Cats and dogs can do it, why can’t we?
“People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” Rodney King asked that in the spring of 1992 as Los Angeles suffered through riots following the acquittal of four police officers who were charged…
Don’t lose sleep over these figures
Let’s look at a few numbers. 25, 49, 35 The first number tells us that one-quarter of Chief Human Resources Officers and HR leaders lie awake at night worrying about employee engagement and retention. Twenty-five percent, that’s a…
Great at multitasking? That’s not so great
There’s a street near our office that I cross daily to get to work. The other day I saw a driver lock his brakes and almost rear-end a car that had stopped for me at a marked crosswalk….
Rock On! or the Sounds of Silence?
Music or no music? Music in the workplace can be a divisive issue, without a doubt. Some listeners submit themselves to the isolation of headphones while others like having soft music playing for ambiance from speakers or a…
Murder by muffins, death by donuts
We’ve got an addiction problem here at the office. One day it might be muffins, or cookies, or granola bars, or cake, or donair egg rolls…mmmmmm, donair egg rolls. Another day it might be marshmallow squares, pastries, or…
What kind of trainer are you?
Have you ever thought about how you measure up as a trainer? Are you the hyper-prepared A type who leaves absolutely nothing to chance? Are you the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type who wings it? Somewhere in between? I know what…
Your attitude matters more than your pants
Clothes make the man. Appearances can be deceiving. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Dress for success. Hogwash. These platitudes are not worth the pixels that make them appear on your screen. Attitude is everything. I heard…
5 Predictions for the Future of Training
If you ask me what I’m going to have for supper I couldn’t tell you. I can’t see that far into the future, I’m not a fortune teller, and planning ahead is not my forte. But that won’t…
Stress busting, or stress inducing?
The number of stress balls flying around the Velsoft office far outpaces the actual level of stress. Those balls are the orphans of a promotional idea that’s now lost in the mists of time. A coffin-shaped box that…
Some love it, others hate it, but it’s not going away
Here’s a topic that might get your blood boiling, one way or the other: political correctness. According to Wikipedia, political correctness means “using words or behavior which will not offend any group of people.” Regardless of which side…
What’s brown and black and as valuable as gold?
Coffee is nearly as important to Velsoft as the Internet. And considering we’re an online business, that’s saying a lot. But it’s not far from the truth. Our coffee maker hardly ever stops running during the workday and…
It’s like a MOOC, but not
Pressed for time? Pressed for learning? That’s pretty common these days and it looks like one vision of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) learning aims to address that. The NOOC (Nano Open Online Course) is the next step…