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training and development Archives

July 1, 2010

Supporting newly-promoted employees

It’s not that easy for newly-promoted employees to hit the ground running. While they may have been with the organisation for a while, so are familiar with its procedures and its people, there are new challenges to cope with, including managing colleagues and having additional responsibility.

Continue reading "Supporting newly-promoted employees" »

Bar Huberman | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |

June 3, 2010

Competencies in the workplace: Final chance to take part in our 2010 benchmarking survey

To assess the status of competencies in the workplace in 2010, we're inviting UK employers to take part in the 2010 competency benchmarking survey from IRS for XpertHR - which closes tomorrow (Friday 4 June 2010). The results of this confidential survey will provide you with the chance to benchmark your organisation's experience of using competencies against other employers.

Continue reading "Competencies in the workplace: Final chance to take part in our 2010 benchmarking survey" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 26, 2010

Competencies in the workplace: Take part in our 2010 benchmarking survey

Over recent years, the flexibility of the competency approach has attracted increasing numbers of employers, yet this very flexibility can also make competency frameworks difficult to understand and use. To assess the status of competencies in the workplace in 2010, we're currently inviting UK employers to take part in the 2010 competency benchmarking survey from IRS for XpertHR. The results of this confidential survey will provide you with the chance to benchmark your organisation's experience of using competencies against other employers.

Continue reading "Competencies in the workplace: Take part in our 2010 benchmarking survey" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 18, 2010

Benchmarking line manager training in 2010: Are your managers prepared for people management?

Line managers are frequently expected to perform challenging people management tasks without any relevant training, according to 2010 benchmarking research from IRS for XpertHR (subscription to XpertHR benchmarking required).

Continue reading "Benchmarking line manager training in 2010: Are your managers prepared for people management?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 13, 2010

How social learning also enables antisocial or asocial learning

There's a very interesting debate getting underway in the HR blogosphere, on what makes for effective e-learning and - in the latest blog post from recruitment professional and HR blogger Mervyn Dinnen - whether the "social" element is the key to effective social learning (external website). As I mention in a comment on Mervyn's blog post, my take is that emphasising the social element of social learning is a great way to make the learning element more effective (in other words, to help the message to sink in). But it isn't necessarily essential.

Continue reading "How social learning also enables antisocial or asocial learning" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 10, 2010

Why is e-learning seen as ineffective?

My colleague Martin Couzins recently asked why employers appear to view e-learning as an ineffective means of delivering training, despite its rapidly rising usage? This is a particularly interesting question, and one that demands further exploration.

Continue reading "Why is e-learning seen as ineffective?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 28, 2010

Why go beyond e-learning?

E-learning has grown by around 8% in the past year, yet organisations remain sceptical about its effectiveness, according to the CIPD's latest training and development survey. One issue is that it can be hard to transfer complex learning online. Technical and specialist subjects, for instance, are often better taught in a classroom situation, where learners can be kept awake or even enthused by a good teacher or facilitator.

So why are some organisations getting excited about the use of web 2.0 technology (interactive, collaborative, internet-based sites) for workplace learning? Determined to find this out, I ventured into the "Future of learning technologies" session at the CIPD's learning and organisation development (HRD) conference.

According to Alan Fletcher of the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) - which researches and develops internet-based learning for the Open University - web 2.0 social media technology goes beyond what we know as e-learning, as users can take the content away and/or interact with it - watch it, listen to it, change it, add to it, and so on. The important point is that information can be shared and a collective intelligence created. It enables learners to determine their own path for learning and doesn't tie them down to a set route.

I learnt more about the reality of how this works from Peter Butler, director of learning at BT. The organisation launched an internal, video-sharing site called dare2share, which so far links 10,000 employees. Users were taught how to make podcasts and upload them on to the site. Online, they can access a search facility to find and view each others' productions. It also has a discussion forum, blogs, instant messaging, email, and a "voice call" facility.

Continue reading "Why go beyond e-learning?" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 23, 2010

If elearning is still not seen as effective how will social learning take off?

This week the CIPD launched its annual training survey - Learning and Talent Development 2010 - this week. You can see the top level findings in the press release for the survey. The survey is also available to download.

