Fire to Inspire

I have just been reading an email newsletter from a site I subscribe to: The Science of Getting Rich NETwork. As I write that down (like a coming OUT story) I imagine that I invite ridicule or dismissive comments from anyone who is reading this. I have exposed my under-belly (and believe me, there is more of that than I'm proud of).

The Science of Getting Rich website, however, fits my experience of how our destinies are controlled by the words our minds (the inner voices) speak to us and especially the words we speak out loud. Note how the inner voice spoke to me when I began writing that first paragraph. It told me that anyone who read those first words would dismiss or ridicule what I said. That's one of the reasons I'm not Bill Gates or Robert Kiyosaki, I'm constantly vetting what I say and do and write. I don't want people to think I'm a crank or silly or gullible.

So how does that relate to training?

Well, in this week's Science of Getting Rich newsletter, Rebecca Fine quotes American author and humorist Mark Twain who said, "I can show anyone how to get what they want. The only trouble is I can't find anyone who can tell me what they want." And then Rebecca goes on to say: "If you don't know -- can't articulate clearly and specifically what it is you really want to be, do, and have; what lights your fire; what it is you'd love to spend your time doing if you could be doing absolutely ANYTHING -- then it's because you don't really know ... who you are."

If at my age I find myself facing those moments of self-doubt and lack of focus, how come I expect younger people to risk focusing on 'what lights (their) fire'? How many young people fall into a career because they trip over it, rather than focusing on what lights their fire? How can they, with little life experience, know what might light their fire?

When young trainees come into a course, often they come because Mum or Dad says it would be a good career to get into. Or they might be on it in order to get a training allowance - the Government says it would be good for them to do. And we expect them to be fully engaged in the course!

Wallace Wattles, who inspired the website The Science of Getting Rich through his book of the same name, said that it doesn't take a lot of energy or will power to keep your mind fixed on something that really grabs you, but that it's VERY difficult to stay focused positively on what you DON'T really want. A career that you fall into is rarely one that fires your soul.

Wouldn't it be great to have a pre-enrollment course called: Seize the Day Your Way, or: Map Your Life in Joy, or: Light Your Mind's Fire? Unfortunately most training establishments rely on student numbers and/or government subsidies. I think they'd have a problem convincing the funders or their accountants that a course supporting young people to find their inner fire would pay its way.

Courses that focus on 'marketable' skills, that in turn slot the participants/trainees into a job, do enhance the bank balance, but the benefit of happy people in careers that inspire them is immeasurable. Imagine if trainers were faced with a group of participants who were already fired up about their new careers? Imagine the dialogues and monumental leaps that would happen in such a group? Can you see how they'd virtually teach themselves as they interacted with the trainer, the new knowledge and their search for answers to questions? It gives me goose-bumps to think about it.

Trainers try to enthuse trainees but are, in turn, chipped away by trainee reluctance and lack of enthusiasm. Hearing constant negativity fuels the negative inner voice. Part of trainee/student negativity stems from their life-stage where training for a skill or career is sensed as the establishment inevitably forcing them to conform. Another critical part is their total lack of knowing themselves as distinct from the group, of knowing who THEY are and what lights their fire.

It's a daunting task - being a trainer. You have to KNOW in your very soul that this is where your fire burns. Otherwise you're just going to be extinguished.

Shouting in the dark

Are you someone who likes to talk and debate? Do you like the thrust and argument of politics? Or do you simply enjoy hearing other people's opinions on topics that rock the world?

In our fast paced lives these days, often the longest debate will occur on the sideline of our children's or grandchildren's sports matches. Then it is often more to do with the fairness of the ref's last decision than anything world shattering. We just don't have the time to devote to well-delivered argument. Yet this skill is one that should be well honed before teenagers arrive in adulthood. Not that an argumentative teen is the best example of logical debate, but the skill is vital once they get to working age. Listening with logic and presenting a well-reasoned debate will enable businesses to take up bright ideas and move into new ways of doing things. The more staff with these skills the better.

What we still tend to do is believe we have to fill heads with knowledge. Take a look at social blogging and messaging sites and you quickly realise that the skills of natural skepticism and internal debate will help navigate through the snippets of conversation and lottery of links to find information of real value.

The speed of knowledge

Have you come across this? It perfectly sums up why training and education has to be ongoing throughout life ...
Did You Know?
The video also illustrates why we can never hope to keep ahead of what there is to know. Instead of trying to cram knowledge, we would be better to teach skills on how to recover knowledge, or where to go to find out more Just In Time for when we need it.

