For many of us, our creative streak is something we left behind at the finger-painting table, or keep confined to karaoke sessions on the weekend.

Yet, each of us is born with an innate ability to create. The skill isn’t limited to artists, writers and musicians. Using creativity simply means to be engaged in an activity relating to or involving imagination or original ideas.  

I hear you thinking, after you’ve completed the routine tasks and checked off everything time-sensitive for that day, there is very little energy left for coming up with new concepts. 

No matter how repetitive or dull your work may seem, it’s less about finding extra time, and more about thinking how you could apply creative skills to tasks you already do - and there are benefits!

Scientists hypothesize that in order to be creative, our brains have to use the ‘Big Three’ networks in tandem - the default mode network (the idle state), the executive control network (oversees decisions and choices) and the salience network (determines which sorts of things tend to be noticed).

This means that creativity isn’t limited to a particular function of the brain, and is something that each individual has the capacity to engage in. The extent to which we are able to use this process will, of course, depend on our personality type, state of mind and tendency to engage in divergent thinking.

The alpha brain waves associated with creativity also generate a light relaxation state, superior focus and improved learning. While in this state, your brain releases endorphins and other substances that can alleviate the effects of stress hormones. 

This also works in the reverse. When we are relaxed, new ideas often come to the fore. Next time you have eureka moment in the shower, you’ll understand why. 

For leaders, the benefits of encouraging your team to think outside the box are endless. Creative thinking can increase productivity, motivation and problem-solving abilities to name a few.  

‘We are born as artists, but have to learn how to become them again as adults.’ - Pablo Picasso 

As children, we don’t give much thought to whether or not we are engaging in creative activities.  When we play, we pick something that looks fun, and just do it.  We are much freer to engage in divergent thinking, as we haven’t fully developed the inner-critic necessary for survival in the adult world. While useful, this voice can seriously hamper our efforts to have fun and experiment. 

Sir Ken Robinson, one of the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation, explains that the way our school system is structured is adding to this problem, which he explores in his Ted Talk.  

He argues that in a system focused on testing and grades, children aren’t encouraged to follow their passion or what they are good at when thinking about what to do for work.  As a result, we either spend a significant portion of our lives remembering what we enjoy doing, or years stuck in a job we hate.

Much of the time at work, we are under pressure to get things done, but other ingrained psychological barriers could also be preventing us from channelling our creativity.

Assuming you are reasonably happy with the work you do, and it plays to your strengths, the following tips might help you to unleash your creative side. 

Depending on where you sit on the introversion-extraversion spectrum, your best ideas are more likely to come up during different activity types.  

Those who are more extraverted might use their creative skills in other ways, such as being diplomatic, getting things done in the world, and engaging in animated conversation. 

Fear of failure is one of the biggest psychological barriers to being creative.  It comes back to the inner-critic mentioned above.  If you become aware of your inner voice, you can listen to the comments that are useful, and ignore the ones you think are setting you back. Mindfulness training can help you to develop this skill.

Your personal experience in life to date is completely unique. There is no one else in the world who has exactly the same thought process or perspective.

While the ideas you have may be similar to somebody else’s, they are highly unlikely to be exactly the same.  Although your ideas might not always be met with awe, if you gain confidence in putting yourself out there, every so often you are likely to come up with a really good idea that others will take on board. This can be difficult, because it takes both the courage to fail and to learn from your mistakes.

The ‘Lego Duck Challenge’ involves giving each individual in a group six lego bricks and asking them to build a duck. The task itself isn’t difficult, but the likelihood of anyone in the group building the same duck is incredibly small.  This is both down to the individuality of the participants and the endless number of different ducks you can build!

Think about the tasks you enjoy most (and those you don’t!)

You are much more likely to be creative if you enjoy the task you are engaged in, and you are good at it. You are also more likely to reach a flow state.  It’s all about making the process more individual, enjoyable and fun.  Pick a task you really enjoy and make it more personalised to you.  

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Finding a place for creativity in the workplace

Take your teams's training to the next level with Go1’s Insights!  

The new Insights Feature is your playbook for addressing key training gaps in your team. 

