Synyx

Jay Cross over at Informl.com posted a great video a week or so ago, mashing up the best bits from the Learning Technologies 2008 conference in London back in January. Nicely done. I'm a huge proponent of the notion of informal learning. It is how the vast majority of my own education has come, and time being what it is these days, it is the only thing  most of us have the bandwidth for. We fit it into our schedule when we are able, and at the time when it does us the most good. We learn it, use it, and retain it all at the same time. As opposed to hear it, forget it, need-it-now-but-don't-remember-it. The resources we created for the ThinkWise ThinkBox are exactly made for today's world - just-in-time, on-demand, bite-sized and laser-focused.

Here is Jay's mash-up to give you the idea of what we are dealing with:

  

Here's a video of Malcolm Gladwell discussing problems of measuring the right traits for hiring the right people. This is a difficulty that ThinkWise understands extremely well. The ThinkWise Hiring Project tool is an effective way to improve this process and make sure that your company is hiring the right people for the right job. 

Hat Tip: Guy Kawasaki.

Bersin has some great info out on using social networking as a talent management tool. This is incredible information. Note especially:

The jury is out on what our ultimate HR software architectures will look like.  Small and mid-sized companies will likely adopt social networking through their SaaS application solutions.  Enterprises are more likely to develop IT standards eventually.  And many companies will implement departmental, divisional, and application-led solutions while the market evolves.  While most enterprises would like to have a corporate "architecture" in this area, it will take time for this to occur and it often takes a few years for the "safe, corporate-approved" solutions to emerge.  (None are there yet.)

ThinkWise is working to implement some of these features within our overall solution so that our partners and clients can collaborate, share and create in and around or tools and resources. We hope everyone will find value and benefits from this type of interaction.

Welcome to the Orange Balloon Racers. While you are here, check out some of the posts, and take a look at ThinkWise. We are a performance management/leadership development firm that offers an integrated solution for hiring, developing and managing performance and succession planning. Our system has tools for 360 surveys, performance review, creating competency models, managing goals, development plans and surveys, and most importantly, our ThinkBox provides coaching and resources to help improve performance and fill in the gaps, all available on-demand via the web. Thanks for passing through!

This seems at first blush to be bad news for a company like ThinkWise, but Bersin's report on High Impact Learning Organizations actually spells out quite a few positives. We are perfectly positioned to provide the kinds of tools and resources that companies need to streamline talent management and reign in costs.

Notably:

Organizations are focusing very heavily on building critical capability models for success.  Such models are mandatory to determine who to hire, who to develop, and who to lay off.  Organizations such as British Telecom, Microsoft, Chevron, GSK, Mercer, and Pemex are all spending significant new dollars to identify their critical competencies.  Such work is strategic and long-lasting.

ThinkWise provides a great system for creating competency models that any company can use to speed this process up and implement a competency based approach for hiring, developing, reviews and succession planning. Hop over to ThinkWise and check it out

Interesting post on coaching in the workplace over at T&D. At ThinkWise, our ThinkBox contains coaching and tips on development as well as handling the problem employees, thus supplying both sides. We have eCoaching modules for individuals to improve performance, as well as for leaders who need help in coaching others. In either case, they may be on topics to aid in development of critical competencies/skills, or they might be on resolving conflict, handling problem performers, having difficult conversations. The ThinkBox is the go-to source for coaching and tips. Managers, executives and employees at all levels of the organization can benefit from excellent advice from experts, all based on Cognitive Behavioral techniques that have been proven effective at changing the way people think about their actions.

Interesting article from Wired on a company called Cognitive Drug Research that does testing to analyze your memory, attention and executive function. They give you a brain-age score to tell you where you stand in terms of overall cognitive function. Cool stuff.

At ThinkWise, we are constantly trying to improve how people use our system in the real world. Some of the hardest aspects of this are how to make sure the right tools and resources are in front of them at the right time. Integrating ThinkWise performance management tools into your workflow is the first part of this. Making sure that users are offered relevant resources from ThinkBox at the right time is the other. This post from Tony Karrer at eLearning Technology offers some important insights into how best to acheive this goal. ThinkWise is exactly this: an Electronic Performance Support System. As such, it is critical for us to consider the way the system is actually used, and provide as many avenues to access resources as possible so that they are in front of the user when they need them the most. We welcome feedback and suggestions on how to make this happen.

From the Long Now blog, a post on the 100 oldest companies in the world. It's an interesting subject, and having come most recently from a fairly old corporation (for 4 years I worked for a division of Siemens - founded in 1847 - not quite old enough to make this list) and now working for a fresh new startup, it makes me think: what will ThinkWise be in 10, 50, 100, or even 500 years from now? In this fast changing world, is it even imaginable that a company like us will still be around that far down the line?

A free white paper on Building a Collaborative Workplace from Anecdote. Many more tips and resources for this topic are also available in the ThinkWise ThinkBox library.

Via (elearnspace.com)