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The Week That Was

2013 05 17 12:30 PM

The top five stories from the week of May 13. Also, authentic leadership: legit concept or terrible management fad?

Millennials Have Information, Not Knowledge

2013 05 17 10:00 AM

Younger workers have unlimited information at their fingertips, but they still need to take advantage of the wisdom of older workers to become knowledgeable.

General Mills' Elite Learning Strategy

2013 05 17 00:01 AM

Kevin Wilde of General Mills talks with editor Deanna Hartley about the company's award-winning learning strategy.

Little Improvement in Wage Gains Likely

2013 05 16 08:00 AM

Private sector workers are likely to see little or no improvement in the overall pace of annual wage increases in the coming months, according to a new index.

Arlington, Va. — May 15

Private sector workers are likely to see little or no improvement in the overall pace of annual wage increases in the coming months, according to the preliminary second quarter Wage Trend Indicator (WTI) released today by Bloomberg BNA, a publisher of financial news and information.

The index declined to 98.68 in the second quarter from 98.73 in the first quarter. During the past two years, the WTI has remained within a narrow range, fluctuating up and down from 98.47 to 98.75.

During its history, the WTI has predicted a turning point in wage trends six to nine months before the trends are apparent in other economic measures. A sustained increase in the WTI forecasts greater pressure to raise private sector wages, while a sustained decline is predictive of a deceleration in the rate of wage increases.

Reflecting mixed economic conditions, three of the WTI's seven components made positive contributions to the preliminary second quarter reading, while three factors were negative and one was neutral.

Among the WTI's seven components, the three positive contributors to the preliminary second quarter reading were job losers as a share of the labor force and the unemployment rate, both from U.S. Department of Labor; and industrial production, reported by the Federal Reserve Board.

The three negative factors were forecasters' expectations for the rate of inflation, compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia; average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers, from the Department of Labor; and the share of employers planning to hire production and service workers in the coming months, measured by Bloomberg BNA's quarterly employment outlook survey.

The neutral component was the share of employers reporting difficulty in filling professional and technical jobs, also from Bloomberg BNA's employment survey.

Bloomberg BNA's Wage Trend Indicator is designed to serve as a yardstick for employers, analysts and policymakers to identify turning points in private sector wage patterns. It also aims to provide timely information for business and human resource analysts and executives as they plan for year-to-year changes in compensation costs.

Source: Bloomberg BNA

Executives: U.S. Businesses Not Delivering Societal Impact

2013 05 16 08:00 AM

The majority of employees and executives believe that businesses are not doing enough to instill in their cultures a sense of purpose aimed at making a positive impact, a new survey suggests.

New York — May 16

A new online survey released Thursday by Deloitte finds that the majority of employees and executives believe that businesses are not doing enough to instill in their cultures a sense of purpose aimed at making a positive impact.

The annual Deloitte Core Beliefs & Culture survey also found that organizations that focus beyond profits and create "a culture of purpose" are more likely to find long-term success. An overwhelming majority of respondents who said their company has a strong sense of purpose also said their company has a history of strong financial performance.

Moreover, the survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive, identified many activities that contribute to creating a sense of purpose at work, including activities that make a positive impact on clients, employees, communities and society.

When asked what types of efforts they considered helpful in achieving a sense of purpose, employees and executives both recognized many activities as strong factors — such as products and services that make a positive impact on clients, employee development and mentorship and volunteerism.

The survey results also shine a light on the impact business can have on government and nonprofits. Both employees (46 percent) and executives (60 percent) strongly agreed that government cannot reach its full potential without the help of the business community. Furthermore, employees (45 percent) and executives (54 percent) also agreed that nonprofits cannot reach their full potential without the help of the business community.

Respondents who said their organization had a strong sense of purpose were more likely to say their company had performed well financially over the last year (90 percent) and historically (91 percent). They also were more likely to say their company had a distinct brand that stood out among competitors (91 percent), strong customer satisfaction (94 percent) and strong employee satisfaction (79 percent).

By comparison, of the respondents who said their organization did not have a strong purpose, far fewer said their company had performed well financially over the last year (65 percent) or historically (66 percent). They were also less likely to say their organization had a distinct brand that stood out among competitors (61 percent), had strong customer satisfaction (63 percent) and strong employee satisfaction (19 percent).

In addition, a large majority (85 percent) of executives were more likely to agree that their company's sense of purpose is part of the reason they chose to work there, compared with 61 percent of employees who agreed that a strong sense of purpose was one of the reasons they selected their employer.