As the Go1 training library grows and your team expands,  we want you to be able to  easily understand more about how your team is learning. With this feature you can understand what your employees should be learning so they don't miss out on content most relevant to their training needs. 

The feature recommended the top courses for  content areas that your team currently has low engagement with. Our content suggestions are based on what hundreds of thousands of Go1 users are doing, narrowed down to your industry specifically. We then make it quick and easy for you to add the content to a group or assign to individuals. 

View a snapshot of key portal insights; this includes user management insights as well as insights on how your portal engaged with  with key content topics in your industry. 

View GO1's content suggestions  - which grouped according to the topics that your portal has low engagement with. 

Quickly assign suggested content to users or groups or quickly add content to your content portal selection. 

Enable a monthly  insights email for all Admins on your portal. 

What do I need to know about this release?

Your portal will have a new item in the drop menu called Insights. 

To enable a monthly isights email for all portal Admins head to Portal Settings > Notifications. 

We want to hear your feedback on the Insights tab!  Please submit feedback via our Public ProductBoard Portal. 

The team are still finalising some details - it will be live as soon as its ready! 

Go1's newest feature to help simplify the content discovery process for you. 

Product Early Access: Training Insights  

Patricia Holdings, a leader in Australian company registration and trust set up, has partnered with Go1 - the world’s largest onboarding, compliance and professional training platform. The partnership coincides with the launched of the new Patricia Marketplace – the first of its kind B2B Marketplace for startups and new businesses in Australia.   

We are very pleased to be partnering with Patricia Holdings, and look forward to delivering our eLearning solution to their clients. This collaboration will activate Go1’s content offering for new businesses in Australia, to help support them in their incorporation and providing relevant learning to overcome complex challenges such as onboarding and compliance. 

Beginning in August, this partnership will enable Patricia Holdings' clients to find Go1's corporate learning solution as an add-on available from the Marketplace, to better support new businesses in establishing their staff training programs. This partnership is an acknowledgment of organisations increasingly looking for a holistic solution to their Learning Platform (LDS) and training content requirements to help boost employees’ productivity and business profitability.

Go1 Distribution Partnerships Manager Simon Yeowart said the partnership with Patricia Holdings was a natural fit for both companies. He said, "This collaboration will activate Go1’s content offering for new businesses, to help support them in their incorporation and providing relevant learning to overcome complex challenges such as on-boarding and compliance."

Patricia Holdings Head of Business Development Johnathan Pestano, heading up the Patricia Marketplace platform, said that he’s excited to make it easy for Australian entrepreneurs to access world-class content. “Starting any new business is challenging enough without having to worry about onboarding or compliance. This new Go1 partnership will help Australian business owners to seamlessly implement benchmark training from day-one enabling them to focus on growing their business."

At Patricia Holdings we've helped over 250,000 accountants, lawyers and financial advisors as well as entrepreneurs set up companies across Australia since 1968.

We’re on a mission to be the most trusted professional documents platform in Australia. From our humble beginnings pioneering the ‘shelf company’ concept, we’re now a leading Australian online platform for company registration, trust deed and SMSF establishment. Our vision is to enable anyone to seamlessly set up a company or trust in Australia.  

Transform your training with Go1 - leaders in learning, design and delivery. Go1 is the single end-to-end solution for all your business training needs. Go1 Premium gives you unlimited access to a growing library containing thousands of learning resources, from top training providers around the world. The growing library has courses covering compliance through to soft skills, all accessible via the Go1 Learning Experience Platform - and all in one easy monthly subscription. Go1’s platform is designed for personalised learning, advanced content curation and streamlined user management. 

Start your business and sign up to Go1 to access a 14-day trial of the full Premium library via the Learning Experience Platform. Please email simon.yeowart@go1.com with any queries related to the offering.

Patricia Holdings and Go1 partner to bring workplace training to new companies 

Go1.com, the world’s largest online training marketplace, is pleased to announce a landmark worldwide partnership with Rosterfy, the global leading workforce management platform for volunteers, paid staff and contractors. This partnership will bring together two of Australia’s fastest growing technology companies to provide the most comprehensive solution worldwide for workforce management, inductions and online training.