The top level findings make for interesting reading:

  • For almost half (46%) of organisations, the major organisational change affecting learning and talent development in the next five years will be a greater integration between coaching, organisational development and performance management to drive organisational change
  • For almost four in ten (37%), it will be greater responsibility devolved to line managers.
  • Main changes in organisations' learning and talent development departments over the last year included the department becoming more business-focused (38%), a reduction in external suppliers and a move to in-house provision (31%)
  • Use of e-learning has increased the most in the past year, with six in ten (62%) organisations saying they use it more now than in 2009.
Learning and development professionals also bear out the fact that budgets have been cut and that finding more money for training will be tough.

So, no surprises then that e-learning has become popular over the last year - desk delivery is far cheaper than taking employees off site, for example.

But what did stick out for me was what learning and development professionals thought were the most effective ways of delivering training.

The top three were:
  • In-house development programmes - 56%
  • Coaching by line managers - 51%
  • On the job training - 30%
And floundering at the bottom of the pile was . . . e-learning on 12% (it was 7% in 2009).

So it might be reasonable to assume that L&D professionals are using elearning because it is a cheaper form of training delivery but they don't actually think it is particularly effective. An interesting question here is: why is that?


Continue reading "If elearning is still not seen as effective how will social learning take off? " »

Martin Couzins | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) |

March 30, 2010

Top 10 line manager briefings

What issues do line managers deal with on a daily basis? We’ve gathered data to come up with our 10 most popular line manager briefings since January 2009 (which might go some way to providing the answer).

Continue reading "Top 10 line manager briefings" »

Bar Huberman | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 6, 2010

Requests in relation to study or training: more than just time off

You’ll probably be aware of the new right for employees to make requests in relation to study and training, which came into effect today, 6 April. However, what you may not realise is that the right covers a lot more than just requests for time off.

Continue reading "Requests in relation to study or training: more than just time off" »

John Read | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

March 12, 2010

Right to make a request in relation to study or training: is your policy in place yet?

With less than a month to go until the introduction of the right for employees to make a request in relation to study or training, time is running out to get your procedure in place and to communicate it to your workforce.

Continue reading "Right to make a request in relation to study or training: is your policy in place yet?" »

Stephen Simpson | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Learning gets social for UK employers - or does it?

Here are a couple of interesting links regarding workplace learning. A post at Interactyx looks at recent research by Bersin and Associates which shows the UK lagging behind the US in the use of elearning technologies.

But reliance on instructor-led classroom training by UK employers, as revealed by the survey, comes as no surprise - it is tried and tested. And many UK employers will have stories to tell of the mixed success of elearning programmes.

However, the cost of training is becoming more of an issue which makes the use of social media technologies in learning a lot more interesting.

For example, if you can deliver training in an engaging, shared way in a safe environment why pay to have employees attend off site training? And if you have a highly dispersed workforce then the cost of offsite training rises rapidly.

Elearning is not new but it is changing and these changes present new opportunities to engage employees in many different - and less formal - ways.

I thought this was a useful summary of how elearning has changed - taken from the Social Learning Handbook.

E-Learning 1.0 was all about delivering  content, primarily in the form of online courses, produced by experts - teachers or subject matter experts.  E-Learning 2.0  or Social Learning is all about individuals (co-)creating content in a variety of formats and sharing information and knowledge using tools like blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and social networks both within an educational or training context to support a new  collaborative approach to learning as well as to support their own personal and group learning and working activities.

And here are a couple more resources:

The new BBC learning design toolkit looks very interesting and is free for employers to dip in to. It outlines the BBC's approach to training based on deep employee research.

This list of the top 100 tools for learning - made up of contributions from 278 learning professionals around the world - lifts the lid on how many different types of tools are now being used in the delivery of learning. Here is the presentation:

XperHR is carrying out a survey of how employers train line managers. Whether you are using social learning or not, please let us know your thoughts - you will receive a free copy of the results.





Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 24, 2010

Teaching employers the value of training

At a seminar organised by the Guardian newspaper and the Further Education Reputation Strategy Group, key players in the further education (FE) and skills sector have been looking at how they can improve their interaction with employers and employees and deliver the right kind of training in a changing jobs market.

One challenge for the sector, according to one anonymous participant, is to convince employers of the value of training, while also balancing the needs of employers with those of employees.

