Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Finding a little Perspective this summer

Summer is an exciting time in the Skillsoft offices! Not only do we look forward to the long evenings and optimistically hope for sunshine – summertime also marks the arrival of our annual Perspectives event in London.

Perspectives is one of the few times of the year in which all of our customers, employees and industry experts come together under one roof to discuss our plans for the future,  talk about hot topics within the industry and listen to some of our expert speakers. 

This year’s event will be no different, and is set to feature the expertise of former cabinet member and author of The Extra Mile, David MacLeod. David, whose book explores how to engage staff in large organisations, will address key leadership principles such as the importance of employee engagement – traits which are invaluable to any business leader.

2012 Skillsoft Perspectives will also act as a launch pad for Skillsoft to introduce its new learning platform Skillport® 8 – a Learning Management System which has been heavily influenced by society’s increasing use of social media platforms in day-to-day business. 

Alongside David’s speaker slot, we will also be joined by Gill Holehouse, Systems Development Methods Manager at John Lewis Partnership. Gill will be discussing the company’s elearning strategy and how the business has benefitted from working with Skillsoft.

Do you have an elearning implementation strategy?

Implementing elearning goes far beyond installing an LMS and populating it with content. Vinolia Singh of MultiChoice South Africa has gone through three elearning implementations and discovered four components that are critical to program success.  Watch the video to see her tips:

 

On Wednesday, July 11 from 10-11am EST, Vinolia will present a webinar on Optimizing Your Elearning Strategy for Successful Implementation and Maximum ROI. Register now to ensure your elearning implementation plan covers all the bases.

2012 Skillsoft Perspectives Highlights, New Zealand – another successful event!

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post from our APAC region − Kath Greenhough, a Learning Strategist in New Zealand.

By Kath Greenhough

We have just farewelled the last of the Skillsoft New Zealand customers after our two-day Perspectives Highlights event in Auckland and Wellington on 21 and 22 June. It was great to see all of our customers
gathering together to “Motivate, Innovate, Learn” and to “Drive Value Through Learning.” 

As in previous years, we welcomed new organizations on their elearning journey. We are privileged that our customers chose to spend time with us to help develop their thinking and strategy in learning for business results and learning from each other. Attendees represented a range of industries – Manufacturing, Construction, Education, Government, Health, ICT, Telco and Financial Services.

Recap: Leading Your Own Life- A New Approach to Employee Engagement & Leadership Development

On June 13, Skillsoft hosted a Live Event on the topic of employee engagement in front of a New York City studio audience. The Live Event featured Marshall Goldsmith, recognized as the #1 leadership thinker in the world and the #7 business thinker in the world at the bi-annual Thinkers 50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. It’s not surprising the crowd enjoyed his presentation and left the event with actionable ideas!

During his presentation Dr. Goldsmith explained that the most important factor in employee engagement is not the company–but the employee! He also asserted that the most important factor is leadership development is not the program, teacher, coach or book–it is the leader.

During the SkillSoft Live Event, Dr. Goldsmith shared information from four different streams of research:

Books24x7 Book Review: The Trainer's Handbook of Leadership Development: Tools, Techniques & Activities

By Pam Boiros

The need for effective leaders has never been greater. Evidence suggests we are experiencing a leadership deficit throughout our society— in corporations, governments, and communities. If fact, it’s a topic we discuss frequently on this blog.  It sure seems like more attention is being paid to leadership development, and developing leaders from within organizations, than ever before. 

The book presents a practical, easy-to-use leadership development toolkit that is readily adaptable for both group and individual situations.  The activity-based focus is designed to provide those responsible for training leaders with a variety of tools and techniques for developing leadership competencies and characteristics. In addition to covering core management skills, specific leadership characteristics and traits, such as empathy, agility, authenticity, and resilience are also addressed. 

Upcoming Webinar: Learning Through Innovation

According to Wikipedia, “innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of better and, as a result, novel idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. Innovation differs from improvement in that innovation refers to the notion of doing something different (Lat. innovare: "to change") rather than doing the same thing better.”[1]

The need for innovation consistently ranks as one of the most critical issues facing organizations today. Research has shown that high-performance organizations place greater emphasis on innovation than other companies.