Rosterfy works alongside an array of clients around the world from sporting federations and major events to charities, universities and local Governments, providing an end to end platform to centralise their workforce processes. With clients ranging from the past three Super Bowls and London Marathon to Hockey Australia and the Los Angeles Sports Commission, Rosterfy are rapidly expanding their offering to now over 15 countries worldwide.

Go1.com will enhance Rosterfy’s ability to increase volunteer and paid workforce engagement retention while saving clients significant administration costs, time and resources – a major boon to any organisation.

The partnership will allow Rosterfy’s clients to access Go1.com for induction and learning purposes through the portal to provide greater engagement with the workforce.

“Rosterfy eliminates the pain of managing a large workforce – be they volunteers, casual or contract roles. These workforce members constantly require training and we’ve been looking for a solution that’s easy to use, access and with high-quality content. From day one Rosterfy has always had basic training modules, but we realised the market needed a specialist - and that is why we are working with Go1. Their solution is flexible, cost-effective and their library of content takes the hassle out of building your own,” Rosterfy co-founder Shannan Gove said.

Gove continued, “we’re delighted to partner with Go1 which offers a flexible way for people to get upskilled anytime, anywhere.”

Go1.com UK general manager Mark Bolton hailed the partnership as a great step forward for all clients, in particular for sporting federations and event resource management.

“We’re excited to ink this partnership, which will strategically benefit both organisations and enhance the learning and training capabilities of Rosterfy’s clients.

“Rosterfy has the who’s who of clients on its roster and we look forward to helping them kick even more goals as they continue to grow,” Mr Bolton said.

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.

Go1 and Rosterfy partnership redefines global training - Go1

Go1.com and Rosterfy set to redefine global training and workforce management in new partnership

An article from one of our partners, Roubler.

Automation is frequently seen as the answer to business efficiency. But can it really be applied to all aspects of onboarding new employees? Is it possible to influence an employee’s success using online onboarding tools?

Consider what’s involved in onboarding for a minute. The manager will need to ensure all the relevant paperwork is completed, provide organisation-specific training, give them the work equipment they need, convey potentially complex pieces of information in a way that is both easy to digest and hard to forget, and literally orientate them around the building. That means introductions to colleagues, signposting facilities, and explaining how things work in practice (which may not be the same as how they work in principle). All the while putting the new starter at ease so they can hit the ground running!

Trying to get a computer, or any other automated system, to take all of these duties on would be tremendously difficult, not to mention require the services of advanced humanoid robots. But this doesn’t mean automation can’t lend a hand – for example by using intuitive employee onboarding software and e-learning platforms – to take the legwork out and free up time for those aspects of the process that require a human touch.

In the Human Capital Institute’s study of more than 400 organizations, two-thirds reported that onboarding practices aren’t used to their full potential. Only 40% said onboarding is effective at retaining new hires, in large part because the process has been focused on paperwork rather than people. 

Furthermore, Gallup research found that employees are 3.4 times more likely to feel like their onboarding experience was a success if their manager took an active role in the process and are consequently more likely to stay in their role.

People are the key to giving new employees the best start. Technology should be focused on affording us more opportunities for the important things, better opportunities to connect. Those connections become bonds and in turn those bonds cement a stronger workplace culture. That culture, according to research by Gallup, is responsible for attracting the top 20% of candidates.

It’s clear that less time on administration during onboarding and more time face to face with your manager isn’t just a good idea – it’s a critical success factor. So how can we use online tools to make this happen?

Let onboarding software take care of the paperwork

“At Roubler, we eliminate all of the paperwork and data entry associated with onboarding, such as filling out an employee profile, entering contact details, emergency contacts, medical information, tax and banking information and uploading qualifications and licenses,” explains Andrew Northcott, Managing Director of Roubler.

Customisable onboarding is increasingly being increasingly incorporated into all-in-one workforce management systems. Once a profile is created, data can be entered by the employee via the employee self-service system and flows straight into other tools such as rostering, time and attendance and payroll. Tax declaration and superannuation information can even be sent straight from the system to the tax office saving managers, HR and payroll hours out of their day.

