A common view of learning and development professionals is that corporate learning contributes to an improvement in organizational performance. According to D. Garvin in a review of the literature for the Harvard Business Review...   

"Far from being academic, philosophical, and inefficient, corporate learning is much more likely to be practical, applied and linked to the bottom line. Learning is not desired for learning sake, or for abstract academic purposes. It is needed to get the job done."

We know that to remain competitive in today's work environment where change is constant, corporate learning must be continuous and linked to the achievement of organizational goals. In spite of this, it's surprising how many organizations don't measure the impact of their staff training and development on performance. According to an extensive report from the Deloitte University Press (Global Human Capital Trends 2014) employee training represents a $130 billion global market and most organizations are not sure what results, if any, the training delivers back to the organization.

As the old saying goes; if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. And if you can't measure or manage it, you won't be able to justify investing in it. At our December conference Mike Forbes of Insights Global and Deborah Lang of Insights Vancouver led an afternoon break-out session on how to measure and demonstrate the impact of your learning solutions. Click here to access

Unpacking the Nature's Path container

We were encouraged to either 'pay it forward' by redirecting the box in its entirety to the Food Bank or use the carton to conduct our own office food drive and send the results along. We've decided to fill the box with non-perishable food items and forward it along to the food bank (.... OK, we admit to tucking into some of the contents before we'd read all the instructions....)

This is a tremendous example of a company really living their brand, and encouraging others to think beyond the bottom line of business and connect with the larger community. Nature's Path made this simple by providing the pre-printed shipping labels, the container, and even an incentive in the way of great food products.

Nature's Path has created a very thoughtful and powerful tool to connect customers and clients to the greater community, and we applaud them on this initiative. We take this opportunity to challenge you to do the same.