Know, that’s not exactly Nobel Prize winning commentary, is it.
But for many, it is.

First off, how does one actually describe an engaged organization? What is an engaged employee?

Let’s start with what it’s not.

Buzz word bingo.

Organizations that sound the trumpet of annual, quarterly or weekly engagement gimmicks are somewhere between daft and imbecilic. You may trick me with cotton candy once, but I’m eventually going to figure out it’s only made of sugar and fancy food colouring.

Richard Axelrod refers to it as plug ‘n play activities.

Successful employee-engagement practice is not about plugging in a set of tools and techniques that you just read about in some hotshot guru’s latest book—and then expecting engaged employees to magically appear.

I couldn’t agree more, but to many, employee engagement seems unnecessary and even nebulous.
Why is that?

In my opinion, engagement needs to be taken very seriously in an organization. Trying to fake out your employees with gimmicks may in fact create a disengaged workforce. Furthermore, not thinking about engagement in terms of an opportunity to increase overall organizational productivity is naïve if not foolish.

Want proof?

Yes, yes you do.

In what I would refer to as landmark research this past May 2011, Azka Ghafoor, Tahir Masood Qureshi, M. Aslam Khan and Syed Tahir Hijazi from the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan published “Transformational leadership, employee engagement and performance: Mediating effect of psychological ownership“.

They sought to prove that an employee is engaged when they demonstrate what they refer to as “psychological ownership”. More specifically, when backed by transformational leadership (and leaders), employees will thrive on the basis of “self-identity, belongingness, self-efficacy and responsible attitude”.

What they proved was astounding:

Employee engagement makes employees more accountable and enhances the sense of belongingness. Employee engagement practiced under transformational leadership develops the positivity in behavior that leads to trust and satisfaction that enhances sense of belongingness. The sense of ownership is supported by the perception of citizenship of employees. Once employees feel themselves as part of the organization their self-identity with organization improves.

In summary, when an employee feels part of something, when there is unequivocal trust in the workplace and when backed by an environment that is positive and coupled by inclusive leadership, that employee will become engaged.

Want more?

“This identity and association with the organization develops commitment in employees and their performance increases.
That’s right. These researchers proved that an engaged employee is committed to the cause and with commitment comes an increase in performance.

So to recap, this isn’t rocket science. And yes, I know, it’s but one piece of research.

There is no need, however, to introduce buzz word bingo or “plug ‘n play” options to improve engagement and performance in your organization.

It’s not cotton candy.

Common sense is a good start.

Next time, I’ll share my specific thoughts on some must-have components to achieve the engaged (and therefore productive) organization.

Thereafter, I’ll share some thoughts on the link between customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

Everyone now… “Bingo”.

CSG’s channel focused Business Development Managers (BDMs), possess the knowledge and experience to assess areas of improvement for partners and identify vendor resources that can be utilized to address these problem areas. Using Knowledge Anywhere’s innovative certification and training portal technology provides vendors with straightforward, easy-to-use systems for designing and executing effective trainings. Pairing Knowledge Anywhere’s impressive e-learning tools with CSG’s extensive understanding of channel function and partner needs brings vendors the perfect resource to increase their business through certifications and trainings.

“In order to prepare partners to effectively drive channel revenue, it is often necessary for vendors to provide one-on-one support to guide and assist partners to increase their overall skill-set,” said Tina Lauzon, CSG VP of Marketing and Alliances. “Our integrated efforts enable vendors to easily address the challenges partners face regarding certifications and trainings so they can equip partners to reach the revenue goals anticipated by the vendor.”

Project managers and channel strategists frequently test, analyze and update the program to ensure success. Constantly assessing the program provides CSG’s BDMs with the data necessary to make beneficial adjustments and modifications, which result in educated, inspired partners that possess the knowledge to sell new products effectively.

ABOUT CHANNEL SERVICES GROUP (CSG)

Channel Services Group (CSG) is the leader in channel partner marketing and sales solutions, with expertise and precision in indirect sales channels and strategies for technology based companies. CSG’s highly agile services and SaaS software empower enterprises and their indirect selling partners to gain channel efficiency, performance and predictability with results in increased sales revenue. For more information on CSG, visit our Web site at www.csgchannels.com.

ABOUT KNOWLEDGE ANYWHERE

Founded in 1998, Knowledge Anywhere provides technology-based learning and performance solutions to corporations around the globe.  They deploy products and services to educate large numbers of employees, customers, and channel partners to directly impact performance. For additional information on Knowledge Anywhere, visit their website at www.knowledgeanywhere.com.

