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Message From The President
From Sharon Boller
President, CIASTD
(Sharon is the founder and president of Bottom-Line Performance,
Inc. She has been in the field of training and development
for more than 15 years and has gained extensive experience
in instructional design and performance consulting.)
Midyear
Health Check
It's
hard to believe that I have just a few months left as president.
Last January seems so far away; year-end now seems quite close.
I started the year in the same way that I assume many past
presidents did - thinking about all the things I would do
and those things that I vowed I would NOT do. I established
formal goals for myself and also a list of "informal"
goals: Mostly, I determined that I would do my utmost to be
a good chapter leader.
Reviewing
my formal and informal goals has been both humbling and positive.
No … I have not yet accomplished all that I hoped to
do. I've found out (as other presidents have before me, I'm
sure) that being president is A LOT harder than it looks.
But…I'm also pleased to have been part of several accomplishments
this chapter has achieved this year. These include:
1)
Our website. Kudos go to Mark Records and MP Records
for giving us a website that's easy to navigate and provides
us with the information we want.
2) Our consultant database. Finally, after three years
of work, the database works well and is adding value. Thank
you Marianne Whelchel and Tish Nye for getting the database
from idea to reality. Thank you to Mark Records for providing
the technical know-how to make the database work as we wanted
it to.
3) On-line registration and payment for monthly programs.
Again, kudos to Mark for setting this up.
4) The networking activity that is occurring prior
to monthly meetings. Hats off to this year's program committee
(Kathy Kelso and Roger Reeves, in particular) for organizing
this early a.m. activity. Networking is a priority to most
of our membership. This pre-meeting networking time enables
people to gather for idea-sharing and information exchange.
5) Membership development initiatives. Thanks go to
Steve Haigh and his membership committee for spearheading
a couple of membership drives this year - one to encourage
national members to become local chapter members. We haven't
hit our goal of 500 members, but we have crossed the 450 mark.
Considering we were at 363 members just two years ago, our
progress has been terrific.
6) Our first-ever rewards and recognition event, The
Spring Fling. Vic Holove and his special events committee,
along with Mark and Pam Records, did a terrific job organizing
a silent auction and recognition program for all our outstanding
volunteers.
7) A new financial reporting system. When we changed
management companies this year, we also changed financial
reporting software. The shift to QuickBooks has resulted in
better reports that are easier for Board members to read.
8) Improved communication with members. Under the leadership
of Krista Skidmore and Jay McNaught (who are committee chairs
for VP Debbie Featherston), we've had terrific looking communication
pieces. The on-line Facilitator contains good stuff!
Hmmm
… but where do I see a need for improvement? Here's my
list of what I still hope to accomplish in 2002:
1)
Improve communication between committees and Board members.
We need a better strategy for sharing information with each
other. Committees need to understand the Board's vision for
the chapter and see that the work they do helps achieve this
vision.
2) Avoid micro-managing, but maintain contact with all Board
VPs. It's easy for all of us on the Board to put CIASTD on
the back burner when work responsibilities take center stage.
I'm challenged to maintain contact with all Board members
on a regular basis. I need to develop my ability to create
dialogue and encourage problem-solving rather than simply
telling people what to do (which can be so much quicker in
the short-term!)
3) Work with other Board members to create a leadership development
strategy for cultivating CIASTD committee and Board leaders.
Devise a new Board member orientation program. We have a tendency
to throw people on the wall and see who sticks. Unfortunately,
we lose lots of good leadership candidates this way. It's
also not practicing what we preach!
Your
input into these three areas would be greatly appreciated.
If you have ideas about:
1)
Improving communication between committees and between committees
and Board;
2) Cultivating leaders to serve in chapter leadership roles
3) Getting the ear of the CIASTD president without getting
an earful (i.e. micro-managing)
Please
call or email me (skboller@iquestnet
or (317) 861-5935). CIASTD has been a great chapter and it
continues to improve all the time. With your input, there
are no limits to what we can achieve.
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New
Members
In
each issue of The Facilitator, we will list members who have
joined or rejoined CIASTD since the previous issue. Since
the last issue of The Facilitator, we have enrolled
28
new members. To see a
list of the new members, click
here. 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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Member
Profile
Meet
Jane Surges
by Judy Hasselkus, CIASTD Newsletter Committee
As
a regular feature of The Facilitator, "Member Profile"
features a randomly selected member of CIASTD. At every meeting,
we will pick a member from those attending and profile them.
The idea is to help everyone get to know each other better.
In this issue, we are profiling Ed Turi.
Jane
Surges had spent twelve plus years as a human resource  practitioner
inside union and nonunion environments when an idea came to
her: "I imagined that I could be a better source of help
coming into an organization with fresh eyes." Six years
after founding her successful consulting practice, Surges
is glad she trusted her intuition.
