The Learning Curve It is (or should be) well understood in the training business that trying a new technique will result in an initial drop in performance. Coaches often need to encourage learners to continue using the new technique until they get up the learning curve. In other words, keep chugging and eventually your performance […]

Since about March, maybe a little later, we’ve been busy helping clients convert their in-person training to either remote instructor-led training or self-contained web-based training. It’s a challenge because it seems simple on the surface, and it may actually be simple…but based on our observations, it is apparently easy to get wrong.   First of all, if you are thinking about this now, you are probably too late and probably […]

Just to be clear, these are examples of things nobody should really do. Don’t try this at home…or at work for that matter. Do the opposite of these things to be successful in every way (and avoid tormenting others). In other words… DON’T… …continuously require updates on status and progress. This is like pulling carrots […]

In some situations, it is easy for organizations and professionals to lose focus on the bigger human performance or training picture in their business. Articles come out promoting the next trends in learning, like “m-learning,” social media, etc. Conferences and expos celebrate creative solutions. Vendors show off nifty interactions and interfaces. All that sounds like […]

You may have heard the expression “the problem is, you don’t know what you don’t know” used to describe how unknowns create risk in decisions. (You may also have heard the expression “too bad stupid doesn’t hurt”…but that’s just funny). In general though, when we hear someone speak “with authority” we assume they know what […]

On Wednesday, March 03, 2010, the ABC station in New York ran a report about a New York City police officer who went public about quotas. Apparently, the police are given specific targets to meet for arrests and summons. The complaint was that the quotas were being enforced blindly…so officers had no choice but to […]

I recently had a problem with my computer. A client I was working with said it was a D620 error. I didn’t get it at first but then realized my computer is a Dell Latitude D620. Apparently, this model has had a problem or two…my client’s company actually exchanged a bunch of them when they […]

Originally posted on March 28th, 2007 by Pete There was an article in Wall Street Journal recently about schools overusing automated phone message systems, resulting in some families getting up to five calls in the same night and some with no real information (e.g., “your child is a pleasure to have in class”)!! The desire […]

Steeley Dan was a pretty cool band–you have to admire their refusal to perform live and their blantant use of jazz-influenced chord progressions. But that is not the reason for the title. Nope. It is because somehow, Yahoo managed to screw up my blog and I have to regenerate the whole thing.  I am definitely not happy […]