketing and appeals
to many personality types and helps
ensure your program is both memorable
and long-lasting.
Lastly, a branding strategy that can drive
memorable learning programs focuses
on creating a theme that makes learning
a fun experience. For example, creating
a theme (e.g., buzz terms or catchy
phrases) through a fun title, related
activities, company giveaways/prizes,
unique learning content and post-
training takeaways can help employees
shift from thinking of the training as a
mundane requirement to an interactive,
fun experience for all.
Knowledge transfer in the modern
business world is becoming a complex,
intricate process with the addition of
new capabilities that extend outside of
the classroom…but mobile-accessible
and microlearning technologies are
simply not enough to enact lasting
change. Human motivation tactics,
embedded influence strategies and
effective marketing are key elements
that can lead learners to more quickly
adopt new strategies and form long-
term commitments to organizational
and individual goals, which will have
a significant impact on organizations
across industries.
As companies move faster and demand
change, it’s important to ensure learning
programs drive people’s motivation and
reinforce key organizational concepts.
Encourage learners to set goals that
are attainable, realistic, require a sense
of ownership and offer a measurable
timeline to completion. Additionally,
keep learners guessing on what’s next
by embedding fun branding strategies,
which will also sustain engagement over
time. Try something new in your next
program to ensure learners have fun
on their way to mastering innovative
concepts and ideas. But, most
importantly, go back to the basics of
psychology and leverage the principles
of human motivation to ensure a greater
likelihood of improved performance
over time.
Tiffany Poeppelman is the Global Head of
LinkedIn’s Business Leadership Program
(BLP). She is passionate about inspiring
people to think differently about how to
optimize future business opportunities amid
the changing requirements of the global
workforce. Email Tiffany.
 TAILORED LEARNING SOLUTIONS

UNDERSTANDING
FIRST
A strategic, consultative approach to learning is one that understands
your key challenges—and delivers outcomes to support your critical
objectives. This is what targeted, data-driven learning solutions are
all about. This is how Raytheon Professional Services will impact the
performance of your people and your business.

rps.com

@RaytheonRPS
Raytheon Professional Services

© 2018 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved.

| 32
 “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who
cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn,
unlearn, and relearn.”
— Attributed to Alvin Toffler as an output of conversation in his book “Future Shock”
The first rule of modern learner-centric
experiences is that learners must be
accountable for their personal learning
journey. How can learners create and
follow an effective plan to get the most out
of their learning experiences? There are
four key tactics to becoming an effective,
accountable learner.
1 EMBRACE THE PARADIGM SHIFT
FOR PERSONAL LEARNING
Those who cannot learn, unlearn and
relearn in the face of increasing disruption
will quickly lose ground to those who
can. Employees who can evolve and adapt
Table 1.
Old Paradigm
Organizations direct employees what,
when and where to learn.
Career progression is linear, following
traditional career paths.
Managers drive career growth for
employees.
Learning activities are discrete and
provided primarily through L&D
platforms.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
in the workplace increase value for
their organization. Learners now need to
know how to access all that is available to
them, understand their evolving jobs, and
identify the requisite knowledge and skills
to do new jobs. This is not an individualized
activity. Learners need to understand the
role of collaboration in their own learning
and know how to establish a learning
network to maximize their success.
Learning and development organizations
have been changing for years, but the
changes that have already occurred are
transforming how learners can and will
learn in the future. Table 1 highlights
the key features of these old versus
new paradigms.
New Paradigm
Employees have more ownership of
what, when and where to learn.
Career progression is less linear and
evolves through the combination
of the skills needed to succeed in
emerging roles.
Career growth is a shared activity in
which learners are more involved in
determining their path.
Integrated work-learning ecosystems
provide an organic structure of learning
experiences.
| 33
It’s an exciting time; learners have both
the access and agency necessary to
control their learning experiences.
They just need to hold themselves
accountable to ensure that access and
agency do not go to waste.
2 ADOPT FUNDAMENTAL
BEHAVIORS FOR SUCCESS
Let’s examine the five fundamental
behaviors instrumental to a digital
learner’s success:
• Take Action: Don’t wait to be directed;
take initiative. As a digital learner,
look for trends in your work and start
identifying the skills and knowledge
you need to succeed. With all the
disruption in work and personal life,
committing to continuous learning
is critical.
Learners have both the
access and agency
necessary to control their
learning experiences.
• Build Your Network: Some of the best
content isn’t available within your
immediate circle of peers or on your
internal search site. Find others who
can guide you and thought leaders
you can follow. A strong network is
critical to finding answers and insights
when applying a new skill, as well as
in situations where something has
changed or something goes wrong.
• Join the Right Communities: There
are communities of practitioners
doing what you do, facing the same
challenges and overcoming them in
different ways. The sooner you join and
become a contributing member of such
a community, the better prepared you
| 34
will be when responding to change.
• Share Your Expertise: When it comes
to your network and communities, it’s
a two-sided relationship. You have a lot
to learn and a lot to share, and doing
one makes doing the other easier.
Providing valuable contributions
builds your peers’ confidence in you,
which in turn builds your network.
• Be Curious: Don’t become complacent
because you think you know enough
about a topic or area related to your
job. The world and your field change
every day. To stay competitive, scan
for new trends and developments
on the horizon so you can plan and
respond accordingly.
3 TAKE OWNERSHIP OF
YOUR LEARNING NEEDS
When you think about what you need to
learn and when, recognize that not all
learning needs are met in the same way.
In their Five Moments of Learning Need
model, Conrad Gottfredson and Bob
Mosher identify distinct moments when
learners need information or instruction:
1. Learn or do something for the first
time.
2. Learn or do more of something.
3. Apply and refine.
4. Adjust to change.
5. React when something fails or
goes wrong.
Most of us are comfortable with finding
solutions for the first or second moments
of need. We look in the normal places
for a course or an instructional piece
to introduce us to a concept. However,
when we need suppor t when first
applying a new skill or when something
goes wrong, we often need different
resources, and the typical places we look
aren’t always the best.
Fo r e x a m p l e , w h e n t a k i n g o n a
woodworking project, like building a
table, you might start with a simple
blueprint and a YouTube video that
provides an overview of the process. You
learn the concepts from these sources
and then have to apply them to the
task at hand. During the process, you
find you’re having difficulty cutting the
table legs to the same length, so you
return to YouTube and find there’s no
video for fixing short legs. You then turn
to a woodworking blog or community,
and search for tips to ensure equal
leg lengths. Here you find a video for
creating a tabletop saw sled, which will
solve your problem.
This example highlights the need for a
range of learning resources that provides
learners with solutions. Developing a
range of resources requires a learning
network, and learners need to think
strategically about their networks. These
networks need to include suppor t
for innovation and skills mastery, and
it’s up to you as the learner to build
your network.
4 CREATE A DYNAMIC, SELF-
DIRECTED LEARNING PLAN
Although there is no secret recipe
for creating a dynamic, self-directed
learning plan, the following are tips
for creating an effective, personal
learning plan:
• Think about your learning goal. Compare
how you’d create your professional
learning experience to how you
wo u l d u s e d i g i t a l re s o u r c e s t o
pursue a personal passion. Undertake
all lear n in g th e same way you’d
undertake something that matters
deeply to you.
• Begin with the end in mind. Identify
your learning journey. What will it
take to learn, then master? What
knowledge do you already have?
Assess what needs to happen
alon g th e way, from in d i v i d ua l
 learning to application to learning
from others’ successes and failures.
Consider how the learning content is
delivered (i.e., courses, videos, blogs,
forums, podcasts).
• Assess your own capability. Are there
specific traits or behavior patterns
that may make you less likely to
make a bold, dramatic move? You
may struggle if actions such as
reaching out to a subject matter expert,
connecting to a community new to
you or searching the digital field for
those with skills you want to attain
make you nervous. Be aware of these
potential stumbling blocks. Tools like
StrengthsFinder, DiSC and Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator can provide
insights into your personal patterns.
• Leverage your internal and external
networks. Think about contacts inside
and outside of work, those you know
and those you want to know, and
then connect. LinkedIn and Twitter are
excellent resources. Find communities
of practice by reading and following
blogs and connecting with contributors.
Find out what these folks are reading
and consider adding those books and
articles to your own reading list. Follow
people on social media, participate in
Yam Jams, TwitterJams, and LinkedIn
and Facebook groups. They’re out
there. Go find them.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
• Explore the full span of resources.
Explore curated sources of reliable
content to achieve your learning
goals. Many learning platforms like
LinkedIn Learning and Udemy offer
incredible courses covering a variety
of subject matters. Consider using a
productivity app to help you manage
when and what you’re working on, so
you can schedule your own learning
plan. Managing the analog and digital
self-directed learning that happens
outside of a traditional platform is
an important part of planning and
completing the journey. It’s important
enough that many learning companies
are developing mobile productivity
apps of their own.
Gone are the days of
traditional career paths and
linear progression.
• Opt in to new learning experiences.
Get comfor table in unfamiliar
learning environments. These new
experiences aren’t generally person-
to-person anymore, as many bodies of
knowledge incorporate various new
technologies like chatbots to help you
search more effectively. Try them.
CONCLUSION
Gone are the days of traditional career
paths and linear progression. As learners
gain knowledge across digital platforms
and learn using less linear pathways,
they need to be held accountable for
how they learn in the modern work
environment. The onus is now on learners,
and they must play a central role in
their own learning and development. By
using the tactics laid out in this article,
learners can develop their own dynamic
learning plans that guide them through
the changing L&D landscape and create
modern learning experiences that keep
them competitive.
In the end, it ’s all up to you as the
learner. Are you ready to embrace the new
paradigms, adopt the five fundamental
behaviors, take ownership of your learning
needs and create your own personalized
learning plan? If so, you’ll be well on your
way to becoming an effective learner in
the digital age.
Matt Donovan is vice president of digital
learning strategies and solutions at GP
Strategies. Email Matt.
| 35

