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Stacy oversees a global team of individuals working in Business Project Management and Learning Services. Her team's focus is on change to improve quality, reduce costs, or accelerate schedules that support PPD's core business, drug development. Stacy's team has been instrumental in PPD receiving the Training Top 125 award for the past several years, the ASTD BEST Award and Brandon Hall Excellence Award (Gold medal in "Best use of virtual worlds" category).

Stacy Weil

Stacy N. Williams is a 5x award winning Talent Development leader, author, speaker and founder of Never Stop Learning, LLC, an organization committed to helping companies build high performing teams through customized, metrics-based training that blends in-class experiences with on the job application. Williams is using her 20 years of industry experience to transform how companies approach employee development by overturning the belief that one-and-done trainings are enough to solidify knowledge and motivate teams to change fixed behavior patterns.

Stacy Williams

Here are six activities that can be used either during in-person or remote trainings to get talent professionals started.

6 Learner-Centered Activities That Teach to Experience

Thomas Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, has a few things to say about the skills gap – the persistent lack of qualified people to fill some of the three million jobs open in the U.S. “We’re in the midst of a perfect storm: a Great Recession that has caused a sharp increase in unemployment, and a Great Inflection – a merger of the information technology revolution and globalization that is wiping out many decent-wage, middle-skilled jobs, and replacing them with decent-wage, high-skilled jobs. Every decent-paying job today takes more skill and more education, but too many Americans aren’t ready,” says Friedman. He recommends a solution that has been practiced for decades: putting industry experts into schools and teachers into industry.Still, U.S. schools and universities can’t keep pace with teaching new skills, so companies — especially small ones — are turning to other solutions. One is to do the training themselves.  Wyoming Machine, a sheet metal company in Stacy, Minn, hired a certified welding inspector to train company welders in the science and math needed to hold current-day welding jobs. Wyoming Metal’s CEO, Traci Tapani, said that training their own workers is often the only way for employers to adapt to the “quick response time” demanded for “changing skills.”Another solution is to outsource specific tasks and there are dozens of start-ups waiting to help small companies. Fiverr, headquartered in Tel Aviv, provides small services such as designing business cards, editing newsletters, and making short videos.  SkillPages, based in Ireland, connects skilled workers with companies wanting to outsource complex, highly specialized tasks. Start-ups Guru, oDesk, and Elance also focus on skilled work and LinkedIn added a “skills” component to its profiles in 2011.For location-specific jobs, try TaskRabbit. Their errand-runners will assemble your knock-down furniture, wrap gifts, and even stand in line for you.

Solutions to the Skills Gap

In this Corporate Training talk radio interview, ATD facilitator Stacy Lindenberg discusses the steps to successfully select and implement a learning management system. As principal of Talent Seed Consulting, Stacy leverages more than 15 years of experience in identifying opportunities and implementing large-scale learning solutions for associates at all organizational levels. She has developed and delivered blended learning approaches, led learning and development teams, selected and implemented learning technology initiatives, and designed and managed leadership and succession planning and development programs.  Check Out Training Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Training and HR Talk Radio on BlogTalkRadioStacy also is a past president of the Midlands Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (formerly ASTD), and served on ATD’s National CORE committee. She served on the advisory board of the 2013 International Conference on e-Learning in the Workplace. She blogs for ATD’s Learning Technologies community and has written articles and publications for ATD as well as Learning Solutions magazine. Stacy also is certified to facilitate Achieve Global, GROW Coaching, and ProMax training, and she regularly speaks at local and national training conferences.Learn more tips from Stacy during the ATD Essentials of Selecting and Implementing an LMS Program.

Selecting an LMS: An Interview With Stacy Lindenberg

As principal of Talent Seed Consulting, Stacy leverages more than 15 years of experience in identifying opportunities and implementing large-scale learning solutions for associates at all organizational levels. She has developed and delivered blended learning approaches, led learning and development teams, selected and implemented learning technology initiatives, and designed and managed leadership and succession planning and development programs.  Stacy is a past president of the Midlands Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (formerly ASTD), and served on ATD’s National CORE committee. She served on the advisory board of the 2013 International Conference on e-Learning in the Workplace. She blogs for ATD’s Learning Technologies community and has written articles and publications for ATD as well as Learning Solutions magazine. Stacy is certified to facilitate Achieve Global, GROW Coaching, and ProMax training, regularly speaks at local and national training conferences. Connect with Stacy on Twitter, LinkedIn, or through her company website: www.growyourtalent.com.

