Resource Center

Providing 5 Star instructional design services for PPS-Synet clients

+ This issue of “What to Read” highlights the book The Art of Gathering : How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker. Specificity sharpens the gathering because people can see themselves in it. From The Art of Gathering Summary As the author points out, “coming together is more important than ever.” We would argue that […]

Situation New manager development is important to immediate and long-term success. In this large, highly technically-focused, global organization, employees transitioning from “doing the work” to “leading the work” often did not receive developmental resources to support them in their first role as a manager. New managers were not developing core managerial skills such as skills […]

Situation Digital disruption drives digital transformation in most organizations. In order to spark innovation and creativity, organizations need to engage and upskill employees in digital acumen. Knowing this, to support professionals working in the global, ever-changing digital ecosystem, our client introduced a Digital Capability Framework that defined both digital acumen, a body of knowledge and […]

This issue of “What to Read” highlights Taming the Culture Tiger: The Art and Science of Transforming Organizations and Accelerating Innovation by Dr. Kate Price, which focuses on one of the biggest challenges facing leaders of life science organizations: how to foster sustainable cultures that enable innovation and lead to both scientific and business success. […]

Situation A high-growth, global medical technology organization had sales representatives at varying tenures, sales and leadership ability. All were tasked with continuing the double-digital growth in existing and new markets, not all were equipped to make it happen. Their HR Business Partner also recognized that these sales representatives fell into one of two categories with […]

Participants adopt new behaviors from training and development when evidence-based content, engaging facilitation, use of adult learning methods and a culture of psychological safety is present. What is psychological safety and why is it foundational? Dr. Amy Edmondson refers to it as, “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated by speaking up […]

This issue of “What to Read” highlights Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter with Marissa Afton and Moses Mohan. “Quoting Charles Darwin, “It is compassion and care that have made us the dominant species on the planet…It hardly seems probably that the number of […]

As part of designing learning that is engaging, we plan for ways to encourage networking during training. Networking is an important part of success for people at all levels of organizations. The more matrixed an organization is, the more important it is for people to have a well-developed network of stakeholders they can call upon. […]

In the early 90s, competencies became mainstream and were often developed by companies in order to guide training. Many times, companies built competency models for what were (then) called ‘soft skills.’ In 1993, Lyle and Signe Spencer published their book, Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance. Their book summarized 20 years of research on using […]

We all want learning success. Few times are as pressure-filled and hectic as the last few months of the calendar year. For many organizations, the last quarter of the year is the time that department managers put the final touches on internal budgets. Others sales leaders are striving to achieve their aggressive sales goals for […]

PPS International Limited-SyNet Americas is pleased to share that J. David Jarvis has joined our team as VP, Strategic Consulting and Development. In this new role, David will collaborate with our clients to align talent development solutions to client business initiatives. David’s oversight will include needs assessment, solution architecture, project management of design and development […]

Those in the learning and development field are often keen readers on a variety of topics. Our facilitators and team members are as well. In our new series, “What to Read,” we will share some books and resources that we’ve found to be valuable. The authors present the case for treating complex problems with openness […]

Learning and development opportunities never stop, especially for those of us in charge of learning and development! Back in February 2020, PPS International Limited held a Trainer Development meeting in Las Vegas, NV to network and learn new skills and refresh the old with our network of consultants. We appreciate and value our relationship with […]

Those in the learning and development field are often keen readers on a variety of topics. Our facilitators and team members are as well. In our new series, “What to Read,” we will share some books and resources that we’ve found to be valuable. This issue of “What to Read” highlights Visual Consulting: Designing & […]

As many of us support teams who are transitioning to working from home, we will be posting a series of tips for remote work success over the next few days. We will add to this list each day over the next two weeks. #1: Establish A ROUTINE ~ Structure your day in blocks of time and […]

  The number of leaders who manage remotely is increasing (see Gallup data), and as a result, they are faced with creating connections and engagement without having the benefit of face-to-face time. And, those who work remotely 100% of the time are the least engaged of all. Just because you manage remotely doesn’t mean you […]

It is true that training and development alone cannot change organizational culture. It takes steady focus and organizational-wide alignment to be able to make culture shifts. However, training and development does have a role to play when it comes to shaping culture. If organizations are interested in educating leaders and enabling them to be more […]

HR and other professionals design and implement training, but also manage other systems that build people-capability, such as strategic staffing processes, succession planning systems and management development […]

