Worldwide recession took everyone by surprise. Everyone and everything was affected. The people who suffered most were the middle-class. Layouts, increase in cost of food items and more were growing on a daily basis as the middle-class dipped into its savings to put food on the table. The gloomy picture encouraged everyone to take stock of the situation and budget their finances.
Organizations facing the recession crunch have to tighten their belts over unwanted expenses like free meals, gift vouchers, movie tickets, etc. Organizations commenced on the process of due diligence and consultation with others involved in decision-making before making any large purchases or expenses.
The recession had a negative influence on the learning and development department as company budgets were considerably reduced as a part of cost control. While some organizations lowered their training budgets, some companies upped their efforts to develop employee skills and competencies with reduced resources. Training was provided for aligning employee skills with business goals, improving competence and technical skills, people’s management skills and establishing effective leadership. Many companies reassessed their training methodology to minimize costs, while others embarked on training to as a retraining exercise to aid redeployment.
So how should companies cope with training needs in times of recession?
Companies should create a growth strategy in slowdown time just as they would have planned during peak season.
Instead of downsizing, companies should indulge in rightsizing for survival. Having high performers on board and optimizing manpower is a strategized decision in a recessionary scenario.
The organization’s main focus is on reducing costs. Organizations can cut down on holding training sessions at swanky hotels with elaborate luncheons and dinners. During such times, training should be aimed at learning new skills.
During tough times, organizations should ask seniors to talk to subordinates to create awareness about the recession, its impact and uncertainties anticipated in near future. If the company has reduced its training budgets, it can teach its employees various skills by offering on-the-job training instead of classroom training. The former can allow the employee to focus on instant use of the new learning initiative.
A company should innovate. In so doing, a company can offer the best of talent at competitive rates and carve a niche for themselves when everything is looking down in order to earn above average profits.
Due to a lack of financial resources for training, companies can identify talent within the company who can assume the trainer’s role or resources by shortlisting employees holding various job functions and responsibilities.
At the end of it, real time measurement of training sessions will mark a major return of investments when the economy is buoyant again.
Unfortunately, there are several small businesses that fall by the wayside, chiefly due to the fact that they could not beat their competition. However, market wisdom tells us that to be a successful entrepreneur, it is necessary to adopt certain marketing strategies to beat your competitors. Here are some time-tested ones:
No entrepreneur can ever succeed in a vacuum. He or she needs to meet people belonging to your line of business, attend meetings and meet your competitors. Such venues are perfect breeding grounds to gather important information that could help your business grow.
Take every opportunity of addressing industry-specific meetings as this will give your business a public face. Organize focus groups whenever you can get members’ views on your products. With their feedback, you can alter your product to make them more marketable.
Don’t always behave like a businessman. There are times when you should behave like a buyer and go out shopping to see just how your products are placed in a shop, the price at which they sell vis-à-vis your competitors, and the kind point of purchase advertising material they use. If you test their quality and compare it with yours, it will be good for you as you will know where you stand in relation to them.
It’s necessary for you to attend trade shows and seminars as these are windows of opportunity for you to make contact with other entrepreneurs in your field or allied fields. You will also get to see new trends, developments and marketing techniques that could help you become more relevant and cost-effective.
You need to not just have a well-designed website but one that is constantly updated too. It should necessarily contain all information regarding your business, services and products, as this adds considerable credibility to your growing business and says that you too have a small place in your specific industry.
Also, remember that it’s not enough to have a business website in a universal language. If you want a larger share of the world market, you need to reach out to more countries and speak to them in their native language. This means localizing your site professionally to give a clearer understanding of your products and services. If your potential customers feel relaxed dealing with you, they are likelier to buy your products and services.
Thanks for reading my blog. Do share your thoughts on the same.
I would like to share excerpts of the book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a must-read for people who want to discover themselves and have a desire for lifelong learning. If we are committed to emotional mastery, by practicing these seven simple laws daily, we will transform our lives and become successful in all spheres of life. Here are my daily commitments to these seven laws:
Pure Potential: I will practice silence for 30 minutes a day. I will not judge people but spend time with Nature.
