A ludicrously easy, perspective changing way to better tie your shoes
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development
How long have you been tying your shoes?
Me – I remember knocking on a neighbours door and then realizing my shoelace was untied. For the first time I tied my shoes all on my own. I was so excited I ran home to tell my home, forgetting about the door I’d just knocked on.
Opportunity knocks in strange places.
Here it’s in the form of a Ted video. A very simple, very easy change to how you tie your shoes results in shoelaces that don’t untie.
Doubt me? Take a look. In a mere 3 minutes or less you’ll be trying your shoes differently.
Why the shoe video? Because it’s a perspective changer. A new way to look at an old scenario.
That’s the gift of perspective – a new view.
It’s the gift of teaching & development – change & growth.
~~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: change, training & development
What is culture? 5 ways people from different countries learn differently (& 5 ways we all learn the same)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Travel
There will always misinterpretations of culture (like the photo above).
I’ve done training & development work in Canada, the U.S., India, the Philippines, the Arctic, Japan, Mexico, Kenya, Saskatchewan, Uganda, Tanzania, Brazil, Spain, France, China and soon, Egypt with workshop participants from more than 80 countries. Currently I’m living & working in Kenya.
As a result I get asked about culture, about whether people from different countries learn differently (or something similar) fairly often.
I thought it was high time I answered in a blog post.
My answer? Yes … and … no.
Yes, people from different countries learn differently. Culture is a what makes us human & what makes training & development so interesting. Ignore cultural differences at your peril. You’ll end up in a pickle pdq if you do.
Here are 5 factors that my antennae are attuned to when I’m in a different cultural context than my own (note, this includes diverse organizational cultures, not just diversity related to race and/or ethnicity).
- gender – I look for how gender issues are addressed, what’s on people’s radars & what’s not.
- environment – I notice how participants relate to their physical environment, including how they relate to each other. For example how close are they to each other when they talk/sit/interact?
- power – is power actively shared or are systems more hierarchical? How do decisions get made? I look to see how power issues affect how people work & learn.
- authority – how do people respond to authority? This is often evident regarding how participants see me as the trainer – am I accepted carte blanche simply because I’m the trainer (at least on the surface) or will people engage & challenge me?
- formal / informal – I can often tell how formal or informal a workplace or training situation is by how people are dressed, the kind of language they use,
AND
No, people from different countries don’t learn differently. I’ve found that no matter where in the world I am working, participants respond positively to & learn best through these 5 factors:
- the strategic (note strategic is emphasized) use of humour
- training processes that tweak their curiousity
- teaching styles that are engaging
- material that is relevant
- having opportunities to practice (transfer learning to the workplace)
Tags: authority, cross culture communication, culture, environment, gender, informal learning, power, transfer of learning
Fresh perspective = creativity + words that dance
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Creativity & innovation
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: chany14
What if words could dance?
What if content could sing?
What if training & development could taste?
A whole lot more creativity, that’s what.
Here’s what can happen when you bust out & think out loud, out of the proverbial box….
Creativity. Never gonna give you up. It’s a must. A ‘gotta have’. A go to. It’s calling from your very own DNA. Will you heed the call?
(Thanks to my teen for sharing the link with me. He’s my ever-present font of creativity & frequent source of blog post ideas.)
Tags: creativity
Learning enhancing yogurt
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Learning. It’s possible to do it even in the wee hours of the morning.
Before a ridiculously self-imposed early morning flight from New York to Vancouver this past fall I found myself grabbing the above yogurt for the plane ride. When I pulled it out to eat I was greeted with a delightful surprise. (Note the early morning reference; it had to be good to have me delightfully surprised.)
Here’s what I saw when I opened the lid:
Firmly putting aside all dour thoughts of a seductively crafted, sneakily placed marketing message, I chose to be delighted.
Delighted at the surprise. Delighted at the unexpectedness of it. Delighted at the story. Delighted at the thought provoking learning.
See below for a closer look at the story. I just had to share it with you so I cleared away said yogurt as much as I could for this snap.
And it was. Ambrosia that is. It tasted TERRIFIC!
There I sat, winging my way home, entranced by a story, taste buds dancing, soaking up an opportunity for an early morning feast of learning.
