Who are the heroes, and who are the leaders in your organization? 

Are they the same? 

Some may be the top-dog, kingpin, white-hat types that saunter into an organization, save the day, and then ride off infamously into the sunset. Others may be more of the behind-the-scenes, blend-into-the-wallpaper, stand-in-the-shadow of others sort. For an insightful perspective on the differences, read the article, Heroship and Leaving a Legacy Aren't Part of Leadership by Gary A. DePaul, Ph.D., CPT

The company wants you to keep costs down. You want to keep the e-learning course interesting. You really can create e-learning content on a budget—if you’re willing to be a little creative.

While the world's workplace is going through extraordinary change, the practice of management has been frozen in time for more than 30 years. Managers have been trained to fill out forms rather than have high-development conversations. 

Only 15% of the world's one billion full-time workers are engaged at work. It is significantly better in the U.S., at around 30% engaged, but this still means that roughly 70% of American workers aren't engaged. It would change the world if we did better. 

To summarize Gallup's analytics from 160 countries on the global workplace, their conclusion is that organizations should change from having command-and-control managers to high-performance coaches. Learn more from this article by Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup. For those who attended the May 19th, "Geezer. Punk. Whatever." session, there are some interesting insights into creating millennial engagement.

The National Federation of Independent Business found that as of first-quarter 2017, 45 percent of small businesses reported that they were unable to find qualified applicants to fill job openings. But is there a bonafide skills gap in the U.S., or it is an imaginary manifestation of unrealistic expectations?  If perception is reality, then either way, we need to determine the cause and act on a cure. These two articles provide insights into how those of us in talent development industry can make an impact.

The Most Serious Skill Gap Of All - by Liz Ryan, contributor to LinkedIn and Forbes.com

What Will It Take to Close the Skills Gap? Take an Educated Guess - by Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder

For the benefit of the many instructional designers with no formal visual design training, here's an informative aid to help you make your projects look great!

In this 2:47 minute video from CLO, you'll hear that when it comes to effectively managing talent, learning and HR executives have a keen role to play together. This relationship is about busting down silos in the interest of talent development and producing a high caliber of workforce performance. 

The guy or gal sitting next to you at work is often a great source of information. Recognizing the intent and providing structure will benefit everyone involved. Find out more about how to capture these kinds of learning opportunities in a more formal setting from this April 13, 2017 essay from CLO.

Recognizing the intent and providing structure will benefit everyone involved.

Why has e-Learning failed, and what do learning practitioners need to do differently to deliver business value? Click here to read how a reconceptualized perspective offers opportunities to capitalize on the business methodology leaders refer to as “Lean”.

Written by SEWI-ATD Guest Blogger,  Matt Meuleners

Several times in my career I have coached young leaders who hope to start their careers as keynote speakers. I ask them to come to me with what they have already written and present it for feedback. 100% of them have started out with the same mistake. They spend too much time on the message.

I understand the desire to pack as much data in as possible, but they are trying to share too much information. Every piece of advice, every best practice, and every great quote that ever inspired them makes it onto the page. None of it sticks in my brain.

Instead, I recommend that they aim for a presentation that is closer to 20% content and 80% story. Think about the best speakers you have ever seen. My bet is that they were master storytellers. Stories engage our brains differently and they make our content “sticky” - improving retention.

Stories are sticky for a few reasons.

1. Listening to a story uses more of your brain. A 2006 study published in the journal NeuroImage demonstrated that not only are language processing area engaged when you hear a story, but so too are any other area in the brain that you would use when experiencing the context of the story. So, when you hear a storyteller describe “eating a rapidly melting chocolate ice cream cone on a hot July day,” your brain also lights up in the areas that manage taste, temperature, and time.

This offers a huge potential impact on learning because we suspect that more active brain areas involved in storing memories leads to better retention and recall of information. Not to mention that a more engaged brain means a more engaged audience member.

2. Stories activate mirror neurons. These amazing little brain cells seem to be the key to empathy with other human beings. They light up when we observe another person experiencing something – and engage a similar experience in our own brain. Uri Hasson, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, shared this example from a study:

“When the woman spoke English, the volunteers understood her story, and their brains synchronized.  When she had activity in her insula, an emotional brain region, the listeners did too.  When her frontal cortex lit up, so did theirs. By simply telling a story, the woman could plant ideas, thoughts and emotions into the listeners’ brains.”

The power of this effect comes from the fact that our brains create memory based on what the brain is experiencing, not simply based on what is happening in our environment. In other words, if your mirror neurons are causing you to “feel the wind on your face” the way the storyteller did, your brain is likely creating a memory of that experience almost as if you were there. You can’t get that from a PowerPoint slide.

These are not the only reasons that humans learn better from storytelling. I look forward to sharing more about these ideas and other tools of advanced presenters at SEWI-ATD's April 21st Professional Development Event!

About the Author

Matthew Meuleners, is well known in the training community for his great presentation skills. He is Executive Partner and Leadership Trainer at FOCUS Training. As a professional facilitator and keynote speaker for over 15 years, Matt has combined his message of integrity in leadership with a youthful energy and sense of humor that allows him to connect with an audience. Having touched the lives of thousands of people, his experience lends him a credibility that gives every presentation impact.

Through the years he has trained hundreds of business and educational leaders to fulfill their crucial roles within their organizations, delivered his keynote message to thousands of people, and developed valuable leadership curriculum.

Matt holds a M.B.A. and Bachelors in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin and currently teaches Training & Development courses for undergraduate and graduate students at Marquette University. He has served in many leadership positions and continues to lead in alumni and guidance roles.

Matt’s vivid enthusiasm and passion for nurturing leadership skills in others and his articulate and humorous style ensure that no audience will walk away unchanged.

Yes, but that’s not as bad as learning leaders might think. Formal learning may be declining, but with the right framework informal learning can be a serious performance booster. Read more in this March 13, 2017 Chief Learning Officer article.