By Dan Johnson

Articulating Our Value

Can your family and close friends accurately describe the work that you do? Do you know exactly what benefits you provide to your clients or employer? As professionals in human performance improvement and training, we are often faced with the challenges of credibility and helping people understanding the work that we do.

With a profession as varied and all encompassing as ours, people outside of the profession (clients, company decision-makers) try to relate our work to something they already know. If no one knows what a performance consultant does, or the value an instructional designer brings to the table, how do you respond? How well do you articulate what you do in terms of a tangible benefit to potential clients or your employer?

Here are three simple steps to help you articulate the work that you do:

Step 1: Ask past clients about the benefits and value they got from working with you. See if you can frame their feedback into a tangible result. For example, a client might say, "You helped us work better as a team." That's all well and good, but what's the more tangible result? Perhaps it's "You helped us work better as a team, improving our productivity by 20%." In this instance, the tangible benefit is helping your client improve productivity by 20%. "I help clients improve the productivity of their teams" is a much stronger introduction to your services than "I do teambuilding training."

Step 2: Write down what you can do for your clients. Think of at least ten specific situations you have excelled at that provided value to other people (whether they be clients, friends, relatives, or strangers). Reframe your answers to emphasize the tangible results for these people.

Step 3: Craft a statement of what you do and be very specific. (You may find it helpful to craft several statements that articulate what you do to tailor your message for different audiences.) A stem for your statement might be "I partner with _____ (type of clients) who experience ______ (common challenge faced by your clients) and help them achieve ____ (results). An example for a coaching professional might be "I partner with executives who are experiencing job burnout and help them accomplish more of what really matters to them." Regarding our own CIASTD chapter, we could say "CIASTD helps professionals interested in improving human performance enhance their effectiveness by linking them with resources, learning opportunities, a network of experienced professionals, and career opportunities."

Articulating what you do takes some time and practice. Give some thought about how you articulate what you do. It will strengthen your credibility, help you communicate the value of our important profession, and bolster your confidence in what you do.

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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March Meeting - Madness Makes Us Interactive!

It's Hoosier Hysteria all over again during this March Madness. Are you going to join in the madness or be a bystander in the stands? Will you cheer for Team Lilly or Team Rolls-Royce as each team competes in different interactive strategies? Do you dare volunteer to be the "sixth" man on the court? Come explore how interactive strategies can be used to liven up your training interventions as you experience them first-hand.

The March CIASTD meeting promises to be an exciting event. Hugh Harvey and Roger Reeves will facilitate a session titled, "Interactive Strategies." The meeting will be held on Friday, March 21 at the Rolls Royce Training Center. The training center is located on the near west side of Indianapolis. (Click here for directions.)

Benefits from attending this session include:

• Experience five different interactive strategies that can be transferred and applied to their specific intervention.
• Discuss the pros and cons of these interactive strategies with their colleagues based on their individual experiences.
• Challenge each other via friendly competition.

Those attending the session will learn new ways to make their training events interactive. Key take-aways include:

• Ideas for fun, interactive strategies that can be applied to your training intervention.
• First hand, personal experience in being serious about fun.

All members are encouraged to attend the March 21 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 door fee. The presentation will be 8:30 - 11 a.m. at the Rolls Royce Training Center. Click here for directions.

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Handling our Conflicts
Our February meeting highlighted a skill-building seminar entitled, "Using Conflict Creatively." Karen Valencic delivered the presentation. "Conflict is the spark that lights the fire of invention and creativity,"-is true. However, the flames of conflict can also destroy trust and vitality that are essential to relationships in a successful business enterprise. How often have you experienced winning battles only to end up losing the war?

Karen began the program by asking small groups to discuss certain key questions about conflict. What is conflict? How do you know when you're in conflict? What do you need when you're in conflict? The discussion was lively and the answers were insightful. The discussion set the stage for the rest of the presentation.

Karen discussed her background and how it led her into an interest of conflict resolution. She worked as an engineer in an automotive plant. Her office was across the hall from the union office, so she had first-hand observations of conflicts and how people handled them. Eventually she left engineering to become a stay-home mother - where she experienced conflict first hand!

