[Trainingmag 2012/3-4] B-SCHOOL vs C-SCHOOL

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Training as a Proﬁt Center
The Art of Negotiation
Onboarding Survey Results
Training 2012 Show Wrap-Up
Does an MBA necessarily translate
into success behind the desk
in the corporate world?
B-SCHOOLVS.
C-SCHOOL
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contents
B-School vs. C-School
Does an MBA necessarily translate into success behind
the desk in the corporate world? BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN
Profit U
Ensuring employees do their jobs effectively and develop
into the best workforce possible are the first priorities of
trainers. If you’ve mastered that, how about taking it a step
further—and turning your training department into
a profit center? BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN
Give & Take
Negotiation shouldn’t be a tug-of-war— instead, the best
training focuses on building rapport. BY GAIL DUTTON
Welcome!
A recent Training magazine survey assessed the effectiveness
of organizations’onboarding programs and their impact
on helping new hires get acclimated to their new role and
organization.BY MICHAEL P. SAVITT
View From 30,000 Feet
When Delta Air Lines absorbed Northwest Airlines Corp. in
2008, the Training function realized it was in for a bumpy
ride. Here’s a look at the strategies used and progress made
since the takeover was announced.BY LORRI FREIFELD
MARCH/APRIL 2012 VOLUME 49, NUMBER 2
www.trainingmag.com
FEATURES
43 Training 2012 Wrap-Up
Training 2012 Conference & Expo hits a high note
with music, movies, and marine life—and,
of course, lots of learning and networking.
BY LORRI FREIFELD
52 Strategies for Success
Training magazine taps 2012 Training Top 125
winners and Top 10 Hall of Famers to provide
their learning and development best practices in
each issue. Here, we look at strategies for tuition
reimbursement and professional designations.
2 Online TOC Web-only content
4 Editor’s Note The Art of Negotiation
BY LORRI FREIFELD
6 Training Today News, stats, and business
intel BY LORRI FREIFELD
10 Soapbox Leading in the Second Half of Life
BY JANN FREED, PH.D.
12 Soapbox Certified by Caterpillar
BY JEFFREY C. THOMSON, CMA,
AND JANIE COPELAND, CPA
16 How-To Cement Learning in Just 5 Minutes
BY KENDRA LEE
18 World View Focus on Panama
BY DR. NEIL ORKIN
56 Best Practices Confucius Meets Plato
BY NEAL GOODMAN
58 Training magazine Events
Learning 3.0: Taking Learning to the Next Level
BY TONY O’DRISCOLL
59 Trainer Talk Positioning Training
BY BOB PIKE
60 Talent Tips Onboarding Recognition
BY ROY SAUNDERSON
64 Last Word Building Stronger Relationships
BY PETER POST
DEPARTMENTS20
20
26
31
34
38
training MARCH/APRIL 2012 | 1www.trainingmag.com

online contents
2 | MARCH/APRIL 2012 training www.trainingmag.com
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Training Corporate Workers Like Fighter Pilots
Creating a virtual environment provides context and focus during
training that is difficult to achieve using any other method. It’s
your best bet for creating aces within your own organization.
http://trainingmag.com/article/training-corporate-workers-
fighter-pilots
7 Ways to Tame Your Office Tyrant
Use humor, common sense, and rational thinking, and set limits to
bad behavior.
http://trainingmag.com/article/7-ways-tame-your-office-tyrant
Case Study: The UPS Store/Cal Poly Training
Tapping the resources and expertise of California Polytechnic State
University (Cal Poly), The UPS Store created a hands-on training
program to help its nationwide franchise network say, “We can print that.”
http://trainingmag.com/article/case-study-ups-storecal-poly-training
Learning: How Change Management Is Done
While most senior executives realize learning is critical to achieving
meaningful change, many don’t realize what it takes to achieve the
necessary level of learning. True change can only be achieved through
targeted learning that: sells the desired change to the people who have
to make it happen; and teaches those people (and gets them to adopt)
the new behaviors required to make the change happen.
http://trainingmag.com/article/learning-how-change-management-done
Interested in writing an online article for www.trainingmag.com?
E-mail Editor-in-Chief Lorri Freifeld at lorri@trainingmag.com.
Your source for more training tips, trends, and tools
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home of Training magazine, you’ll find
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editor’s note
Lorri Freifeld
lorri@trainingmag.com
M
any people think William Shatner is the master negotiator based on his
priceline.com commercials, but I believe my husband actually owns the
title. His dad was in auto sales, and he has continued the family tradi-
tion. In fact, he practices his wiles—I mean skills—on me on a regular basis.
For example, after our beloved dachshund, Noel, passed away in December, we
adopted a cream-colored dachshund puppy named Puff. But
my husband had his heart set on rescuing a dog from a shelter.
So every night thereafter, he showed me pictures on his iPad
of Oscar, a five-year-old, long-haired, sweet-faced chocolate
dachshund who “desperately needs a good home” (my hus-
band’s words). I absolutely did not want two dogs. My husband
absolutely wanted Oscar.
Fast-forward a week, and we were in New Jersey picking up
Oscar, who, I’m glad to say, has settled in very nicely (the pup-
py, on the other hand, is a bit of a terror…). My husband, the
master negotiator, engaged my emotions; made all the right
promises (“of course, I’ll take him and Puff out at 5 a.m. so you can sleep”); and
had me in the car before I finished saying, “I guess so.”
The strategies used to negotiate multimillion-dollar deals are the same strat-
egies used to negotiate which movie you watch with your spouse—or, in my
case, how many dogs to own. Only the stakes change. But although negotiation
affects virtually every aspect of life, the skills rarely are taught, and many
organizations actually don’t know how to teach them. That’s why we decided to
focus on negotiation training in this issue. See p. 31 for how and what to teach
when it comes to the art of give and take.
New hires, in particular, probably would benefit from some negotiation
training, especially as they navigate the politics and processes of their new posi-
tions. Speaking of onboarding, a recent Training magazine survey, conducted
in conjunction with Avatar HR Solutions, assessed the effectiveness of orga-
nizations’ onboarding programs and their impact on helping new hires get
acclimated to their new role and organization. Some 73 percent of responding
sorganizations have an onboarding program in place, but only 51 percent of
them feel it is effective, the survey of more than 1,300 organizations found. See
p. 34 for more survey results and best practices.
Another question that often arises when hiring new employees is, “Is an MBA
really necessary or would employees do better to receive their higher busi-
ness education working in the corporate world?” Check out our cover story on
p. 20 to see how companies are helping new employees apply what they learn in
B-school classrooms to the real world of tight budgets and—you guessed it—
ongoing negotiations.
Now if only I could figure out how to negotiate a deal with Puff not to take off
with my slippers at every opportunity…
The Art of Negotiation
TRAINING EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Raymond D. Green, CEO, Paradigm Learning, Inc.
Bruce I. Jones, Programming Director,
Disney Institute
Nancy J. Lewis, former CLO and VP, ITT
Corporation, and former VP, Learning, IBM
Rebecca L. Ray, Ph.D., Managing Director,
Human Capital, The Conference Board
Nick Schacht, President and CEO, Learning
Tree International
TRAINING TOP 10 HALL OF FAME
Brent Bloom, Senior Director, Global Talent &
Development, KLA-Tencor Corporation
Cyndi Bruce, Executive Director, Center for
Learning and Development, KPMG LLP
Jim Federico, Senior Director, Platforms &
Operations, Microsoft Corporation
Gordon Fuller, Global Design & Development
Leader, IBM Center for Advanced Learning
David Gauci, Director, Worldwide Talent &
Organization Capability, Pfizer Inc.
Daniel J. Goepp, Managing Director, Learning
& Development, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Vicente Gonzalez, Learning and
Development, Booz Allen Hamilton
Donald Keller, Chief Learning Officer and VP,
Global Education & Development,
SCC Soft Computer
Diana Oreck, VP, Leadership Center,
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Bill Pelster, National Director, Talent
Development, Deloitte Services LP
Kevin Wilde, VP, CLO, General Mills, Inc.
2011 TOP 10 YOUNG TRAINERS
Amy Stewart Anneé, Senior Director,
World Wide Sales Learning, Automatic Data
Processing
Daniel S. Cooper, CEO, ej4, LLC
Lisa Green, Training Manager, Paychex, Inc.
Tina K. Hall, President/Chief Catalyst,
Kirsi Consultancy
Elissa Hoehn, Executive Professional
Development Trainer, Skill Enhancement &
Development, Merck
Scott Kaplan, Director of Sales-West Coast,
Myxer
Nate Kelly, Senior Learning and Education
Manager—Tiger Institute for Health Innovation,
Cerner Corporation
James P. Orlando, Assistant Vice President,
Academic and Alumni Affairs,
Einstein Healthcare Network
Jessica Parisi, Partner, BTS USA
Sarah Reed, Learning & Development
Specialist, Sacramento Municipal
Utility District