Stacy Lindenberg

Certificate Program

This talent management training gives you a blueprint to align all your human capital processes with organizational strategy to achieve your business goals. 

Integrated Talent Management Certificate

Too often, organizations select a learning management system (LMS) without thoughtful planning or a systematic approach. As a result, they risk a flawed and cumbersome implementation process, lack of system adoption, and frustrated end users.Improving the LMS selection process involves:Research. Use independent research to educate your team on the strengths and weaknesses of potential vendors. This will help narrow your selection.Peer interviews. Talk with others in organizations similar to yours. Asking questions regarding their experience with their current LMS, as well as what they would do differently, will give you a better idea of what vendors might be a better fit for your organization. It can also yield insight you wouldn’t find out otherwise.System checklists. During the RFP and selection process, use a thoughtful and thorough checklist to compare standard features and functionality between potential vendors.Internal advisory council. By tapping into other areas of your organization that may be affected by the LMS, you can create a group to advise and offer insight on the selection of one. People are also more likely to support what they have helped create, and when they have had the opportunity to provide input.Sandbox site. When you have narrowed your selection, have your advisory council explore the vendor’s sample site, often referred to as a sandbox site. This allows you and your council to use the system as users and administrators, and helps you understand system usability.To learn more about each of these components, receive sample tools to assist your selection, and improve your process, register for ATD’s next online workshop, Essentials of Selecting and Implementing an LMS.Additional ATD Reading Resources on LMS SelectionLMS Supplier SelectionNarrowing LMS Vendor Selection9 Questions to Ask References When Evaluating LMS Suppliers

Comparing Apples to Apples: 5 Components of LMS Selection

It is your role to engage your internal stakeholders early in the process and encourage them to plan for the future, and to paint the picture of how technology can support the organization’s visions. Leading the charge in selecting the right fit and communicating early and often throughout the process will help you avoid a common setback in successful implementation: lack of support from senior management.—"Selecting and Implementing a Learning Management System****"ASTD Infoline, July 2012Looking to select a new learning management system?  Create an internal social learning network?  Build a better SharePoint site? Roll out a new mobile learning app?  If so, make sure you don’t overlook five important steps to increase your likelihood of success.1) Identify stakeholders in your organizationBy involving stakeholders early and often, you demonstrate respect for their opinion, and increase the likelihood of gaining buy-in. Without stakeholder involvement, your learning technology solution may drain resources, create organizational risk, and frustrate learners.Even if your learning and technology team are experts in the latest and greatest technology, and they feel 100 percent confident they’ve found the perfect technology solution, you’ll still benefit by involving stakeholders and giving them an opportunity to provide ideas and feedback.  This decreases the possibility of diminishing your department’s credibility, and increases the likelihood that you gain support for future projects.2) Don’t forget your end usersFeedback from learners that will ultimately benefit from using the technology is critical. The individuals you select should represent the population of your organization today, as well as what you expect that population will look like within the next several years.3) Form an advisory council  Inviting key stakeholders and end users to give feedback as part of a “Learning Advisory Council” creates a partnership that can foster innovative ideas, allow behind-the scenes employees to interact with one another, and establish your department as a strategic partner.Depending on the size and culture of your organization, you might want to involve representatives from legal, compliance, human resources, marketing, and finance areas. 5) Involve your vendorsAn additional consideration will be your technology vendors. If you approach potential service providers as partners, you have a higher likelihood of gaining acceptance. Whenever possible, communicate openly about internal stakeholder concerns with your preferred vendors. They may be able to partner with you to achieve an outcome that will benefit the organization and the end user.Bottom lineAnticipating obstacles, identifying key stakeholders, and setting expectations for internal council involvement will help you achieve buy-in and support for your learning technology efforts. Thorough and thoughtful planning, as well as a partnership approach with your vendors, will increase the likelihood of your success.