Source: Deloitte

Three Ways to Improve E-Learning

2013 05 15 00:03 AM

If you find e-learning to be among the most efficient methods of learning delivery, you’re not alone. But these technology trends can take it a step further.

Technological advances are challenging learning professionals to rethink how they approach more traditional methods of delivery, such as e-learning.

Studies have shown that e-learning is one of the most effective methods of learning delivery, especially in safety and health care compliance. Studies also have shown that the method is cost-efficient and saves time over classroom training.

For example, according to a client study by UL Workplace Health and Safety, workers’ compensation insurer Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) implemented a program to provide safety training to policyholders, including access to more than 300 e-learning health and safety modules. The results showed savings to employers of more than $3.6 million in training costs and a decline in work-related injuries demonstrated via reduced workers’ compensation premium charges of 72.3 percent.

Three technology trends can help learning professionals aiming to increase the quality and use of e-learning programs. They are gamification, scenario-based learning and informal learning.

Game-Based Learning

Organizations have worked game-based learning into their e-learning programs because evidence suggests that the immersive and engaging nature of the method accelerates learning, improves skill acquisition and retention.

Karl Kapp, professor of instructional technology and assistant director of the Institute for Interactive Technologies at Bloomsburg University, writes frequently about gamification. In his 2012 paper, “What Every Chief Learning Officer Needs to Know About Games and Gamification for Learning,” he urges learning leaders to embrace gamification. He writes: “Games in our training programs are not a break from learning — they are learning. They are everything we say should be a part of great instructional design. They engage the learner, are interactive and they enable the learner to get immediate feedback and to demonstrate mastery.”

The following examples demonstrate game-based learning’s effectiveness.

In 2012, Deloitte published an article by Doug Palmer, Steve Lunceford and Aaron Patton titled “The Engagement Economy — How Gamification Is Reshaping Businesses.” Included are case studies and examples from numerous organizations such as SAP, Cisco and Samsung. They all cite improved employee performance through implementing a game-based learning initiative.

Traci Sitzmann, assistant professor at the University of Colorado at Denver Business School, found in a study that learners’ “post-training self-efficacy was 20 percent higher, declarative knowledge was 11 percent higher, procedural knowledge was 14 percent higher and retention was 9 percent higher for trainees taught with simulation games, relative to a comparison group.”

Finally, a paper published by e-learning production company Digitec Interactive showed a significant reduction in training time through gamification, with one organization citing a 50 percent decrease when it implemented game-based training.

Scenario-Based Learning

As with gamification, technology is making it easier to create more context-rich scenario lessons.

Scenario-based learning presents learners with a situation and guides them through choices and decisions to navigate the task or problem. Instead of showing learners the best way to complete a task and then having them repeat that activity, learners are directed through the scenario and allowed to make choices.

In her 2012 book Scenario-Based E-Learning, Ruth Clark makes the case that scenario-based learning accelerates expertise by providing opportunities for learners to gain experience in a controlled and safe environment.

Separately, in a 2009 article Clark asserts that scenario-based learning, when applied with solid instructional design methodology, can dramatically decrease training time. She cites a U.S. Air Force case study in which “25 hours of scenario-based e-learning that simulated multiple electrical equipment failures raised the expertise of two-year Air Force technicians to the same level as 10-year veterans.”

Additionally, companies using e-learning have taken scenario-based learning to technological heights by allowing learners to become active participants in a simulation video and see firsthand the consequences of choice and behaviors.

One organization, video simulation company Will Interactive, uses a virtual learning simulation tool to team up with organizations including the U.S. Army, National Football League and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create video vignettes in which learners choose a character and proceed through scenarios, making choices and seeing the results.

Formalizing Informal Learning

While gamification and scenario-based learning are enhancing our formal learning programs, informal learning can be a relevant and valuable mechanism for effective retention as well.

Learners experience moment-of-need learning opportunities as a matter of routine in daily life. Picture a driver with a flat tire. Instead of calling for assistance, he or she uses a smartphone to watch a short YouTube tutorial on changing a tire.

But how do learning professionals plan for random and unexpected moments of need in the workplace? Informal learning means finding ways to capture these personal “aha” moments and allow learning to occur on demand.

Mobile technology is being integrated into health and safety products that allow workers to use their mobile device and a QR code to access moment-of-need information. A worker might encounter a jammed piece of machinery and need to know the appropriate and safe method for locking out the equipment. A quick scan of a well-placed QR code on the machine immediately pulls up useful information such as specification data sheets and a video tutorial on the proper lockout procedure.