Another skill becoming increasingly necessary in our ever changing world,is critical thinking: 'How do I know what I find can be trusted?' That's a skill trainers will find difficult to pass on, because in an increasingly complex world we meet people in virtual environments and research purchases through simulations and snippets of information. Your trainees will go into those environments and later make decisions that impact on their workplaces. Critical thinking is vital in business but if you're working in a virtual environment - what is real?

Death is a state of mind

Talk about doom and gloom – swine flu comes quickly on the heels of recession predictions. We’ll be keeling over in more ways than one. But is most of it in the mind? Do we give too much attention to negatives and too little to opportunities?

How does what we listen to shape our attitudes? How does language shape our personal destiny? We all use language but some of us are more adept at using it positively. Positive thinkers tend to rise to the top because their enthusiasm and belief in themselves and others brings out the best in everyone around them. Now I’m not talking about the sales technique of talking up a product when it really doesn’t match the sales pitch – I’m talking about the mentality of choosing to concentrate on the positive rather than focus on the negative; to do what you can, or control what is controllable.

I was reminded of the strength of positivity this morning when I took a session with three high achievers who have been put onto an informal GATE program at a local school. GATE stands for Gifted And Talented Education. The three nine-year olds had interests in multi-media technology, so I was asked to design a project that they could do with one hour a week’s tuition.

When we got together first I found I had three disparate children whose minds went nineteen to the dozen, who couldn’t wait to compete to show me how clever they were and who all spoke at the same time. How was I going to get that group focused on a project? Late in the hour we focused enough to decide that we would create a road safety project for the Ministry of Transport and that they would each storyboard an idea for an animation.

At the next session they came up with varying ideas (only two related to the topic) and we settled on a selection from those two storyboards. This session occurred just before the Easter holidays but they were so enthusiastic I was sure they would carry the momentum through until this Thursday. Not so …

Today they all admitted they had done next to nothing toward the project. The Ministry of Transport (alias moi) was very annoyed and told them that if they weren’t ‘up to the job we’d find someone else to do it’. The interesting thing about the following conversation was that these nine-year-olds displayed so many tactics that you would normally note in adults on a worksite:

• Avoidance of responsibility – I couldn’t find my disk, my computer doesn’t get the Internet, I was away for half the holidays, I’m so busy with my sports
• Blaming – But XX didn’t phone me up so I forgot, we had a clean out and I think mum threw out my sheet
• Avoiding tasks – I can’t see when I’d fit it in … I’ve got XX on Monday and XX on Tuesday, I’ve got Vista and it can’t read anything from an XP

Each time they came up with an excuse I told them: “I’m not interested in your excuses. All the Ministry of Transport wants is a completed video it can use.” I also named the avoidance technique they were using.

I brought out a prepared timeline and we discussed completion dates for each task using a calendar. There was a lot of talk before the target dates were set and each child recorded them. One boy in particular kept talking about the problems, and how he would have so little time out of school to complete his job. I realized he was focusing on the negative.

In Golden Bay the day had see-sawed between showers and sunshine. I threw open the curtains and told him: “Look outside … See the clouds – they’re the problems. See the sunshine – that’s the opportunity. Which one do you want to concentrate on?”

They all laughed, and one boy said: “My dad calls it ‘is the glass half full or half empty?’”

All bright kids, but already at aged nine they’d learned to look at the negative, to expect things to be hard, to accept failure.

So how does that relate to swine flu and the recession? I can’t control swine flu but I can take any precautions recommended by the medical profession charged with controlling it. Otherwise I’ll just forget about it and get on with life. And the recession? Well there are so many opportunities to be had in an adjusting market, I’ll just get out and find them.

And I’ll leave the last comment on swine flu to my daughter who posted on Facebook: We've decided it should be called Mexican Hog Fever. It's not less gross than Swine 'flu, but it sounds more festive...

On a serious note: If you do need to put some procedures in place to deal with the potential consequences of a flu pandemic, take a look here. We may be able to help. - Heather

Knee-jerk to elearning

When a (now-not-so) new technology enters the smorgasbord of training options, industry training organisations may be tempted to jump in with both feet on the accelerator. This has been especially so with the advent of elearning. Everybody’s doing it so why not us? Anyone from within the organisation who suggests a cautious approach may be seen to be dragging on the vehicle bumper for reasons of their own discomfort at the speed of change.

Elearning is not a good idea unless it fits with the organisation’s technical capability and workforce readiness. While most of my work has some component of elearning, and I do believe the method adds amazing capacity to move learners forward, I, too, would like organisations I work with to be a bit more cautious before writing their Expression of Interest documents.

