We are very excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website www.go1.com

Featuring a brand new look, more information on our products and services, and a fully responsive layout for all platforms – we hope you enjoy using the new website.

Our goal with this new website was to create a user-friendly browsing experience for our customers and business partners, with a fresh design that’s easy to navigate and explore. 

We wanted to provide our visitors with clear information on who we are and what we do. 

We are the world’s largest marketplace of training. And we’re here to help you grow your career or team.

The new website has been designed to better showcase GOo1’s features, so you can quickly and easily find the information you need.

You’ll find easy access through the Homepage to thousands of online training courses covering compliance, onboarding, professional development, management, and much more. 

Whether you’re looking for professional development training on your own, or online training for your organisation, you’ll see Go1 has a learning solution for you. 

The new website is designed to be fully responsive for all web browsers and mobile devices, making it easy to navigate on your tablet or phone – so you can take your learning with you wherever you go!

Remember, you’ll still have the same 24-hour support from the Go1 Global Support Team via the website. 

We hope you like the new-look Go1 website. Pay us a visit today at www.go1.com 

Why not sign up to the Go1 newsletter? You’ll receive all the latest news, updates and offers from Go1 in one weekly email delivered to your inbox.

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The need to invest in learning and development is becoming very clear; it can improve employee capabilities and productivity, better-engage your talent and encourage higher staff retention rates. The question however we are often asked is, how do I actually build a learning culture that sticks with my users? Read on, to find out our tips on how to boost engagement with Go1 to make sure your learning program is positively impacting your bottom line.

A formal learning program involves outlining a clear learning objective (for example more knowledge or a new skill) which will be obtained by the training program.

Formal learning is often the primary type of training organisations focus on. The combination of the Go1 content and the course capabilities on the platform, make it easy to construct a learning program that works towards a clear goal. The platform also has the option for evaluation of learning via a quiz which you can track through the Administer reporting capabilities.  If you are managing a formal learning program and want to get users actively participating and completing their assigned learning, try incorporating diverse learning resources. Within a course, mix and match your corporate reading materials, with premium video content and conclude the learning with an assignment. The greater the variety, the more engaging the content will be.

On the topic of variety, with Go1 Premium you are in a unique position where you can access content from an extended list of different content providers. We encourage you to experiment with different providers, and make use of the different course formats, durations and learning items they all offer. This variety will better appeal to the different learning styles that your users will have.  If you are unsure what courses to include for different topic areas, each month on the Go1 blog, we investigate a different content area and highlight some interesting courses Go1 providers offer, check it out here.

Pro-tip: The platform makes it easy for you to assign due dates on courses, and enable notifications to remind users of upcoming due dates. This helps you learners stay on top of their workload and all of their upcoming learning is trackable from their dashboard. Don't forget, if you need to remind some of your learners who might be falling behind to complete their work, use the bulk notification feature to prompt them to log in!

Self-directed training is much more popular of late. Self-directed and informal training involves the learner choosing the activities and topics themselves. Formal training can also be self-directed, where your learner will select and carrie out their own learning goals.

Empower your staff to choose learning in areas that interests them. With direct access to over 6000 premium courses from their portal Explore, it is easy for your employees to take control of what informal training they undertake. Often your users are only logging in to do the formal training you've assigned them, without realising the value that a Go1 subscription can provide.  It's important as first step you collaborate with your staff to identify what interests or concerns them in a professional context such as learning how to use the Adobe Suite. Help identify and highlight Go1 courses that they could be completing, and let your staff self-direct their own learning in that topic area.  We've also made informal learning even easier with the personalised content recommendations, encourage your users to complete their profile in portal, so they can receive more targeted course suggestions.

If you are concerned about what content is accessible via Premium, and whether that content is in line with policy and company values.  You can filter down what your users can find and enroll in, via the Content Portal Selection tool, and therefore giving your staff only a subset of content to explore themselves.

