Article Summaries
Multi-Generations at Work – Where the Sum is Greater than its Parts by Ruth Kustoff
Explores the workplace phenomenon of three generations working side-by-side – identifying differences in how we work and learn, and our motivations and ambitions for career advancement.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Prejudice by Alison Junker
Consider whether you are prejudice and what you can do about it by looking at Alison’s perspective as a teenager.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Leadership: A Call for Acknowledgement and Uniqueness by Susan Otto
Acknowledge, recognize, and support – find out why these three components are necessary in being a successful leader.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Lessons Learned from the Inside by Bob Riess
As leaders, we must help individuals execute to the best of their abilities and exceed the measurable goals established by the organization. Learn some activities to “keep your head above water” and stop "treading water."
Category: Personal / People Competences
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Attracting Perfect Customers by Susan Otto
Attract your perfect customer by standing firm in who you are and what you do. Read about the lighthouse as a metaphor to this idea.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Procedure Is Not Punishment by Jana Kemp
Jana suggests that you look at meeting procedures as a way to protect your people and their productivity.
Category: Organizations
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Define the Non-Negotiable by Jana Kemp
Jana asks you to consider what the non-negotiables are in your life. What are they?
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Where Do I Set? by Susan Otto
Susan provides you with options for moving participants around in seminars and workshops so that participants have opportunities to work with and get to know other participants.
Category: Training Games and Activities
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A Two-Step Process for Accelerating Your Success by Kevin Eikenberry
Kevin says we should reflect and project. Find out what he means, why you should do it, and how to do it.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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New Year Change-Up by Jana Kemp
Jana challenges you to do things differently this year. Look at your ruts and routines, ideas for doing things differently, and workplace traditions.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Seven Steps to Getting Started with Goals Setting by Kevin Eikenberry
Kevin gives seven steps to get your goal setting started – the first two are making a decision to set goals and then making a list.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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HR versus Vendors: Why This Needs to Change by Steve Browne
Steve led HR folks and Vendors through a discussion about their relationship with each other.
Category: Organizations
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Strategically Expand Your Influence… Use Handwritten Notes to Build Connections by Vanessa Lowry
Vanessa gives you several ways to expand your influence to build connections..
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Agreeing to Disagree Still Works by Jana Kemp
Do you often say, “Let’s agree to disagree?” If you do, you are showing signs of respect. See what else Jana suggests about that phrase.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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PowerPoint: Learning Help or Hindrance by Gary Trotta
Gary provides suggestions on how to turn ordinary PowerPoint instruction into engaging learning. Be sure to check out his valuable resources on how to design PowerPoint games.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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It’s About Trust by Jana Kemp
Jana has you consider the various elements of trust. Do you have to earn it or do you have it to “lose?”
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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The Power of Appreciation…Handwritten Notes Can Increase Influence and Trust by Vanessa Lowry
Vanessa cites examples of how handwritten notes have increased influence and trust to help with sales and success.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Meeting Minutes as Living Documents by Jana Kemp
Jana suggests that meeting minutes should be living documents and not static, historic documents that sit on a shelf to collect dust. Discover the elements that make documents living.
Category: Organizations
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Well, I’m No Einstein But… by Gary Trotta
Gary provides suggestion how to effectively engage learners through awareness of right-brain and left-brain tendencies. Get some ideas on how to be a more effective facilitator.
Category: Designing Training Presenting
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Team Activity – Spirited Role Clarification by Susan Otto
Susan shares one of her favorite activities to use with teams – especially those who need to clarify the team members’ roles and responsibilities.
Category: Training Games and Activities
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Why Your Organization’s Culture Matters by Kate Nelson
Kate reminds us that an organization with a culture that won’t allow a great strategy to happen is doomed at the onset.
Category: Organizations
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Quotes To Take Action Upon by Jana Kemp
Jana inspires us to be inspired by quotes. See the great quotes she’s been inspired by in the past.
Category: Design, Training, and Presenting
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Coping with the Resident Witch by Marta Brockmeyer, Ph.D.
Marta gives us guidelines on how to deal with aggressive behavior.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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The Holy Grail of Full Team Engagement by Kevin Eikenberry
Kevin provides guidelines on how to fully engage your teams. Read about his four tips.
Category: Organizations
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Training Myths by Gary Trotta
Gary provides suggestions for looking at myths about training from a different perspective. Check out the three myths he busts!
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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Law of Attraction in Action by Kevin Eikenberry
Learn the three parts of the Law of Attractions and prepare to receive what you have created. Kevin also gives you tips on how to start applying the law.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Recognize this Woman? by Marta Brockmeyer, Ph.D.
Marta reminds us of who we should be – assertive, appropriate, and anchored. Check out her tips for adopting a more appropriate style.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Build Productivity and Profitability with Effective Workplace Design by Jackie Messersmith
By designing a better workflow, organizations can become more productive and effective. Read about a simple case study and its results.
Category: Organizations
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Enthusiasm! @ Work by Antoinette SO. Webster
Enthusiasm! is Antoinette's rallying cry. By engaging Enthusiasm! people can increase their already positive attributes, which also result in many benefits in the workplace. Also, check out her books, Enthusiasm! How To Draw It To Yourself & Keep It and Igniting the Spark of Enthusiasm!
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Bringing People, Processes and the Workplace Together to Create High Performance Work Environments - Jackie Messersmith and Anne Schrader
To achieve high performance work environments, three elements must be studied and addressed – workflow, workspace, and workforce. Read a case study and assess your own organization.
Category: Organizations
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The Top Ten Joy and Money Tips for 2007- Mackey McNeill
Mackey shares the top ten tips for increasing joy and money in our lives.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Understanding Change by Marta Brockmeyer, Ph.D.
