How to walk in another’s shoes or rather horseshoes
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Diversity & culture
I’m fascinated by blinders. By recognizing the blinders we wear. The filters that affect our perception, our ability to communicate and relate. So much so that I developed an assessment to identify your blinders called Life Lenses™.
It’s hard enough to relate to that annoying co-worker who doesn’t see things ‘your’ way or your boss who acts like she’s speaking Latin or your kid, who despite your best efforts, seems like he’s from Jupiter.
Those are human examples.
How hard would it be to take off your blinders and act like a horse. Really act like a horse. It would take an amazing ability to relate to the perspective of a horse.
Could you do it?
Check out these folks who did. You won’t believe your eyes.
This video came to me via my good friend and colleague, the incomparable Dolly Hopkins.
Tags: blinders, Dolly Hopkins, life lenses, perspective
What do brown M&M’s & technical requirements for training have in common?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Turns out a lot. You and I might know intuitively that participants need to be able to see and hear us when we’re training in order for the workshop to go off well, but it’s not the case for everyone.
David Lee Roth of Van Halen was a master of his technical requirements. He’d roll nine 18 wheeler trucks into towns that weren’t necessarily used to dealing with that amount of gear. To test whether critical details had been paid attention to, and to prevent possibly injuries (e.g. imagine a stage collapsing with that much gear on it) he buried a request, deep in Article 126.
Simply put, Article 126 requested a bowl of M&M’s in the green room before every show, with ALL the brown M&M’s removed. If Roth showed up and saw brown M&M’s he knew to check for other details that may have been missed. The clause also included his right to cancel a show if the nefarious brown M&M’s were present, which he did once.
Brown M&M’s were a sign that all was not right and he’d demand a serious going over of all the details if he saw one.
And even though us trainers may not be dealing with 9 semi-trucks full of program supplies, technical requirements are equally important.
Technical requirements are those things that you arrange behind the scenes to ensure things go smoothly. The main ones are sound, seating and supplies.
- I’ve trained in a room with a massive fireplace right, smack in the middle of it (obscuring the view of almost everyone).
- I’ve trained in a room where people were so squished in they were practically sitting on each other’s laps.
- I’ve held my ground when working with clients and event organizers, that, yes, a stage is mandatory if the group is over 100 (participants that is, not in age).
- I didn’t hold my ground when a client refused to do a sound check before a workshop with 700 and lived to regret it (no sound, no PowerPoint)
And so it goes.
Technical requirements are critical for a good training and development workshop. Here are some tips for the top three, sound, staging and supplies:
Sound:
- know how far your voice can carry without amplification. I can do a workshop of up to about 75 without a microphone, after that a mic is mandatory
- laveliere, or hands free microphones are the best (because you have both hands free to gesture and help make your point, not to mention handle your reading glasses if that’s an issue)
Staging:
- again, up to about 75 people and you likely don’t need a stage, more than that and a stage is mandatory
- make sure you know what you want on your stage – e.g. number and placement of chairs, podiums, microphones etc.
Supplies:
- supplies will vary wildly depending on what you’re teaching but regardless, know what supplies you are providing and which ones the client is
- I always make a point of arriving 30 minutes before a workshop, in part to ensure the supplies are all ready to go
- make sure you have water to drink and a table to put your supplies on
Every client that signs on with Rock.Paper.Scissors Inc., signs a contract stating that they’ve read our technical requirements. It goes a long way in preventing major gaffes.
Tags: david lee roth, program supplies, sound, stage, technical requirements
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: fun & funny resources for using social media in training
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy, Training & development
Ok cowboy, round ’em up and moooooove ’em out.
Here are some fun and funny resources related to this month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter which has a manifesto on how to be a space cowboy (aka how Social Media is transforming workplace learning).
Why the reference to space cowboy? Because if social media is the wild west, being on the cusp of using it for training & development purposes is in a whole other galaxy.
- Not keen to get on Social Media because no one’s talking about you, your organization or your product? Think again- see the image above. You know you’ve got a problem when a review starts with ‘I think I can feel death creeping up on me…’
- If you’ve ever set the auto-correct button on your computer or smart phone, you’ll appreciate these auto-corrects gone horribly wrong
- Nervous about using Social Media? Can’t beat Kris Krüg’s advice: Dance like the photo’s not being tagged. Love like you’ve never been unfriended. Tweet like nobody’s following.