Blend your online learning with face-to-face /online events 

Go1's new events functionality helps create more engaging and effective knowledge transfer. By including an online (webinar) or in person event as a part of your wider learning program, you can greatly improve the level of platform engagement. These events can be created for social learning opportunities (an example is: company lunch and learn) as much as they can also be training required for your company's formal compliance training - it's up to you!  You have the option to make your courses more comprehensive with pre-learning, better engaging your users with the relevant content before the physical event date. We find our customers with high portal engagement often have an emphasis on face-to-face events as a core part of their programs.

Become the champion of Go1 for all learning and development

Outside of undertaking a course, much more can be done to build engagement with corporate learning and professional development.

Often formal learning programs are implemented to be quite static, with the expectation staff, for example, complete a compliance course annually. Ad-hock consumption of learning or reminders to log-in doesn't support engagement.

It's important you look at integrating Go1 into your internal ways of working. This could mean:

Making Go1 learning something consistently reviewed during staff and management 1-1 meetings

Becoming the company champion and facilitating internal reminders and awards for completing learning (leaderboard style)

Put time aside to staff help discover what they could be learning, or what they need to up-skill in. Review what they complete.

Use Go1 Awards which are inspired by trends in gamification, as a tool to track ongoing learning. From the day they are on-boarded, encourage your staff to track hours spent on personal and professional development.

Make Go1 your organisation's single source of truth, when it comes to knowledge sharing.

Go1 has the features to track informal knowledge sharing and general corporate information via content uploads in courses, so we suggest making Go1 a learning and information repository for your staff. Allow it to be accessible by all (or certain) staff based on the parameters you set in a group/or sharing to the whole organisation, making the social learning process more accesible in your organisation.  We've found especially for regionally dispersed staff, having the ability to make a recording or notes available from an event or social learning activities like Lunch and Learns, makes your jobs easier.  It makes Go1 the single source of truth and one place for your staff to go to find out more information.

The ability for your learners to also upload external learning for their professional development awards,  further supports the concept within your organisation that Go1 is the only place users need to go to complete and manage their training.

 In today’s guide, discover everything you need to know about dynamically sharing your  Go1 reporting data using the URL available in Administer reports.

You might previously have spotted this button when creating reports in Go1, it asks if you want to make the data from this report available through a URL - continue reading if you want to find out how to use the link to generate reports in a Google Sheet application.

Where do I find a link to share my reports?

Reporting is available to Admins via the Administer tab.

Within each reporting tab, you will find the first report, which is a pre-configured by Go1 with your user data.

For each custom report you create, you will be able to generate a shared link.  Select save-as for the share button to appear. The pre-configured reports provided, do not create a shared link.

Important: It's worth noting, given you are transmitting data from a web application like Go1, the link that is generated is in the form of a JSON file and therefore it will require some manual steps and data manipulation to make the information consumable. 

If you do follow the steps,  it is a clear process to create a report outside of Go1.

In this article, we will be using Google Sheets for dynamic reporting. Google Sheets is a free application but you will need to set up an account here.

After creating your report in Go1 and generating a URL link, you will need to create a new blank Google Excel Spreadsheet.

On your spreadsheet - select Tools from the top navigation bar-> and then Script Editor.

Google script will load in a new tab: Delete all My function text from the sheet.

Paste the code from here into the blank sheet.

From the top navigation bar of the script editor,  select File > Rename.  Rename the script: ImportJSON.gs

In your original Google Sheet tab, input this formula into the bar:

"Link" is where you insert the share link from your Go1 report. Example: https://share.go1.co/reports/1b9ukk4j5n...

 Example: =ImportJSON("https://share.go1.co/reports/1b9ukk4j5nujsgoeg2jkv5nfucd4e6ha", "/hits/hits/")

As you can see,  now you can access all the Go1 data (including the meta-data) from the original Go1 customer report,  in your Google sheet. It is available for you to dynamically share outside of the Go1 Platform. 

