Are you ready for the shift in the way Learning and Development will be delivered?  How will you deliver the knowledge and skills development of your people in 2010 and beyond?

In a new report from Bersin & Associates in December 2009 some very interesting findings have emerged about the way learning and development impacts organisations.  The report also focusses on what future training trends will bring.  These include although are not limited to a shift towards a blend of e learning, social network learning and performance assignments and feedback - known as embedded learning.   Whilst the days of formal classroom based training are certainly not gone, there is an increased demand for flexible delivery methods.

The study also found organisations with Superior Talent Management have significant advantages:

26% higher revenue per employee

28% less likely to have downsized during 2008 -2009

40% lower turnover among high performers

17% lower overall voluntary turnover

87% greater ability to “hire the best people”

156% greater ability to “develop great leaders”

92% greater ability to “respond to changing economic conditions”

144% greater ability to “plan for future workforce needs”

In order to acheive these figures you need to have some decent Learning and Development in place across the business.  As a Learning and Development provider, dta WORLDWIDE has been working with  organisations for a number of years and is shifting its thinking toward blended learning. 

One of the most concerning aspects in the report relates to managers.  We come across this issue frequently and this research states:  "One of the disturbing trends we continue to see is the struggle by organisations to build leadership, coaching and management skills among first-line managers.  In fact, our research continues to show that HR leaders rate their first-line managers as their “least ready” workgroup in the company, even less capable than their entry-level employees"

  How many high performers do you have - and how many might you lose - or have already left?  Do you want higher revenue per employee?  What are you doing about developing the talent in your business?

Coaching is currently a hot topic in business right now.  A lot of people are involved in providing ‘Life’ or ‘Executive’ coaching and some are very good at it.  Recently, at dta we have been on the receiving end of some excellent business coaching from Mags Bell at CPR - Creating Powerful Results.  Business coaching in its true sense may well involve aspects outside of business itself and which impact performance.  Whilst dta WORLDWIDE has it’s own coaching workshop; perfomance COACH, we often underestimate the need to be coached.  dta’s programme provides skills to first and second line managers to coach the people in their teams.  CPR takes a different approach in that they provide one to one business coaching in a way that gets to the centre of business issues.

Mags Bell excels by using a robust ‘real world’ approach to coaching that focuses on the cause of business challenges rather than the effect.  In that way the real issues are tackled and a more positive and effective outcome is achieved.  Many coaches who purport to coach at executive level coach the effect - leaving the cause to exist and continue to aggravate the effect.  Whilst we provide training to become a better coach, we strongly recommend CPR and their method in getting the best coaching at a business executive level.  Take a look at the CPR website here.

In a recent blog we discussed workplace bullies following an article about research on the subject.  It seems the challenge of managing workplace conflict continues.  In an article published in the October 2009 edition of ‘Training & Development in Australia’ - the journal of the Australian Institute of Training & Development - some further evidence emerged.

In the survey discussed in the article, ‘86% of respondents felt that their company’s manager had a low or variable skill level to deal with internal complaints’ and went on to say ‘organisations’ priority for improving and building these skills should be directed to line managers.’

It is common in our experience at dta to encounter similar feelings about the issue of developing the skills of managers to deal with conflict in the workplace.  Indeed it is probably one of the most frequent areas in which we are asked to help.  The article continues "…many line managers don’t have the confidence or skill to resolve inter - personal conflict and are reluctant or slow to respond when issues arise."

The greatest asset in any business are its people.  Doesn’t it make sense to invest in managing the relationships that are the cause of many disputes.  These ultimately lead to expensive loss of good staff and increased recruitment and training costs.  We would be interested in hearing your views on this topic.

Emotional Intelligence is often looked upon as being one of those topics which is a bit abstract - a bit "Out There!"  However, if we look past the aspects of the subject which are academic and perhaps put us off, we may have a different view.  Emotional Intelligence is a phrase which was popularised in the 1995 book of the same title.  However, it has been researched over many years and is still in most cases on the fringe of people development.

Many studies exist which prove that having high levels of Emotional Intelligence enhances productivity and can actually reduce stress in the workplace.

Lisa Gardner of Swinburne University’s Centre for Neuropsychology surveyed 133 employees from a range of industries including marketing, information technology and engineering.  She said those with higher levels of Emotional Intelligence tended to be healthier mentally and physically. They were less likely to suffer sleeplessness, headaches, muscle pains and other physical symptoms associated with stress.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and express emotions in yourself and the ability to understand the emotions of colleagues. In a recent presentation from ihatemypc who maintain dta WORLDWIDE computer systems, this humorous video reminded us how much emotion does effect us at work.