Another way to use informal learning is through an incident management system, which allows workers to report incidents or unsafe practices in the workplace.

When there is an incident and investigation, the details are recorded in the system as an event and can be automatically turned into training modules for the entire organization. Additional training modules can be created as part of ongoing curriculum development related to the specific topic. This is an effective blend of informal and formal learning.

Holly Howell is director of professional learning services for UL Workplace Health and Safety. She can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

Study: Most Firms Don’t Offer Specialized Courses for Technical Pros

2013 05 14 07:00 AM

The top five leadership challenges for CLOs are delivering on projects with fewer resources, recruiting needed talent, balancing team coaching needs versus project needs and team-skill development, a new study suggests.

Elkridge, Md. — May 13

Global performance improvement services provider GP Strategies Corp. has announced the release of a new research study, "Leading Technical Professionals."

Training Industry Inc. and GP Strategies recently conducted the study based on feedback from more than 900 leaders and managers of technical professionals, 300 technical individual contributors and 100 learning professionals.

Key findings in the study include the following:

The majority of learning leaders (53 percent) said that their organizations do not offer specialized courses, workshops or a standalone program for leaders of technical professionals.
Significant misalignment appears when comparing the leadership challenges faced by managers and the assumptions made by the learning and development community.
Learning and development's top three leadership challenge assumptions are self-development, encouraging team engagement and leading teams through organizational changes.
Technical leaders' top five leadership challenges are delivering on projects with fewer resources, recruiting needed talent, balancing team coaching needs versus project needs, team skill development and encouraging innovative thinking.

Source: GP Strategies Corp.

SuccessFactors Hires Gartner Analyst to Lead Development of HCM Software

2013 05 13 08:00 AM

The software firm has hired Thomas Otter to drive the development of its core HR system, Employee Central.

San Francisco — May 10

Software firm SuccessFactors announced Friday the hiring of Thomas Otter as its vice president of product management to help lead the development of a new series of human capital software products.

A former Gartner analyst with 21 years of experience in the information technology industry, Otter will aim to help SuccessFactors evolve a new generation of human capital management (HCM) software and best practices.

Otter will drive the product direction of Employee Central, SuccessFactors' cloud-based core HR system. The cloud-based service aims to provide a foundation for global HR processes and local compliance. It also aims to enable smart decision-making with analytics and social collaboration capability.

Otter has spent the past five years at Gartner, most recently as its research vice president covering HCM trends and technologies. Otter was Gartner's lead analyst on SAP from 2009 to 2011.

Source: SuccessFactors Inc.

Leading Today Is Harder Than Ever

2013 05 13 00:01 AM

Change and uncertainty demand strong emotional connections.

Leaders must keep one foot in today and the other in the world of tomorrow.

During the last two years, my conversations with senior executives have taken a new turn. Leading at the top has always been difficult, lonely and filled with ambiguity. Many of the specific business challenges, such as balancing growth and profitability or being globally consistent yet regionally responsive, remain the same.

But in the confines of coaching, almost all leaders state that leading today is harder than ever before. Afraid to admit to a weakness they find it difficult to talk about, but with remarkable consistency, they all express fear and anxiety that they are ill-prepared to meet the challenges facing them today.

Most companies now struggle to deal with technological innovations that are putting the foundation of their industries at risk. Technology, media and retail are only the beginning. The reality is the shelf life of any business model is shorter than ever before.

According to management lecturer Richard Foster at Yale, by 2020, more than three-quarters of the S&P 500 will be companies we have not yet heard of. As a result, the job of CEO has fundamentally changed. Rather than creating business plans, they must create new businesses. Leaders must simultaneously keep one foot in today while keeping another in the world of tomorrow.

Disruption, change and uncertainty demand stronger emotional connections between leaders and followers. Yet today the very base upon which leadership is built — trust and authority — is eroding. A growing gap between the economic classes, increasingly high executive compensation and greater transparency into the lives of leaders via social media have caused followers to be more cynical about their leaders than ever before. Executives now begin positions of leadership not with authority but with a trust deficit.

As if this weren’t enough, most of the executives I work with feel perplexed by not only increasing disruption and greater cynicism, but what feels like an eroding sense of authority within their own organizations. With global, matrixed organizations becoming the norm, it is harder to make a difference externally and internally.

This dynamic is apparent in how people talk about their leaders and their organizational cultures. Strong leaders are described as collaborative, inclusive, engaging and inspiring. Work groups are expected to be team focused, democratic, matrixed and participative. Everyone expects to have a voice.

