The newly released ASTD/i4cp research report, Instructional Systems Design: Today and in the Future, found that most organizations have Instructional Systems Design (ISD) programs that are, at best, moderately effective in achieving both learning and business goals, and are not positioned well enough for the future. ISD is adapting to the current, fast-changing learning environment and the uncertain future. The learning environment is constantly evolving, with companies’ operations expanding globally; learners coming from increasingly diverse backgrounds and cultures; and technological advancements constantly changing the ways in which learning occurs.

What tools are ISD professionals using and considering using, in order to help them adapt for the future? Classroom instruction is not being substituted for emerging technologies and informal learning. In fact, 97 percent of respondents reveal that their organizations currently use classroom instruction, with less than one percent saying they no longer use it. New forms of instruction will not replace classroom learning—at least in the short term—but rather supplement and shape such learning. Learning today is becoming much more customized, informal, just-in-time, and technologically mediated. The study shows that the trend towards blending classroom learning with technological tools has become well established. More than two-thirds of respondents say their organizations use blended learning (combinations of synchronous and asynchronous, classroom, and e-learning).

Although this study confirms the finding from ASTD’s The Rise of Social Media: Enhancing Collaborations and Productivity Across Generations study, that most companies have not yet systematically embraced social media technologies for the learning function, there is evidence that these technologies are gaining momentum. A significant percentage of participants say their companies are planning to use them in the future. In fact, fewer than 5 percent of respondents do not think the use of social media will increase over the next five years. Mobile learning, social networks, podcasts, and wikis are the top four tools being considered for use in the future.

A complimentary copy of the report’s executive summary can be downloaded and members can download their free copy of the report from the store.

Tags: instructional systems design, ISD

Categories: Research

A majority of high-performing organizations use talent management to help them identify, develop and leverage the core talent that is critical to the current and future performance of their companies. Mastering talent management helps companies differentiate themselves and provides them with a competitive edge. However, developing a cohesive talent management program, which successfully integrates its various components and aligns high-potential employees with company goals, is challenging for business leaders.

The Talent Management Playbook is based on a survey commissioned by ASTD and i4cp that examined various aspects of talent management, including how organizations define talent management, the components they value, the people they choose, those they delegate to benefit from it and they ways in which they measure the success of its outcomes.

Challenges that organizations commonly face with regards to talent management are addressed and potential actionable strategies are discussed; enabling organizations to take a holistic approach for the employees and company. Some of the challenges discussed include:

• There is no universal consensus on the definition of talent manage, and its meaning can vary even within organizations.
• Organization that integrate talent management are more effective and successful, yet few organizations report they have successfully done so.
• An organization may lack the measurement tools need to accurately track and assess talent management processes.

This easy-to-use research guide also includes real-world examples of how companies have addressed some of these talent management issues.

The Talent Management Playbook can be purchased from the ASTD Store.

Tags: talent management

Categories: Research

ASTD Research has released its Learning Executive Confidence Index for the second quarter of 2010. 257 learning executives (LXs) responded to an online invitation-only survey, contributing to a Q2 LXCI of 62.0. This is a 1.0 point increase from the Q1 LXCI of 61.0, and is the highest value on record, indicating increasing optimism in the performance of the learning function. Highlights from the report include:

• The overall LXCI for Q2 2010 was 62.0, reaching its highest value to date. This demonstrates that collectively LXs expect their learning functions to improve slightly over the next six months.
• Expectations for outsourcing on external services that aid in the learning function showed minor changes in Q2, with an increasing number of LXs foreseeing a continuation of the status quo or an increase in outsourcing.
• More than seven in ten LXs anticipated WLP funding to increase or remain the same in the next six months, similar to Q1.
• A majority of LXs who anticipated a decrease in their learning expenditures over the next six months predicted an improvement in their organization’s WLP expenditure from Q1 2012 onwards.

