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Basem Issa is executive vice-president - admin and commercial, at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). He can be reached at: b.issa@knpc.com.

Basem Issa

The Kuwait National Petroleum Company is changing the learning function, where the top line and bottom line converge.

Leading Change From the Learning Function at KNPC

Tired of leaders who look to you to fix diversity and inclusion with training? Join us as we give you a peek in the box at easy-to-scale and implement tech that has disrupted the diversity and inclusion L&D space. Find out how it puts the business of belonging in the hands of every employee by decentralizing access, focus, and control of content. See elements embedded in the tech that create real learning and lasting behavior change. Check out real-time data that allows you to scale best practices, get ahead of retention issues and create a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive.
During webinar you will learn::

The power of inclusion nudges to drive behavior change
Types of behavior-based people powered predictive data
How to leverage tech that people use all day long as a tool to increase inclusion and belonging
 


DEMO: How to Build an Inclusive Culture Using Daily Nudges, Gamification, and Behavior-Based Data

Massive changes in how you track and measure outcomes, meet productivity and customer expectations, and cope with staffing issues, shrinking budgets, and new payer mixes can leave you gasping for air. A job you used to love becomes overwhelming; a job you never loved becomes intolerable.
Life’s too short to believe that suffering is now part of the working experience. Good news! This session will provide you with a revolutionary new look at your role in the workplace, and provide you with the tools to become a happy, top performer.
Become a highly credible, indispensable employee who delivers results no matter the circumstances; learn to adapt to change quickly and without drama. In this webcast, you will learn how to:

Apply five reality-based competencies and five reality-based rules for the workplace to enhance your engagement and drive your results.
Gauge the employee value metric, a new self-assessment to help you measure and increase your own value at work.
Quantify and diminish drama—measured as emotional expensiveness—a key drain on you, and on your value to your employer.
Use strategies and takeaway tools to become a top talent in your organization.


5 Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace: Becoming a Highly Valued Employee