JSON has limitations, it can only show you all the data or one specific piece of meta-data.

If there is a single piece of information from the original Go1 report you want to display in the report. You can easily choose to limit it by using one of these suggested additions to the end of the formula. 

"/hits/hits/_source/lo_id" (if its an LO)

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

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Learn some tips and tricks of your Learning Platform, in this month's Go1 Product Guide.

Go1 product guide: JSON files

At Go1, we partner with some of the world’s best content providers to bring our customers all types of training matching their specific learning needs. In recent years, many people have been turning to short microlearning videos that enable them to learn in the flow of work.

Let’s take a look at 3 of our content partners—Microlearn, Learning Planet, and Pearls of Wisdom—who are helping provide our customers with dynamic microlearning experiences.

Microlearn is a UK-based content provider specializing in soft skills and professional development microlearning videos. Through Go1, you can now access more than 250 of Microlearn’s short video courses.

While their content is relevant for a global audience, it is particularly well-suited for learners in the UK looking for familiar accents and references to UK-specific legislation.

All Microlearn courses are designed to take 10 minutes or less, making them great for learners crunched for time or in need of quick refresher training.

We have 258 of Microlearn’s courses available in Premium

Learning Planet is a microlearning video provider from New Zealand who has partnered with Go1 to offer a suite of their soft skills and personal development courses.

Learning Planet offer two types of videos for all of their training topics: 10 minute videos to teach new skills or concepts and 1 minute ‘skill refresher’ videos that can be used to reinforce existing skills. They combine video, PDF, and workbooks to provide learners with clear, succinct training to help meet their learning needs.

We have 40 of Learning Planet’s microlearning courses available in Premium

Pearls of Wisdom is the e-learning sister brand of in-person training specialists, PD Training. Specializing in microlearning, Pearls of Wisdom has partnered with Go1 to offer a series of animated professional development microlearning videos.

Every Pearls of Wisdom video course has been carefully designed to clearly and efficiently explain key concepts so that learners can understand the content quickly. These short courses are ideal for busy professionals looking to refresh old skills or learn about new skills without disrupting the flow of work.

We have 180 of Pearls of Wisdom’s microlearning videos available in Premium

Get started with any of the above Content Providers and their courses with Go1 Premium today!

Meet Go1’s content partners: Microlearn, Learning Planet, and Pearls of Wisdom

As we move into the new year, we’ve been talking about things you can do to start the year off on the right foot, with tips to help you crush your goals in 2019 and make it your best career year yet. Taking the time to invest in your professional development is top of the list when it comes to boosting your career.

Whether you’re aiming to land a promotion, secure your dream job, or move your career in a new direction, spending time on professional development will help you get where you want to go.

Doing this will also show employers – both current and potential – that you’re committed to improving your skill set and capabilities, through continual learning and developing. And you’ll also be proving this to yourself, while growing more confident in your skills all the time.

If you’re going to get serious about professional development in 2019, you’ll want to check out what’s on offer through online learning.

Online courses are one of the easiest and best ways to help you get from where you are right now to where you want to be in the future. There are eLearning courses covering a huge range of professional development topics, from role-specific skills like programming and graphic design, to plenty of courses aimed to improve your interpersonal soft skills such as communication, teamwork and dealing with change.

Ready to get learning? We’ve hand-picked five of the best online courses to help you take control of your professional development and kick start the new year on a positive note!

Improving your communication skills can be a great place to start if you want to stand out from the competition and reach your career goals.

Because regardless of where you work or what you do for a job, being able to communicate with colleagues, stakeholders, clients and senior leaders is one of the most important skills for any employee. And if you want to move into a management or team leader position, you’ll need to know how to communicate effectively with your team.

This online course, How to Communicate Effectively, will help you find the right methods and channels of communication, to help lead you to more engaged and productive working relationships.