Giving: I will practice giving as an important principle of my life. I will impart knowledge, money and joy freely.
Karma: I will be conscious of the choices I make at every moment. I will always ask these two questions:
What are the consequences of my choices?
Will they make me and those around me happy?
Least Effort: I will accept people, situations, circumstances and events that occur. This moment it is meant to be. I will take full responsibility of my life. I will not defend my deeds and thoughts so that I become light-hearted, carefree, joyous and free.
Intentions and Desires: I will make a list of all my desires and work towards achieving my goals without getting overly attached to the outcome but enjoy the journey.
Detachment: I will practice detachment. I will not force a solution to my problems. I will factor in uncertainty as an essential ingredient of my life. I will step into the field of all possibilities and anticipate the excitement that occurs when I remain open to an infinity of choices.
Purpose: I will seek a higher purpose. I will discover my unique talents and enjoy myself. I will go into timeless awareness. I am going to ask myself how I can serve those around me.
I enjoy setting goals and achieving them without attaching myself to the outcome. I really enjoy the journey. Also, I feel special when I give. Giving gives me a feeling of self-worth. I find it difficult to practice the Laws of Pure Potential and of Least Effort. I would like to hear your experiences in practicing these principles. Which ones do you think are the most difficult to follow?
Ayesha Habeeb Omer
A technical glitch, a boring demonstration or any peril can occur during a product demo. The predicament is understandable as many a time, during a product demonstration, things can go haywire. For smooth sailing demonstrations, follow these simple rules:
If you’re going to cramp each feature of your product in a 30-45 minute long demo, then your client will surely feel that product is highly complicated. Instead highlight your product’s features which are of immense value to the customer. The customer can read the remaining features from the manual.
Know what the customer is looking for in your product. Demonstrate its important features to the customer. Customize your demo to allow the client to see how your product functions.
A demonstration of a feature can take either 30 seconds or 3 minutes. Fill the intervening time with an appropriate sales pitch. While demonstrating the product, explain your product’s features and ensure that your sales pitch is in sync with the features that you explain.
Even stars rehearse their dance steps before the finale to avoid any goof-ups. So, why shouldn’t you? It’s best for any individual to do a rehearsal demo a few times with his colleague. This will save him from any disasters that could result with respect to the product or sales pitch.
It is possible that equipment available at the client’s end might be incompatible with your product. Ideally, the person should carry everything that is needed for a successful demonstration.
Even the most seasoned people have butterflies in their stomach prior to giving a demo. That nervous feeling and anxiety are normal. To soothe your nerves, take a deep breath, hold it and exhale slowly. Do this a few times till the butterflies in your stomach settle.
There could be times when your presentation file is struck by virus, or your laptop has a technical glitch. While this is most unfortunate, it is necessary to have a back-up of the actual demo. Have printouts of your demo handy as you will be able to show and tell about your product. Alternatively, reschedule the presentation for a future date.
Some clients would like to try to conduct the demo themselves. Allow yours to do the same. Avoid speaking when your client is demonstrating the working of the product, though you can step in to advise him whenever needed or asked. The last thing you want during a product demo is an annoying customer.
We begin to plan our career much before we graduate. So, it’s not surprising that when people ask us, “What are your career plans?” we have an appropriate answer like, “I want to become a doctor, engineer, writer, journalist, etc.” And if the same question is put to a proletarian, he would say, “I want to be promoted or undertake a new job or start my own venture.”
However, do you think that one’s plans alone are enough to shape your future? Brian Tracy opines, “A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” Of course, your clear plans and objectives are sure to take you places, but there still remains an unanswered question, “How will you go about achieving your desired results?” The answer to this is strategy. Devising an appropriate strategy to shape your career sounds too complicated and more of a managerial tool useful for businesses, but believe me, it is an effective instrument in this avenue too.
