What we Canadians have to be proud of
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Diversity & culture
- Photo Credit: kennymatic via Compfight cc
Perspective comes & worldviews get enhanced when we bump up against ‘other.’ Finding similarities in ‘other’ makes us feel at home but it’s a risky business if we never venture out past our own doorstep.
Here for your viewing pleasure is a different way to view us Canadians. It’s poignant & funny precisely because it compares Canadians to ‘others’ (mostly Americans). With tongue firmly planted in cheek I give you a taste of Canadian culture (thanks to Ilja Korotvicka)….
What we Canadians Have to be Proud of?
1. Smarties (not sold in the USA )
2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp (not sold in the USA )
3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down, and bigger balls.
4. Baseball is Canadian – 1st game June 4, 1838 – Ingersoll, ON
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Apple pie is Canadian
9. Mr. Dress-up beats Mr. Rogers
10. Tim Hortons beats Dunkin’ Donuts
11. In the war of 1812, started by Americans, Canadians pushed the Americans back past their White House. Then we burned it, and most of Washington … We got bored because they ran away. Then, we came home and partied…. Go figure.
12. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany .
13. We have the largest English population that never Ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER!
(We got clobbered in the odd battle but prevailed in ALL the wars)
14. Our civil war was fought in a bar and lasted a little over an hour.
15. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, he slept in and missed the whole thing. He showed up just in time to get caught.
16. A Canadian invented Standard Time.
17. The Hudsons Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earth’s surface and is still around as the world’s oldest company.
18. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes. (That’s more information than I need!)
19. We know what to do with the parts of a buffalo.
20. We don’t marry our kin-folk….
21. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, penicillin and the telephone.. Also short wave radios which save countless lives each year.
22. We have ALL frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.
23. A Canadian invented Superman.
24. We have coloured money.
25. Oil was first produced in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada. Months before anywhere else in North America.
OOOoohhhhh….. Canada !!
Oh yeah… And our elections only take one day!
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: canada, culture, perspective, worldview
Training & development learning well May blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development, Communication, Creativity & innovation, Diversity & culture
If you didn’t catch all the posts last month simply peruse & click what’s below.
Here’s the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ monthly training & development round up for the month of May.
Learn well in the training & development learning well. Dive deep into the learning well or take a small sip. Shower yourself in training & development or just get your big toe wet.
Refresh & refreshing.
As you wish.
Tags: allie brosh, communication, curiousity, google, Human resources, hyperbole and a half, ihrm, learning, pain, sara bakata, seth godin, social media, sunday nation
The Rise of the New Groupthink by Susan Cain
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Diversity & culture
- Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: khrawlings
I’m a training & development expert. I frequently get up in front of people, from 5 to 500, & facilitate learning opportunities in creative, engaging, sticky ways. It’s my passion, it’s my calling.
I’m also an introvert.
My fuel tank gets refilled in small groups, 1:1 or by being on my own.
The juxtaposition of the two – being energetic on stage & enjoying solitude – is where things get interesting. My yearning for quiet time isn’t necessarily popular or encouraged which is why I responded to the call of the following article.
Susan Cain, New York Times author & TED speaker, in an article called ‘The Rise of the new Groupthink’ says ‘Solitude is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in.’
I love the title of her book which is QUIET: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Note to self – get book, find quiet place & read.
It’s yet another continuum, with introversion on one end, extroversion on the other & lots of stops in between.
Where’s yours?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: extroversion, groupthink, introversion, susan cain
Some things are best said in low tones as they travel faster …
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
Photo Credit: Beny Shlevich via Compfight cc
‘Some things are best said in low tones as they travel faster & wider & linger longer rather than shouted from the rooftops where they are deemed noise & get lost in the howling wind.’ ~ Sara Bakata, Sunday Nation.
I caught this quote from an article of Sara’s & it caught my imagination.
In terms of …
… how much we say
… how fast we say it
… how loudly or quietly we speak
… how we handle & use silence
… how we vary all of the above depending on what we’re talking about, where we are & who we’re talking to
Tags: communication, sara bakata, sunday nation
On a scale of 1 to ‘too serious for numbers’ what’s your pain? (Hyperbole & a Half)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your pain?
This is a standard question asked by doctors when assessing patients. Most patients. But not when it came to Allie Brosh, of Hyperbole & a Half fame, whose boyfriend was asked this question after she took him to the hospital.
Allie created a new interpretation for the standard pain scale (the one above), one where 4 on the above scale represents “Huh. I never knew that about giraffes” and 8 means “The ice cream I bought barely has any cookie dough chunks in it. This is not what I expected and I am disappointed.”