Home Care Aides, who are professional workers who work in the home, can take the courses as many times as they like, from any computer. Mary Margaret Callahan, Director of Research and Development for the Training Partnership, said of the new initiative, “Online learning provides the flexibility that perfectly suits our learners and meets our training goals. We are thrilled we accomplished these goals with our first set of online continuing education courses and plan on launching more soon.”

One Home Care Aide said the training has met an important need. “It has always been very difficult for me to take training,” she said. “I work two jobs with irregular schedules and have my own family to take care of on top of that. The online training is available to me any time, and that’s so helpful to me.”

The courses were developed with Seattle-based e-learning solutions provider Knowledge Anywhere, Inc.

The SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership, as part of the SEIU Healthcare NW Benefits, and Knowledge Anywhere both strive to deliver high-quality products to their industries and are both located in the Pacific Northwest, so there was a natural fit between the two organizations.

“We know that Knowledge Anywhere training has been helpful to many people,” said Charlie Gillette, CEO of Knowledge Anywhere. “But it is especially gratifying to us to support Home Care Aides, who work so hard at such an important job.”

With over 40,000 home care aides throughout the state of Washington, the Training Partnership (http://www.myseiubenefits.org) is the ideal partner for providing training and benefits to home care workers.

About the SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership
SEIU Healthcare NW Benefits – through the Training Partnership and Health Benefits Trust – provides training and health care benefits to home care aides across Washington state. These professionals provide life-sustaining support to seniors and people with disabilities. Through our innovative training and affordable health plans, SEIU Healthcare NW Benefits is helping transform the long-term care profession.

About Knowledge Anywhere
Founded in 1998, Knowledge Anywhere, Inc., (http://www.knowledgeanywhere.com) is an award-winning company that has emerged as a leader in the specialized arena of building technology-based learning solutions and performance support systems that provide tangible results. The company uses innovative technology to offer a broad base of products and services, including custom and mobile content development, and virtual classrooms.

In addition to clarifying the new employee’s roles and goals, it is important to communicate the overall company goals, philosophy, and culture in a consistent manner. In the past this has been accomplished with a standard company manual, however this practice is now outdated, boring, uninteresting and not interactive. This method also does not guarantee that the material will ever reach the new hire. Online training and Elearning solutions provide an intriguing an interactive way to introduce new employees to their job positions and the company as a whole. Elearning also gives managers the ability to track an employee’s movement through the material and how much information was retained by including knowledge checks and quizzes. Successful on-boarding will also involve gaining feedback from new hires to better understand where they are coming from and receive their opinions on the employee transition. Gaining participation through these channels is a great measure of performance and success.

Managers may want to see a comparison of the ROI for the Elearning On-boarding course compared with the standard classroom training and training manual. A better measure of ROI can be calculated by comparing the development cost of the Elearning with a measurement of increased productivity or contribution to the company bottom-line after the On-boarding process is complete. An Elearning program is a cost-effective on-boarding tool that not only can provide employees with a consistent way to get important information as they start their new positions, but can also provide managers with information about the employee and confirmation the employee has received and understands company rules and culture. In these unsure economic times, companies can’t afford to take the risk that employees are unprepared for new positions nor can they afford the costs associated with high turnover. Successful organizations will make sure every employee is on-boarded in a systematic and dynamic way through trackable Elearning programs.

The Digital Landscape, a comprehensive online training program designed to help advertising and media agencies keep pace with the ever-changing tools, terminology and applications of digital communications is being launched today by the 4A’s.

Aimed at beginners as well as veterans across a full spectrum of industry disciplines, this unique e-learning program will help 4A’s agency members integrate digital thinking into the work they do for clients.

“Our goal is to consistently provide industry-leading programs that help our members make more informed marketing decisions,” stated Nancy Hill, President-CEO of the 4A’s. “The Digital Landscape is an excellent example of how we are providing the necessary tools to meet the challenges brought on by the rapidly growing digital environment.”

The Digital Landscape program is a collaborative effort of more than 50 content authors and editors from GroupM agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Maxus, Outrider, Catalyst, M80 and Joule.

“More than 2,000 of our people from across all disciplines have benefited from this digital training program,” said GroupM Interaction Chief Operating Officer John Montgomery, one of the program’s chief architects. “It has proved to be an invaluable integration tool that has advanced digital knowledge across our agencies. I can only imagine it will offer the same benefits to any 4A’s members who choose to take advantage of it.”