To download a complimentary copy of the full report or for more information, visit the LXCI page on the ASTD website

Tags: LXCI

Categories: Research

The recent emergence of social media technologies such as Web 2.0 is spawning a new era in corporate learning. But how valuable do learners find social media tools for learning on the job? Respondents to the ASTD/i4cp research report, The Rise of Social Media: Enhancing Collaboration and Productivity Across Generations, indicated that shared workspaces, wikis, and podcasts are seen as the most valuable tools for the learning function. Nearly two-thirds of respondents found shared workspaces to be valuable for learning, while podcasts and wiki’s were found to be valuable or indispensible by 43% and 41% of learners, respectively. On the other hand, more nascent technologies such as virtual worlds and augmented realities are not yet seen as very valuable or indispensible.  

To find out more about the findings from ASTD’s Rise of Social Media report and the use of social media technologies for learning on the job, attend the Social Media: Who is using it for Workplace Learning? session, at ASTD’s 2010 International Conference & EXPO (May 16th-19th, Chicago, Il). The session takes place on Wednesday, May 19th @ 8:00am, and will involve a panel discussion with representatives from CSC, American Express, and ASTD exploring this area in depth by analyzing who is using social media for workplace learning and more importantly, how organizations are harnessing the opportunities that these technologies present.

Tags: social media

Categories: Research

ASTD has partnered with ES Research for a new study on sales training. This project will focus on drivers of sales training: what sales professionals need and do in order to stay ahead of the competition and to excel their relationships with clients and prospects, as well as what sets salespeople apart from other professionals.

To obtain a complimentary copy of the findings, complete the survey below. The survey is open to active sales professionals only.

http://survey.confirmit.com/wix/p1221164556.aspx?vid=AB

All sales professionals - excluding sales trainers - who complete the full survey will receive a complimentary copy of "10 Steps to Successful Sales" book, and be entered into a drawing for one of three gift cards from Amazon.com worth $50, and a drawing for one of five Pulse Smartpens. For a full description visit: http://www.salestrainingdrivers.org/incentive.aspx

For more information on sales training trends consider attending The Future of Sales Training session at the ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition!

Tags: sales, training drivers

Categories: Research

Having the right people, with the right skills, in the right positions is paramount to sustaining an organization’s growth and success. Identifying key positions, critical knowledge and skills, and the talent needed to meet short- and long-term goals should be top of mind for every business leader. Equally important is the process of developing and advancing employees in the succession pipeline. Yet despite the important connection between succession planning and business success, ASTD/i4cp’s newest study shows most companies admit their succession planning efforts have significant room for improvement.

During a webinar, on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1pm-2pm EDT, Tony Bingham, President and CEO of ASTD, and Kevin Oakes, CEO of i4cp, will reveal findings from the study, Improving Succession Plans: Harnessing the Power of Learning and Development, and discuss the critical trends that will help your organization align learning strategies and practices to long-term goals and organizational success.

Click here to sign up for this webinar.

For more information on succession planning consider attending the Succeeding in Succession: Putting Five Talent-Development Principles into Pracitce session, at the ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition!

Tags: succession planning

Categories: Research

ASTD Research has released its Learning Executive Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2010. 325 learning executives (LXs) responded to an online invitation-only survey, contributing to a Q1 LXCI of 61.0. This is a 0.8 point increase from the Q4 LXCI of 60.2, and is the highest value on record, indicating increasing optimism in the performance of the learning function. Highlights from the report include:

• The overall LXCI for Q1 2010 was 61.0, reaching its highest value to date. This demonstrates that collectively LXs expect their learning functions to improve slightly over the next six months.
• Expectations for outsourcing on external services that aid in the learning function showed minor changes in Q1, with an increasing number of LXs foreseeing a continuation of the status quo or an increase in outsourcing.
• Nearly three-quarters of LXs anticipated WLP funding to increase or remain the same in the next six months, similar to Q4.
• A majority of LXs who anticipated a decrease in their learning expenditures over the next six months predicted an improvement in their organization's WLP expenditure from Q4 2011 onwards. 

