A sobering reminder of some harsh decisions that have been made already...

Over the last year, companies have cut training spending and staffing; changed training program priorities; moved to coaching, informal learning, collaborative activities, and other less costly training methods; and increased reliance on outsourcing.
One of Bersin's most popular annual studies, the 108-page 2009 Corporate Learning Factbook analyzes a wide range of metrics for corporate training, including: budgets, expenditures per learner, cost per student hour, program priorities, budget allocations, staffing sizes, staff to learner ratios, staff to total spending, technology usage and budgets, and outsourcing spending. The study is based on data collected through an August 2008 survey conducted in partnership with Training Magazine.

This year's research found that the U.S. corporate training market shrunk from $58.5 billion in 2007 to $56.2 billion in 2008, the greatest decline in more than 10 years. Average training expenditures per employee (which include training budgets and payroll) fell 11 percent over the past year – from $1,202 per learner in 2007 to $1,075 per learner in 2008. Staff resources also took a hit. In 2008, large companies employed 3.4 training staffers per 1,000 learners, down from 5.1 per 1,000 in 2007; mid-sized companies employed 4.9 staffers per 1,000 learners in 2008, compared to 7.0 staffers per 1,000 in 2007.

Link: http://acetalentnet.com.au/enews/advantedgefeb09.html

What we know is that if you want to get more work, all you have to do is ask your clients what they want… and they'll tell you accurately because THEY ARE the EXPERTS. Another way we put this, is "you are NOT your client". So frankly, what YOU think, doesn't count.

Bowing to our own learning, and as you will have seen at the end of 2008, we recently surveyed the NETwork.
Here's a little of what you told us you wanted from aCE talentNET (full report due soon)...

82.1% said you want to develop a clearer Marketing
and Growth strategy
60.8% said you want to flatten peaks and troughs of workflow
61.9% said you want find client projects
51.6% said you want to build a business
48.4% said you want get more work
55.8% said you want to increase referrals by spending
more time with clients
73.7% said you want live the consultant life you envisaged & have more control

Given that our commitment to you is to deliver on your wants, needs, desires and frustrations, we've got some pretty special things planned... commencing March, with our first Talent Tuesday of the year - "Selling YOUR Consulting" Masterclass with Elliot Epstein, commonly known for ‘getting people to the next level'… fast. Read on for more details...

Talent Tuesday
Is 2009 going to be kind to you?

Invest in your most important assets - Your people!

Our FR*EE Gift Offer
Two Tickets Worth $1,790!

MUCH MORE TO COME IN THE MONTHS TO FOLLOW...

Link: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Governance/Boards/the_crisis_Mobilizing_boards_for_change_2300

A rather timely article from McKinseys...

Tackling the economic crisis requires a fundamental overhaul of how board members interact. This short essay by Andrew Campbell, a director of the London-based Ashridge Strategic Management Centre and coauthor of Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it From Happening to You, and Stuart Sinclair, chairman and nonexecutive director of several companies in the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe, challenges board members not to become complacent based on their experiences during recent, milder recessions. Instead, they encourage a fresh, dynamic approach to the way the board works.

They also invite corporate directors to take a short survey on the role of boards in the current economic environment. A link to the survey accompanies the essay.

To read the full article, click here...

Link: http://archives.subscribermail.com/msg/3191ef2c489d409d885fe5ce4695fe78.htm

After the layoffs and budget cuts, now what? Are you living up to your brand promises or are you falling short on customer experiences? This edition of the TP Times focuses on sustaining your organizational brand and the power of values and brand. The lead article below is written from the belief that when the focus is only on the bottom line and people are ignored, the organizational brand suffers, as customers lose sight of what you stand for, and they no longer trust what you can deliver.

What About the Brand?

The news is full of stories about downsizing, job evaporations, and budgets being slashed into shreds. After all is said and done, what happens to the brand? Did it survive? Or is it bruised and battered? Leaders in the organization are responsible for the integrity of the brand, and they have to pull their heads out of the financial data long enough to assess the current state of the brand and of their talent.

We know that, when there is a shift in the organization as strong as this economic shift has been for many, the brand can become diluted if no one is asking, "What about the brand?"