We believe the most successful development of talent happens when you don’t just teach theory, you teach skills. But, how do you evaluate what skills are truly needed by your leaders, sales associates, team members and others? One way is to conduct a training needs assessment. Training content should be real-world, relatable and repeatable. When […]

Fall is often a time we review and begin planning for the next year. As your organization is making plans for the upcoming year it’s important to take a comprehensive look at the ways different individuals can support your company. If you have internal training and development professionals, as you’re considering ways to enhance or […]

The most flexible leaders have the ability to tailor their speech, body language and approach so that others more readily listen and accept their ideas. These leaders capitalize on interactions with others, especially in critical business situations—when implementing change, selling ideas, delivering performance feedback and working with peers.

No matter what role you have in an organization, you are dependent upon others to produce results. Talent Development, HR and Learning and Development professionals are especially tuned in to the needs of internal customers, peers, subject matter experts and others—we need their support for many aspects of our jobs. Here are a few ways […]

Being a success in any role means that you need to be able to manage your own work and manage your manager. We need to get results with our peers, team members and internal partners, but especially with the manager we report to. Statistics tell us that we won’t be satisfied and engaged if we […]

  Being an effective mentor isn’t difficult, but it does take some planning and effort to do it well. Whether you have been asked to be a mentor by an HR Manager, are participating as part of being a sponsor in a professional development program or were approached by someone who wants your advice and […]

For almost 20 years, PPS International Limited has offered the Harrison Assessment to clients for use in selection and hiring, development planning and coaching. This year, we achieved a milestone by fully certifying the entire PPS assessment center team. The rigorous certification process (or, recertification process for some team members) included a week-long, multi-level workshop […]

  Can your leaders walk into any situation as managers and handle them with ease? Do you think that your supervisors are at the top of their management game? Check out our infographic below to see if they have mastered the conversations that are on the top of our necessary list! (And don’t worry, if […]

As leaders, one of the most important ways to develop team members and build performance is giving specific, targeted feedback–either on-the-spot or through more formal means such as performance reviews and coaching sessions. While most leaders know the value in robust feedback, they also are challenged with providing it. Challenges in Giving Feedback For instance, […]

There is a direct correlation between the training administrative process and the learner’s overall experience. The way learning is implemented, the consistency of the administration process, the impressions created during rollout, the communication clarity and efficiency all contribute to the ability and willingness of participants to learn. The learner’s experience is directly related to learning […]

Emails, slide presentations, letters and reports: in a single workday we are surrounded with important situations where word choice, phrasing and punctuation matters. Prospects decide whether your organization can be attentive to their needs because of your (hopefully!) error-free emails. Senior leaders give support to your projects based upon the clarity and structure of your […]

As training and development professionals, we often spend a lot of time in the classroom. Because of this, we have a variety of experiences with seeing facilitators in action—some positive, some not-so-positive. Our participants may tell us what they like on evaluation forms, but that doesn’t really define the competencies that make a facilitator shine. […]

As Alex Grimshaw, PPS International Ltd. was talking to senior managers and leaders of successful organizations he discovered that they had one similarity: They kept bumping up against situations where they didn’t know what to do involving limited information and unique challenges never seen before. Watch the video below reviewing the literacies covered in the […]

Using managers as trainers sounds like a great idea. We know that using managers to lead training creates credibility for the training and builds a network of front-line champions for greater commitment. But there are a number of challenges that can get in the way of success. Challenges The challenges of using managers as trainers […]

Recently, we were working with a client to define content to be included in a front-line leadership training program. Surprisingly, we discovered that we didn’t have a common definition of individual development plans. For the client, an IDP meant a specific plan to improve performance, usually because the individual wasn’t meeting performance goals. For us, […]

Strategic staffing is the process used to improve the likelihood of filling positions with the most successful candidates. By creating a few specific components for each role, hiring managers and their recruiting and HR teams can be aligned on searching for and hiring the best person for the role. The more aligned the process, the […]

Many managers struggle with planning and holding a performance review discussion. This formal feedback time is fraught with concerns over what to say and how to manage the agenda. Regardless of what is included in your organization’s performance appraisal or when the process is launched, managers can gain confidence to hold these important conversations by […]

Many of us at PPS International Limited love data: we pour over facts, figures and research so that we are up-to-date on trends and knowledge, regardless of topic. Our Wellbeing and Resiliency programs prompted a flurry of data collection. We have been reading a range of wellbeing resources that help us have a better understanding […]

