January 2006

So far, it has been a very good year for CIASTD. And, as they say, the best is yet to come….

I thought I would take a few moments of your time today to go over some of the major items our chapter has accomplished. At the beginning of the year, I previewed some of our goals for 2006. In our most recent Board Meeting, we reviewed our goals and the progress we have made in shaping the future of the chapter. I am pleased to report that our Board Members and committee members have been quite busy and productive.

Programs Committee: Our dynamic Programs Committee, lead so capably by Andrea Moore, has worked hard to provide CPLP educational opportunities for our members. We have aligned each program this year with a competency on the ASTD competency model making our integration of the new model in our chapter a reality.

CPLP: We have several chapter members who have officially received their CPLP designation. We are proud to have two of them on our Board. Our focus this year has been to build education around the CPLP designation through chapter meetings and articles in The Facilitator. Next year, look for more formalized study groups as we begin to build a chapter of experts recognized both in our field and nationally.

Membership: Our Membership committee has worked diligently to bring features and information to our website not previously found or available. We continue to strive to make material available to you to aid in your profession and development.

College Scholarship Program: Encouraging the development of future learning and development experts, we have once again extended a scholarship opportunity to college students interested in our field. Our winner this year was Sarah Faghihi.

Communications: Under the direction of our dynamic new Facilitator editor, Michelle Burke, we have actively solicited articles from our chapter membership. The response for articles has been very positive, proving once again the multiple levels of talent in our chapter.

CORE: Once again, we are looking at another year of successfully completing all of our national ASTD CORE competencies. This is a huge accomplishment for the chapter and all the committee members who have worked to ensure we remain compliant. When we attend national ASTD conferences, being CORE compliant is a significant accomplishment and brings much recognition to our chapter. Thank you to everyone who has worked to ensure our compliancy.

Fall Conference: And finally, for “the best is yet to come” part: Our Fall Conference will take place on Thursday, November 16, 2006, in a splendid venue with a tremendous program that I know you will not want to miss. We were fortunate this year to have the opportunity to present Price Prichett’s Linda Boardman-Fite with Business As Unusual as the topic for the conference. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in November.

As you can see, we have been busy working for you this year. And, I know that next year, under the capable leadership of Krista Skidmore, our chapter will continue to grow and thrive.

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Each year at this time, I find myself getting reflective and a bit sentimental. I look back over the previous year and try to remember what has happened. I also look ahead to the coming year and wonder what it will bring. As I began putting this newsletter together, I was amazed to realize that this was my 51st issue as editor. Much has happened during the past 50 issues. Members have come and gone. Officers have changed. The organization has adapted to meet the needs of those who attend. As I recall, the issue that I started as editor was the first issue to be published electronically (distributed through e-mail). It is amazing to think about how the Internet and computers have changed how we manage the organization and how we deliver training. During the last 50 issues, we started a technology-based training special interest group (SIG). At first it was very popular and well-attended because it was a novelty and many were anxious to learn about the new area. Since then, I believe technology-based training has become common-place. It’s just a part of what we do. It’s no longer a “special interest.” It has become a common interest. During the last 50 issues, e-mail has become more widely used than traditional postal mail. It’s not unusual for you to receive a newsletter like this through e-mail. Four years ago, that wasn’t the case – we were very concerned that people would have a hard time making the adjustment.

So what changes will the next 50 issues bring? For me personally, I suspect that I will have a new job. My company is going through a merger and this provides me with an opportunity to move on. I am looking for a new position as a training manager or a director of OD or leadership development. A job change might mean relocating. I am encouraged and amazed by the number of openings in these fields around the country. Go to Monster or CareerBuilders, and search for the key words “Leadership Development.” You will be surprised at the number of great jobs all around the country. I think this is indicative of a trend; I see more and more organizations recognizing the importance of their people – recognizing that building leaders is vital to the organization’s success and sustainability. What other changes will occur during the next 50 issues? Will technology continue to revolutionize everything? Will there be new trends in training and development? No doubt the answer to these questions is “yes.” So this raises an even more important question, “Will CIASTD continue to adapt and change to meet the challenges of changing world?” If the past is any indicator of the future, the answer to this question will also be a resounding, “yes.” The new leadership for CIASTD in 2006 certainly seems up to the challenge!

