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When I want to know how to do something, I look it up on YouTube. I get to hear someone talk through the experience, demonstrate how to do it, address issues, and see what the finished product looks like. When I don’t catch part of the instructions, I rewind the video until I have it down. What I don’t do is read a manual that is 200 pages long and absent of graphics to display what I should do. Heck, if it is 20 pages long, I’m out. It just doesn’t work as well. I want to observe, practice, and then polish. This is actionable learning to me. When working to build a better professional development system, it’s good practice to make things actionable. Here are a few ways to incorporate this into your training.
Building learning experiences that involve each of these methods above are worth your time. They are the heart of behavior change performance training.
The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership. www.agileideasleadership.com
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No one I have ever known has talked about how the keynote speaker changed their on-the-job practice. Did the keynote provide food for thought? Yes. Lasting change? No. A good keynote is fun. But it doesn’t lead to system-wide changes. A one-day workshop on assessment is cool, but it won’t provide the framework on how to make the necessary changes. Both of these don’t allow for real change to take place. So, then it needs to be asked, who pushes you to grow? Who is your tribe? Do those people talk about becoming more skilled? Do they speak of the desire to grow? Are they open to change? Do they hold you accountable? Do you hold them accountable? Lasting change is aided by those around you on a day-to-day basis. They are your anchor as well as your motivator. Foster this community. Water it like you water a plant. It’s where your desire for growth will be propelled.
So many people are interested in continual development. They desire growth and challenges. It is part of the inherent desire to feel like we have a purpose. Building a culture that supports this matters so much. So who will provide the feedback people desire? Who will be part of the tribe or community? One solution is to build the type of community in your place of work. To do this, people need to learn to facilitate reflective conversations for each other. Here are a few skills to develop in anyone who leads adults.
Building a team that can be an accountability buddy or a tribe of continual learners is hard. People come and go and this is going to be a constant. However, if the cultural foundations are laid, half of the work is already done.
The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership. www.agileideasleadership.com A few years back I was watching a TedTalk by David JP Phillips called How to avoid death by PowerPoint. We have all been there–A PowerPoint-driven presentation or workshop that almost brought on a full existential crisis. Herein lies the issue. Using PowerPoint doesn’t make a good presentation. Using it with presentation best practices makes a good presentation. PowerPoint should not have become the go-to for running a meeting or a workshop. If you are giving a workshop, you are the focus of attention. Not the screen with the words on it. You are what brings meaning to the words and images displayed. Using graphics for concepts is a best practice. Using graphics with words and talking while you direct people to read the screen is not a best practice. When it comes to designing and delivering professional development sessions, pick a framework that incorporates best practices. Here are a few actionable things to get you started designing focused workshops or training.
These ideas may seem like no-brainers. In some ways they are. In many ways, they are not. These few ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. Instead of getting lost in all of the ways to do PD the best, you need to focus on what the intended outcome is, what method of delivery will work best, and how these items fit into the experience you create.
As a favorite failsafe, I start designing a session using the HDQR model from Robert Glaser. I partner this model with Dilts’ level of Learning and Change. These methods help me make sure I don’t miss elements of design that are essential to embedding new knowledge or fostering behavior change. The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership. www.agileideasleadership.com “This is why, in a nutshell, advice is overrated. I can tell you something, and it’s got a limited chance of making its way into your brain’s hippocampus, the region that encodes memory. If I can ask you a question and you generate the answer yourself, the odds increase substantially.” ― Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever Facilitating a conversation is a highly technical skill. For some reason, I thought I could “facilitate” learning with no advanced training in the field. I worked with an award-winning facilitator once I realized my shortcomings. She candidly told me that many people think they facilitate conversations or adult learning but that’s not what they actually do–they just give advice. Facilitation is the art of creating environments and processes that make learning accessible and personalized. There is no sage on the stage in the room or in the conversation. This isn’t to say there isn’t a place for knowledge transfer. It’s just going to look different as you facilitate the learning instead of deliver the learning. Facilitating is asking the right questions in a safe environment with the appropriate experiential methods so “a-ha” moments happen naturally. If you manage to “say less and ask more,” as Michael Bungay Stanier suggests in his book The Coaching Habit, real change can happen. Facilitation is asking questions that cause people to reflect on themselves or an experience. Giving them advice on what they should be doing in the workplace or classroom isn’t. Here are a few places to start your journey with facilitation processes.
Be intentional about each aspect of the learning experience. One method we really like is the HRDQ model for experiential design. It allows a facilitator to focus time and attention where the participants need it. If you are new to facilitating or design, it provides a framework for clarity. Once you become more skilled, it will seem more natural and you can modify it as needed.
The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership. www.agileideasleadership.com Good learning design, generally speaking, covers the necessary steps and activities for learning to take place. It’s that simple, right? A point of debate in the world of learning design is whether good learning design is applicable to all, no matter the age. On some levels it is. On other levels it isn’t. The format it takes plays a big factor. What makes learning design for adults uniquely different? In a comical sense, it’s our baggage. That’s right; it’s all the experiences, good and bad, that we bring to the table. However, baggage has a negative connotation and doesn’t set the stage with the growth mindset model we should use to approach the learner. For the sake of argument, and functionality, we like to think of learners entering with a backpack of experiences and knowledge. Address the Backpack Baggage is not the issue when adult learners show up to learn. More or less, it is a backpack that is filled with life experiences and lots of knowledge–all of which informs who we are and how we see the world. When working with adults, it’s a sound practice to approach the learning experience with the backpack in mind. Adults have a depth of experience and years of knowledge–so much so that when they learn new information, ample time is needed for reflection in order to integrate the new knowledge into their existing frameworks. Here are a few suggestions on how to build that into the learning experience.
We find it’s helpful to establish that you value who your participants are and the backpack of experiences they show up with. Providing a safe space to reflect and practice is a way to show you value them.
For those who plan and deliver in-house PD, give yourself grace as you try these suggestions. Be ready to make mistakes, iterate your design, and revamp your approach to match the learner’s experience. The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership www.agileideasleadership.com Remember that workshop where you were lectured at for a few hours? I am sure you do, and it’s not because you didn’t want to learn. Most likely, it’s because it wasn’t designed with the learner in mind. Designing learning experiences is hard. Designing a learning experience that is transformative is even harder. To design focused and impactful training requires a solid understanding of adult learning theory. Andragogy is adult learning theory. It is similar in some ways to pedagogy, yet it is also uniquely different. For example, adults need more time to process than kids. Why? Adults have far more experience and knowledge. Any new information presented to an adult needs to pass a litmus test before it is integrated. New information or methods need to be grappled with before they are going to be put into use. When designing learning experiences for adults, consider the following to aid a successful experience for the learner.
Don’t throw in the towel on something you only tried once and didn’t reflect on. After all, we wouldn’t want our learners to do this.
The purpose of these articles is to offer support. Our goal is to serve those who are in the shoes we once were. Reach out to us with any and all questions at info@agileideasleadership.com. No gimmicks. It’s free. Cheers! Ross Herdina, Co-Founder, Agile Ideas Leadership |
Ross Herdina and Shannon Helgesonare the founders of ArchivesCategories |
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