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Volume
25,
Number 5 IN THIS ISSUE |
CHAPTER
SERVICES ADDRESS
CIASTD Chapter Services
9840 Westpoint Drive, Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46256
(317) 841-1395
Fax (317) 841-8206
|
Editor VP
for Communications Design
MP Records Communications |
|
CIASTD
Board
|
| Jim
Patton |
| Lisa
Autry |
Linda
Bush Past President |
| Sam
Thompson |
| Sher
Shepps |
|
Leanne
Batchelder |
|
David
Llewellyn |
Karen
Zwick VP Communications |
|
Krista
Skidmore |
|
Mark
W. Records |
| Message From the President |
By
Jim Patton, President, CIASTD
For the past several months I’ve been talking about the ASTD Competency Model in this column. This month I will focus on the other part of the rollout of the competency concept and that is certification.
Those of us who hold “dual-citizenship” in the Training and Development and broader Human Resource communities are very familiar with the concept of certification and many of us have gone to the effort of taking the test for either PHR or SPHR certifications. I’d ask those of us who’ve done that one simple question, why? It’s a relatively simple answer – credibility. By holding a certification we are viewed by those within our profession as being more credible than those who are not certified. Whether that perception aligns with reality is an entirely different question, but perception is reality.
Scan the employment ads in any major newspaper and look at the ads for HR positions. Last time I looked, the vast majority of them had an item that stated that a PHR/SPHR was either desired or required. We could get to that point in the workplace learning and performance profession.
The question I have for you is - do you want to be ahead of or behind this trend?
ASTD is in the middle of conducting a pilot program for this certification process this year. Our VP of Communications, Karen Zwick is participating in this pilot (perhaps I can coerce Karen into sharing her experiences in a future Facilitator). The full launch is expected in the first quarter of 2006.
Get ready now! It’s coming, and you’ll enhance your position as a workplace and learning professional by becoming certified.
| May Special Event |
Join us on May 20 for a special full day event, Action Learning. Presented by John Nelson from HR Dimensions, Action Learning will last from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. A morning-only option is also available for those who only have time for our usual meeting time.
Action learning is one of the most powerful methods for developing leaders and employees while simultaneously driving strategic initiatives and projects, shifting culture in desired areas and demonstrating tangible ROI. This day will be spent developing an actionable agenda for implementing action learning in your organization. The format is designed to be most effective with participation in company trios (Business Leader, HR Executive and T&D/OD Professional).
Topics for the day include a detailed explanation of action learning, best practices from several businesses, a panel discussion of Indiana companies implementing action learning, program design, and building the business case to gain sponsorship.
Cost for the full day program is $75 for members, $95 for non-members, and $45 for students. The morning-only session is $25 for members, $35 for non-members, and $15 for students. There is, however, an additional $5 fee for walk-in registrations.
| Friday,
May 20, 2005 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
|
Topic: |
Action-Learning Seminar |
Speaker: |
John Nelson, HR Dimensions. |
Speaker
Bio: |
 John
Nelson is a global executive consultant with Indianapolis-based HR
Dimensions and a contributor to the book Best Practices in Leadership
Development and Organizational Change; How the Best Companies Ensure
Meaningful Change and Sustained Leadership, will lead a seminar designed
to introduce business leaders to a strategy called “action-learning.”
According to Nelson, action learning teaches the management tools
required to overcome challenges through “just-in-time”
initiatives focused on crucial business needs. |
| Description:
|
Action learning is one of the most powerful methods for developing leaders and employees while simultaneously driving strategic initiatives and projects, shifting culture in desired areas and demonstrating tangible ROI. This day will be spent developing an actionable agenda for implementing action learning in your organization. Format designed to be most effective with participation in company trios (Business Leader, HR Executive and T&D/OD Professional). Here is what we’ll cover:
|
| Cost: |
CIASTD Member (Full Day)- $75 Non- Member (Full Day)- $95 Student (Full Day) - $45 CIASTD Membe (Morning Only)- $25 Non- Member (Morning Only)- $35 Student (Morning Only) - $15 |
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Location: |
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| Member Profile |
Will Findlay
Profiled
by Karen Zwick
[To help us get to know each other better, the Facilitator routinely publishes this “Member Profile.” A member is randomly selected from those attending the monthly CIASTD meeting. This month, we are please to profile Will Findlay.]