You’ll leave this course with plenty of tips and tricks to use, and a clearer understanding of the environment you’re trying to create within your workplace. Added bonus – improving your communication skills won’t just benefit your work life – you’re bound to see positive benefits in your personal life also.

Another skill that’s incredibly valuable for professional development is knowing how to work well within a team. Which also means knowing how to handle and manage team conflict.

Many people naturally tend to shy away from difficult conversations or conflict – if that’s you, you’re not alone! But unfortunately, avoiding conflict won’t make it go away. If anything, it will only make it worse, as negative emotions continue to boil under the surface and grow larger in magnitude.

When members of a team are in conflict, it can also begin to affect their other team mates, causing rifts and division and resulting in a toxic work culture.

With the eLearning course How to Manage Team Conflict,  you’ll learn how to get to the bottom of team issues, learning practical ways to tackle conflict head on. The course will provide you with plenty of tips for how to communicate and restore balance, while helping you to become an ace team player.

If you work in a customer-facing role, you’ll want to be sure your service skills are up to scratch. But improving customer service skills can greatly help your career, no matter what position you’re in – because we all deal with customers daily, whether they’re external or internal to the business.

Good old-fashioned customer service is still one of the most important factors when it comes to deciding to do business with a company. It’s no good having the most up-to-date tech gear or fancy office suites if your business doesn’t deliver on customer service. And these days, with the huge impact of social media, providing good customer service has never been so important.

89% of people say they’ve stopped doing business with companies because of poor customer service – that’s a huge percentage! This online course, Customer Service Success, is designed to give you the skills you need to provide great customer service, so you don’t become one of those companies.

The course content has a strong focus on improving your listening skills, as without this fundamental skill you won’t be able to respond to your customers’ needs.

You’ll also learn about paying attention to your body language and gestures, as well as the words and language you use in the work environment. All of these things have a significant impact on how customers perceive you and the company you work for.

Just as customer service is central to many other jobs outside of the retail or hospitality industry, project management skills can be super important for employees in all kinds of roles.

When it comes down to it, project management skills are a set of techniques and tools that focus on helping you to achieve goals and manage your workload more effectively.

As an employee, taking the time to improve your project management skills can be a great way to boost your career, while making yourself more valuable to employers and building your confidence at work.

Project Management Fundamentals takes you right from the beginning of PM, so it’s great for anyone who is new to the subject or is keen to start their study from scratch.

The online course explains the basics of project management, including:

Establishing project goals and objectives

You’ll receive plenty of practical tips for how to keep your project on track, manage your project team and report on project performance.

All jobs have their unique challenges and stressors. In our increasingly fast-paced world, employees should do their best to be aware and conscious of the potential signs of low mental health or burnout and to take action before it starts further impacting their health.

While online courses can’t replace the guidance and expertise of a mental health professional, they can help individuals understand more about the importance of taking care of their mental health in the workplace. These resources can also help managers and employers learn how to support their employees in this area, which is incredible important.

Take a look at Positive Mental Health. This eLearning course provides a good foundation for understanding the various components of mental health and wellbeing and has plenty of information on particular tools and methods that can prove helpful in promoting positive mental health in the workplace. It wraps up the equivalent of a day’s course in an online format that you can get through at your own pace, and in your own safe environment.

You’ll learn about self-care in relation to good mental health, wellbeing and resilience, and how to identify specific methods which can be applied to support people experiencing low mental health.

Remember – professional development training needs to be continual, not just something that you tick off once a year. It requires ongoing investment of your time, focus and energy, to get the best results. So make it your new year resolution to keep it up all year round!

5 professional development courses to help you get ahead in 2019

Happy new year to all our Go1 followers! We hope you had a refreshing and relaxing break over the holiday season and are settling back into the swing of things at work.

As always, these first few weeks of January are the perfect time to think about setting some new year resolutions and career goals for the year ahead.

This year, you might have your heart set on getting a promotion, landing your dream job, or moving your career in a new direction. Maybe you’re entirely happy in your current role, but want to improve the way you manage deadlines, or develop new leadership skills?