Today’s learners are surrounded by
digital content on screens. Whether
using a smartphone, tablet, TV, laptop,
gaming system or the GPS in your car,
information can be found on nearly
any topic within a matter of seconds.
Many of us have become accustomed
to the consumer-grade experience of
finding the perfect video on YouTube
to learn how to do something. Search
engine optimization aside, how do
learning professionals need to approach
creating digital content that captures
the attention of learners who need to
integrate the learning into their work in
an organic way?
Let’s examine four key areas content
creators must focus on when developing
learning solutions grounded in how,
when and where the modern learner
wants to engage with content.
| 36
1
CREATE PERSONAS TO
information captured in an audience
HUMANIZE YOUR TARGET
analysis, learning professionals end up
CONTENT CONSUMER
playing a guessing game to determine
When a training initiative fails, the the necessary behavior changes, learning
problem can usually be attributed to objectives and strategies that are relevant
misunderstanding the target audience. to their audience.
The misunderstanding can come from
a lack of information, but it can also be
blamed on a failure to humanize the
target audience.
KNOWING THE TARGET
Knowing the target audience is crucial AUDIENCE IS CRUCIAL
when developing effective learning
content. Performing a proper audience
WHEN DEVELOPING
analysis means engaging in the process EFFECTIVE LEARNING
to uncover the target audiences’ specific
characteristics and barriers that prevent
CONTENT.
them from achieving the desired behavior
change. Unfortunately, the audience
analysis is usually the first step that gets
skipped when faced with time crunches Beyond gathering demographic information,
and unrealistic deadlines. Without the creating targeted personas allows content
creators to discover the habits, preferences,
pains, expectations and motivations that
inform better decision making regarding
the treatment of content.
When creating ideal content-consumer
p e r s o n a s fo r a t a r g e t a u d i e n c e,
something shifts in the way designers
and stakeholders approach decisions
regarding the training design. Suddenly
there is a clear picture of who the learner
is and how they will use the training to
solve a problem, answer a question or
learn a new skill. Using personas can help
ensure that the content created is not
simply a good idea in theory; personas
also ensure the content is realistic and
useful for the person doing the work.
INTELLIGENT CONTENT IS
THE KEY TO DELIVERING
THE RIGHT CONTENT, TO
THE RIGHT LEARNER, AT
THE RIGHT TIME AND FOR
THE RIGHT REASONS.
2 APPLY BASIC STANDARDS
TO MAKE CONTENT MORE
ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE
Content loses its value if learners cannot
access it. Accessibility standards improve
the usability and overall user experience
for all users, including learners with
disabilities. This means taking a holistic
approach to thinking about usability
and accessibility. Here are some basic
dos and don’ts to consider when making
content more accessible:
DO:
• Provide alternate text that describe
graphics.
• Write instructions that are clear
and concise.
• Offer captions and transcript alternatives
for audio and video.
• Include descriptive titles on pages
for navigation.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
DON’T:
• Place large chunks of text on graphics or
in videos.
• Use color only references for navigation.
• Use “Click here” when link ing to
content (hyperlinking the title makes it
decipherable by screen readers).
3
ORGANIZE AND
STRUCTURE CONTENT TO
MAKE IT INTELLIGENT
Intelligent content is the key to delivering
the right content, to the right learner, at
the right time and for the right reasons.
Intelligent content is a term used in
content marketing that describes the
way content is organized and structured,
allowing it to be more readable and
efficient for both humans and machines.
An easy way to think about how content
is organized and structured is to think
about it in chunks, sequences and layers.
Content chunking is the method of
outlining content into short, bite-size
pieces that are easier to manage, easier
to remember and easier to find. Think of
each chunk of content as a single thought,
idea or subtopic. This way of organizing
content also helps when sequencing the
information for delivery. Layering refers to
where subjects belong in the sequence,
from simple to more complex levels
of mastery.
4
LABEL, DESCRIBE AND
TAG CONTENT TO MAKE IT
DISCOVERABLE
Intelligent content is structured to be
more efficient in delivering the just-in
time learner what they need. To make the
right content more discoverable, content
should be categorized with meta labels,
descriptions and tags.
More than likely, you are already creating
some forms of metadata to describe, tag and
label the content you publish. However, if
not done intentionally, you may not be using
your metadata to its full potential. Labeling
content correctly can automatically create
useful metadata, but keep in mind that the
quality of the metadata determines how
it performs. Having a consistent metadata
strategy is a powerful way to make content
more discoverable for the learner in their
time of need.
WHY DOES METADATA MATTER?
Metadata matters because algorithms are
written and work based on the metadata
that is available. Having good metadata
will help to ensure that your content will
be delivered when it’s needed. Metadata
happens behind the scenes and, when it
works right, it isn’t noticed; it just works.
To start thinking about a metadata
strategy, start small and focus on building
consistency. Here are some areas to include
when considering a basic metadata strategy:
• Titles: Writing effective titles isn’t easy.
Make sure the content has a meaningful
title and subtitle that contains relevant
keywords. The title is often displayed as
the first line in search results. Therefore,
titles are important in helping content
consumers decide if your content is
what they need.
• Descriptions: Think back to the last
time you bought a book. You likely
took a moment to read the back cover
before deciding if it was worthwhile.
Descriptions are essentially the back
cover of your content.
• Date: Include the publish date to
h elp user s deter min e t i m e l i ne s s
and relevance.
• Author: Include the content author’s
name and contact information.
• Tags and keywords: Enter relevant
keywords that describe the content.
Tags are often displayed in search results
and provide content consumers with an
idea of what the content is about. Tags
may also direct consumers toward your
content and help the them find it.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
As content providers in today’s digital
culture, it is necessary to rethink our role in
how content is designed to meet the needs
of today’s learners. Focusing on these areas
with the just-in-time learner in mind will
help your company create content that is
ready for any digital technology to serve it
up when, where and how it is needed.
Laura Whitaker has been the lead for content
standards for SAP’s global learning team since
February 2018. Her passion for helping people
in all aspects of content creation has been
the driving force throughout her 10+ years of
experience. Email Laura.
| 37
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• 700+ mobile-ready courses
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 First, Dare to Imagine:
Imagine working on a team where your
uninterrupted creative time is sacred,
and you spend chunks of time engrossed
in exploring your ideas. You wake up
after a good night’s sleep knowing you’ll
have the time to bring your ideas into
reality. Everyone is aware of your crucial
role in accomplishing the creative
purpose to which you are all devoted.

Imagine working on a team where your

The
colleagues have great respect for your
contributions, and you never worry
about them hurting you. What you do
well is valued, and nobody expects you
to be good at everything. You know
everyone generously contributes to
making your work even better.

Imagine working on a team where

accomplishing results and faster
progress are the only reason you ever
have meetings. Transparent systems
ensure everyone is responsible and
held accountable. Everyone agrees to
make decisions based on the given
information and will adapt if we learn
something different later.

Imagine working on a team that stays

radically focused on crucial priorities
and no one tries to be everything to
everyone. Everyone knows your core
competencies and what you need to
succeed, so everyone is selective about

Dimensions of
expending resources.

Now, Reflect on How to

Character Fitness Lead a Team Like This:

First, you must think about what makes
your team members tick. How can you
and How They Grow best support them? Who do you need to
be to help them accomplish your most

Leadership Agility compelling purpose?

Teams like this are so committed that

they devote passionate, discretionary

By Pam Boney effort into their work every day. They

have something to prove. They want the
world to be better in some way.

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Teams like this move dirt. Build stuff.
Invent things. Solve problems. Catalyze
change. Challenge old conventions.
Disrupt corruption. Produce new
energies. Most of all, they give us hope
for our future. They inspire us to believe
again. They help us decide to be part of
the solution instead of giving up.
How are They Able to
respectfully, but quickly, and strengths are
optimized at the same pace. They know
that ego-sensitivities just slow things
down. So, they have a plan for how to
glean the value out of natural fears while
moving forward anyway.
BEING PART OF A TEAM
and enables them to transcend more
primal human desires. It is the one
capacity that is uniquely human and
sustainably good for all of us: character
strength. And if you are to lead a team
like this, you need to be incredibly fit in
four very important ways:
1 | Inspirational Fitness
Meta-Strength: Resilience (Spirit)

Accomplish so Much, AND KNOWING THAT Character Strengths: Openness,

so Fast?
The nascent field of neuroscience is
discovering some answers about why
some people and teams make the most
of their potential while others fade
into mediocrity. In short, they use four
essential neural processing networks
to help them optimize their energy
and efforts. And perhaps even more
importantly, these networks help them
know what must be avoided at all costs.
They know that fear is distracting and that
strength is empowering. So, they create
an environment where fears are processed
Inspiration, Creativity
OUR CONTRIBUTION
When our minds are at peace and free to
MATTERS MOTIVATES wander, we have the space to imagine
US TO SERVE beyond our immediate senses and
ego-needs. In modern brain science,
ONE ANOTHER. we’re learning that this ability is only
possible when our “default network” is
engaged. This network is a complex set
of brain parts that “light up” when we
are not engaged in tasks or experiencing
What Makes These external stimuli. When we’re in this
default state, we can ruminate on topics
Teams Different? that interest us and imagine what we
There’s an underlying engine that drives might do with them. This part of our
the immutable passion of these teams brain imagines what is possible and

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF CHARACTER FITNESS

Agile leaders and their teams make optimal use of four essential neural processing networks to help them know what to avoid
and what to do for the best outcomes. Agility in each of these four dimensions of character fitness enables leaders and their
teams to thrive in a world of constant change.