In today’s world, leaders need to develop and master three capabilities more than any others. I refer to these as the three A’s and find they provide the foundation for success in business leadership.

Agility, or the ability to lead nimbly in the face of uncertainty, is the key to thriving in disruption. Agility is more than the ability to act quickly or be responsive. It requires a strong sense of purpose that enables leaders to know what they stand for. Being rooted in a sense of purpose clarifies when to be open to change, when to stand one’s ground and how to act when faced with completely unknown territory. Purpose is the fulcrum upon which leaders pivot.

Agency is the ability to make choices and enact them in the world. It means that rather than taking the path of least resistance, or being swept up in the dysfunctional routines of the business, a leader determines for himself or herself what ought to be done and then does it. In a rapidly changing world where leaders have less and less bestowed authority, a strong internal sense of agency is critical.

If agency is about accepting the responsibility to take action, authenticity is about doing so in ways that are consistent with the leader’s own convictions and the challenges facing the business. Authenticity is thus a double-sided obligation — it means being true to yourself and also to the people around you. In the context of the trust deficit, authenticity matters more today than ever before.

Millennials Are the Transformers

2013 05 10 13:00 PM

Millennials are tolerant and want to make a difference, and they want to work for companies that reflect these values.

The Week That Was

2013 05 10 12:35 PM

The top five stories from the week of May 6. Also, you'd be surprised how little math U.S. workers actually use.

The Four Pillars of Trust

2013 05 10 00:01 AM

Invest time to build trust and reap the rewards of strong relationships.

A lack of trust has reached epidemic proportions. In June 2012, less than one in four respondents told Gallup they had faith in big banks, big business and the media — record lows. The trust ratio is even worse for Congress. Additionally, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member recently cited data showing that nearly 80 percent of Americans do not trust the financial system. Given sobering statistics like these, it’s clear that the ability to build and sustain trust is a core competency for any leader today.

But trust is a notoriously complex issue. What is trust? How do we describe it? Does trust mean the same thing to you as it does to me? If not, how can we talk about it, let alone build it?

Noticing that organizations with high levels of trust were more successful than their counterparts, my Trust Works!: Four Keys to Building Lasting Relationships co-author Cindy Olmstead searched for the answers to those questions. After years of research, she discovered two significant facts.

First, trust means different things to different people. You can be completely unaware that your behavior is eroding the trust of those around you. What looks like fine behavior to you could be making your friend, spouse, boss, employee or constituent wary.

Second, trust grows when certain behaviors are present. But what behaviors? To find out, Olmstead set up flip charts in her office so that during discussions with clients, colleagues and friends she could document behaviors they thought would either build or erode trust. As the lists grew longer, she began to see patterns and realized the behaviors fell into predictable categories.

Just as a table can’t stand on one leg, trust is not built on one behavior. For example, the person who never tells a lie — but who also never gets to appointments on time — cannot be called trustworthy. From her research, Olmstead found that trusting relationships could flourish when people practiced a combination of four basic competencies: being able, believable, connected and dependable.

Trust begins with behaviors that show you are able. This element of trust is about demonstrating competence. Getting quality results, solving problems and having relevant skills enable you to actualize your good intentions, and that builds trust.

Trust is strengthened when your behaviors demonstrate that you are believable. This is about acting with integrity. It not only means being truthful, but also showing the capacity to keep confidences, admit mistakes and show respect for others.

Trust can flourish when your behaviors show you are connected. This element of trust has to do with caring about others. Listening well, showing interest in and working well with others and sharing about yourself are ways you can strengthen the bonds of trust.

Finally, trust requires that your behaviors prove you are dependable. This is about maintaining reliability. That means doing what you say you will do, being timely, organized and accountable, and following up consistently.

Now that you understand the four competencies of trust, go back and rate yourself on each from one to 10. Have others rate you. Then think about how you might build up your weak areas. For example, because I love people and have never really heard a bad idea, I used to say yes to more projects than I really had time for. While this made me score high in the connected area of trust — listening, showing interest and sharing with others — it made me less than dependable when it came to being timely and following up.

Trust is a delicate thing. It takes a long time to build, yet you can blow it with one poor decision. On the other hand, showing people they can rely on you can lead to benefits like greater autonomy, profitability and satisfaction. Your success in achieving the rewards of great relationships — at work, in the community, at home — will depend on your capacity to create trusting bonds.

Sidley Austin's Approach to Development

2013 05 10 00:01 AM

Jody Rosen Knower of Sidley Austin LLP talks about the law firm's use of blended learning and mock assignments for new associates.

