Newsletter 4: Feb  2005

THIS MONTH
To be taken to the relevant section you can click on the links below:

The Instant Manager (revised edition).

Measuring Customer Service Effectiveness 

Practical Succession Management

Human Resource Management

Diversity at Work - a new team activity

It's Personal - a new video for customer service

Your Preferred Learning Method

Special Offer, discount on titles.

To request more information on any of the products  you can email:      info@iol-uk.co.uk

Sales
01884 821870

As long standing members of the British Learning Association we would like to take this opportunity to highlight the aims and benefits of this non profit association. The BLA promote development and success to its members by providing impartial information and advice on:

• Best practice

• Generating opportunities for networking and access to the collective expertise of the membership

• Supporting the use of quality models and promoting continuous improvements

• Maintaining strategic links with key organisations both UK and worldwide.

• Member organisations committed to excellence in learning and customer service to network with a leading professional organisation

For more information please visit the BLA website: www.british-learning.com

Each month we highlight new releases and special offers available - just click on the left hand titles for further information. Remember, if you need help finding any other training resources then click on email links within this newsletter or just give us a call and we will do the rest!

As always we would welcome your feedback. If you have something to say about this email news bulletin or any of the products featured, then please email us at: feedback@iol-uk.co.uk
Alternatively call on 01884 821870.

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To order you can click here or call 01884 821870

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        Diversity at Work

DIVERSITY at work

FOCUS

Today's forward-thinking organisations recognise and appreciate workforce diversity. They value the fact that we are all different, that we are all part of a diversity mix, with unique skills and perspectives.

In a non-threatening way this exercise raises awareness of a whole range of diversity issues and stimulates debate on how organisations can embrace equal opportunity and implement best practice.

HOW IT WORKS

Teams work their way across a board using counters and a dice. En route they have to deal with three types of card. True or False cards test levels of prejudice and mistaken ideas. Real Case cards offer participants a chance to comment on real cases from courts or Employment Tribunals. Group Tasks cards encourage lively debate on some of the very latest employee issues around diversity and equal opportunity at work. Also, at intervals during the exercise, participants are given a key diversity issue to talk about to their team, for 30-seconds, to share their own knowledge, experiences and feelings.

WHAT IT DOES

Diversity at Work is an ideal awareness-raiser on up-to-the minute employment issues and allows staff to discuss issues and feelings in an honest and open way. And it gets to grips with the latest thinking in organisations that are embracing the advantages offered by our multicultural, tolerant and open society.

The following extract, from the 2004 Christmas message from HM the Queen, demonstrates the current importance attached to recognising a positive approach to diversity. We have only to look around to recognise the benefits of this positive approach in business, local government, in sport, music and the arts. Diversity is indeed a strength and not a threat

To book your Preview click here or if you would like more information call 01884 821870

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For the customer and for you

MAIN VIDEO

An inspirational video for anyone who has direct contact with customers: whether face-to-face or on the phone. Rick Stein and his team demonstrate the skills and attitudes that underpin their reputation for great customer service:

2 Day hire Price £189 (plus VAT and p&p)

To book your Preview click here or if you would like to speak to our sales team you can call 01884 821870

To order you can click here or call 01884 821870

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Your Preferred Learning Methods

The main objective of `Your Preferred Learning Methods' is to provide feedback - to the learner, to his or her supervisor and training manager - on individual and organisation-wide learning methods preferences. This feedback will help match learning methods with learning preferences and thereby increase the motivated pursuit and completion of learning. For some topics and budgets, an individual's preferences may be impossible to accommodate. Wherever and whenever possible however, individually preferred learning methods should be considered so that learner motivation is harnessed and learning objectives are achieved. Over time, by choice or by assignment, learners may attempt new methods of study; they will then find it useful to use the program again and note any changes to their preferences.

A second objective of the program is to give budget holders information that will contribute to more efficient spending on learning resources. At both individual and organisational levels, an analysis of learning methods preferences is useful when investing in learning resources and when allocating funds to individual development plans.

A Practical Tool

`Your Preferred Learning Methods' is a software program. It may not be one's preferred method for completing a questionnaire (!) but the software format is the most widely accessible and, for most organisations, the most convenient method of doing so. Used properly, it...

• Shows which learning methods work best for each person.

• Reveals individual dislikes for any learning methods.

• Helps training managers to match learning methods to learning needs.

• Helps trainers to avoid mismatching individuals and learning methods.

• Improves cost effective investment in training through a focused, researched matching of learning methods to learning needs.

• Helps to avoid or minimizes over and under spending of training resources.

• Lets individuals know if their preferences have changed.

The Questionnaire

From a pool of 140 statements, a questionnaire with about 100 randomly selected statements is created by the program for each individual who uses the software. It takes about thirty minutes to complete the questionnaire. A report and graphs are then automatically produced showing the extent of that person's preferences for each of seven learning methods. Each learning method is marked within a range from "very low preference" to "very strong preference." The software stores the records of a person's first and latest completion's of the questionnaire as well as that person's record of the highest recorded preference for each learning method. For benchmarking purposes, the report also shows the average score for each learning method from a random sample of other people's completed questionnaires. Using Ivy's LMS or a compatible Learning Management System and with appropriate security measures in place, authorised personnel can access the analysis on all the recorded questionnaires from within their organisation.

The program does not match learning preferences to specific tasks, skills or topics. Apart from the impossibility of matching learning methods preferences to every task, skill or topic, the most appropriate learning method is not necessarily one's preferred method or the method one learns best with; the "logical" method may not be the one that best meets the needs of a particular learner. A person may even have a strong aversion to using the "logical" method and this aversion is useful information to a training manager. It can be assumed, for example, that learning from computers is the best way to learn how to create and use spreadsheets. But if a person has a dislike for computers, their resistance to computer based learning will be an impediment to learning effectively. On the other hand, if that individual has a very strong preference for books, optimal learning and satisfaction may be achieved by combining a computer based approach with the use of an instructional book on spreadsheets.

The program assesses individual preferences for each of the following learning methods.

• Learning from Lectures

• Learning from Books

• Learning from Computers

• Learning from Videos

• Learning from One-to-one

• Learning from Hands-on- Practice

• Learning from Group Discussions

 

Access and costs

Using Stand- alone CD ROMs

The licence fee is £3,750 per year. The fee entitles the client to a one-off starter pack of 50 CD ROM copies of the program. Extra copies of the CD ROMs are available for £5 each per year. The program can be run from a CD-ROM or copied onto individual PCs or a Local Area Network (LAN). An individual may access their reports only from the PC on which that individual has used the program. Each user requires a password  to access the program. Using stand-alone CD ROMs, the program does not operate within a Learning Management System (LMS).

 

Using an Intranet

 The licence fee is £3 per person per year with a minimum fee of £3,750 per year. The fee entitles the client to an installation CD Rom containing the program for installation into their intranet. When using the program in an intranet, the full capabilities of the program may be enjoyed using a Learning Management System (LMS). Clients who do not have an LMS may purchase one  for a nominal annual cost of £250.

 

Using the Internet

 The licence fee is £3 per person per year with a minimum fee of £3,750 per year.

Free Evaluations

To order your FREE Preview CD-ROM click here or if you would like more information call 01884 821870

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