Karen talked briefly about obstacles. Using an audience member as a visual aid, she asked the audience to define various types of obstacles they have encountered. After identifying the obstacles, she talked about three different ways that people deal with obstacles: sometimes we try to sneak around them, we can deal with the obstacles, or we can avoid it. The only choice that gets us closer to our goal is to deal with it. There are many ways to deal with a conflict: sometimes we try to compromise, sometimes we agree to disagree, sometimes we bring in a third party to resolve the conflict, and sometimes we have to just come to peace within ourselves. She also discussed the idea of "dancing" with our obstacles. In essence, the idea is to use the obstacles creatively and to use them to improve our situation or ourselves.

Karen asked several audience members to make a fist. She placed her fist against theirs and began to push. Naturally they pushed back. Karen used this as an illustration of conflict. "Every action requires an equal an opposite reaction." Newton's laws were good, but limited. Einstein and quantum physics teach us that there is not just one possible reaction… but many. The same is true with our reactions. When we are pushed against, we don't have to react by pushing back. We have other choices.

Karen used these ideas as a transition to discuss Aikido. The person who founded aikido was a student of martial arts. He approached the martial arts from an entirely different perspective. When attacked, the "natural" response is to try to repel the attacker and try to hurt or maim. With Aikido, you take an opposite approach and try to take care of the attacker. Using the Aikido principles in conflict, we can:

• Move toward the conflict (for the learning)
• Redirect the attack (by acknowledging and asking questions)
• Be flexible

"When you apply aikido concepts to conflict, there is no conflict," according to Karen. She quotes Thomas Crum, "Resolving conflict is rarely about who is right. It is about acknowledgment and appreciation of differences." Karen summarized the segment by talking about the difference between reacting and responding to conflict:

If you want to discuss a conflict with someone, Karen suggested going for a walk with him or her - in this way you are both moving the same direction. Offices are often arranged in a confrontational manner. Conference rooms are often the same way. The idea is to get the conflicting parties to physically face the same direction.

The second half of the program focused on skills we can practice that will help us respond to conflict. Karen explained that we must, "Choose to be centered." Our physical center of gravity is actually about an inch below our waste. She used an audience member as a visual aid on centering. When the person wasn't prepared, she could easily move the person off balance. With very little effort, she could move the person back and forth. She called this the "wobble effect". With a little instruction, she taught the volunteer how to center herself. Once centered, the person could not be moved with the same amount of force. She compared this to life. We can mentally center ourselves and be prepared for the various forces that try to knock us down or to make us lose balance. Karen shared several tips and suggestions on how to center ourselves in preparation for life.

Editor's Note: A special thanks to Scott Horvath for contributing these articles every issue last year. Scott's business has changed, and he will no longer be involved with CIASTD. He will be missed.

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Group Discussed Technology-Based Training
On February 25, the first meeting of the TBT SIG was held at the Cinergy office in Plainfield. All of the participants shared a common interest in technology-based training. The SIG met in the evening, from 6-9 p.m. The group plans to meet every other month, and the locations will rotate with different participants volunteering to host. The meetings are in the evening and will typically include a light dinner. The agenda will typically consist of a "show-and-tell" time conducted the by the meeting's host, a sponsor presentation, and a main presentation centering on some key aspect of TBT.

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.

This first TBT SIG meeting turned out to be very interesting and very helpful for anyone involved with E-Learning, Web-based Training, or any other component of Technology-based Training. Jay McNaught presented several technology-based training initiatives at Cinergy. He showed the tool Cinergy currently uses for registering students in classes and he also demonstrated the Cinergy Virtual Academy. The Virtual Academy is promoted as a "one-stop-shop" for training. Employees can use the academy to view training news, view their transcripts, register for upcoming training events, take on-line courses, and to stay abreast of the latest training events. Jay also showed some examples of on-line courses that were authored internally by Cinergy. Matt Donovan gave a demonstration of an on-line primer that can be used to help teach your organization about the concepts and benefits of E-Learning. The primer is itself actually an example of good quality E-learning. The round-table discussion that followed will be used to help prepare the content of future meetings.

