Leadership Lessons: Online Training

Online Training: Generation 'Z'

Generation 'Z' of online training is happening now: New technologies, services, web tools and cultural changes driving interactivity and person-to-person learning. Web 2.0 makes it a very exciting time to discover the latest in instructional tools, learning infrastructures and development of online digital campus communities. With all of these developments, what do you focus on in this new age of capabilities and services? How do you tie this to meaningful issues for your organization?

There are four areas to understand: Emergence, Convergence, Onboarding and Further Engagement.

Emergence

Innovation has created a tremendous amount of thinking about what leadership means, now going on nine years into the new century. It brings in-depth opportunities for learning and solutions to a complex and culturally diverse workforce.

This is why training emerging leadership is so important. Current technologies facilitate interaction through Facebook, MySpace, Linked In and so many other networks creating a generation of users who are ready, willing and able to access online learning that is as individual as they are. Learners are expected to be connected to other learners and their trainers. I've seen this described as Connectivism, Networked Learning and Connective Knowledge. This allows learners to access what they need, apply it and share it with others. It supports greater problem-solving and informal leadership transferred from one person to another. It gives learners new connections, renewed relationships with peers and enables the discovery of new resources.

During training, organizations must harness the power of creativity and capacity with their learning management systems to connect supervisors with their team.

Convergence

Major organizations like Microsoft currently are working hard to simplify end user experiences in light of Web 2.0. According to Education Channel Partner, online platform structures supporting a processing environment bring together "content, commerce and community." In a nutshell, it is a boost in "anytime, anywhere" content models that support training content delivered to anyone, to any handheld or other device. According to Education Channel Partner, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie proclaimed, the "power of the internet, and the magic of software" across a world of devices.

As trainers and training organization managers, you need to look at ways to use these resources to connect with empowered learners. Integrate learning across diverse channels, use learner-generated content and measure results.

Power of Onboarding

According to Workforce.com, in the fiscal year 2007, the federal government hired more than 195,000 new employees; however, high first-year attrition undermined its recruitment efforts. First-year attrition for firefighters at the U.S. Forest Service stood at 26.6 percent nationwide and 46.6 in Southern California where the country needs them the most.

First-year voluntary turnover between 2003 and 2007 increased from 10 to 18 percent; a dramatically high rate overall. For every two patent examiners hired at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the agency lost one-third within the first year. By 2012, federal agencies will lose nearly 530,000 employees including those in leadership and incritical-skills positions.

Think about your own organization and what you may be losing right now. A substantial study conducted by Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton in 2008 found that successful onboarding of employees during their first year increases engagement and raises retention by as much as 25 percent, improves performance and accelerates the time to full productivity. Onboarding is typically the process of acclimating employees to the organization beyond orientation. Organizations can impact retention using online training as an effective and efficient way to facilitate onboarding employees.

Further Engagement

Many organizations do not realize the key role of their managers and supervisors in the onboarding process. Quite simply, if employees do not feel engaged with their work and the organization, they may move on to the next organization who will invest in them. Workforce.com points to the Partnership for Public Service model which incorporates five phases: acceptance of job offer to start date, the orientation, the first week of employment, the first 90 days and the first year. "During each phase, the focus remains squarely on integrating the new employee into the workplace, communicating the goals of the organization and building engagement in the work."

Vital Learning's Leadership Series gives managers and supervisors the essential skills in onboarding to create further engagement in team members. The beauty of the Leadership Series is that it has both online and classroom-based formats to fit your training needs.

The Partnership report notes that few organizations are using online resources to onboard new employees early in the process. Using new technologies and online training is an essential part of ramping up your recruitment, retention and training strategies. Monitoring performance, providing feedback, reviewing performance objectives and setting individual development goals are all taught through the Vital Learning's leadership curriculum.

Emergence, convergence, onboarding and further engagement give us power you have when combined with web-based resources to stimulate training initiatives. Your training professional can show you how to get into the "next generation now" of training efficiencies impacting the bottom line of your organization.

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org