Once upon a time, there were no Learning & Development departments. So where did our profession emerge from? “Vocational Ed” trainers for technical skills “Survival of the Fittest” for professionals/managers, unless lucky enough to find mentors and, with few exceptions,…
The Ripple Effect – Tip # 269
When I was a kid, I relished the rare day when the typical prairie wind was reduced to a gentle breeze and the water in a nearby pond stood stock still. My adrenaline would surge as I raced to the…
When Psychologists Train Pigeons… Tip #268
When psychologists train pigeons… the pigeons are hungry. Duh, but sometimes we forget. After I took my first Vignettes Learning course with Dr. Jimenez, I threw out all introductory topic-talk and looked for typical, dreadful challenges to make human trainees…
Consequence Thinking From the World of Sales – Tip #267
Oh, really? Does your work require you to have influence over ideas or decisions? Are you involved in the process of “give and take” to arrive at an agreement or a path forward? Do you find yourself making decisions based…
Developing Consequences Using Muscle Memory – Tip #266
Remember the six-sided cube puzzle with all the colors? It was set up in a 3×3 grid and people would scramble it, misaligning the colors, with a goal of “solving” the cube and aligning the colors once again. This usually…
Missing Sales Strategy – Tip #265
When we train salespeople, we need to align with organizational sales strategy, but what if it’s M.I.A.? When a company expanded into a new market by hiring twenty new sales representatives, account development process and sales skills training were urgently…
REALLY? – Consequence Thinking Tip #264
In these difficult / challenging / unprecedented / add your favorite descriptor here / times… Can we actually count the number of times we’ve heard this phrase uttered over the last couple of years? What started as a way to…
Trial-and-Error Thinking Is the Laser Point of Learning – Workshop Tip #263
Once upon a time, at Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL), I witnessed how a laser tested a raw material intended to be part of the lunar lander. The researchers wanted to simulate what happens to the material when it reaches space.…
3 Ways to Measure the Impact of Microlearning – Workshop Tip # 262
Ever hang out with a scientist, just to learn new information? Whenever I get the chance, I listen to scientists at Caltech about their research. This allows me to add new knowledge to my mental database. And with some reflection,…
7 Tips in Building Relationships with Remote Learners – Workshop Tip # 261
Tools-Driven Training Not so long ago, we embraced the idea of eLearning asynchronous training projects and hoped to realize the promise of promoting self-driven, independent learning. We created hundreds of thousands of eLearning courses using a variety of authoring tools.…
Using Commonplace Microtechnologies in Your Microlearning Strategies – Workshop Tip # 260
(Special thanks to Espen Lund of Tomra for sharing ideas) Have you ever thought of a kitchen spatula as microtechnology? It’s true. Whenever we cook at home, we are using a whole bunch of microtechnologies. These are commonplace tools like…
Want to Burst the Learning Bubble? – Workshop Tip # 259
Ready, set? Go burst the learning bubble! Learning lessons are often delivered with the assumption that situations with learners and workers are fixed or static. We say, “The learners will learn this content in this situation with these conditions.” At…
6 Most Popular Microlearning Ideas- Flashcards, Mapping, Short PDFs, etc. – Workshop Tip #258
Take a look at the featured image. Have you ever noticed these signs in airports or restrooms? Or perhaps even on posters, sales kits, and product guides? Without knowing it, we are already seeing a lot of Microlearning tools. But…
7 Steps in Facilitating Conversations in Webinars – Workshop Tip #257
Lecturing in webinars could be like talking down on people; at least that’s how many of us feel. So, it is well worth training to create conversations – yes, even in webinars – with your audience. How do we do…
How to Write Very, Very, Very Short Stories for Your eLearning – Workshop Tip #256
To start this off, you don’t need long storytelling in eLearning. They are a waste of time and even if you try hard to perfect them, the results will be of low quality. That’s quite an unkind indictment of stories.…
