Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014 - (Page 52)

TRACKING TRENDS - K E N TAY LOR SALESPEOPLE, COACHING AND GAMIFICATION We have completed three related research pieces over the last year and a half, focusing on sustaining the impact of the sizable investment that corporations make in sales training. of their compensation tied to success. Some sales professionals can be motivated by an almost exclusive focus on closing sales deals, and they may not immediately recognize the benefits of participation. Whether you call it sustainment, coaching or mentoring, the bottom line is that the best companies have a strategic plan to ensure that learned behaviors continue beyond the initial training event. It is interesting to note that we consistently found that the majority of organizations were not effective in their sales training sustainment efforts. So, our hypothesis is that successful organizations have found a way to incent employee participation in their sustainment programs through the introduction of gaming principles and mechanisms. Specifically, across the 540 companies participating in the research, only 9.7 percent of respondents said their sustainment programs were very effective. A contributing factor to this low percentage may be the difficulty in identifying the right people to include in sustainment and coaching programs. More specifically, the people who most need coaching may not choose to participate in the training. Remember, we're talking about salespeople here, with a large percentage 52 Although the usage levels for gamification do not suggest a resounding endorsement by learning leaders, ranging anywhere from 8 percent to 20 percent across the three studies, there is an interesting dynamic when the companies rating their coaching or sustaining programs as very effective are compared with the rest of the market. Our most recent study, "Elements of a World Class Coaching Program," conducted in late FIGURE 1. UTILIZE GAMING PRINCIPLES AND MECHANISMS Percentage of Very Effective Programs, N=27 Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of All Other Very Effective All Other Very Effective All Other Programs, N=131 Programs, N=16 Programs, N=166 Programs, N=11 Programs, N=108

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014

From Where I Sit
Table of Contents
Contents
Guest Editor: Do You Feel Lucky?
Network Performance: The Power of Social Learning and Behavior
Meaningful Work: Not Just for Millennials
Four Levels of Engagement
What L&D Professionals Need to Know about Gamification
Enhancing Learning with Social Media
Gamification in Sales Training: Seven Critical Considerations Before the Games Begin
Let the Disruption Begin: Social Media and the Great Expansion of Enterprise Learning
Learning Made Fun: Gadgets, Games and a Safe Place to Explore
How Silicon Valley Inspired an Era of Social Learning
How Games Drive Learning
Roll the Dice: Learning with Board Games
Casebook: BAE Systems: Speeding the Business of Learning through Collaboration and Knowledge Management
Salespeople, Coaching and Gamification
Three Ways to Make Learning More Engaging
Stop Creating Dysfunctional Relationships with Employees
What's Online
Company News

Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014