Due to the bad reputation customer service can receive, many people dread having to call their service providers for fears of such a situation, which can have an adverse affect on your company. There are two ways in which this fear of customer service can be harmful to you and your company. The first reason is if a customer has a need to call you but is afraid to, then you are unable to help them. The second reason is people will begin to associate customer service with bad interactions. This means even if you have a great customer service force in your own company, you will be adversely affected by the company that is making the news for bad customer interactions. ... [more]
In the last two post of this series, we discussed why stories present ideal contexts for learning and shared a helpful infographic about why elearning provides more effective training and improves retention. As a buyer of elearning, you want products that teach concepts effectively, and as a seller you want to offer content that rivals the best elearning products as the most effective, engaging, and fun courses. ... [more]
The first post in our psychology series discussed the psychology of storytelling. Storytelling is an extremely useful tool for learning and memory and is one of the many different techniques used in elearning. Stories, pictures, experiences; these are the things we remember. You can sit in a formal training environment all day long, and chances are you will still only retain a fraction of the information presented to you. It isn’t because you aren’t paying attention; traditional training often simply fails to be memorable. In the end it comes down to the psychology of learning or, in this case, the psychology of elearning. Every day employers are struggling to figure out how to improve retention, which requires getting information into long-term memory and keeping it there. ... [more]
Why do restaurants, hotels, housekeeping services, and other hospitality businesses fail? If you ask around you will get a multitude of answers, and if you look further and dig deeper you’ll get answers specific to every kind of hospitality business. In the end there are a lot of different reasons for failure, but some carry more weight than others. This how-to guide can help you tank any business. If, on the other hand, success is your preference, this is a warning of what to avoid and how to succeed. ... [more]
On creating a business orientation series for temporary employees, new employees and seasoned professionals alike, I have always felt that true education and transformation occurs when the whole of a subject is presented rather than just a part. Widening one's perspective while acquiring vast knowledge is crucial to understanding a subject, one's self and others. Now, let's apply this to business. For an organization to be successful, sustainable, and pleasant both for the employee and the customer, it is imperative that standardization is in place, enforced, and exampled from the top down. ... [more]
Who doesn’t love a good story? For thousands of years, stories have been one of our most beloved forms of communication. They are everywhere; in the news, on reality TV, in our everyday lives as we interact with friends...the list goes on. Why are we so story-crazed? Can we leverage this fact in a meaningful way for elearning? ... [more]
We asked Living Language Editors, Erin Quirk and Suzanne McQuade, to tell us a little about what goes into making a Living Language course, and here's what we found out. ... [more]
On Thursday, June 12th, the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicked off in Brazil. For one month, even those who do not consider themselves soccer fans join the rest of the world in supporting their countries as they celebrate successes and commiserate losses. As Simon Kuper said in his book Soccernomics*, “It seems that soccer tournaments create those relationships: people gathered together in pubs and living rooms, a whole country suddenly caring about the same event. A World Cup is the sort of common project that otherwise barely exists in modern societies.” ... [more]
What is the secret ingredient to being a great manager? I propose that it is a sound approach to coaching. Coaching underpins good team communication and collaboration. Coaching activates employee engagement and drives career management success for both the employee and organization. ... [more]
If you are aware of what Business Continuity Planning is all about, then you might also have heard that it is just another expensive insurance plan you need to keep paying for until the real need arises and doesn’t come with any return on investment. Have you? In fact, this is what most business leaders conclude Business Continuity Planning, or BCP, is. ... [more]
