Dear Readers,

A certainty facing us all this year is the understanding that we are operating in increasingly complex times.

As 2008 begins, training and HR professionals are challenged to serve as specialized consulting firms within their organization, as well as deploy often scarce resources to have the most significant impact on their organization.

The articles selected this month address new ways to think, organize and operate to take advantage of emerging opportunities, while focusing on identifying and delivering the information learners need to perform and succeed.

In addition to our feature articles this month, we trust you will value the link to the "Strategic Importance of Knowledge Process Outsourcing" white paper from HRO Today magazine, as well as our monthly product review of the book 101 Ways to Improve Customer Service, presented by Training Media Review.

It's a Small World (with Big Training)
By Holly Dolezalek

These days, we're bombarded by articles that refer to China as the Awakening Dragon or the Next Frontier. The conventional wisdom is that China, with its vast population and resources, will become the mother lode of new customers and new products as state control over the economy becomes more and more open to outside investment and other business dealings. Learn More

The New HR Organization
By Dave Ulrich

Increasingly diversified businesses require more complex human resources operations, Dave Ulrich contends. Here, the author and consultant breaks down the roles today’s HR departments must fulfill to deliver value. Governance is a hot topic. At times, it refers to government regulation of corporate affairs (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley). More frequently, it refers to how an organization governs, or organizes, to make decisions. HR governance is about how the HR function is structured to deliver value. Learn More

Strategic Learning Contracts - Maximizing Training & Learning Results
By Robert Bacal

It makes sense that companies will tend to invest money in training their employees if they perceive that the training is effective, or provides some return on the investment. In many cases the return is lost because of poor planning of training, and poor follow-up after training. The strategic learning contract is a method to help increase the return on investment for training by creating an infrastructure for success. Learn More

How Personal is Your Leadership Development?
By Ben Warden

It’s often assumed great leaders are born and not made — that somewhere along the way, they’re recognized for their talent and placed in a power position where they immediately flourish and never look back. Somewhere between being noticed as a high-potential candidate for an organization and ascending to the top spot in a large enterprise, though, is leadership development.   Learn More

Ten Tips for Getting Learners to Take E-Courses
By Saul Carliner

Organizations need to invest in multiple tactics to realize an increase in usage in e-learning. A manufacturer developed an e-learning course to provide compliance training for its 2000 employees—and free up its trainers for other, more critical, projects. But no one used the courses. This organization is not alone. One of the persistent problems with e-learning is getting people to actually use it.  Learn More 

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