K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R S
JIM KOUZES and BARRY POSNER
On 25 Years of The Leadership Challenge
PATRICK LENCIONI
On Leadership and Teamwork
HARRY KRAEMER
On Values in Action
Don’t miss an exciting opportunity to learn, network, and inspire others.
www.leadershipchallengeforum.com
REGISTER NOW
EVERY LEADER HAS A STORY...
WHAT’S YOURS?
Leadership is a journey,
and every journey has a story.
Come share your leadership story
and ﬁnd new inspiration with committed colleagues
at The Leadership Challenge Forum 2012.
SAN FRANCISCO, JULY 26-27, 2012
THE
LEADERSHIP
CHALLENGE
FORUM 2012

A FAVORITE PASTIME OF OLDER GENERATIONS is lamenting the decline
in behavior among the younger generation. However, new research
from leadership development firm Zenger Folkman reveals that Gen
Yers aren’t the self-centered “know-it-alls” many believe them to be.
“One of the common stereotypes about the youngest
generation is that they are more focused on themselves
than on company objectives,” says Jack Zenger, CEO
of Zenger Folkman. “To our surprise, when it came to
driving for results, the Gen Y group in our study had the
highest scores, followed by the traditionalists. Boomers
received the lowest scores.”
The study of four workplace competencies in relation
to each generation revealed other surprising truths, as
well. For example, even though Gen Y often is consid-
ered self-centered and hard to work with, in the study’s
category of collaboration and teamwork, they were at
the 60th percentile, while the percentile scores were
lower for each older generation.
“It seems the younger generation is willing to col-
laborate with those who are more experienced in
the workplace,” says Joe Folkman, president and
co-founder of Zenger Folkman. “And they have some-
thing great to contribute to
teams. Not surprisingly, they
also received the highest scores
on innovation.”
The final surprise was the Gen
Y group’s high scores on the di-
mension of self-development.
Here they were at the 64th per-
centile, while the Boomers were
at the 52nd percentile. This
hardly confirms the image of
complacent know-it-alls.
However, while Gen Y excelled
in these four competencies, there
are areas for them to grow. For
example, Traditionalists scored
the highest on technical and pro-
fessionalexpertiseanddisplaying
high integrity and honesty in
their behavior. They also were
more inclined to set stretch goals
than those of later generations.
by Lorri Freifeld
TO SUBMIT NEWS, research, or other Training Today tidbits, contact
Editor-in-Chief Lorri Freifeld at lorri@trainingmag.com or 516.524.3504.
news, stats, & business intel by Lorri Freifeld
How to Focus on the Important Things
Ask yourself, How much time do I use up clicking through e-mails and dealing
with interruptions? The answer is probably “Too much.”
When you spend your day dealing with disruption and flagging “urgent”
e-mails “unread,” you may not get the real work done. Instead, review your
calendar to identify just a few blocks of time to
focus on and engage in what really needs to be
done. (In a typical day, you probably have 35
15-minute blocks to work with.)
You already know that time blocking and
prioritization are important keys to productivity.
So, what can you do about that knowledge?
Look at your to-do list and review your calendar
to schedule specific blocks of time to act on the
Most Important Things (MITs).
Try this:
Break defined “work” actions down to 15-
to 30-minute chunks. These are blocks of
time when you can stay focused, minimize
interruptions, and work effectively. Schedule just
a couple of these each day for a few weeks.
As you experiment with this, consider
designating (and promoting to your team/staff)
specific “Interrupt Me” times during the day. Yes,
this may seem counter-productive. But, here’s
the productivity principle: When people know
they can interrupt you, they often will respect
your schedule and hold off on disrupting your
workflow until your next open time.
By Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA
www.womackcompany.com | www.twitter.com/jasonwomack | Jason@WomackCompany.com
Products & Services >> Teaming Up to Make a Difference >> Tech Talk p. 8
GenerationYDefiesStereotypes
Productivity Coach’s Corner

What do corporate training and entertainment have in common?
Both industries spend billions to produce content that will capture
our undivided attention and influence our behavior. Combining the best of both industries
may encourage organizational improvement. After all, we are a culture that is captivated by
TV and film: Supernanny taught us how to raise our children, CNN helped us decide how to
vote, and Star Wars taught us how to use the force.
Utilizing engaging video is an effective way to empower and encourage employees to
adopt behaviors or skills that benefit your organization. But what is engaging video?
“Among the mass amounts of content available, audiences will favor video that
resonates with a personal interest,” advises Skip Williamson, executive producer of the
Underworld film franchise and co-founder of Victor Prime.
Visit http://vimeo.com/victorprime/tmmarch for an example of engaging training
provided by Victor Prime, hosted by NFL legend Mike Ditka.
And here are a few tips for providing engaging video training within your organization:
1. Relate. Provide current and culturally relevant content that appeals to your learners.
Avoid dated content they would deem irrelevant. This requires assessing the generational
gap between your learners.
2. Resonate. The content should inspire an honest conversation among learners that
leaves a lasting impact. The most effective training extends well beyond the initial session
and throughout the learner’s career.
3. Reinforce. Sustain your video training with ancillary content and post-
assessments. Suggest that learners engage in refresher conversations about the
training both online and offline.
To learn more or see more training videos, visit www.VictorPrime.com.
>> John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
acquired Inscape Holdings Inc., a
provider of DiSC-based assessments
and training products that develop
critical interpersonal business
skills. Wiley paid $85 million to
purchase all of the stock of Inscape,
the majority of which is held by
investment funds controlled by New
York City-based Sentinel Capital
Partners. The acquisition will enable
Wiley to move more aggressively
into digital delivery to the growing
workplace learning and assessment
market.
>> International Education
Corporation (IEC), a national
provider of career education and
parent company of UEI College,
acquired Emergency Training
Services, an emergency medical care
training college in Santa Cruz, CA.
>> Known for its Web-based training
platform, KnowledgeNet began
in 1998, and later served as
the inspiration for the company
known as The Training Consortium
(TTC). KnowledgeNet now is
returning as TTC has acquired
the rights to the retired corporate
brand and is changing its name to
KnowledgeNet.
>> Talent management solutions
provider Peoplefluent acquired its
learning partner, Canada-based
learning management solutions
company Strategia Communications.
The combination brings integration
across traditional talent management
functions and delivers new synergies
across the components of the
Peoplefluent suite, which include
Workforce Analytics, Workforce
Compliance and Diversity, and
Vendor Management.
Partnerships&Alliances
FACEBOOK’S IMPACT on how we
communicate as a culture has
beennothingshortofrevolution-
ary. Therefore, it is natural to as-
sume the social network has sig-
nificantly influenced interactions between
management and employees. Minneapolis
marketing firm Russell Herder recently
conducted an online survey of nearly
1,000 U.S. residents that found that age,
gender, and frequency of social network-
ing usage significantly influence attitudes
and behaviors regarding the decision to
connect with one’s supervisor online.
Russell Herder’s research found that 21
percent of employees—especially those
in younger age categories—are
friends with their supervisor
on Facebook. The research also
found that men are more likely
to believe being friends with
management on Facebook enables them
to do their job more effectively.
The study found that Facebook us-
ers ages 18 to 34 are much less likely
to believe it is inappropriate to friend
their supervisor on the social network
compared to those age 55 and over. Ad-
ditionally, those who use Facebook most
frequently are more likely to be friends
with their supervisor. For the full study,
visit www.russellherder.com/research.
That’s EnterTRAINment!
By Jessica Sobhraj and Vic Sarjoo of VictorPrime
Supervisor Facebook Friends

