2008 October Training News and Notes
By Liz Wheeler
Rich Ragan Receives Honor
Rich Ragan, one of our very own BPG trainers, received the Honored Instructor, Business Management Division. He was one of 12 recipients out of 1200 faculty members! Rich has been teaching at UC-Berkeley for over 25 years and regularly teaches three of the six required classes for their Training and Development Certificate Program.
Increased Competition, Expansion Key Challenges for 2008
Respondents to the 2008 Blanchard Corporate Issues survey cite competition, economic challenges, and growth and expansion as key organizational challenges. At the management level, challenges become more focused on people development—creating an engaged workforce, managing change, and developing potential leaders. At the employee development level, the top three issues include performance management, manager/supervisory skills, and interpersonal communication skills.
The Blanchard Companies have conducted this survey for six years and also include comparisons to past surveys. For the complete survey report, click here.
Research Again Proves Baby and Adult Memories Work Best with Chunking
Johns Hopkins University researchers found that children as young as 14 months old utilize grouping information to increase memory.
“It strongly suggests ‘chunking’ info in this way isn't something learned, but is a fundamental aspect of how our minds make memories,” according to an article by Jess Zielinski in USA Today.
"What we have basically done is show that very young children, who can usually only keep track of about three objects at once, can keep track of more if they use the kind of conceptual, linguistic, perceptual and spatial cues adults also use," said Lisa Feigenson, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in the university's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
When creating phone numbers, Ma Bell chunked our phone numbers into groups of three and four (800-383-9210) because study had shown we could remember those chunks easier than 8003839210.
One of Pike’s Laws is “Adults are children in big bodies.” Are you grouping your content so your learners can more easily recall your training?
For the full article, click here.
Coaching Not Part of Performance Eval, Survey Says
A coaching survey was recently done at the ASTD conference this June by Isaix Technology. It was a 50-50 split on the statement “Our managers focus their coaching activity on corrective issues versus developmental issues.” Only 42 percent said their company integrated coaching reports into the performance evaluation process. Just under one-third (31%) said their senior managers coach their managers in coaching skills. For the complete survey, click here.
The complete survey can be found at http://www.activitymgt.com/index.php/isaix-ct/astd-survey-2008/
Send Large Files Now!
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