Get Started Now. Take Action.
Staying ahead of change in the world, your organization, and your profession requires action. You learned a lot to launch your organization's talent development effort. As you position it for the future, what you need to know grows exponentially.
As futurist Ray Kurzweil once said, "If I take 30 steps linearly, I get to 30. If I take 30 steps exponentially, I get to a billion." How do you prepare for exponential growth?
In ATD's Action Guide to Talent Development: A Practical Approach to Building Organizational Success, industry expert and bestselling author Elaine Biech lays out the steps you can take. The companion volume to ATD's Foundations of Talent Development: Launching, Leveraging, and Leading Your Organization's TD Effort, this book follows an eight-step framework for defining your organization's learning foundation through preparing for the future. You are your organization's trusted advisor, and Biech offers practical questions, organizational assessments, and tips for each step you must guide your organization through. She also presents the newest thinking from university educators and researchers that organizational experts have relied on for years, as well as from industry practitioners and luminaries in leadership and development.
Open this book to any page. Jump in where you think it will be most beneficial to you or your organization. Whether you work inside a company or as an external consultant, whether you work for a large organization or a small one, whether you are launching your first talent development effort or fine-tuning a function that's been in action for decades--you are sure to find valuable concepts, designs, and ideas. Get started now. Take action.
Elaine Biech, president of ebb associates inc, a strategic implementation, leadership development, and experiential learning consulting firm, has been in the field for 30 years helping organizations work through large-scale change. She has presented at dozens of national and international conferences and has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Management Update, Investor's Business Daily, and Fortune Magazine. She is the author and editor of over 50 books, including the ASTD Handbook for Workplace Learning Professionals, ASTD Leadership Handbook, 10 Steps to Successful Training, The Ultimate Trainer, Thriving Through Change, The Business of Consulting, 2nd ed., and Training for Dummies. A longtime volunteer for ATD (formerly ASTD), she has served on ATD's National Board of Directors, was the recipient of the 1992 ASTD Torch Award, the 2004 ASTD Volunteer Staff Partnership Award, and the 2006 Gordon Bliss Memorial Award. Elaine was instrumental in compiling the CPLP study guides and has designed five ATD certificate programs. In addition to her work with ATD, she has served on the Independent Consultants Association's (ICA) Advisory Committee and on the Instructional Systems Association (ISA) board of directors.