Summer 2012 - The Public Manager

Virginia Transportation Agency Seeks Performance-Based Certification

If you work at an organization with a large deskless workforce, you know just how difficult it can be to upskill and reskill employees. Deskless workers are often on the front lines or hard at work earning revenue for the business. They’re interacting with patients or customers, doing work out in the field, or on the road—delivering goods or offering services. Employers may be hesitant to take them “off the job” for training. Patty Gaul, senior writer and editor for the Association for Talent Development, explored this topic in a recent article.“An L&D leader may learn that a company doesn’t include training time as a bucket of employee time,” she writes. “The organization encourages their managers to hurry their direct reports to their stations or positions (such as the manufacturing line, cash register, or delivery route) rather than giving employees the time to learn how to do their immediate work well. This negatively affects workers’ knowledge and, in the end, motivation.” Research shows that poor training also puts staff in danger—instances of human error causing occupational accidents are more likely when workers are under-skilled.There’s an opportunity cost as well. Gaul writes: “Too often, leaders train these workers only when there’s a problem, not taking advantage of the opportunity that development affords.” Employers that do not invest in training may be leaving productivity gains and a competitive advantage on the table.With all the benefits L&D offers—and all the challenges it can help your organization avoid—how can you train your deskless workforce in the most effective way possible? Giving learners more options to complete their training can help. Employees don’t have to be chained to a desk or sitting in a classroom to learn and develop. A little bit of L&D creativity can go a long way. Read on to discover four strategies to motivate your deskless employees to fit training into their busy schedules.1. Give Learners the Flexibility to Learn Wherever They Happen to BeMost workers want to learn new skills and are intrinsically motivated to improve and develop. A recent survey shows that seven out of 10 workers feel more connected to their organization when they’re learning. A further eight out of 10 say learning gives them a sense of purpose at work.Giving deskless workers the opportunity to access this kind of purpose can drastically improve their job satisfaction—and extend their tenure too. Research shows that having a strong culture of learning can improve employee retention by up to 57 percent. Some employees may associate learning with taking notes in a lecture hall, or sitting in front of a computer—but “studying” shouldn’t have to equal “desk.” The solution to helping deskless employees learn and develop is already in their pockets. When staff can complete their training right from their mobiles, wherever they happen to be, a whole world of opportunity opens up to them.Did you know that Bridge LMS, an all-in-one solution for training and upskilling staff, comes with the intuitive, user-friendly Bridge Learning app as standard? The app, available for both iOS and Android, makes it simple and easy for employees to complete their learning, whenever, wherever.Learners can even access content without Wi-Fi. This makes the learning experience seamless. They can start their training in a break room, for example, and effortlessly keep their momentum going when traveling to a field site. They’ll have key insights on the topics that matter to them at their fingertips—even in the most remote locations. With Wi-Fi-less learning, a bus, a train, a factory floor, their kitchen, and even the most far-flung location can instantly become an inspiring classroom.2. Help Staff Keep Their Learning on TrackResearch shows that there’s a strong correlation between motivation and learning outcomes. Setting smaller goals and steadily working toward them can help people stay committed to their targets. Breaking a big learning target down into less intimidating, achievable goals can be tremendously helpful. This is particularly true for deskless workers who may work in isolation or don’t get much contact with leadership. Boston Consulting Group stated that: “[A] major issue is the limited access deskless workers have to corporate communication systems like email and intranets. These tools are often designed with desk-based employees in mind[...]This communication gap can lead to a sense of isolation, making these workers feel disconnected from the organization’s broader goals and culture.”Choosing an LMS that helps you keep every learner on track, wherever they happen to be, can make all the difference. With Bridge Mobile, push notifications remind learners when a course is due. This relieves them of the cognitive load of managing their own learning and development schedule.Admins can easily track enrollments, missed deadlines, and course completion rates. They can generate intuitive reports in a few clicks and share data-powered insights with the wider organization. This empowers managers to intervene with support at the right time. Regular contact from well-informed managers means reports feel less at sea and more empowered to meet the development goals that matter to them.3. Be Realistic About Learning Challenges and Prepare for HiccupsAs useful as remote training is, it does come with challenges. If it’s not properly managed, it can open the door to miscommunication or inefficient learning. Workers may encounter technical difficulties, for instance, and feel that these headaches are a significant burden after a long shift on their feet or on the go.Tech challenges can have a big impact on morale, even among younger generations. Research shows that just under 50 percent of young graduates surveyed across the globe feel their level of technical expertise has left them unprepared for the workforce. As many as one in five young workers say they feel “judged” when they don’t know how to solve a tech issue. Tech headaches can be exacerbated for deskless staff who work far from a central IT team and may not have admin time built into their schedule. The key is to accept that challenges may arise from time to time and prepare for them in advance. Your first line of defense will naturally be to choose a mobile LMS with a very simple, clean interface, and intuitive, user-friendly features. Bridge Mobile offers a straightforward experience with uncomplicated dashboards. Learners can easily navigate between their courses, learning libraries, and agendas. User-friendly design isn’t the only factor though. Choosing an LMS provider known for meticulous onboarding and responsive customer service can also help you stay ahead of tech challenges. The last thing you want is for a learner to lose their motivation for good because of a minor technical hiccup that could be solved with a few simple instructions. This is why Bridge offers comprehensive onboarding. Our expert teams work with your admins to make sure they fully understand our app’s capabilities. When admins know features inside out, implementation is easy—and they’re empowered to help their team as and when required. It’s thanks in part to our outstanding onboarding that we recently achieved a customer satisfaction score of 93 percent. We also offer tech support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This means deskless workers with unusual hours don’t need to fall behind on their learning just because they need a bit of extra support. We have an excellent service team—and we’re proud to share that our customers love us for it. A representative from US-based construction and engineering company Rudolph and Sletten said: “Bridge LMS is exceptionally user-friendly, featuring an intuitive and clean interface that simplifies navigation for both administrators and learners. The customer support is outstanding—easily accessible and remarkably patient in understanding and resolving even the most challenging scenarios.”4. Offer Accessible, Engaging, and Personalized Learning for AllWhen staff feel that instructions are passed down from some invisible authority, they may feel less motivated to learn. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation—wanting to complete a task because it is fun, interesting, or helpful—can be a crucial factor for successful learning. Employers can promote intrinsic motivation by making employees feel competent and autonomous.To achieve this, personalizing learning is key. Especially when you consider the type of tasks deskless workers tend to do. Deskless workers are the lifeblood of many organizations. Every hour away from their daily tasks is an hour away from crucial activity that drives their company’s revenue or underpins their organization’s ethos. When the stakes are this high, cookie-cutter learning content can feel like a waste of time.Bridge Mobile can help you steer clear of one-size-fits-all courses. It empowers you to deliver personalized learning journeys for every employee. Managers can assign courses that align with specific, individual targets—and employees always have a clear view of their progress over time. This means that they’ll have a little bit of motivation to keep learning, and easy access to that learning wherever they are.Because the app stores tasks, ideas, achievements, and due dates all in one place, employees have their own, personal space to work toward their goals. This can help them feel like your organization is invested in improving their experience at work, instead of just forcing standardized training en masse.Crucially, Bridge also makes content more accessible for every learner. The app supports 20 different languages, so you can keep your employees of all backgrounds engaged and inspired. It also complies with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) at AA-level. This means:It’s easy to use with assistive technologies, like screen readers.There’s good color contrast between any text and background.Content is organized under clear headings, in a logical order.Navigation buttons or elements are consistent across the app.

