60 T O P 10 1. Companies will begin treating new hires as part of the team, even before they turn their com- puter on for the first time. Sales organizations, after competing hard for the right caliber of talent, will not take a chance at losing them so early in the game. 2. Onboarding will become highly personalized to increase employee engagement immediately. New hires will receive personalized welcome messages, specially made paperwork, mentors who match their style and personality, well-timed conversations to see how they feel about their role and the company, social activities planned around their interests, and customized success strategies. 3. New hire onboarding will include Cultural Assimilation to teach new hires the unwritten rules and information like nicknames, traditions, office slang, and special celebrations that will help them feel like they belong right away. 4. Chunked learning, or Microlearning will be more apparent in training - using different formats but always breaking information into many, shorter parts so the learner is never focused on one segment for more than 5 to 10 minutes. 5. Spaced Learning will also become more prevalent, providing a 10 minute segment in between each chunked learning topic for the learner to engage in the activity. 6. Augmented and virtual reality will play a larger role in training and development than ever before. Salespeople will be able to simulate client calls, review their performance, receive real-time coaching, and more quickly improve. 7. Employers will invest more in training to develop potential talent and have them grow with the company, offering upskilling opportunities almost immediately upon hire. Development Trends for 2019