The Carrot Life Lens™ in me loved the detail. The Journey Life Lens™ loved the process of discovery. The Heart Life Lens™ in me loved the way it made me feel. The Go Life Lens™ loved the spontaneity.
And you? What’s your story? What have you learned lately?
~~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: learning, life lenses, story
It’s IS (not) my job & other reasons (not) TO change (or learn)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development
Image from Doug Ragan's facebook page
I recently wrote a post called It’s not my job & other reasons not to change (or learn). I thought I’d turn it around for this post. Won’t you join me?
Here are my reasons to change. My goal is to hit 50. I’ll add more as time goes on. What are yours? Feel free to add them in the comment section.
- You have to ask? Really?
- My environment demands it. I live in Africa. I’m constantly assessing, reassessing, changing & learning.
- It’s my job.
- How can I ask others to change & learn if I won’t?
- It keeps things interesting
- To shake things up
- To build on what’s working & make it better
- It’s exciting
- I’m ambitious
- It’s in my DNA (& yours)
- To keep up
- To catch up
- To be on the cusp
- To explore
- For the adventure
- The adrenaline learning brings is brain candy to me
- It keeps me creative
- I can always do better
- Because I can
- Because I should
- Because I want to
- It keeps my brain young
- To stimulate my brain
- It’s mandatory being a parent
- It’s mandatory being a woman
- It’s mandatory being human
- It’s how learning happens
- It’s necessary for human development
- It beats back resistance (mine included)
- It beats back boredom (mine especially)
Over to you change agent. What would you add?
Tags: change management
We all have n.u.t.s (nagging, underlying to’dos) but don’t let them drive you nuts
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: steffenz's photostream
You know those thoughts you have, the fleeting impressions or sensory sneakers that flit across your awareness before you’re conscious of them? They come & go faster than the chocolate that graced my kids’ Christmas stockings. It’s enough to make you nuts.
I’ve been spending time teasing them out. Trying to be more aware of how I’m feeling, what I’m thinking before my conscious mind muddles it up with a misshapen but well intended translation.
For example if I have the fleeting impression of being tired or overwhelmed I try to ‘catch’ it before my conscious mind says ‘you’ve no reason to be tired’ etc.
Why am I doing this? Because it’s in line with one of my all time favourite quotes by Jiddu Krishnamurti:
If you being to understand who you are without changing, then who you are undergoes a transformation.
My results? I think we’re all n.u.t.s.
We all have tons of n.u.t.s that take up valuable space in the hardware of our brain.
N – nagging
U – underlying
T – things to do
My n.u.t.s tend to direct my focus an amazing amount of time. I’ll be checking email, then swoosh, in drops a n.u.t. & all of a sudden I’m making list.
Clunk. Another n.u.t. drops in & I’m redirected to check a website.
Thunk. Another n.u.t. drops & all of a sudden I’m paying a bill (all the while I’m intending to blog)
Technology is both a curator of n.u.t.s & a curse. Technology can keep the n.u.t.s at bay or mercilessly shake them out of the tree until it’s raining almonds, pecans & walnuts.
So here’s to the n.u.t.s in all of us. May they remain on the tree until you’re ready to pick them. May you be conscious of them & may that consciousness undergo a transformation a la Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Need another example of how n.u.t.s can drive you nuts? I just had 3 nuts drop in, nope actually 5 nuts, scratch that make it 8 nuts.
1. I googled nut trees so I didn’t sound like an idiot & use a type of nut that didn’t actually grow on a tree
2. While googling I noticed the Swahili terms that come up (as I’m currently in Kenya Google thinks I’m fluent in Swahili) & was tempted to google one for the fun of it
3. The remote playlist I’m listening to at the UN (my MacBook picks up shared playlists) just started playing the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy
4. Which made me think of my facebook post about whether I should try to contact the owner & thank him. Which made me check my facebook post & comment on a reader’s comment in turn.
5. I’m very aware that I desperately have to go to the bathroom but wonder if it’s worth packing up my computer to go there (as am in a public place & don’t want to get it stolen).
