President's Corner November, 2009 All of us at The Madison Consulting Group want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for our clients, both longstanding and new relationships, our employees, our consultants, our suppliers - and for the opportunity to work with you this past year. And as this year comes to a close, we're also thankful to have celebrated our 16 year anniversary. I'd like to share a few of our reflections and what we've learned this year that will help us all to plan for 2010 training. Best regards, Marilyn What did Learning and Development look like in 2009? Some observations: Now more than ever, if you are going to make an investment in training, it is critical to clearly define what you want to accomplish with that training. More of our clients are taking small steps to sustain learning and to measure the value of training. There is a need for shorter, more condensed trainings, hence our Turbo Sessions. We all need to re-adjust our expectations, however - Madison, clients, and participants - instead of a robust training program to build and apply skills, the goal is often to raise awareness and introduce concrete tools. Sales, leadership, and management training have been the most requested this year. We'd love to hear some of your observations from 2009. Follow this link to tell us. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/289R8VQ New Programs We are excited to be developing our first webinar - Professionalism at Work - a one hour segment from one of our most highly requested instructor led training programs. This program has been updated to include aspects of Emotional Intelligence, Generational Differences and Social Media as they relate to Professionalism. We have developed a new sales program, Prospecting for Success, which helps participants increase their confidence and ability to secure appointments with qualified prospects.