Tags: auto correct, kris krug, social media, workplace learning
Oceans of opportunities open up with perspective game changer
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development
How do you turn this into a soccer playing field?
As training and development professionals we’re all about perspective. Enhancing, expanding, illuminating, uncovering, adapting, enlarging and shaking it up. We are perspective changers and we can learn a thing or two about how to do it from this conundrum.
What do you do if you want to play soccer but you live in a village that floats on water?
Check out this perspective changing true video to see how it’s done. Watch for examples of:
- the Go Life Lenses™ ‘can-do’ attitude,
- the Mountain Life Lenses™ big picture thinking and
- the Destination Life Lenses™ determination to reach their goal (literally!)
Tags: life lenses, perspective, soccer
Are you ready to transform workplace learning through social media? If so, join me
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
I’m really excited about the brand new course I’m teaching called ‘Transforming Workplace Learning through Social Media’.
I created this short video to give you the down low on the highlights.
Check it out and join the fun. Let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see you November 14-15th at the Justice Institute in New Westminster!
Tags: justice institute, social media, workplace learning
Training & development learning well October blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Human resources, Training & development
October has come and gone with goblins galore. If you didn’t catch all the posts this month simply cast a spell and click below.
Here they are – laid out like a well carved pumpkin for your perusing – here’s the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ monthly training & development round up. You’ll find all the blog posts for the month of October below.
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: change, change management, engagement, learning, learning curve, learning domains, social media, training & development
How far away is the moon? It’s not what you think
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
Many things skew our perspective, how we see the world and how we teach.
- our culture
- assumptions that we make (and don’t question)
- marketing (if you don’t have product X you’ll be unhappy, fat, poor and unpopular)
- images that we’re used to seeing (and don’t question)
Take the moon for example. How far is the moon from the earth? Have you been influenced by popular images?
Take a look and listen below. You just might be surprised … the same kind of eyebrow raising that happens when our perspective is enlightened.
What’s behind your teaching perspective? Have you analyzed it lately? The guy in the video below uses a fantastic perspective to teach us something new.
Tags: assumptions, communication, perspective
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: Resources for transforming workplace learning through Social Media
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Want to focus on how you too can become a Social Media training space cowboy (we’re in the wild west of new galaxies here)?
Check out the resources below from the latest Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter which has a manifesto on how to be a space cowboy (aka how Social Media is transforming workplace learning):
- Need an overall Social Media primer (with a killer title to boot)? Check out Julie Szabo’s Friends with Benefits.
- I’ve bookmarked loads of Social Media resources in my Delicious account; access them here.
- Need to do some research quick? Check out Netvibes which pulls in videos, books, blogs, images as you wish on an easy to read dashboard.
- Take Transforming Workplace Learning Through Social Media – November 14-15th, 2011, Justice Institute, New Westminster, taught by yours truly. Hope to see you there.
Tags: delicious, jane bozarth, julie szabo, justice institute, netvibes, social media, workplace learning
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: Four Ways Social Media is Transforming Workplace Learning (or how to be a space cowboy)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
If Social Media is like the Wild West, with everyone figuring it out as we go along, then using Social Media specifically for training and development is in another galaxy completely.
That galaxy is quickly approaching however, so join me space cowboy as we take a ride through these wide-open spaces, focusing on how Social Media is Transforming Workplace Learning, which happens to be the title of the brand new, upcoming workshop I’m teaching. (Or see below for a brief video describing it.)
To the uninitiated, Social Media tends to make for sweaty palms and loads of excuses (see 10 reasons businesses don’t get social media).
But get used to it because Social Media is here to stay. As Jeff Bulla says, Social Media is essential because it lasts, spreads and lets you be found.
- It’s engaging: because of the 3 C’s – collaboration, community and creativity
- It’s learner-centred
- It leverages retention
- It’s convenient (for you and the learner)
More on each….