The paperless onboarding process can be completed via a mobile app or a web portal and only takes a few minutes.

“The greatest advantage of this is that employees have all of these tasks completed prior to starting, so their first day can be spent getting to know their colleagues and settling in,” Northcott says.

Spending half a day filling out paperwork can be isolating for new employees, particularly if they are chomping at the bit to get into their exciting new role. When that’s taken care of before they start, the first day can be filled with cake-fuelled morning teas, getting a taste of their new role and spending time with the most important person in their working lives – their manager!

Make use of e-Learning platforms and pre-built courses

There are undoubtedly situations where training needs to be delivered face-to-face, however e-learning tools like quizzes, short courses and games are a great way to train new employees on a variety of topics and get them prepared for their new role.

Consider blending e-learning with face-to-face options to reinforce learning. This works particularly well for topics like customer service and company culture.

Think about delivery. For the best results, training needs to be memorable and enjoyable. Can you turn some of your paper-based manuals into quizzes or games?  

Compliance training on a variety of topics such as fire safety and manual handling can be completed quickly and easily online. They’ll appreciate getting this done before the real work starts.

 Use e-learning platforms to deliver videos about the company culture and team – they can go a long way to helping employees engage with their new employer.

Short video tutorials on the software and processes that the employee will need to use are more engaging than manuals and can be referred to regularly.

Whether you’re a CEO or a retail sales assistant, starting a new job is nerve-wracking. Offering new employees the option to complete some online training prior to their first day can help them feel more prepared. They’ll also feel more comfortable when meeting and working with colleagues for the first time if they already have a degree of knowledge about the company and systems.

Online onboarding tools can greatly enhance the process, speeding up administration tasks to allow more time for those essential face-to-face activities that make onboarding a real success.

But before you purchase any software, there are three important things you need to consider.  

Think of onboarding as more than just filling out payroll information – it’s an entire process that inducts your employee into your company culture and their role. It should start the moment they are hired and continue until their probationary period is over.

Look at what activities are taking up the most time – is it administration, data entry, compliance training or on-site induction? Then look at which of those could be automated without losing personal connection.

Talk to employees who have recently started with you to find out what they feel could have been improved and get an idea of how much automation they feel would be of benefit before personal connection is lost.

By combining onboarding tools and face-to-face activities, and giving employees the chance to start the process before their first day, you’re not just building a successful, sustainable and consistent onboarding program, you’re nurturing employees who feel engaged and connected to your organisation from the moment they are hired.

Katrina Strathearn is the Marketing Manager of Roubler Australia. Roubler’s all-in-one HR system automates employee onboarding, rostering, time and attendance, leave management and payroll with Go1's Online Learning Management System.

How onboarding tech sets new starters up for success

Welcome back to our monthly round up of all things Go1! We've had some great articles come out in the press that you might find interesting, so we’ve put together this round up of links for you to read over. We encourage you to catch them now if you missed them earlier, or re-read them to see if there’s more you can learn! 

Dell and Microsoft pour millions into A.I. start-ups that are reshaping the workforce

Via CNBC featuring Go1 co-founder and chief operating officer, Chris Eigeland

JobReady partners with Go1 to deliver a new generation of learning

Via JobReady featuring Go1 co-founder and CEO, Andrew Barnes

Via Dynamic Business featuring Go1 co-founder, Vu Tran

Investment Attraction Incentive Fund lures four businesses to Logan

Via Jimboomba Times featuring Go1 co-founder, Vu Tran

Stay tuned for some more amazing things to come in August! 

Let's take a look back at some of the great things Go1 has been involved with in July 2019. 

This month, we're focusing on all things management - so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks to read more about Go1’s relevant training content!

Even if you are an experienced manager, it's important to not neglect your training. New managers typically understand that there is a lot they need to learn, with training they need to do. Whereas more experienced managers don’t necessarily need to focus on management techniques and practices, but instead on ways to take the next steps towards effective leadership and management. 

