MindLeaders: Fueling the Learning Revolution

Companies perform better with employees who constantly learn

In the training industry, we love the term "learning culture." It's pretty much equivalent to the Garden of Eden. It describes a company-wide attitude that constantly acquires and shares information.

Our love for learning cultures isn't just because we're knowledge geeks. (Although that's part of it.) Study after study has shown that companies succeed based on their ability to identify and act on new threats and opportunities, and a learning culture is the most effective way by far to do that consistently and efficiently.

With that in mind, MindLeaders has sponsored a new white paper that we're releasing today, "How Learning Organizations Stay On Top: Practical tips on building a culture of learning at your organization." This paper is a free PDF download for anyone who's interested in it.

Also some further-reading suggestions for more background and details about learning cultures:

• Marcia Conner: "Create a Learning Culture," FastCompany and "Creating a Learning Culture," Ageless Learner
• Peter Senge: "The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization"

Please check out our new learning culture white paper today, and let us know in the comments what you think!

Do You Know What's Next?

The economic news is turning optimistic. Last week several economic indicators came in ahead of expectations. Foreclosures in some of the hardest hit states are starting to stabilize. Geithner is quoted as saying that the economy is beginning to recover. The stock market is continuing to rise. Unemployment is still high, but perhaps the worse really is behind us.

If that’s true, do you know what’s next? I don’t mean for the economy. I mean for your learning program? This past year has hit many learning programs hard. Many have been hunkered down, cutting costs and just trying to survive. But now that things are slowly improving, companies will begin positioning themselves for the next cycle of growth. Are you ready to help your company do this? 

Something to consider is working with your company’s talent management program (or starting one). Learning programs are key to talent management programs (see our white paper). And effective talent management is key to a company’s success. Consider recent research from Bersin and Associates which points to the incredible business returns experienced by those with intermediate or advanced talent management programs.

·        They have 17% lower voluntary turnover rates

·        They have 41% lower turnover rates among high performers

·        Their median revenue per employee is 26% higher

·        They are 28% less likely to have had a major layoff in 2009

·        They are 109% more capable of retaining high performers

·        They are 87% more capable of “hiring the best people”

·        They are 92% better at “responding to current economic conditions”

·        They are 144% better at “planning for future talent needs”

So if you don’t know what’s next for your learning program, talent management seems like a great place to start. What do you think? Are things starting to turn around? What’s next for your program?

Maximize your leadership development and succession planning efforts

Are you happy with your leadership pipeline? Do you have a succession plan that will cover the changing needs of your business? Are you ready for the wave of retirements that's coming?

If you answered no to any of those questions, chances are your leadership development and succession planning programs aren’t providing the value they could. Properly trained leaders are more likely to make tactical decisions that will increase the value of the business and ensure ongoing success. Effective leadership development reduces attrition of outstanding performers and raises the capabilities of everyone in the talent pool.

Our new white paper “Leadership in Crisis: How to Maximize Leadership Development and Succession Planning” will help you capitalize on your leadership development and succession planning efforts by examining the following questions:

• How are poor leadership development practices costing your company?
• What makes an effective leadership development program?
• Are star performers the best place to look for future leaders?
• What do you need to teach your talent pool to ensure a robust leadership pipeline and succession plan?

Download Leadership in Crisis: How to Maximize Leadership Development and Succession Planning and let us know what you think!

New white paper: the investment benefits of training

"We can help."

The economy is slamming all of us. Here in Columbus, Ohio, we got word today that two major local employers, Limited and Longaberger, are laying people off. Everyone seems to be worried about protecting our companies and our jobs.

We've released a new front page for our web site and a new white paper with a common theme: We can help. Training can help.

Our new white paper, Training in Troubled Times, gives some facts and figures about the ways that investing in training helps a company during a recession and beyond. Companies that train their employees make it through recessions better and come out the other side stronger and more ready to capitalize on the recovery opportunities. If you're involved in making budget decisions about training, I hope you'll take a look - it might provide some good statistics for you as you justify your budget costs.

I'd love to hear any comments you have about the new web front page, too! It's the first step in a larger web site redesign by our resident web genius, so any feedback will be immediately useful for us.