TO DEVELOP PRACTICE AVOID

Inspirational Fitness Freedom, ideas, creative offline time, Excessive meetings,

Emotional Fitness
Instinctual Fitness
trust in ultimate productivity constant interruptions, fear
about empowering others
Trust good intentions, forgive mistakes, Blame games, triangulation,
appreciation, inclusion, harmony dismissiveness rewards that cause
internal competition
Notice sensations, listen to hunches, Impulsivity, inaction, conflict-aversion,
be direct and courageous, decide risk-aversion, lack of accountability
and engage

Rational Fitness Radical prioritization of initiatives Competing priorities, conflicts

systemic disciplines, lean teams, good of interest, unrealistic goals,
data analysis unrealistic timelines

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seeks solutions to improve our well-
being. This ingenious ability to improve
our circumstances is, in itself, inspiring.
It’s what we must use if we expect teams
to do great things under our leadership.
2 | Emotional Fitness
Meta-Strength: Humanity (Heart)
Character Strengths: Trust,
Empathy, Likability
When we feel appreciated and valued
by others for who we are, we’re able to
work with them in ease and trust. Not
having to prove to others that we’re
superhuman or perfect rewards us with
their acceptance. Being part of a team
and knowing that our contribution
matters motivates us to serve one
another. In modern brain science, this
is called the Reward Network, which
is the set of systems that continuously
seeks pleasure and avoids pain. Since
we are social beings, this part of us seeks
connection with others for pleasure
and experiences rejection as painful.
Indeed, our dependence on one another
for survival is an important behavioral
motivator. Similarly, emotional
intuition is crucial to our ability to lead
interdependent teams effectively.
whether it will ultimately make us
feel good or bad. These hunches are
shortcuts based on a database of good
and bad experiences over a long period FOCUS WHERE YOU
of time. They play an important role in HAVE THE MOST
our decision-making if we learn when
to trust them and when to re-examine CONTROL: OVER
them. Fit leaders need to stop and YOURSELF AND THE
listen to warnings from a variety of
perspectives instead of moving forward WAY YOU LEAD.
impulsively on a hunch alone.
4 | Rational Fitness
Meta-Strength: Wisdom (Head)
Character Strengths: Perspective,
Focus, Discipline
When we use our minds to focus on
goals and use rational judgment to
weigh the long-term consequences of
our impulses, we are selective about
how to use our limited resources. Since
we cannot possibly solve every problem
in the world, we must be wise enough
to focus our resources on those we most
need to accomplish. In brain science,
this complex self-regulation process
is referred to the Control Network. It
enables us to align our behaviors with recognition. This wastes precious time
that could be applied to our goals. Being
our most important goals and hold
conceptual goals in our minds while fit leaders requires each of us to commit
to building our own character strengths
organizing and completing tasks that
require in-the-moment concentration. so that we can evolve and adapt to our

3 | Instinctual Fitness Developing mindfulness practices ever-changing environment.

Meta-Strength: Courage (Gut)
Character Strengths: Integrity,
Boldness, Confidence
When we follow hunches that come
from well-informed instincts, we are
using heuristics (rules of thumb) to
make decisions faster. If we conducted
a thorough analysis every time we
made a decision, our brains would be
overwhelmed. Modern brain science
calls this the Affect Network. It activates
physical responses to common,
previously experienced patterns of
incoming stimuli. The emotions that
result from those “good” or “bad”
experiences are much faster than
conscious thought. They apply meaning
to that stimuli, which helps us determine
helps us accomplish goals through
mental discipline. As we focus on the
task at hand, we can simultaneously
and selectively search for new stimuli
and decide whether it’s useful to the
overarching goal and should be quickly
incorporated. As leaders, this selectivity
allows us to delay gratification in service
of a longer-term outcome.
The Ultimate Character
Strength Challenge
These four dimensions of character
fitness enable human creativity,
accomplishment and sustainability over
time. Without balanced strength in each
of them, we fall prey to our ego-fears
about loss of approval, status, power and
Remember that whenever we are finding
fault in others, we are likely avoiding our
own shortcomings. Instead, focus where
you have the most control: over yourself
and the way you lead. Everything you
do to become more fit and agile in each
dimension of character fitness shapes
your team’s climate and ultimately
determines whether your team will
thrive and flourish.
Pam Boney is a team agility coach, a tech
startup founder and business strategist with
over 36 years of professional experience in
leading, advising and coaching individuals
and teams to achieve exceptional
performance. She is the designer and author
of the Tilt 365 framework. Email Pam.

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 The Human Factor
By Caroline Murphy

| 42
 “THE MIND IS NOT A VESSEL THAT NEEDS FILLING
BUT WOOD THAT NEEDS IGNITING.”
– PLUTARCH, GREEK HISTORIAN

This is a wonderful time in the evolution technologically evolving environment,

of the human experience. Technological
advancements continue to abound
and astound. Seemingly everything
we could ever want is at our fingertips.
More and more, as humans come
to depend on digital solutions and
artificial intelligence, digital solutions
and artificial intelligence become
dependable. So, it is natural that when
it comes to performance development,
more and more companies are looking
for e-learning options when weighing
the pros and cons of sales training.
The potential benefits are clear, as such
options can cut the cost of time and
money in half. It is worth exploring
learning experiences that leverage the
convenience and enjoyment of e-learning
solutions. As the training industry does
its best to keep up with the technology
race, the question of the human factor
becomes increasingly relevant. In today’s
is the comparatively higher cost of
in-classroom, facilitator-led training
necessary? And ultimately, is it worth it?
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German
psychologist and pioneer in the field of
memory and psychology introduced
both the forgetting curve (the rate at
which information is forgotten) as well
as the learning curve (the rate at which
information is learned) in 1885. According
to his research, nearly half of what is learned
is forgotten within days, depending on the
strength of the memory. That said, when
considering the billions of dollars invested
in training each year, it’s worth ensuring
that the investment is equally aimed at
the strength of the memory intended by
that training.
This article addresses three critical
components of the learning process:
predisposition, the learning event,

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and application and reinforcement.
Furthermore, this article aims to assess
the value and necessity of human
interaction during all three components
as it pertains to the strength of the
memory each are designed to ensure.
Component 1: Predisposition
We’ve learned a lot about learning.
Neuroscience and our own human
experience have given us enormous
insight into what it takes to learn a
new skill, method or behavior correctly,
so that the learner can effectively
implement it into his or her working life,
even when the shortcut of falling back
into old habits is ever so tempting.
This is especially true in sales training
where the sales professional, whether
a novice or veteran, comes to the table
Emotions are
contagious, and they are
profoundly relevant to
the learning process.
with a lifetime of already learned and,
often, deeply embedded methods and
styles of sales skills (i.e., communicating,
listening, asking questions, managing
resistance, negotiating, etc.).
The greatest obstacle to learning
something new is replacing – or
unlearning – the familiar and habitual.
Therefore, a learner’s attitude about
learning going into the process is crucial
for success.
An adult learner must feel personally
incentivized. In “Writing and the Brain:
Neuroscience Shows the Pathways to
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Learning,” neuroscientist and educator
Judy Willis explains, “…that is when
the brain predicts pleasure and applies
efforts to achieve the desirable goal.”
To this end, the value of a powerful
and relevant predisposition cannot be
underestimated. Learners need to hear
from a human who has walked in their
shoes, who can empathize with the
discomfort of setting aside old ways
and share their experience of the value
of learning the new ways. More than
anything, learners need an answer to
the questions, “Why do I need to learn
this?” and even more, “Why would I want
to learn this?”
Managing learners’ expectations and
attitudes about the value of the learning
is the first worthwhile investment,
and an empathetic human can have
considerable influence over the
necessary attitude and enthusiasm of
learners prior to the learning event.
Component 2: The Learning Event
In Andrea García Cerdán’s article, “Mirror
neurons: The most powerful learning
tool,” Cerdán asserts, “humans are social
beings programmed to learn from others.”
The human brain is hardwired to learn
through observation and mimicry; wired
with mirror neurons, it cannot help itself.
When the goal is to learn a new set of
human behaviors, the best resource we
may have is a human model. It is of course
possible to have the behavior modeled
on a screen, in the form of a video
or virtual simulation, however, most
learners must be able to continue to ask
the questions: “Why?” or “What if?” Some
brains simply cannot learn until those
fundamental questions are answered
– and then answered again, and again,
to the learner’s satisfaction. They, of
course, must have the opportunity to
practice the new behavior, with a pair
of human eyes and ears watching to
Making Learning Stick
We forget half of what we learn within
days! To make it stick, consider these
human factors:
• The learning must be relevant to the
learners! Predisposition to the value
before training makes a difference.
• Emotions matter: the better the
feelings, the stronger the learning.
• Social settings create more opportunities
for dopamine (good feelings) to be
released and multi-sensory learning,
strengthening the neural pathways
created in the brain.
• Use it or lose it: learning must be
applied immediately and consistently
with a coach to ensure it’s being
applied correctly.
correct, coach and advise. They must
have the opportunity to continue asking
questions, to express doubt and share
the excitement when something clicks.
The same mirror neurons that create our
aptitude for observation and mimicry
also give empathetic teachers the ability
to influence learners’ emotions and
attitudes during inevitable moments of
frustration and enthusiasm. Emotions
are contagious, and they are profoundly
relevant to the learning process.
Research shows that the limbic system,
the emotional part of the brain, can
either open or shut down the learning
process entirely. Stress and frustration
can make it physiologically impossible
to learn something new; conversely,
the release of dopamine, the “feel
good” sensation, motivates the brain,
allowing it to create more connections
and activate more neural pathways,
increasing and enhancing the learning
process, leading to longer-term memory.

