There are six key disciplines to setting up an effective training program, according to a new book entitled "Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning" by authors Calhoun W. Wick, Roy V.H. Pollock, Andrew McK. Jefferson, and Richard D. Flanagan. The first discipline asks managers to define the business needs that will be met if their training course is successful. Managers must determine what participants will do differently or better, as well as who will see and confirm the changes. After the company's training and development department has defined the program, it must then design the complete experience. When designing the training program, the training and development department should keep in mind that learning is not an event, but rather a process that takes place over time. In addition, the training and development department should be sure to include adult learning principles in their design of the training program. In the third discipline, the training and development department should ensure that the knowledge employees learn in the training program is put to use. In addition, participants in the training program should be shown what they will get out of taking part in the program. If participants are convinced that learning and applying what they learn will produce results that they will personally value, then they will be more motivated to learn. The fourth discipline, which the authors call driving follow-through, ensures that value is created by participants putting their knowledge to use. In many training and development programs, this value is not fully realized because there is no follow-through after training. The fifth element of a quality training program is deploying active support. Senior management should be the first line of support both before and after training. Finally, the results of training programs should be documented, as this is only way to prove that a program actually contributes to a company's bottom line.

As the workforce continues to age and employers need to retain more talented workers, human resources professionals have to ensure that their skills are up to par. At JetBlue Airways, potential workers were asked what they wanted and they received immediate benefits rather than a probationary period before their benefits kicked in. More and more companies are advocating for open communication and suggestions from workers in order to appease their talented employees and retain their loyalty. Some experts note that companies are not only interested in top workers, but also in risk-takers, but unless HR staff are ensuring that knowledge is flowing throughout the office, so that when workers retire, their knowledge is not lost. According to recent figures, about 40 percent of the U.S. workforce is eligible for retirement in 2010, and more and more younger workers are changing jobs around the three to five year mark. In order to prevent the loss of knowledge, managers should identify the knowledge at risk, develop a knowledge management program to gather, store, and disseminate that data, and improve the company's career and succession plans.

Good senior leadership communication starts with recognizing the needs of the workforce. The worker experience is the starting point because strong leadership mandates a comprehension of what life is like for those employees. Typically, leaders function from a position of power, are set apart in executive offices, and have restricted access to the grapevine that educates most workers' understanding of the company. The most important questions in the middle of organizational change are what does it mean to the employee and how is the change going to impact his or her life. There are several principles of successful change strategy, the first one being how well workers commit to altering their behavior to be consistent with the evolving needs and objectives of the company. A second principle is that change communication must be proactive instead of reactive, including an in-depth explanation of the important issues, appropriate strategies, defined roles and duties, and responsibility and training, all conjoined with the overall objective. A third principle requires supervisors to keep communications concentrated on the business industry by placing every employee's focus outward, thereby helping workers to recognize the reasons for their supervisors' plan of action. A fourth principle stipulates that communicating change is the responsibility of the supervisor, and not something that can be delegated.

"A players" have specific needs for recognition just like other workers, and managers will have to respond appropriately to their desire for kudos and appreciation if they intend to keep their best workers. Although A players have the "right stuff"--they are very ambitious, capable, and intelligent--a large number are also very insecure, which stems from their drive to live up to the expectations of parents who would not praise their accomplishments, and managers will have to help them deal with the superiority complex that they are now hiding behind. A players go out of their way to get the job done, but managers must realize that they overachieve because they are unable to set boundaries for themselves and that a failure to recognize all of their work could lead to frustration and burnout. Their demanding parents prepared them to work well with authority figures such as the boss, but a need to inflate their ego will not allow them to be a team player when subordinates are involved, which could derail an opportunity for advancement. Bosses should be able to manage their A players as long as they understand the hidden weaknesses and needs of their most driven employees. A players should be given more leeway to excel and get the job done, but managers must know when to reign them in so that everyone on the team benefits. Managers will need to continuously praise their A players, and be specific with regard to what they appreciate about their competencies and aspirations. Bosses should also clarify their expectations for performance, including the expectation that the superstar cooperates with less-talented team members to accomplish goals.

Resistance to workplace changes can substantially lessen the positive outcome of an outsourcing or offshoring decision. Change management is a specialized sector that can often be hard for global sourcing executives to learn, but the payoffs can be significant. The initial step in change management is to determine the individuals who are likely to be impacted by the change, which in outsourcing is probably the business-procedure owners, whose agreements could be put at risk by the new outsourcing deal. This can be remedied by involving them in the outsourcing strategy, such as placing them on the team that is studying the outsourcing opportunity and getting their opinion concerning how their procedures can work more effectively. Firms need to discuss with their workers their decision to outsource, such as the reasons why, the procedure it is outsourcing, and whom they are teaming with. Some of the most crucial question that are on workers' minds include possible layoffs, the criteria for choosing these individuals, and job relocation. Evolving leaders able to handle change is something that is frequently missing at companies. Organizational theory and psychology studies emphasize the importance of talking to stakeholders about the effect of transformational alterations that happen due to company revamping, downsizing, or mergers.

Institute of International Education chairman emeritus Henry Kaufman and chairman Thomas S. Johnson discuss how the United States is losing its advantage in science and technology. While the two men state that the most often-mentioned solution is a vast, greatly needed expenditure of resources for math and science education in American schools, they stress that this is just part of the "basic training" young people require to compete well in a worldwide marketplace. In addition, Kaufman and Johnson write, young people need global knowledge, language skills, and intercultural communications abilities that young graduates throughout the world get as part of their advanced education, and that U.S. companies cannot afford to provide them at work. The two men say that the Institute of International Education stated in its most recent report that study overseas more than doubled in the last 10 years, to an unprecedented high of 191,321 students getting credit this last year. Kaufman and Johnson say the positive news is that the United States already has enacted an efficient means to construct language and cultural awareness: "Study abroad at the undergraduate level." The negative news, the two men point out, is that the figure is just 1 percent of the 19 million students enrolled in higher education in the United States, and that human resources executives do not seem to value overseas experience when preferring hiring decisions. "The lesson is clear," Kaufman and Johnson say. "Business leaders need to support international study with financial means."