>> Blackboard Inc. unveiled
an update for its flagship online
learning platform with a new release
incorporating a sleek, modern design.
Service Pack 8 for Blackboard Learn
9.1 offers instructors the ability
to customize and personalize the
visual presentation of their courses
with more than 50 pre-built course
themes. Also, the release adds a
quick course set-up guide, including
a set of course structures and content
options that have been designed in
accordance with pedagogical best
practices.
>> Wilson Learning Worldwide,
a global provider of Human
Performance Improvement solutions,
released its newest offering, Creating
a Culture of Engagement. This new
interactive, instructor-led solution
was co-developed with longtime
Wilson Learning partner Dr. Steve
Buchholz, president and founder of
Emergence. The standard is offered
as a two-day program and includes
an Engagement Audit.
>> Magic Whiteboard Products
launched Magic Whiteboards, which
are supercharged whiteboards on a
roll that cling to glass, paint, or any
flat surface using static electricity.
Hotel conference rooms, boardrooms,
even airport lounges become instant
training rooms by simply unrolling the
whiteboard sheets and placing them on
the wall. Each sheet is the size of a flip
chart, but can be combined to make
a wall of whiteboards. They can be
removed without damaging the surface.
The sheets use standard dry erase
markers and can be reused.
>> In support of employers, their
health plans, and their health and
wellness initiatives, The Institute for
HealthCare Consumerism unveiled
the Health & Wellness Content Library,
a collection of educational video and
written content produced by ShareWIK
(Share What I Know) Media Group.
Products&Services
>> Lectora Online E-Learning
collaboration software released new
features, including a new Live Model
Gallery with several thousand photos
for interactive e-learning development.
Other enhancements include faster
browsing in Media Library Organizer
and a Preview Published Page for
Reviewers.
>> To ensure against ERP business
process failures, Allen Communication
Learning Services introduced Systems
Assure, which helps accelerate ERP
deployment, sustains effective usage,
lowers the risk of project failure, and
increases the lifetime value of the
system. The goal of Systems Assure is
to minimize the training in the initial
implementation by more than 30
percent while raising relevancy and
motivation that directly affect user
adoption.
>> INXPO unveiled a transformative
product suite that enables
organizations to create online
destinations to meet, learn, and do
business. The new product suite
leverages INXPO’s digital events
platform, VX Platform. INXPO
launched four products with focused
feature sets, including: INXPO Inform,
an online internal communications
solution; INXPO Engage, an online
marketing solution; INXPO Recruit,
a talent acquisition and new
employee management solution; and
INXPO Learn, an online solution for
organizational training.
things, Salas says, it is a
system of social relations.
Team training is about
instilling knowledge,
skills, and attitudes—
needed competencies.
Teambuilding helps in-
dividuals on a team learn
about each other, clar-
ify roles, work through
problems, and cooperate toward accom-
plishing shared goals. Most interventions
focus on the latter—even though it has
been found to improve performance little
or not at all.
But while it’s relatively easy to find out
if people liked a program or absorbed
knowledge, it’s far more complicated to
evaluate whether workers have adopted
the behaviors they’ve been trained in or
are meeting longer-term goals such as im-
proving safety or patient outcomes. But
“because of the push for results,” Salas
says, “we are getting better at collecting
the data and are making a better case for
cause and effect.”
WHETHER THE TASK is flying
a plane, fighting a battle,
or caring for a patient,
good teamwork is crucial
to getting it done right.
That’s why teambuilding
and training courses are
big business in the U.S.
But lately something has
changed: “There’s a de-
mand for evaluations—an emphasis on
showing that team training makes a dif-
ference in safety, decision-making, com-
munication, clinical outcomes—you
name the ultimate criteria the industry
has,” says Eduardo Salas, an organiza-
tional psychologist at the University of
Central Florida.
As a result, “we are developing a new sci-
ence to show what works and doesn’t work
and why,” says Salas, who wrote an ar-
ticle on the subject with graduate students
Marissa L. Shuffler and Deborah Diaz
Granados in Current Directions in Psycho-
logical Science.
A team is not just a machine for doing
Teaming Up to Make a Difference

soapbox
Baby Boomers are not going to retire as we have come to know it, but we will
be moving on. The second half of life is the time to rediscover, redefine, reframe,
rethink, refresh, renew, and re-career. BY JANN FREED, PH.D.
This quote was in the 2005 Best of Harvard Busi-
ness Review as a summary to the article written
by Peter Drucker in 1999. Drucker used to say, “I
never predict. I look out the window and see what
is visible, but not yet seen.” And he could “see”
that the second half of life was going to be a chal-
lenge for Baby Boomers. He said that at 45, most
executives have reached their peak and are bored.
While they are very good at their jobs, they often
are not learning and are no longer challenged.
Yet, they are likely to have another 20 to 25 years
of work. So managing oneself often leads to
beginning a second career.
Marc Freedman, author of the books “The
Big Shift: Navigating the Stage Beyond Midlife”
and “Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the
Second Half of Life,” is on a mission to help
people navigate the second half of life. But when
is the second half of life? If the overall average
life expectancy is about 78 years, then midlife is
less than 40 years. Since the second half of life is
sooner than we think, planning for it
is critically important.
A few years ago, I became certified as
a Sage-ing Leader through the Sage-
ing Guild (www.sage-ingguild.org).
The program is based on the book,
“From Aging to Sage-ing: A Profound
Vision of Growing Older,” by Zalman Schachter-
Shalomi and Ronald Miller. Approximately 4
million people will turn 50 in 2012 or roughly
11,000 per day. The focus of sage-ing is on the
internal work so that instead of getting older, we
become elders—wise based on life experience.
The main principles of sage-ing include:
Exploring images of aging: Age does not define
sages. They don’t fight to look younger. They are
proud of their life experience.
Engaging in life review: Sages know wisdom
comes from reflecting and learning from life
experience.
Repairing and healing relationships: Healthy
relationships sustain us and support us through
our journey.
Embracing our own mortality: As Morrie
says in the book, “Tuesdays with Mor-
rie,” by Mitch Albom, “When you learn
how to die, you learn how to live.” Since
death is inevitable, we need to embrace
death in order to live life.
Leaving a legacy for future generations:
When we are intentional about the life
we are living, then we care about how
we live our life. We want to pass on
our wisdom and leave the world a
better place.
Another interesting movement to
help lead oneself in the second half
of life is based on Dan Buettner’s book, “The
Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the
People Who’ve Lived the Longest.” Based on his
research, Buettner identifies nine common char-
acteristics of all the world’s long-lived people.
Leading in the Second
Half of Life
Jann Freed, Ph.D., is
an author, speaker, and
leadership development
consultant. For more
information, visit
www.JannFreed.com or
e-mail JannFreed@
JannFreed.com.
“C
ompanies today aren’t managing their
employees’ careers. It’s up to you to carve
out your place, to know when to change
course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive
during a work life that may span 50 years.”
At 45, most executives have reached
their peak and are bored. While they are
very good at their jobs, they often are not
learning and are no longer challenged.
Yet, they are likely to have another 20
to 25 years of work. So managing oneself
often leads to beginning a second career.

They are known as Power 9:
1. Move naturally. Walking is the best activity for
longevity.
2. Know your purpose. Know your values, pas-
sions, and talents and share them with others.
3. Down shift. Relieve stress by finding time to
mediate, nap, pray, and calm down.
4. 80 percent rule. Stop eating when you are 80
percent full to avoid overeating.
5. Plant slant. Eat mostly a plant-based diet heavy
on beans, nuts, and green plants while minimiz-
ing processed foods and meat.
6. Wine at 5. Having one to two glass-
es of wine daily adds years to your life.
7. Family first. Family relationships
are important to quality of life.
8. Belong. Recommit, reconnect, or
discover a new faith-based community.
9. Right tribe. Friends and a healthy
social group add years to your life.
I live in the state of Iowa, and
Iowa has created the Healthiest
State Initiative based on the Blue
Zones research. According to
the 2010 Gallup-Healthways Well-
Being Index, Iowa is No. 19 in the
nation when it comes to being physi-
cally, emotionally, and mentally healthy.
The Healthiest State Initiative has a
goal and plan to claim the No. 1 spot
by 2016. This is another example
of what it will take to lead oneself
now and into the future because our
behaviors affect our longevity, productivity, and
satisfaction.
What I find interesting are the similarities
between the sage-ing principles and Power 9 char-
acteristics. Both emphasize internal and external
work. While we need to take care of our bodies, we
also need to take care of our souls. In fact, the sec-
ond half of life is the time to find a role that feeds
your soul. This may be an encore career or it may
mean re-engaging yourself in your present career.
Both philosophies require doing the inner work
surrounding relationships. Intergenerational rela-
tionships are so important in supporting teaching
and learning. We often think of younger people
needing mentors and networking, but people with
more life experience need younger people to teach
them about social media and technology. Often,
in midlife, we need to get reconnected because
we have been busy raising children and creating
healthy families.
While we live in a 24/7 interconnected world,
research tells us that social isolation is on the rise.
More people feel lonely and disconnected than 20
years ago. The definition of a good neighbor used
to be one who would loan you a cup of sugar. Now
we put up privacy fences and say a good neighbor
is someone who does not bother you.
We have work to do if we are going to be healthy
for the rest of our lives. Becoming a sage and liv-
ing a quality long life is not based on intellect, nor
does it usually happen naturally. We need to be
intentional and proactive.
An example I use is that of raising children,
particularly as a dual-career family. Once I had
the day-care situation figured out, it was time to
think about preschool. When I had that covered, it
was time to decide on after-school care. Then plan
on drivers for high school and help them evaluate
their college choices. In other words, planning for
an “encore career” or for the second half of life is
just as important as planning for these other phas-
es. And since we are living longer, in this extended
life from age 65 to 85, it is becoming increasingly
important for individuals and communities to
learn how to navigate and operate.
Now is the time to rediscover, redefine, reframe,
rethink, refresh, renew, re-career. Baby Boomers
are not going to retire as we have come to know it,
but we will be moving on…So what do you want
to move onto now that you realize you are in the
second half of life already? You can decide if you
take charge of your life.
“In a few hundred years, when the history
of our time will be written from a long-
term perspective, it is likely that the most
important event historians will see is not
technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce.
It is an unprecedented change in the human
condition. For the first time—literally—
substantial and rapidly growing numbers
of people have choices. For the first time,
they will have to manage themselves. And
society is totally unprepared for it.” —Peter Drucker