Hiring Managers: College Grads Unprepared for Workforce

2013 05 09 08:00 AM

Hiring managers only plan to hire “one or two” college graduates in the near term because most of them are unprepared to enter the workforce, according to a new survey.

Melville, N.Y. — May 9

Sixty-six percent of hiring managers say that new college graduates are unprepared for the workplace, according to a recent survey of from Adecco Staffing U.S. The survey found that 58 percent of hiring managers are not planning to hire new grads; of those who are, 69 percent only plan to hire one or two.

More than half (54 percent) of hiring managers don't even offer interviews to job candidates with weak resumes, the survey said. Moreover, hiring managers are most likely to cite spelling errors (43 percent) as the most common misstep that causes them to disqualify a candidate from consideration.

Source: Adecco Group North America

Study: More Than Half of Companies Have Been Affected by a Bad Hire

2013 05 08 08:00 AM

More than half of employers in each of the 10 largest global economies said that a bad hire has negatively impacted business, according to a new study.

Chicago — May 8

A new study from CareerBuilder shows that hiring the wrong person can have serious implications for companies.

More than half of employers in each of the 10 largest global economies said that a bad hire — someone who turned out not to be a good fit for the job or did not perform it well — has negatively impacted their business, pointing to a significant loss in revenue or productivity, or challenges with employee morale and client relations.

For example, among those reporting having had a bad hire, 27 percent of U.S. employers reported a single bad hire cost more than $50,000. In the Eurozone, bad hires were most expensive in Germany, with 29 percent reporting costs of 50,000 euros ($65,231) or more.

In the U.K., 27 percent of companies say bad hire costs more than 50,000 British pounds. About 30 percent of Indian employers reported the average bad hire cost more than 2 million Indian rupees ($37,150), and nearly half of surveyed employers in China (48 percent) reported costs exceeding 300,000 CNY ($48,734).

The global survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive from Nov. 1 to 30 of last year, included more than 6,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals in countries with the largest gross domestic product.

Source: CareerBuilder

Innovative Methods to Develop Leaders

2013 05 08 00:02 AM

Consider these five tips when putting together a leadership development program.

Successful leaders, by their very nature, are consumed with what they are doing — connecting with clients, motivating talent and inspiring those around them. In particular, enlightened leaders are in a position to create a new future for their organization by identifying the potential and developing the talent of those who could replace them.

Here are some things learning leaders should consider when putting together leadership development programs:

Stop looking for silver bullets. Developing leaders is not about looking for the next big innovation. It is about focusing on the people. Get to know workers’ potential and personal aspirations and whether they have the drive and motivation to get to where the organization needs to go.

Recognize that no leader is going to be around forever. The focus is not about you. It is about what the organization can become. The most important job of a leader is to develop individualized plans for top performers and a succession plan for the organization. Learning leaders must begin with that mindset.

Recognize potential. When hiring, don’t just consider whether someone can succeed. Equally important, consider whether the new hire can grow with time. Consider an example. Tom Gartland, a regional president at Avis Budget Group, said: “Right now, I have five assistant vice presidents who run Canada and the United States. So, if anything were to happen to any of them, I need to know what we would do. Our company’s success is based on my having a clear vision and understanding of who the next leadership team is.”

In all, to have an eye toward the future, leaders must be sure that the right people are in the right roles and that others are prepared to take over in an emergency.

Always be developing future leaders. Fulfilling the leadership pipeline is never complete. For instance, Gartland provided this example: “We had personality profiles conducted for everyone in our sales organization. That gave us a baseline view of each individual’s potential, strengths and limitations. When we match to their current performance, we are able to view them from where they are now, how we can help them meet their goals and where we see them moving next.”

Challenge high-potential individuals. People with leadership potential want to be in an organization that is committed to success. Once learning and talent leaders have recognized high-potential individuals, bring them together for an action-learning project. This process brings individuals together to solve important and urgent business problems. It also enables potential leaders to think in new ways and create trust and collaboration among teams.

Patrick Sweeney is president of Caliper Corp., a human capital management assessment and development firm. He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

How to Promote Play in an Organization

2013 05 08 00:01 AM

To make a gamification program successful and sustainable, there must be executive buy-in.

Get executive buy-in and make it count. To make a gamification program successful and sustainable, there must be executive buy-in. Whether it’s the CEO or the CLO, it is important for employees to see their leaders support the game and the idea of them having fun at work. Something as simple as a company-wide email or a quick mention at a town hall will help the top-down process begin.