Surges'
company, Training and Development Resources Inc., provides
organizational development, coaching, and training. She credits
her years as a FranklinCovey facilitator in the "Seven
Habits," "Four Roles," and "What Matters
Most" with helping her get very clear about her own passion.
What matters most to Surges is developing others. Her practice
focuses on helping individuals develop personal and team leadership
and learn to support each other toward a shared vision that
includes developing a profitable organization and "we"
culture.
Surges'
consulting practice provides assistance to clients through
customized workshops, career development coaching, and assessment
of human resource practices. Among the workshops her company
provides are conflict resolution, organizational culture and
change, motivation, team learning, and management/union partnership.
The career development practice focuses on helping individuals
identify a life/career vision and develop an action plan to
move forward. Organizational assessments culminate in recommendations
for continuous improvement and action plans (co-developed
with management or multitask groups) for implementing change.
One
of Surges' current projects is a customized management and
supervisor development program for 35 individuals. Surges
will deliver 14 workshops over a period of eight months and
provide one-on-one coaching to each participant. In September,
her company will also launch a personal leadership group for
persons dealing with transition. Perhaps it should come as
no surprise when Surges reveals the major challenge she faces
in her work: " … time constraints and uncertainty
participants face."
A
member of CIASTD since 1997, Surges joined the organization
to network with other training professionals, keep abreast
of trends, and learn new techniques.
Favorite
book or resource:
"The Fifth Discipline and The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
by Peter Senge are both favorite books and resources,"
Surges enthuses.
Advice
to persons new to the field:
"Diversify." Surges follows her own advice, too.
In addition to her work with Training and Development Resources,
Inc., Surges teaches university level courses. She maintains
certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources
(SPHR) and has led study groups preparing for Professional
in Human Resources (PHR) or SPHR certification.
Anything
interesting or unique to share?
For Surges, developing others isn't just about using her gifts
and skills to help others with their career and professional
aspirations. She also leads personal growth workshops. Says
Surges: "Three years of Gestalt psychology training has
provided an opportunity to deepen my work with individuals
and groups who are focusing on development of the 'whole'
self."
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CIASTD
Continues Volunteer Bucks
Do
you wonder what those funny "bucks" are that you
get when you come to CIASTD meetings? Beginning in March 2001,
CIASTD began issuing Volunteer Bucks. Members were able to
use them to purchase great gifts at the CIASTD
Spring Fling Silent Auction. Hang on to those bucks …
you'll be able to use them at a future event!
Members
may earn Volunteer Bucks by doing the following:
Serve
on the Board of Directors $50
Attend Board Meetings $5
Be a Committee Chair $40
Be a Committee Member $20
Attend Committee Meetings $5
Be a Monthly Program Chair $10
Be a Monthly Program Greeter $10
Attend Monthly Program $5
Bring a Guest to Monthly Program $20
Present Monthly Program $50
Attend Fall Forum $30
Submit Article for Newsletter $40
Sponsor New Member $20
Join CIASTD $20
Renew CIASTD Membership $25
Complete HPI Certificate Program $50
The
program will be retroactive to January 1, 2001. Any member
that has met any of the above since January 1, qualifies for
the appropriate Volunteer Bucks. For further information please
call the CIASTD office at (317) 841-1395.
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July
Meeting
He spoke with a deep and commanding voice, and we listened
carefully to every word. His dialect demanded that we concentrate
intently so as to not miss a single rich concept as Thaigi
presented wonderful idea after idea. His charming sense of
humor made listening enjoyable.
His
ideas were different. He emphasized that training should be
interactive - students learn best by experience. Instead of
fumbling with a computer to change the slides on his PowerPoint
presentation, he blew on a flute (an assistant would listen
for the sound and dutifully click the mouse). We had the feeling
that everything he did - every sentence, every movement, every
gesture— had a design and purpose behind it. Thiagi's
presentation at the July CIASTD meeting was an enlightening
experience. . Dr. Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan
is the president of Workshops by Thiagi, Inc., an organization
with the mission of helping people improve their performance
effectively and enjoyably. He is also the CEO of San Francisco-based
Qube, a company that provides human performance technology
services. He
opened the presentation with an activity that centered around
simple index cards. Every participant was given a card and
some specific instructions. Thaigi explained how the low-tech
cards are quite similar to high tech computer disks—that
one side of the card was formatted, the other unformatted.
He instructed that the participants were to write down one
great training idea on the formatted side of the card. After
the ideas were recorded, everyone was instructed to stand
and mingle. As they mingled, they were to exchange cards.
Eventually, he told everyone to stop mingling, and to find
a partner. The partners were to examine the cards and evaluate
the ideas on the two cards. A total of seven points were to
be assigned to the two ideas. The points were written on the
unformatted side of the card. Then Thaigi started the mingling
process again, and repeated the process. He did this routine
several times until eventually each card had several evaluation
numbers written on it. To wrap-up the process, he instructed
the participants to add up the numbers on the cards. Eventually,
he was able to locate the one card that had the highest total
score. He read it, and several other high-scoring cards. But
more importantly, everyone who participated in the activity
had been exposed to ten different training ideas in a very
short period of time.