Whatever your goals are for 2019, taking the time to invest in your professional development is one of the best things you can do for your career. By taking charge of your own development, you can make sure you’re filling in any skills gaps and keeping up-to-date with current knowledge in your industry. You’ll also feel more in control of your own happiness and direction.

Here are three things you can do to start the new year off on the right foot, while making 2019 your most successful career year yet!

Set Clear Career Goals for the Year Ahead

Have you never really been all that keen on setting new year resolutions or goals?

That’s fine – if you’re happy to find yourself in the exact same place this time next year. But if you want to change things up, you’ll need to get real about goal setting, especially when it comes to your career.

Like it or not, goal-setting is the best way to achieve results. To get where you want to go in 2019, you’ll need to map out a clear pathway of what you want the year ahead to look like. Goals, both short and long-term, act as a catalyst to help direct you where you want to be.

Take some time to look back at 2018 and take stock of the year’s events. Think about what you achieved professionally. Also think about what you wish you’d done differently. Is there anything you weren’t proud of, or could have handled better? Opportunities you didn’t take advantage of because you were too busy, or scared, or just couldn’t be bothered?

These questions will help you identify things you need to improve, work on, or eliminate, in order to reach your goals.

Let’s say you didn’t go for that higher role because you weren’t feeling all that confident about your public speaking skills? Or you let yourself get really run down and burnt out at work? You can then start outlining a plan of attack – to improve your interview skills, manage your stress levels… you get the idea. Identifying the areas in which you want to see positive change is the first step in achieving your goals.

Make sure you’re setting goals that are realistic, specific, and measurable. Your new goals will help keep you on track and accountable throughout the year. Put them somewhere visible and check in on yourself regularly.

Get Real About Whether You’re Still on the Right Track

Start the year by thinking about exactly what it is you want from your career. If you feel that you’re getting what you need from your job and employer, that’s great!

But if you’re dragging yourself back to a job that you hate, use the fresh energy of the new year to look realistically at your work satisfaction. Because you’re most likely on the wrong track.

One of the main reasons why people are unhappy in their jobs is that their work, career or employer is at odds with their values. Often, employees won’t even realise their dissatisfaction stems from this mismatch – there’s just a general feeling that something isn’t quite right.

While not everyone can have the luxury of working in a job that aligns perfectly with their values, or feels endlessly emotionally rewarding or meaningful, it is important to find some satisfaction in your daily work – even if that job is simply a stepping stone to somewhere else.

This year, think about what your personal values actually are. What motivates and inspires you? What are your passions? This will help you identify what exactly it is that you need from a job role and an employer (besides a pay cheque).

If you’re stuck in your current role for the time being, get to work on an action plan that will help move you further towards a job or industry that is more in line with your values. This will allow you to stay true to yourself and your goals and derive more happiness from your current situation.

Improve Your Skill Set with Online Learning

Those goals you set in step one? The career track you’ve identified in step two?

This is the learning pathway you need to be on in 2019. And professional development training is what’s going to help get you there.

Many employees rely solely on the training provided by their employer for their career development – but there’s nothing stopping you from spending your own time learning and developing new skills. With so many online courses and eLearning solutions available, there’s never been a better time for employees to take charge of their professional development.

Think about the gaps in your skill set that are preventing you from achieving your goals. It’s very likely that you can find high-quality eLearning courses that provide training in those areas.

It’s not just technical skills that can be developed through online learning. Many employers these days are placing great emphasis on soft skills – those skills that help us become better communicators, leaders and team players.

Online training and eLearning courses are great for brushing up on your soft skills, while also showing potential employers that you’re committed to self-improvement in this area. And if you’re looking to change fields or industries, you can identify the courses you need to complete to move forward in this new direction.

As we said before, whatever your goals are, there’s nothing to stop you from learning in your own time and it’ll be well worth it in the long run!

