Learning Is a Lifelong Process

by Carol A. Kivler

With the pace of change surging around us, the premise that learning is a lifelong process with the road to success always under construction becomes doubly important.  Learning can take place in many different places, forums, ways, and styles.  I have spent over ten years teaching courses to countless people of all ages, backgrounds, and professions in community colleges across New Jersey.  One of the key lessons I have discovered is that learning is not limited to the classroom.  In fact, my current business proves that in a variety of ways.

Today, my time is dedicated to educating, inspiring, and training workers for new and unique skill sets needed in the workplace of the 21st century.  The two thousand training programs, workshops, and seminars that Kivler Communications has provided over the years focus on very contemporary issues often not found in formal classrooms or textbooks.  These customized learning forums include topics; such as, Grammar for Grownups, Managing Multiple Priorities, Writing for Results, Handling Difficult People, Superior Customer Service, Balancing Home & Career, Successful Supervision, Communicating Effectively with Others, and Managing Conflict.

Coaches and consultants are more prevalent in the workplace than ever before because academia frequently leans in very different directions than people’s everyday lives and needs.  The need for adults to rapidly learn and adapt to changing skills, workplace environments, people, attitudes and stress is critical to growth and success.  Today’s learners must quickly “connect and relate” to what they are learning and be able to apply these new skills and tools directly to their lives.

I have provided seminars and trainings to corporations, government agencies, colleges and universities, non-profits and everyone in between.  My God-given gift to educate has even cropped up in a grocery store where a customer asked me how to select a pineapple.  And I found myself giving a five-minute dissertation on pineapple selection.  Those who participate in my sessions feel my own love of learning.  Those learners recognize very quickly that the greatest gift that I can give them is the “gift of knowledge.”

Furthermore, the new generation of workers wants a constant challenge as well as opportunities to continually update their skill sets.  This generation recognizes the importance their updated skill sets are to their personal marketability.  To retain these workers, businesses today are recruiting with “knowledge development allowances” as part of their hiring packages.

Since most businesses (profit or not-for-profit) simply cannot justify paying a salaried employee to provide services that may only be needed several times throughout the year, outside consultants and coaches are utilized instead.  Each year Kivler Communications serves as the liaison between this needed learning and businesses around the country.  Once a business contacts us, a needs assessment is completed to determine if training is the intervention needed.  If it is, interviews with several managers and employees are conducted to help in the customized program development. 

Kivler Communications is known in the training field for “training with a personal touch.”  That personal touch comes to life with the exercises and case studies designed specifically for any given business need as well as from “Kivlerisms” used within the training design. 

When either you or your organization finds yourself needing a “learning boost” to either jumpstart new skill sets or polish previously learned skill sets, Kivler Communications should be your first call.