Some of the ideas to come forward in the debate include:

  • working with unionlearn, the TUC's learning and skills organisation, to raise awareness of the benefits of training;
  • having more employer forums that help ensure employers' needs are met;
  • being flexible - such as holding training sessions in the early hours for post office workers, or providing a bus kitted out specially to train bus drivers;
  • keeping it simple - making sure the college deals with the funding paperwork and the hassle, not the employer; and
  • having more collaboration and 'knowledge exchange activities' between colleges.

Continue reading "Teaching employers the value of training" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 16, 2010

Reform of the vocational qualification system: new guidance for employers

Information for employers on vocational qualifications has been added to the Business Link website. The information explains the changes that are taking place to vocational qualifications and is aimed at helping employers understand which qualifications are most suitable for their employees.

Continue reading " Reform of the vocational qualification system: new guidance for employers" »

Susie Munro | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 20, 2010

Statutory time off work: what employers need to know

Employees have a statutory right to take time off work for a myriad of reasons ranging from parental leave to dealing with care arrangements. One survey found that 34% of employees needed to take time off for an emergency involving a dependant. There’s even a new right for employees to request time off for training, due to come into force in April this year.

Continue reading "Statutory time off work: what employers need to know" »

John Read | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 13, 2010

New guidance on employee training rights

The Government has today published guidance  for employers (on the Business Link website) giving details of the new right for employees to request time off for training. Employees can now learn how to make their request on the DirectGov website.

If the new legislation takes off, employees could soon be taking more responsibility for their own training, and employers that have not already done so, could be forced to think more about employee development needs and methods of delivering training.

This is an opportune time for HR and training specialists to participate in the IRS research on training and its evaluation . Participants get a free copy of the report of the findings, which will contain:

  • Examples of successful training evaluation techniques;
  • Data revealing which measurement tools work best;
  • An overview of what organisations can achieve through effective monitoring; and
  • Practitioner views on how successful training evaluation can impact the organisation.

 Take a look at the short, confidential survey questionnaire by clicking here.

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Training evaluation: Take part in XpertHR's 2010 benchmarking survey

We are currently running a benchmarking survey looking in detail at how and why employers evaluate training, and at which measurement tools work best. The survey also investigates employers' views on Government plans to introduce legislation giving employees the right to request time off to train. Click here to take part in this brief survey. The survey closes on Friday 22 January 2010, and all participants will receive a free copy of the resulting analysis article when it is published.
Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

December 15, 2009

BBC training opened to public

The BBC has launched a new academy, which will provide training for its competitors and the public, according to People Management. Masterclasses from journalists such as Robert Peston and John Simpson will be available via the BBC College of Journalism website. Mark Byford, deputy director of the BBC, says that they hope to improve the standards of journalism and want to help the wider UK media industry through difficult times.

The idea of extending internal training to outsiders is ambitious, but not entirely new. Law firm Allen & Overy, for instance, has set up a legal university for its financial sector clients (subscription required), who were clamouring to attend its in-house training courses due to their reputation in the sector. The firm says the arrangement has helped it build important relationships and set the foundations for future business. It doesn't charge for its client university courses, but has raised several thousand pounds for charity by asking delegates to donate.

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

October 1, 2009

Police train Springer Spaniels as rescue dogs

Devon and Cornwall Police has taken the unusual step of recruiting three Springer Spaniels as rescue dogs for a job that has traditionally been done by German Shepherds, reports the Daily Telegraph website.

Continue reading "Police train Springer Spaniels as rescue dogs" »

Stephen Simpson | | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) |

August 26, 2009

Video: Dave Ulrich talks leadership brand


Thanks to Andy Spence for pointing to this in his Twitter feed. Personal branding expert Dan Schawbel interviewed Dave Ulrich, professor of business at the University of Michigan and author of HR Transformation, on leadership brand. Here is a video of Ulrich talking through his concepts. 

I thought these five leadership characteristics were interesting:

  • Strategist:  know where you are doing and have a position about the future
  • Executor: make sure you make things happen and deliver as promised
  • Talent manager: involve others in your journey
  • Human capital developer: invest in the next generation
  • Personal proficiency: take care of yourself so others will trust you
Organisations have leadership competencies but I liked the idea of sharing these competencies with customers - turning leadership development from an inward facing discipline to one which is more outward facing.

There are plenty more interesting videos like this on the Harvard Business video channel on Youtube.





Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

July 14, 2009

Take part in XpertHR's workplace training survey

Employee development remained a high priority among most UK employers at the beginning of 2009, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (on the CIPD website), which also found that the upgrading of leadership and line manager skills is a primary focus for four in five organisations.

XpertHR is conducting a learning and development survey among UK employers and would like to hear about the latest priorities and spending trends at your organisation. For instance, is people development considered an important tool to ensure the organisation's continued success, or has the training budget been unceremoniously slashed during the economic downturn? What are your organisation's main development goals?

By participating in the 2009 IRS learning and development survey, you will receive a free copy of the report of our findings. To participate click here.

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

June 15, 2009

CIPD and Acas publish tips on how to be a better boss

Acas and CIPD have produced the "five-a-day" fundamentals of good people management, aiming to highlight the importance of people management skills in helping to raise productivity. The five management fundamentals, with practical tips on "how to be a better boss", are grouped under five headings:

Continue reading "CIPD and Acas publish tips on how to be a better boss" »

Susie Munro | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 13, 2009

Government offers "golden hellos" - or does it?

As we all know, unemployment is rising fast. In an attempt to encourage employers to keep recruiting, the Government is to award firms that recruit people who have been unemployed for more than six months “golden hellos” of up to £2,500 (external website).

Continue reading "Government offers "golden hellos" - or does it?" »

Sophie Cheetham | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 7, 2009

Training zeal hits new high

Mourners at a funeral in Devizes, Wiltshire, were told that the burial of the deceased would be postponed for 24 hours due to "staff training", according to the The Times (paper-edition only). While family and friends are unlikely to have been impressed by the managerial zeal, it seems that employee development is at last moving up the workplace agenda - though perhaps a bit too far in this case.

Continue reading "Training zeal hits new high" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

November 4, 2008

John Lewis staff in with a sporting chance

It seems that the chances for ordinary British folk in the sporting arena are on the up. Since last weekend, we now have our very own British Formula 1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, and - paving the way for even more greatness in the future - the John Lewis Partnership (no relation) has announced that it is offering support for its staff if they wish to compete in the national sporting arena, or become sports coaches.

Continue reading "John Lewis staff in with a sporting chance" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

September 25, 2008

Sickness "presence"

Despite all our efforts here at IRS researching the best way to manage absence, it would seem we should be encouraging absence - not trying to find the most effective means of preventing it . . . New research from AXA PPP Healthcare of 2,000 working age adults found that nearly three quarters of UK workers go to work despite "feeling so ill they could legitimately stay at home."

Continue reading "Sickness "presence"" »

Noelle Murphy | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

July 16, 2008

Government, trade unions, business, and third sector, agree plan to boost learning

The government, TUC, CBI, and two umbrella organisations for the voluntary sector have signed an agreement (PDF format, 238KB) that aims to increase access to skills, trade unions and advice, for employees working under government contracts.

Continue reading "Government, trade unions, business, and third sector, agree plan to boost learning" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

June 23, 2008

When being clever isn't enough

An interesting post from Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace discusses how to prompt behavioural change in "exceedingly intelligent" employees who are vital to an organisation's success but who are "stunted" in some way, lacking key social or leadership skills.

Continue reading "When being clever isn't enough" »

David Shepherd | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 15, 2008

Flexible working to be taken to new levels

Parents of children up to age 16 are to be given the right to request flexible working from their employer, potentially affecting 4.5 million employees. And under a separate, Education and Skills Bill, all employees will be given the right to request time to train.

Continue reading "Flexible working to be taken to new levels" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 15, 2008

Employee engagement

Our recent survey (subscription required) looking at line managers’ role in people management shows that employee engagement is a growing part of a line manager’s function.

But, as our survey also shows, one in five HR practitioners responding felt that this was a role that line managers struggle to perform well.

I attended a seminar recently, given by international employee opinion survey ORC (external link), exploring this very topic. Kate Pritchard, ORC director of employee research, discussed practical steps organisations can take to keep engagement levels high among employees. This should help employees to remain committed to the organisation, and be prepared to “go that extra mile” – as outlined by ORC's model of engagement: ‘Say, stay, and strive’.

One thing was clear from the seminar: achieving and sustaining an engaged workforce requires effort, and conducting an employee opinion survey can be no more than a starting point.