Get ready to crush your career goals in 2019

Welcome to the Go1 Course Category series. Each month I will introduce a different category of content and several suggested courses you should consider including in your learning program.

This question often troubles Human Resource Managers, and the doubt around leadership courses means leadership is often left out of learning programs in favour of courses for more tangible skills such as Excel or speech preparation.

The distinction to make is that leadership courses don't have to be broad brush theory based - it’s the skills that can be taught under the tag of leadership that make the difference: empowerment, effective risk assessment and management, articulating company vision and much more. The significance leadership plays in every organisation's success means it should be part of your learning programs, so continue reading if you want to better understand how to best do that.

How do I fit leadership training into my organisation using Go1?

Start with a leadership program that supports new and young leaders offering career pathways to employees, further increasing retention. You might have identified employees who you think are your organisation's futures leaders, however personality aside, leaders need the combination of the right training and qualities.

How to provide leaders with targeted leadership training?

Employees are less likely to trust their management when leadership skills are lacking, so its important first-time leaders have some foundational knowledge to manage their new responsibilities. Eagles Flight, a large organisation, agrees it’s important to explain the rationale behind doing things, rather than simply laying them down. But once it’s understood why things are valid and worth the time, it’s more applicable in wider settings and therefore a more useful and powerful training method.

Within Go1 Premium you are exposed to over 350 courses tagged as leadership. To begin, focus on building out a small program and pick the content areas that follow the equation of including (1) theory and (2) skills.

The spotlight is on SkillSoft this month. SkillSoft was chosen as the provider with quality leadership content, because they effectively balance the theory content with relevant tactical tips. With 418 courses in Go1 Premium, they've got 46 courses tagged as leadership. There is a strong emphasis throughout the courses tagged as leadership as being for first-time and/or junior managers.

They have a strong balance between theory and skills-based courses, including managing functional teams, performance plans and positive leadership. We suggest building out a leadership Award, and assigning to new or upcoming leaders to form part of their professional development.

First course to add to that Award is SkillSoft's 'Building a Leadership Development Plan.'

Creating your own leadership development plan is a significant part of any successful and valuable leadership development strategy. This plan will help ensure you remain focused on what is required to continually grow and develop as a leader. In this course, you'll learn about how to assess yourself as a leader, establish a vision for the future, and identify obstacles to that vision.

Come back next week to find out what other leadership courses we suggest to add to your Award.

Course category of the month - January: leadership 

As 2018 draws to a close, we thought we’d look back at some of the highlights of the past year – it’s been a very busy and exciting time for the Go1 team!

Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to throughout 2018.

Go1 Recognised in Top Startup and Business Lists

This year we were very excited to see Go1 named as one of the top 20 outstanding Australian “Businesses of Tomorrow”, from 200 businesses selected by Westpac for 2018.

The companies were recognised for their vision and drive to help shape the nation’s economic future, with this year’s applicants demonstrating the scale of movement of the Australian economy into a digital world.

“We are thrilled and honoured to be named in Westpac’s Top 20 Businesses of Tomorrow,” Go1 co-founder and CEO, Andrew Barnes, said.

2018 also saw Go1 ranked 12th on LinkedIn’s annual Top 25 Startups list.

This list honours the most sought-after startups where professionals want to work and stay in Australia and is derived from a blended score looking at factors including interest in the company, engagement with employees, job interest and retention.

“We’re excited to be included in this list alongside all of these great companies. The list really shows the strength of the Australian startup ecosystem,” said GO co-founder and CGO, Dr. Vu Tran.

Helping Companies Improve their Learning Culture

Throughout the year, we partnered with many businesses to help them improve the way they deliver and manage their employee training.

We teamed up with Claim Central, to help them deliver effective employee training with a cloud-based learning platform that all staff can access, regardless of geographical location.

We also helped Mid-Cape Home Centers to fulfill all of their training and development needs with Go1 Premium, with pre-built content a very important feature for the company.