The workplace is evolving and managers must accommodate themselves to today’s ecosystem. The challenges managers need to be aware of today often involve their ethics and the way they make decisions for their team to ensure they align with today's corporate culture and social norms.

This week, we'll look at two courses that will help managers to ultimately shape healthy and effective teams in today's workplaces. As a manager, you'll learn how to: 

Ensure that you lead teams with equal employment opportunities and are aware of appropriate practices in regards to discrimination and compliance

Consider what ethical leadership means today in business, and equip yourself with tools to build an ethical culture in the workplace.

Equal Employment Opportunity for Managers

This course covers Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and discrimination in the workplace. 

The EEO course will help individuals avoid inappropriate behaviours in the workplace, that put themselves, their colleagues, customers, and the organisation at risk. This compliance course will educate staff on what are equal employment opportunity requirements in the workplace, how to report and respond to inappropriate behaviour, and the legal responsibility of managers. 

It is a highly engaging course that gives learners the opportunity to consider examples of what are and what are not appropriate workplace behaviours, with scenarios and animated videos plus the use of case studies. 

GVM is an award-winning company with a rich history and experience. With 20 years of expertise in the areas of instructional design, content development and learning management systems, their aim is to help their clients to measure the return on their training investment and to achieve maximum learning efficiency and effectiveness. Global Vision Media has a suite of Australian compliance courses which are particularly aimed at local councils. All courses are short, clear and concise and very easy for all employees to complete.

Ethical Leadership - Becoming a Courageous Leader

This course covers ethical leadership in the workplace, geared specifically for business leaders who want to build solid organisations that uphold strong ethical and moral values. 

Most people agree that good ethics is good for business yet we still have ethical violations showcased in daily headlines. The problem is moral leadership. The courageous leader needs to have the ability to face difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or intimidated by consequences. Being courageous requires that you discern and assess what needs to be done and have the fortitude to be able to deal with the consequences based on the foundation of those values. 

This course is divided into 5 parts, each section engaging the learner with videos, handouts and a quiz to conclude. 

After completing this course you will learn how to become a courageous leader and know how courageous leaders make decisions.

Global Ethics Solutions can help you create a safe atmosphere that is key to improving the integrity of a company. Through knowledge and accountability, your business' day-to-day operations will experience a significant decrease in unethical conduct. With 90+ resources Global Ethics Solutions provides customised ethics and compliance training programs to teach employees important skills, principles, and policies to make the right ethical choices. A company or organisation is only as "ethical" as the people in it. The key to a strong, thriving organisation is to encourage and build up the character of all individuals with positive tools and training that foster an ethical culture in the workplace.

 If you want to enrol in these courses, simply:

From the Search Results Page -> use the provider filter to find Global Ethics Solutions or Global Vision Media Learning courses.

Find courses from Go1's Premium training partners that will help your management capabilities grow. 

This partnership will see Go1's customer base now able to access Direction Associates hospitality training. 

Introducing Direction Associates - an online UK-based hospitality training provider developed by in-house hospitality professionals to ‘Best Practice’ standards. Their content explores courses for bartending, housekeeping, compliance for hospitality staff with CPD certification and more!

Don't let their location fool you, their content is relevant for international markets too! The great thing about Direction Associates is that the hospitality best practice standards they use are benchmarked internationally, which means that their learning content can be used in the Middle East, Far East, USA and Australia (with more to come)! Go1 recommends the content for customers in the UK looking for hospitality training.

Why use Direction Associates hospitality training for your eLearning?

Authored by industry experts with over 35 years of operational and training experience in hotels, they have a  clear understanding of the needs of hotel businesses and their staff which is core to all Direction Associates training. Throughout the courses, the principles of hospitality professional best practice are adhered to ensure the skills and knowledge the learner develops will stand them in good stead, no matter where in the industry their career path lies.

Direction Associate's training is highly visual and interactive, enabling the learner to get the best out of their training journey. All modules provide an end quiz, to best measure the knowledge retention for each learner. 

Direction Training Associates content areas:

Via Go1 Premium you can find 49 hospitality learning resources from Direction Associates. 