And now, if you are thinking about means to enhance your career this New Year, I invite you to read some powerful and proven steps listed below.
List all that you desire to achieve this New Year. Don’t worry about its length, just put it all down. Now, condense the list and bring out the one thing that you want most to achieve in 2010. The statement should be as simple as, “This year, I will get promoted as Senior Manager.” Once you have identified yourdesire, list all the activities that can help you reach your goal. Ensure that you structure them according to priority and sequence.
We all agree that time is an important factor while planning your timelines and delivery schedules. The French General, Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never.” Therefore, it is a matter of concern to set timelines and achieve your goals within the specified time.
Adjust your strategy and base it on your new goals and desires. Review your plans often and remain focused on the right things that will help you get to your destiny easily and confidently.
I hope you find the ideas here useful. However, at the end of the day, mere career planning is insufficient. It is career strategy that enables you to conquer your goals. So, if you do not have a career strategy, it is never too late to start as the old and wise saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Social media has transformed the way people interact with one another. From viewing static content on static pages to gaining access to real time dynamic information, many businesses are using social media tools to achieve their goals.
So what is Social Media? For a lay person, this is a blanket term for a set of internet-based media tools enabling you to share and discuss information with numerous people in an interactive manner. In short, social media tools allow you to connect with old friends and align with like-minded people for collaboration on future projects.
A few years ago, companies would market their products directly to people through traditional media tools like television, radio, newspapers, etc. Today, if a company launches a new product/service in the form of a video on YouTube, tweets about it, displays the content for tagging on bookmarking sites, immediate response is guaranteed.
The most common forms of social media tools are blogs (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, Live Journal), micro blogging (Twitter), social news and bookmarking (Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Google Reader, Live Bookmarks), social networking (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Geni, Orkut), video and photo sharing (YouTube, Shutterfly, Flickr) and Wikis, to name few. While formal learning takes place through classrooms and workshops, informal learning happens through reading, listening and watching or simply by talking to one another without one’s knowledge.
Imagine having an in-house learning and information environment such as a blog, social news and bookmarking, social networking, RSS, collaborative tools, video-sharing, podcasts as rich as the Internet.
To encourage learning through Social Media tools, organizations can create a seamless interface by blending both formal and informal learning. These tools encourage individuals to manage and create their own Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Individuals can browse and access all kinds of Social Media resources (video, social news sites), create their own resources (blogs, micro-blogging) and store them for easy retrieval.
Not all employees of an organization may adopt an informal style of learning through Social Media tools. While some people are born learners, others need help to acquire focused skills. Some work happily together, share ideas, knowledge, resources and help others learn, work and collaborate, while baby boomers or traditional employees could detest an informal way of learning by calling it a waste of time and depreciate the value of learning through Social Media tools..
I have learnt a lot by using various Social Media tools. Blogs written by experts and wikis update me with the latest happenings in the e-learning world, while social bookmarking sites offer news, reviews, etc, and networking sites allows me to connect and collaborate with experts who are more than willing to share ideas, resources and experiences.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Love to hear your views.
Syed Amjad Ali
Director – Technology
Online Training Course: Business Writing
Learn more about business writing skills and know how to write effective letters, memos, business reports and emails.
One of my personal achievements in 2009 was that I read a lot of books. One of them was “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” by Og Mandino. I loved the way he presented it – in 10 simple secrets. I wanted to share the excerpts from the book. I think these 10 simple secrets will make a huge difference in a person’s success.
Secret 1:Today I will begin a new life!
Failure will never overtake you if your determination to succeed is strong enough.
Failure is man’s inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.
I will form good habits and become their slave.
Secret 2:I will greet this day with love in my heart!
How will I do this?
I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.
I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul.
I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenges.
How will I speak?
I will dig for reasons to applaud.
Never will I scratch for excuses to gossip.
When I am tempted to criticize I will bite on my tongue.
How will I act?
With Love, I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate.
I will love ambition for they can inspire me.
