By Jack Shaw on October 28, 2014
What is Professional Development? I began this article by looking again at the differences between training and education, or trainers and teachers. In A Look at the Education vs Experience Debate and in an earlier post, What’s the Difference Between Training and Teaching, I made a few comparisons. This time, I thought it might be interesting […]
By Jack Shaw on October 21, 2014
You stand at the podium or in the classroom waiting to begin. You have all the symptoms of person who has to do public speaking and doesn’t do it all the time. You’re nervous. Your sweaty hands shake. Your knees wobble. You adjust clothing and eyeglasses. All those things you do when you are uncomfortable […]
By Jack Shaw on September 11, 2014
Who says your failures can’t lead to success? Employers it seems. We are fond of saying, “Failure is not an option.” And “when it’s rough, the tough get going.” That may be a positive result of the United States unemployment situation and lagging economy. Today’s unemployed may have failed in nailing a specific job or […]
By Jack Shaw on August 27, 2014
We know training is important to both organizations and employees, yet it is often seen by workers and supervisors as extra work of no real value. It interrupts the workflow. It is the immediately tangible evaluations that become most important. The effectiveness of training should matter. That’s what we tell ourselves and, yet, we hand out […]
By Jack Shaw on May 12, 2014
Our current generation of millennial professionals will make up the majority of the workplace in the next twenty years. Employers report millennials aren’t ready for work–that in management and leadership areas they only succeed because they are bright achievers. So far. We have the power to change that. It’s not anyone’s fault–everything is happening so […]
By Jack Shaw on November 20, 2013
You received an example of customer service gone awry. Perhaps now, an explanation and discussion that will stir up a training solution. That’s it really. This blog belongs in two major blog categories: Training and Development, and Customer Service. I wrote it for three reasons: I’ve trained customer service as have many of you I’ve […]
By Jack Shaw on November 19, 2013
We all know bad customer service when we see it. It makes us frustrated and angry. It’s been known to ruin days, weeks, months, years, holidays–even Christmas. I’ve got a story to illustrate what I mean. This story is true. I won’t use any names in order to protect the individuals involved. I will, however, […]
By Jack Shaw on November 14, 2013
Disclaimer: the following is a story, a fairy tale, a piece of fiction, a satire. It is not intended to reflect this site’s point of view, nor even my own. The work is not intended to represent any particular person or persons; some of the organizations do exist (some I made up), however, this is […]
By Jack Shaw on November 10, 2013
It seems the Transportation Security Administration or TSA does not train its agents in any of the soft training skills. Is “nice” a dirty word? It is a four letter word, but come on! I’m not being insensitive. I know the TSA has had a rough time of it, especially recently when they lost one […]
By Jack Shaw on October 24, 2013
Do we treat shy or introverted people any different from other trainees? We should. This relates back to my differentiated learning post. This will be a short blog–especially short for me. Everyone has encountered that person at work who doesn’t look at you, stays buried in paperwork or the computer, sneaks off to lunch and […]
Jack Shaw is a communicator who does training and has been in the trenches as well as in management and development areas. His priority is how to communicate credibily in the workplace. [Read more ...]