Explain the rules of the game. If employees do not understand how to engage in a game, they will lose interest. It is important to fully explain the rules and structure so employees can set their personal game objectives and know how to track their progress. This step will eliminate confusion and encourage user participation.

Create a master communication plan. When rolling out a game, it is important to take every opportunity to communicate its objective and how, when and where employees will have access to it. Part of the struggle that companies have early on is creating a game with a high adoption rate. Take advantage of available channels such as the company intranet and social media to weave in messaging throughout the organization.

Reward employees who spread the word. Word-of-mouth can be one of the strongest influencers in behavior. One of the best ways to boost participation and community within a game is to reward employees who spread the word and inspire others to play. Whether it is a special badge or points, that recognition will help encourage participation.

Ask for feedback, and do something with it. From pilot to full rollout, employee feedback is essential to create a great user experience. Creating opportunities for employees to easily give feedback will provide learning leaders with the insights they need to make games better. For instance, create quick two- or three-question surveys that live within the game or create a field for employees to leave comments. Remember to always reward those contributions.

Five Reasons You Can’t Ignore Gamification

2013 05 08 00:01 AM

Learning leaders have found that integrating gaming elements into development offerings can increase productivity, employee engagement and retention, and promote innovation.

There may just be whispers about it in the workplace now, but if learning leaders haven’t heard much about gamification yet, they will soon. At the annual National Retail Federation conference held in January 2012, gamification was touted as the next form of work-based social media where people interact and socialize around a common bond of knowledge, competitive strategy and fun.

CLOs, HR directors, and operations and innovations teams across various industries are integrating gaming into learning and development strategy to drive performance, highlight achievement and boost engagement. But gamification is more than newfangled training. Elements of game play engage employees with new knowledge, encourage competition among peers and bestow public rewards and recognition on those who excel. It can cover just about any topic, including improving operations, cutting logistics costs and challenging employees to understand how their roles contribute to enterprise success.

In the future, managers will see people playing games at work. After all, Gen Y professionals have been nurtured and brought up on gaming, and Time magazine reported last year that the average gamer is 37 years old.

As boomers reach retirement age, two other generations will make up the majority of the American workforce: Generation X and Generation Y, also known as millennials. It’s important to consider millennials’ role. They have essentially grown up digital, and that has changed how they engage with others in their day-to-day work lives. They come to work expecting the same engagement they find in the digital world.

According to technology research company Gartner, by 2014, 70 percent of global organizations will have at least one gamified application; by 2015, 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify them. Many of the world’s largest brands are deploying gamification, including Coca-Cola, AOL, Nissan, Nike and Viacom, and as more studies become available, the advantages to gaming in the workplace will become widespread.

Learning leaders who have made the jump are motivated by different things. One primary lever promoting gamification is that employee satisfaction, which is closely related to retention, can no longer be achieved through financial compensation alone. Ultimately, the big-stick approach doesn’t always work, and it is not the only method available to motivate and encourage team efforts. To stay on top of the game, managers must be forward-thinking. The challenge now is in understanding why gamification is so effective and how to introduce it seamlessly into an organization.

What follows are the five reasons why leaders can’t ignore gamification and its potential to empower business.

1. Gamification improves knowledge. Most people start learning to play games at a young age, and the human brain is built for game play. Certain functions in the brain organically work toward logical problem solving. Gaming takes this natural process and makes it fun and rewarding. Typically, this requires the player to remember information, make judgments and seek certain outcomes. Knowledge retention is a big part of an employee’s daily life, so promoting the most effective types of learning isn’t just important for the employee, it’s essential to an organization’s growth. Jeanne Meister, author of Corporate Universities, said that interactive learning games can increase long-term retention rates by up to 10 times — a significant statistic when considering knowledge retention (Figure 1).

2. Gamification gives employees the power to actively gauge their performance. Annual evaluations are a necessary evil, but leaders increasingly find that employees perform better, learn more quickly and correct behaviors when they receive immediate, real-time feedback. Gaming offers an immediate cause and effect. If an employee chooses the wrong path or makes a wrong move in a game, the individual will be immediately corrected. Similarly, if the individual makes a strategically smart move, he or she will receive immediate positive reinforcement.

Gamification also offers feedback to the employee and helps to accelerate knowledge retention. This offers companies an advantage because it creates a more efficient and engaging way to monitor progress. Instead of learning the hard way and having to wait for insight from their manager or peers, gamification allows employees to receive feedback immediately. It fosters transparency about how performance is measured and where the employee really stands.