C
aterpillar Inc., a leading manufacturer
of construction and mining equipment,
knows infrastructure: Caterpillar ma-
chinery and engines can be found all over the
world. Just as Caterpillar equipment is used
to make progress possible, the company also
understands the importance of developing a
diverse and well-trained accounting staff.
With the uncertainty of the global economy,
the company’s success increasingly depends on
a workforce that’s constantly learning, growing,
and striving for excellence. This philosophy has
helped Caterpillar navigate one of the most chal-
lenging economic downturns in history and still
deliver shareholder value. One way Caterpillar
has raised the capabilities of its accounting staff is
by leveraging the value of certification programs
throughout the accounting function.
THE ACCOUNTING “SKILLS GAP”
For more than a quarter century, talent man-
agement in accounting has been a key challenge
for CFOs and controllers around the world.
The American Accounting Association’s (AAA)
Bedford Report, published 25 years ago, iden-
tified a “skills gap” between what colleges and
universities teach undergraduate accounting
students versus the changing skill set needed on
the job. Studies continue to suggest that little has
changed, and, in fact, the skills
gap has widened as accoun-
tants are challenged to perform
increasingly strategic roles. A
recent survey released by Man-
powerGroup cited “Accounting
and Finance Staff” among its
list of the top 10 hardest jobs to
fill in the United States in 2011.
Changing accounting regula-
tions, increasing globalization
of business, and advancements
in technology all have contrib-
uted to the growing gap.
Now, more than ever, we must
pay attention to the strong
disconnect of up-and-coming
professionals as the demand for accounting tal-
ent is growing, as well. The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics predicts that the number of accounting
and auditing jobs in the U.S. will grow at a faster-
than-average pace for the decade (2008 to 2018)
with the creation of nearly 280,000 new account-
ing jobs. The increasingly competitive market for
qualified accountants has challenged companies
to find ways to retain their top talent.
T&D THROUGH CERTIFICATION
Along with its dealer network, Caterpillar has
more than 500 facilities on six continents. As
such, Caterpillar’s accounting workforce is
truly diverse. To continue its performance
as a world-class company, Caterpillar sought
to define a set of core competencies for
accounting staff around the world and develop
high-potential employees for long-term careers
as strategic business partners.
In 2006, Caterpillar set an objective to build
the competencies of its accounting staff by
leveraging certification programs. The company
believed that credentialed expertise—through cer-
tifications such as the CMA (Certified Management
Accountant), the U.S. CPA license, and other locally
recognized accounting certifications around the
world—wouldprovideameanstoachieveitsgoals.
For accountants working in business,
soapbox
Caterpillar builds accounting excellence through certification.
BY JEFFREY C. THOMSON, CMA, AND JANIE COPELAND, CPA
Certified by Caterpillar
Jeffrey C. Thomson,
CMA, is president
and CEO of IMA, an
association focused
exclusively on advancing
the management
accounting profession.
Earlier in his career,
Thomson spent more
than two decades
at AT&T, where he
served in various
financial, strategic, and
operational roles.
Jananne A. (Janie)
Copeland, CPA, is
corporate controller and
chief accounting officer
of Caterpillar. Prior to
her appointment as
an officer, Copeland
was corporate financial
reporting manager and
was instrumental in
Caterpillar’s adoption
of Sarbanes-Oxley
requirements and
increased reporting
transparency. She has
been employed by
Caterpillar since 1987.
1. Employee Goals: Identify high-potential employees and include
a relevant certification program as a part of their development plan.
Lay out an actionable time line that accounts for the employee’s
regular job responsibilities, as well as exam preparation.
2. Support Resources: Offer on-site exam preparation classes, study
groups, mentoring, and study materials at no charge to employees.
3. Recognition and Rewards: Offer recognition or a reward for
a job well done. Congratulatory words from a supervisor or the
opportunity for a promotion show the importance of certification.
4. Tone at the Top: Encourage supervisors to obtain the same
certification as their direct reports and junior-level staff. This
demonstrates that certification is a respected professional and
personal achievement.
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Caterpillar identified IMA’s (Institute of Man-
agement Accountants) CMA program as a
relevant certification for its accounting staff. The
CMA covers financial planning, analysis, control,
and decision support—all critical skills needed
to evolve accountants from transactional roles
to strategic business advisors. As a global certifi-
cation, the CMA assures Caterpillar that CMA-
certified professionals around the world share the
same mastery of skills.
Since many reputable certification programs,
including the CMA, offer a defined curriculum,
recommended study programs, and exams that
assess knowledge and continuing education
requirements, they can serve as turnkey
systems for training and development. Widely
recognized certifications are not only beneficial
to organizations but are attractive for profession-
als since they can use the designation regardless
of where their careers take them.
SUPPORTING THE INITIATIVE
Caterpillar launched its accounting certifica-
tion initiative through local kick-off meetings
with senior executives to educate and encourage
accounting staff members to pursue certification
and professional excellence. Mid-level manag-
ers and up were strongly encouraged to earn an
accounting certification. Through Caterpillar’s
commitment, certification became part of ac-
counting training and development goals and was
leveraged as a means to identify, develop, and retain
high-potential employees.
To support employees in their quest for
accounting certification, the company
began offering on-site exam prepara-
tion and related study materials for select
certification programs and covered the
fees for exam preparation and testing.
Managers allowed flexible arrangements
to help certification candidates balance
work, life, and exam preparation.
As with any new company-wide initia-
tive, it can be a challenge to get buy-in
from employees and supervisors. Senior-
level staff members, many with career
maturity, also were encouraged to earn a
certification and serve as role models to
their direct reports and junior-level staff.
Certification was never positioned as an
ultimatum, but rather, over time, it was
built into the company’s culture of being
a world-class organization.
As more and more accounting em-
ployees got on board with certification,
Caterpillar made it a point to show
recognition—through congratulatory
words at staff meetings, a plaque to com-
memorate their accomplishment, and
a congratulatory letter, signed person-
ally by Chief Accounting Officer Janie
Copeland. The company made visible
the importance of certification and sent
the message that Caterpillar cares
about employee development. When
employees saw their peers earning cer-
tifications and becoming positioned for
upward mobility, they, too, wanted to be-
come certified and share in the pride of
accomplishment.
www.trainingmag.com
soapbox
14 | MARCH/APRIL 2012 training
Julie A. Lagacy has spent
her entire professional career
at Caterpillar Inc. During
her 23-year tenure, Lagacy
has served in numerous
professional roles, including
pricing analyst, commercial
manager, and Human
Resources manager. She
is currently the CFO of the
company’s Mining division.
CMA PROFILE: Julie A. Lagacy, Caterpillar Mining CFO
In 2011 she became a CMA, and, in fact, earned the ICMA
(Institute of Certified Management Accountants) Gold Medal
for the highest exam score in her testing period.
Lagacy’s decision to pursue the CMA at this point in her
career made sense on several fronts. “I didn’t really follow a
traditional accounting path; I majored in management and
economics in college, and although I eventually got my M.S.
in business administration, it’s only been in the last five years
that I’ve worked exclusively in accounting and finance,” she
notes. “As a manager, I’ve encouraged many members of my
staff to pursue their CMA or CPA certification. I decided it was
time to lead by example and become a CMA myself.”
Equipped with review materials and set on passing the
CMA exam as a personal and professional goal, Lagacy
followed a strenuous study schedule and set her testing
dates six weeks out. “Having those dates helped me to stay
on track and gave me specific goals to shoot for,” she says.
Now that she’s become CMA-certified, Lagacy has found that
the skills tested on the exam have “tremendous relevance to
the work I do as a CFO, particularly in the areas of planning,
analysis, costing, internal controls, and corporate finance.
Preparing for the exam gave me a crash course in all the
important concepts I use in my daily work.”

