March 8th, 2010 - by Angela
I was reading an article recently by Jeanne Meister discussing trends in corporate learning. She tracks trends in learning at different private and public corporations and institutions. I am always trying to find out more information about learning and trends in the corporate sector, which is how I ran across her article.
The article was very insightful and matched what I have seen with the companies that I’ve done training for over the past year. She narrowed down the learning trends to focus on five main features of learning for the upcoming decade: social, mobile, collaborative, engaging, and fun.
One of the statements that really made me stop and think was, “Employee engagement will continue to be a top issue on the dashboard for HR and Learning executives. The reason is simple: according to a survey conducted by the Corporate Executive Board, (CEB), companies with highly engaged employees demonstrate a 3-year revenue growth of 20.1%, compared to the 8.9% their industry peers will average.” Coming from a training background, I realized that training is one of the keys to keeping employees engaged. If employees feel abandoned, or left to fend for themselves to learn, they may lose interest and move on to a corporation that provides that learning environment.
In order to attract and retain the top talent that can help a corporation stay competitive, corporations need to promote a culture that engages its employees, encourages them to collaborate and learn from others, and has fun in the process. I believe that corporate training can be a key to creating that culture. If corporations do not stay on the cutting edge with their corporate learning programs they may not be economically viable.
One of the other points that Meister made in her article also seemed to hit the nail on the head. She stated that the group style learning model is slowly fading. From my experience, I am doing more one-on-one training in the past couple of years versus previous years. Many of my clients have told me that they do not have time to go to a regular class but need the customized, individual training at their desk or home.
I’m so grateful that Versitas provides the option for me to do all different kinds of training to meet the changing needs of our clients. We are also pretty good at incorporating another of the five trends into our classes…FUN!
Tags: collaborative, corporate learning, customized individual training, engaging, five main features of learning, fun, learning, learning model, mobile, social, Versitas
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March 2nd, 2010 - by Angela
I know, downsizing and training aren’t usually put together. Most corporations do not invest the extra money in training workers they are letting go. That is why I was surprised to be talking to my clients during a recent morning training session and find out that their whole department will not exist in a couple of months.
A few of the employees will be relocated to other parts of the corporation. Most will be laid off with a severance package, the length depending on their years of service. Surprisingly, the employees do not have a bad view of their current employer, even though they are being laid off. They even commented on how much they appreciated everything their employer is doing to help them during this transition.
The corporation is investing in getting these displaced workers special training to help them find new jobs. The company believes in helping them succeed, even if they are not employed there anymore. What a great concept! I really like that they are having training sessions for these workers before the department is dissolved in a couple of months.
The training sessions cover Microsoft Office topics like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. During the morning training, we have customized a class to help them fill in the gaps in their knowledge of the software application. In the afternoon we have hour long one-on-one or one-on-two sessions to go over specific questions or target areas in the same software application that we covered in the morning.
This past week the training was on Excel. We had great sessions in the morning and afternoon! All of the students said that they really understood Excel better. They all had great attitudes and really dug in deep to understand all of the formulas, which was of primary concern to many of them.
I am looking forward to my Word sessions with them soon! It is so refreshing to see a corporation who cares about their employees, even during tough economic times like we have experienced the past couple of years.
Tags: customized training, Excel, formulas, Microsoft Office, one-on-one, PowerPoint, training, Word
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February 22nd, 2010 - by Angela
Last week, I was doing some research for a workshop on PowerPoint and presentation tips. I thought that I would share the tips and information that I found. There may be some tips that you already know. Hopefully, you’ll come away with a few new worthwhile nuggets after reading this post. I know I sure did!
I found an article in Business Week about PowerPoint. The authors were reminding the reader that just having a great PowerPoint presentation is not enough. You need to have a great presentation to go along with the PowerPoint presentation. The ideas the author gave were to bring an expert on stage with you to explain and/or demonstrate, to pass around samples of the product that you are discussing, and to pause and ask questions of your audience during the presentation. I really liked the idea of passing around samples. We are taught that the more senses there are involved with learning, the more likely the content will be remembered.
On a Microsoft Office users blog, I found some other great tips. The author suggested starting and ending a slide show with a blank slide with a dark background (no text, etc.). You would start your show before the audience arrived but would have the dark blank slide up on screen. I thought this would work well if you didn’t want your opening information up on the screen right away but also didn’t want to show everyone your desktop.
The blog author also discussed the reasons for using a dark versus light background. She suggested you used a dark background (with light font color) if you are in a large room with artificial lighting. If you are in a small room or one with mostly natural lighting you should go with a lighter background and darker font.
Another writer mentioned some tips about converting a PowerPoint for uploading to a web page. He noted that since you are not actually giving the presentation in person that you would want to include voice narration or extensive notes in the speaker notes area. One disadvantage to the presentation on the web is that in one view, the viewer doesn’t see the animations. If the user switches to see the animations, the notes are not visible. Fortunately, Office 2010 is addressing this issue and should improve how PowerPoint works on a web page.
There are also a couple of excellent books to consider as you prep for your next PowerPoint presentation. Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds and slide:ology by Nancy Duarte are two books that can help take your presentations to the next level.
My favorite tip that I ran across in researching presentations is a fantastic video. The author is Jennifer Austin and the presentation was at the University at Buffalo (part of SUNY). It is a very simple but pointed 22 slide presentation on the do’s and don’ts involved in presenting. Check it out here: http://www.slideshare.net/jhaustin/presentation-tips.
