It fascinates me to see the coming trends and recognize them as "old fashions." In my more than six decades, I've seen a lot come and go and come again. Ratting hair back in the 1960s is now back-combing. Same principle, new name. Bell-bottoms? Yup, but now they're flare jeans and a slightly smaller "bell" at the bottom. Jackie O glasses are back. And, wait for it, finishing schools.

What I imagined to be prim and proper schools for young girls wanting to marry-picture the perfect posture and learning which utensil to use at the table-has now been repurposed in India. Finishing schools are now for the corporate crowd who have a lot of higher education, but lack in globally-recognized soft skills. 

In an article in the Washington Post, Pria Warrick, the Indian version of Miss Manners, said her business once catered to "girls marrying rich men" but that once India's economy took off, she was deluged with corporate students. "In India, we have the brains," she said. "But when it comes to soft skills, we are way behind."

As it comes to our training, many things that are old must be new again, also. While we look for training relevance in the newest gadgets and training opportunities, we must also keep in mind the basics of training. New technologies provide a way to give a face-lift to the basic tenets of training and participant involvement; they don't often create an entirely new product.

How can you re-purpose your training to be a little fresher and perhaps more relevant?

If this question isn't easy for you to answer on your own, I invite you to The Bob Pike Group 17^th Annual Conference next month in Minneapolis. With a lot of new sessions, let us help you rediscover the critical components to effective training while showing you how to put some new shine on a decades-old and tested business methodology.