Like any other department in a company, Learning and Development teams should have the biggest impact when their efforts are tightly aligned with the strategic goals of the organization. Gus Curran and Rachel Gathagu from Humentum joined Brian to discuss their observations about how L&D teams can best contribute to the overall health and success of organizations.
Continue reading(Mostly) Free Resources to Reduce Training Development Time
How much time does it take for you to develop your learning programs? It’s a question whose answer can have enormous implications.
Of course, the first answer to this question is: “It depends.” But that’s not good enough if you’re having a serious conversation with your boss or with a potential client.
Robyn Defelice has been studying this question for years, and recently posted How Long Does It Take to Develop Training? through ATD, sharing her latest findings.
Continue readingPromoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
We’ve talked on the Train Like a Champion blog about the need for diversity and inclusion in the learning and development field and have talked about the impact that learning and development professionals can have through their training initiatives. As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it feels like a good time to share the conversation Brian had with Natalie Mazzie from F5 about the realities of doing the work of promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Continue readingTrainer’s Guide to GoToMeeting
Last week we released A Trainer’s Guide to Adobe Connect. At the end of 2020 TLAC brought you A Trainer’s Guide to WebEx, A Trainer’s Guide to Zoom, A Trainer’s Guide to GoToTraining, and a Trainer’s Guide to Microsoft Teams.
Continue readingTechnical Presentations
If you follow TED talks on instructional design, you likely have watched or heard Melissa Marshall’s TED talk “Talk Nerdy to Me.” During her compelling talk (with over 2.6 million views!), she discusses making technical presentations accessible to anyone in the audience without compromising the integrity or talking down to the more technical audience members.
Melissa took some time this week, with the Train Like You Listen podcast, to elaborate on her technical presentation approach. During this short conversation, she dives a bit deeper into some thoughts she has about good instruction when working with technical content. If podcasts aren’t your jam or you prefer to read instead of listen, you can read the transcript of this entire conversation below the podcast link.
Continue readingMake 2021 a Breakout (Room) Year
We’ve arrived in 2021 and I think it’s safe to say that virtual training is here to stay. Hopefully, you’ve had the chance to become comfortable with one or two virtual training platforms over this past year.
If Adobe Connect is your organization’s platform of choice, (or perhaps you’ve been considering it for yourself) you’re in luck. The Trainer’s Guide to Adobe Connect has arrived!
Continue readingTraining Measurement Demystified
How do you measure the success of your training programs? Yeah, that is a pretty complicated question for many learning professionals. However, we all know that it is critical to our programs that we show how and why they are working. The big gaps seem to be the mystery around how exactly we get that information.
On the first Train Like You Listen podcast of 2021, Brian talks to David Vance and Peggy Parskey from the Center for Talent Reporting and authors of Measurement Demystified, Creating Your L&D Measurement, Analytics and Reporting Strategy to find out more about how to measure training programs.
Continue readingThe One Word Resolution (2021 Edition)
“Start a blog” was my New Year’s Resolution for 2012. Almost 7 years and 835 posts later, I’m still here. (Full disclosure: my colleague, Heather Snyder, has written a good portion of those 835 posts since she joined Endurance Learning in mid-2017.)
And for the past eight years, I’ve shared a one-word resolution that I’ve chosen to guide me personally and professionally in the new year.
In 2013 it was momentum as I pondered the most critical element to successful learning programs.
In 2014 it was possibility as I pondered the idea of launching my own company.
In 2015 it was execution.
In 2016 it was risk.
In 2017 it was ruthless as I knew there were some tough decisions I needed to make.
In 2018, I chose joy, because what good is success if I couldn’t have more joy in my life?
For 2019, my head was wrapped around the word new. And we indeed began working with new customers this year, tried some new activities, wrote some new articles for major publications, spoke at some new conferences and launched a new product!
In 2020, the word that I focused on was partnership. While it was tricky to stick to this word as social distancing and virtual work became the norm, I’ve been able to strengthen my bond with my business partner, established working relationships with a half dozen new clients (any of whom have become repeat customers), developed new relationships as I led our local ATD chapter, worked closely with ATD as I put the finishing touches on a book that will be released next summer and established a new partnership in my personal life. Not bad considering the natural restrictions that befell us with the global Coronavirus pandemic. In fact, it was an extremely important word and resolution to hold on to throughout the past year.
Continue readingVirtual Training Lessons Learned
I have been trying to get my family to do a Zoom meeting for holidays for years now. Every year prior to this one, I have seen a lot of resistance to holiday gatherings via a webcam. Many arguing that if we weren’t actually together, why should we sit in front of a computer and stare at each other. Fast forward to 2020, and I have regular Zoom happy hours with friends, I met my sister’s new puppy last week via Zoom, and I have helped my in-laws pick out a webcam so they can see their granddaughters more often.
Many of us who have worked remotely had little to get used to with the new virtual meeting culture. Fast adapters are common with any technology, and those adapters will sing the praises, and even write books on the application of these tools before they are heavily used by everyone. Kassy LaBorie is one of the early adopters for virtual tools like Zoom, Teams, etc… as a remote training tool. On this week’s Train Like You Listen podcast, Kassy joins us to share some insights on virtual instructor-led training after a year where many of us were unexpectedly thrust into adopting these tools.
Continue readingLast-minute Gift Guide for that Special Trainer in Your Life
With the holiday season upon us, just the simple fact that we’ve made it through 2020 with our health and important relationships in tact should be gift enough. Of course, if you’re still looking for a physical present to give to that special trainer in your life, my colleague Rachel Niles spent some time this week compiling a list of recommendations from almost three dozen thought leaders in the L&D space.
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