learning – Nathan Magnuson

How Leaders Learn to Lead

How do people learn to be leaders? That’s the question leadership consultant and thought leader Robert J. Thomas answered at a leadership academy event I recently helped organize. Speaking from his book Crucibles of Leadership, Thomas demonstrated that simply taking a course on leadership would do little to transform leadership abilities.…

9 Ways Learning Events Can Flop

February 6, 2017 Learning

As a talent development professional, I’ve been privileged to lead, observe and participate in many types of learning and training events. I’m often invited by vendors to sit in on their training in the hopes I’ll make a purchase. I can say firsthand there are some amazing learning events out…

What You Need to Understand About Adult Learning Theory

August 1, 2016 Learning Organizational Effectiveness

Picture yourself attending two training sessions. In the first, you sit quietly in your row as the instructor lectures on the benefits, nuances and applications of the topic. In the second session, you sit at a table with a group of peers as a facilitator introduces the topic, elicits several responses…

The Best Leadership Education You Can Get for Free

January 18, 2016 Leadership Personal Effectiveness

Just about all of us are Monday morning quarterbacks when it comes to leadership. Everyone has an opinion. But how informed are those opinions, especially if we’ve never been there before? Here’s the thing: if you wait until you receive a leadership role to get a leadership education, you may be…

Becoming Excellent

November 16, 2015 Inspiration Learning Personal Effectiveness Uncategorized

Excellence is a blessing and a curse. It’s always a noble pursuit. But it can be intimidating as well. With so much information and many high profile examples of what excellence looks like, how can we contribute in a significant way? Regardless of what you aspire to do, excellence is…

Surviving Success

September 1, 2014 Guest Post Leadership Learning

Today's guest post comes courtesy of Mark Miller, Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness at Chick-fil-A and bestselling author. Receive his updates by visiting his website Great Leaders Serve or following him on Twitter. Success is a lousy teacher. The best leaders know this and are always on guard against complacency.…

5 Ways Employees Learn

March 3, 2014 Learning Organizational Effectiveness Personal Effectiveness

Where do you send your employees to learn something new? Where do you go yourself? There a lots of options out there. The best strategy is to take a integrated approach to learning across five broad categories. Here they are.

Which Stage of Competence Are You?

August 26, 2013 Engagement Human Resources Learning Organizational Effectiveness Personal Effectiveness perspective

Everybody wants competence. We want it for ourselves. We expect it from others in our organizations. We demand it from the people and organizations we purchase from. But how do we figure out if we’ve got it? How well do we develop it in others? Where do we even start?…

How to Measure Learning Programs Using the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model

August 12, 2013 Engagement Human Resources Learning Organizational Effectiveness Strategic Thinking

All of a sudden you get put in charge of building a new training course for your organization. It could be leadership training, professional training or technical training. Doesn’t matter. So you do the hard work of analyzing the learning needs, developing objectives, designing content, coordinating the event and finally…

6 Ways to Change Your Learning Culture

July 8, 2013 Culture Human Resources Learning Organizational Effectiveness Strategic Thinking

When you were growing up, you probably spent hours sitting in a classroom listening to teachers deliver lecture after lecture in school. Now, as an adult employee, the thought of sitting through company training seems boring, unproductive, pointless and wasteful compared to actual work you could be doing. And if…

How I Cashed In on My Own $77 Million Mistake

February 18, 2013 Inspiration Learning

“Good morning, this is Nathan,” I greeted the caller on my cubicle phone several years ago. “Yes, this is Bill. I’m a Vice President at First Big Bank. I need to know where our $77 million is.” “Uh, yes,” I gulped. “Well… do you have an account number?” I was…

Mentoring 101

January 21, 2013 Human Resources Leadership Learning Networking Personal Effectiveness

It’s said that King Solomon was the wisest man who ever walked the earth. From the stories it seems his leadership ability was pretty astonishing as well. Imagine what it would have been like to spend an hour with him. What questions would you ask? What problems would you want…