Thiagi
then introduced an interactive activity where participants
formed groups based around pages in the session handout. The
activity was a quick way of getting diverse groups together
and getting participants to examine the handout.
After
completing an experiential learning activity, Thiagi says
it is important to debrief - to evaluate what has been learn
and to review the activity with the participants. He listed
six steps for debriefing after an activity:
1. How do you feel?
2. What happened?
3. What did you learn?
4. How does this relate?
5. What if ___ ?
6. What next?
Thiagi
repeatedly emphasized that anything you do can be done interactively.
Interactive, experiential training can be designed and taught
more quickly - and there is an added bonus: People will remember
it longer.
Thiagi
practiced what he preached. He paraded the participants through
a barrage of interactive activities - each one was more compelling
and more fun than the previous. Participants also received
a large book packed with interactive ideas and games. If you
would like to learn more about interactive strategies, visit
Thiagi's web site, www.thiagi.com, which contains hundreds
of pages of ready-to-use activities, tips, and job aids.
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August
Meeting
By Scott Horvath, CIASTD
Newsletter Committee
Do
you implement before you debut? Does your implementation consist
of more than a schedule of delivery? After all, you've spent
a lot of time and money on your new program, is it going to
deliver at all? Good implementation will ensure a smoother
transition for new initiative or redesigned program. In August,
CIASTD will present, "You Built It. They Came. Now…so
what?" This is a program designed to speak about the
importance of implementation strategy.
Frequently,
when we speak about "implementing" a new initiative,
what we're really talking about is designing/developing a
new training initiative and then scheduling people to complete
it. Too many folks think of "implementation" as
finding space to hold training and getting people to attend
(or getting people plugged into laptops to complete e-learning
modules).
In
this session, you'll learn that a good implementation strategy
is much more complex than a delivery schedule. We'll talk
about the elements that must be in place for an initiative
to really result in changed behavior. These elements include
identifying and involving stakeholders, doing capacity planning,
recognizing and overcoming individual and organizational resistance
to change, and determining what performance support has to
exist for skill transfer to occur.
The
workshop is open to all levels as the importance of implementation
affects all jobs at all levels. Participants will leave this
session with the ability to articulate what's really involved
in launching a successful performance improvement initiative.
In addition, you'll leave with job aids to assist you with:
1) Evaluating your organization's current ability to successfully
implement a performance improvement initiative,
2) Communicating with stakeholders to obtain buy-in,
3) Identifying performance support tools that aid in skill
transfer,
4) And, creating a high-level implementation strategy that
can be customized to fit your organization.
The
program speaker is Sharon Boller, the president of our chapter
and of Bottom-Line Performance, Inc., a local company that
specializes in performance consulting and in the design and
development of performance improvement initiatives. Sharon
has 17 years experience in managing large-scale performance
improvement initiatives and in instructional design. She's
worked with numerous organizations to create customized training
programs and tools designed to improve performance. She's
been part of implementations that have been successful and
those that haven't.
The
August 16, CIASTD meeting will be 8:30 - 11:00 a.m. at the
Ivy Tech State College, Fourth Floor Auditorium. Ivy Tech
State College is located at 1 West 26th Street near downtown
Indianapolis. Free parking is available behind the building
(enter just north of Fall Creek off Illinois St.). Remember
to attend the Cranberry Juice Cocktail hour from 7:30 to 8:30
a.m. Beat the morning rush hour and enjoy some light snacks
and good conversation with peers and colleagues.
Click
Here to Register Securely on the Web
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Books
that Trainers Read
By Marianne Mercer, CIASTD Newsletter Committee
Cultivating
Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder
Harvard Business School Press 2002 $29.95 (Hardcover)
ISBN 1-57851-330-8
(This
book is currently available for $20.97 at amazon.com)
Over
the past few years, the concepts of knowledge management (KM)
and communities of practice (CoP) have been hot topics in
the training literature and in our conversations with training
professionals. Yet somehow these concepts are not always easy
to grasp, especially when we have difficulty getting past
the question of how communities of practice are different
from, say, a project team or a group of people working in
the same department. Cultivating Communities of Practice
answers this question but also attempts to move us beyond
it. The authors present several models and case studies (Lilly
and Daimler Chrysler are among the organizations profiled)
where CoPs have been not merely implemented, but "cultivated."
Seven "cultivation principles" are outlined as well.
The book even presents us with a chapter on the downside of
CoPs and offers suggestions on overcoming obstacles. Highly
recommended, especially for trainers who prefer reading about
practical applications of theory rather than the theory itself.
(To learn more about the theory behind CoP, check out Wenger's
Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity,
Cambridge University Press, 1999.)
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