In the article, “Learning and Memory:
How Do We Remember and Why Do We
Often Forget?” published by BrainWorld
Magazine, Kenneth Wesson notes,
“learning experiences become more
memorable when social-emotional
memories are part of the learning event,
which is why cooperative learning is
such a powerful memory-enhance.”
A human teacher is a necessary
component of that cooperative, social
learning environment.
Component 3: Application
and Reinforcement
If the forgetting curve is correct, and
learners have only days before they
forget half of what they’ve learned, the
learning experience must extend beyond
the workshop itself; just as importantly,
the application phase must begin
immediately. After all, we only have a
matter of days! In this way, e-learning
apps, digital reminders and every other
technological tool we can dream up
are equipped for reinforcement and
motivating the learner to apply these
new skills.
That being said, it is crucial that
participants are applying new behaviors in
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Nothing ensures the success
of a new endeavor as much
as intentional coaching.
their intended way as they move into the
application phase of the learning process.
In Andy Hunt’s book, “Pragmatic
Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your
Wetware,” Hunt points out that people at
a lower skill level tend to overestimate
their own abilities by as much as 50%.
This can be a problem when sending
someone with newly acquired (and
likely, lower) skill set out to practice new
skills. If they are unable to perceive their
own progress clearly, it can be difficult
to actually progress. It is easy to practice
something incorrectly, even with the
best of intentions, without the help of a
coach. Whether that coach is a manager,
colleague or the original facilitator,
nothing ensures the success of a new
endeavor as much as intentional
coaching. A learner must continually
have another person with whom they
can ask questions, express frustrations
and share success stories.
The Human Factor
With all that neuroscience continues
to teach us about how we learn, when
it comes to sales training, we must also
consider what “sales” is.
Sales is a social science and an emotional
art; at its heart, it’s the process of
building relationships with clients and
customers while guiding them through
the frequently emotional waves of the
buying process. A sales professional
is like a doctor whose essential job it
is to guide a patient from a problem
to a solution. More than simply
understanding the technicality of the
solution, though, the doctor must also
have the social and emotional means to
understand the patient.
We might call this “the human factor.”
We might also call it empathy, trust,
confidence, patience, intuition or,
simply, the ability to deeply connect
with another human being. While there
are multiple areas in which we can, and
should, celebrate the effectiveness and
convenience of e-learning and digital
resources, teaching that critical human
factor is simply not one of them.
The bottom line is this: If the question
is “is training worth the cost?” the
answer is, “only if the participants are
effectively trained.”
Caroline Murphy is the president
of Acclivus Corporation, a global
performance development firm. Acclivus
“R3 Solutions” refers to the only fully
integrated curriculum designed to help
organizations build strong relationships,
produce optimal results and generate
profitable revenue. Email Caroline.
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 ACCOUNTABILITY IN TEAMS:
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS AND MOVING TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION
I have a question for you. How important
is accountability in a team? Assuming
you answered something along the lines
of “very important,” the next question
is imperative. How much training have
you received on how to hold someone
accountable? If you are like the majority
of those I have worked with, your answer
is most likely “very little” or “none at
all.” These two questions have been
instrumental in how I have approached
the topic of accountability within teams.
Before diving into the process of
implementing accountability, there are
a few items to address. First, holding
someone accountable is a good thing.
Many people view holding someone
accountable as a negative. Similar
t o h a v i n g d i f f i c u l t c o nve r s a t i o n s,
many people don’t enjoy the idea
o f acco u nt a b i li t y d i scussio ns due
to negative past experiences. They
worry about how the other person will
respond, or they lack confidence in
knowing that having the discussion is
the right decision.
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To better understand this, let’s examine
three viewpoints that influence how we
work with accountability. I like to call
them “leveraging our viewpoints,” and
I feel this concept is at the foundation
of any accountability discussion. These
viewpoints include our:
• Assumptions: things that we believe
to be true — even without facts to
support our views or opinions
• Perceptions: an intuitive understanding
of situations
• Expectations: a strong belief that
something will happen
Let’s specifically focus on perception
and accountability. We all perceive
e x p e r i e n c e s d i f f e r e n t l y, a s t h e y
are unique to each individual.
Knowing this, let’s look at two possible
workplace situations:
• You are in a meeting with your team,
and your supervisor is detailing a
By Jason Weber
change process your team will be
leading. While listening and reviewing
the detailed plans, you find yourself
informed and ready to move onto
the next steps. However, you notice
that one of your peers is becoming
increasingly resistant and frustrated
by the proposed change.
• You are meeting with your supervisor
and he or she tells you that an
additional person will be joining your
project team to help move the project
along. You become defensive and are
bothered that your supervisor made
this decision without consulting
you first.
Each of these examples has a negative
impact on someone in the scenario.
Why? Because perception has caused
us to take what could be a normal
situation and turn it into a negative one.
However, there could be a variety of
reasons for having a negative reaction to
these scenarios.
When thinking about your peer who
appears to be upset about the change,
consider the following possibilities.
Maybe they have been through this
type of situation before and had a
negative experience. Maybe the details
regarding the change are not specific
enough, and they are tired of feeling left
out of decision-making conversations.
Both reasons could be why your peer is
resistant to the change.
Next, let’s consider the situation in which
you are bothered by your supervisor
adding another member to your team
without your consideration — you
likely had the following concerns: Does
your supervisor think you cannot be
successful with your current team? Does
your supervisor think you are not doing
a good job? Why wouldn’t the supervisor
have given you a heads up?
We could develop any number of
responses to these two scenarios.
However, the moral of the story is that
we don’t know why someone reacts
the way they do in any given situation.
We can assume, but ultimately, we
don’t have fac ts to suppor t such
assumptions. Leveraging our viewpoints
in any situation allows us to remain
unbiased and non-judgmental toward
others during difficult situations in the
workplace. We must remain mindful that
there may be a reason we are not aware
of that is causing someone’s negative
response to the situation at hand.
So, when applying this belief to our
teams, think about a time when your
perception of a situation was wrong.
Have you ever had one of those moments
where you played out a scenario in
your head negatively, only to realize
the experience was a positive one?
Or, have you found yourself coming
up with multiple rebuttals to push
back something you were expecting to
happen, but never occurred? I believe
this is why many of us struggle with
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accountability discussions. We worry
that the outcome will be negative — so,
instead of developing talking points,
we develop excuses to not to have the
discussion and end up justifying the
behavior we needed to discuss in the
first place.
CHANGING OUR PERCEPTION
So, how do we overcome these thoughts,
and how do we not let past negative
experiences get in the way of our
application of accountability?
First, we must accept that we cannot
change the past. If someone had a
negative experience in the past, that
is out of our control. What we can do,
however, is acknowledge that experience.
If we are made aware of people’s past
experiences, we can focus on creating
positive experiences moving forward
which will, hopefully, result in a positive
perception shift.
Next, we must be intentional in allowing
individuals the opportunity to share
their insights regarding how they
perceived a certain situation or action.
One of my favorite resources on
the topic of accountability is “Crucial
Accountability,” a book by VitalSmarts.
One of the tools the book mentions
is called “The Conversation Planner.”
This tool uses the following format to
structure accountability discussions:
Describe the Gap: Start by sharing what
was expected versus what was observed.
Expected: “My understanding was that
you were going to .”
Observed: “Instead, you .”
End with a question: “What happened?”
“How do you see it?”
Then, once we have the proposed
accountability conversation, we need to
allow that experience to end. Meaning,
we need to move on and not bring up
the incident unless it is appropriate
to do so. This is one of the key ways
we can help change the perception of
accountability discussions.
Holding someone
accountable is a
good thing.
If you have ever made a mistake and
were called out for that mistake, I would
imagine you would want people to
drop it and move on. The same feeling
applies for accountability discussions.
Please note, I am not saying that once an
accountability discussion is completed
we must forget about it. Rather, it is
important that we move on and allow
the employee the opportunity to learn
from their past behaviors and implement
necessary changes moving forward. If
the behavior continues, however, then
we can bring it to attention during
another discussion.
UNDERSTANDING
EXPECTATIONS
Bringing accountability into teams is
something you can do right away. There
is no need to wait for the next evaluation
period. One of the most impor tant
items needed to start this process is
simple: expectations.
One of the most common reasons
for becoming frustrated is because
our expectations are not being met.
Think about the previous examples
mentioned, and then think about a time
when you were frustrated at work. Why
were you frustrated? You likely had one
of the following answers:
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• “I wish they would communicate more.”
• “Why didn’t they ask me first?”
• “I wish they wouldn’t be so rude when
they are talking to everyone.”
When we step back and look at these
responses, it’s likely that the frustration
was due to unmet expectations. We all
have expectations regarding how we
want others to act. What makes someone
a good communicator? What makes
someone a good decision maker? What
makes someone a good leader? Each
of these questions could have several
answers. How I answer them will probably
be different than you. No answer is right
or wrong, it is simply a difference in how
we view those questions. The same goes
for implementing accountability into
our teams.
If I have an expectation, then I need
to tell you about it. This seems fair,
right? How many times do we have
those discussions with our teams
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about what you expect and what they
e x p e c t ? T h e s e c o nve r s a t i o n s m a y
seem awkward, but think about all
the miscommunications that could
be avoided if we all knew what was
expected of us from the start? If we share
our preferred mode of communication,
how we deal with conflict and how
we work through change, it will reduce
anxiety and increase productivity and
communication alike.
An easy way to incorporate this strategy
is to have your team define a term
collectively. At your next team meeting,
take five minutes to ask a question you
would like your group to define.
For example:
• What does effective communication
look like to you?
• When being assigned a project, what
information is most important to you?
• How do you prefer to deal with conflict?
• What does success look like to you?
The purpose of asking these questions
is to understand your peers’ expectations.
Once we are aware of such expectations,
we can determine how to most effectively