Elearning developers love to create, but they also want what they create to meet the needs of the learners in the organisation. Unless the project succeeds, the risk for the developer is that the tools they create will be seen as having failed, and that in turn will damage the developer’s reputation. Often it is not the tools but the process that is flawed.

My observation is that organizations follow a pattern of:

idea > resistance > wearing down > agreement > write the EoI > start the project asap

The promoters of the project are so intent on getting on with it, (seeing that so much time has been ‘lost’ in convincing the organisation to move) they fail to do enough research to develop an effective, measurable EoI, which is the only document a developer can respond to when designing a proposal.

The EoI can be based on assumptions about the needs of the learner, as well as unrealistic budgets and time lines for development. Developers have these options:

• To warn that the project is unrealistic and can’t be done in the timeline – good-bye contract
• To build in a number of ‘provided that’ clauses to cover potential timeline blowouts
• To answer the EoI as it stands and limit the potential of what they can provide within the timeline or budget

And guess which developer will get the contract?

Before any elearning project starts the organisation should:

1. Get some reliable research done on the needs and capability of the learners they serve, and not just rely on gut-instinct. Managers see the world through the technological eyes of their own use of computers – ‘everybody knows how to use a computer’. Well they don’t! They may be more adept at using a mobile phone or the DVD remote.
2. Really understand learners’ access issues to technology. The parents may have a computer installed at home, but what happens to accessibility when the young person moves out to their first flat? Can they afford to link up to Broadband or will they install Sky Sports? If they are into social networking online, do they really want their tutor/trainer muscling in for all their friends to see? And can they afford the cost of mobile communication when for days on end they don’t reply to txts because their credit’s run out before payday?
3. Decide whether it would be wiser to contract an independent researcher to investigate these issues before engaging a developer; or make the developer responsible for developing a learner profile and recommending a best practice solution.

It is in the best interests of the organisation, the learners and the developer to design the most effective learning solution, and that solution may NOT be elearning.

The case for cloning ;)

How many times have you heard people say: “Imagine if everyone was the same! What a boring world it would be.”

I’d like to counter that by asking: “How could we possibly know that for sure?”

If we were all the same we’d all think alike, react in the same way to outside stimuli, and understand exactly what the other person was experiencing or thinking. We wouldn’t be suddenly confronted with someone angrily reacting to an ‘innocent’ comment because they would have understood what we meant.

Life would be calm; we’d all agree on how to solve problems because there would be only ONE way. The things we like to do would be the only things that there were to do because there would be no demand for anything else - the market just wouldn’t be there. Think how much waste would be saved!

There’d be no problem finding a partner because everyone would suit us. We wouldn’t need counseling because our partner would agree with us all the time, and besides, our boss wouldn’t get up our nose, and there would be no road rage.

People would work hard just like we do, so we wouldn’t feel pissed off with the shirkers. Everyone would pay their taxes and not cheat the system. Why would they need to? The tax system would have been designed to suit people like us; the health system would have plenty of funding for the ailments that affect us; the education system would teach us in the methods that suited us (because the teachers would be just like us).

Most trainers are aware that, in this world of variety, each person learns in a slightly different way. It is, however, a challenge to adapt our teaching or training style to suit each learner, because WE have a preferred method of delivery. What we tend to do is try to include a variety of delivery styles during the course, even though some activities may feel uncomfortable for us to deliver.

By providing variety we hope that each learner will be hooked in by an activity that suits their style of learning, and that they can ride out the activities that don’t appeal. A learner’s urge to ‘pass’ will usually provide enough motivation for them to stay focused.

So the trainer's case for cloning is … if everyone had the same learning style, what a dream they would be to teach! In the meantime ….

Powering up training in a recession

Cost and access issues
A New Zealand industry training organisation working with mechanical engineering, manufacturing, baking and food processing industries, Competenz, urged the New Zealand government to reduce the costs of industry training in a recent press release.

CEO John Blakey said that while trade training in New Zealand has been under-funded for decades, the recession has highlighted this problem. "We're taking the message to the Government that cost is the major barrier to employers taking on apprentices and upskilling staff - and this needs to be fixed now.”

Blakey went on to say that Competenz is working with Business New Zealand and the Industry Training Federation on long-term solutions to take to the Government.