Divided into 13 modules, program content covers the entire digital arena including ad serving, digital media planning and buying, search, analytics, and emerging media.

The interactive program, with 24/7 access from any location with Internet connection, features avatars who guide users through each module that takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, followed by knowledge tests at the end of each session to help users monitor progress throughout the program. It also features a Digital Marketing Glossary of over 500 terms and a comprehensive FAQ section.

In order to meet the rapid changes in the digital media world and remain relevant, the program has been designed to allow for regular updates. Extensive use of flash, rich media and video, makes the content fun and engaging.

This custom built on-demand program is supported by Knowledge Anywhere, a leader in the distance learning field.
About the 4A’s
The American Association of Advertising Agencies is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. The 1,196 member agency offices it serves in the U.S. employ 65,000 people, offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. The management-oriented association helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry’s spokesman with government, media, and the public sector. For more information, visit our Web site at www.aaaa.org. ]]> http://thenewlearner.com/2010/09/16/4as-launches-digital-landscape-online-training-program-to-help-agencies-keep-pace-with-rapidly-changing-digital-communications/feed/ 0 http://thenewlearner.com/2010/05/25/biotix-inc-launches-two-online-training-courses-for-its-neptune-and-biotix-brands/ http://thenewlearner.com/2010/05/25/biotix-inc-launches-two-online-training-courses-for-its-neptune-and-biotix-brands/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 17:58:10 +0000 Dan Blau http://thenewlearner.com/?p=210 SAN DIEGO, CA – Biotix, Inc., a manufacturer of high-quality life science consumables, will launch their online training initiative for their dealer partners this month. These two training courses were developed to support dealers of the Neptune and Biotix brand products and all of their sales professionals by providing the information they need to know to effectively sell the right products to the appropriate customers.

“As a sales representative, it is nice to have access to a training resource that’s not just another binder, but an interactive, engaging online learning tool,” said one sales professional when reviewing the newly launched system called eXpert 2.0. The courses can be taken as many times as the user likes, from any computer, at any time. The sales representative can also go back and take the training again in preparation to an upcoming customer meeting.  Quizzes are included for users to ensure that the material is retained. The course also has a tracking feature that enables sales managers to see how well their reps are performing by viewing their quiz scores and how many attempts each user needed.

Dave Barth, the President of Biotix Inc., said of the new initiative, “We are extremely happy with the innovative value these courses will bring to our dealer partners around the world. This approach to training has been highly successful in other industries outside of the Life Sciences market.  We are confident that they will recognize this newly added value immediately with increased sales and customer satisfaction.” The courses were developed with Seattle-based e-learning solutions provider Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. Biotix Inc.  and Knowledge Anywhere both pride themselves on delivering high-quality products to their industries and stakeholders so the partnership was a natural fit between the two organizations.

With extensive experience in OEM manufacturing and comprehensive quality processes, Biotix Inc. (http://www.biotixholdings.com) is the ideal partner for the design of unique and distinctive product lines to match your stringent life science industry and market distribution requirements.

Founded in 1998, Knowledge Anywhere, Inc., (http://www.knowledgeanywhere.com) is an award-winning company that has emerged as a leader in the specialized arena of building technology-based learning solutions and performance support systems that provide tangible results. The company uses innovative technology to offer a broad base of products and services, including custom and mobile content development, and virtual classrooms.

“This award represents what Knowledge Anywhere was intended for, to bring information and training to our clients in an effective and efficient manner while remaining focused on high quality learning” said Knowledge Anywhere CEO Charlie Gillette. Knowledge Anywhere’s Interactive Training  Flipbook was developed to meet the needs of a variety of clients with many features built in, such as employee progress tracking. These features allow managers to monitor their employees’ status in the training program and how well they are performing.

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.

Founded in 1998, Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. (http://www.knowledgeanywhere.com) is an award-winning company that has emerged as a leader in the specialized arena of building technology-based learning solutions and performance support systems that provide tangible results. The company uses innovative technology to offer a broad base of products and services, including custom and mobile content development, and virtual classrooms. Its clients use its solutions to facilitate the delivery of proprietary knowledge, employee instruction and product training to dispersed audiences via the Web.

Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the ground-breaking “Web-Based Training Cookbook.” Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts Awards programs each year to recognize the best in innovative learning.