Let us not forget that in the center hub of organizations is the talent, and, by the way, the talent is the brand. It is the talent in an organization that brings its brand to life. If the talent are no longer happy, if they are concerned about their own welfare, or they've hunkered down to stay out of sight, the brand may be on its last breath as well. And when the brand is struggling to survive, the impact is on the customer experience. The talent may become non-caring and cynical and these attitudes can permeate into how the customers experience the brand.

When there have been strong shifts in the organization, then the organization must recalibrate itself and set the organization back on course. We believe that organizations can best do this by taking these steps:

1. Revisit the ambition or goal of the organization and connect people to it.
2. Managers spend time on the front lines talking to people and getting a handle on the issues.
3. Re-state the brand promise and ensure that everyone knows how his or her job affects the promise.
4. Take a look at the changes in the organization and assess the impact on the brand and the impact on the customer experience.
5. Design a course of action to put the brand back on track.

A brand bruised and battered can have customers headed towards the competition, which is exactly the opposite of an organization's aims. In tough economic times, it would serve an organization best to focus on keeping their current loyal customers/clients. Now would be the time to re-think how to make the brand truly distinctive in the marketplace.

Excellence can be achieved when the brand, the talent, and the customer experience are in alignment.

If you want to know how your organization is doing, and if it needs some recalibration, take a look at our Excellence Audit.

Valarie Willis
US Keynote Speaker,
Facilitator, Consultant

Tom's core message: "To put the marketplace customer first, I must put the person serving the customer 'more first.'"

Tom says: "There is no great 'external focus' unless the bedrock great 'internal focus' is in place. ... I contend that the bedrock of finding and keeping and co-creating with great folks is not about clever tools to induce prospective 'thems' to 'shop [live] with us,' but a 99% internal effort to create such an exciting, spirited, entrepreneurial, diverse, humane 'professional home' that people will be lining up by the gazillions (physically or electronically) to try and get a chance to come and live in our house and become what they'd never imagined they could become!"

Subscribe at http://www.tompeters.com/your_world/join_the_fray/

Link: http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/generationg/

Another priceless offering from trendwatching.com, especially given the highly publicised times ahead, coupled with what you actually want to be doing... plenty of food for thought...

Has there ever been more urgency for corporations to ditch the greed and embrace generosity? It's something that countless individuals have already started doing, of course: giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving. And yes, we do realize that this month's Trend Briefing is massive, but in this business climate, can you really afford not to spend some time figuring out how to get a little closer to your customers?

GENERATION G | "Captures the growing importance of 'generosity' as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.

In fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced 'taking' as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much of it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”

If the recession is hitting you where it hurts, and your budgets are tight, GENERATION G may feel like too costly a trend to capitalize on. We beg to differ:

Not all GENERATION G projects and initiatives are costly. Often, it’s a case of mindset, of attitude, of being creative, of finding the right partners, without spending millions. In fact, many of the services and projects highlighted in this briefing didn't cost the world.

Those projects that do involve serious money should be paid for by shifting funding from any kind of bland, non-relevant, non-interactive, and above all, non-generous ad campaign you’re planning to run this year. Hey, if others—in all the examples above—can do it, so can you.

Not infusing your company’s or brand’s mindset with a heavy dose of generosity will eventually cost you much more. Like, seeing your brand go bust. Which makes any kind of expenditure on generosity a bargain.

Joining GENERATION G as a company or a brand is not really optional, it’s a fundamental requirement if you want to stay relevant in societies that value generosity, sharing and collaboration. Joining obviously entails more than adding a social responsibility or sustainability department; it means adopting a generous mindset that permeates every interaction with your community, with your employees, with your customers, with, wait for it, your ‘stakeholders’. Nothing more or less than a holistic approach* to generosity and business.

The benefits?

It doesn’t hurt that in turbulent times like now, generosity will find an extra-appreciative audience, and certainly won't be forgotten.

Not only will your customers be more appreciative, they'll also return your favors by being more willing to spread the word about you. And being more willing to collaborate with you, co-creating or co-inventing or co-improving. Which would get us to CUSTOMER-MADE. See, we told you this would be an umbrella trend.

And last but not least, to manage a company with a caring, generous mindset can actually be good for your soul, too ;-)

indeed! read on...