The Spoon

I was just blogging on my personal site about this topic, and thought it was applicable to work, as well.

Often, we sign up for various activities, groups, classes, etc. and eventually begin to feel annoyed that we have to go attend yet another meeting, or wonder why we aren't getting as much out of it as we used to. We wonder if fellow participants enjoy wasting our time, and our minds wander as we figure out who to talk to in order to get out of this ridiculous training.

Well, here's why you have that toxic attitude:

MindfulMoment
By: Andrea Moore, CIASTD 2009 President

“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” — Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Recently, I found myself feeling disconnected from a group I meet with one evening each week. I found myself placing blame on the group participants and thinking about aspects of their personalities that were not allowing me to connect.

Knowing, however, that I am responsible for creating the experiences of my life, I took a step back and reminded myself of the part I am playing with this group. I asked myself, “What am I doing to connect with these people?”—and what I realized is that I was not fully showing up with this group. Once I put myself out there and shared what I was feeling, the connection returned.

In what way are you participating in your life?
How can you take more responsibility for what you are creating?

Andrea is a senior consultant at FlashPoint, a multidiscipline HR consulting firm in Indianapolis. As a certified professional in learning and performance and a certified empowerment coach, she focuses on the growth and development of individuals, work teams, and leaders.

Some managers wonder why so much planning, questioning, testing, and evaluating has to go into training our people. Some may even believe there isn't value to dedicating someone to this role, or that it's even necessary to work this hard to "just share information".

Well, here's why it IS important:

How Do Humans Learn? I'd venture to say that 90% of managers think that sharing information is the same as training. Sorry to tell you folks, TELLING AIN'T TRAINING. In a sense, learning is like an ecosystem. We’re continually influenced by information, our social interactions, and experiences. These shape who we are and what we know. And this ultimately determines how we act. Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll knock your socks off!

When Do Humans Learn? I get this question occasionally, and most of the time managers are trying to determine the best time to hold a training session, or whether offering eLearning can be taken anytime will really be effective for retaining information. Somewhere out there is the belief that people learn the best between the hours of 9a-11a, Tues-Thurs. But that's not the case!! As humans, we’re always in learning mode. We don’t turn learning on or off.

My Training Philosophy: We don’t learn just because someone gives us information or tells us that we’re in a training course. We learn because that’s how we’re wired. So when we do take a course, we fold it into our learning ecosystem and make it part of how we understand the world around us.

Photo Credit: The Rapid eLearning Blog

We live in a world of dramatic, tumultuous, and unpredictable change—change that is wiping out time-honored businesses and long-standing institutions and ushering in unprecedented opportunities for creative individuals and entrepreneurial organizations. So pervasive is change today that it has redefined our first task: The job is no longer figuring out how to win at the game of work and life; the job is figuring out the new rules of the game.

The last few lines of this post from the Leading Effectively Blog really resonated with me and the current situation many of us face: do more, work harder, produce more results... but with non-existent budgets and smaller numbers on your pay stub.

“You do what you’ve got to do. If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels."

It's true. We're at our best when we're faced with a challenge and the odds are stacked against us. So let's use that to our advantage. Don't focus on the barriers you must surmount to get a product out, close a deal, or pay the electric bill this month.

We're human. I know it's easy to think "Why should I work even harder if I'm not getting more incentives in return??" Let's look at our current situation as simply a voluntary investment of some additional time, loyalty, creativity and dedication for a more lucrative long-term existence sometime down the road.

Just think for a minute -- WHO WOULD YOU BE if you had never faced any challenges over the course of your life? I know for myself, I'd be much less creative, less driven, less talented, and MUCH less appreciative of the great people in my life.

Here's the blog:

The Drive-Thru Pharmacy and Innovation
The Leading Effectively Blog, Center for Creative Leadership
Posted: April 8, 2009 by Doug Riddle

Damien jumped out of the cab and opened the doors for my dinner companions to enter. I cruised around to the front passenger side and got in the door. As he drove us back to our hotels on the edge of the French Quarter I asked how long he’d been driving a cab. “Six years.” Business was up and down. He didn’t really light up until I asked about his day job: “I’m a barber. I’ve been cutting hair since I was 12. Got my license when I was 17. I just thought it was fascinating.”

“I have two chairs...over on the East side of New Orleans. We were flooded out in The Storm and I went to Atlanta...came back about 6 months ago. You do what you got to do.”

I thought about a comment the Chairman of our Board of Governors had made earlier in the evening. “I’m not worried about America.” He explained that the entrepreneurial spirit that yielded drive-through pharmacies would bring us back. He echoed a conviction shared by many of us in the field of leadership: that we will have to innovate our way out of the present recession.