A SUCCESSFUL RESULT
To measure the success of this ini-
tiative, Caterpillar set benchmark-
ing goals and created certification
goals for individual employees. As an
organizational goal for the first year,
the company sought to achieve 70
percent certification among account-
ing staff or at least have them be on
the path of that goal through an action plan.
Caterpillar’s certification initiative has proven
successful. In every year since 2007, the company
has met its 70 percent goal. At the close of 2011,
Caterpillar was on target to have 50 percent of its
accounting staff holding a certification, up from
32 percent in 2005.
Six years later, Caterpillar’s accounting cer-
tification program remains strong. Live exam
prep classes for the CMA program are offered at
Caterpillar’s Peoria, IL, headquarters. The
success of its accounting certification initiative
also has spread to other departments, including
the company’s finance team.
As roles continue to change in the presence of
an innovative new business market, accounting
and finance professionals continually are tasked
with wearing many different hats. Certification
programs offer a solution to develop well-rounded
staff members and future strategic business
partners, ultimately supporting the development
of any successful business.
IMA is committed to helping companies, such as
Caterpillar, succeed through internal talent development.
For more information about IMA’s CMA program, visit
www.imanet.org/cma.
Caterpillar senior-level staff members, many
with career maturity, were encouraged to
earn a certification and serve as role models
to their direct reports and junior-level staff.
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W
hen we as trainers create training,
it’s not enough to just deliver it. If we
want to make it stick, we need strate-
gies to cement the content long after the program
appears to be over.
One of the most common ways to reinforce key
content is to make it available in a bite-sized for-
mat that’s easy for participants to review, useful
for managers to reinforce, and easy to integrate as
pre-work into related programs.
When we at the KLA Group develop a program,
we don’t just develop the content. We look at addi-
tional strategies to extend the material, reinforce
key content, and cement participants’ learning.
One approach we use is to create five- to
11-minute segments of pivotal content to deliver
as refreshers. Here’s how we do it.
• First we look at the original training based on
the key business objectives to identify what
content is critical to achieve them. For ex-
ample, you might want to cement sales reps’
questioning skills from a program to help
increase the company’s average sale size, the
original business objective.
• Then we break down those content areas further
into one idea per training segment, each with its
own learning objective. The learning objective
makes it easy to condense the material, stay on
track, and identify an action step for learners to
apply at the end of the mini-module.
REFRESH, NOT RE-TEACH
One challenge developers face when creating these
modules is feeling like they have to provide a lot
of background just to set up the key content. This
is a reinforcement to cement learning from a big-
ger program. Your goal isn’t to re-teach, simply
to remind participants to use it. We don’t need to
repeat everything. Instead, provide additional links
to more refresher material if the learner wants to
brush up in other areas.
ACTION STEPS
We recently took a questioning skills module and
created seven five-minute segments, including open
and closed-end questioning, the types of questions
to ask, and an audio example, to name a few.
During the segment, we like to include something
thought-provoking. For example, we might include
a question related to the topic for learners to
consider. If we leave them with something to
think about, participants are more likely to re-
flect on how they’d apply what they’re learning
to their job. It also gives us the opportunity to
engage managers to cement the content. Man-
agers can follow up, asking the same question
and coaching to higher levels of performance.
We leave learners with an action step to apply
the information. Because we’ve started with a
specific learning objective, this step is obvious.
These refreshers can take many forms, includ-
ing podcasts, videocasts, vodcasts, or even
e-mails or manager team meeting segments.
They are integrated into overall programs,
becoming a core component just like any
instructor-led, Web-based, or manager coach-
ing component.
Use this approach as reinforcement six to 12
months following a vital training program to
remind learners of key concepts, cement the learn-
ing, and boost your return on investment.
how-to
Kendra Lee is a top
IT seller, prospect
attraction expert,
author of “Selling
Against the Goal,”
and president of KLA
Group. KLA Group
develops custom
training programs to
help clients to break
in and exceed revenue
objectives in the
small and midmarket
business (SMB)
segment. For more
information, visit
www.klagroup.com or
call 303.741.6636.
Cement Learning
in Just 5 Minutes
One of the most common ways to reinforce key content is
to make it available in a bite-sized format. BY KENDRA LEE
Your goal isn’t to re-teach,
simply to remind participants
to use it. We don’t need to
repeat everything. Instead,
provide additional links to
more refresher material if
the learner wants to brush
up in other areas.

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world view
Dr. Neil Orkin is
president of Global
Training Systems. His
organization prepares
corporate professionals
for global business
success. For more
information, visit www.
globaltrainingsystems.
com.
Focus on Panama
Panama wants to increase its higher-skilled jobs, allowing its population to
produce finished products for export. This upgrading of skills requires specialized
education and training. BY DR. NEIL ORKIN
L
ocation, location, location! Panama has
been blessed with a perfect location to
conduct commercial shipping. A ship
can cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic
Ocean and vice versa by using the 50-mile water-
way known as the Panama Canal. The revenues
generated from the canal are critical to the coun-
try’s financial success. Panama intends to greatly
increase the canal’s capacity by 2014. This unique
waterway will have a major impact on the coun-
try’s development.
The population of Panama is more than 3.5
million, and it is culturally diverse. It has a very
literate population. Spanish is the language of the
majority, although some speak English.
Banking, farming, and shipping through the
canal are its major sources of income.
Where does training fit in? Panama wants to
increase its higher-skilled jobs, allowing its popu-
lation to produce finished products for export.
This upgrading of skills requires specialized edu-
cation and training.
Panama is only a few hours from several major
cities in the U.S. It fast is becoming a banking
center, as well as a world trade center. Its popula-
tion is eager to learn. Although there have been
anti-American feelings based on past American
foreign policy, the opportunity to work for an
American firm is greatly valued.
Customer service and management training
programs are needed. As finished products are
produced in Panama, quality training will be
key, as well. Since many employees do not speak
English, training in English as a foreign language
(EFL) will be needed.
When conducting global training, it is crucial to
always be aware of several factors that are present in
all cultures. These include:
• The formality of the culture
• Language usage
• The importance of the group
• How time is treated
Formality: Panama is a country where formality
is expected. Trainers are expected to wear a busi-
ness suit; they do not elicit confidence by dressing
down. You should address participants by their
last names unless asked to do differently. You will
be expected to lecture extensively. The thought is
that you are the expert, and your ideas should be
heard. Ice-breakers and training games are not
viewed positively.
Vocabulary: Check to see if your English is
being understood. Although many of your par-
ticipants will speak English, you may need
to adjust your vocabulary. Using computer-
generated slides and providing participants with
handouts can provide them a better opportunity
to learn and retain the course content.
Group Dynamics: The group is
important. Participants should not
be singled out. Be sure to praise the
class as a group.
Timing Is Everything: In terms of
time, punctuality is valued in busi-
ness settings. You are expected to
start your training programs on
time. Participants will return from
class breaks and lunch as asked.
Panama is already a world trade
center and quickly becoming an
international banking center.
With its convenient location, having your orga-
nization develop a trained workforce there makes
a lot of sense. Its location allows you to provide
goods and services worldwide. Latin America is a
rapidly growing market. Having a presence there
can allow your organization to grow. In short,
you can’t afford to overlook the dynamic country
of Panama. t
Panama is only a few hours from
several major cities in the U.S. It
is fast becoming a banking center,
as well as a world trade center. Its
population is eager to learn.

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www.trainingmag.com20 | MARCH/APRIL 2012 training
Does an MBA necessarily translate into success behind
the desk in the corporate world? BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN
B-Schoolvs.
C-School

DIFFERENCE IN DETAILS
At DaVita, Inc., business school provides a big
picture of the business world. It is up to the com-
pany’s current leaders and DaVita University
faculty to put those lessons into context. “Busi-
ness school learning often provides a wide variety
of case studies and examples to use, so concepts
are learned and leaders have a foundation of what
to expect as they expand in their leadership roles,
whereas our corporate learning often is geared
more toward deeper dives into who our leaders
are as human beings,” says DaVita Vice Presi-
dent of Wisdom Dave Hoerman. “Leadership is a
human skill, it’s about relationships, and it’s about
heart. We help leaders deal with actual leadership
and management situations within our world,
and our specific industry and business nuances.
At DaVita University, we get into the specifics, the
details and guts of our internal metrics and man-
agement models, as well as being role models for
the culture we are striving to create.”
The company recognizes the benefits of a business
school background and yet also realizes that what
is learned in business school is raw knowledge,
and usually more “head based.” “We find busi-
ness school is often more broad and conceptual,”
www.trainingmag.com training MARCH/APRIL 2012 | 21
hen you see on a resume
that an applicant gradu-
ated at the top of his or
her business school class,
doesthatnecessarilytrans-
late into guaranteed success behind the
desk at your company? A business school
background can’t hurt, but most organi-
zations know it is far from enough. With
more individuals touting business school
degrees on their resumes, companies are
recognizing the need to help these new
employees apply what they learned in the
classroom to the real world of tight bud-
gets and stretched financial goals.

