Can one learn to lead on the flying trapeze? That's the question prompted by the exotic variations on the theme of experiential learning. By taking employees or executives (or both) out of their work element and putting them through an experience together, training professionals try to create learning that is more meaningful than PowerPoint…

When hiring starts again after a recession, workers often need a new skill mix. If so, it's the trainer's job to make sure employees--both current and those being hired--have those skills. Now that it's time to consider hiring again, some new complications emerge. After layoffs, remaining workers likely took on more tasks and learned new skills.…

"Training" magazine taps 2012 Training Top 125 winners and Top 10 Hall of Famers to provide their learning and development best practices in each issue. This article looks at strategies to foster technology innovation and implementation and onboarding.

One has more than language barriers and varying cultural differences to consider when staying overseas these days. In the wake of hotel terrorist bombings in countries such as Indonesia and India in the last few years, travelers need to be assured the place they call home for the duration of their stay won't result in injury or death. To reduce…

Discusses the importance of preparing people for retirement, layoffs, and terminations. (JOW)

Transition training helps people examine their responses to change, to develop productive responses, attitudes, values, emotions, perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors, and to relate to change. Cultural transition training is needed when the organization changes; personal transition training is needed when people change roles within an organization.…

Discusses management development, technical training, and increased productivity throughout the world and indicates that the problems and challenges to be faced are similar. Specifically mentions training in Mexico, Japan, Australia, India, Africa, the Far East, the Middle East, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. (JOW)

Discusses the manager's role in staff development and the benefits that accrue to managers who develop their people. (JOW)

The use of assessment centers to measure management potential is reviewed. Included are standards against which to evaluate centers, problems with the system, why many training managers prefer assessment to tests and interviews, and points to consider when converting an assessment center process to a management development experience. (CT)

Discusses nine areas to be considered in performance evaluation: (1) objectives, (2) frequency, (3) involvement, (4) skills, (5) employee responsibility, (6) prediscussion, (7) growth, (8) evaluation of the evaluation, and (9) employer evaluation. (JOW)

Among the reasons why training and development fail are lack of alignment with needs, failure to recognize nontraining solutions, lack of objectives, expensive solutions, lack of accountability for results, failure to prepare for transfer, lack of management support, failure to isolate the effects of training, lack of executive commitment and…

Identifies the top 50 companies in terms of the amount spent on training and development, the number of hours of training per employee, and percentage of payroll spent on training. Profiles the top five plus four additional companies selected by the magazine's editors. (SK)

Suggests that, as people become the key differentiation of competitive advantage, companies are turning to experiential learning programs to foster work force collaboration and cooperation. Discusses the history of experiential learning and its application in the workplace. (JOW)

The need for recognition often drives very good trainers out of the field and causes others to leave salaried human resource development jobs to become consultants. (JOW)

Reports the findings of a study that surveyed over 500 human resource developers to determine the extent to which they have heard the word and are seizing the opportunity to involve themselves in planning, development, and administration of nonsales and marketing recognition award and incentive programs for their organizations. (LRA)