From the Coleface

MARCH 31, 2022

Address the long tail of learning requests – An LXP that can surface several thousand items holds the promise that it will service low frequency requests. Although an LXP may help, the critical success factor is how the members of the community interact and their willingness to share, guide and question each other.

Long Tail 130

Long Tail Platform Organization Compliance Training 130

From the Coleface

JANUARY 22, 2014

They will gain benefits such as faster time to market, improved customer service and reduced reinvention of the wheel, whilst maintaining business confidentiality and security. the Chairman mandates that everyone does customer service training). the Chairman mandates that everyone does customer service training).

Search 140

Search Enterprise Problem Portal 140

From the Coleface

JUNE 19, 2011

Interested in e-learning in a wider context than professional services? That feels like a large part of the venn diagram to me…. Take a look at the eLearning Network’s splendid new blog eLN insights.

Blogging 100

Blogging Services eLearning Learning 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 3, 2014

Usually jobs in professional/ financial services include one or more of these five common game elements: A race against time. You find the fun and ‘snap’ [click of fingers], the job’s a game…”, if there was a game about being an insurance broker what would it look like? Selecting things and putting them in the right order.

Budget 124

Budget Design Compliance Training Games 124

From the Coleface

JANUARY 15, 2009

Imagine you are a taxpayer enjoying a perfectly good service that is free at point of use. In its wisdom, the body in charge of that service spends your taxes on a capital project to replace the service and then starts charging at point of use.

Hosting 100

Hosting Services Free Project 100

From the Coleface

JULY 30, 2015

Your online learning needs to be a targeted at an under-serviced segment of the market, otherwise it risks cannibalising your existing training sales. Make the context wider and it could potentially attract a larger audience, make it too wide and the content will seem too generic and not relevant to anyone. How wide do you focus?

Companies 100

Companies Content Online Portfolio 100

From the Coleface

AUGUST 13, 2007

Firms will continue to offshore increasingly added value services until only the UK jobs are account management and emptying the bins. Hiding stealthily in the August issue of Accountancy is a story stating that Ernst & Young have created 200 new graduate jobs in India for UK tax compliance work over the next 2 years. The End is Nigh.

Off-shore 100

Off-shore Compliance Training Compliance Attitudes 100

From the Coleface

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

The business drivers within a professional services firm make it challenging for line managers (partners & middle management) to spend time engaging with L&D and the increased focus on chargeable hours during the recession can’t be helping. .”

Management 100

Management ROI Policies Problem 100

From the Coleface

JANUARY 29, 2012

For marketers the brand is almost more important than the product/ service (the sizzle is more important than the sausage). And where two fields of expertise overlap there’s learning to be had… here’s 5 points to start with: . Brand is all important. Hence the brand needs to be nurtured and nurtured consistently.

Market 124

Market Instructional Design ADDIE News 124

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

This is a great article if you are relatively new to professional services in your L&D career, especially if you’ve worked in a different industry previously. There were 3 things that really resonated with my experience: Professionals want learning in small chunks as the pressure to remain chargeable is high.

Case Study 100

Case Study Learning Quality Study 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 13, 2012

If there’s only one thing that I’d be allowed to remember from the day, these slides would be it…and well worth a look for any professional services firm that is grappling with the opportunities and threats that social media offers learning.

Social Learning 100

Social Learning Social Social Media Yammer 100

From the Coleface

JUNE 24, 2008

Are the people at professional services firms best placed to exploit this? The most rigid organisations will snap (metaphorically), whereas the most successful organisations will flex. Embracing the best of the technology will need learners to demonstrate significant learning maturity.

Web 100

Web Community Expertise Culture 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 10, 2007

There are more services available if you subscribe for them. Hence you can sound all knowledgeable with relatively little effort (or buy the book if you’re that interested in finding out the whole story). The summaries that I’ve read so far seem pretty good – attractive enough format and well explained.

Management 100

Management Summary Sound Format 100

From the Coleface

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

The increasing availability of information and ever increasing expectations for client service and response time mean that there is less that can be planned reliably. Life in the business world is getting more unpredictable.

Exercise 100

Exercise Policies Network Performance 100

From the Coleface

AUGUST 6, 2007

In professional services we have a generation of younger learners coming through who will not take the same pride in being able to read, recall and find the relevance of densely written legalese. As the Wii was blissfully unaware of her fancy footwork, the ball went blazing into the crowd at an acute angle.

Digital 100

Digital Picture Emergent Adoption 100

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 13, 2008

There are probably too many reasons to cover now, but in the professional services arena, the opportunity cost of fee earner’s time is probably the key factor. The Fifth Discipline which takes an overall systems/ process approach, why is the “magic bullet” approach still to be so prevalent?

Budget 100

Budget Plateau Ratio Pattern 100

From the Coleface

DECEMBER 20, 2007

Diversity: a positive celebration of how the differences between people provide new ways of solving problems, understanding market needs and delivering higher quality client service. So what have Herbies done? They have taken the pre-existing “inclusivity group” and divided it into 5 subgroups: Gender.

Diversity Training 100

Diversity Training Problem Culture Quality 100

From the Coleface

OCTOBER 18, 2007

Retention is always seen as an important Key Performance Indicator for professional services firms. Retention’s status is reinforced by The Lawyer publishing a survey showing retention rates amongst the top law firms (15 Oct).

News 100

News Survey Performance Services 100

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 24, 2008

In professional services L&D, you are always likely to be amongst the early adopters of change wishing that the rest of the firm would catch up. I sympathise with Vaughan’s dilemma – as an L&D professional, do you provide the best you can? or compromise by going with what the target audience is used to?

Culture 100

Culture Blended Learning Wiki Write Blog 100

From the Coleface

NOVEMBER 26, 2007

Confidential information: on-line hosted services mean that proprietary material will be located outside the organisation which raises confidentiality risks. Branding: it may be difficult to customise the outputs so that the look and feel meets brand guidelines.

Adoption 100

Adoption Adopt Free Freeware 100

From the Coleface

FEBRUARY 29, 2008

However, in practice it’s really difficult to apply, and probably even more so in a professional services firm. It’s a straightforward concept to grasp and it’s been in use for 50 years.

Kirkpatrick 100

Kirkpatrick Evalution ROI Comparison 100

From the Coleface

MARCH 24, 2008

In professional services the focus on billable hours tends to mean that learners want their learning packaged by experts so that it is over as quickly as possible. Most learners in most organizations seem not to have the motivation and the self awareness to seek out learning opportunities that are optimal for them.

Personal Learning 100

Personal Learning Personal Personalization Wikipedia 100