The laughs don’t stop there however as she went on to create an entirely new scale, complete with new drawings & new interpretations. That’s it below.
On this scale 1 means “I am completely unsure whether I am experiencing pain or itching or maybe I just have a bad taste in my mouth” & 7 means “I see Jesus coming for me and I’m scared.” 
It’s a fabulous example of trying to put yourself in another’s shoe. Of trying to relate. Of attempting to communicate a difficult concept. Of sharing a unique perspective.
It’s a great lens.
What’s your pain scale?
My #1 would be something like “there’s an annoying little feather tickling my inner ear” & 6 would be “now I understand that screaming sound from behind closed doors in the waxing department of the spa.”
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: allie brosh, hyperbole and a half, pain
Which social media tool are you most comfortable with? Do you most want to learn about?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Human resources
IHRM HR Master Class Participants, Nairobi, Kenya
I’m at the IHRM’s (Institute for Human Resource Management) HR Master Class conference today, presenting a workshop on how Social Media is Transforming Learning.
Join in by taking the 2 simple polls below, simply click on your choice & you’ll see the results in real time. (Note: the results won’t display until you click on your choice.)
Et voila! A simple example of using a Social Media tool to enhance learning.
Need more specifics? Here are 3 examples. Polls such as these can be used for:
- Learning needs assessment
- Introduction / icebreaker activity
- Establishing a baseline (to later assess against)
1 poll down, 1 to go:
Tags: Human resources, ihrm, social media
Insatiable – the good, the bad, the ugly (a la Seth Godin)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
- Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: kevin dooley
Seth Godin wrote an interesting post called insatiable (see below). As his posts often do, it got me thinking. I think he got it wrong.
Yes, insatiability can lead to all things nasty if it means a never ending dissatisfaction &/or an unquenchable greed.
But what if we’re talking about qualities like curiousity & a thirst for learning.
I hope your curiousity & thirst for learning is never satisfied. If it is we’re doomed.
Insatiable (the following is a post of Seth Godin’s)
Long-lasting systems can’t survive if they remain insatiable.
An insatiable thirst for food, power, energy, reassurance, clicks, funding or other raw material will eventually lead to failure. That’s because there’s never enough to satisfy someone or something that’s insatiable. The organization amps up because its need is unmet. It gets out of balance, changing what had previously worked to get more of what it craves. Sooner or later, a crash.
More fame! More money! More investment! Push too hard and you lose what you came with and don’t get what you came for.
An insatiable appetite is a symptom: There’s a hole in the bucket. Something’s leaking out. When a system (or a person) continues to demand more and more but doesn’t produce in response, that’s because the resources aren’t being used properly, something is leaking.
If your organization demands ever more attention or effort or cash to produce the same output, it makes more sense to focus on the leak than it does to work ever harder to feed the beast.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: curiousity, learning, seth godin
Not A Happy Accident: How Google Deliberately Designs Workplace Satisfaction
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Recognize the colours of Google?
I love getting updates from Fast Company. Not heard of them? Their articles are chock-a-block full of creative, current content. Like this one. Check out my summary below &/or click on the link for the full articlie.
Not A Happy Accident: How Google Deliberately Designs Workplace Satisfaction
“What few in business know is that Google has devoted the same level of intellectual firepower it used to create self-driving cars to discovering, refining, and implementing leadership practices that optimize human performance in the workplace.
Upending traditional leadership theory, which directs organizations to squeeze as much out of people while paying them as little as possible, Google holds an authentic reverence for its employees and seeks to not just appeal to their uber-developed minds in motivating performance, but also to their very human hearts.”
1. Being a great place to work is in Google’s DNA. – from the very start they sought out “organizations that had proven histories of caring for people, driving extraordinary innovation, and building truly remarkable brands.” Google zeroed in on the SAS Institute & went knocking on their door.
Love this! You don’t have to invent from scratch – rather do your research, borrow & adapt.
2. Google ensures people have inspiring work. “The jobs we ask people to perform often lack sufficient variety and challenge. In other words, routine and repetitive work that affords little opportunity for growth and personal fulfillment dulls employee spirits.
But not at Google. For years, company leaders have given every employee–regardless of job title or pay level–the opportunity to devote up to 20% of their workweek to a project of their choice. Typically, Googlers choose to help out on some other company venture, but the pursuit is ultimately up to each employee.”
