Learning: The Magic of Making Training FUN

Budget and Staffing Cuts Continue The Bersin & Associates Annual Training Industry Survey is interesting; visit their website for more details. Some salient points: In 2009, the faltering U.S. economy continued to take its toll on training organizations. Companies cut their L&D budgets by another 11 percent from 2008 levels, with median spending falling to $714 per learner. Combined with the budget reductions that occurred in 2008, training budgets have fallen a total of 21 percent over the past two years. Spending was down across all company size categories. Small companies cut their L&D spending by 10 percent; midsize companies cut 11 percent and large companies cut 12 percent of their L&D spending. Many L&D organizations also shed jobs in 2009. The median L&D staff fell from 7.0 staff per 1,000 learners in 2008 to 6.2 in 2009. Small businesses reduced their training staffs by four percent, while midsize firms cut five percent and large companies cut eight per...

I have been honoured with the appointment as a Director of the Human Reources Development Corporation by the Honourable Minister of HR, Government of Malaysia. It gives me an opportunity to contribute to the development of human capital. The Human Resources Development Council manages the Human Resources Development Fund and aims to support human capital development. For more details visit their web site.

Do student grades determine their true potential? It does not, it looks like that there is huge gap between employer expectations and what the universities produce. This inconsistency between educational output, industry requirements and priorities pose a serious problem. Skills Invest Forum organized at the Dubai Knowledge Village assembled a team of experts to address this issue. A 2009 report titled “the Arab Human Capital Challenge – the voice of the CEO’s has lessons for all of us. The two factors cited as causes are worth further studying – the first is the need for the universities to partner with industry to identify needs and priorities, the second is for a review of the teaching methods. A joint study by the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings Institution and the Dubai School of Government states that a continued dependence on rote teaching methods stifles creativity and independent thinking. In July, we had the opportunity of partnering with a government linked co...

We talked about the three C's in the last blog. Brands must deliver. I have enjoyed travelling Emirates Airlines in the past but today was a nightmare. Growth creates challenges. You cut corners. I guess that's what happened today. The crew forgot to serve me lunch for 4 hours. No regrets, no apologies. Can you believe it it was the first time in my life I was served a quarter cup of mango juice with the promise she will return. She did not till I asked her two hours later. Yet, she did not say sorry. Pretty cabin crew but does that help deliver the brand. I doubt they understood the vision and mission of the airline or they were engaged. All that they told me in excuse was the new 777 Boeing aircraft was too big 340 passengers and “boy, it was full.’ They regret the flight was full. Lucky I had biscuits with me to ensure I did not die of starvation. Even if I had I do not think the crew would have minded that. They were just least bothered. Service recovery was even worse - I...

I read the article in the Research World - kind courtesy of my Saudi colleague Dr. Abdul Hai. The artilce talks about: The Culture - the internal culture of an organisation, The Community - how you engage them, and The Commercial - the primary focus of brands. The new world is about managing all three concepts.

I happened to work with a CEO of a major Insurance company in Malaysia, who happens to be a good friend too.  His Secretary looked Chinese but the name sounded Malay. My colleague and I asked her if she was Malay and her answer shamed us.  She responded: I am a Malaysian and a human being. Her ability to look beyond race and at how we can promote the value of the human spirit stumped me. While she was an ethnic Malay, my colleague was Chinese and I was Indian, her ability to reflect human values even though she was young thrilled me. There is still goodness left in this world.  I learned so much about values from this young lady.

Three Objectives Let us review what performance management is designed to do.  The principle of such a business process has three objectives:  Performance Planning & Alignment: First, to develop and align goals that is essential to implement business strategy. This must link with the organizational structure and positions. The creation of a position is not without a reason. Organizational structure is nothing but a series of relationships/positions designed to successfully implement strategy. Second, to create consistent goals which align employees with managers and business units and align these goals with the organization’s overall priorities?  These goals also help employees themselves stay focused. Coaching and development:   This process enables a structured process where managers are able to provide coaching and development. This can be supported by Learning & Development organization, leadership development, and other organizational developmental processes i...