Imagine if businesses used gamification to help streamline that type of information so that employees would know exactly how their skills are advancing and potentially which ones have actually grown instead of wondering, “How am really I doing?” “Is my work performance being ranked fairly?” and “How am I supposed to set goals if I have no idea what I am trying to achieve?”

For example, in 2007, IBM created a business process management (BPM) simulation game called Innov8. It was originally designed to help develop college students and young IT professionals, but during the past five years, it has evolved into a program that gives both IT and business players a better understanding of the impact of successful BPM on an entire business ecosystem. At its core, Innov8 was created to help people work smarter so they can help build a smarter planet. Players quickly see how practical process improvements can help meet profitability, customer satisfaction and environmental goals while addressing real problems municipalities and businesses face.

3. Gamification boosts achievement across the board. Companies spend thousands of dollars annually sending their employees to seminars, conferences and targeted development sessions. There are benefits to being able to display the fruits of learning achievements via certificates displayed on desks, letters behind one’s name and highlights on a LinkedIn page. People often enjoy competition, and they like to win and receive validation. In the workplace, people are judged on their knowledge, achievements and overall reputation. Allowing employees to become skilled masters in their particular roles and creating a community that openly recognizes their accomplishments will not only facilitate overall workforce development, it will ultimately help an organization reach its business goals.

4. Gamification builds engagement and can promote emotional connections with others. Most people appreciate some sort of social interaction in the workplace. Employees enjoy having lunch partners and playing on kickball teams during company outings, and they may voluntarily spend their off hours at team-building events. People like to feel that they belong and to help others, that they matter and that they are more than a cog in the corporate machine.

In 2011, the winner of the SAP Gamification Cup had the idea of gamifying SAP’s vendor invoice transaction. For each invoice and line item, users and their teams can earn points, raise their status and participate in daily or monthly challenges for their team. The reward at the end of the month is a dollar amount that is donated to charity.

Gabe Zichermann, an author and the founder of the Gamification Summit, stated in 2012 that “Gamification can run a loyalty program that has all the bells and whistles of something like [United’s] MileagePlus, but cheaply. Traditional loyalty programs fail because they don’t typically generate new or additional revenue streams and can cost a company more in the end. What drives loyalty is not giving away free stuff, but status and recognition. People are very into status once they achieve it, and they don’t want to lose it.”

Gaming creates a virtual world where employees can be productive and still have a good time. Incorporating fun into the workplace can be good for business because it fosters productivity, which helps to create a better work environment. Happier employees often generate higher revenue.

5. Gamification emphasizes learning and development. Many companies are embracing gamification as a way to encourage innovation among their employees. At a 2012 Consumerization of IT in the Enterprise conference, Zichermann described the crowd-sourcing game Foldit, developed by the University of Washington. In 2011, 46,000 people using Foldit worked for just 10 days to determine the structure of a key protein that scientists believe may help cure HIV. Scientists had been working on the problem for 15 years.

An organization may not be trying to cure a deadly disease, but fostering innovation can mean life or death in today’s marketplace. Reinforcing learning and development within a team will not only foster a productive work environment, it helps to create opportunities for career advancement and job security for employees down the road.

However learning leaders spin it, gamification is a fast, effective and fun way to train and motivate employees. Be on the lookout for it — or better yet, be the pioneer who brings the idea to the company.

Whitney Cook is an account manager at Inward Strategic Consulting, focusing on gamification and employee engagement in retail. She can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

DELTA GAME PROMOTES COMPETITION, SKILL-BUILDING

How do the best get better? Delta Air Lines tackled this challenge with its call center professionals in 2012.
Call center employees handle customer needs, upsell additional Delta products and cross-sell partner promotions. Many of these employees were already leaders in sales metrics, but the airline sought further improvements.

Delta’s training team partnered with e-learning company NogginLabs Inc. to develop a game-based training program that appealed to the call center professionals’ competitive nature, challenged their skills and engaged the audience by delivering learning that didn’t feel like a required course.

“We are continually trying to build more interesting and appealing training for front-line reps,” said Ryan Mizusaki, Delta’s general manager of reservations field support and learning. “Historically, we have embedded games in our learning modules, so with the concept of gamification we thought, how do we change the paradigm and embed learning into a game?”

The solution was Ready, Set, Jet!, a travel game that presents seven cities across six continents. Delta content is paired with cultural content and enmeshed into the game to the point where no Delta branding is noticeable. By decontextualizing Delta content from the employee’s job role, learners can immerse themselves in gameplay.

