Last year we added over 50 articles to our blog on topics covering leadership, recruitment, emotional intelligence, employee engagement, coaching, psychometric testing and more. Below are some of our most clicked articles of 2014.
40 Must-Know HR OD L&D Models & Concepts — From a much larger pool of over 200 HR/OD/L&D models and concepts that could have been chosen, we decided to propose a list of 40 "must-know" ideas.
14 Fun Icebreakers for L&D Facilitators — One way to make training more engaging is to use "Icebreakers." Here are a collection of 14 activities that can be used to warm-up a group when they first come into the room or after a break in your training session.
5 Mistakes Consultants Make With The DISC Profile — DISC has enjoyed immense popularity and acceptance in the HR/L&D community and among consultants since the late 1980s. In this article, we explore 5 of the top mistakes we commonly see consultants make when training or coaching with DISC.
12 Annoying Office Personalities — Have you ever worked with "Upspeakers" or "Oversharers?" What other kinds of annoying co-workers have you spent time with before? This list contains some of the most common annoying office personalities in the style of Little Miss & Mr. Men.
In a Nutshell: 4-Level Model of Training Evaluation — Donald Kirkpatrick (1924-2014) was Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, an author, consultant, and a former president of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) who has become almost a household name to learning and development professionals.
In a Nutshell: 6 Principles of Influence — The 6 principles of influence (or the 6 weapons of influence) is a phrase coined by psychology professor Robert Cialdini in his 1984 bestseller, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion," which has remained the most popular book on social influence since publication.
In a Nutshell: 70:20:10 Learning Model — As with unravelling the backstory to many popular business models, there is no consensus on the origin of the 70:20:10 philosophy or any documented record of who first presented it in the ratio format that appears so widespread today.
A Simple Model of Employee Engagement — This is a simple and fun diagram that we created to help explain what engagement looks like and, in particular, how it differs from the likes of employee satisfaction as there is often confusion between the two terms.
In a Nutshell: Cognitive Dissonance — Cognitive dissonance is one of the best-known and most prolifically documented theories in social psychology. While it is established as a well-known term in psychology, it is much less so in business, despite playing an important role in human dynamics and decision making.
The Best Icebreaker for L&D Facilitators (Animal Personalities) — This is one of the most versatile icebreakers for L&D facilitators, which can be used in any kind of workshop, regardless of the actual training topic being delivered. It's called "Animal Personalities" and is guaranteed to get people talking.
Time to Split HR: Backlash From Around the Web — In what is undoubtedly the front-runner for The Most Talked-About HR Article of The Year Award, Ram Charan’s recent piece for Harvard Business Review — “It’s Time to Split HR” — has lit up social media, attracting criticism and analysis from some of the biggest names in HR.
30 of The Best Stephen Covey Quotes — "The 7 Habits" is arguably the most influential business book of the 20th century. Book trends and authors come and go, but very few have a lasting cultural impact, and Stephen Covey's legacy is one. Here are some of the best Stephen Covey quotes, drawn from two of his books: "The 7 Habits" and "The 8th Habit."
The Gable Matrix: A Model for Giving Feedback — What's one of the strongest predictors of a great relationship or one headed for break-up? According to science, it's how you react to "positive event disclosures." Psychologist Shelley Gable uses a matrix to categorise people's responses into four types.
In a Nutshell: Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow) — How much do you really know about Maslow's hierarchy? The hierarchy is typically represented in the shape of a pyramid, however, Maslow never conveyed his theory this way. It is actually much more dynamic than a fixed pyramid structure would be taken to imply.
A Must-Read HBR Article: How Netflix Reinvented HR — One of HBR's most talked about articles in recent times features a PowerPoint presentation explaining the culture at Netflix, which Sheryl Sandberg described as one of the most important documents ever to come out of Silicon Valley.
In a Nutshell: Situational Leadership — Situational Leadership® is one of the most well known and widely used models in leadership development training. According to The Center for Leadership Studies, the company that owns the trademark, it has been used to train more than 14 million managers across the globe and is deployed in 70% of Fortune 500 companies.