Offers suggestions for fostering an idea-friendly culture: (1) allow employees to fail, (2) let them ask silly questions; (3) let them see their own kind of stimulus; (4) make awareness of creativity a top priority; (5) gain top management's support; (6) let people express opinions; and (7) encourage cross-fertilization of ideas. (JOW)

Suggests that self-directed learning should be approached with the same systematic rigor as other learning activities and that facilitation requires different skills than classroom instruction or on-the-job training. Includes an interview with Malcolm Knowles, a lesson plan, and facilitator competencies. (JOW)

Suggests that custom training is not for everyone and that off-the-shelf programs can be the best way to achieve many business goals. Looks at a variety of programs and offers a rationale for using both off-the-shelf and customized programs depending on the circumstances. (JOW)

A decision made under risky conditions can be sounder than one made when the decision maker is circumspect and prudent. It is important to understand one's risk-taking patterns, one's perceptions rooted in personal and professional history, and the degree to which cultural injunctions encourage or deter prudent risk taking. (Author/JOW)

A systematic mentoring approach combines old and new concepts from organizational learning, including intentional learning, failure and success, and storytelling. Mentoring should be a process of mature development and a joint venture, with a learning contract that aligns the mentor, proteges, and the proteges' manager. (JOW)

Capturing and leveraging knowledge is an important new management trend that is as yet undefined. Some companies are accounting for their intellectual capital and applying it to the company balance sheets. (JOW)

After an absence of 10 years, strategic planning has returned as a prime management issue. New attitudes, new approaches, and new players have emerged with new practices. A good strategy can make a company more attractive to customers and investors as well as a better place to work. (JOW)

The Team Effectiveness Inventory enables work teams to assess themselves in five areas: team mission, goal achievement, empowerment, open communication, and positive roles and norms. (JOW)

Presents a disabled trainer's story of the effectiveness of trainers with disabilities in the workplace and their problems with being accepted. (JOW)

The concepts underlying learning organizations are valuable. But to succeed in a highly competitive global marketplace, companies need to change quickly; employees must be able to assimilate new knowledge and skills. Companies must become teaching organizations. (Author/JOW)

Describes the activities done and supported by Chief Knowledge Officers (CKO) and Chief Learning Officers (CLO). Reports on the common characteristics of organizations that foster and support knowledge management, organizational learning, and the formation of CKO and CLO positions. (JOW)

Awareness of diversity in the workplace is on the rise, but so is a backlash to some of the issues that it raises. Ways to prevent backlash include getting management support, involving employees in training design, using an inclusive definition of diversity, acknowledging resistance, valuing sameness, and affirming the value of individual views.…

Keeping sexual harassment incidents at bay in the workplace involves prevention training that teaches people how to identify harassment and how to respond, using such techniques as role play and discussion. Trainees should also be informed of the organization's policy and procedures for reporting complaints. (JOW)

Discusses the unseen but essential qualities of team spirit that are necessary for success. Offers five learning activities to help build team spirit and develop high-performing teams. (JOW)

It takes a special kind of mentor to establish a work environment in which people are ready and able to withstand changes, such as downsizing and reorganization. Mentoring is a learning partnership, and the mentor's main gifts are learning, advice, feedback, focus, and support. (JOW)