Continue reading "Employee engagement" »

Noelle Murphy | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 9, 2008

Employers nonplussed by government skills agenda

It is not really surprising that over half the organisations in the latest CIPD learning and development survey admit to being unmoved by the government’s “post-Leitch skills agenda”. The government has focused its efforts on the development of the most basic skills in the workplace, whereas most employers (87% in the CIPD survey) are of the opinion (surprise, surprise) that they should not be the ones responsible for educating young people up to a decent standard of literacy and numeracy.

Continue reading "Employers nonplussed by government skills agenda" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

April 2, 2008

This month's top 10 HR questions

Throughout March, issues on which XpertHR subscribers were looking for answers included the use of words such as "senior" and "junior" in job titles, recouping training costs where an employee subsequently leaves the organisation, and the difference between wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal.

Continue reading "This month's top 10 HR questions" »

Joanna Stubbs | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

March 28, 2008

Heathrow T5: the management trainer's dream

terminal 5

The shambles of Heathrow Terminal 5’s first few days will doubtless crop up in every change management training programme for years to come.

By all accounts, staff were expected to move into the massive new building with little real idea how to find their way round, let alone how to operate the complex and sophisticated new equipment within it.

Continue reading "Heathrow T5: the management trainer's dream" »

Mark Crail | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

March 17, 2008

Learning and Skills Council axed in training shake-up

So it's farewell to the Learning and Skills Council, which got the news today that it had apparently been dreading for some time: it's going to be abolished.

Continue reading "Learning and Skills Council axed in training shake-up" »

Mark Crail | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 8, 2008

Managers blamed for underperformance

Employers across Europe are missing out on potential talent because line managers fail to engage poorer performing employees, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt.

The research, which covers 175 companies and 5,500 employees, finds that managers are far too preoccupied with top performers and fail to communicate effectively with those that show less promise. As a result, those that need to have their skills or motivation boosted are left high and dry.

Continue reading "Managers blamed for underperformance" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 17, 2008

Learning to Walk Day

I like a good country walk and was therefore intrigued to see that the Campaign for Learning recommends this outdoor activity – during the lunch break – as a “quick win” learning opportunity for the 2008 National Learning at Work Day.

It’s certainly a cheap option for employers and would help train staff to … well, to get out of the office..

There can also be a competitive aspect to this activity. If the training department’s budget can stretch to include the cost of pedometers, businesses can “challenge colleagues to walk the most steps in a day”.

Continue reading "Learning to Walk Day" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

October 5, 2007

Team building on a budget...

Teambuilding events have come a long way since the era when they basically involved compulsory paintballing or spending the day up to your waist in cold water attempting for no adequately explained reason to cross a river without the aid of a bridge.

Continue reading "Team building on a budget..." »

Mark Crail | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

July 31, 2007

SURVEY: Workplace Training

Are you keen to learn how other employers are tackling the issue of workplace training?

Continue reading "SURVEY: Workplace Training" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

July 30, 2007

View IRS webcasts on talent management

Talent management is a hot issue for HR practitioners as new business models, changing labour market demographics and international competition make the task of recruiting, developing and retaining key employees all the more difficult.

Continue reading "View IRS webcasts on talent management" »

Mark Crail | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

July 27, 2007

Training scheme primes kids for life down the call centre

Does vocational training dampen the ambitions of schoolchildren? According to a representative from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) it does.

Continue reading "Training scheme primes kids for life down the call centre" »

Charlotte Wolff | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

June 20, 2007

Six ways to measure ROI for talent management

We've all come across the skills gap. But research published today suggests there may also be something of a talent shortage as well.

The survey of more than 600 employers by Capital Consulting and Cranfield School of Management found that just over half thought the word "talent" could be applied to their whole workforce, and that some rather alarmingly thought that no-one in their organisation qualified.

Continue reading "Six ways to measure ROI for talent management" »

Mark Crail | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

May 3, 2007

Don't push me!

Looks like all those stories we hear from Unison, about local government employees being increasingly fed up with the way they are treated at work, may be true.

During a telephone interview for a case study, soon to be published in Employment Review, an innovating Training and Recruitment manager told me that one of the pilot courses he and his team were asked to run last year was on anger management. 'I was a bit dubious when I got the request' he told me, 'but within two hours of advertising it on the Council's intranet we had 30 people sign up.'

So the next time you decide to wag your finger disapprovingly in the face of a local official, just think twice.

angry office worker

Julian Richards | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

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