6. I end up asking a lovely woman, Lucky who’s on leave from W.H.O. work in Somalia, to watch my stuff & we end up talking about the book she’s reading ‘Learning French in 15 minutes a day’
7. I ran into a friend on the way to the bathroom & we chatted for a bit
8. When I came back to my computer I told Lucy that she’s featured in a blog post & we had a lovely continuation of our conversation
Tags: jiddu krishnamurti, to do
Spontaneous heartfelt Jen Louden shoots from the hip AND the heart
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
Spontaneous and heartfelt is how I’d describe the fabulous Jen Louden.
I was listening to her on a teleseminar a while back. In an inspired moment of brilliance she said, describing herself, I shoot from the hip and the heart.
Flashbulbs went off for me.
It’s a perfect combination of Go Life Lens™ and Heart Life Lens™.
Spontaneous, let’s go for it, let’s jump in can-do attitude combined with an ease with intuition and gut-knowing.
And you? What’s your Life Lenses™ combo? What disparate, seemingly opposite traits do you possess?
Originally posted on www.life-lenses.com.
Tags: go life lenses, heart life lenses, jen louden
It’s not my job & other reasons not to change (or learn)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
I come across a lot of resistant folk in my line of work (training & development). This graphic, which I found on Doug Ragan’s facebook page, encapsulates resistance perfectly.
I call resistance the ‘yes but, no but, rabbit’. As in:
- yes, but marketing will never go for it
- no, we don’t have enough time for that
- that’s all well & good but … (the but negates everything that comes before it)
Acknowledging resistance is key to overcoming it.
I appreciate that it’s not everyone’s first choice to be in a workshop. Acknowledging that to the group is key to getting people onside for learning. Because to learn is to make oneself vulnerable, and allowing oneself to be vulnerable takes guts.
What stands in your way of learning? Of changing?
Tags: change management, learning, resistance
Training & development interests, skills & opportunities a la Scott Belsky
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Training & development
“The greatest achievements happen in the overlap of three things: Your genuine interests, skills, and opportunities. To find success, work within your overlap,” says Scott Belsky in a Fast Company article Work Smart: how to find your sweet spot (check him out in the video below).
I’m often asked for advice on how to get into the training & development field. Adapting Scott Belsky’s words, here’s the magic formula. As we’ve just touched down on a new year, how can you adapt the formula for yourself?
Genuine interests:
I’m amazed at how many people are lukewarm about training & development & yet still want to enter the field. If you aren’t lit up by the idea of creating content & teaching in engaging, creative, sticky ways, find another field.
If you do light up at the thought of training & development, narrow your focus. What subject matter expertise can you continue to develop? What can you learn about how people learn? About how groups operate? About how to teach? About how the brain works? About how to be inclusive in your teaching? About how to make your content accessible?
Skills:
Getting up in front of a group of people is hard enough, getting up & teaching them something is even harder. Hone your skills in how to nab people’s attention. In how to develop content that will stick. In how to develop creative workshops. In how to start & end a workshop. In how to speak publicly to a variety of audiences (how to adapt how you speak).
Opportunities:
Nab every opportunity you can possibly find to get up in front of people & teach. There’s nothing like being in front of a difficult group to teach you how to deal with challenging participants. There’s nothing like having the client not provide your handouts to teach you how to improvise on the spot. There’s nothing like showing up to do a workshop in the dead of winter to a room where the heating is broken (true story) to teach you the power of humour.
In the Fast Company article Scott goes on to say “Imagine a Venn diagram of three overlapping circles, one for your genuine interests, one for your skills, and one for the stream of opportunities available to you. Just two overlaps won’t do it–a love for basketball and a connection to an NBA scout isn’t enough–you’ve got to find your trifecta. In this episode, I explain how to identify all three overlaps, and how to find your sweet spot.”
On the edge of a new year I wish you an interesting & intriguing journey finding your training & development sweet spot. The world needs your passion, your delight & your offerings.
Tags: fast company, scott belsky, sweet spot
Training & development learning well December blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Conflict resolution, Social Responsibility, Training & development
December is about to bid farewell & with that, usher in a new year. If you didn’t catch all the posts this month simply usher yourself down to the well & click as you wish.
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.
- The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out:
Tags: africa, communication, evaluation, holidays, hope, inspiration, ladysmith black mambazo, perspective, rock.paper.scissors newsletter, social change, twitter