4 Ways to Effectively Train Your Deskless Workforce 

Imagine a world where your next job interview is conducted by artificial intelligence (AI) that analyzes your every blink, twitch, and vocal inflection. Now picture that same AI deciding whether you’re fit for a promotion based on your learning style. Does this sound like science fiction? Not quite. Welcome to the brave new world of AI in the training industry, where the line between innovation and ethical quagmire is as thin as a microchip.As AI seeps into every corner of our lives, from weather apps to our social media feeds, one industry stands at a critical crossroads: learning and development. Here, the promise of personalized learning experiences collides head-on with concerns about privacy, bias, and the very nature of human learning. Are we on the brink of an educational revolution, or are we unknowingly coding the biases of today into the learners of tomorrow?AI systems are only as unbiased as the data they’re trained on and the humans who design them. In 2019, HSBC teamed up with Talespin to create a VR program for soft skills training, but it hit some bumps when it rolled out globally. The AI, primarily trained on Western expression datasets, consistently misinterpreted common nonverbal cues:In Hong Kong, the AI got confused by subtle Chinese communication styles. When a Chinese employee said, “We might want to consider another approach,” the AI read it as uncertainty when it was a polite way of disagreeing.In the Middle East, the AI didn’t recognize the importance of the right hand in greetings and gestures. Using the left hand, which is considered impolite in many Middle Eastern cultures, wasn’t flagged as a faux pas.In the UK, “That’s not bad,” means it is quite good. However, the AI interpreted it as lukewarm approval rather than positive feedback. The VR scores didn’t match up with real-world performance, and HSBC didn’t just shrug it off. They brought in cultural experts and threw in some extra training on cross-cultural communication. They also made sure humans were keeping an eye on things, just in case the AI missed some cultural nuances.HSBC’s story shows how tricky it can be to use AI for soft skills training across different cultures. But it also proves that with some tweaks and a willingness to learn, you can turn those challenges into some valuable insights for global business.Privacy is another major concern.In the training industry, AI systems often collect vast amounts of data on learners’ behavior, preferences, and performance. While this data can be used to improve learning outcomes, it also poses significant privacy risks if not handled properly.To address concerns:Strict data protection measures must be put in place to safeguard learners’ privacy. Organizations should give learners control over their data, including the right to access, correct, and delete their information.Regular audits to ensure compliance.Next, is the issue of transparency. Many AI algorithms, particularly those using deep learning, make it difficult to understand how they arrive at their decisions. If an AI system recommends a certain learning path or makes an assessment of a student’s abilities, both educators and learners should be able to understand the reasoning behind these decisions.To improve transparency:AI developers should prioritize creating interpretable models that can provide clear explanations for their decisions.Organizations using AI in training should provide clear documentation on how their AI systems work and make decisions.To further improve AI in training, greater diversity must be ensured in AI development teams for a wider range of perspectives, potentially reducing bias in AI systems. Rigorous testing for bias should be conducted before they’re deployed in educational settings, and continuously monitored. By addressing these concerns, we can harness AI’s power to improve training outcomes while protecting learners’ rights and ensuring fairness. As educators, technologists, and lifelong learners, we have a collective responsibility to shape an AI-driven future where technology augments human intelligence.Ultimately, this journey isn’t just about smarter machines, but about nurturing smarter, more capable humans. Let’s embrace this challenge with open minds and an unwavering commitment to ethical progress.