“The real-world experiences from the game will provide knowledge and skills representatives can use in their interactions with customers each day,” said Allison Ausband, vice president, reservation sales and customer care at Delta. “From knowledge about our products and services, to a better understanding of routes and geography, to improving customer service and selling; this game will undoubtedly improve the reservations experience for our customers. And it also provides employees with some fun and healthy competition.”

As players navigate the globe, they access activities and mini-games that allow them to progress toward milestones and achievements. The objective is to climb to the top of the leaderboard, which encourages competition. Applying metrics within a learning game drives engagement and continual play, and the game’s metrics include money gathered and spent, time and miles traveled, learner’s rank, tasks and games competed, cities visited, and an overall score shown on the global leaderboard.

To further build the gaming community, Ready, Set, Jet! allows several types of interactions between players, which are administered through the players’ company email accounts. They can challenge each other to a mini-game via email, staking money they’ve earned through the game. Players also can earn souvenirs throughout the game, and have the option to exchange the souvenir for game money or leave it in a city for another player to collect. Within the game, players also can tag their favorite mini-games, adding an element of crowdsourcing similar to that used by many social media platforms.

The game’s architecture allows for a living world that continually changes and evolves, and Delta plans to expand the game with new cities in subsequent development phases.

Reception of the game has been positive. During the initial launch period of Oct. 1-15, more than 1,400 players voluntarily engaged in the game. Since that time, more than 3,300 challenges have been issued and more than 1,000 souvenirs left for fellow players. In the first two months since the initial launch, Delta call center professionals have voluntarily logged more than 16.2 million minutes of game time, the equivalent of more than 30 years.

Brian Knudson is the founder of NogginLabs Inc., a custom e-learning design and development company. He can be reached at editor@CLOmedia.com.

Survey: Tech Gadgets Eroding Workplace Etiquette

2013 05 07 12:00 PM

Sixty-four percent of CIOs said higher use of mobile gadgets such as cellphones and tablets have led to more breaches in workplace etiquette over the last three years, according to a new survey.

Menlo Park, Calif. — May 7

Technology is one of the most effective ways to bring people together at work, but it may also be causing a digital divide, a new Robert Half Technology survey of chief information officers suggests.

Sixty-four percent of CIOs said higher use of mobile gadgets such as cellphones and tablets have led to more breaches in workplace etiquette during the last three years. That's up from 51 percent who said the same thing in a similar survey three years ago.

The survey is based on more than 2,300 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies in 23 major metro areas with 100 or more employees.

Robert Half Technology suggests avoiding these four things to remain in the good graces of your colleagues and manager:

Surfing while talking: Checking your email while someone is trying to have a one-on-one conversation with you is impolite. You'll come off looking distracted and disrespectful.

Leaving long voice messages: For most communications, you should get to the point quickly. Aim for a voice mail that's no longer than 30 seconds unless it's a delicate or complicated issue.

Using the wrong form of communication: Can you send a text or IM instead of calling? Along the same lines, email is better than instant message when an immediate response isn't required. Of course, if you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, picking up the phone or talking in person is best.

Taking multitasking to the extreme: While it is generally acceptable to bring laptops and smartphones to meetings, you still must be an active and attentive participant. Rein in the urge to surf the Web, update your Facebook status or check your email every minute. Also set your smartphone to vibrate or turn it off completely.

Source: Robert Half Technology

ADP Launches Health Care Reform Website for Employers

2013 05 06 07:00 AM

The new section of ADP’s website aims to provide information to employers related to health care reform through webinars and other online learning tools.

Roseland, N.J. — May 6

ADP, a provider of global human capital management services, has announced the launch of its new Health Care Reform section on ADP.com. The section is designed to help employers more effectively plan for the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

How employers choose to comply with the ACA's mandates can have a significant impact on multiple aspects of their business — from payroll processing to summary of benefits disclosures to time and attendance tracking. As a result, human resources and benefits professionals are seeking insight and expertise to help them meet the current and future needs of their organization.

In light of this need, the new ADP website aims to provide critical information related to health care reform via a user-friendly interface intended to help CFOs, financial managers and human resources executives better navigate the complexities of the law and develop a more effective strategy for compliance.

The new section of the site features an interactive ACA compliance timeline to help employers track guidance, deadlines, changes and updates as they happen, understand the impact of specific requirements on their business and gain insight and perspective from ADP experts on the front lines of the new law and its implementation.

As ACA guidance continues to be released, ADP's section covering the law will be updated to meet evolving market needs and demand for new insights and information, so that companies can make more informed business decisions.

Source: ADP