The problems
Cost is only one part of the problem, in my view. Other brakes on training include:

1. Fragmentation of the training delivery industry leading to challenges finding the right training/courses


2. Lack of clear career pathways, despite a hefty national framework of possible units to study


3. Challenges with acceptable assessment forcing training providers to produce prescribed documentary evidence of every PC and every minuscule part of the range


4. Lack of innovative (cheap and ‘safe’) solutions to accessing online training resources


5. Companies’ headaches around rostering employees off on courses for more than a day

Solutions could come from:

1. NZQA maintaining up-to-date lists of currently available face-to-face/e-learning/distance learning courses instead of just a list of registered providers


2. NZQA and/or ITOs having easily accessible recommended career pathways for industry careers


3. A review of the prescriptive model of assessment to allow integrated projects to act as evidence


4. Better access to online training, and not just in IT or computing. The Government is moving toward broadband solutions, so companies now have to get over their distrust of employee online intent and give them Internet access (even if only in a controlled IT environment)


5. Partnerships between deliverers and developers of off-site, on-site, and online training material – no one option is best but the best will come from combining them

Subtle brakes
Then there are more subtle brakes on performance improvement:

• The company culture sees training as a ‘perk for employees’ and not as a valuable tool to advance company performance


• Training ends with the employee’s attendance/qualification and no systems exist within the organisation to spread the gain


• Skills training is seen as a one-way process, like feeding hungry fledglings, instead of as a partnership of development


• Understanding business economics is a closely guarded secret that employees must not know about

Integrated improvements
There are many ways of improving performance and giving employees skills improvement training is only one way. Performance can also be enhanced by changing the culture so that every employee understands their vital part in the process of company evolution. That culture change rests mainly on management and, to a lesser extent, the partnership between management and unions.

By educating employees on the way of the market, managers gain 100s of sets of eyes to look for market opportunities and threats. After all, employees are:

• Consumers or customers and can feedback information on market demand


• Observers of the process and can identify bottlenecks and better ways


• Potential markets for competitor products because they know what they like


• Researchers/surfers of the Net so they keep up with trends

Trainers need to rebrand themselves as facilitators of learning and enlarge their own self-beliefs. They don’t have to know it all, they can use hundreds of existing learning resources, and even rely on their trainees to find the answers. Research should be seen as a legitimate and sanctioned use of their time. Let learners learn by experiencing the power of one … or one hundred.

Many of the above options can be accomplished without large amounts of money being thrown at them. They do, however, need a shift in thinking from micro-managing training in a silo to integrating training into a company-wide activity.

What is experiential learning? Part 2

Just presenting a 'hands-on' exercise does not mean you’re using an experiential learning tool. The activity has to have an element of unexpected learning within it. The trainer must take a backstep from the learning environment and become a challenger or a last resort consultant. The trainees direct the learning environment.

A simple example is a game I designed for trainees learning about marketing for the first time. There were some important concepts we needed to get across to them without using the time-honoured PowerPoint-Talking-Heads scenario they were so used to. Instead, I designed a game that took a number of production and employee faults/issues/challenges and created them as obstacles on a classic roll-the-dice board game. I controlled all the ‘issues’ so it was far from experiential learning.

I added an extra learning challenge, however, in that the rules insisted that counters on each lane of the double-track could not get further apart than three spaces. The learning outcome from that would come out in discussion – employee skills and production rates are interlinked. But it was still not experiential learning.

In a group more open to different types of learning, I could have turned this into an experiential learning challenge. Sure, I would have given the board, and the basic rules/format, to the teams but I could have left the teams to come up with their own version of the game to illustrate given goals.

Let’s look at how that would have fitted into the parameters of experiential learning:

• A process of thinking – They would have had to use the KWL (What I Know,/What I want to know/What we learned) process to research and test the process


• Team work and good communication – They would need plenty of team work to do the research and design the rest of the game


• Role recognition – They would have had to acknowledge team member skills and assign roles


• Time and project management – They would have had to apportion time to tasks
  
• Managing conflict – They would need to manage conflict if there were disagreements about what needed to be included


• Group decision-making – And of course they would have to use good decision-making to come to a successful conclusion

If you would like to use the boardgame as a method of teaching about productivity issues I have arranged a generic set with blank cards that you can download free. You will need some light card to stick the boardgame onto, and to create the cards, plus dice and counters.

The set gives some examples of issues you might adapt to suit your industry. Then you can decide whether you want to control the learning about the issues or let your trainees use their own knowledge about production issues to create a game.

What is experiential learning? Part 1

Experiential learning can best be described as 'learning by doing' in a safe environment where failure is okay and leads to new learning.

