Trial by Fire

By Pat Galagan and Tony Bingham

Lessons learned from two major events—9/11 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy—helped Mercer CEO Michele Burns navigate the company through the economic crisis of 2009.

Podcast     + Free Article

Cultivating Top Talent at Mercer

By Deb Wheelock

Mercer’s sustained commitment to leadership development helps the firm meet a multitude of changes and global business requirements. Deb Wheelock discusses how these commitments become a reality for all the company’s leaders.

Podcast     Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

The Future of Succession Planning

By William J. Rothwell

Succession planning is shifting from its traditional roots to include new considerations that will affect the future workplace.

Podcast     Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Creating an Extraordinary Group

By Geoff Bellman and Kathleen Ryan

A three-year study of 60 extraordinary groups yielded eight performance indicators for great groups of all kinds. Trainers can boost their own teams’ proficiency levels by following this guide.

Podcast     + Free Article

Corporate Training Pulse Check

By Mandy R. Woulfe

How do participants of compliance training honestly feel about it, and what steps are corporate trainers taking to keep these perceptions in check?

Podcast     Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

CLICK:
A Model for Self-Motivated Innovation and Learning

By Omagbitse Barrow

The challenge-learn-innovate-change-know model has been designed to aid workplace learning professionals in developing knowledge workers and supporting personal and organizational transformation—one challenge at a time.

Podcast     Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Long View //

Jim Kouzes ++

Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership
Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University
Orinda, California

Kouzes is a well-renowned leadership scholar with executive experience. From 1988 to 2000, he served as president, and then CEO and chairman of the Tom Peters Company. He also led the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University from 1981 to 1987. His distinctions include receiving the Golden Gavel from Toastmasters International (their highest honor) in 2006 and the 2010 Thought Leadership Award from the Instructional Systems Association, and being cited as one of the 12 best executive educators in the United States by The Wall Street Journal.

++ Extra Content - Only Online!     + Free Article

Books //

Don’t Let Knowledge Stroll Out the Door

By Ken Ball and Gina Gotsill
(Cengage Learning, 270 pp., $24.99)

Read all book reviews.

+ Free Article!

DEVELOPMENT //

Trainers As Mediators: Facilitating Team Collaboration

By Diane Katz

Become a collaborative asset to your organization by learning how to keep a cool head and effectively mediate conflict.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Editor's Note //

Who’s Next?

“Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” —Denis Waitley

Podcast     + Free Article

FUNDAMENTALS //

Strategic Planning Simplified

By Nathan Eckel and Philip N. Witmer

You might have all the data and background in your hands, but what you put into planning a large-scale project at the very beginning can make or break its outcomes.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

INTELLIGENCE //

As Future Brightens for Job Seekers,
Disturbing Trends Emerge for Trainers

By Ann Pace

Downsized U.S. organizations are planning to hire, but have dwindling confidence in their HR and learning departments.

+ Free Article!

LEARNING BLUEPRINT //

Heroes and Sidekicks: Ensuring Proper Followership

By Bruno Neal

Great leaders need great followers, trained in counterpart courses to develop top-notch performance across the board.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

RE:SEARCh //

Creative Leadership for the Win

By Aparna Nancherla

Rising complexity leads CEOs from around the world to cite creativity as a way to capitalize on the future of business.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Soapbox //

The Four Levels Are Still Relevant

By Donald Kirkpatrick

"As I think back on Craig’s decision to publish the series, I wonder if they would ever have been published for the world to see. I had no thoughts then of writing an article or series of articles, but soon after the articles were published, trainers began to write articles on each of the levels. I recently asked LinkedIn participants whether the four levels are out of date. I received more than 40 responses from people strongly stating, “No.”

+ Free Article!

Trends //

Unformal, the New Normal?

By Pat Galagan

The days of informal learning being a shadowy entity unto itself are gone. Learning on-the-fly is now part of any well-balanced learning intake.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Workplace Rx //

Climbing to Higher Ground

Eight call center supervisors take it to the ropes to conquer their poor communication and disunity.

Not an ASTD Member? Buy the e-print here!

Read T+D's Blog on Blogger!

Most Recent Entry //

The Story Behind Employee Engagement

Posted on August 20th, 2010

Check out the great article in Bloomberg Business Week this week on employee engagement. It delves into the issue of employee engagement, examining what it is, how managers need to approach the issue, and the definition of it. As Dov Seidman writes, "Employee engagement is a condition—manifested by the inspiration an employee unleashes in his or her work when he or she is deeply connected to a mission, purpose, and the values that connect us."

Do you have best practices for how you keep your employees engaged? How do you teach your managers to approach this workplace issue? And, why are so many workers disengaged?

Employee engagement is a hot topic today because the workplace is changing at lightning speed and if companies don't take the time to build a culture of engagement in their workplace, they will had a hard time retaining valuable employees.

Leave a comment!

Updated August 25, 2010

Looking Ahead at Social Learning: 10 Predictions

By Jeanne Meister and Karie Willyerd

The last decade has brought a multitude of changes in technology and in the learning function. What will the next 10 years have to offer?

ROE’s Rising Star

By James D. Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick

Why return on expectations is getting so much attention.

Whole Brain Thinking: Ignore It at Your Peril

By Ann Herrmann-Nehdi

Whole brain thinking has everything to do with employee performance. Think about how your customers’ brains learn when designing learning and performance programs.

The Rise of Social Media

By Laleh Patel

An ASTD-i4cp study makes a strong business case for using social media to enhance productivity.

Bridging the Skills Gap: New Factors Compound the Growing Skills Shortage

By Pat Galagan

Long-term benefits are possible when organizations obtain a big-picture understanding of the skills gap and what it means in today’s global business environment.

Shifting Away From an Employer’s Market

By Alexandra Bradley

Companies that don’t engage their employees will see a quick exodus when the job market turns around.

E-Learning: What’s Old Is New Again

By Allison Rossett and James Marshall

New data on e-learning usage do not signal the death of the classroom. And despite some of the buzz, the direction of e-learning has not shifted much over the past several years.

Talent Management: Retail’s MVP

By Ann Pace

Talent is a star in the retail boardroom but comes up short on the operations front.

Making the Shift: 5 Steps to Becoming a Sales Performance Improvement Specialist

By Mark Myette and Brian Lambert

Making the leap from sales trainer to a sales performance improvement specialist means a better road ahead for all.

Training Incentives Stimulate Employee Growth

By Terry L. Hansen

State governments take bold steps on building up workforce engagement and productivity.