Change is inevitable for organizations, but how people and companies react to it is important for determining success or failure. At issue is whether a firm's corporate culture has been developed to benefit from change or be hurt by it. Change is typically defined by external and internal change; the former could refer to economic, technological, or regulatory changes while the latter involves forced or proactive change. Firms that are successful not only welcome change but also ready themselves for it rather than attempt to regain what was lost. Having a "training culture" is crucial to successfully adapt to change. This comprises such things as keeping a positive attitude towards change and establishing a learner-conducive workplace. Companies that tend to value training view learning as a vital part of the company and that learning is on-going rather than an isolated event. By being continually in the learning process, change becomes easier to handle for companies. It is also important for companies to acknowledge employees' accomplishments to improve retention and to encourage others to be successful as well. Providing training opportunities also differentiates careers from mere jobs, and the most successful firms in any sector encourage a training culture. Two ways a company can rapidly change its culture is to replace those who do not believe in training with those who do, and to ensure that the top level of the company believes in a learning culture as well.

In order for manufacturers to move forward amid growing global competition, they must change their attitudes as well as their technology and processes, experts say. Many of these experts recommend adopting a redefined strategy that fosters a corporate culture where employees take ownership of the processes, continually look for ways to improve them, and are rewarded financially for their success. However, many companies have been slow to embrace these ideas. According to Robert Hall, editor in chief of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence's Target magazine, managers who are used to giving orders often have the hardest time adjusting because their function in the company changes dramatically as the organization flattens. Although communication can help persuade managers and employees that a team-oriented approach--where players are on an equal footing--is better in the long-run, it may take many conversations before the grumbling at the coffeemaker or watercooler end. Strong leadership--beginning with explaining why the overhaul is necessary--can also help to ease the transition, though even that will not convince everyone to get on board with the strategy, Hall said. Despite these initial hurdles, a redefined strategy will pay off in a highly-adaptive company, he added. One such company, Downers Grove, Ill.-based Flexible Steel Lacing, has been using a team approach headed by coaches instead of foreman to focus on "taking cycle time out of all the processes," said Bob Hafey, director of manufacturing at the company. He noted that the company has seen a 36 percent improvement in customer delivery times over the past four years. Although improved efficiency and productivity sometimes precede layoffs, Flexible Steel Lacing has avoided layoffs in the Chicago area by redeploying workers from one position to another and through attrition. "When we started the program, the president told employees 'You have employment security but not job security. Your job should change. You should be improving," Hafey said. Flexible Steel Lacing employs a full-time training manager and most employees go through about 24 hours of training each year. Another company that believes strongly in training is Rochelle, Ill.-based Quick Start Products and Solutions, whose new owner, Allen Brue, began training workers on a quality management tool useful for any type of process, from manufacturing to accounting and service. As a result, the company's 17 workers do more than they used to, he said. Brue added that the new strategy, which empowers workers to make decisions on the line minute by minute, has helped the company ship orders on time for the past 31 months, and helped push the company's sales up 17 percent to roughly $2.5 million last year.

Today's world of work is global, virtual, multigenerational, entrepreneurial, portable, and otherwise different in many ways than how things were in the past. This requires a new idea of performance management that balances the organization's needs with those of individual people in the organization. Putting together effective performance management should start with creating representative employee focus groups, which will take part in a dynamic dialogue that identifies organizational goals and core competencies, as well as how the competencies should be demonstrated. This exercise will create a behavior profile that current and future employees can compare themselves against, helping them judge whether the organizational culture fits them well. Effective performance management also demands job-specific requirements--the technical skills and competencies needed in order to effectively accomplish organizational goals. This provides the opportunity to hold a matrix exercise, in which all department leaders determine how the overall organizational goals will be met by their functional areas. Finally, performance management also demands attention to professional development, with the employee and supervisor taking the opportunity to discuss places their chances for improvement and growth. It is also important for the performance management document to be dynamic, able to react to changes, crises, new priorities, and so on.

Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and changes to the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines make today an excellent time for companies to focus on developing a more ethical workplace. The key to creating an ethical culture is for corporate leadership to set the tone, which could be established by having the CEO deliver to new hires an "ethical message" on the organization's values, code of ethics, internal support system, zero tolerance policy, rewards and incentives, confidential reporting process, and commitment and support to the ethics program. Risk managers should assist the corporate board and senior management in conducting an assessment of matters such as corporate culture, ethics approach and compliance, ethics policies and procedures, employees, ethics support resources, and management and leadership practices. Ethics should be a focus of risk managers because they are charged with controlling risk, including the potential impact of unethical behavior, and are skilled in assessing exposure, measuring outcomes, and monitoring compliance. Organizations should consider relevant compliance laws, existing employee ethics training, surveying employees on the specific challenges they face, and gaining worker feedback on creating a code of ethics as they implement an ethics program. Unrealistic expectations and inadequate ethics training often derail efforts to create an ethical culture, and senior management must make sure their behavior is in line with the tone they have established for employees. Organizations can maintain their ethics program by having an independent expert conduct reviews; using e-mail, posters, and handouts for ethics communications; developing an ethics violations database; and creating an ethics resource post to be filled by a chief compliance officer or chief ethics officer.