2008 April Training News and Notes
Liz Wheeler
Elluminate Connects with Moodle to Create the Virtual Classroom
Elluminate, a provider of live eLearning and web collaboration for the real-time organization, released
Elluminate Bridge for Moodle™, integrating the Elluminate virtual classroom environment with Moodle, a leading
open-source course management system. The new program enables academic institutions using Moodle to add distance learning and collaboration to coursework. Instructors can schedule, deliver, and record classes using
Elluminate Live!, an Internet-based, real-time eLearning tool that includes voice over the Internet, shared whiteboards, chat, breakout rooms, application sharing, PowerPoint import, and more, all in a multi-platform environment.
Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is included in Elluminate's free offer for unlimited access of Elluminate Live!® Lite Edition™ for one year to any K-12 academic institution. The product, which features full-duplex audio, shared whiteboard, public/private chat, math symbol library, graphing calculator, and advanced moderator tools, adds live interaction and collaboration to coursework and can be easily upgraded to the full functionality of Elluminate Live! Academic Edition.
CEOs not seen as role-models
CEOs visibly share and live their company's purpose, say most people. Yet, considerably fewer view their CEO as a brand builder, and only a minority view their CEO as a role model, according to a recent Krauthammer survey on corporate governance and CEOs performance.
"It is interesting to see that in many core areas such as networking, personal ethics and presentation skills CEOs seem to do well in employees' eyes," commented Ronald Meijers, Senior Partner, Executive Board and Head of Research Department at Krauthammer. "However, there are areas where people think CEOs need coaching such as in human capital development, team leadership and openness to feedback. What makes the results quite notable is that these are skills we often assume CEOs should already master," she concluded.
Eleven domains at corporate and personal levels and crucial to the CEO's performance were explored in the European-wide survey, namely strategy-making, human capital development, networking competencies, corporate ethics, sales culture and performance, process engineering, team leadership, presentation competencies, personal ethics, ability to evolve and openness to feedback. The survey results show that only 58% believe the company is safe in their CEOs hands and only 47% are inspired to excel by their CEO. One challenge the CEOs seem to be facing is in their ability to seek and receive honest feedback and coaching in the areas where they are not doing so well. The complete study is at
http://www.krauthammer.com/Docs/Content/File/VRB18/what-leaders-need-summary.pdf .
Employers Say It's Tough Reaching Millennials
North American companies are twice as likely to report difficulty reaching Millennials than any other employee group, according to a survey of more than 2,500 senior HR and training executives by Novations Group, a global consulting organization based in Boston.
Asked if their senior management encounters difficulties communicating with a dozen employee categories, 18.9% of respondents reported problems with GenY/Millennials compared with just 8% for the next group, Hispanics.
"This is yet another finding that employers don’t feel comfortable dealing with their younger employees," said Novations Executive Consultant Michelle Knox. "It may be hard to make comparisons among groups of different kinds, but the survey certainly tells us management’s perception…that Millennials are a challenge."
"If management sees a problem, then there’s a problem," observed Knox. "But Millennials are getting a bad rap, I think. Whether it’s multi-media technology, corporate vision, CEO charisma or motivational training, under-30 employees aren’t easy to impress. It’s not that they’re cynical than that they’ve cultivated a healthy skepticism."
In communicating with Millennials Knox advises management to avoid gimmicks and not to expect tried-and-true ways of communicating to work. "Instead, management should realize that younger employees are just like every generation before them, just a bit more jaded. Instead, management should try to be down to earth. Take part in a two-way discussion, and don’t try to wow them with a fancy presentation. Don’t be afraid to turn the meeting over to your team, leverage their know-how and take your own notes. Use less technology, and eliminate it all together for meetings with fewer than 50 employees."
Millennials can be a restive audience for traditional training, warned Knox. "They don’t like to listen passively to a long management presentation. As one Millennial expressed it recently, ‘Can’t I just talk to the guy next to me?’"