I will love the failure as they can teach me.
I will love all mankind.
Secret 3:I will persist until I succeed!
If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed.
I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, and retreat; as they are the words of fools.
If I persist long enough I will win. I will persist, I will win.
Secret 4:I am nature’s greatest miracle!
I am special; I am unique; I am valuable.
I am not on this earth by chance. I am here for a purpose and that the purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand.
I will increase my knowledge of mankind, myself.
I will concentrate my energy on the challenge of the moment and my actions will help me forget all else.
Secret 5:I will live this day as if it is my last!
I will not waste a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes and defeats.
Neither will I think of tomorrow.
This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity.
I have but one life and life is naught but a measurement of time. If I waste today, I will destroy the last page of my life.
I will avoid with fury the killer of time.
Procrastination I will destroy with action.
Doubt I will bury with faith.
Fear I will dismember with confidence.
The duties of today I shall fulfill today.
I will labor harder, I will earn more than ever, and I will love more ever.
I will live this day as if it is my last. And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
Secret 6:Today I will master my emotions!
Weak is who permits his thoughts to control his action; strong is who forces his actions to control his thoughts.
Each day when I awaken, I will follow this plan to battle before I am captured by the forces of sadness, self-pity and failure.
If I feel depressed, I will sing.
If I feel sad, I will laugh.
If I feel ill, I will double my labor.
If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior, I will sing.
If I feel depressed, I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain, I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty, I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent, I will remember past success.
If I feel insignificance, I will remember my goals.
Today I will control my destiny. I will become master of myself.
Secret 7:I will laugh at the world!
I will cultivate the habit of laughter.
I will smile and my digestion will improve.
I will laugh at myself.
4 words: This too shall pass.
I will be happy.
I will be successful.
Secret 8:I will multiply my value a hundredfold!
I will do the work that a failure will not do.
I will always let my reach exceed my grasp.
I will never be content with my performance in the market.
I will always reach my goals.
I will strive to make my next hour better than this one.
Secret 9:I will act now!
My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by Action.
I hunger for success. I thirst for happiness and peace of mind. Lest I act I will perish in a life of failure, misery, and sleepless night.
Secret 10:Pray for guidance from God
Guide me, Help me and Show me the way.
Personally, I am trying hard to practice these secrets – my secrets of success are Secret 3 and 9 – ACTION and Persistence – Never Give Up.
Do you think that these secrets really work? Do you have “Secrets” of your own that helped you in your journey to success?
In my second job, more than half a decade back; I had created few small web based tutorials for my client, unaware that the whole process of creating courses comes under the broad expanse of instructional designing and eLearning. A year back, when I was looking to move ahead in my career path from content development, Instructional Design was enticing enough for me to lap it up.
Instructional Design was a relatively unknown branch of learning in India more than a decade ago and today it has transformed into a much sought-after skill. An instructional designer’s job involves continual learning, unlearning and relearning, be it new technology, design methods, design strategies, etc. An ID’s objective is to help people learn by engaging them through the courses created.
Personally, I enjoy working in the education segment, especially K-12 sector. K-12 offers instructional designers an opportunity to unleash their creativity in designing captivating courses to engage the minds of the young audience.
I digress. Last week, my saturated content developer friend asked me what it takes to be an instructional designer and does it require any formal qualification. I think, many years back, instructional designers did not have any formal qualification. They took it on themselves to learn various ID theories, research and brainstorm various strategies to present the course in a tasteful manner to their audience.
Before you decide to become an instructional designer, ask yourself few questions and reflect on the answers. Being a newbie in this field, I am observing various friends and acquaintances of mine who are instructional designers as well as reading blogs of experts to understand what it takes to be an efficient and novel instructional designer. Following is my observation:
Do you enjoy writing? If you’re a writer, you will definitely enjoy working as an instructional designer, because you will be able to design engaging course content for the learners. Most IDs come from content writing field including technical writing. If you’re teacher, professor, trainer, coach and manager who trains or engages in content development field, than ID is good career move.