While I’m not persuaded that drive-through pharmacies are the height of innovation, I think they do illustrate our compulsion to find solutions to problems, big and small. When you’re sick, you don’t really want to get out of the car to get your prescription. On the other hand, I tend to think we need to find creative ways to reduce our dependence on the auto in the long run.

Either way, Damien said it: “You do what you’ve got to do.” If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels. Too early for gratitude, I suppose, but perhaps useful to keep our eyes lifted to a far-off light.

Stay innovative,

Doug

Your 3rd installment from a really great series of posts about coaching from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Enjoy! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part III
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
Previously in this series we looked at how to provide staff members with clear instruction and an effective demonstration. In this third part of the coaching series, we’ll be looking at providing staff with opportunities to practice what they have learned. This requires that first we look briefly at the art of delegation.

Essentially, there are two reasons for delegating to staff members – firstly, to get the job done and secondly, to develop the individual. In delegating simply to get the job done you should primarily focus on ensuring the staff member is already capable of what you are asking them to do. Delegating to develop the individual is what concerns us here.

When looking to provide opportunities for the staff member to practice what they have learned, the leadership challenge is to try and create a safe environment. On occasion, there might be opportunities for safety to be created via a simulation but more often than not, safety comes by the delegation being in a non-urgent situation. This provides the coach with an opportunity to check work and provide feedback before it goes live.

Practice should also be timely. That is, it should occur shortly after the staff member has received instruction in the task or skill area (and optionally, a demonstration). If something is explained today and no opportunity for practice occurs until three weeks later, how much knowledge will have been retained?

In Brilliant Leader, I also make the point that practice should be graduated. That is, the practice should be made more complex in graduated stages until the staff member has developed completely in the task or skill area. The staff member also needs to know that support is available throughout the practice period although as we shall look at in the feedback part of this series, the coach will not always provide the answers.

Before we get to that aspect of coaching, we’ll be taking a brief look at the next stage of the coaching cycle – how to monitor and observe the staff member while they are practicing. This will be our focus in part four of the series.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

The 2nd installment from a really great series of coaching tips I found on the Brilliant Leadership blog. Please let me know what other topics you'd like to learn about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part II
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
In the first part of this series on how to coach staff and how to find the time to coach staff, I looked at the instructional stage of the coaching cycle. The need for the coach to provide a clear explanation of the task or skill area by breaking it down into bite sized chunks, delivering a clear and unambiguous message while checking the staff member’s understanding.

An optional tool for imparting knowledge is the use of a demonstration. This primarily enhances the staff member’s knowledge and awareness of the task or skill area by enabling them to see how it is done by an expert or competent individual. However, like each stage of the coaching cycle, providing an effective demonstration is not without its difficulties.

For example, has anyone ever shown you how to do something on a computer? Explanation – Talk – Click! Explanation – Talk – Click! Explanation – Talk – Click! I’m sure most of us have been there and the net result is that we are rarely further forward than when the demonstration began and more often than not, we are more confused.

So how does a coach provide an effective demonstration?

Competent Individual or Expert?
The first challenge is to ensure the person providing the demonstration is able to exhibit model behaviour. The problem often encountered by experts is that they have progressed to a level of unconscious competence – they don’t even have to think about what they are doing. Often, the most effective demonstration will be provided by a competent individual – someone who can think about what they are doing at each stage. This is not to say an expert cannot fulfil the role but they must be able to increase their level of conscious awareness.

Step-By-Step
An effective demonstration will break the task or skill down into stages and deliver these in a step-by-step format, taking questions at each stage before moving on. This process should conclude with a joined up demonstration that brings all of the stages together.

Running Commentary
While providing a demonstration the coach should provide a running commentary that also allows for the staff member to ask questions as the demonstration unfolds.

Practice
While this is technically the third stage of the coaching cycle, an effective demonstration should allow an opportunity for the staff member to have a go at the task or skill in the presence of the coach. This will often include a summary of the issues arising from the demonstration before allowing the staff member to move onto the next stage of the coaching cycle – extended practice.

In the next part of this series I will explore further the challenges that are faced by both the coach and staff member in providing opportunities for extended, unsupervised practice in the task or skill area.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful Brilliant Leadership workshops.

OK, I'm going to show a little of my nerdiness here, but do you remember 2 years ago when the International Astronomical Union striped Pluto of its "planet" status? Most of you probably heard about it, many of you probably didn't really care... but I urge you to consider this:

If change can happen to something as certain as a PLANET, it can certainly happen to us. And it does. Everyday.

