How to get the most out of your leadership training

Attending training courses is an essential part of most leadership development plans, but without adequate support, you won’t get the most out of your training. A workplace culture that values learning and development is not only essential for achieving business objectives, but also for retaining motivated and talented staff. Think of it as investing in […]
Tips To Turn Your PowerPoint Presentations into Captivating Decks

I believe delivering in-house employee training is one of the most challenging aspects of being a team leader and manager. Even some of my coaching friends, who’ve been in the industry for decades, admitted their palms get sweaty before some of the sessions. The most common concern to haunt a lot of us is – […]
Presenting a training course with passion

I have recently had feedback that one of my team members is delivering the content of the induction well but there is a lack of charisma and passion about the topic making it come across as monotone. I am looking to enroll them in a presentation skills course, but want to know if anyone has […]
Video: Easy peasy leadership mistakes to avoid

We all need a reminder every now and again of the common leadership mistakes you really shouldn't be making. In sing-song style, take a look at this video from Jon Kennard for Learning Now TV on easy peasy leadership mistakes to avoid. Suitably refreshed, you'll then be able to, er, avoid them! We all need a […]
How to excite your learners

Should learners be looking forward to their training? Should they be primed? Or maybe they should be excited..? Yes, that's it – excited. But how do you excite your learners? Watch Jon Kennard run you through some easy steps to excite your learners, helping them get more from your training and helping you get greater […]
A Simple Question: Which layout would you prefer?

You're attending a training event, you walk into the room, which table layout would you prefer and why? You're attending a training event, you walk into the room, which table layout would you prefer and why?
Learning and Development Stories: The Learning Strategy Story

This story is an excerpt from my forthcoming ebook titled: Larry's First Action. The book uses a story format to explain how to create an organisational learning strategy using Larry's experience. Brian looked at Larry and started talking, "Let me tell you about an experience I had. After we both left Compliance Experts, of course you left one year before […]
The Feedback Loop of Employee Training – Getting Honest Responses

Training and development occur at various times during an employee’s tenure with an organization. There is the initial induction/orientation training for all new hires; there is training that might occur when a new computer system is installed or when new programs or apps are implemented. Then there is the training that occurs as the industry […]
How do you combat “The Night Before” syndrome?!

You've been asked to design and deliver a course you've not presented before. You're up for the task, the subject matter floats your boat, it's well within your knowledge, skills and experience. You LOVE designing courses! Remember – you've not delivered the programme before! Never! Not once! Eeek! It's bedtime, a few hours before you're due […]
Internship Training contract agreement. Need help before I’m forced to sign.

Hello all, I'm hoping someone will be able to help me with this issue. I graduated University in 2015 and found a job working in a field that really looked like it was going to help me get into a career I would love. I applied for the job under the title 'Graphic Design Internship'. […]
Skills required for in-house content authoring

In-House Content Authoring is regularly cited as one of the big eLearning trends to keep an eye on. So it comes as no surprise that organisations are increasingly developing custom eLearning materials in-house. This trend has been spurred on by organisations attempting to reduce training costs and saving time in roll out training courses. Given the […]
How to manage your time

Time management – it's the hottest productivity trend of the 21st century. We've all got 24 hours in a day. But it's how we use it that's important. The internet is littered with questions and answers around the time management technique of the world's billionaires – people are fascinated by how we optimise our days. […]
Innovation The Lean Startup Way

In 2011 Eric Ries wrote a ground breaking book titled, The Lean Startup, based on his experiences of failure and subsequently success as an entrepreneur. Now the lean startup concept has become a movement. Startup businesses have adopted it and even established businesses are using the concept. The lean startup is based on the belief that a startup is […]
Embedding learning

Our Research – To pursue our quest of making return on investment a manageable task for customers, we researched other writers and specialists on the subject. Our first influence was Kirkpatrick (1994). He described how, when evaluating a training activity, an assessment should be made at four levels: Level 1 involves assessing learner’s reactions […]
Tips on How To Treble The Value of Your Training Budget!

In this post I have bullet pointed tips on how to treble the value of your training budget: Metrics required at evaluation stage Benchmarking needs to be precise Targets for organisation and individuals Data collection requires persistence Learning transfer understanding and commitment Evaluate up to 12 months beyond the last formal intervention stage Report […]
Frugal Innovation

A couple of days ago I wrote a post about innovation and my premise was that if learning and development functions are to drive innovation in their organisations, they themselves must be innovators. Why? Because you can't make happen something you yourself are not doing. As a learning and development practitioner I want to innovate and […]
How to build virtual teams

Spiraling office overheads, an acceleration in the war for talent and the explosion of modern video and audio conferencing technologies have made virtual working a trend set to continue. It's harder to build rapport and trust, however, among geographically-dispersed teams. Yet cohesion and understanding are key to successful decision-making and collaboration. Here are some tips for […]
Bit of indecision but I know what I want now

I started my blog because I love reading, but along the way got frustrated. I was reading and reviewing all these great books, but not learning anything from them. Within 2 or more weeks of reading a book I would forget most if not all of what I read. I’m not much of a leisure reader, most […]
How to brainstorm effectively

Depending on your approach, brainstorming can add significant value — or detract from the quality of decision-making. Some critics suggest that brainstorming is not an effective tool for producing new ideas. Despite the controversy, the word – and the practice – can be found in meeting rooms worldwide. For individuals too, it often forms the […]
Memory Trick: Improve Your Students’ Learning

Quick: tell me where your keys are right now. (I’ll give you a minute). … How long did it take to recall that information? Was it readily available, like a Google search? Or did it take a second to reach into the recesses of your mind? Your memory, and mine, is an amazingly complex and […]