Experiential learning exercises parallel real life roles and result in learning that can be applied to real life work situations.

The exercises are designed with specific goals to be achieved, but few ‘rules’ so that the teams participating can tackle the exercises in any way that achieves the goals. Well-designed tasks set the bar high but are known to be achievable, although ‘second-goes’ are common and allowed.

Experiential learning is more to do with:

• A process of thinking
• Team work and good communication
• Role recognition
• Time and project management
• Managing conflict
• Group decision-making

The actual outcome/task achievement is a secondary consideration and is used more as a tool to change behaviour.

Experiential learning for the trainer is often fraught with tension because you have to stand back and let things happen, even bad things like communication breakdown, arguments and defections. On the plus side you will watch as participants have ‘Eureka’ moments. Above all, participants should learn that they already have answers, or at least one part of an answer; their task is to uncover the answers and contribute them to the improvement of the group.

The intensity of the learning rests on how well you handle the wash-up session; discussing the ‘what went wrongs’; analyzing what could have been done differently; touching on the emotions of team dynamics. The latter area of learning will succeed best if you, the trainer, are comfortable with talking about such issues, and depends on how entrenched the ‘anti-soft’ site culture is. For this reason experiential learning works best with a group that has worked together for a while and built up some trust between members.

9-day fortnight a reality but day 10 missing cash and training

My comment: The New Zealand Government has made a tactical error in removing the incentive for training in its 9-day fortnight. The country had an invaluable opportunity to upskill its workforce without impinging on productivity. Instead employees WILL enjoy an extra day off but won't enjoy the day's lost pay. Basically the small recompense is 'pay to do nothing'. Employees are being asked to underwrite a shaky economy instead of stretching the grey-matter and using the chance to improve their effectiveness at work.
9-day fortnight a reality but day 10 missing cash and training

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Lessons from Canada Geese, Part 2

If you come from a large organisation don’t under-value the knowledge of an on-site trainer. An on-site trainer sees employees when they’re being stretched and even put under stress. These observations build up into a clear picture of the capabilities of the person. These trainers ought to be involved in any consultation about promotion and restructuring. Why? Because they’ll know who will cope with added responsibilities if roles must be amalgamated.

When you’re training a group of people, especially if you use experiential learning methods, you learn how people react under pressure, whether they’re prepared to step into a leadership role, how they think (laterally or linear), and whether they’re a group player or a prima donna. An HR manager removed from practical training may miss out on learning these attributes of employees.

The on-site trainer can also be instrumental in bringing about culture changes, provided their role is clearly supported and valued by the organisation. The best worksite health and safety policy will not reduce accidents or injuries unless it's entrenched in worksite practice. ‘Big stick’ techniques are often less effective than culture change. Threats lead to clever concealment; culture change leads to a change in belief about self and the relationship with the organisation. Culture change takes time and management commitment. It needs to be led by the trainer with a positive, reward focus.

Imagine if those small groups of Canada geese decided to leave at different times of the year and didn’t bother to practice their vee-formation flying before they left? Not many of them would be around to return the following spring. It’s their commitment to the larger group, their willingness to share leadership, and their constant calls of encouragement that keep them a cohesive group flying through the nights and the rough ocean weather until they reach the next sanctuary on their journey.

When times are tough, as they are for organisations around the globe, culture change is a vital ingredient to ensure you’re a survivor. If you’re a trainer you can make a huge impact on the survival chances of your group.

• Avoid the negativity – train only the employees who see learning as valuable for them


• Focus training on the wider picture – convince employees of their role in creating a lean, efficient and well-functioning team


• Challenge the grey-matter – use unusual training tools to keep people on their toes and thinking – you’re training the whole person


• Spread the message that solutions are right within us – we just have to have the confidence to think outside the box


• Reward employees who show initiative – even if it is only to point them out to management as potential for promotion (but let them know you have done so)


• See other trainers as resources to share new techniques and tools – share your own ideas and borrow others

Survival in today’s climate will be about the organisations that learn to work for the greater good, the ones that look for new leaders from within their ranks and support each other strive for excellence. Divisive cultures will only lead to poor performance and inevitable disaster.

- Heather Sylvawood, Educational Designer, Edutech KM Ltd

Lessons from Canada Geese, Part 1

This morning as I took the dog for her usual morning walk, the sun was washing the clouds with pinks and oranges above an aquamarine shimmering sea. My ears registered the plaintive honks of Canada geese and I looked up to see several pairs and small family groups flapping above me. I knew that each of these pairs would eventually join up with the main group until, later in Autumn, the sky would be full of their plaintive cries as they called their farewells and left for the warmth of a northern summer.