3. Employees have uncommon freedom and control of their time. Based on some pretty spiffy research (that shows employees who have greater control over their time have better health & performance) – Google gives its employees a great deal of control over their schedules. Matched with rigorous recruitment (slackers need not apply) it means they’re “harnessing energy rather than coaxing it out of people.”
4. Google is a democracy and employees are given a significant voice. – Google listens. Carefully. For example every Friday they have an employee forum & senior leaders respond to the top 20 most-asked questions.
Tags: google
Training & development learning well April blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation, Diversity & culture
If you didn’t catch all the posts last month simply peruse & click what’s below.
Here’s the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ monthly training & development round up for the month of April.
Learn well in the training & development learning well. Dive deep into the learning well or take a small sip. Shower yourself in training & development or just get your big toe wet.
Refresh & refreshing.
As you wish.
- Never, ever think outside the box (if you’re a cat)
- Another view of discovery – Columbus’ view reworked
- The HUMANitarians project; Juozas & Anita make me proud to be a Canadian
- Innovation: sometimes it sucks to think outside the box
Tags: columbus, creativity & innovation, innovation, juozas cernius, perspective
A social media training treasure hunt
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
I’m teaching ‘Transforming Learning through Social Media‘ in Nairobi for this first time this week and I thought I’d let you in on some of the treasures to be found when you incorporate Social Media into your training and development work. Feel free to join us on this social media treasure hunt, which is designed to help you get to know how to use various social media tools.
New to Social Media? A little nervous about it? Haven’t a hot clue how to use it in training and development?
Have no fear, that’s where this treasure hunt comes in. Simply answer the questions below – and put your answers on this Google Doc I created. To do that, simply click on the link, add your name to the next column and type in your answers to the questions below. Here we go.
There are 10 questions that highlight 10 different Social Media tools. Have fun matey – as thar’s gold in the waves that Social Media is creating.
- LinkedIn – is a great way to share events, ask & answer questions & find likeminded folks. For example, click on my LinkedIn profile page and, look under my groups, find out which ones I belong to. Write the name of one of them on the Google doc.
- Facebook – isn’t just something that your teenage kid does to annoy you, it’s the source of all sorts of great things. Take a look at my Facebook page and write a comment below one of my posts. Then copy your comment to the Google doc page.
- Twitter – look at my Twitter profile and look at my lists. Lists are groups of people I follow, categorized into, well, lists. Find my Social Media Twitter list and click on one person from the list. Put their name in the Google doc and 1 interesting thing about them. Having trouble finding the list? You can access it directly here. OR if you are comfortable with Twitter, send me a tweet asking me a question (write your question in the Google doc as well). My Twitter handle (or name) is @LeeAnneRagan
- Blogs- are great for sharing vast amounts of resources and training material. Take a look at my Rock.Paper.Scissors Inc. blog, read one post (any post) and write down three words that the post makes you think of on the Google doc.
- Delicious – is a marvelous social bookmarking site. Once you have an account (which is free) you can ‘tag’ or put reminder words on websites and other resources that you come across on the web. It’s like having a full-time knowledge management person at your beck and call. Check out my Delicious account. Click on one link that I’ve bookmarked (any link) and write down which one you clicked on in the Google doc.
- Flickr – is a photo sharing site. Currently there are some 2 billion photos stored there. Check out my Flickr ‘stream’ (just a fancy word for my Flickr account) and look at some of the photos. Describe one of the photos in the Google doc (or if you know how, copy the photo into the Google doc).
- AStore – (or Amazon store) is a great way to list the books you recommend as a trainer. You can list books by categories to make it really easy for your training participants. See my AStore as an example. Look at the ‘Training Trainers: how to teach’ section. Browse the books. Which one is your favourite? List it on the Google doc.
- Newsletters – continue to be a good way of reaching groups that haven’t yet caught onto Social Media as much. My monthly newsletter are all listed here. Click on one of them and record your thoughts about it on the Google doc. (Make sure you include the name of the newsletter you’re commenting on.)
- Doodle – is a fun online tool that helps find out when is the best time for people to meet. I’ve created a mock Doodle which you can access here. Pretend that we are trying to find the best time to leave on a social media study tour in Paris. Simply click on the link above, enter your mock (remember this is mock!) results, then also enter your #1 date on the Google do. Merci!
- Video is a great way to use Social Media – either ones other people have filmed or ones you yourself have recorded. Below is an example video I shot to describe the Social Media course. Take a look and see if you can guess where it was filmed (any and all creative responses are welcome). Write your response in the Google doc.
- Confused about the various Social Media terms? Check out this crossword puzzle &, you guessed it, put your answers on the Google doc.
Tags: social media