Gina Abudi » Training

Training vs. Education – What’s the Difference???

Gina — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:30:49 +0000

I often hear clients use the terms “training” and “education” interchangeably.� But they aren’t the same at all.� Companies may offer both training and education – depending on their goals – to their employees.

Let’s define each term. According to Wikipedia, training “refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies as [...]

Using a Learning Council:Case Study-Part II

Gina — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:30:28 +0000

Case Study: Using a Learning Council to Ease the Move from a Decentralized to a Centralized Learning and Development Group – Part II

Part I of this post covered the case study background and up to the one year mark.� We continue Part II with one year later and ongoing use of a [...]

Using a Learning Council: Case Study-Part I

Gina — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:30:47 +0000

Case Study: Using a Learning Council to Ease the Move from a Decentralized to a Centralized Learning and Development Group – Part I

To read about how to create and launch a learning council, see a previous post, Best Practices: Creating and Launching a Learning Council.

This post will focus on [...]

Giving Your External Speaker a Chance to Speak

Paul — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:30:28 +0000

Why bother having external speakers for your training courses? Well, there are many reasons and it depends on what the course is trying to achieve, but a couple of obvious reasons spring easily to mind. Firstly, by bringing in someone who has real life experience of the course subject matter they can provide [...]

Elearning, Virtual, Classroom, or a Blended Solution?? Too Many Options!

Gina — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:30:53 +0000

I was talking with a client recently who was trying to decide which path to take for hosting a conflict management course – he was looking at all of the options: elearning, virtual, classroom, or a blended solution – and trying to determine what would be the best route to take. Price alone [...]

How Does Your Organization View the Training Group?

Gina — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:30:42 +0000

How does your organization view the training group?� Have you thought about it?� If not, you should. I have spoken with a number of clients recently who want to elevate their organization’s perception of the training group and are trying to decide how to best go about it.� There are various reasons why they [...]

Ensuring Behavior Change Occurs From Your Training Programs

Gina — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:30:54 +0000

Consistently clients tell me that one of the major disappointments from training programs their employees attend is that the employees come back to the job and do not apply what they have learned in the classroom.� There are many reasons this might occur, including, for example:

The training program did not provide the opportunity [...]

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy: Teaching Adults to Learn Effectively

Gina — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:30:43 +0000

Incorporating principles of adult learning theory in any training program is the foundation to ensuring a successful transfer of skills from the training program back to the workplace. � Adult education focuses on the facilitator ensuring the participants are able to achieve sustained behavioral changes to improve in a particular area(s).� For example, enabling [...]

Use Storytelling in Learning Programs

Gina — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:30:32 +0000

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Tell a story to help them learn

According to Wikipedia, “Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment.” � Stories are shared in every culture to entertain and educate others and have been told for thousands of years. � Grandparents use stories to [...]

Yes! You Must Invest in Your Employees!

Gina — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:30:18 +0000

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Invest in your employees and watch your business prosper

A question I often get from clients is:� “When should I invest in my employees?”� My answer: “Always!”� Given today’s economy, the question follows with another, “Will it really be that big an issue if I stop investing in training temporarily?”� My answer: [...]

Creating a Culture of Learning In Your Organization

Gina — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:30:39 +0000

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According to Wikipedia.com a learning organization is defined as “an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself.”� The concept of a learning organization was later refined by Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell in The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development, as:� “an organization that facilitates the [...]

Onboarding Programs for New Hires – Part 2

Gina — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:30:07 +0000

� A Case Study (Part 2 of 2)

The first part of this post provided an overview of onboarding. � This second part will focus on a case study of a global financial services company who developed and implemented an onboarding program for newly hired college graduates.

Global Financial Services Company Overview

A global [...]

Onboarding Programs for New Hires – Part 1

Gina — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:14 +0000

� (Part 1 of 2)

According to Wikipedia.com (in a definition taken from Onboarding: How To Get Your New Employees Up To Speed In Half The Time, Authors: George Bradt and Mary Vonnegut, Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2009):� “Onboarding is the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new team members, whether they [...]

New Manager Training Program at a Financial Services Company: A Case Study

Gina — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:38:57 +0000

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Background

XYZ Financial Services Company provides a variety of financial and life insurance services to their clients, who range from individuals to Fortune 1000 companies throughout the northeast United States.� They have been in business for 15 years and during that time have grown to 75 employees.� They are starting to expand [...]

Leveraging Human Networks to Accelerate Learning

Maya — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:30:43 +0000

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Published by colleague Maya Townsend in Chief Learning Officer Magazine April 2009

To make the most of their learning initiatives, CLOs must understand the power of informal workplace networks and know how to leverage them to drive organizational change.

The executive team of a small, [...]

Poll Question: What One Seminar Would You Take If You Could Take Just One?

Gina — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:30:19 +0000

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Money is tight these days. Likely training budgets are cut significantly. But you still want to focus on your personal and professional development.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

So How Come We Don’t Invest the Time to Really Measure Training Programs?

Gina — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:25:39 +0000

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We know it is important to measure the effectiveness of a training programs, yet we don’t always take the time to do it right. Why is that? Are we too busy and just don’t have the time to do so? Maybe we don’t think it is all that important after all. If [...]

Poll Question: How Do You Know that Training Has Been Effective?

Gina — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:20:57 +0000

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When I speak with clients about training programs, one of the first things I ask them is, “How will you know if the training has been effective?” I get many answers to this question, such as:

“I really have no idea, but I know they need the skills.” “I’m hoping it will [...]

Make the Training “Stick”

Gina — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:20:44 +0000

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Too often participants get out of the classroom and forget all about what they learned. Those new skills and knowledge are not always applied back on the job. I had heard many reasons why the individual was not applying their new skills including:

“I have no time – I need to catch [...]

Poll Question: What are some methods you use to gain new skills and knowledge?

Gina — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:30:55 +0000

There are a variety of ways to increase your skills and knowledge – training classes are just one way.� What are some ways that you use to increase your skills and knowledge?� Are you more creative in how you go about learning new skills based on the need to save money or reduced training [...]