A large portion of the Direction Associates library is Food Services training, including 'Working with allergens' and 'Professional food and drinks service.' The library also has a variety of service skills content such as carrying / clearing plates, folding napkins, serving wines and more.  

Operational staff in hotels can develop their knowledge and skills and increase awareness of legal implications of disability discrimination. This module will contribute to the guided learning hours for those staff completing a hospitality apprenticeship.

Suited to operational front of house staff in hotels and restaurants who need to develop their knowledge and skills in key aspects of foodservice. This module is a separate module from the Food Service course and can be used according to training needs. Modules are ideal for new staff entering the industry to support job training in house or can be used by individuals wishing to gain some knowledge of food service in order to apply for a job.

Food & Drink Safety Awareness is designed for all operational staff in hotels, restaurants and bars to ensure they are aware of all food and drink safety procedures. Individuals may like to develop their own knowledge and confidence or use the module certificates at interviews. The Food and Drink Safety Aware programme will contribute to the guided learning hours for those staff completing a hospitality apprenticeship.

Go1 recommends the content for customers in the UK looking for hospitality training. 

Go1 is very excited to be working closely with Direction Associates and building a great relationship. 

Take the next step and enrol in Direction Associates training on Go1 today or contact Go1 if you have any questions. Access Direction Associates hospitality content via a Go1 Premium subscription.

Introducing Direction Associates – providers of highly engaging, interactive hospitality content   

Go1 is excited to announce our new partnership with JobReady, a leading provider of people management systems for education and employment, to deliver a new generation of learning and support for its Australian education sector clients.

Beginning in 2019, JobReady will use Go1 to deliver integrated online training for new and existing clients of student management system JR Plus. JR Plus is currently used by leading brands in the higher education, international education, enterprise training, and RTO markets.

Through Go1, JobReady will ensure users can access a full online library of in-depth training and resources on JR Plus, allowing them to take better advantage of the system’s full suite of evolving features, while also helping them to deliver on their primary education mission.

“JR Plus is a complete student management system for education that continues to evolve to ensure our clients stay in front of the pace of change,” JobReady commercial director James Hourn said.

“After 20 years helping our clients adapt and grow, we’re taking this exciting step forward to allow them to take advantage of online product training delivered when and how they want it.”

Mr Hourn said Go1’s advanced online delivery model will mean clients will receive unrivaled learning and support throughout the customer journey, whether they are currently implementing JR Plus, or are looking to realise more business value from the system as a long-term JR Plus user.

“By giving clients the learning vehicle they need to unlock JR Plus, we are supporting them in running a better business and helping them provide the best possible education for their students as well.”

Go1 CEO and co-founder Andrew Barnes said the partnership with JobReady was a natural fit for both companies who both strongly believe in the power of education to advance Australia’s future.

“Go1 has a track record of partnering with innovative providers like JobReady to deliver education and training that makes the possibilities of online delivery real for their users,” Mr Barnes said.

“By helping facilitate the growth and utilisation of JR Plus across Australia’s globally renowned education sector, we believe we are doing what we’ve always set out to do at Go1 – allowing people to achieve their career dreams and live more fulfilled working lives now and into the future.”

JobReady is the leading provider of people management software for education and employment. Bringing together student management systems, apprenticeships systems, vocational education and training systems, employment services systems and behavioural science, we represent a powerful software continuum for managing the complex human journey through study, work and career transitions. Trusted for over 20 years, JobReady works with education and employment clients to co-create intelligent technology that helps them oversee, control and drive the business outcomes they need to succeed. In doing so, we ensure more people are fulfilled through meaningful work.

Go1 makes it easy for businesses to train their staff, with the world’s largest compliance, professional development and general training marketplace. By providing a single platform that extends from first aid training through to degree bearing courses, Go1 makes it easy to find and compare the best training options available. The marketplace features over 500,000 courses and other learning items created by local and international experts. Customers include SEEK.com.au, Oxford University, State and Local Governments and St John Ambulance.

Since launching in 2015, Go1 has grown to be a world leader in online learning and education. Local and overseas investors include Y Combinator, SEEK, M12, Tank Stream Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, and Our Innovation Fund.

JobReady to provide new generation learning with Go1

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