Then, as they left our shores, the more senior or experienced geese would take their turns at heading the vee-formation, each taking a rest and passing over that important role to another equally experienced goose. The less experienced would be flanked by buddies and guided by the honks of the geese who had made the journey before.

I was struck by the similarities between their preparations for flight and an organisation’s journey toward success. When a new recruit is brought into the organisation they struggle to find their place, to work out the rules and to keep up. What they need to know most is:
1. What is safe practice that won’t ‘get me into trouble’?
2. What does everyone else do when …?
3. How can I find out about this task/option?

Like the young geese on their first flight north, new recruits do need to be guided, but they also need to learn to grow into a leadership role. They need to practise with a buddy sharing the lead role, then when they are confident they join the larger group and find their place in the formation, and finally they can move up the group and take their place sharing leadership.

Induction training from the organisation’s perspective is often more to do with:
1. Health and safety rules and regulations (so the organisation doesn’t get into trouble)
2. The history of the organisation (seen as ‘passing on the culture’)
3. Who’s who in the organisation?
4. How to set yourself up in ‘our’ system

Do you see the difference?
The individual wants to do right and fit in but the organisation tends to offer information that exacerbates the divide between the new individual and the organisation. The only area of commonality is “What is safe practice that won’t ‘get them into trouble’?“

If your organisation has an intranet, or even an information kiosk, where new employees can refer to basic information about site rules and regulations, and a list of ‘who to go to when’ you empower the new employee. Chances are that a large part of the information they received during induction training went out of their minds the minute they were told it.

The first few days on the job are often so filled with personal tensions and doubts about whether they can succeed, that there’s little room for retaining much of the information in an induction programme. Providing an easily searchable reference site, so they can access the answers without appearing ignorant, in the long run is a more user-friendly tool. Induction manuals get lost, but access to an intranet or information kiosk is always there.

Where Does Training Fit Now?

Today I added an RSS feed from a site that some of you may have already come across HRM – the Social Network For Today’s HR professionals.

I like this blog because it focuses so much on the positive. The writer understands that when the chips are down there are two ways for a company to go:
1. Inward looking, concentrating on cost cutting, losses and fear
2.Upward looking, building on the team that remains and the values they can share

The first is a recipe for disaster; the second keeps everyone focused on possibilities and invention. I know the type of business I want to be in.

HR managers on many sites must be facing some tricky situations if they're dealing with redundancies and a shrinking workforce, a shrinking market and little time for keeping that important training going. Actually the need for training becomes even more important in a shrinking workforce, because the employees who are left are often expected to become multi-skilled.

In these times, the businesses that paid attention to upskilling and training will be benefiting from their foresight. They’ll have employees ready to step (even if reluctantly) into the shoes of employees who have left. Other businesses will struggle to quickly upskill staff and may even have difficulty finding the information that was so efficiently catalogued in the minds of the employees who have left. Inevitably employees who leave disgruntled often make sure that vital information is NOT made easily available – “’cos whatcha going do about it?”

Assuming you have staff who are able to pick up the pieces and continue production/trading/creating services at a reduced level, you cannot, even in a recession, forget the importance of training. You may need, however, to review the type of training you’re providing. Fewer employees on the job will mean fewer opportunities to take them off the floor or away from clients in order to attend courses. It may be time to look at alternative training opportunities.

We have designed resources for a number of clients who had to deliver training at a distance. In today’s financial climate the ‘distance’ may only be from your desk to theirs. Self-directed learning can be a cost-effective and easily adapted option as it allows learning to take place in small bursts, at a time to suit the learner.

The Mayonnaise Jar

A long time ago a family member sent me an email with the story of The Mayonnaise Jar and the Two Cups of Coffee. It still sits in my Inbox. Every few months I clear out unwanted emails so this item has gravitated to the bottom (the oldest item), because I just don’t want to get rid of it. I don’t get to see it often, but I always smile when I do.

The reason I do see it is that occasionally one of those no-subject spam items arrives in my Inbox and Outlook drops it down to the bottom. I know where I have to go to send it packing to the trash can, but instead of getting mad at the spammer I’m delighted once again because as the spam is deleted from the Inbox the story of The Mayonnaise Jar and the Two Cups of Coffee comes back up on screen. Click this link and I’ll share it with you. Have a great day and at least one cup of coffee with a friend.

Bring in the Clowns

How do you handle the scoffers ... the cynics who are on your course but don’t really believe they’ll learn anything new?