Hoerman says. “Both have their advantages. For example,
a trait in our top leaders at DaVita is that they build strong
teams. In business school, a leader can learn strategy to
develop strong teams, what works and what doesn’t, and
even get to practice that by leading teams in school. In our
corporate university setting, it’s all about application and
balancing head, heart, and hands in real scenarios,” he
explains. “Teammates receive coaching for their specific
situation and immediately put that coaching into action.
They often have to look inward and adjust their approach
to address the inevitable unplanned or unexpected nuances
that arise, which can only be learned by experiencing these
real and sometimes deep interpersonal situations. At DaVita,
feedback is critical in the learning process, so our established
leaders engage in one-on-one coaching to help a new leader
process outcomes and course correct where needed.”
DaVita takes the help it gives recent business school grad-
uates a step further with specialized programming. For
example, the company offers a leadership development pro-
gram that focuses specifically on recruiting and training
MBAs to be leaders. “This program, called the Redwoods
Program, is designed to take high achievers who have gradu-
ated from top business schools and get them the experiences
they need to succeed at higher levels in DaVita,” says Red-
woods Program Manager Lindsey Alt. “These experiences
include classroom learning, hands-on shadowing, experien-
tial learning, and mentoring. Redwoods participants begin
with 10 months of intensive training, including formalized
mentorship and coaching by executives in addition to more
than 175 hours of classroom and experiential learning. More
than 300 hours of task-focused shadowing
and a leadership practicum are included.”
The program gives those with a business
school degree a set of tools to help them navi-
gate the corporate world. “We focus much of
our attention in this program on a couple of
things: giving these new teammates access
to top leaders to learn and receive mentor-
ship from; giving them an increased level
of responsibility quickly; providing support
and time to be successful; and helping them
create the relationships all across the orga-
nization that will enable them to succeed in
their current and future roles.”
The leadership practicum portion of the
Redwoods program is especially helpful,
says Alt. “We ask our teammates in this pro-
gram to spend four months as the facility
administrator of one of our dialysis clinics,
and we make them fully responsible for the
operations of the clinic,” she explains. “This
is when their leadership skills and business
skills are truly put to the test and refined.”
Adds Hoerman, “We also then provide
them with specific management and lead-
ership courses in our university that help
them understand what is expected of them
as leaders at our organization. We dive
deeply into who they are as human beings,
and then help them authentically lead from
that place. They learn to not only apply their
business skills, but what it means to lead
The DaVita Way, and how to drive our
mission, values, culture, and vision.”
BLUEPRINT TO BUILD
Business school is great at giving prospec-
tive employees a general framework of what
to expect, but it is not necessarily enough
preparation on its own for the reality of do-
ing business. Intel Corp. tries to give recent
ABCs OF BUSINESS SIMULATIONS FOR MBAs
One effective way to give MBAs hands-on skills in a safe environment is with a business
simulation, says Chris Musselwhite, founder and president of Discovery Learning.
A business simulation in which participants organized into teams compete to solve a
hypothetical or real business challenge is a good introduction to real-world business,
says Musselwhite. “Unlike the traditional training experience, a simulation models
natural systems and human interactions. This makes simulations the most effective
intervention when learning objectives include a change in behavior. In a simulation,
individuals get to see how they behave, make decisions, and collaborate with others
under realistic circumstances,” he says. “Simulations provide fast, sustained learning
that can be translated directly to the workplace without the risk to the organization of
putting a new employee in a situation he or she may not yet be ready for.”
Simulations are important because what MBA graduates know in theory may get
thrown out the door under stress. “A key reason simulations result in significant
learning and real behavior change may stem from the theories of organizational and
experiential learning theorist Chris Argyris,” Musselwhite explains. “He suggests
that what we know (our espoused theories) does not always translate into what
we do (our theories in use). This is especially true when situations are ambiguous,
stressful, or emotionally charged, as they often are in today’s fast-paced, high-
stakes business environment.”
Musselwhite says simulations, when facilitated effectively, help to bridge the
knowledge-application gap by compressing the “learning horizon.” “The learning
horizon, as described by organizational learning thought leader Peter Senge, is the
time required to experience and then understand the consequences of our actions and
behaviors. When we are dealing with complex problems in an environment with a lot
of noise, the learning horizon may be extended so far that the connection between
action and consequence can be lost. This can be remedied with simulated learning,”
Musselwhite points out. “By compressing the learning horizon in a simulated learning
experience, we accelerate the time from action to consequence to learning. Simula-
tions provide opportunities for reflection on behaviors and the chance to experiment
with new ones, in a compressed, safe, and non-judgmental environment. In a simula-
tion, individuals can step outside comfort zones, try out new ideas and behaviors, and
make mistakes—all without risk to careers or the organization.”
A business simulation forces learners to pull together all the separate lessons they
learned in business school. “In a simulation, attitudes, knowledge, and skills are called
into action as adults actively participate in situations involving the whole person,” says
Musselwhite. “The best simulations challenge the heart, as well as the head. This is not
often the case in the traditional classroom training experience.”
B-Schoolvs.C-School

MBA graduates an understanding of where the day-to-day
difficulties may arise. “Business school learning tends to
provide tools, analytics, and theoretical models to address
‘real-world’ business problems. None of the tools or models
actually fit perfectly the reality of the business issues,” says
Jim Kellso, Intel’s Accelerated Leadership Program man-
ager. “Corporate learning tends to provide the experiences
in which these employees can temper their scholastic learn-
ing with how to apply those tools in the business world. If I
am building a house, I might have learned how to read blue-
prints and the directions for a power saw and nail driver, but
it is not until I try to cut the timbers and assemble them the
way the blueprints indicate that I realize everything in the
working world needs a bit of site adaptation, and nothing
goes together quite the way the directions indicate.”
As such, the tools given to MBAs in school often require tin-
kering to be useful. “The tools and approaches students learn in
school are great tools, but they must be applied with common
sense, experience, and judgment,” says Kellso. “Almost every
tool needs a creative approach when you try to use it on an
actual business problem.”
Intel finds the realities of the commercial world often are
an eye-opener for new business school graduates. “The big-
gest learning required and most difficult to internalize is that
the answers and approaches defined in business school do
not perfectly fit the realities of the commercial world,” says
Kellso. “A great example would be that MBAs are taught a
series of tools for project justification. However, a pure ROI
or ROIC analysis would tend to lead a company to outsource
all high-investment activities and ‘hollow out’ its manufac-
turing engines. This leads to loss of technology and market
position and never shows up in an ROIC analysis. We often
use various rotation programs in which the new employee
works closely with a manager/mentor for a series of six- or
eight-month rotations to gain business understanding in a
high coaching relationship to better understand the realities
of business in general and our business specifically.”
Kellso says the best training programs are a combina-
tion of just-in-time training and practical application. “We
utilize our rotation program to place our new hires into
actual meaningful working conditions with coaches, pro-
vide assignment-appropriate training, and surround these
learners with managers and other rotations so they have
an opportunity and support to work their way through the
actual business problems,” he notes. “Rotation one curric-
ulum would include items such as how to address difficult
conversations and conflict resolution, how to build trust
with those you work with, influencing through networking,
and other similar practical application training that focuses
on being a highly successful individual contributor.”
SET THE STAGE
WITH B-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS
Behind the work Intel does with the MBAs it hires is the
groundwork laid by long-term relationships with business
schools. “We have long and deep relationships with specific
schools that offer curriculum that is tailored to the
needs of our business. This includes business schools
with a strong manufacturing emphasis (there are sev-
eral of these). We have worked with some of our key
contact schools for several decades,” says Kellso. “This
long-term relationship allows us to sit on curriculum
boards and advisory boards and exert influence on
the content of the material the students are taught,
so we get better business, supply chain, and technical
understanding and real-world business acumen
folded into the core curriculum. We actively recruit
from a list of more than 10 key business schools
with which we have long and deep relationships. We
aggressively recruit both interns and graduates with
an eye toward our permanent positions.”
The company carefully evaluates each MBA appli-
cant and, once hired, helps them create a pathway
to achievement. “We evaluate new business school
graduates against a series of criteria that include pas-
sion for technology, proven leadership experiences,
creative approaches to problem-solving, and ability
to communicate crisply,” says Kellso. “Once hired,
we expose them to one of our rotation programs and
use that rotation time to deliver training and experi-
ences that are real-time relevant to their rotation. At
the end of the rotation period, we evaluate them as to
whether they now are ready to move successfully into
the business.” t
B-Schoolvs.C-School
QUICK TIPS
• Develop programs for business school grads that outline the specifics
of your business, including your internal metrics, management models,
and culture.
• Have managers offer frequent performance feedback during one-on-one
meetings with recent MBA graduates.
• The specialized programs you create for MBAs should include classroom
learning, hands-on shadowing, experiential learning, and mentoring.
• Have business school graduates spend at least several months in a job
rotation that requires them to confront the day-to-day realities of your
business.
• Encourage managers to work closely with MBAs as they put their
first project proposals together. Project justification is a topic they are
schooled in as MBAs, but commercial realities often make this process
far different from what they expected.
• Provide instruction in difficult conversations and conflict resolution.
Among the things business schools can’t completely prepare a person
for are the conflicts among departments and individuals that inevitably
arise in the real business world.
• Assign each new MBA a management mentor who can help them bridge
the gap between what they learned and what they need to do on a daily
basis to make your company a success.
• Develop long-term relationships with business schools so the crop
of MBAs you get each year are sure to grow into winners for your
organization and the clients or customers you serve.

aren’t just for kids...
I want
to be
Align Goals With Dreams. CareerGenius.com/organization
CareerGenius is an organizational tool that develops a self-directed workforce.
By measuring employees’ current skills and comparing them to specific job roles,
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Satisfy career dreams to reach
organizational goals.