To download a complimentary copy of the full report or for more information, visit the LXCI page on the ASTD website

Tags: LXCI

Categories: Research

The newly released ASTD/i4cp research report, The Rise of Social Media: Enhancing Collaboration and Productivity Across Generations, found social media technologies to still be gaining traction in the workplace relative to increases in personal usage. For example, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they used social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, either often or all the time in their personal lives, whilst only 20 percent said they did so for work-related learning. Many organizations have not fully integrated and formalized social media technologies within the workplace and therefore adoption of social media technologies is not as widespread in the workplace. Employers increasingly need to figure out how to leverage social media within their organization, so that they don’t fall behind as both an employer of choice and as a learning organization.

Although many employees have embraced shared workspaces, such as Google Docs and SharePoint, and social networks, it doesn’t mean that all social media technologies have become mainstream. Other technologies, such as social bookmarking, virtual worlds, and augmented realities have yet to gain the same kind of popularity, both in the workplace and for personal use. Additionally, generational differences were observed in the survey responses, as younger generations (Millennials) were more likely to use the majority of technologies more often than older generations (Baby Boomers), with only a couple of exceptions – podcasts and virtual worlds.

Although self-reported usage was relatively low, there are many signs that social media usage will increase for on-the-job learning. More than 80 percent of respondents said use of social media for learning within their organization would increase over the next 3 years. Additionally, a growing proportion of the future workforce will be from the Millennial generation (born after 1981), who use social media technologies more than Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, both at home and at work, and therefore one could anticipate social media usage to increase within the workplace.

Members can download a discounted copy of the report from the store.

For more information on social media consider attending the Social Media: Who’s Using it for Workplace Learning? session at the ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition!

Tags: social media

Categories: Research

According to the ASTD-i4cp Talent Management Practices and Opportunities Study, integrated talent management is a relatively new practice that is expected to become increasingly emphasized in organizations over the next three years.

The vast majority of organizations have not had functioning integrated talent management programs for long. Less than 5 percent of the responding organizations had an integrated approach in place for more than a decade; while more than a quarter of the organization in the survey did not have an integrated approach at all. A majority (62 percent) of respondents indicated that their programs had been integrated for five years or fewer.

With regards to integrated talent management, experience appears to count, as there was a significant positive correlation between the length of time that an organization has had an integrated approach in place and reported success in managing talent (r= .33). Therefore, organizations that do not have an integrated approach in place as yet, or recently developed one, will need to rapidly proceed through the learning curve in order to effectively manage talent and compete with those who have considerable experience in integrated talent management systems.

Organizations are recognizing that there is considerable room for improvement if they want to manage their talent more effectively. Just a fifth of respondents said their organizations were using talent effectively, while comparatively, more than a fifth of respondents admitted that their companies were effective users of talent to only a small extent or not at all, and more than half reported effectiveness to a moderate extent.

Not only did the findings indicate that there was room for improvement in the future, but they also revealed that integrated talent management will become more necessary over time. More than 80% of the survey respondents predicted that their firm’s emphasis on talent management would grow in the next three years.

These findings are compelling for the industry and have led ASTD and i4cp to partner for an in-depth study on integrated talent management, which will be released later in 2010.

For more information on talent management consider attending the Synchronizing Leadership Development at UPS with the Demands of Global Growth session at the ASTD 2010 International Conference and Exposition!

Tags: talent management

Categories: Research

Is leadership development effective? Does your organization invest in leadership development wisely? Do you get the results you’re looking for? These are some of the questions that organizations often ask regarding leadership development. However, there is no magic formula for success and organizations need validated benchmarking data on evaluation practices to help them find answers. At ASTD’s 2010 International Conference & EXPO (May 16th-19th, Chicago, Il), a panel discussion with representatives from ASTD and ICF International will examine these issues in depth by exploring the findings from a comprehensive study recently launched. This interactive panel session will provide key insight into best practices and how organizations have successfully demonstrated the impact of leadership development activities.  

The Leadership Development Evaluation: Does your program deliver results? session takes place on Monday, May 17th @ 12:30pm.

Tags: leadership development

Categories: Research