Five Steps for Successful Learning Technology Adoption

I often see questions on learning discussion forums and LinkedIn groups about selecting the right learning management system for an organization.  In order to narrow your selection, consider these criteria:1) Do you you want a hosted or internal solution?Creating an internal solution enables you to contain sensitive information, and may result in less issues dealing with firewalls and security. This also makes it your responsibility to manage updates and issues internally.A hosted solution is maintained by the provider, and may be less costly. Involving your IT team will also help you identify the best solution for your organization.2) Why do you need an LMS?Consider the following questions:Are you simply looking for a way to track training and learning activities?  Or will you need the ability to automate and simplify other organizational development functions?Is your company growing? How distributed is your workforce? What additional needs might you have in the next 2 to 3 years?You should decide which features and functionality are most important to your organization.  For example, some systems now are capable of supportingrecruitingonboardingcompetency mappingsuccession planningsocial learning forumsdeep-linking to internal websitesperformance managementcareer development plans and progress.3) Which suppliers have a strong customer base in your industry?Some suppliers may be more likely to know about issues challenging other organizations in your field. They can offer best practices from peers, and may have user groups that enable you to network with others in your industry.Reach out to current clients of the suppliers you are considering. Suppliers typically will provide contact information for references that include their happiest customers. Another best practice is to reach out to companies that are not on this list, and ask them about with the supplier. Consider asking their current clients these questions:What lessons did you learn during the implementation process?What worked well?What would you do differently?Were there any unanticipated issues that you have had to deal with?If you could change one thing about your system, what would it be?Were there benefits of the system that you didn’t anticipate?How long did you allow for implementation, and was that time sufficient?What tasks during implementation did you underestimate?Why did you select this vendor?4) What factors should you include in your request for proposal (RFP)?When you have identified potential suppliers, you will want to customize a system requirements checklist with your RFP (see the job aid LMS Requirements Checklist at the back of the July 2012 Infoline "Selecting and Implementing a Learning Management System").  This checklist allows you to include features that are important to you, and to determine at a glance whether these features are part of a standard implementation or are offered at additional cost.Your RFP should be simple and straightforward. You will want to include a description of what you are interested in purchasing, as well as a timeframe in which suppliers must respond to the request in order to be considered.Make note of each supplier’s responsiveness. A delayed response may be an early indicator that the vendor doesn’t have the capacity to manage additional customers. Also make note of the supplier’s approach to your request. Are they simply responding to it, or are they reaching out to you in order to better understand the needs of your organization?In addition, remember to discuss with the supplier which functionalities are configurable (tailored in the interface to meet your needs) versus customizable (often more expensive and requiring changes in coding).4) How you should you arrange supplier demonstrations?Following the RFP, your next step will be to set up demos with stakeholders. Schedule a time for supplier demonstrations and allow stakeholders to discuss feedback and first impressions. Although this may not be possible for a global company, in-person demos typically offer the chance to capture greater feedback and allow stakeholders to collaborate in identifying the preferred solution.Suppliers may have a “canned” demo that they use, but let the supplier know ahead of time the specific features you would like included in the demo.Whether the demo is offered via webinar or in person, you can allow time before the demo to remind everyone of the critical features you identified in the assessment phase, and make time after for discussion. It is helpful if a member of your department takes detailed notes throughout in order to capture all feedback.If you currently have another LMS solution, it can be helpful to show the group the current LMS, and remind the group of any system limitations that you are hoping to address with a new solution. Your stakeholder group may not be a daily (or even monthly) user of your LMS. They should be made aware of the issues you face with your current provider.You can also meet with key stakeholders ahead of time to determine any questions you’d like to pose to the supplier. And if you already have an LMS and are looking to switch providers, what are your pain points that impact the organization? Are there tasks or processes with the current system that are cumbersome for the end user? Make sure you have an opportunity to see how these processes work with the other suppliers.Following the demos, the suppliers should provide you with access to a “sandbox” site, where you can experiment with system functionality and test out the look, feel, and overall usability of the system. It may be useful to include a sample of end users in this process, also.After the demos are complete, plan to communicate back to the stakeholder group with next steps and to acknowledge their part in the process. Frequent communication during each step in the selection process will help to engage senior leaders.**5) What are the costs and pricing?**When considering costs of an LMS, be aware of the “true cost” of ownership. Elements to consider include:implementationmaintenanceconfigurationcustomizationService Level Agreements (SLAs)user licensesdata storagestaff training and supportintegration with web conferencing, CRM, and other softwaremobile applicationsvarious assessments and measurement toolsadditional upfront costs. At this point you should prepare a business case for your preferred supplier solution. See the sidebar Making a Business Case for an LMS from the July 2012 Infoline "Selecting and Implementing a Learning Management System" for more information on drafting this document. An executive summary, which provides an at-a-glance summary of your business case, is also a helpful hand-out for stakeholders and other decision makers involved in the process.

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