work with other team members. While we
cannot always accommodate everyone’s
individual preferences, we can remain
aware of them and acknowledge them
when necessary.
To build on this, let’s change the direction
of these questions in order to focus on
the team:
• What does effective communication
look like to us?
• When being assigned a project, what
information is important to us?
• How do we prefer to handle conflict?
• What does success look like to us?
We must be
intentional in
allowing individuals
the opportunity to
share their insights
regarding how they
perceived a certain
situation.
Now that we have the communication
around expectations active in our teams,
it is important to discuss the team’s
performance expectations. Once these
have been explained, we can use them
as the guiding pillars to drive our team’s
success both now and in the future.
Jason Weber is the director of enterprise
training and development for the State of
Wisconsin Department of Administration.
Email Jason.
 CASEBOOK
DELOITTE’S JOURNEY
TO GAMIFYING ONBOARDING
FOR NEW ANALYSTS
BY MELISSA SCHNURE, ANDRÉS PETERS AND KATHARINE SUETTINGER
In this age of digital disruption, when
companies are encouraging employees
to be more agile, it’s no surprise that
employees expect the same from learning
and development (L&D) organizations.
Modern learners tend to crave flexibility
in where and how they learn and
typically seek out experiences that
actively engage them. But what does
it take for an organization to embrace
technology and design a learning
experience for the modern learner? For
Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, it was a
zombie apocalypse.
LEADERSHIP’S CALL TO ACTION
Two years ago, a L&D analysis revealed
that while spending to onboard new
analysts to the Human Capital practice
was high (relative to other career levels),
feedback on the experience did not
demonstrate an increase in the program’s
value. The team continually heard that
participants wanted an experience that
allowed them to work at their own pace
and focus on topic areas based on their
own development needs. So, the L&D
team set out to design a more cost-
effective, engaging way to deliver three
full days of in-classroom content.
Working with business stakeholders,
the team weighed the benefits
and drawbacks of several options
and determined that a fully digital,
gamified solution that – while more
labor intensive from a design and
| 50
development perspective – would yield
the most impactful outcome in the
long run.
Taking cues from pop culture, they
determined the theme of the game – a
zombie apocalypse – and situated the
learner as the main protagonist whose
role is to find a cure and save humanity by
making informed choices to complete a
series of challenges in a self-paced, digital
experience. The purpose of the game, titled
“The Chosen Analyst,” is to provide training
around basic consulting skills – including
PowerPoint, Excel, professionalism and
more — that were previously developed via
in-classroom modules. The newly gamified
approach enables analysts to work at their
own pace, rather than forcing them into a
one-size-fits-all timeline. The virtual nature
of the program also has the added benefit
of significantly reducing time out-of-
market for these professionals.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
The design team brought together
individuals from across the organization,
including instructional designers, graphic
designers, learning program managers
and, importantly, existing analysts in
Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. The
existing analysts’ role was to provide
perspective on the realities of how their
roles worked within the context of a
project. This insight allowed the team to
sequence the activities in a way that made
sense and was realistic to the analyst
experience, despite it being framed
around a zombie apocalypse.
In order for the game to be successful,
the team based the design on two major
objectives: developing a compelling
storyline and ensuring the activities were
seamlessly integrated into the story. To
tackle the first objective, the design team
held virtual “table reads” during which
team members would walk through
the entire story as one character to
both identify any awkward phrasing or
unnatural language and determine the
appropriate tone for the character.
MODERN LEARNERS
CRAVE FLEXIBILITY IN
WHERE AND HOW THEY
LEARN AND SEEK OUT
EXPERIENCES THAT
ACTIVELY ENGAGE THEM.
To meet the second objective, the team had
to determine the right size for each activity,
balancing microlearning principles and
the need to provide learners with enough
content to meet the learning objective. Final
activities included drag and drops, multiple
choice questions and activities outside of
the game, such as data analysis. Learners
were given a maximum of three attempts to
complete each activity correctly, after which
they were provided with the correct answer,
along with an explanation and directions
to additional resources. The design also
included starts and stops in the story, which
allowed the content to be modularized,
ensuring learners did not have to complete
the entire game in one sitting. At the end of
each module, learners received a code that
was used to unlock the next module.
After finalizing the story and activities,
the game design was handed over to the
development team. Each module went
through the following design process:
1) Storyboard Design – high-level design
of the module
2) Storyboard Review and Approval
3) Alpha Design – flash development of
the module
4) Alpha Stakeholder Review and
Approval
5) Gold Design – updates to the module
based on the Alpha stakeholder
review
6) Gold Stakeholder Review and
Sign-Off
As each module was signed off, it was
packaged with other modules and
reviewed to ensure each module flowed
naturally into the next.
While the game is meant to be a standalone
experience, the team also curated a separate
platform to house additional performance
support. This included additional resources
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THE GAMIFIED APPROACH
ENABLES ANALYSTS TO
WORK AT THEIR OWN PACE,
RATHER THAN FORCING
THEM INTO A ONE-SIZE-
FITS-ALL TIMELINE.
that directly supported an activity or
topic in the game, or development
content that complemented the game
and helped learners find where to gain
additional practice in any of the skill areas
(e.g., resource guides, video tutorials and
additional courseware).
LAUNCH AND FEEDBACK
The game launched to the incoming class
of Human Capital analysts in July 2018
and received overwhelmingly positive
feedback. Learners were excited to
experience a gamified learning approach
and appreciated having access to additional
resources. While the game was designed
to be self-paced, some learners played
the game as a team and then engaged
in discussions and informal knowledge
sharing; this form of social learning further
increased the program’s impact.
The Human Capital leadership team was
introduced to the game through a three-
minute trailer. They were as thrilled with
the game’s concept as they were with its
business impact – decreased time-out-
of-market for new analysts, innovative
design and an annual reduction in analyst
onboarding costs.
And all the analysts had to do was save the
world…
Melissa Schnure is a L&D manager supporting
Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital practice.
Andrés Peters is a L&D manager supporting
Deloitte’s Government & Public Services
practice. Katharine Suettinger is a development
leader supporting Deloitte Consulting’s Human
Capital practice. Email the authors.
LESSONS LEARNED
• When creating a story-based learning
experience, having a table read with
character acting can help identify
issues with story flow or dialogue.
• Music can have an incredible impact
on the overall effectiveness of the
story. We used it as a way to spike
attention and draw our participants
into the immersive experience.
• Consider technology from a continuity
perspective — as the project was built
on Adobe Flash Player, this course will
have to be redeveloped using more
current technology in 2020 — when
Adobe Flash Player is phased out. This
was highlighted at the start of the
project and factored into our future
release schedule.
| 51
 G L O B A L
O U T LO O K
CREATING AN AMAZING LEARNING EXPERIENCE:
TRAINING AND GAINING SOFT SKILLS
From the time the term “soft skills”
was coined by the U.S. Army in 1972
as “important job-related skills that
involved little to no interaction with
machines,” to today’s workplace, soft
skills have typically taken a back seat to
hard skills in the workplace.
Fast forward 60 years and we find
that the information technology (IT)
community, along with training and
business experts, revived the term to
distinguish between the technical and
interpersonal skills needed on the job.
Today, the term soft skills is associated
with a person’s ability to connect
to others on a personal level. These
skills include reading body language
and understanding and honoring
differences in personality types.
In the past, soft skills were considered an
inherent quality rather than something
that could be taught. Today, training for
soft skills is just as important as training
for hard skills.
WHY SOFT SKILLS MATTER
In today’s technology and data-driven
world, children are taught hard skills
almost from birth; how often have
you’ve seen a toddler mesmerized by
an iPad? Unfortunately, focusing solely
on technology — which is intended
to bring us closer together — often
pushes us further apart. In today’s tech-
enabled world, texting, emailing and
browsing social media often replace
face-to-face communications.
| 52
BY SUSAN SHEPPARD
Soft skills are harder to come by
when people rely on technology for
communication at such an early age.
But, developing soft skills is worth the
investment, as “someone with strong
soft skills will earn up to 15% more over
a lifetime,” according to research report
“Backing Soft Skills.” So, while both
types of skills are necessary, soft skills
can more greatly affect an employee’s
capabilities related to job performance.
SOFT SKILLS CAN MORE
GREATLY AFFECT AN
EMPLOYEE’S CAPABILITIES
RELATED TO JOB
PERFORMANCE.
Employers will often train new
employees with the soft skills they want
to see on the job, rather than expecting
that a candidate automatically has
the behaviors needed for optimal job
performance. That’s where professional
trainers can help: social skills,
communication skills, time management
and critical thinking skills are four
types of soft skills training commonly
requested by employers.
Organizations often seek employees
who can effectively communicate,
problem solve, work on a team, excel at
time management and show flexibility
in the workplace. These skills are in
demand across industries, especially
in sales and business development
positions. These types of positions
typically require a great deal of personal
interaction with clients and, often,
having strong communications skills can
make or break a deal.
Time management and productivity
are critical skills that still live in the
curriculum for technology solutions
training today. The evolution from
paper-based planners to cloud-based
training solutions still relies on skills
that emphasize the methodology and
psychology behind time management.
Global organizations are investing in
both soft skills research and training
for employees. In 2015, McDonald’s
U.K. initiated a campaign to encourage
the investment in soft skills within
its company and among other
organizations in their nation. According
to the campaign research, by this year
“over half a million U.K. workers will
be significantly held back by a lack of
soft skills – an issue forecast to affect
all sectors.”
TRAINING AND GAINING SOFT SKILLS
The bad news is that soft skills are not
necessarily inherent. The good news is
that soft skills can be successfully trained.
One example of this is the following
case study of a pharma company,
which illustrates how using soft skills
and interactive resources during
training maximized participation and
understanding of complex topics. The
key learning objective – how to drive
customer needs by understanding social
and cultural makeups in their individual
regions – was successfully taught using
soft skill techniques.
CASE STUDY: THINK CRITICALLY.
WORK COLLABORATIVELY. APPLY
GLOBALLY.
Background: A pharma company
has recently expanded its workforce
worldwide. About 30 new sales and
marketing managers have joined the
company from different regions. While
many had a background in marketing,
they were still new to the organization
and its products. The workshop’s goals
included training the reps to identify
social and behavioral patterns in their
markets by using soft skills such as
social dynamics, motivations, attitudes,
emotions and desires.
The training consisted of two workshops