1. It’s engaging
Social Media is engaging because of the 3 C’s – collaboration, creativity and community.
Using a variety of Social Media platforms I’ve worked collaboratively on projects with people from Africa, South American, the UK and the Eastern US. Time zones become almost irrelevant as collaborative tools make it easy to connect and work together. I’ve even used my Virtual Assistant, located in India, to translate some French instructions into English while I was in Kenya – using, you guessed it, Social Media.
Need a great image of a stressed out learner for your next workshop? Easy peasy. Images are just one way Social Media tools make it easy to be increasingly creative (and to access other’s creativity). To have effortless, free access to great images simply go to www.compfight.com (Just make sure you click on ‘for professional use’ so you’re using images with permission.)
Or maybe you need a great video clip highlighting the effects of conflict. If you’re not using www.youtube.com for training clips what are you waiting for? I rarely give a workshop without using a video clip these days and I have my favourites bookmarked for ease of access.
What would have taken thousands of dollars and weeks of effort to shoot and edit now takes a few minutes to track down and use for free.
It’s called Social for a reason. I’ve interacted with trainers from communities of interest in Israel, India and Turkey to name a few, all based on social media platforms.
I have communities of interest organized across a variety of platforms, including Twitter and LinkedIn, which I check on regularly to see what’s of interest. I recently used my online community to help a colleague in Los Angeles who was looking for a good florist in Switzerland.
You couldn’t pay for that kind of community interaction even a mere few years ago (says the woman who still remembers sending her first fax, which at the time, seemed absolutely magical).
2. It’s learner centred
Social Media goes hand in hand with great pedagogy. From an adult education perspective it respects prior learning and gives control to the learner. Having control is one of the key factors in reducing stress, and because stress plays a pivotal role in learning, reducing stress increases learning (so says John Medina in his book Brain Rules, which is the subject of next month’s newsletter).
From a brain-based learning perspective Social Media facilitates creating sticky learning, arousing creativity, using rhythm and chunking and a variety of modalities for learning. Social Media is often experiential as well, supporting experiential learning.
Social Media also supports a number of popular education key principles, including:
– moving people towards taking action, effecting social change
– being cooperative and collaborative
– acknowledging that everyone is both a teacher and a learner
3. It leverages retention
As Jeff Bulla says because Social Media lasts, spreads, and lets you (and content) be found it’s a huge help with retention.
Remember that great workshop you took in 1992? No? Me neither, but thanks to content being searchable (a key feature in Douglas Merrill’s Getting Organized in the Age of Google) that information can be a few mere keystrokes away.
4. It’s convenient – for you and the learner
Social Media makes access to learning 24/7. And as a trainer, once you get the hang of it, most Social Media tools are easy to use and free to boot. And here’s the thing – they make your job as a trainer easier and they make you look like a more engaged, engaging, creative trainer.
So harness your patience (or should I say horse, you space cowboy), jump in and try some new ways of connecting with participants because Social Media opens up training and development possibilities like never before. And if you need some support join me in the Nov 14-15th course Transforming Workplace Learning through Social Media ( see below for a brief video describing it.) Hope to see you there.
Tags: brain rules, compfight, douglas merrill, jeff bulla, john medina, linkedin, pedagogy, social media, twitter, workplace learning, youtube
How about a bedtime story a million miles away?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Creativity & innovation
Rising up and gracefully meeting the challenges that today’s ever increasingly fast paced world presents can’t be done with the thinking of yesteryear.
Changing perspective means breaking out of the bonds that tie our brains down.
Encumbered with false assumptions (we’ve gotta do it this way, any other way won’t work, we tried before, it failed), we tend to trundle along well laid paths, head down, focused.
Until, something makes us look up … and … out. Towards possibilities. Towards breaking the ties that bind.
Here’s an example. Whether you have young kids in your life or not, it’s a great example of reinvigorated thinking.
Do you and I have to be with each other to read a book together? Not the way A Story Before Bed envisions it. Once signed up, you and your loved one can read the same book and see each other and yet be many continents and time zones apart.
Creative? You bet.
Endearing? Of course.
Go get your book on.
Tags: a story before bed, assumptions, communication, creativity, learning, perspective, reading