When attempting to expand its leadership and management programs, Air Products and Chemicals found that its current format simply wasn’t scalable. The company needed a new approach that would reach a greater proportion of its managers located in over 30 countries, and one that would blend traditional management skills with cultural awareness. The company found that the large libraries offered by many vendors contained primarily U.S.-centric content that was missing cultural factors. Air Products also was concerned that while many of these vendors had strong content, employees would miss the social interactivity available with more traditional training methods.

This case study describes how Air Products and Chemicals developed a new approach to its leadership training, combining custom and off-the-shelf courseware. The three-tiered program is tailored to meet the needs of new, mid-level, and senior managers.

An increasing number of training organizations are looking at overseas suppliers for their content development and other training initiatives. For most companies, the primary driver behind offshoring is to take advantage of lower labor costs overseas. The potential cost savings are real: our research shows that a $10,000-$50,000 content development project may cost 20%-40% less in India.

Selecting a supplier and managing an offshore project can prove to be tricky, however. Without carefully managing these projects, a company can squander the costs it had hoped to gain.

This paper discusses what's pushing the trend toward offshoring and provides specific guidance on the following issues:

• How to select an offshore supplier
• How to structure the contract
• How to set up a project and communications structure
• How to manage a successful long-term partnership with an offshore supplier.

We recently announced three upcoming workshops entitled "Building the High Impact Learning Organization." The workshops, led by Josh Bersin and Leighanne DeMarzo, are a collaborative, research- driven program that will provide you with an assessment of your learning organization and an action plan for creating a highly efficient and highly effective training organization.

These one-day workshops are built around our High Impact Learning Organization research. Each attendee will participate in a customized Learning Organization Assessment, a benchmarking program that scores your learning organization in 12 key areas. At the event you will receive a Learning Organization Scorecard and learn about the 12 best practice areas. You will then work in small groups with your peers and our analysts to build an action plan tailored to your organization.

Key areas covered include:

• Governance and Leadership
• LMS Administration and Standards
• E-Learning Content Development
• Measurement
• Performance Consulting
• Resource Allocation

All attendees will receive a free copy of the High Impact Learning Organization research report (a $1495 value). You will also gain access to a special workshop community website to interact with your peers and read other best practice research.

Dates are as follows:

• September 20 - Washington DC
• October 12 - Chicago
• November 10 - New York City

We have three upcoming webinars over the next few weeks. On September 22, Leighanne DeMarzo will present "Using Benchmarks to Optimize the Business Impact of the Corporate Training Function." Benchmark results provide you with the requisite data to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your training function. In this session, you will learn about how and when to benchmark, and what results are most important to capture.

This webinar is free and is presented by Leighanne DeMarzo, Director of Strategic Services, Bersin & Associates.

• "Using Benchmarks to Optimize the Business Impact of the Corporate Training Function"
• Thursday, September 22, 2005
• 2:00pm Eastern/11:00am Pacific
• SIGN UP NOW

Our October 5 webinar is "The High Impact Learning Organization: What Works." This presentation will highlight best practices in the management, operations, and governance of Learning Management Systems, based on our High Impact Learning Organization research. Find out how you can manage your technology investments for optimum results.

This free webinar is sponsored by Plateau and is presented by Josh Bersin, CEO and Founder, Bersin & Associates.

• "The High Impact Learning Organization: What Works"
• Wednesday, October 5, 2005
• 1:00pm Eastern/10:00am Pacific
• SIGN UP NOW

Our October 6 webinar is "Developing an Enterprise Learning Content Management Strategy." As organizations struggle to improve their content development processes, many are looking at Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS). The needs for these systems vary by organization size, volume of content development, number of content contributors, and type of training program.

This free webcast, sponsored by Eedo Knowledgeware and presented by Chris Howard, Principal Analyst at Bersin & Associates, will discuss the challenges facing organizations pursuing a content management strategy. Attendees will receive a complimentary case study of an industry-leading LCMS implementation, authored by Bersin & Associates.

• "Developing an Enterprise Learning Content Management Strategy"
• Thursday, October 6, 2005
• 11:00am Eastern/2:00pm Pacific
• SIGN UP NOW