Will Findlay is a Training Associate at Eli Lilly and Company. Will works in the manufacturing plant that makes injectable medicines such as insulin and a cancer drug named Gemzar. Will helps improve the learning experiences for people who make medicine through curriculum and instructional design. Will wanted to work for Lilly because his father and sister are Type I diabetics and have been using Lilly insulin for years.
Before working at Lilly, Will worked at Bloomington Hospital as its resident PC trainer. He enjoyed helping people learn how to use their computers to solve problems.
Before working at the hospital, Will worked for the Indiana University School of Music. He helped create an online music theory course and assisted with the design of their digital music library.
Will earned a Bachelors degree in music from Brigham Young University in Utah. He played trombone in various music groups that toured Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Europe. Will earned a Masters degree in Instructional Technology from Utah State.
When asked to suggest good reading, Will recommends Neil Fiore’s book, The Now Habit. This has some great ideas about personal time management you won’t find elsewhere. For secrets of good writing, he likes William Zinser’s book, On Writing Well.
Will’s favorite website is http://bloglines.com. He uses this website to assemble a customized newspaper.
Will’s advice for new professionals:
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Don’t become so enamored by new technologies that you ignore the benefits of tried and true methods.
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Pay attention to teaching and learning that is going on outside of your training department’s influence. Then help them make this better. If they are doing teaching and learning without help, there must be a real need.
Will has four children and is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah. And yes, he loves to ski!
| Help Wanted |
Do you enjoy writing? We need some help with the Facilitator. Fred Oaks used to write the Member Profile article for each newsletter, but he has recently moved to a different city. We wish Fred well, and truly appreciate the work he did for the Facilitator. So if you would you be interested in helping with the Facilitator, contact Jay McNaught by sending an email to jmcnaught@cinergy.com.
| Books in Review |
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things DonePeople I respect kept recommending this book so I finally gave in and read it. Now I understand why it came so highly recommended. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done is a book that is extremely relevant for our times. I am constantly frustrated in my personal life and in my professional life because it seems like I just can’t get things done. This book offers a hard-nosed, involved approach that teaches leaders how to get things done.
The book is targeted to leaders. The authors explain that execution is a key component of successful leadership, “Leadership without the discipline of execution is incomplete and ineffective. Without the ability to execute, all other attributes of leadership become hollow” (p.34). The authors identify seven essential behaviors that leaders must build upon to deliver successful execution. They are: know your people and your business, insist on realism, set clear goals and priorities, follow through, reward the doers, expand people’s capabilities, and know yourself (p. 57). The book spend several chapters going over the building blocks and explaining how to develop and implement them.
When it comes to implementing change, the authors explain that great strategies are worthless without the ability to execute. “Strategies most often fail because they aren’t executed well. Things that are supposed to happen don’t happen” (p. 15). The authors give several real-life examples of organizations that had solid strategies, but failed because they simply did not implement the strategies well. The book states, “No company can deliver on its commitments or adapt well to change unless all leaders practice the discipline of execution at all levels” (p. 19).
“Everybody talks about change,” state the authors. “In recent years, a small industry of changemeisters has preached revolution, reinvention, quantum change, breakthrough thinking, audacious goals, learning organizations, and the like” (p. 19). As a student of change, I appreciate how all of these trends in current thought have been lumped together. While the authors don’t dismiss the value of any of them, they point out that they are little value if leaders don’t know how to execute. “We’re not necessarily debunking this stuff. But unless you translate big thoughts into concrete steps for action, they’re pointless” (p. 19).
If you are responsible for leadership development or for teaching your organization to be change adaptive, this book will provide you with great insight and practical principles. As trainers and organizational developers, our challenge is to take the concepts of this book and help our organizations learn them and implement them.
| New Members |
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.
Sue
Amyx |
Michelle
Prieb |
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.