Virtual Learning on a Global Scale at General Electric – GE and Interaction Associates Present at Training Industry Conference

(Boston 5-2-16) – General Electric and Interaction Associates (IA) will present The Art of Scaling Virtual Learning at the Training Industry Conference and Expo (TICE) on May 11, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Interaction Associates is a recognized leader in building collaborative leadership skills. With its virtual training and coaching partner, ZOOM Collaborate (ZC), IA has developed a virtual, instructor-led training curriculum (VILT) on how to lead and manage distributed teams and work groups.

Crotonville, GE’s Global Learning Team, set out to provide a comprehensive VILT curriculum to its global workforce. GE retained
Interaction Associates to help develop its virtual training capacity and content in the area of virtual teamwork strategies and skills, eventually certifying six GE faculty to run the virtual workshops from different time zones in order to cover GE’s global workforce.

“Interaction Associates and ZOOM Collaborate focus on helping learning and development leaders build the collaborative capability of their distributed workforces,” said Barry Rosen, CEO of Interaction Associates. “Remote leaders know that virtual collaboration takes an enhanced set of interpersonal skills and awareness,” Rosen added.

More than one million people have learned IA’s Interaction Method for leading and facilitating in-person teams and work groups. “In the 1990 and 2000’s, we successfully trained hundreds of GE Six Sigma leaders in how to lead quality improvement efforts and facilitate teams through these highly collaborative and integrated work processes. We’ve adapted those proven methods to the challenge of leading and collaborating across time zones, cultures and generations of workers,” said Rosen.

The GE and IA presentation at the Training Industry conference will explore how GE’s Global Learning Team addresses virtual learning challenges with thousands of virtual leaders and project team members, spread from California to Shanghai.

“Launching a VILT curriculum has enabled us to reach employees in remote locations who may not have had access to an in-person class and to raise the quality of our virtual work practices. VILT classes minimize disruption to the daily work life since you can attend the class from a quiet location, from home or your office -the class comes to you” explained co-presenter Elina Koussis, GE Crotonville.

Koussis, who is the VILC Program Manager for Emerging Leaders at GE, will co-present at the Training Industry conference with Susan DeGenring, Managing Partner and Director of Product Innovation at ZOOM Collaborate.

More information on the Training Industry Conference and Expo (TICE) is at www.trainingindustry.com

About Interaction Associates
Interaction Associates is one of the world’s authorities on collaboration. For nearly 50 years, the firm has developed and demonstrated practical, simple, proven methods of successful collaboration- to help organizations succeed. IA’s clients achieve a new measure of ROI – Return on Involvement – where employees share responsibility for business success. IA offers customized consulting, learning and development, and coaching services. It was named one of Training Industry’s top 20 Leadership Training Companies every year since 2012. www.interactionassociates.com

About ZOOM Collaborate
ZOOM Collaborate, focuses on coaching and training leaders and teams, both remote and collocated, in the human side of collaboration – how people and teams get clear, aligned, conscious and productive together.
ZOOM Collaborate has been a close strategic partner of Interaction Associates since 2008. www.zoomcollaborate.com