For many years, I taught a series of workshops at a university on topics such as designing training, conducting interactive workshops and how to conduct a training needs assessment. The audience of Human Resource Managers and Training Managers were very new to their roles. Still others in the program were managers who were aspiring to […]

Whether you are in the break room or the boardroom, chances are you want to be influential. After all, influence approaches are the way we gain support for ideas, approval for projects, input to problems and sign-off on solutions. A key factor in being influential is to adapt to others’ preferences. But, how do you […]

Seventy-five percent of the people with whom we interact with have preferences different from our own. It is important to be flexible and tailor speech, body language and approach so that others become more open to listen and accept ideas. This is especially important in critical business situations, during the sales process, problem solving, working […]

Time and again Training and Development professionals over a decade of projects across dozens of industries tell us that employees perceive their managers don’t fully understand and support what they learn in training. So, a few weeks ago, we presented a webinar on how to build manager involvement. At the same time, we put out […]

According to the Association for Talent Development’s 2014 State of the Industry Report, organizations spend an average of $1,208 per employee on training and development. For companies with fewer than 500 workers, that number is even higher, coming in at $1,888 per employee. How do you ensure those dollars result in a change of skill […]

  Fall is often a time we review and begin planning for the next year. As you plan for 2021, consider these top six areas that training and development professionals implement to support their organizations.

In trying to answer the question, “How does stress impact leadership?” researchers found that eighty-eight percent of leaders report that work is a primary source of stress in their lives and that having a leadership role increases that level of stress(1). In our own work at PPS International Limited, leaders in workshops and during coaching […]

HR and Training Professionals are important resources to ensure that organizational changes are managed well. We know that change occurs in our organizations for a variety of reasons including: Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; Updates and adjustments to company-wide policies; New senior leaders joining the organization; Upgrades to technology; Reorganization or restructuring of departments or entire […]

On-boarding is a critical process to create fully contributing, engaged leaders in your workplace. Even the most experienced of leaders can benefit from a structured on-boarding process. Here is one we often recommend for clients.   PHASE 1: Identification This phase occurs during the selection process and the action-items below should be completed through your […]

We are tasked with creating great leaders—often without great resources! One way to gauge how significant the task will be is to complete this quick checklist. The results will give insight into what gaps you will have in creating and implementing talent development initiatives.

Walk into any bookstore or office supply store and you will see an entire section on journals—journals to document your dreams, journals for sketching, journals for list-making, journals with questions, and simple, blank books for any journaling purpose you deem appropriate. For those who enjoy technology, numerous apps are available for the mobile device or […]

Part of our role as Talent Management professionals is to close the gaps between the performance we desire in our organizations and the performance that currently exists. We do this with limited time, funds and support. PPS International Limited has created a tool that matches the reasons and causes of performance gaps to potential solutions. […]

Sometimes the decision as to whether to develop your own 360-feedback tool or partner with a vendor is difficult to make. In this article, we examine some of the key criteria points to use in your decision making.  

HR and training professionals in industry, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations invest heavily in creating and maintaining performance management systems—and we hope to these systems will create high performers from our employees. While we set up and are the keepers of these systems, we aren’t the main beneficiary or user of the system—managers and their […]

Acknowledgement is an important action for everyone to take. Whether it is feedback to a team member, reinforcement of an agreement that someone has met or encouragement for trying a new skill, this quick reference tool is a great reminder of how to give meaningful and supportive feedback. Acknowledge & Reinforcement Quick Card Tool

Development planning isn’t always a seamless, easy process. Sometimes—and especially in self-directed situations—individuals have difficulty knowing what to develop, how to best develop, and who to ask for support. We’ve created a thinking prompt tool that can be used by leaders and others as they create specific, actionable and relevant. Thinking-Prompts-for-Development-Planning

  A-Succession-Planning-Primer Read about the most critical components of an implementation of a succession planning process, whether on a large- or small scale here.

Stuck in traffic on the way home, Chris started talking to herself.  “Ok, what happened this afternoon? Is this good news or bad news? I mean, in the last nine months, it seems that we all have been required to do more with less: More assignments with quick turnaround time. More duties with fewer direct […]

Shawn, HR Manager, recently was chosen to lead a special project to streamline all HR processes.  Members of the project team include fellow managers throughout the company, including two managers in remote locations. “This project is a nightmare,” Shawn complained. “My team members ignore my e-mails. They ‘forget’ team meetings, or, worse still, they come […]