I’d really like to know, because I find I use a lot of energy devising ways of avoiding coming up against them.

I was co-presenting with an industry tutor who was learning new methods of presenting material. He'd been doing well until he tossed a whiteboard marker to a participant (the course clown and vocal critic) and asked him to come up to the front to record the group discussion points.

This role had been shared around among a number of participants as a way of grooming them to be more confident as presenters themselves. The clown participant point-blank refused and threw the marker back. An embarrassed silence followed until another trainee stood up and grabbed a marker pen.

From that point on the clown lost his standing in the group. He had gone too far and the mood of the group changed. While the other trainees had been prepared to laugh at his loud asides early in the course, they now shifted their allegiances toward the presenters. It was subtle, but a relief.

I had earlier tried the: “Yes X. That’s a good point and we’ll have to address that later” tactic. After the session I went and discussed his objection and asked him to help redress it by sending in something in writing so we could include it in the next course. He did too!

Some people just need lots of attention, and they resent the focus being on the trainer. What tactics have other trainers found to work well?

Is it worth training reluctant learners?

I don’t think there is a hard rule about that … it really depends on what causes the learner’s reluctance.

If they're reluctant because they’re afraid that they won’t cope with the course, then some confidence building with pre-course material and tutor-to-trainee work can certainly engage them in further studies.

If they just can’t be bothered, but they have to do it for money, because the boss says so, or it keeps them in a job, then it may not be worth the energy you’ll need to spend to keep them focused. You would be better advised to concentrate on the ‘reluctant-because-they’re-afraid’ learners.

Having said all that, sometimes you just can’t tell ahead of the course. One course we trialled included some beginner trainees. When they arrived, they barely said anything; they pulled down their beanies and avoided eye contact at all costs.

The course was full of experiential activities as well as the tutor-directed learning that had to be done for them to learn enough to achieve the performance criteria. The young men played the games, they were forced to join groups and discuss topics, they were forced to lead groups and report back findings. At the end of the course (3 blocks of 2 days) they stood up at the front and delivered a report using presentation aids on a production issue they had researched. It was a major triumph.

One of the tutors knew their manager well and asked how they’d gone since they'd returned to the worksite. The ‘boss’ was delighted to report how much they engaged in work meetings. They asked questions and wanted to know “why?” This manager was not at all fazed by their new-found confidence. He saw it as a plus for the organization because these young men are likely to continue to think laterally and their asking ‘why?” will lead to improvements on site.

So perhaps the answer to the question: “Is it worth training reluctant learners?” is: “It depends on the course and the potential of the trainees.” And that potential you don’t get to see until they’re being forced to move out of their comfort-zone.

The NZ Job Summit

The weekend’s Jobs Summit has come up with a number of proposals that will be considered by the Government prior to the Budget.

One of the most talked about was a proposal for a 9-day working fortnight. Stuff reports that: “The Government seems set to give the green light to a call for a nine-day fortnight which employers and union leaders believe could save 20,000 jobs, at a cost of $60 million. Workers would lose a day of work a fortnight, and receive training or education.”

Sensible move, because the businesses that move out of the recession most quickly are those whose employees understand the reality of good business practice. They’ll be the organisations whose employees are constantly looking for process improvement and product or service opportunities. They’ll be the firms who see that an investment in innovation, against the trend in tough times, is the way forward the minute the market moves into positive territory.

The trick for the country is to sell the concept to employees as more than a sacrifice to save the jobs of their "mates". Solidarity is great, but a long term commitment to improving New Zealand’s competitiveness is even more important if we’re to come out of the recession without major social disaster.

Traditional worker/employer culture has always pitted one against the other, and evidence suggests that the "culture" was born of reality. Incomes on both sides of the divide reflected the relative values given to the people who created the products or services that gave value to the business and the people who took the risk. If that culture continues, training for employees will always be seen as skills training. But there is a huge advantage if you train employees in the so-called 'soft' skills of business.

The knowledge of why things are done a certain way, and the understanding of Return on Investment, helps employees see their role as part of the whole process of business. Instead of looking at the potential one day off a fortnight as a skills training opportunity, employers would be better to ask themselves: "If I wanted someone to step into my shoes, what would I want them to know?"

Raise the bar, avoid the assumptions and the bright sparks of your organisation will help you out of the recession.
- Heather Sylvawood

Jargon and acronyms can hinder learning

Have you ever struggled to read a document and found yourself lost in the jargon?