At the December meeting, Jim Patton presented me with the President’s Award for service. I was totally surprised and humbled. There are so many people in CIASTD who do so much for the organization. It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve as newsletter editor. As I pointed out, I have the easy job. The writers on my staff and the president do most of the writing, and Mark Records does the actual publishing. I get the fun job of assembling everything. I am hopeful that I will be able to edit another 50 issues! Thanks for the opportunity.

December CIASTD Holiday Celebration

The December CIASTD meeting was a holiday celebration, complete with a catered breakfast, holiday music played on the harp, and a silent auction. Members were encouraged to bring in clothing donations for the charitable organization, “Dress for Success.”

Members who have volunteered during the year were awarded bonus bucks. These bucks could be used to purchase various prize packages. This year’s selection of prize packages was amazing. Prizes ranged from gift certificates to get-away trips.

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Books in Review

Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World
By Sharon Daloz Parks
Review by Jay McNaught

APA Citation:
Parks, S.A. (2005). Leadership can be taught: A bold approach for a complex world. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

The very title of this book confirms one of my fundamental beliefs, Leadership Can Be Taught. If this were not true, much of what I have dedicated my life to would be in vein. Parks (2005) asserts, “Leadership for today’s world requires enlarging one’s capacity to see the whole board, as in a chess match – to see the complex, often volatile interdependence among the multiple systems that constitute the new commons” (p. 3). Parks contends that leadership can be taught, in this type of complex environment, new methods of teaching need to be employed. To this point, Parks advances the methodology of case-in-point teaching. The methodology builds on the success of the case study method and recognizes the principle that adults learn best from their own experience, “Educators, at least since John Dewey, have persuasively argued that human beings, and particularly adults, learn best from their own experience” (p. 7). However, the case-in-point method goes a step further and strives to provide learning based on the student’s immediate experience. Using this approach, the classroom becomes a laboratory, and students learn leadership through experiencing it.

The first half of the book describes how the case-in-point methodology can be implemented in a variety of settings. The second half explores transferability of the approach. The book ends by challenging our culture’s myth about leadership and then reflects on the strength and limits of the approach. If you currently teach leadership and would like to be challenged in your methodology and approach, this book is a must-read. If you simply practice leadership and want to learn ways to transfer your skills to your followers, this book will stretch you and open your eyes to new methods.

Ask the Doctor

Tips and Thoughts for Training
By Linda Edington, EdD, Facilitator Staff

The end of a calendar year poses the opportunity to reflect on lessons learned and a sense of gratitude for what we have learned. We are all another year older and wiser.
As trainers, facilitators, educators we provide a model, an example of willingness to be humble to learn and to be gentle with the harder lessons. This is poignant for me since I have recently learned professional and personal lessons that exposed my imperfection and necessary areas of skill development. I end this year with the reminder that life, like a good run, is best run gently if it is to be a long run. I also know that I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to write for the CIASTD monthly newsletter, that I have been in the position to work with students and faculty at the University of Phoenix where learning happens and I continue my training for another marathon.

Happy Holidays to you and your families. I wish us all a healthy, wise, and peaceful 2006.

Linda is Director of Academic Affairs for the Indianapolis Campus of the University of Phoenix. We intend to make this column a regular feature in the Facilitator. If you have a training tip, technique, or thought that you would like to share, send it to Linda at linda.edington@phoenix.edu. While she may not be able to include every idea that she receives, your input will provide valuable input for this column.

In each issue of The Facilitator, we will list members that have joined or re-joined CIASTD since the previous issue. Since the last issue of The Facilitator, we have had these new members.

Heather L Kahl
Nicole D. Hawkins
Patricia Thurgood
John Carlson
Heather Imel
Rebecca Cobb
Wendy R Martin
Jane Shields
Carrie Fink

Tara C Holloway
Tony Smarrella
Monte Sorrells
Lorenzo Selby
Kathy O'Connell
Sharon McGuire
Rusty E Voss
Heather Fisher

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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