Change is all around us – whether it’s our choice or forced upon us. Delve into the various elements of change.
Category: Organizations
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Building Your Own Board of Directors by Susan Smyth
Even as an individual, you may want to create your own Board of Directors to assist you in accelerating your learning and take the fear out of any change process. Be inspired by Susan’s ideas.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Creating a Powerful Project Vision by Kevin Eikenberry
How does visioning and apples go together? Read Kevin’s article and have the mystery solved.
Category: Organizations
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A Guide to Strategic Planning by Marta Brockmeyer, Ph.D.
Provides a process to move you towards effective strategic planning, which will reduce stress, conserve resources, and generate excitement from stakeholders.
Category: Organizations
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Enthusiasm! @ Work - Timely Tips by Antoinette SO. Webster
Antoinette is an expert in Enthusiasm! Check out her timely tips for generating “Enthusiasm!” at work and her books, Enthusiasm! How To Draw It To Yourself and Keep It and Igniting the Spark of Enthusiasm!
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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The One Thing You Must Do Every Time You Make a Speech by Dorothy Lynn
When speaking in public, don’t forget to SMILE. Check out what the acronym stands for in Dorothy’s article. Check out her book, Your Public Speaking Workout.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Development Time by Susan Otto
Susan is frequently asked about the amount of time it will take to design a class. Here are some thoughts to consider.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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Our Love/Hate Relationship with Networking by Sandra Vogel
Ah, networking! Read and reflect on the "shoulds" and "shouldn’ts" of networking…and then, let's network!
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Imagination and Brainstorming Bring Immediate Results by Susan Otto
Do you want to add two new games to your training opportunities? One is on conflict; the other one is on stress. And if they don’t work for your situation, they might spark your imagination!
Category: Training Games and Activities
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Just Because I Can: The Secret by Susan Otto
Susan shares what she knows to be true.
Category: Alphabet Soup
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Outsourcing Success: Getting the Right Start by Debbie Friedman
When outsourcing, exploring four factors can assist you in making a good decision: expertise, timing, cost, and context. Check out Demystifying Outsourcing: The Trainer's Guide to Working with Vendors and Consultants .
Category: Organizations
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Generosity of Spirit -
The Lubricant in Successful Business Relationships by Susan Smyth
This article discusses the importance of generosity of spirit in building business relationships that last. Generosity of spirit is the lubricant that can solve problems, support relationships, build customer loyalty, and increase workplace satisfaction. The article includes suggestions for developing this approach to relationships and life.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Team Teaching – Playing Doubles Tennis by Kevin Eikenberry
Kevin compares the strategies and complexities of team teaching to playing doubles tennis.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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What Does "It" Look Like?
by Susan Otto
Want a fun activity to have learners focus on the topic being discussed? Check this article out!
Category: Training Games and Activities
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Managing Conflict Across Generations by Linda Gravett
Find out how the generations respond to conflict as well as how you might provide feedback depending on the generation who needs it. Learn some ideas on how to turn conflict into collaboration, which provide positive results.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Can People Really Be Motivated? by Dave Blum
Motivating by reward is common practice. Consider restructuring the workplace to inspire intrinsic motivation, using Alfie Kohn’s 3 Cs.
Category: Personal / People Competencies
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Partnering with a Purpose: Does Your Company Pass the Strategic Readiness Exam? by Dave Koester and Greg Werner
As internal resources within most organizations become increasingly scarce, many companies are attempting to form strategic partnerships or business alliances with other complementary companies in order to expand their overall value proposition and compress the traditional timeline for new business development. However, industry statistics tell us that 9 out of every 10 alliances that are formed do not make it more than one year and are doomed to failure. The reason – they try to take short cuts to accelerate the process or simply do not follow the process at all. So, having said that, companies actually need to be trained in how to build successful partnerships that will succeed in the marketplace and withstand the test of time.
Category: Organizations
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Providing Effective Training by Bob Riess
Are you an IT professional, or a “soft skills” training expert still struggling to make end-user training for technology an interactive, measurable, and rewarding experience for you and the recipients of training? The most important step in providing effective end-user training is to understand what the users must be able to DO as a result of the training, and then design a framework to help the participants produce measured output, which makes it much easier to measure results. Measurements should be realistic, address business results, and provide examples of how training will contribute to those results. Providing customer training can offer you a significant edge in the marketplace and help you generate more sales opportunities while learning more about your existing customers. If the product or service you provide is the least bit complex, you have a tremendous opportunity to provide customer training that will remove many of the barriers between you and your customers.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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Facilitator, Trainer, or Presenter? by Susan Otto
Training terms can be so confusing and, unfortunately, I don't have a solution to this issue. However, if you'd like to see all the terms other people use to describe me (Susan Otto), what I do, and what I create, take a look. You will no longer feel like the only confused training practitioner in the world of training vocabulary.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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Designing Training Materials by Susan Otto
If you want a summary on how to create training materials, here's a brief article on a complex subject. The article provides you a variety of concepts to consider when designing.
Category: Designing, Training, and Presenting
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Dinner with Thiagi by Susan Otto
Check out a quick, yet interactive, activity that Thiagi had ASTD attendees participate in at a dinner meeting. It's a simple frame game that you can use with a variety of content. Quick, simple, effective…and it's no secret!
Category: Training Games and Activities
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Do You Remember?: The Interviewee’s Comments by Susan Otto
Do you need a game to remind interviewers how important observation, remembering, note taking, and group sharing are to the interview process? Read about this game, which was accepted by ASTD and included in their 2006 ASTD Training and Performance Sourcebook.
Category: Training Games and Activities
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