Performance Appraisals do not work. That seems to be the conclusion of many authors including Deming and Drucker. They have proposed various alternatives around the concept to make it work. During the last few years, we have studied the utilization of the various performance management programmes used by organizations and the software programmes available. There is little doubt that organizations struggle to implement a precise process which will best reflect their organization’s goals, culture, and desired management style. Most organizations have difficulty with the performance management programme or the software. This leads to organizations designing a process around the system features and capabilities. The rapid growth of performance management off the shelf software is creating quite a bit of difficulty for organizations. Research organizations studying HR systems believe a major shift is taking place. While enterprise systems are being gradually edged out because of the ava...

Is the use of FUN something that trainers, facilitators or learning specialists can avoid without affecting learning results? Research shows us that it is highly unlikely for great learning results when the delivery is devoid of FUN. In my 30 over years of experience in delivering sessions and attending training, I have found the use of FUN to be a very powerful tool to gain learner attention, promote participation and accelerate retention. The resistance towards the use of FUN tools maybe largely attributed towards the stereotyped perceptions of FUN. Many years ago, the late Dr. Surjit Singh, a Malaysian trainer differentiated the use of FUN and being funny in a jovial manner. Rather than share the lengthy research background, suffice to say for now, we can certainly say the use of FUN is a purpose driven activity; being funny is largely trivia without a purpose, when taken in the context of learning. How many times have we heard participants murmuring that while the trainer is a con...

This morning I had the opportunity to climb the famous Hindu temple  Batu Caves . Close to 280 steps. It was a wonderful experience. I had not climbed the Batu Caves for the last 5 years. As with customary Hindu practice, we had gone there as a family to fulfill a prayer. The interesting part was when we climbed down the 280 steps; to quench our thirst, we decided to have a few Cokes at the local store. As we found no straws, we asked the customer service operator if we could have one and he just said “figure it out yourself, it should be somewhere there."  My wife had recently visited India. Her goal was to buy a handicraft piece in the government authorized handicraft emporium. She paid with her Malaysian credit card.It has taken three long months and we have still not received the handicraft piece.  Apparently, this evening's phone call revealed that they have just about got the government permission to ship the handicraft piece. The customary answer to a frustrating ques...

I was looking at the Learning Trends and I looked at the work of several people like Bill Kutik, Masie and Mary White. While most of the literature point to the growing use of e learning and web 2.0 tools, I was impacted by the numbers that more and more people are enjoying convenience in fulfilling their various goals in life including that of obtaining education. Increasingly more and more educational institutions are now offering online degree programs in response to the speed of life and unavailability of time. Online learning is gaining ground in the different parts of the world but is more popular than ever in the United States. A report revealed that online enrollment in the U.S. rose from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004. Flexibility in the delivery of online education has resulted in more people adopting e learning. The technology used since the introduction of e – learning has also dramatically improved. Current technology fuelled by web 2.0 tools allows greater ...

“It's the economy, stupid ", a phrase developed by James Carville, a campaign strategist during Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 was the slogan that led Bill Clinton to victory.   While the 2008 campaign reflected President elect Barack Obama’s “ Change we can believe in”, the economy   is indeed worrying every person. And, the markets eagerly await the inauguration of the President Barack Obama on January 20 th , 2009. Newsweek reports that he economic crisis is far worse than what we think. Everyone is so fearful that I wonder whether the self fulfilling prophesies will take effect. When I was a student, I did not quite realize what an economic recession could do, life just went on. Now, when I look back, some of the worst economic recessions were during my college days. The first few years of work life introduced me to the world of economic recessions. I did an economic quiz though it is very American centric and achieved a score of 70% In Asia, the n...

    The Economy “It's the economy, stupid ", a phrase developed by James Carville, a campaign strategist during Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 was the slogan that led Bill Clinton to victory.   While the 2008 campaign reflected President elect Barack Obama’s “ Change we can believe in”, the economy   is indeed worrying every person. And, the markets eagerly await the inauguration of the President Barack Obama on January 20 th , 2009. Newsweek reports that he economic crisis is far worse than what we think. Everyone is so fearful that I wonder whether the self fulfilling prophesies will take effect. When I was a student, I did not quite realize what an economic recession could do, life just went on. Now, when I look back, some of the worst economic recessions were during my college days. The first few years of work life introduced me to the world of economic recessions. I did an economic quiz though it is very American centric and achieved a score of ...