for the company’s international team.
The training intervention asked
the reps to create a customer profile,
build a customer persona, use insights
to understand customer’s needs,
create value propositions and develop
journey mapping.
After consultation, design managers
developed a creative approach to the
training scenario, which taught and
utilized soft skills to show managers
how to think about and understand their
target markets. The workshops trained
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the employees to use soft skills such as
critical and strategic thinking — with a
focus on collaboration — and engaged
them by utilizing their senses.
At the end of the workshops, the reps
were successfully trained to understand
the persona of the physicians in their
regions, differentiate between two
physicians’ practice styles (patient
or science-centered) and determine
possible motivations to get them to try
their new product(s).
The training program taught the
following lessons for teaching and
understanding soft skills:
SOFT SKILLS ARE HARDER
TO COME BY WHEN PEOPLE
RELY ON TECHNOLOGY
FOR COMMUNICATION AT
SUCH AN EARLY AGE.
LESSON #1 - TEACH CRITICAL AND
STRATEGIC THINKING
Applying critical and strategic thinking
is, well, critical. Despite their marketing
background, this situation held some
challenges – the reps would need to
use their own judgment about how best
to connect with their target audience
based on cultural differences. Training
exercises were provided for the reps
to use when they were back home to
gain a deeper understanding of their
customer’s preferences.
The training also helped participants
look at their physicians as real human
beings in order to understand their
individual motivations and needs. To
do this, the program included short
presentations followed by interactive
workshops. The activity was structured
to lead the sales reps through the
critical thinking process to come to
their own conclusions about who they
were targeting.
This transformative training approach
ensured that the reps understood
the thought process that would lead
them to apply their interpersonal
communications skills to best serve their
target markets.
LESSON #2 - CONSIDER GLOBAL
DIFFERENCES
When developing training for a global
group, it’s important to consider
cultural nuances. Recognizing that
there were a variety of cultures present
at the training, the recommended plan
was to allow the reps to create their own
customer “picture.” Called a “persona,”
the idea was to identify and personify
a typical type of doctor who they might
reach out to in their specific country
or region.
A customer persona is a research-based
representation of a customer segment
| 53
and is used to help understand what
goals the customers is trying to achieve,
his or her individual challenges and how
to satisfy unmet needs.
LESSON #3 - KEEP IT SIMPLE
Rather than requiring reps to complete
SWOT charts using an influx of words to
describe a persona, a more creative and
simple approach was recommended.
The reps were split into two groups
and participated in workshops to
develop two types of personas —the
first represented a doctor who leaned
toward a scientific approach and the
second represented a doctor who was
more patient-centric.
The learning activity was to create
a poster of the persona, and the
training process helped simplify the
learning activity as much as possible,
by letting participants select text and
images from magazines that personified
their customers.
As a result, the training program
reinforced the learning objective: that
while the interpersonal approach might
be tailored for each region based on
individual personalities, there proved
two types of personas to target, and
these types of people would react
positively to a similar marketing process.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT
SOFT SKILLS CAN BE
SUCCESSFULLY TRAINED.
LESSON #4 - BUILD IN
COLLABORATION
Collaboration is a soft skill that
requires practice. The learning activity
taught these reps that what is more
| 54
important than gaining new knowledge
is understanding how to apply that
knowledge in the field. By asking the
reps to work collaboratively during the
workshop, they learned about each other
on a personal level and about specific
challenges in their individual countries.
The learning activity ultimately became
a collaborative one that helped develop
key critical thinking skills.
LESSON #5 - ENGAGE THE SENSES
One of the most important aspects of
this customer’s training experience was
engaging learners by using as many
senses as possible.
Hearing: Engaging in dialogue with
others about a new topic is often the
best way for individuals to learn a
new skill or information. Encouraging
conversations about how to identify
personas gave the reps time to absorb
more information than if they had
been trained in a traditional format,
with a trainer directing them through
a lecture.
Sight: The process of discussing the
persona, and then finding pictorial
examples in magazines, engaged the
reps’ visual and tactile senses. To guide
their visual activities, the workshop’s
groups were provided with cue cards
as a training resource, in addition to a
prepared list of questions to be discussed.
In addition to the cue cards, attendees
viewed videos that provided clues about
the two different attitudinal profiles.
Touch: Once the groups had agreed on
the persona they wanted to exemplify,
they created posters using the images
they cut out from the magazines.
The actions of flipping through the
magazines, touching and cutting the
paper was a tactile involvement that,
while simple, provided stimulation to
help the reps apply, understand and
remember the details of the persona.
AT THE END OF THE DAY - AN
“AMAZING” LEARNING EXPERIENCE
At the conclusion of the two-day
workshop, attendees learned how to
think critically when planning their
marketing activities, how to understand
customer personas and how to use
those personas as a tool in building
their value proposition and journey
maps. Each group shared their posters
and through discussion and dialogue
helped the other group to understand
the thought process that went into
their personas.
Deemed “amazing” by our client, these
workshops successfully taught their
key learning objective – how to assess
a customer’s needs by understanding
the social and cultural makeups of
individual regions by developing and
utilizing individual and group dynamic
soft skills.
Susan Sheppard is the strategic marketing
manager at Eagle Productivity Solutions
(a division of NIIT), a global innovator in
training, learning and consultative services.
Her experience includes marketing and
launching new brands, companies and
technologies into healthcare, government
and manufacturing industries worldwide.
Email Susan.
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CREATE EFFECTIVE
ADAPTIVE LEARNING
FOR YOUR LEARNERS
Personalization and adaptive delivery
has consistently been mentioned as
one of the top emerging trends in
e-learning. Adaptive learning comes
in many varieties, from simple pre-
assessment to artificial intelligence
(AI) algorithms that dynamically
adjust content, activities or learning
sequences. These systems make use
of learner profiles and feedback,
instructor interventions, assessment
results, learning management systems
(LMS) and related platform data, and
deep learning algorithms to provide a
personalized learning experience.
With thoughtful instructional design,
adaptive learning can be especially
useful when there is a large cohort
or when learners are interacting with
online material on their own. It provides
tailored learner support and delivers
content at the appropriate level and
sequence. However, many challenges
exist in creating effective adaptive
learning. Below are some areas to inform
your design process:
1. USE ACTIONABLE DATA
Adaptive learning will improve as
more data are collected, but only if
the data provides insights learners
and course designers can act on. For
example, in adaptive learning design,
it is not entirely meaningful to collect
data on how frequently a learner
logs into an LMS. On the other hand,
formative assessment data (e.g. quick
checks for understanding or a feedback
mechanism where learners can enter
comments) could be useful when
assessments provide results that course
designers use to adjust the content
sequence, or for learners to be able to
seek further clarifications.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
2. KNOW WHAT TO ADAPT
Adaption could be many things. You
can adapt learning at a macro level for
a curriculum – provide pre-test to assess
learners’ knowledge, allow learners to
skip certain learning modules, or ask
people for their learning preferences. At
a micro level, learning materials can be
adapted based on what learners have
done and clicked on, where they want
to go, and how to re-sequence content
based on the interaction. Adaptive
assessments can be applied to adjust
the level of difficulty for each question,
as well as regulate the frequency of the
tests. Know what you need to adapt for
your learners and select the appropriate
type of technique accordingly.
3. APPLY SOUND PRINCIPLES
For adaptive learning to work well, it is
pertinent to apply sound pedagogical
principles. Adaptive learning has less
to do with the technology and more to
do with how the learning design meets
objectives and competencies. Learning
theories such as spaced repetition could
be integrated into the adaptive algorithm
to spread out learning across multiple
sessions and remind learners what
they have forgotten. Spaced repetition
theory incorporates increasing intervals
of time between reviews of previously
learned material that leads to greater
retention of knowledge. The intervals
could be adjusted based on each
learner’s performance, test scores and
other attributes. Instructional designers
who work on adaptive learning systems
must have a deep understanding of
pedagogical principles in relation to the
target learners: how these principles are
applied, how the learners interact with
the systems, and to what extent does the
WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH
STELLA LEE, PH.D.
adaptive design reflect the underlying
assumptions of the learners.
4. PUT LEARNERS IN CONTROL
The promise of adaptive learning is to
create a learner-centered experience
that is sensitive to your individual needs,
as well as context. Learners should be
in control of their learning journey and
the adaptive systems need to benefit
their learning process, support them
in becoming self-directed learners and
contribute to their overall learning
experience. Learners need to have the
ability to choose, provide feedback, adjust
and be informed about how decisions are
made based on assumptions about them.
In other words, adaptive systems must be
transparent in how and what they adapt.
It is difficult to make informed decisions
and correct the paths we are on in we
don’t know how our systems function.
ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS
MUST BE TRANSPARENT
IN HOW AND WHAT
THEY ADAPT.
Adaptive learning can be an effective
way to bring individualized learning to
large cohorts or to engage learners in a
self-paced online learning environment.
At the same time, we need to be mindful
of how this technique is best utilized to
cater to the diverse learning needs.
Dr. Stella Lee has over 20 years of experience
in consulting, planning, designing,
implementing, and measuring learning
initiatives. Today, her focus is on large-scale
learning projects including LMS evaluation
and implementation, learning analytics,
and artificial intelligent applications in
learning. Email Stella.
| 57
 Understand the Leadership
Development Market
+8%
This year, overall spending
In this report, you will have
access to:
on leadership training will
increase 8%.
$3.38B
Companies worldwide will
invest $3.38 billion in leadership
training programs and vendors.
Understanding this market
is essential to the success of
your organizations’ leadership
development strategy and
investment.
Training Industry Market Segment Reports
15
YEARS
of corporate L&D
market analysis
The size of the overall
training market and
the leadership training
segment
An in-depth analysis
of the leadership
development market
including key trends,
topics covered and
delivery methods
Company profiles of
each of the Training
Industry Top 20
Leadership Training
listed companies
data from over 500 L&D
vendor company submissions
View all Training Industry reports
You’ll benefit from being
able to benchmark your
leadership training investments,
gain intelligence on how
to evaluate leadership
development offerings, and
expand your understanding of
the leadership development
partners available in today’s
marketplace.
PURCHASE
THE REPORT
survey responses from 5,000
L&D professionals annually

