Transforming Learning into Action

Leading or Facilitating – What Do You Do?

thelearningkey — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:21:52 +0000

Successfully leading a group or team requires the skills to facilitate groups. It is the unusual team or group leader who has the combined experience and knowledge of both project content and group dynamics. Understanding team dynamics, helping the team reach its goals, and focusing the team on its business objectives are the strengths of a skilled facilitator. There is a difference between facilitating and managing groups or teams. A facilitator is an expert in group process, a troubleshooter who does what needs to be done to get the team moving. A facilitator is a diagnostician with intervention skills appropriate for the stage of the group’s development. A facilitator is a neutral associate of the team or group who brings objectivity. Objectivity is extremely important since it is the bridge to building trusting relationships. A facilitator helps groups improve upon their group processes and moves them toward greater efficiency and effectiveness. A skilled facilitator takes responsibility for guiding a group so that synergy is created. A facilitator is a change agent or catalyst who is able to challenge old approaches and move a group ahead.

A team leader plays a different role which focuses on the mechanics of tasks, resources and budgets and schedules. Team leaders are often content experts with experience in similar projects but not necessarily skilled at facilitation.

Filed under: Facilitation

How Financially Literate Are You?

thelearningkey — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:03:45 +0000

Are you wi$e about money or headed into debt alley?

Take this short quiz to find out – http://www.thelearningkey.com/PDF/Wi$eMoneyQuiz03232010b.pdf.

Filed under: Facilitation

A quick game

thelearningkey — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:35:48 +0000

I love games that use pictures. For example I use Interpra Cards (www.thelearningkey.com) as a way to generate discussion on a topic through various rounds of sharing. So typically I would have a multitude of picture cards out on tables and ask everyone to find a card that describes X. Then depending on the number of participants they may share in small groups or one-to-one first before sharing as a large group. The goal during the discussions and sharing is to identify themes connected to the workshop’s content and goals.

For skill building I may ask them to find a picture that illustrates the biggest challenge in applying X. Next participants need to find a partner and teach them how to overcome that challenge as if they were a coach.

When you debrief these activities and ask what participants experienced insights are typically shared like:
• It broke down barriers to sharing
• It was fun and creative
• It was energizing
• It made me think about the topic and how it personally affects me
• It was interesting to hear other’s perspectives on the same topic
• It was interesting that someone choose a picture that was a positive for them but someone else choose that same picture as a negative

Filed under: Closing Activities, Introduction Activities, Learning Activities

There’s No ‘We’ In Team

thelearningkey — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:05:59 +0000

There’s No ‘We’ in Team but there’s a ‘Me’ stuck with me after hearing it. The fact that;teamwork is difficult for many is shown by all the writing and publishing on team development, team building, team dynamics, team conflict management, and team strategy. There are classic writings by Bruce Tuckman on stages of team development and a novel definition of teams from Beatrice Schultz in her book Communicating in the Small Group: Theory and Practice. We all have our favorite authors, and if I created the top ten list of “best” books on the subject, there would be little to no agreement.

So what does this mean for creating effective training programs for teams? I’ve learned to look at groups in different ways and the best way I have found is through the lens of “me”. The “me” lens suggests that teams are made up of individuals, a bunch of “me’s” all bringing their issues, egos, and personalities along. A model I tend to use both for coaching or working with groups is:

Safety <—————–> Acceptance/Belonging <—————–> Recognition

Of course, Maslow’s Hierarchy is a basis for this model since every one of us deals with safety, acceptance/belonging, and recognition issues. Sometimes the issues are transparent, but most often they are subconscious and can influence our daily behaviors. In a team of 10 there are 10 people, each with issues in these areas, showing how complicated teams and groups really are. Using this model with many groups and individuals has provided insight on ways to create effective and lasting team building programs.

Read more of the article at http://www.thelearningkey.com/PDF/8-TEAMTheresNoWe.pdf.

