Teams are Changing: Are Team Leaders and Members Keeping Up?

/in /
by Janice Molloy | September 29, 2021

One of the hallmarks of the 21st-century work environment is how profoundly the nature of teams and teamwork has changed. Organizations have become flatter and less hierarchical. In our fast-moving world, a good deal of decision making has moved to the frontlines. Team leaders and members who once waited for “orders from headquarters” now need to be prepared to respond quickly as new changes and opportunities emerge, and to make bold decisions without gaining multiple levels of approval. Teams aren’t as static as they once were. They are often formed—and formed again—to tackle emerging problems. Moving up the ladder by […]

Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

/in /
by Manika Gandhi | September 22, 2021

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising. Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way. For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay […]

Strategies to Effectively Engage Learners Across the Enterprise

/in /
by Deanna Foster | September 14, 2021

Forward-thinking organizations are increasingly offering employees at all levels, across the enterprise, the opportunity to learn at work. This helps their workforce build the portfolio of knowledge and skills needed to thrive in today’s fast-paced and complex environment. These learning opportunities are available on demand, meeting learners in the moment, enabling them to rapidly acquire new skills that they can apply to their own work, and that support their organization’s strategy, needs, and culture. The best of these learning opportunities acknowledge the time-pressures that today’s learners are experiencing, without disrupting their everyday work life. In a recent post, my colleague […]

Addressing Leadership Development Needs at Speed and Scale

/in /
by Jeff DeSmet | September 8, 2021

The other day, I was speaking with a colleague, and she told me, “We’ve been living in a VUCA world for a long time, but now it’s VUCA on steroids.” I couldn’t agree more. Just when we’ve almost gotten used to dealing with the challenges of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, the digital revolution – ultra-fast to begin with – continues to accelerate the pace of just about everything. Then the covid pandemic added a new twist. “VUCA on steroids” now meant that we needed to be more agile and flexible than ever. This has translated into the need for […]

Coaching for Human Skills: Fresh Approaches from Top Learning Leaders

/in /
by Abbey Lewis | July 19, 2021

Through our learning leader discussions at the Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning 2021 Partners’ Meeting—Learn, Lead, Illuminate—we identified 5 key human skills  that are crucial for leaders if they are to succeed in a rapidly changing digital future. High on the list were empathy, communication, and trust-building skills. These all serve as a foundation for building deep connections at work with colleagues and customers, which ultimately translates to positive business outcomes. Our conversation with organization development leaders led to the trickier question: How do we develop human skills in the current and future digital age—and in a way that’s actually […]