6 KEYS TO
UNDERSTANDING YOUR
LEARNERS’ ENVIRONMENT
It’s simple to say that understanding
a learner’s needs is the key to
successfully designing and delivering
effective training solutions. As training
professionals, we often get caught up in
focusing our energy on creating engaging
content and losing focus on how to
facilitate behavior change. While content
can be entertaining and memorable, if
it falls short of truly changing behavior
based on the needs of the business, then
the time spent in training is wasted.
From where I sit, designing great
content is not just about understanding
the learner, we must also understand
the environment in which the learner
works and learns. Therefore, I’d like to
recommend six keys to understanding
a learner’s overall environment, which
will allow you to consider the broader
learning experience.
1. UNDERSTAND WHAT LEARNERS DO
Designing training for a specific role
requires fully understanding the job of
each learner. Breaking down a job into
elements or tasks is fundamental to
truly understanding a job and eventually
teaching a learner how to proficiently
complete the job. Understanding the
tasks and the time it takes to complete
each task proficiently is a true deep dive
in understanding a job done well.
2. UNDERSTAND WHY A JOB SHOULD
BE DONE A CERTAIN WAY
Understanding why a job should be
done a particular way provides incentive
and motivation for employees to do the
little things needed to be successful.
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
Communicating the benefits to the
organization and the employee is critical
to helping learners understand the
purpose behind each required task. If the
meaning of our job is only to complete
mundane tasks, then job satisfaction will
be low with little motivation to do more
than is necessary.
IF TRAINING FALLS
SHORT OF CHANGING
BEHAVIOR BASED
ON THE NEEDS OF
THE BUSINESS, THEN
THE TIME SPENT IN
TRAINING IS WASTED.
3. UNDERSTAND THE RISKS OF DOING
A JOB INCORRECTLY
Doing a job incorrectly will always have
consequences. The risks of failure may
be as simple as negative feedback from
a client or it could be as serious as risk
of life or bodily harm. Regardless of
the magnitude, helping the learner
understand the consequences of failure
will help them to be conscientious about
performing each task correctly. Of course,
teaching how to respond to a crisis is
critical, but preventing it from occurring
is what the training is all about.
4. UNDERSTAND WHAT MOTIVATES
LEARNERS
Success in a profession, just like success
in life, is defined differently for every
individual. Every employee has their own
motivational triggers. Understanding
what motivates our learners can help
us more effectively design learning
SECRETS OF SOURCING
DOUG HARWARD
experiences and add elements that may
improve employee performance.
5. UNDERSTAND WHAT HINDERS
LEARNERS FROM DOING THE JOB
CORRECTLY
Oftentimes, jobs are not properly designed
and do not provide the necessary
information or tools to successfully
perform the job. These hinderances
can prevent high-level success on the
job. When designing training, training
professionals have a responsibility to the
business to communicate any of these
hinderances to those responsible for
the job design to prevent failure, risks
or economic impact. We must teach
employees to recognize these hinderances
and communicate when they need more
resources to perform a job.
6. UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS OF
HOW A LEARNER SHOULD MASTER A
JOB
Every job has a preferred process for
a learner to become proficient. The
process for learning how to play a
piano is different from the process
of learning the skills to be a nursing
assistant. Therefore, designing a learning
system for each job should be specific
to the tasks, job motivations, risks and
hinderances associated with that role.
It takes understanding how to integrate
classroom, on-the-job, on-demand, and
social learning experiences into one
learning system to get the learner to
proficiency as quickly as possible.
Doug Harward is CEO of Training Industry,
Inc. and a former learning leader in the high-
tech industry. Email Doug.
| 59
MORE PROFESSIONAL WINS =
MORE REASONS TO CELEBRATE

