Editor's Note

Our cover page article Repetition + Reinforcement = Retention by Patricia Fripp talks about the importance of online training and why should companies invest in online training. Just like learning to tie shoelaces, being able to revisit those lessons through virtual online training can make all the difference in whether those skills are imbedded and become skills that have a powerful and enduring impact for your company. Do you agree?

Repetition + Reinforcement = Retention: Online training is the key

Successfully tying your shoe laces; learning the Pledge of Allegiance, memorizing multiplication facts or the periodic table; conjugating irregular verbs in Spanish: what do these things have in common? They were all mastered through repetitive attempts. From a very young age, we began to achieve retention through repetition, and that strategy still applies for mastering new content and new skills in business.

Talent Management Excellence November 2015 Advertisers

Solving Micromanagement Problems: 4 steps to do it

While working with principals of schools across the country, I have been successful in developing and strengthening their leadership skills. I have also experienced similar success while working with leaders in non-academic settings. In working with various leaders, they tend to share a common characteristic. Great leaders learn to overcome their challenges as they relate to micromanaging employees. Ultimately, top leaders accept the fact that micromanagement thwarts the progress of their organization, department, team, etc.

Overlooking Culture: How can it destroy your performance management system

One of the most overlooked aspects in the design of the performance management systems is if they would fit in the corporate culture or not. As I said before, the creators are usually obsessed with other aspects, so the culture and accustomed habits rarely cross the mind. The highlight is on the support of corporate strategy, target setting, monitoring, measuring and managing performance, assessing and rewarding. However, as shown in the example, the corporate culture can easily turn the system into a real failure. In that direction the system design should also take into consideration these softer aspects. The final solution should be tested against the established culture, i.e. will the managers and employees accept and use the system and what kind of results will it provide.

Your Employees Are Reviewing You Online: Are you listening or looking away?

As a CEO,it can be terrifying to think about employees airing your company’s dirty laundry online, but after the initial wave of nausea passes, you realize that this is an amazing opportunity. Employees who would never have the courage to stop you in the hall or come into your office and tell you what’s on their minds now have an outlet to vent their frustrations or sing your company’s praises.

Lights! Camera! Action!!: How to tell the compensation story

Visuals capture attention and build stronger connections and memories than text or even the spoken word. Show a picture and the image is locked in, while reliance only on text becomes a risk. The drone of dry prose can grow tedious and is liable to lose the attention of all but your strongest supporters. If you’re addressing your organization's single largest expense, its employee pay programs, then those pictures become charts, graphs and other visual aids that illustrate the points being presented.

Globalizing Talent: Within our reach

If you have had the good fortune to be born and raised in Canada you may not give much thought to just how lucky you are. Perhaps you have never encountered international students paying exorbitant student fees…or supremely well-educated immigrants forced into blue-collar positions with wages not at all commensurate with their impressive and laudable experience. If you live in Toronto however, it is more likely than not that you have some exposure to the unfortunate landscape of inequity in employing individuals with overseas education. In the event someone is lucky enough to be able to continue in the field they invested a great deal of time becoming an expert in - it is probable they had to submit themselves to equivalency tests, re-doing their education, etc. Is this fair? That is a wholly rhetorical question.

Good For People, Good For Growth: A thriving workplace can pay dividends

At its heart, a business is simply a group of people. Even as capital and technology shift over time, it's the leadership and personal contributions of employees that ultimately set a company apart from its competitors.

Beyond SMART Goal-Setting: Keys to achieving organizational results

The most common best practice established in the goal setting process is the application of the SMART Goal Framework. SMART Goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. At a surface level, these goal elements are used to standardize objectives across an organization and assure equity in comparing results across individual performers. But at a deep level, these components may be seen as motivators of individual performance, directing individuals and creating commitment. Thus, goal setting serves a far greater purpose than standardization and equity: it serves to motivate individuals and teams toward higher performance.