Skillsoft is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, June 26 at 12-1 p.m. EDT to address this concept.  Join Kevin Oakes, CEO, i4cp and John Ambrose, senior vice president of strategy, SkillSoft, to gain insights and examples on how to create learning programs that increase business results – and sustain a culture of innovation and agility.

Five Tips for Dealing with Change in Uncertain Times

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Sandra Crowe, a leading thinker in dealing with difficult people and situations and author of Since Strangling Isn't an Option and I didn't Sign up for This! 7 Strategies for Dealing With Difficulty in Difficult Times. If you have a subscription, watch her videos on the Leadership Development Channel.

By Sandra Crowe

Most of us have a fair degree of uncertainty in our lives. Simple questions such as “Will the gas in my car last through the end of the week?” to more troubling ones … “Will I have a job next year?” hover deep in the forefront of our thinking and create worry and concern no matter what your situation. Given that, here are five tips for reflecting about uncertainty in your life:

 

 

Exploring Digital Immigrant Perceptions Toward Leadership Development

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Roderick Millar, Managing Editor at IEDP, the executive development information portal and of Developing Leaders magazine. Find more at www.IEDP.com.

By Roderick Millar, Managing Editor, IEDP

If you ask a leader whether they would like to engage with a learning program that fits around their schedule, does not involve travel, allows them to interact with peers and experts, gives them direct access to the latest thought leadership and is often less expensive than a traditional learning program, it is not surprising that they tend to agree that this would be a wonderful thing. When you make it clear that that is exactly what modern elearning programs can do, often their demeanour on the topic changes.

This is an area of curiosity that we are currently researching at IEDP.  From recent anecdotal discussions there seems to be a perception problem with the elearning medium which is quite at odds with current reality. Without wanting to prejudice our current research, it seems that the negative impressions from executives is partly a matter of outdated preconceptions and a concern about building ‘trust and empathy’ with other participants. Clearly the only way to change outdated attitudes is to provide newer information.  To do so, a stealthy approach needs to be adopted, where smaller groups can be introduced to modern versions of online learning and participate in blended approaches.

Skillsoft Named to “Top 20 Content Development Companies List” by TrainingIndustry.com

TrainingIndustry.com has named Skillsoft to its “2012 Top 20 Content Development Companies List!”

This is Skillsoft’s first year being honored by TrainingIndusty.com for outstanding content development, as well as training outsourcing and leadership training. Skillsoft was acknowledged the last two years for their learning portal − and was recognized three years in a row for their IT training solutions.

TrainingIndustry.com’s judges look at the following criteria when compiling this list:

• Industry visibility, innovation and impact
• Capability to develop and deliver multiple types of content
• Company size and growth potential
• Depth and breadth of subject matter expertise
• Quality of clients
• Geographic reach

Skillsoft was recognized for its comprehensive content offerings that cover the full range of enterprise needs by mapping to specific business goals and interests. Skillsoft’s innovative content resources are the building blocks of effective learning programs, whether they are used as-is, in blended programs or customized to meet specific needs.

To learn more about TrainingIndustry.com’s Top 20 Content Development Companies please visit http://www.trainingindustry.com/content-development/top-companies-listings/2012/2012-top-20-content-development-companies.aspx.

SuccessConnect 2012 Recap

We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Gary Hartman, a Skillsoft partner alliances manager responsible for partnership programs with LMS, Talent Management and Portal providers.

By Gary Hartman

Skillsoft enjoyed exhibiting at last week’s SuccessFactors’ North American User Group meeting, SuccessConnect 2012 in San Francisco, CA.  Many current customers stopped by the booth to say hello, discuss their current programs and talk about the various learning assets that Skillsoft offers. About one hundred Skillsoft customers use SuccessFactors Learning (formerly the Plateau LMS) − the fact that Skillsoft learning assets load, launch and track in this LMS is important to them.

Leadership training was definitely a hot topic and there was a lot of interest in Skillsoft Leadership Advantage.  The variety of learning modalities and the broad and deep coverage of leadership topics available in the Skillsoft Leadership Advantage series was very well received.