Pluto's reclassification changed the rules of the game, and organizational change can be like that too. There you were confident and comfortable with your boss, and now you must readjust and reorient to a new one with a different style, focus, and rules. Like it. Don't like it. Regardless, get on board!

"Change is good. Everybody is doing it... Get on board!" -- Will Anderson, Channel Marketing Manager, Double-Take Software

There there 3 things to know when change is afoot. First, when the rules change, it's uncomfortable... but then you get used to it. Second, your future depends on letting go of the unease and moving forward with the times. Third, this is your growth spurt!

It might not be the growth you'd choose nor the timing you'd prefer, but it's the perfect opportunity for you to use your talent to reinvent yourself, expand the boundaries of your comfort zone and contribute in new ways.

It's challenging, unnerving... but exciting!

Talent will only take you so far -- the higher you go the greater your need for development. So why is it that supervisors are the first to tell their subordinates to attend a training class, but the last to sign up for one themselves?

To be effective we need continuous learning and development. The good news is that we have a wide range of opportunities to develop and increase our leadership capability. We learn in many ways:

• We read books and digest the information. Real leaders take it a step further -- they apply the material to their daily lives.

• We learn by stepping out of Management Land. We step outside of our comfort zones to more positively impact our lives and the lives of others. We step outside of Management Land to attend a training class with our peers and subordinates.

• We learn from others. Leaders learn from others. We learn from discussions and feedback we receive from relationships with other leaders.

• We learn from experience. Leaders learn by taking time to reflect and learn from life experiences. Our experience shapes us and if we learn from our life experience, we grow and develop.

What most of us don't realize when we get dressed for work every morning is that the office is a unique learning environment. There are always people around to learn from, experiences to gain insight and understanding from, and opportunity to learn from mistakes.

Another thing you may not think about is how much you can learn by watching public figures... sort of like long-distance mentoring. For example, look at Barack Obama (new US President) and Carol Bartz (new CEO of Yahoo):

• both are entering their respective positions at a time of crisis;
• both have multiple and diverse constituencies;
• both are the focus of extremely high, often conflicting, sometimes impossible expectations; and
• both are subject to substantial outside influences, circumstances and pressure.

These four points are what every leader faces — from the board room, to mom & pop shops, to the everyday Joe Parent. That's why you are now faced with the opportunity of a lifetime. Take a look around... around the office, your home, your community... think of the 4 points above, and then watch the actions of Obama and Bartz over the coming year. Learn from their actions around these 4 points, and watch your leadership approach evolve.

What do you picture when you hear the word MENTOR? Perhaps someone older than you? Someone with more seniority? More knowledgeable in your field?

What about someone fresh out of college, full of creativity, fresh ideas, and exploring the latest in technology and innovation? What about a friend with a particular aptitude for building relationships and networking? Or a colleague known for a positive management style?

True mentors do not fit into any preconceived mold. They can be anyone who possesses a quality or skill that you would like to improve upon. They can be younger than you, much older, less experienced, more educated, or even working in a completely different field than your own.

Leaders are on a constant quest to improve upon themselves, and recognize that they can learn from a variety of individuals. Don't be afraid to reach out and mentor someone with a different background from you, and don't be surprised when you learn quite a bit from that person, as well.

Do you have a "To Learn" list? I do. Every day there are things that catch my attention and I want to learn more about. It's a wide variety of topics and interests. My list isn't formal, written down, or even checked-off as I learn new things. It's basically just a collage of things I want to know more about.

Some people have a "skills-I-need-to-get" list. You may be more focused on a career shift, or just keeping up with the changes in your field. It's important to have such lists.

Jim Collins, in an essay in Learning Journeys, wrote, "A true learning person also has a “to-learn” list, and the items on that list carry at least as much weight in how one organizes his or her time as the to-do list."

"To Learn Lists" themselves can take the form of:

• Outlines
• Mind Maps
• Concept Maps
• Documents (HTML, Word, text, .ppt, .xsl, MS OneNote etc.)
• Web 2.0 (Blog notes, wiki posts, etc)

The reason I'm talking about "To Learn" lists is because we should be looking at how we manage "Informal Learning" and how we reconcile that with our daily tasks. Here’s something that would be cool for all of us looking for new learning opportunities that allow us to grow within our current organization:

Look for opportunities to traverse the opportunities in the company, and compare the skill set needed for that position to your current skill set. This becomes your "To Learn" list. Then you make an action plan, at work, to advance your career and fill needs in the company. Then, people wouldn’t feel like they need to leave the company to advance, and the company wouldn’t lose their investment in each employee. Everyone is happy, we all grow together.

Thoughts? Do you have a "To Learn" list? Tell me about it using the Comments function.