By Dan Johnson

Thriving During Uncertainty

The world in which we live and work is in constant transition -- wars are being fought, company leadership teams are changing (or being arrested!), and corporations are right-sizing during tough economic times. Advancements in "outer technology" such as computers and communications are happening rapidly. With many of today's workers searching for meaning, these uncertain times are calling upon us to take advantage of our "inner technology" as well.

What do I mean by "inner technology?" I mean our own wisdom and our sense of purpose. This sense of purpose serves as our sail during uncertain times.

Our purpose helps us answer questions such as, "How do I choose to respond to what is happening at my company?" "How do I choose to respond to world events?" At this moment in time, we are asked to set our sail toward a desired course rather than waiting to see where the winds of change will take us. As workers search for meaning and a way to navigate through change, how are we, as training and development professionals, helping employees respond to these changes?

Here are four simple steps to help you thrive during uncertainty. These steps serve as a helpful roadmap to today's workforce as well:

• Know your purpose. Gain clarity on who you are, what you stand for, and how you choose to be in this moment. What are you about? How does this carry over into your training career? How do clients and participants in your training programs experience you and your purpose?
• Expect. Expect that the insight you need to assist your client, keep your career healthy, or manage change will come to you as you actively pursue an answer. This insight frequently comes in the form of inspiration. While problem solving with a client, be aware of which solution(s) seem to uplift you and your client. Notice what you feel inspired to say to participants in your training programs.
• Trust. Trust the insight you receive. This can be tough, especially when your insight leads you to ideas you've not considered before. The only way to benefit from your insight is to trust it.
• Act. Act "on purpose" and in alignment with your sense of self. Know who you are, what you are about, what you stand for, and act in alignment with that sense of purpose. Offer your inspired insight to clients during that problem-solving session. Express what your intuition is telling you during that training program. Your clients and training participants will notice your integrity and quickly realize that they can trust you.

CIASTD is here to help you more fully express your sense of purpose in the training and development field. Know that you can count on a board of dedicated, competent leaders; top quality monthly programming; structured networking opportunities to strengthen your connection to others who share your sense of purpose; an innovative Fall Forum; viable leads on training-related jobs in the Central Indiana area; top notch resources in our resource directory to help you with performance improvement needs; and a state-of-the-art web site to bring you important information. Most importantly, trust the insights gained from CIASTD that resonate with you and put these insights into action. Our companies, clients, and employees are looking to us to help them not only navigate, but thrive during this time of uncertainty.

Dan is the founder and president of Performance Mastery. He has been in the field of performance improvement for more than 16 years and has gained extensive experience in management and leadership development, executive and personal coaching, training, and career development.

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April Meeting - Entrepreneurship!

Entrepreneurship has something for everyone!

The April 18, CIASTD meeting promises to be an exciting event. Debbie Featherston will explore entrepreneurship and what it means to training. Whether you are an internal training professional or an external consultant, you will find tools and resources that help you evaluate and measure your personal as well as business venture strategies. This session will take you through some major questions that will help you determine what transition steps must be taken to move your business from today to your three-year vision. Even the potential and new entrepreneurs will find this session future-focused and informative as they consider what they want from business

Benefits from attending this session include:

• Experience planning tools for analysis, communication, strategic direction, and control.
• Determine what stage your business is in and begin designing a transition plan to take it where you want it to be.
• Brainstorm ideas for growing your business with colleagues.
• Envision how you might become an entrepreneur or apply principles of good entrepreneurship, even if you have never considered yourself one.

An entrepreneur since the late 1970s, Debbie Featherston has successfully built and managed two businesses. Today, she is a senior consultant and principle of Workplace Partners; a consulting firm that partners with organizations to build their talent and to manage their transitions. Through her long term relationship with Lee Hecht Harrison, Debbie guides and coaches individuals considering self-employment.

All members are encouraged to attend the April 18 event, as the material is relevant at all levels. You may register by visiting the CIASTD website, www.ciastd.org. An additional fee will be charged for walk-ins.

Please remember to come early to capture the best seats and to enjoy light snacks and beverages at our Cranberry Juice Cocktail Hour starting at 7:30 a.m. Registration for the program will begin at 8 a.m. and walk-ins will be subject to a $5.00 door fee. The presentation will be 8:30 - 11:00 a.m. at the Ivy Tech State College 4th Floor Auditorium.

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March Madness Taught Us How to Participate
The March meeting began on a different note. Instead of opening with a presentation, Roger Reeves and Hugh Harvey opened with an intimate discussion about the previous night's basketball games. They immediately engaged the participants, as everyone was privy to the "confidential" conversation. This led to an interactive "Sandwich Word Puzzle." Each table team competed, trying to solve the puzzle and figure out the "pithy" saying about interactive training.

Roger moved on to a dramatic reading from Dr. Seuss's, Oh the Places You Will Go. Roger explained that the purpose of the day was to expose the participants to interactive learning strategies. "You won't be totally emerged… you'll only get your toes wet today." Roger proceeded to divide the audience into four groups. Each group would be sent to a different learning event for one "quarter." After 20 minutes, the quarter would end and the whistle would blow (not really) and the participants would move to another learning event. Eventually, the groups would move through all four learning events. Before breaking out into sessions, Roger encouraged us to, "Get serious about having fun."

The four sessions each taught some principle concerning experiential learning. What's more, the sessions used experiential learning techniques to teach us! We learned about experiential learning through experiential learning. The four sessions were:

The Brainstorms of March - Christine McPherson. Christine discussed various ideas for brainstorming. The group did an activity where they were "brainstorming" a solution to a question or problem. When the question was asked, the group was instructed to write down an idea on a 3x5 card. The cards were then traded, so each member got someone else's card. The idea on the card was then evaluated using a numeric scale of 1 - 5 (with five being the best. The cards were traded and evaluated again. The trading was repeated for a total of 7 trades. Finally, the scores were added, and the cards with the highest scores were discussed. This technique allowed participants to see a lot of different ideas and to have ownership in the ideas that were scored the highest.