Regardless of where you are on your professional development journey, Training

Industry has a program designed to meet your needs.

Our suite of continuing professional development programs position you to

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CREATING A CONTINUOUS
LEARNING CULTURE
Personal and professional development
is an important focus area for employees.
Today’s workforce wants the flexibility to
learn in the context of their daily workflow
and access to relevant training at their
fingertips. This need for growth and
development is driving changes in the way
many companies structure performance
evaluations, professional development and
feedback. Employees are pushing for more
consistent updates on their performance
and continuous learning opportunities.
Training is quickly becoming a key
differentiator between companies
competing for talent. Organizations should
position training as an employee incentive
and add it to existing benefits packages
alongside retirement, health and wellness
options. Having professional development
opportunities listed on job descriptions is
very attractive to today’s applicant pool.
Employees want to work for companies
that value lifelong learning and focus on
helping their employees succeed both
inside and outside of the office.
Learning and development (L&D) can play
an integral role in making training accessible
to employees to attract and retain talent.
Here are some tips on how L&D can create a
continuous learning culture that reflects the
values of today’s workforce.
CREATE AWARENESS FOR TRAINING
RESOURCES
Marketing creates transparency. While
organizations may offer training
opportunities, employees may be
completely unaware of these offerings.
L&D cannot rest on the “if you build it, they
will come” mentality. L&D must ensure
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MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ
employees know that training resources
are available across the company through
marketing initiatives such as emails,
newsletters or posters in common areas.
There must be visibility of training offerings
to ensure employee participation.
SECURE MANAGER INVOLVEMENT
Having managers involved in L&D is crucial
to employee success. In fact, two-thirds of
employees say that they would be motivated
to learn if their direct manager was involved,
according to a LinkedIn Learning report. L&D
should provide managers with adequate
training on how to support employees
throughout their development. Managers
should meet regularly with employees to
create a development plan, recommend
training opportunities and discuss how to
apply new skills on the job.
EMPLOYEES WANT TO
WORK FOR COMPANIES
THAT VALUE LIFELONG
LEARNING.
CONSIDER A LEARNING LIBRARY
Whether your training organization is
large or small, resources should be easily
accessible to learners. A collection of
content could be as simple as a company
intranet or as complex as a learning library
backed by a learning management system.
A learning library is a relatively inexpensive
way to provide employees with access
to approved content on external sites.
By ensuring resources are organized,
accessible and easily searchable, learners
can find the information they need when
they need it most.
LEARNER MINDSET
CONNECT PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
TO COMPANY GOALS
Employees want to see how training will
help them improve their current skills
and lead to new career opportunities.
Showing employees how their role ties
to the organization’s strategic goals
can broaden an employee’s perspective
and create more engagement in their
job. This transparency will motivate
employees to take training seriously
when they can connect the training to
current and future benefits.
MAKE ACCESS TO TRAINING A CORE
COMPANY BENEFIT
Employees want to learn but squeezing
another item on their already full to-do
list is overwhelming. Even if they manage
to set aside one hour between two
time-sensitive meetings, the likelihood
they will be able to concentrate and
absorb the content is slim. The speed
of work is increasing and technology is
accelerating the amount of work that
can be squeezed into a standard 40-hour
work week. Managers must advocate for
their employees by helping them make
time for learning.
Prioritizing learning can help retain and
attract new talent in today’s competitive
business environment. L&D can play an
integral role in championing employee
development and ensuring the continuous
flow of learning to meet the needs of
employees across the business.
Michelle Eggleston Schwartz, CPTM, is the
editorial director at Training Industry, Inc.
Email Michelle.
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 CLOSING
D E A L S
EMERALD GROUP ACQUISITIONS
CREATE A PORTFOLIO
OF LEARNING BUSINESSES
Emerald Group was founded in 1967
as a publishing company whose goal
was to “champion new ideas that would
advance the research and practice of
business and management,” according
to Emerald Publishing’s website. Since
then, it has expanded, finding a natural
fit for learning and development
(L&D) products and services as part
of its mission to “help [people] make
decisions that count based on research
that matters.” It acquired GoodPractice,
an e-learning and LMS company, in
2015; Towards Maturity, an L&D research
firm, in 2017; and Mind Tools, a digital
learning and performance support
company, this spring.
“Our two businesses have grown around
a shared ethos of delivering research-
led learning solutions supported by a
firm evidence base,” says Peter Casebow,
CEO of Emerald’s corporate learning
division, says of Emerald and Mind Tools.
“Bringing together two leaders in this
space [in GoodPractice and Mind Tools]
will allow Emerald to strengthen our
offerings and the service we provide to
our clients, while supporting a greater
number of learners worldwide.”
Recent Training Industry research pointed
to a widespread belief among executives
that training is important to business
results – but also that training is
not as effective as it needs to be
to provide a source of competitive
advantage. These findings indicate that
learning leaders should connect L&D
to long-term business strategy; “take risks
with the form and function of the L&D
practices”; and find ways to integrate
talent management, acquisition and
development. Similarly, according to
| 62
BY TARYN OESCH
the press release announcing the
acquisition, Emerald Group’s “ambition
is to unlock the talent and potential
in people to help make decisions that
lead to real change and positively
impact performance.”
TAKE RISKS WITH THE
FORM AND FUNCTION OF
THE L&D PRACTICES.
“We started Mind Tools because, as
managers ourselves, we struggled
to find resources to help us develop
our own careers,” said Mind Tools co-
founder James Manktelow in the press
release. Providing training in topics
from leadership and team management
to stress and time management, in
formats from templates and worksheets
to microlearning and infographics, as
well as an app, Mind Tools is aimed at
managers wanting to develop their
personal and professional skills.
However, it also has a corporate arm and
boasts customers such as Mastercard,
AstraZeneca and Randstad, according
to its website. It offers online content
as well as a learning management
system (LMS) and reporting, and while
its website says its services are aimed
at all levels, Mind Tools is a member
of the leadership training market, one
of the fastest-growing segments of
the training industry. Indeed, Training
Industry’s 2019 report on the leadership
training market found that self-paced
learning, whether online or offline,
has been growing in popularity over
the last few years, partially due to
the rise of dispersed teams and the
virtual workforce.
While Emerald Group’s focus right
now is on integrating the businesses
successfully, Casebow says, “We are
ambitious to grow and will continue
to explore the market for suitable
opportunities that meet our strategic
vision. Emerald Group is growing
faster than the industry average and
facing the disruption we see coming
to the academic publishing market,”
(learning leaders know well the impact
of disruption). “Our ability to be agile in
the market is really helping us respond
quickly as the client needs evolve. From
a learning perspective, the demand for
tools to support workers at the point
of need continues to grow, and we’re
seeing global growth in all areas.”
Casebow believes that the interest in
“how data, analytics and AI can improve
the quality of solutions for learners” is
well deserved, but he doesn’t anticipate
any significant breakthroughs this
year. “There are some very interesting
experiments going on, some of which
we’re involved in and others, we are
watching with interest. I suspect the
main breakthroughs in this area will
come in 2020 and beyond.”
So, stay tuned for updates from Emerald
Group and Mind Tools – and other
companies across the leadership training
market – as they continue to innovate
in the way they deliver leadership
development programs online, in person
… and whatever comes next.
Taryn Oesch is the managing editor of digital
content at Training Industry, Inc. Email Taryn.
 C O M PA N Y
N E W S
ACQ UI S I T I ON S AN D PA RTN E R SHIPS
Alight Solutions, a key player in
technology-enabled health, wealth
and human capital management (HCM)
and financial solutions, acquired the
Workday and Cornerstone OnDemand
cloud practices of Wipro Limited. With
the acquisition, Alight Solutions now
has a presence in 11 countries across the
globe, and over 300 colleagues will join
the existing Alight team.
PrismHR, a leading human resource
outsourcing (HRO) software platform,
acquired AgileHR, a major provider
of cloud-based talent management
software, including its numerous talent
management solutions. The acquisition
highlights PrismHR’s dedication to
equipping its HRO customers with a
variety of innovative, effective solutions
for their SMB clients.
INDUST RYNE WS
THE FIRST OFFICIAL JEOPARDY!
TRAINING GAME
At the eLearning Guild’s DevLearn
2018 Conference and Expo, Jeopardy!
Productions and The Game Agency,
LLC soft launched the only official
Jepoardy! training on the global market.
The training blends the familiarity and
playful aspects of Jepoardy! with The
Game Agency, LLC’s rapid customization
and publishing in order to create
effective, engaging training programs
for a variety of industries.
UNLIMITED ACCESS TO DIGITAL AND
BUSINESS SKILLS COURSES
Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH) has improved
Active Placement, their reimagined
approach to outplacement, by offering
unlimited access to reskilling and
upskilling for digital and business
skills. Those who receive LHH’s Active
T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE
KnowledgeCity, an online employee
training provider, is partnering with
public libraries across the nation to
provide access to its thorough e-learning
library of professional development
courses. The acquisition will offer local
communities free, unlimited access to
the e-learning platform and will help
public libraries remain relevant in an era
marked by technological advancements.
MIS Training Institute (MISTI), a
leading global information security,
information technology (IT) audit
and internal audit training company,
acquired LeaderQuest, a major provider
of cybersecurity and related IT training
for veterans and those looking to break
into the IT field. As a result, MISTI will
expand its curriculum by offering
customers a wider range of cybersecurity
certification training options.
Placement support will now have access
to over 13,500 reskilling and upskilling
courses from LinkedIn Learning, in
addition to digital literacy assessments,
learning paths and curriculum from tech
education center General Assembly.
GAMIFIED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
TO RECRUIT, TRAIN AND RETAIN
EMPLOYEES
Using gamified artificial intelligence (AI),
ImmersionOne is helping companies
find and retain top talent. The platform
can also be used to effectively
onboard new employees and help
retain employees through interactive
corporate learning and development
programs. ImmersionOne’s recruiting
tools including games and mobile apps
are meant to entice potential job seekers,
while its training proves engaging and
fun for employees at large.
Unit4, a global leader in enterprise
applications for service organizations,
acquired Intuo, a rapidly growing
provider of talent enablement solutions.
Now, Unit4 boasts an extensive HCM
portfolio covering people, finance,
project and planning in the cloud for
mid-market organizations — allowing
the organization to better meet the
modern workforce’s needs.
Learnlight, a global language,
intercultural skills and soft skills training
provider, has acquired Arenalingua, a
German language training company,
in support of its European expansion
efforts. As a result of the acquisition, the
total number of trainers at Learnlight
will increase to over 3,000, training over
150,000 learners per year in more than
150 countries.
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
PLATFORM TO HELP MAKE BETTER
TALENT DECISIONS
Checkster, a leading provider of collective
intelligence solutions, released The
Checkster Platform —which uses artificial
intelligence to provide companies with
an accurate view of the quality and fit
of its employees. The platform is meant
to help companies make more informed
talent decisions by improving quality
of hire, engagement and retention
rates, respectively.
INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING
COMPANY NEWS?
PLEASE SEND TO
EDITOR@TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM
| 63
GET BEHIND
YOUR EMPLOYEES
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OF THE CURVE
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