TRAINING TODAY Training today is a strategic investment into a future where attracting and retaining employees is a part of the business plan, and technology significantly impacts the way we live, communicate, and work. Our past suggested many of our work environments were that of manual labor. Now many of those same work environments are fueled by technology. We have shifted to a thinking and service economy. Work teams, career banding, career latticing, and career circles have replaced traditional individual job descriptions, organizational charts, and career ladders. Training in the 21 st century demands trainers who have a broad set of skills-from motivation to financial management, from performance to project management. This changing perspective is requiring a new training model. The trainer is now a strategic business partner, a business partner that can help companies develop their employees. Today's training professionals are continually faced with the challenges of preparing people for new roles, helping redesign people practices, and supporting and driving the corporate culture. Today, uncertainty has caused us to change the way we teach, what we teach, and how we teach it. Who Should Read This Book? This book was written for anyone interested in furthering his or her abilities to teach, train, and enhance knowledge including: Trainers/training professionals (new and experienced) Directors of training Teachers/educators wanting to learn new approaches in the classroom Managers/leaders/supervisors who do training Subject matter experts who need to do training. Training is Changing Businesses are starting to realize that when people and their processes are aligned, profits follow. Companies are looking for business partners who can develop their employees in an ever-changing and uncertain business climate. This book provides you with a plan to be successful in this constantly changing workplace. It simplifies the notion of training, and the information is presented in a useful, retainable, timely, and fun way. Over the last 20 years as a teacher and training professional I have watched as the environment of the classroom has evolved. We have gone from a formal environment to a more relaxed and casual environment. Students want to learn, they just learn differently from those before them. Today, more than ever, the teacher or trainer has to "be on." Learning is Performance Today's learners learn best when they are relaxed and enjoying themselves. They also learn more when we can stimulate both the analytical and the creative sides of their brain. Ultimately, training is like a stage performance-providing education in such a way that engages the audience in new and exciting ways. In the spirit of this performance, we need to look at ourselves sometimes as the playwright (writing the training materials), and sometimes as the actor on stage (the trainer), trying to get our message across. The tools we have to help us include the effective use of our script (training materials), our stage (anywhere we are conducting training), our audience (our trainee), and our ability to use our skills to perform effectively. The purpose of this book is to provide you with a road map for successful training in our constantly changing workscape. The goal of the book is to simplify the notion of training and present information to you in a useful, retainable, timely, and fun way that can easily be applied. To this end, there are several features in the book to help you navigate including: Trainer Terms--definitions of words or phrases used in training. Trainer Pitfalls--designed to highlight common mistakes made in training. Solutions are offered as well. Highlight Boxes--short facts and statements related to the topic in th