Filed under: Facilitation

Information Overload

thelearningkey — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:38:36 +0000

I just presented and attended the New Jersey Organizational Development Network’s Annual Day of Sharing. It was a great event with active and useful sessions. At one point during the day the rate that information changes was discussed. The example given was that every three years information in a given field changes so much that someone entering college as a freshman would before they graduate be outdated in their field.

This point (and other statistics on information growth) creates challenges for both organizations and the learning professional. One challenge deals with the ability for those hiring to ensure the person knows not only the basics of their field but recognizes the changes in their field. For managers and supervisors the challenge is not only keeping up with current information but creating an environment for all employees to read, attend conferences, and stay current.

One solution for organizations is creating and implementing a training and development strategy that uses business-based board games as a vehicle to learn information and facts while building the skills needed to be successful. Business-based board games provide an infrastructure that easily allows information to be updated with minimal effort. Activities that teach or practice skill development are additionally easily updated and integrated.

Finally a business-based board game can be used for over a decade – so the cost is pennies when amortized over years with hundreds of employees. It’s a solution that is proven and research based but one that is rarely embraced as the concept of learning through games is still in many cases an unpopular mode of learning. As time continues and information continues to exponentially increase the learning profession will continue to adopt the concept of learning through games more and more.

Filed under: Communication

Enhancing Goal Commitment through Communication

thelearningkey — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:42:13 +0000

In order to enhance goal commitment from employees, remember: Goal setting systems are effective when the manager is able to develop trust, engagement, and participation.

To do this, ask yourself:

Am I ensuring that all project members are participating in the goal-setting process?
When team members are involved, goals are often set at a higher level and many more ideas are generated.
Did I ensure that everyone understood the goals in the same way?
Am I consistently rewarding my team by verbally recognizing their achievements and contributions?

Filed under: Communication

Application – 30, 60, 90 days

thelearningkey — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:24:09 +0000

One activity I find useful is what I call the 30, 60, 90 days activity. (Perhaps you know it by a different name.) At the end of your program or workshop provide everyone with three index cards. [If you want to be creative you can give each person three index cards of different colors. One color representing 30, 60, and 90 days respectively.]

Ask each participant to think and reflect on the program and identify what are their 30, 60, 90 day goals. [If you want you can present how to write a goal and ask they are written in a specific format.]

Close by asking participants to share their goals.

I find this activity useful for groups who want to ensure something changes after the program and have some type of infrastructure in place to follow-up with participants.

Have you used similar activities? What are your experiences?

Filed under: Closing Activities, Learning Activities

The Power of Listening

thelearningkey — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:27:29 +0000

May has begun and that means summer is right around the corner. The days are getting longer so summer time activities are here – ball games, dog walking, gardening, standing in line at the local ice-cream stand, etc. In all that activity there is lots of talking, laughing, and cheering but how much listening?

Gerard Egan in The Skilled Helper describes the SOLER model for listening. David Wolf in Relationships that Work: The Power of Conscious Living describes SOLE as a model for listening. Regardless what model you use, here is a quick tip to consider the power of your listening.

Actively Listening

In order to actively listen to others, don’t forget:

Effective listeners are fully conscious of making decisions each time they decide to talk or let someone else talk.

To do this, ask yourself:

Do I know the goal of the conversation? Is it to gain information? To build a relationship? To solve a specific problem?
Am I focusing solely on the speaker or am I multi-tasking, as this might make me appear uninterested in the conversation?
Did I wait until the other person

Filed under: Communication

Increasing Productivity

thelearningkey — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:38:54 +0000

The U.S. Department of Labor reported in the fourth quarter of 2009 that employee productivity rose an annual rate of 6.9%, the highest since 2002. See www.caemployers.blogspot.com/2010/04/team-based-games-to-increase.html for more details. It describes how team-based business games is one tool that helps increase employee productivity.

Filed under: Learning Activities