Every industry develops its own jargon and acronyms to speed up communication, but often jargon and uncommon words act as gatekeepers to new knowledge. They are used to prove the writer or speaker belongs to an elite group and to exclude others from that group. This is counter-productive to clear communication and cost-effective solutions.

At one course where I was part of the delivery team, the term: ROI came up. I immediately explained that ROI meant return on investment and basically was a calculation to find out if something was worth doing. The course was a pilot and aimed at floor staff who were not usually involved in calculating ROI but we felt that including it was really important because understanding ROI gave meaning to many of the decisions made by management.

An observer-participant from middle management commented that he’d wished someone had given him such an explanation years ago when he was first promoted to a position where he attended management meetings. He admitted that he had no idea what they were talking about but just nodded his head and agreed. He was too scared to ask because he didn’t want to face the shame of not knowing, or risk having other managers think he wasn’t able to cope with the promotion.

The course continued with both observer participants and regular participants working towards an investigation of a production issue. The aim was to carry out a team investigation and report on their findings. Solving the problem was NOT the goal, but most of them, with the help of their on-site teams, did come up with a cost-effective solution. ROI featured in their significant savings calculations that reached into millions of dollars each year.

Those participants would have paid back their course fees many times over! They will also share with others on the floor the importance of ROI.

Audio is a powerful tool

Training resources are moving into sophisticated, intuitive virtual worlds that cost more and more to produce. The 'reality' of these worlds is said to simulate real life and provide real life opportunities to learn.

I believe what these virtual world creators ignore is that power of the mind to create its own 'virtual world', and that sometimes putting too much reality in front of the eye shuts down that powerful mind tool. I had this brought home to me when we were developing resources for a New Zealand level 2 national qualification - that's the training aimed at people who have just left school and are moving into a technical trade at minimal skill level.

The industry we were working with also identified literacy as a problem for some workers, and there were 'work cultures' that glorified the macho male, heavy drinker or soft drug-taker as heroes. Our brief was to try and make a change in that culture - lol!

To make things even more challenging, the budget was tiny compared to that required for a virtual world project. The best we could do was to adapt existing video and use voice-over and supplementary group activities directed by a worksite trainer to get across these concepts.

I even wrote a 'soap opera' following a team of workers through some real life issues. This was recorded by students at a local radio training centre. So you can see how budget the project was!

Anyway, I was invited to see the material piloted with a group of workers drawn from several worksites and the 'soap opera' was duly played, while I cringed in a back seat, dreading what their reaction would be. And that's when I learned the value of the individual's imagination to personalise training.

The story was about Gary whose personal circumstances had gone down hill dramatically. His behaviour at work and towards his team mates had deteriorated, but one team member bucked the trend (which would have been to retaliate and further alienate Gary) and enrolled the team in trying to find out what was going on. The result was a positive team solution, naturally.

It was the reaction and discussion that this generated among the team of men in the training room that astounded me. One guy in particular had linked parts of the story to his own circumstances and opened up frankly to the others. It was a truly memorable moment.

Pondering it later, I realised that NOT using video, so that the story was 'out there happening to someone else' had enable this guy to internalise the story and put his own cast of characters into what he was hearing and 'seeing'. The lessen for me was that pictures may sometimes get in the way of the message. - Heather Sylvawood - EdutechKM Ltd

Now's not the time to trim training

Invest Wisely
So often organisations facing tough financial times, as the world's markets appear to be creating at the moment, look to cut budgets in two areas - the advertising budget and the training budget.

This reaction is so short-sighted. In tough times the two vital things you have to make sure about are that:

1. People know about the value of what you have to offer so they choose your products or services
2. Your employees are committed to working their butts off to make the best product or service in the most efficient way

If a company has downtime, then use it to give your employees further training. Invest time in developing their so-called 'soft' skills:

• Communication
• Team work
• Report writing and presentations
• Problem-solving

Downtime means there is a better chance of taking employees off-line in a group, and group dynamics can improve through an enlightened choice of training activity. And surprise, surprise many of the training tools on the Net are 'problem-solving' activities. They're the activities that naturally include the other three skills.

But the big bonus for companies who see a lack of work as an opportunity to improve is that they build loyalty. Employees will start to utilise their problem-solving skills to do what the company desperately wants to do - survive. You'll find the 'bright sparks' in your organisation.

"Bright sparks are at every level of your organisation. Don’t overlook them, engage them in forward thinking. Bright sparks don’t know the limits so they push the boundaries and that's what moves the whole organisation forward. - Heather Sylvawood, EdutechKM Ltd"