Using the Home Court Advantage - Jennifer Julian. Jennifer talked about taking full advantage of the "home court." In training, the home court is the classroom. And there is a lot that goes into preparing a classroom for the best possible learning environment.

Jennifer began the session in a classroom that served as a bad example. The room was very sterile; the chairs were placed theater style, the room was dark and quiet, and there was nothing to indicate what the training session was going to be about.

Quickly, Jennifer moved the group into a different room that was a wonderful contrast. The room was well lighted and set up with chairs around tables. The tables had candy in the center and all sorts of games that students could play with at their leisure. The walls were plastered with pictures and quotes that tied in directly to the training. There was music playing in the background.

Students were asked to observe their surroundings and to discuss the differences between the two training environments. Jennifer also brought up the discussion of using "themes" in training. Several participants talked about themes they had used to add interest to their own training events.

Shooting for Retention - John Wales and Tom Veatch. John and Tom discussed a course currently taught at Rolls Royce on blueprint reading. The course is designed for employees who are not engineers, and it teaches them how to read engineer drawings. Originally, the course was three days, and was not very successful in terms of what the students retained. John and Tom discussed how the course had been revamped using a football theme and accelerated learning techniques. After redoing the course, the course was reduced 2 ½ days and the students retained a much larger percentage of the information.

Many of the accelerated learning techniques used in the course were taken from concepts presented by Dave Meier. Rolls Royce hosted a Dave Meier seminar on April 14.

The course centered on the theme of football, and actually employed a mock football game that encouraged learning. The class was initially divided into two competing teams. The teams were selected based on the results of a pre-training evaluation; they attempted to balance the teams to make them competitive. The training modules were divided into quarters. At the end of each quarter, the students are given a quiz that they completed as a team project. If the team passed the quiz (and they always do!), they got to advance and play in the football game. The game was cleverly devised.

When teaching the course, the classroom is setup with a green carpet down the center - complete with yard markings. Players on each team draw a play card. There are three types of cards - pass, run or field goal. If a player draws a run card, they have to stand on the "field" and answer questions correctly to gain yardage. If the card is a pass card, the player has to throw a NERF football through a target to earn the right to answer a question. If they throw the football accurately, and answer the question correctly, they gain yardage. The field goal card doesn't involve answering questions, but the player is required to kick the NERF football through a miniature goal post to earn the points.

The whole point of the game is repetition. Throughout the game, participants are hearing questions and answers repeated many times. They are fully engaged and focused! This dramatically increases their retention in terms of remembering the class material.

A Web Scavenger Hunt - Roger Reeves. This group went with Roger to a computer lab. Here participants went through an interactive scavenger hunt on the web! They began with the ASTD website, and moved into CIASTD's website. Along the way they answered questions and were "learning" without realizing it. This approach is good for computer classes where you want students to learn about various screens.

Click here to see more pictures from the March Meeting!

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Mark your calendars now for Tuesday, April 22, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Made2Manage will host the evening. (Pizza and drinks will be provided.) With luck, we may get to check out their new training facilities. The focus of the meeting will be "What Makes e-Learning Work?" Jay McNaught will present some of the ideas he presented at last October's Fall Forum. Additionally, participants will be asked to share success stories and ideas that have helped them to successfully deliver e-Learning and web-based training. Of course Jason Strasser will show some of the tools and techniques they use at Made2Manage. For years, Made2Manage has been using innovative, leading-edge technology to deliver training.

This promises to be an information-packed evening. If you are involved with e-learning or web-based training, this will be a great opportunity to share ideas and exchange information with others who have the same interest.

TBT is the acronym for Technology-Based Training. TBT includes any type of training that is delivered via technology. Thus, hot topics such as web-based training (WBT), Training Management Systems (TMS) and E-Learning are all part of TBT. SIG is the acronym for special interest group. Many ASTD chapters offer special interest groups as a supplement to the main activities and meetings. Special interest groups provide members with an opportunity to further network and to learn more about topics of "special interest." Naturally, the TBT SIG focuses on the various components of technology-based training.

If you would like to register to attend the SIG meeting or to be placed on the TBT SIG mailing list, send an e-mail message to: JMCNAUGHT@Cinergy.com. Made2Manage is located four miles east of the Pyramids, on the corner of 96th St. and Meridian Ave ... Jay will e-mail you directions when you register.

The event is sponsored by EDT Learning and the LearnLinc Virtual Classroom will be showcased.

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Do you have a desire to write? This newsletter is looking for a couple of new staff members to fill two recent vacancies. While the pay isn't great (strictly volunteer), writing for The Facilitator is a good way to get involved with CIASTD and to meet new people. Contact Jay McNaught at JMCNAUGHT@Cinergy.com if you are interested.

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In each issue of The Facilitator, we will list members that have joined or rejoined CIASTD since the previous issue. Since the last issue of The Facilitator, we have signed 6 members:

If you are a member of CIASTD, and would like access to the complete membership list, it is available on our web site at www.ciastd.com.

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Tom Meier is going to do a session about "Career Development - What do you want?" at 11:00 a.m., after the May CIASTD meeting. More details will follow in next month's Facilitator.

Note: "Member Profile" will be back next month. The member selected at the March meeting was: Kenneth W. Davis, Ph.D., of Komei. He will be featured along with the April member in the May issue of The Facilitator.

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