I hope these tips help you on your next presentation! I know that I will be editing and updating several of my PowerPoints and adjusting how I give my presentations.
Tags: Microsoft Office, Office 2010, PowerPoint, PowerPoint presentation tips
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February 16th, 2010 - by Angela
Have you ever thought about becoming Microsoft certified in Word, Excel, Access, Outlook or PowerPoint? I’m surprised at how many of the clients I train have not thought about adding a Microsoft Office Specialist certificate to their list of accomplishments.
How many times do people go to job interviews and say they know Excel at the expert level but are not able to deliver once they are hired? I think it would be so important to be able to back up my skills with a world recognized certificate from Microsoft. Not only would I be able to say that I knew the software but Microsoft would say that I knew the software.
I must note that Microsoft has not made it easy to understand the certifications. The name of the certification has changed from MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) in the 97 Office version to MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) for 2000, XP, and 2003 versions to MCAS (Microsoft Certified Application Specialist) for 2007 version. Since I have been certified since the 97 version, I sometimes don’t know what to call myself.
Each certification, though, has definitely contributed to my career path. Having the certifications on my resume has helped me to succeed in reaching several of my goals. Not only have they contributed to my life, but I’ve watched many students build their confidence in their skills by studying for, taking and passing the tests.
Several times I’ve done one-on-one training sessions for clients that are studying to take a Microsoft certification test. The training is an investment that can have a big payoff if you are able to advance in your career with the new certification.
If you are interested in taking one of the certification exams, start at the Certiport website. (http://www.certiport.com) They administer the Microsoft exams. If you need some training to help study and get ready for the exam, let me know! At Versitas, we love helping you succeed!
Tags: 2000, 2003, 2007, Access, Add new tag, Excel, Microsoft, Microsoft certified, Microsoft Certitifed Application Specialist, Microsoft Office Specialist, Microsoft Office User Specialist, MOUS, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, XP
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February 9th, 2010 - by Angela
I ran across a quote that really made me stop and think recently. It isn’t a new quote from someone in the current age but it still applies, I think. Actually, that is what made me think more about it. I was impressed by how many years later it still applies to our modern lives.
The quote was by Marcus Aurelius, “Don’t get caught up in trivia or pettiness; appreciate your life within a larger context.” Think about it…”Don’t get caught up in trivia or pettiness; appreciate your life within a larger context.”
Initially, I thought about the quote from the my own viewpoint. How well do I stand back and look above the fray to see past the details of day-to-day life? I asked myself if I am using my talents to my highest potential and in the best way possible to contribute to my family, friends, and society. I’m still thinking about how I can adjust things to get to that “best place” to use my abilities to their fullest.
Next, I thought about the quote from a business perspective. Are the companies and training organizations that I’m involved with and work for using our talent (people) to their best abilities? Do we need to do some reshuffling to put people in jobs that utilize their full potential? What do we need to do to get our talent operating at full potential even if it seems they are in the right position?
I think many companies may need to ask themselves these questions. Sometimes we get very possessive of our specific jobs/positions instead of looking at the big picture of how the company operates. Is there someone else who has the talents/abilities to do the job better? Or, have we found out what each person does best and then put them in that job/position? Do our employees need some retraining to get to their full potential?
These are some very hard questions for companies to ask themselves. I know that I’m not suggesting something that can be easily done. However, in our current economic environment, companies now more than ever need to figure out how to work smarter without increasing their budgets. One way to do this is to make sure they have the right people for each position and, if not, reshuffle their employees to find the job where they fit best. Then, companies can see what training needs to take place to help employees achieve their full potential.
Tags: business, full potential, Marcus Aurelius, training
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February 1st, 2010 - by Angela
I’ve been working on our taxes off and on the past week. Since I have my own business and my husband trades stock/bonds, it makes taxes MUCH more complicated than when we just had regular jobs with W-2’s only to figure out.
Because I figure our taxes myself (yes, I am that nuts to attempt our own taxes!) I have to read a great deal of the tax code. In that reading, I found that we can still get tax deductions for training that relates to our primary job positions that we declare on our tax forms. However, if you don’t make any profit on your business this does not apply. Since my husband and I both made a profit this year, we are able to deduct any training that we have paid for out of our business funds. Last year, my husband took an online training course for several weeks via web conferences. I took a couple of classes related to technology and online training.
I’m very thankful for the knowledge I gained in those courses. It makes it even better when I know that the training can be deducted for tax purposes, too! I hope that people know that individuals and many businesses can deduct their own educational expenses from taxes if they meet certain criteria. There was a big advertising push a few years ago about it but some people may not remember it.
If you are on the fence about getting some training to help your career, remember the possible tax break you can get as long as the training relates to your main job position. For many jobs, technology training would be considered a big help, so would be tax deductible. Also, talk with your employer about the possibility of them paying for your training. They might be able to use it as a tax deduction.
Obviously, I recommend talking to a tax professional to find out if the training you would like to take would fall within the bounds of being a tax deduction. I verified the eligibility of our training with a tax pro before we took the training last year. You will probably be pleasantly surprised with how the training will improve your job efficiency and function as a tax deduction, too!
Tags: classes, improve job efficiency, online training, tax deductions for training, technology, web conferences
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