Mark your calendars now for Tuesday, April 22, 6- 9 p.m. Made-2-Manage will host the evening. With luck, we may get to check out their new training facilities. Topics for the meeting will be announced later this month.

If you would like to be placed on the TBT SIG mailing list, send an e-mail message to JMCNAUGHT@Cinergy.com

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Daniel B. Griffith, J.D., SPHR
by Judy M. Hasselkus, CIASTD Newsletter Committee

As a regular feature of The Facilitator, "Member Profile" features a profile of a randomly selected member of CIASTD. At every meeting, we will randomly 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 Daniel B. Griffith.

Griffith, who is Manager of Training and Development, Human Resources Administration with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, graduated from Indiana University School of Law then worked as an attorney for two separate state agencies. Griffith found the practice of law unfulfilling and reactive; so he sought an opportunity to be proactive in helping people solve their problems. That led to a position with the affirmative action office at IUPUI. "I began as a trainer conducting training on employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and topics related to compliance," Griffith says. "Through that experience, I developed positive working relationships with many other offices on campus, including the Human Resources Administration. This eventually led to my being hired as the Manager of Training and Development."

Though his path into training and development may not be a traditional one, Griffith sees it as a logical progression. In his former position with the affirmative action office at IUPUI, Griffith spent much time hearing complaints about discrimination and unfair treatment. "I found myself counseling individuals regarding strategies and methods of communication to better handle their situations," Griffith recalls. A large part of his current role involves equipping staff and supervisors to manage their work and performance issues more effectively. "That is what I have done all along, though in a different context," Griffith says.

In his current role, Griffith is responsible for meeting the training and development needs of more than 4,000 staff employees. He directs training and development programs for supervisors and staff, develops training on management and professional development topics, and consults with internal customers regarding their employee training and development needs. Griffith reports that the most significant challenge he faces in his work is raising awareness of and support for the value of staff and supervisory training and professional development. He enjoys the challenge, though, imagining himself as an "orchestra conductor" bringing diverse players together to create a "symphony" of development opportunities for the benefit of IUPUI.

Griffith directs a 36-hour supervisory development program and is involved in developing and providing diversity awareness training. He also coordinates the career and professional development opportunities available to staff, faculty, and others on the IUPUI campus, edits a monthly internal newsletter called HR Update, and serves as Professional Development Chair for the Diversity Roundtable of Central Indiana

Diversity is an abiding theme in Griffith's professional life and also his personal life. Griffith and his wife, Mary, who is of Japanese descent, are proud of their interracial marriage and enjoy honoring and preserving cultural values. "Staying close and connected is an important value in my wife's family," Griffith says. "We've visited extended family in Hawaii twice. We took a trip to Japan and met other, more distant relatives." Griffith states that while some may "scoff" at the idea of living near in-laws, he and his wife choose to live near her parents and enjoy spending their free time together.

When he isn't busy with professional and family commitments, Griffith enjoys reading, buying books at "cheap book sales" like the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library's Second Hand Prose sale, listening to music, and "dabbling" in creative writing and photography.

A member of CIASTD since April 2001, Griffith joined to learn about current trends and best practices. He also views membership as an opportunity to meet colleagues in the field.

Favorite book:
Griffith lists Walden by Henry David Thoreau and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie as two of his favorites. Says Griffith: "Both have a lot to offer with respect to gaining perspective on life and considering what is truly important."

Favorite website:
"For anyone looking for great employment opportunities, I'll recommend the IUPUI "Jobs" link at www.hra.iupui.edu. I think IUPUI is a great employer," Griffith enthuses.

Most used resource:
Simply "time."

Advice to persons new to this profession?
"Develop the presentation skills needed to train, but take very seriously the depth of knowledge and experience you'll need to be credible," Griffith says. "Have faith in your own style rather than feel you need to be flashy or extroverted when you're not. Your own style will bring you success."

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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 signed 8 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 http://www.ciastd.com