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man but he is braver five minutes longer - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Can we get people to be happy and enjoy their work? Can we move them from TGIF ( Thank God, it is Friday to Thank God, it is Monday.) Yes, we can if we apply the principles of happiness. So, what is happiness? “Happiness is a way of life – an overriding outlook composed of qualities such as optimism, courage, love and fulfillment.” The goal is to enjoy every day irrespective of what the challenges are. What is the enemy of being happy? It is the fear system, a biologically based response derived from our lower brain. This is often known as the reptilian brain as we share this with the reptiles. The fear system initially developed as a survival mechanism to respond to threats is triggered faster than rational thoughts such as feelings of love. Anger, pessimism, anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation are some forms of fear among us. The goal is to focus on positives in a negative world and in negative times like these to build greater motivation and employee engagement. This morni...

Just like millions of others I waited for the results of the US Presidential election. Well, the historic event happened, America chose a new President not because he was black but because of his appeal to a majority of Americans. As I said in my last e news some loved him, some did not like him and some really thought it was McCain’s turn. There is a famous expression in the community where I grew up. When the time is right, nothing can stop change. Whatever happened is immaterial. The important thing is the character of America.America is truly the land where everyone and anyone can aim for the impossible. The majority white population proved they could vote for a person from another race. It is not the color of the skin but the policies of the candidate. Secondly, the gracious concession speech by the defeated candidate McCain said so much about the person. Thirdly, Obama’s acceptance speech was equally gracious Read the book Say it like Barack Obama. Fourthly, America is indeed abl...

What got you here won't get you there The motives behind people's self interest usually can be narrowed down to four items: 1. Money 2. Power 3. Status 4. Popularity Marshall Goldsmith says that people will not resist change if we invoke the natural law i.e touch their hot button - their self interest.

I had the opportunity to travel with six airlines during my three week trip to six countries. I have often wondered why is it that some airlines are consistently tops on the service provided. They are just outstanding while some are brilliant in flashes. Some are just forgettable. On one of the sectors, I was served beef as that was the only option available. Chicken and fish were over. As I do not take any beef, I was left starving for the entire flight. I asked to see the Manager but she just did not show up. I had to go and see her to register my complaint but the seven hour flight was over. I took a flight from London to Chicago and often wondered how these airlines can preach about service to others. They did everything right to the basics, showed us how to get out of the aircraft in the event of an emergency and served us food as a mandatory task. They did not care how customers were treated or felt. No smiles, no eye contact, no thank you, no feeling that they wanted customers...

I was travelling with Joyce Gioia. A US based author and speaker when she talked to me about Marshall Goldstein’s , What got you here won’t get you there.I was intrigued and I went on to read about him. Just after I did that, I went on to re - read Malcolm Gladwell’s book - Tipping Point. As they say he is "just a thinker." But what a thinker. . His provocative ideas are taking the business world by storm. So who is this person, and what can he teach us about business. What can we learn? Danielle Sacks talks about the Accidental Guru and I produce the excerpts from the article: "I really like that term 'momentary autism,' " a woman says softly into the mike. She is in the back of the Times Square Studios speaking to a room of some 200 people, and more important, Malcolm Gladwell, who's standing solo onstage. It's the second day of the fifth annual New Yorker Festival, and Gladwell has just finished a detailed reprise of the seven seconds that led to...

Making Innovation work for you I had the opportunity this morning to review Martin Lee’s article in the morning newspaper. The second paragraph quoting Jeff Immelt of General Electric made a lot of sense - the only source of profit, the only reason to invest in companies is their ability to innovate and differentiate. Five simple principles made the article readable: 1. Lead the way, as a leader walk the talk and show that you are an innovator. 2. Look for good ideas – as they say in Procter and Gamble – search and re apply. 3. Check out your assumptions – the business school professors gave a C to Fred Smith’s idea of overnight packaging service FEDEX. He went to create history. 4. Acquire the habit of creative thinking, set aside some time for brainstorming. 5. Innovation is not about mega ideas; it could be about small things too.