The Ethical Tightrope: Navigating AI in the Training Industry

Imagine transforming your sales team into an unstoppable force with AI-driven coaching. It’s possible, and sales leaders in all industries are doing it.In fact, research from Allego found 62 percent of revenue enablement leaders use AI to supercharge their sales, marketing, and customer success, resulting in faster deal closures and highly effective coaching sessions. In addition, sales coaching (29 percent) and sales call analysis (29 percent) are the top uses of AI, providing real-time insights and feedback that boost sales team performance, increase productivity, and increase revenue.Research from Salesforce supports the benefits of using AI in sales. In its State of Sales, 6th Edition, it reported teams that use AI outperform the rest. Specifically, “83% of sales teams with AI saw revenue growth in the past year—versus 66% of teams without AI.”5 Benefits of AI-Driven Sales CoachingIntegrating AI into sales coaching offers significant advantages that can transform how coaching is delivered and improve sales outcomes. It personalizes coaching by analyzing vast amounts of data and delivering insights that humans might miss. Automatic feedback from AI tools helps reps quickly adjust their strategies. And by automating routine tasks, AI frees up sales coaches to focus on strategic development.1. Personalized Coaching at ScaleAI takes sales coaching to the next level by diving deep into each rep’s unique data—everything from their past wins and losses to how they communicate with customers. It’s like having a personal coach who knows exactly where each rep shines and where they need a little extra help. AI doesn’t just give generic advice; it tailors feedback to fit each rep’s style and needs.2. Sales Call Monitoring and FeedbackAI-powered coaching tools can analyze sales calls, providing feedback and actionable insights. This helps sales reps understand their performance and adjust their approach. For example, AI can transcribe and analyze sales calls, highlighting key areas such as tone, sentiment, and adherence to product messaging.3. Enhanced Sales Training EfficiencyAI-powered sales coaching tools significantly enhance sales training efficiency by automating routine tasks that traditionally consume a lot of time. For instance, these tools can automatically generate sales coaching quizzes based on the training content, personalize the quizzes for individual reps, and instantly score them. Beyond quizzes, AI tools can also provide detailed feedback on assessments and sales calls, analyzing interactions for adherence to best practices, tone, and messaging.4. Predictive Sales PerformanceAI helps sales leaders analyze historical data, current performance metrics, and market trends to forecast future outcomes. By identifying patterns and correlations that might not be immediately obvious, AI can predict which sales reps are likely to meet or exceed their targets and which may need additional support to avoid falling behind. This predictive capability allows coaches to proactively address potential issues and tailor coaching strategies to individual needs.5. Continuous Sales Rep ImprovementAI-powered coaching tools enable continuous improvement among sales reps by providing ongoing, data-driven feedback and personalized training recommendations. Unlike traditional coaching methods that may only occur periodically, these tools constantly monitor sales interactions, performance metrics, and learning progress, identifying growth opportunities.AI-Driven Coaching Key to Sales SuccessAI-driven sales coaching is not just a trend—it’s the future of sales excellence. By leveraging the power of AI, sales leaders can provide their teams with personalized, real-time coaching that boosts performance, accelerates revenue growth, and drives continuous improvement. The sooner your team taps into this technology, the sooner you’ll see the results that set you apart from the competition.

5 Ways AI Is Transforming Sales Coaching and Improving Sales Performance

Colin May explains evidence-based methods for giving and receiving real, usable, and helpful feedback  in this issue of TD at Work.

Feedback for Better Performance

The case for designing learning aligned with the brain’s biology is strong. The L&D industry needs less ineffective learning. Learning professionals can apply research-based principles to increase the stickiness of learning. In this issue of TD at Work, Dana Alan Koch will:Provide an overview of the brain as it relates to learning.Explain the eight principles of durable learning.Give suggestions on creating a culture of durable learning.Describe the learner’s role in learning durability as they learn to learn. The Tools & Resources in this issue are a Durable Learning Rubric, a set of Questions to Increase Durability, and a Reflection as a Retrieval Practice Form. 

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