This week, the OpenSesame crew is attending the American Society for Training & Development's annual International Conference & Expo. ... [more]
The OpenSesame crew is packing up for our trip (from rainy Portland, OR) to (sunny) Orlando, Florida next week for the American Society of Training & Development’s annual International Conference & Expo (ICE). ICE is the premier international event in the professional training and development industry, featuring more than 8,000 attendees from organizations all over the world. While I’m a big fan of self-directed and resourceful learning, conferences are great, in-depth learning experiences. ... [more]
For the past few months, we’ve been organizing a monthly elearning meetup in Portland, OR - OpenSesame’s home town. We meet up at the Green Dragon, a local pub, and enjoy happy hour appetizers and everyone's craft microbrews of choice. From college professors and software designers to technical writers and Second Life architects, we’ve had a diverse and fascinating crowd over the last several months.Last week, we sank into a juicy discussion of the differences between our online and offline personas. ... [more]
Yesterday, Dan Pontefract published a thought-provoking post on the pros and cons of offering incentives to employees for participation in professional social networks like Yammer or SocialCast.(For some background reading on the useful applications of social networks in the work sphere, read our posts on What Is Social Learning? and Test Driving Yammer.)Dan’s post got me thinking: Is the challenge to adoption of enterprise social networks that folks don’t want to participate, don’t know how to participate or don’t prioritize participating? ... [more]
A few weeks ago I shared my top apps for productivity, collaboration and learning on the job (and I think there was something about a burrito). This week’s Friday top five is free web tools. Some you might already know, some you might not. Either way, they’re awesome, and rendering many other, more expensive tools obsolete. Screenr - Need to film a quick how-to for a colleague? Interested in sharing your best PowerPoint tips or getting a look at a difficulty one of your colleagues is experiencing? ... [more]
In a post last week, we studied the experience of Holly Spoth-Torres, an Alaskan Park Superintendent, as she transformed her workforce into a nimble, collaborative, problem-solving team. Now it’s time to apply her lessons learned to workforces in general.
Why does engagement matter?
The bottom line is that engaged employees are not only good for workplace morale: they’re good for your business’s bottom line. By creating a culture and workplace of engagement, collaboration and flexibility, you’re attacking not only the "soft" issues of your employees’ attitudes and feelings about their work but the "concrete" issues of productivity, customer service and ultimately, profit. ... [more]
The cost of disengaged employees is not simply an unpleasant workplace: it’s lost productivity, wasted money and inefficient teams. What is a “disengaged employee”? One who has no feeling of personal connection or pride in their work. This disengagement is contagious; research demonstrates that employees managed by disengaged managers are more likely to be disengaged themselves.
So how do you foster an engaged workforce? This infographic from SocialCast has some great strategies for boosting employee engagement. But I think the real key is empowering employees to accomplish meaningful goals in their own way. ... [more]
My coworkers and I have been giving a lot of presentations lately, for a variety of reasons: explaining OpenSesame to buyers and sellers, sharing tips and information about the keys to successful elearning development and promoting OpenSesame. We’ve developed some rules of thumb for captivating presentation audiences and focusing on the key information. ... [more]
On this month’s Learning Circuit Big Question, Tony Karrer asks the learning & development community how they respond to the “I want it now!” demand from stakeholders. Karrer summarizes the dilemma:"The other day I walked into an executive’s office and they had a site up about "Rapid Instructional Design." I spent quite a bit of time in discussion with this executive. It is a real tough balance of providing instructionally sound courses/events and providing it is an time frame acceptable by stakeholders."Jay Cross immediately responded that this must be an April Fool’s prank! ... [more]