And we provided Discover Goodwill with the perfect solution for the company’s learning needs, allowing them the freedom to create their own content and deliver it to staff easily and effectively.

Working with ALARA, we were able to provide staff with an onsite, one-day first aid training course through our newly launched Training Assist – the easier way to source, book and deliver training.

We look forward to sharing more case studies with you in the new year, so you can see first-hand how Go1 is helping companies to deliver improved learning to their teams.

At Go1 we believe in bringing the learning community together so that we can all share our knowledge and help everyone to improve the way that they learn and train their team.

In July, we held the first of our Brisbane Learning & Technology Meetups, with some of Brisbane’s best learning content creators speaking about how they go about creating effective learning content.

We followed this up with our inaugural Melbourne meetup, which focused on ‘Content Curation vs Content Creation’ and which is the better option.

Our meetups are for learning and development professionals who want to discuss best practices, strategies, and innovation in learning design, delivery and instructional technology.

We'll be hosting more meetups in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne every quarter in the new year and invite you to get involved in the conversation. You’ll be sure to walk away with some fresh solutions that you can start applying in your workplace straight away!

At Go1, we’re continually making improvements and updates to the Go1 platform, to make life easier for you – and your learners.

Throughout the year, we launched a stack of new tools to help you save time and streamline the way that you deliver learning material.

As we’re wrapping up 2018 and entering 2019, we will be making more exciting changes to the Go1 platform including:

New monthly Admin emails to support your need for data on user activity.

Changes to how Go1 will be able to support you.

Training Assist: showing you how you can pair your Go1 online learning with face-to-face training.

Remember to keep an eye out for regular updates to the platform and enrol in the Go1 webinars where we walk you through our latest features.

Thank you for reading and sharing our highlights from the year – it's been a big one and we're looking forward to an even bigger 2019.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners, readers and followers for your ongoing support throughout the year.

As 2018 draws to a close, we’d like to thank all our readers and followers for your ongoing feedback and engagement throughout the year.

We’ve covered many exciting and interesting topics over the past year on the Go1 blog, exploring all aspects of learning and development.

To close out the year, here’s a look back at the top five most-read articles of 2018!

#1. Building Rapport with Customers Through Customer Service

There’s an old saying that customers first buy into the person and then into the product.

That’s why it’s important to know how to build good rapport with your customers.

It’s no good having the most up-to-date tech gear, fancy coffee machine or cool open-plan office – if your business doesn’t deliver on customer service you’ll find it hard to stay ahead of the competition.

This article looks at how building rapport can bring big benefits to a customer service scenario.

When people have a solid rapport, communication and ideas are able to flow easily. They feel ‘in synch’ with each other and are likely to have a good understanding of where the other person is coming from.

Being on the same page as your customers is an important step in meeting their individual needs and finding the best solution for them.

So how do you make sure that you’re able to build rapport with your customers?

In business, you can’t afford to be indecisive.

Decision making is an important skill you’ve got to have if you want to progress. It doesn’t matter what industry or role you’re in, you will always use decision making in your everyday working life.

In this article, we discuss how decision making is a skill that you can master with effective training.

Over time, you can learn more about the thought processes involved in decision making, to become more adept at identifying problems and analysing different solutions to find the best outcome to move forward.

When you know the process of decision making, you can become more efficient in the workplace, encouraging innovation that leads to new products and services and milestones.

 Find out more about using decision making to boost your career.

#3. Why You Need to be Monitoring Employee Professional Development

Have you recently invested in professional development training for your staff? That’s great.

But how do you know if you’re getting a good return on this investment?

This article looks at how and why you should be monitoring professional development across your organisation.

Professional development programs aim to improve staff competencies and increase productivity, while helping team members set goals for their career.

Improvements in technical skills can often be measured quite easily, in tangible figures and numbers. Productivity itself is a very good indicator of the success of your company’s training methods, allowing you to see if your training program has been effective.

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