Do you consider your English skills to be good? All instructional designers should possess good language skills. Writing is a way of expressing your thoughts, but it is necessary to know your commas, full stops, semi-colons and dashes. A course full of language and grammatical errors is a complete no-no.
Choose either Creativity or Logic, or Both? Having a logical approach to creating a course framework with a blend of creativity to engage the audience is a lethal combo for an instructional designer. Envisage creative treatments and logical learning strategies. In short, ID must be creative, think of out of box strategies and treatments to avoid boredom. Be logical and be creative.
Do you like to connect with people who help others learn? Instructional designers should bond with subject matter experts, graphics and programming specialists and at times client too. Making yourself comfortable with above mentioned, especially the first three, will help in the long run as it would be easier for them to understand your style of working and vice-versa.
An instructional designer should possess the motivation to comprehend, capability to grasp any new information / subject and transfer the knowledge gained to teach others.
It is vital that instructional designers visualize themselves as the target audience during the creation of the course. By familiarizing with the learner’s background and expectations, an ID will be able to create courses that will bridge the learning gaps.
An instructional designer should enjoy upgrading his/her knowledge on various learning theories, strategies and basic instructional design principles to write correct objectives, structure content logically, create story boards and assess whether learning has happened.
An ID should be acquainted with basic features and limitations of various eLearning development tools and software despite the presence of graphics and programming specialists.
An instructional designer should have the ability to assimilate and chunk information. He/she has to decide what and how to present the information, have the capability to write instructional text, scenarios, and dialogs, audio and video script. The instructional designer should envisage various instructional graphics, user interface, interactions and finished product in their mind.
I have arrived at the following conclusion – Instructional design is about creating learning experiences that increase the skills and knowledge of the target audience. It is more about creating an effective learning experience by telling what you know; understanding of how people learn, and discovering methods for eliminating the barriers to understanding that must be overcome to help a target audience learn something new.
What are your thoughts on the same? Do comment and share your knowledge on what it takes to be an instructional designer.
I started blogging this year and learned a lot of new things in the field of learning. Thought of sharing the list of most appreciated learning blogs. And, would also like to thank all the people who had shared their views and experiences.
With technology it is easier to be updated with latest happening. Use these tips to enhance your learning and build an attitude of Life Long Learning! Would like to hear your experience about how you used learning to achieve greater heights in your career!
M-learning has changed the mode of learning from the traditional instructor-led classroom teaching to constructive learner centered educational system. You can have your biology classes in the fields, chemistry in the laboratory or real world situation, history in the museums and so forth. Do you think m-learning is a better platform for effective learning or does it have any pitfalls?
Learning, the backbone of our growth is an ongoing process. To enhance our skills and knowledge, we need to learn new techniques and adapt better methods. But, does our hectic lifestyle allow employees to continuously enhance their skills and knowledge? I think, yes. With the evolution of elearning, online learning has become easier and convenient. It is the stepping stone to advancing your career.
Way back in the ‘80s, the only authoring tool people were talking about was Authorware, developed by Dr.Michael Allen (It was later acquired by Macromedia, now Adobe) for the convenience of the non-technical instructional designers. Today, we use a number of them – Lectora of Trivantis, Articulate of Articulate, Captivate of Adobe, Camtasia of TechSmith, ToolBook of SumTotal…the list goes on.
When I made an informal survey of job sites like monster and dice and visited job banks of ASTD and eLearning Guild, I found a surprising number of skills organizations want prospective IDers to have. As a practicing Learning expert, what do you think is their importance?
I have posted the discussion question, “Life is Short – Read More Books. What are you reading in 2010?” in some of the social media groups. There were many responses and most them suggested a good list of books that can be read for the year 2010. I thought of sharing this list with you.
The CommLab Global Online University blog is all about the latest, most useful and most talked about topics under Self Assessment, Career Growth and Success Tips.
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