Communication, teamwork, problem solving, attitude, leadership, professionalism. They are typically called "soft skills" and are vital to the success of any organization. The good news is that they can be learned and developed, just like hard skills.

Maybe you have a hunch that a self-paced training program is a good fit for team members in your organization. Let’s dig into the benefits of a self-paced approach and help you envision how you might put those benefits to work for your employees. So here we go:

Organizations are spending an average of $1,208 per employee on training, according to the Association for Talent Development’s latest State of the Industry Report. I think we can agree that spending on training is a critical investment for any organization, but how do you know if you are getting the most bang for your buck?

You’re excited for your upcoming deployment of Office 365. Or maybe “nervous” is a better word for your edgy feeling. Take a deep breath, the good news is you’re not the first IT manager or stakeholder who has felt those butterflies before your deployment. As of October 2018 there are an estimated 150 million people who connect to Office 365.

Maybe it has crossed your mind from time-to-time, thinking you should put a training plan in place for your team. If you’re like me, maybe you haven’t had time. And there may seem to be significant barriers to getting started: needs analysis, skills gap analysis, training plan templates, and so on. Not that any of those things are bad, those are all great and important things, but it takes time and effort to do them right.

Just as there are many approaches to workplace training and delivery, adults respond to training in different ways for different reasons. People vary generationally in the way they absorb and process information, and they also vary in naturally predisposed learning styles. Efficiency demands that training satisfy each of these more or less equally, but actually designing it to this effect can be a nightmare mess of conflicting elements that inclines many to ignore these distinctions altogether. Learning proficiencies can be divided and described in any number of ways; Presented below are two of the most useful and widely-implemented models of learning styles, followed by advice on how to address them both directly and indirectly. The process need not be as complicated as it first appears, as long as the differences and basic characteristics of these styles are understood and kept at the back of the mind.

We all want well-trained, productive employees on staff. Yet even though that dream is in high demand among employers, it isn't a reality for every organization. One of the biggest bottlenecks that commonly keep professionals from reaching their full potential is a lack in effective training or onboarding. Without effective onboarding and training opportunities, your employees will continue to lack the skills they need in order to contribute to company growth and success.

Employee training. Some people think of it like the ante in poker: it’s the minimum stake to be in the game.

If you are like us, then you think of it more as a strategic advantage. Invest in developing your team, and your team will be invested in the success of your organization.

In today's competitive business environment, there is no shortage of training methods available to you. But if you have been immersed in a training program or two before, you know there is a clear difference between an effective-training program and one that runs your team stagnant. With the vast number of training methods and resources available to you, it can be daunting to determine which of these sources are going to equip your employees with the tools they need for better performance.

As Baby Boomers continue to retire at an accelerating rate, their immediate successors within Generation X will only be able to fill half of their positions, leaving the remainder open to less-experienced Millennials.

Onboarding and training new and existing team members can be a complex process for many organizations and their managers. "Managing people is one of the most time-consuming and difficult aspects of any job," writes Barrie Gross of allBusiness. "Whether you have one direct report or 20, the responsibilities loom large and finding the time to follow sound management practices in everything you do as a supervisor can be challenging."

Successful organizations are often determined by their process and their willingness to evolve. The more granular, and focused the organization is on planning, implementing, reviewing and refining its processes, the better. This method is often referred to as the plan-do-check-act cycle, aka PDCA, a four-step process used for continuous improvement. PDCA is an on-going and joint team effort that organizations use to ultimately improve products, services and internal processes for breakthrough performance.

Every organization wants productive, solution-driven employees on its team. Without them, you may notice a lag in workplace efficiency and a decline in the quality of your products and services. Well where are they, these effective, efficient team members? They are right there under your nose, in your organization. To empower your employees, you must provide them with the resources they need to perform and grow your business.

If your organization's human resources department and managers are onboarding new employees at a rapid rate, it can only mean one thing: You're growing, and that's a good thing. On the other side of the spectrum, if you lack the resources your new hires need to settle into their roles, they may become self-reliant, which isn't always a good thing. So how do you achieve the former, and provide your employees with proper training? And who should take responsibility of onboarding your new employees?

Having well-trained employees is the dream of every organization. If your current training program isn't covering enough ground or providing enough value, your employees will never receive the adequate training they need to create a competitive advantage for your organization. To overcome this obstacle, establish clear objectives for your new and existing training programs, plus a few key performance indicators to gauge the effectiveness of your program. This way, you won't waste time, effort and money on training efforts that provide little to no value for your team and your organization.