Profit UEnsuring employees do
their jobs effectively and
develop into the best
workforce possible are the
first priorities of trainers.
If you’ve mastered that,
how about taking it a step
further—and turning your
training department into
a profit center?
BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN
Profit U
P
reparing your employ-
ees for the immediate
work in front of them
is a challenge. You al-
ready have a big task
on your hands making sure they un-
derstand how the new products they
will have to sell work and how to use
your new customer relationship man-
agement software, for example. Not
to mention all the soft skills you’re
charged with teaching them—
communication, business acumen,
and, eventually, how to function as
managers. Training a workforce in
those skills is a lot of work, and, un-
fortunately, also costly. In unstable
economic times, more Learning and Development func-
tions may try to start covering their expenses—and maybe
even turn a profit for their organization—by offering train-
ing services to individuals outside their company’s payroll.
While most companies are still mastering effectively train-
ing their own workforce, some, such as Training magazine
Top 10 Hall of Famer The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company,
have set up for-profit academies open to the public.
RECOGNITION=OPPORTUNITY
TO TEACH OTHERS
When Ritz-Carlton won the national Malcolm Bal-
drige Award not once but twice in the 1990s, the
company knew it had an opportunity. The hotel,
renowned for its customer service, had become a
master at creating engaged and loyal guests. The way
it did that was through a workforce that fully under-
stood what it meant to keep those guests happy. The

company’s Learning and Development professionals won-
dered if they could benefit other organizations by sharing
the lessons they taught their own employees. In addition to
being a good corporate citizen, the company knew that shar-
ing its customer service training wisdom also could generate
a new profit stream. It wasn’t long before The Ritz-Carlton
Leadership Center was born.
“The Ritz-Carlton Leadership
Center, a corporate university open
to the public, was fortunate because
we had a built-in platform,” says
The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Cen-
ter Vice President Diana Oreck. “We
launched The Leadership Center in
December 1999 as a result of win-
ning the national Malcolm Baldrige
Award for the second time. We won
the award for the first time in 1992
and then again in 1999. Only five
companies have ever won the award
twice. There was and continues to be
a strong demand to benchmark our
culture transformation, legendary
service, and leadership practices.”
LET THE MARKET
DRIVE CURRICULUM
Trainers often have their own learn-
ing ideals that may or may not be
tied to the needs of their business.
They may think, for example, that
it would be useful for all employees
to learn a second language over the
next five years with in-house help
or for each worker to master a new
technology that only a fraction may
end up using. Those ideals that are
not tied to business goals usually
aren’t the best approach when you
are just serving internal clients. But
there definitely is no place for them
when you are operating a public, for-
profit academy. Oreck says she and
her colleagues at The Ritz-Carlton
Leadership Center developed a cur-
riculum designed to cater to the
specific needs their customers ex-
pressed to them. “A key to our success is we listen carefully
to our customers,” says Oreck. “By doing so, we are able
to design at least one new relevant offering per year to suit
their needs.”
The most notable example of that is The Ritz-Carlton Lead-
ership Center’s Radar On-Antenna Up—The Ritz Carlton’s
Fulfillment of Unexpressed Wishes & Needs program. “In
2008, during the time of the financial crisis, we received a
call from a financial advisor who had several high-net-worth
clients,” says Oreck. “He told us it was not business as usual.
Some of the clients he had had for years said they were scru-
tinizing everything and they were upset they had to call him
to find out what was happening during the economic crisis.
They asked him, ‘Where is your anticipatory service?’ That
is how we came up with the idea for the class.”
START SMALL
If your Learning and Development function is at the point
where you have fully mastered serving your internal clients
and are ready to branch out to serving the public, make
plans to do so in increments. “Do not try to be all things to
all people,” Oreck advises. “Start small and only offer one or
two programs that you know your company excels at. Once
those are in demand and have been refined, move to offering
a more expanded curricula.”
The evolution of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center illus-
trates Oreck’s principle of taking it one step at a time. “When
we launched The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center in December
1999, we had only one offering, Legendary Service, which we
knew we really excelled at,” says Oreck. “Today, we have eight
THE FOR-PROFIT ROLLOUT—
FIVE STEPS TO SUCCESS
“Becoming a profit center requires a shift in culture at the
leadership level. Training is no longer a department. Effec-
tively, it’s a small business,” says Dan Cooper, partner and
CEO of e-learning and development provider ej4. “Training
leadership must go from a corporate mindset to an entrepre-
neurial self-view.” Cooper and his colleagues at ej4 offer the
following advice for companies that seek to develop for-profit
training offerings:
“It doesn’t start with the product. It’s not about training
programs or curricula. One of our mottoes is, ‘Without a
need, don’t proceed.’ Here’s the process:
STEP 1: Identify a potential constituency with money.
STEP 2: Find their unmet needs. What targets are they
missing? What problems are they dealing with? What is so
important to them that they’d take money out of their own
pockets to resolve?
STEP 3: Value the need. How much are those issues
costing them? How much can you save them? That’s your
justification. If it’s not more than your cost, then you can’t
proceed. We know lots of situations where there is tremen-
dous need, but there’s just no money in it.
STEP 4: Create the solutions for it. This can’t be the
traditional expensive classroom and boring click-and-read
e-learning stuff. Your for-profit constituencies don’t have that
kind of money, and they won’t put up with it. It needs to look
like TV. It needs to be short. It needs to be tactical. It needs
to be delivered to all six screens (TV, PC, smartphone, tablet,
iPod, route handheld).
STEP 5: Sell it. This isn’t communicating it. This is a com-
plete marketing and sales effort in the traditional sense.
It’s the classic business cycle. You’re an outside training
provider now. You’re only as good as your value above and
beyond your cost.”

offerings on a variety of topics.
We have introduced one new
offering approximately every
18 months and keep refining it.
We do not recommend offering
a big suite of new offerings all at
once.”
STRATEGICALLY
PRICE OFFERINGS
Giving your wisdom away to the
public for free won’t work, but
neither will charging so much
money that other organizations
would be hard-pressed to afford
it. You need to take a moderate
approach that more than cov-
ers the expenses of operating
the public curriculum and each year turns more and more of a
profit. “It is important to understand demand and also to price
your offerings correctly,” Oreck recommends. “Do not deeply
discount your offerings. However, it is critical that the content
can be easily applied and is relevant. When that happens, peo-
ple are willing to pay a reasonable price.” Oreck says it’s helpful
to take a look at what other public, corporate university-run
academies are charging for their offerings. “Start by knowing
what your competitors charge.
Then decide what the market
can bear,” she says. “You will
know if there is price resistance
because people will say they
cannot afford it.”
LET LEGAL IN
It may be tempting to charge
ahead with plans to get your
public curriculum off the
ground as fast as possible,
but you also need to consider
the legal aspects of what you
are doing. “The main mis-
take companies make is not
consulting with their legal
department early in the pro-
cess when they are opening their corporate university doors
to the public,” says Oreck. “It is key that your intellectual
capital is protected. It is important to know what material
can be copyrighted. How much, if any, of your material are
you willing to share electronically?” Including your legal
department in the planning process protects the Learning
and Development function from charges that it shared ma-
terials it was not authorized to share. “It is important that
people protect their proprietary information,” says
Oreck. “With today’s technology, many students want
to photograph slides that are proprietary, so with le-
gal’s assistance, companies need to determine if that
is a practice that is allowed. If not, there must be the
appropriate language in the enrollment documentation
that video, photography, and taping are not permitted.”
THE RIGHT GOVERNANCE
STRUCTURE
Your internal Learning and Development function
should be structured to ensure smooth processes and
efficient operation, and so should your public curric-
ulum offering. You can’t just put the classes together
and then haphazardly roll them out. The classes need
to be part of a larger structure that can be branded to
the public as a unified offering. “Think through gov-
ernance issues carefully. Having the right governance
structure with a strong charter right from the begin-
ning avoids headaches later on,” Oreck stresses. “We
have an Internal Leadership Center Advisory Board
that meets twice per year and is made up of senior lead-
ers in our organization. It discusses The Ritz-Carlton
Leadership Center’s marketing plan, trends in corpo-
rate universities, budgeting issues, and curricula, etc.”
A well-organized program that offers proven
benchmarks for success is a value-add to other
organizations—and to your own in the potential profit
you will turn. t
PROFIT CENTER QUICK TIPS
• Use public recognition such as business and training industry awards to
launch a for-profit academy. Your recognition from parties outside your
own organization will give you credibility with potential customers.
• Listen to the market—meaning listen to your prospective
customers—to design a public-offering curriculum. It is better to
base curriculum on the expressed needs of your customers than on
your own training ideals and abstract goals.
• Don’t worry about offering a full-scale curriculum during your first
year of for-profit operation. Take the internal course or curriculum
you most excel at, and which you may have been publicly recog-
nized for, and make that your introductory offering. You can slowly
build on that first course in the years to come.
• Take a moderate approach to pricing. Look at how much your for-
profit learning competitors price and then price accordingly. Cover
your expenses and turn a profit but always be aware of the financial
strain potential customers are under and take note when they tell
you they can’t afford your courses.
• Consult with your legal department. You need to know which learning
and business materials it is OK to share with the public, and allow
customers to reproduce, and which materials are strictly proprietary or
confidential.
• Create a cohesive governance structure. Your public offerings need a
governance structure that is as well organized as the structure you use
to govern your offerings to internal customers. You want to present an
organized, efficient package of learning to those who may be stretch-
ing their resources to pay for it.
You can’t just put
the classes together
and then haphazardly
roll them out. The
classes need to
be part of a larger
structure that can be
branded to the public
as a unified offering.
Profit UProfit U

