October 16, 2002

As 2002 comes to a close, and plans for 2003 are being made and implemented, it is time to take the collective temperature of the country by asking for the impressions of those professionals closest to the employees in organizations, the HR/Training professional. Please take our Business Climate Survey by clicking on the link. Results will be published in the November issue of WorkplaceXpert.

This month we focus on a number of key issues readers have identified as challenging the training and HR manager. 

The Emergent Nature of Teams: The Next Challenge for Training & Development Professionals

The Top 13 Questions to Ask a Virtual Team

Keys to Being a Unique and Memorable Presenter

New Technologies In Education and Training

Making Training More Accountable - When implementing training ROI, here are some guiding principles to use as operating standards.

We are delighted to continue to offer training and HR professionals this newsletter free of charge. (WorkplaceXpert is not a Website - although it acts like one.) You have to subscribe to continue to receive WorkplaceXpert! If you have not yet signed up, please click here and submit the registration form. If you have subscribed, please forward this to an associate who would value the content.

As always, thank you for your involvement and continued dedication to training!

-  John Quincy, Editor

The Emergent Nature of Teams: The Next Challenge for Training & Development Professionals
By Stu Noble and Lisa Kimball

Teams (project, virtual, distributed, global, etc.) aren't what they used to be. .  As such, learning interventions based upon an old team model may no longer work. The implications associated with this are many. First and foremost is that in order to for training professionals to effectively support the learning and development needs of this new generation of team, there must be a new understanding of this current change in the nature of teams and collaborative work. Effectively addressing this transition will be one of the greatest the challenges facing training professionals.  LEARN MORE

The Top 13 Questions to Ask a Virtual Team
By Stu Noble, 3D Learning

Virtual teams are like all teams, they require attention to both the TASK aspect of their work, as well as the PROCESS dynamics.  However, unlike co-located teams, many of these aspects are often invisible and not adequately addressed. The following are 13 questions that, if focused upon, will support virtual team performance effectiveness. LEARN MORE

New Technologies In Education and Training
By John Fleischman

More powerful computing devices, fast networks and new digital imaging devices are in your future. But you really don't need to be a futurist or seer to reach that conclusion.

So, what can you expect the future to look like for new computing devices? How will information pass in and out of these new devices? Will there be some radical new ways to display digital images? Several of these new technologies are closer than you realize.  LEARN MORE

Making Training More Accountable
By Patricia P. Phillips and Jack J. Phillips

When implementing training ROI, here are some guiding principles to use as operating standards. Because of heightened skepticism in reporting, it is more important than ever to develop a training return-on-investment methodology that will stand up under intense scrutiny. The ROI methodology must meet certain operating standards to help ensure that there is consistency in the evaluation process and that a conservative approach is taken. Standards and guiding principles keep the evaluation credible and allow for replication of the methodology. When implementing training ROI, here are some guiding principles to use as operating standards.  LEARN MORE

What’s New? 

Eduventures has released a new report entitled Distance Learning at the Tipping Point: Critical Success Factors to Growing Fully Online Distance-Learning Programs. It provides an overview of key trends in the distance-learning market. The report is free and downloadable, after registration, from their site. LEARN MORE

Training Magazine will publish results of the annual United States Training Industry Study in the October issue. As this issue of WorkplaceXpert is distributed, the report is not yet available. Click here for a preview.

NEXT MONTH - The November issue will feature an article based on our research findings - reporting on your view of the 2003 business climate. We will also focus editorial attention on e-learning and how it is changing to reflect business needs. We are constantly searching our industry resources for other practical ideas to help you be an effective workplace expert! If you have topics you wish explored, or resources to share, for future editions, please forward them to me. JQ