• First, there is the asynchronous online training, an online course taken at a time chosen by the learner.
• Webinars are similar, but that are taken at scheduled times and typically attended by a (virtual) group. Typically, a webinar consists of a subject matter expert talking to a PowerPoint presentation.
• A webinar can be saved as an archived webinar and then viewed asynchronously later.
• Instructor-led training (ILT) is classic classroom training.
• Peer-to-peer training (or mentoring) often occurs on the job.
• Self study is a solo activity – perhaps reading a book or an instruction guide or doing a Google search.
• Video conferencing is increasingly being used to conduct virtual meetings.
• Application sharing allows workers who are not in the same location to view the same screen. It’s sort of a virtual form on-the-job training.

These are some of the common ways that training types can be distinguished:

• Is the activity synchronous or asynchronous, meaning is it a scheduled activity where learner(s) participate at the same time, or can learners participate in the activity when they want to?
• Is the activity online or face to face (meaning in person)?
• Is it a group or individual activity?
• Is it a formal interaction (e.g., based on a script or prepared training materials) or an informal interaction?

The table shows how these training types can be distinguished along these lines.  In some cases the distinction isn’t clear-cut (for example, on-the-job training could be a group as well as an individual activity), but this is one way to look at the different types of training activities, and a good reminder that there are many different ways to support learners.

Training

Your list would probably differ from mine, and maybe you would distinguish among them differently than I have. That’s fine, because the important point is that there are many different ways to train, and all of them have a place in the work environment. Classroom training has the potential to offer the best training experience, but is expensive and doesn’t scale. Online training is a great way to conveniently reach a large audience with a consistent message. Webinars can be a great just-in-time alternative to online training, as they are inexpensive to produce, but interactivity is low and quality is highly dependent on the presenter. Peer-to-peer mentoring and on-the-job training occur all the time in the workplace, and for good reason. In fact, wikis, blogs, and other user-generated content are an extension of this, allowing mentoring to occur on a larger scale.

Ideally, you are drawing on all these training modes: using classroom training for key subjects that need to be covered in person, using online training to extend the reach of your training program throughout your organization, using webinars to inexpensively and quickly provide training on targeted topics, and supporting the various forms of informal training that are key on a day-to-day basis.

According to a similar study, the ASTD 2009 State of the Industry Report, organizations must contribute to the development of their employees “with more formal learning opportunities while using fewer resources.”[1] This means that companies have to be careful with their decisions and investments made in company learning. One example of this type of substitution is online training in the workplace, which can offer supplemental training in a quick and cost effective delivery. The New Learner Survey explores the importance and differences between online training, instructor-led training, industry conferences, and social media in the work place.

One of the questions asked on The New Learner Survey was on predictions of where traditional instructor-led training will move in 2010 compared to 2009. The majority of the surveyed professionals thought that ILT would either stay the same, decrease, or decrease greatly in the next year. This suggests that with ILT already low in 2009, there will be even less investment in class room training in 2010. This directly correlates to the idea of organizations being able to accomplish more with fewer resources available. The companies that realize the opportunity that online training can bring them will be significantly superior to the ones who don’t search for ways to replace their company training programs. These prepared companies will have a better chance to remain successful throughout the end of recession.

Another question from The New Learner Survey inquired if the recent popularity of social media is here to stay. It appears that business leaders understand how to leverage social media for the benefit of their organization as they believe this trend will remain useful. Although some business leaders consider social media outlets to be useless, others see these tools as new ways to reach their customers and engage conversations between them and the organization.

An article from Chief Learning Officer publication asks the question, “Does Employee Education Build Loyalty?”[2] The article weighs the consequences of turnover rates and the benefits of investing in employee knowledge. The conclusion was that encouraging employees to continue learning can increase confidence and increase employee performance. The cost of investing in these benefits should be clear to employers, but there is always a risk of employees leaving the company after completing their training. Organizations can put contracts in place to reduce this as well as implement incentives for performance to encourage high effort levels in the workplace. There will always be a risk of investment when implementing new training programs, but the potential benefits far outweigh these risks.

The findings of The New Learner’s Trends Survey ultimately suggest that training in the workforce will increase slightly during the 2010 year with the main learning medium straying away from industry-wide conferences and being replaced by alternative online solutions. To see the final results of the survey please see the link below:

http://thenewlearner.com/2010/03/01/the-results-of-the-new-learner-2010-industry-trends-survey/

http://www1.astd.org/Blog/post/ASTD-Releases-2009-State-of-the-Industry-Report.aspx

[2] Does Employee Education Build Loyalty?, Fevruary 2009; Alan A. Malinchak

http://www.clomedia.com/talent.php?pt=a&aid=2850