Last week, The Firm Voice, the blog of the Council of Public Relations Firms, covered the important topic of engineering tomorrow’s virtual workforce. I was honored to be included with Cynthia Rude, chief operating officer of Citizen Paine, and John Corey, founding partner of Greentarget. I hope you agree it’s a valuable read: Developing An [...]

In my previous post about brainstorms, (which to avoid confusion, we’ll call idea-generation or ideation sessions) I discussed the role of negative thinking and criticism in them. I did so because of the recent attention paid to Jonah Lehrer, who in his book “Imagine, How Creativity Works,” seemed to claim that these sessions didn’t work, [...]

After seeing my posts You Can Make Brainstorms Work, Here’s How and Six (More) Steps To Effective Brainstorms, four people who know a thing or two about brainstorms and creativity and whose judgement I value (a client, a dear PR friend, a pal who’s highly influential in the space where PR meets social media, and [...]

In my previous post on making brainstorms work, I shared some of the things that many of us dislike most about brainstorms. And not surprisingly, these are the things which if not managed properly, result in brainstorm failure. On a more positive note, I shared six of the things you can do to increase the [...]

Many communications pros hate brainstorms. I know my friend Gini Dietrich does. And who can blame them? We’ve all experienced these classic brainstorm “downers”: Extroverts who are so bursting with ideas that we never hear the good thinking of the Introverts, who are smart, but so intimated by the extroverts that they don’t contribute to [...]

Let’s wrap up this series on “Designing An Effective Agency Training Program” with three points that I trust you’ll find valuable: “Build Support From Training Cheerleaders Throughout The Agency,” “Seek Participant Feedback Regularly And Modify The Program Accordingly,” and “Cultivate A Learning Environment.” Build Support from Training Cheerleaders Throughout The Agency In an earlier post [...]

I’m sharing a coda to my previous posts on Designing An Agency Training Program Parts 1, 2 and 3, which in hindsight, I should have covered earlier. Whichever training courses you choose to offer, remember that in addition to the specific skills your team will gain, a training program is a chance to share three [...]

I believe this post will bring you greater value if you first review Designing Your Training Program Part One and Part Two. So you’ve gotten a real understanding of the agency’s strategic and growth goals. You’ve considered the firm’s professional development goals, both for the team overall and for must-keep employees. You know the areas [...]

You’ll get the most from this post after reading Designing Your Agency Training Program, Part One. Ok, so you’ve asked for and gotten a commitment for active support from the top (and if you’re the agency leader, you’ve committed to giving it), and done your research so that you can build the program around the [...]

Are you responsible for designing your communications firm’s training program? Then this post is for you. And please note, I believe that these tips will apply no matter your agency’s size. 1.  Get Commitment and Ongoing, Active Support from the Top. This is absolutely your most important tip, because without it, you most likely won’t [...]