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worldwide provider of learning and development consultants
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candidate qualification process has earned us an outstanding
reputation in the industry for contracting with only the
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mployees in a negotiation
training workshop are chatting happily in a
company cafeteria nearSan Francisco. They’re
not on break. They’re on assignment. Their
objective: to discover three things they didn’t
know—and wouldn’t have guessed—about
each other. They have two minutes.
The exercise isn’t about the information, though.
It’s about the methods they used to get the informa-
tion, and how those same techniques can be used
to identify commonalities to ease negotiations of all
types. The strategies used to negotiate multimillion-
E
Negotiation shouldn’t be a tug-of-war—
instead, the best training focuses on
building rapport. BY GAIL DUTTON
GIVE&TAKE

dollar deals are the same strategies used to negotiate which
movie you watch with your spouse. Only the stakes change.
As Michael Feuer, former CEO of Office Max and author of
“The Benevolent Dictator,” elaborates, “I’ve sold hundreds
of millions of dollars worth of companies, and the basics are
the same as for small deals. It’s a process. Be a good listener.
Watch body language. Know why they say what they say, as
well as what they mean.”
Be All Ears
But although negotiation affects virtually every aspect of life,
the skills rarely are taught. Today, many companies in the San
Francisco Bay area are turning to the art of improvisation to
Coaching
Negotiation Tips
• Teach the basic skills.
• Highlight non-verbal cues.
• Use a fictional scenario or role-play.
• Provide freedom to fail safely.
• Encourage practice.
• Play poker.
www.trainingmag.com
GIVE&TAKE
Most think of negotiation as a pejorative, so in training executives, for
example, one of the biggest challenges is changing their mindsets. To win
at the expense of others isn’t negotiation. The give and take of negotiation
is part of the job and is necessary to accomplish your objective.
teach conflict resolution and to improve communications
among their executives, according to Chris Sams, director of
On the Go Programs for BATS Improv. The rapport-building
skills honed in BATS workshops are the same skills used for
successful improvisation. Success in negotiation, as well as in
improvisation, he emphasizes, depends not only on listening to
speakers’ words, but also on observing their non-verbal cues.
Trainers and communications specialists repeatedly make
this very same point. As Maria Thier, head of Listening
Impact, says, “Many of my clients falter in negotiations be-
cause they don’t listen completely to what is being said. They
tend to listen to an internal monologue instead of an open
dialogue. That erodes trust and reduces collaboration.”
A big part of negotiation is building rapport. With 23 years
as a government contracting officer for the U.S. Air Force,
thatunderstandingstoodEldonnaLewis-Fernandez—a.k.a.,
“the Pink Biker Chic”—in good stead in the early days of the
IraqWar,whereshenegotiatedgovernmentcontractsoffbase
in the Middle East. “There, you sit, you have tea, you talk, and
eventually you discuss why you’re visiting their business.”
But regardless of culture or geography,
“negotiation is all about building rap-
port,” she says. “People do business with
those they know, like, and trust.”
Change the Mindset
“Negotiation is not just about skills,” em-
phasizes Cait Clarke, author of “Dare to
Ask!” “The big challenge is to transcend a
mindset.” For women in particular, Clarke
says, it’s important to see negotiations as collaborative conver-
sations. In her experience as a leadership trainer and attorney,
“executive women—people who are successful by anybody’s
standards—remain reluctant to make their demands known, to
be assertive, and engage in negotiation,” she says.
Yet, when negotiation is seen as a collaborative conver-
sation in which all parties win, rather than combat with
winners and losers, participants find ways of creating deals
that are good for everybody, Clarke notes.
“Most think of negotiation as a pejorative,” Feuer agrees.
So in training his executives, one of the biggest challenges
is changing their mindsets. “To win at the expense of others
isn’t negotiation,” he insists. “The give and take of negotia-
tion is part of the job and is necessary to accomplish your
objective. That’s tough to teach. In fact, many think it’s im-
polite to ask for things.”
Practice Makes Perfect
For trainers eager to help executives enhance their negoti-
ating skills, Stephen R. Balzac, president of 7 Steps Ahead,
LLC, advises, “make training experiential. The techniques
are easy to read about, but when you try them, they may
not work. Many mid-level and even some senior executives
don’t realize the need to negotiate. They think, ‘I just need
to tell you what to do,’” Balzac says. Others are so intent on
winning that they stop listening. “But we each have some-
thing others want. Any conversation involves negotiation,”
he says, even when the stakes are the simple niceties of say-
ing, “Please” and “Thank you.”
Balzac introduces some negotiation skills in a classroom
setting, and then has participants practice those skills in
games. Fantasy settings encourage people to step outside
themselves and engage more. In these “Fractured Fairy
Tales,” the king, the witch, the frog, etc.,
have goals that cannot be accomplished
without negotiating with the others. Be-
cause the scenario is fictional, the players
have freedom, and negotiation will oc-
cur. By taking on a role, “you’re not the
CEO; you’re the king of a mythical coun-
try. You’re not the sales manager; you’re
a knight on a quest,” he explains. “You
can explore possibilities because the

character—not the individual—is taking the action.”
In contrast, in a pandemic flu training exercise, one par-
ticipant insisted on playing himself, Balzac recalls. “Within
that scenario, a mistake triggered a crisis, and the exercise
ended with the player melting down into a temper tantrum.
The lesson,” Balzac says, “is that when you play as yourself,
you don’t have the freedom to make mistakes.”
Executives working with Lewis-Fernandez may play them-
selves, but in a different setting. She helps executives hone
negotiation skills through a scavenger hunt-like game in
which participants have limited funds and a list of items
to accumulate from other players, thus forcing negotiation.
In her game, everything is negotiable. The 12-minute time
frame isn’t sufficient to achieve the goal, yet players typically
fail to negotiate for more time, she says. Lewis-Fernandez
also has a longer, three-hour version set in 18th century
France, in which players must negotiate the acquisition of
court clothing to attend the royal ball. “It has vague rules, so
players must think outside the box,” she says.
Not Always Gut Instinct
Debriefing is an important element of any role-playing situ-
ation. The goal is to explore how each player’s actions affect
those of the other players, as well as the long-term con-
sequences of their actions and how they may affect other
scenarios. Balzac says the objective is not to confront them
with their failures, but to “encourage them to explore the
situation, realize their own errors, develop empathy for
themselves as characters, and understand how they could go
astray in similar ways in real life.”
After the games or role-playing, the groups typically
examine what happened and the methods they used to
achieve their goals, or why they failed. The results often are
linked to group dynamics and motivation, Balzac says.
Aside from letting people practice new skills in a safe environ-
ment, it also shows them how often their instincts are wrong.
“Myexecutivesaresurprisedthatnegotiationislessaboutgutin-
stinctthantheythink,”Balzacsays.Hereportsthesamesurprise
among his trainees. There’s another benefit, too. “Practice auto-
mates the skills,” Balzac says. Once the skills are second nature,
negotiators become more adaptable, comfortably dealing with
changing circumstances, and can focus on other demands.
Feuer encourages mentoring as a way to improve skills
and insights. “I’ll invite senior people to sit in on conference
calls and interviews, so they can listen and pick up tech-
niques,” he says. His new company, Max Wellness, also uses
role-playing and traditional teaching methods.
In negotiations and in workshops, Lewis-Fernandez says,
“the surprising thing is that so many things are not negoti-
ated.” Once participants realize this, however, they are more
likely to consider the bigger picture and realize there is al-
ways room for negotiation. t

The study’s key findings highlight the
importance of establishing and constantly
improving a formal onboarding program,
helping new workers understand their role
within the company, mentoring and coach-
ing new employees, and evaluating the
effectiveness of onboarding efforts.
Formal, Well-Rounded
Onboarding
From their first day to their first year, new
hires will be more engaged when they have
gone through a solid, well-rounded on-
boarding program. According to the study,
73 percent of organizations have a formal
onboarding program. Norton Healthcare,
a Louisville, KY-based hospital and health-
care system, is one of those organizations
that truly understands the value of an ex-
tensive program. “We look at onboarding
as a 12- to 18-month-long process, pur-
posely spreading information out over time
instead of cramming all of it into one day,”
says Jason Coffey, director of Employee
Experience at Norton Healthcare. “Wheth-
er through mentoring programs, scheduled
touchpoints, e-mails, surveys, manager
A recent Training magazine/Avatar
HR Solutions survey assessed the
effectiveness of organizations’ onboarding
programs and their impact on helping new
hires get acclimated to their new role and
organization. BY MICHAEL P. SAVITT
Methodology
From Monday, October 17 - Monday, November 14, 2011, Training magazine
conducted its first-ever onboarding survey in collaboration with Avatar HR Solutions.
The 26-question online survey, which included three open-ended questions, sought to
understand the effectiveness of organizations’ current onboarding programs and their
ability to help new hires better adjust to their new role and organization. The first part of
the survey included questions assessing how well organizations were following proven
best practices for onboarding. The second half of the survey contained questions about
the effectiveness measures of an organization’s onboarding program. Open-ended
questions at the end of the survey sought to dig deeper and uncover what is most
important and what is most undervalued with regard to onboarding. More than 1,300
organizations across a variety of industries responded to the survey.
There’s no disputing that an effective, organized, and engaging
onboarding program is a necessity for achieving organizational
success. But are today’s organizations doing a good job of rolling
out the welcome mat for their new hires? Some 73 percent of respond-
ing organizations have an onboarding program in place, but only 51
percentofthemfeelitiseffective,accordingtoTrainingmagazine’sfirst-
ever onboarding survey of more than 1,300 organizations, conducted
in partnership last fall with Avatar HR Solutions. The survey aimed
to better understand the quality of organizations’ current onboarding
programs and uncover best practices to help companies enhance their
onboarding effectiveness.

[Trainingmag 2012/3-4] B-SCHOOL vs C-SCHOOL

[Trainingmag 2012/3-4] B-SCHOOL vs C-SCHOOL

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