Some L&D Articles for This Week!

Hello!   Hope you’re doing well and that your week has been a meaningful one. As usual, please find below some interesting articles and blog posts from this week looking at employee training and performance issues.  Please click on the article links, and have a great end to the week! It Starts With Employees (Media Post) – Dan Roche writes that creating a great CRM really begins with developing a strong and empowered workforce.  “Many people say a business is only as good as its employees, and this is particularly true in terms of CRM. Employee engagement, support and appreciation all trickle down to customer relationships, so it’s crucial for businesses to foster strong employee relationships in order to be successful.” He also includes a section about Training & Development, and the importance of getting new employees up to speed quickly. 12 Ways to Alienate a New Hire (Forbes.com) – Jeff Schmitt provides 12 no-no’s to avoid when dealing with new employees.  Every new employee is naturally a bit apprehensive – it’s learning something new in unfamiliar territory.  Yet there are ways to make the process smooth.  Jeff talks in two of his points about training.  The first thing to avoid is poorly structured training, one which overwhelms him with an overabundance of information, or one that does not provide a proper context.  He then adds another thing that can hurt new employees, and that is the lack of ongoing training after the initial sessions.  “Your recruits will forget plenty – if they even understood it in the first place. It can be hard to pull it all together. There is so much to cover…and it must be delivered quickly. Some will pick up what they’ve missed on the job. But everyone has knowledge gaps. And you want your people to do their job well, not just get the job done.” An interesting read. What is Blended Learning and Why Do It? (E-Academy) – A great post about how it’s best to have a healthy combination of formal training and informal training, that is via e-learning, coaching, conferences, webinars, in-work performance support and more.  And hey, who doesn’t think a good yummy blend isn’t tasty? 🙂 3 Things Every Worker Need in Order to LEarn and Develop (E-Learning Magazine) – A post that looks more at the right culture for learning and growth. “Before an organization can learn and develop, the people inside it must be engaged. If you want learning to be efective, then you must understand what engages people to want to learn in the first place. Engagement – the drive and desire to learn – is linked to three unique elements. Te organization must be able to assess how much of each of these elements their people are getting. Te really smart groups also find ways to store up massive amounts of these three elements in their engagement fuel tank.” The article lists 3 “c” words, and yes they are all work-safe.  Craft, Cause, and Culture. Please feel free to comment and give your piece of mind. I would love to hear what you think! Have a great weekend!