Monday, December 18, 2006

Tip #150: What NOT to Do When Interviewing A Potential New Client:

26. be unwilling to be flexible on work expectations
27. neglect to add into a contract limitations on edits and revisions
28. neglect to add into a contract provisions for work beyond the initial scope of the project
29. forget to ask for referrals and references from the client after completion of a successful project
30. disregard your intuition that the client might not be the right fit for you
31. walk into situations where they are looking for a –fall guy” to blame
32. assume you know what the client means or wants without asking clarifying questions to make sure you are on the same page
33. accept work that is contrary to your ethics
34. talk the client out of hiring you
35. be unrealistic about workload and time commitments
36. overbook yourself rather than negotiating a more reasonable time frame
37. speak negatively about former clients or client experiences
38. go into the meeting without having all relevant experience, references, and project dates available
39. neglect to anticipate questions and prepare answers
40. neglect to anticipate and plan how to minimize or address client concerns
41. assume that larger corporations are more professional and fiscally responsible than smaller companies
42. neglect to propose follow up services as part of the project package
43. plan to work without a written contract
44. be apologetic about your fees
45. be unprepared to discuss your fees
46. rush to answer questions rather than taking time to think them through
47. assume the client needs an immediate proposal the next day rather than asking or negotiating a reasonable turnaround time
48. tell the client what they should think or do, versus what they are prepared to think or do
49. believe your business and professional credibility begin and end with the outcome of the interview
50. forget to consider each client interview situation as an interesting new learning opportunity!



Friday, December 8, 2006

Tip #149: What NOT to Do When Interviewing A Potential New Client:

1. tell them what they're doing wrong
2. push them to do more than they are ready to do
3. get lost and be late to the meeting
4. put on hand cream just before you shake their hands
5. turn the interview into a training session
6. assume that you are the only consultant being interviewed
7. firmly suggest that the client consider his or her culpability for the issue under discussion
8. terrify the client that sensitive issues will need to be discussed
9. ask the client to betray their loyalty to management, no matter how poor the management appears to be
10. exhibit a sense of humor when the client is humorless
11. lose articles of clothing or jewelry during the interview
12. flirt with the client
13. think out loud when asked about a potential approach to an issue
14. neglect to do research on the client, so that references and examples are relevant to their industry
15. do lots of work for the client in good faith prior to receiving a signed contract
16. make assumptions that the fee is understood rather than explicitly stating the fee upfront
17. bidding on work without getting a clear idea of the context and extenuating circumstances that may affect the time involved
18. take personally the personality traits of the client when under duress
19. get blindsided with additional issues or processes that the client neglected to mention and you had no reason to expect or inquire about
20. go into the situation as the crusader rabbit, ready to take on the establishment and protect the employees when you are actually hired by the establishment and have no real control over the situation
21. promise confidentiality when you have no control over what people say
22. use extreme examples to make a point, thereby distracting and derailing the client's attention and comfort level
23. humbly minimize your expertise and competence
24. neglect to check with references ahead of time, to ensure that they are willing and available to provide positive support
25. inadvertently misrepresent yourself, your expertise, or your experience

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Tip #148: Teaching for the Small Business Development Center

t all began when I began to think about starting my own business. The University of Wisconsin had a Small Business Development Center that offered free counseling to individuals in my situation, so I scheduled an appointment. I was very concerned about the number of training consultants in the Madison area, feeling that the competition might be too stiff. When I met with the Director, William Pinkovitz, he assured me that there was nothing to worry about. As long as the other consultants were doing a good job., businesses would hire me for the unique capabilities that I had. The problem would arise if the other consultants were NOT doing a good job, because then the entire training industry would have a bad reputation and it would make it difficult for any of us to do business.

As we discussed my areas of expertise, he asked me if I would be willing to teach for the Small Business Development Center itself. Saying –yes” was one of the best decisions I've ever made! For years, we offered the only evening workshops in the area on personnel management and human resources topics. The Center publicized the programs throughout the region and I suddenly had their marketing expertise to promote me!!! The programs offered me immediate access to local businesses. I began to have name and face recognition as a trainer, which was an amazing gift for a new business.

In addition, when Joan Gillman joined the Center shortly after I met with Bill, she had all sorts of creative ideas for additional services to business. This included the Women's Breakfast Series on different topics, which was and continues to be wildly successful. It was a wonderful showcase that afforded access to hundreds of women at every level in business.

Not only did Joan become a good friend, she was also a marketer extraordinaire on my behalf (as well as the behalf of many other trainers). Joan promoted me as a speaker and workshop leader for every small business conference in the state. When inquiries came for onsite training from local businesses, she referred them to me. Joan nominated me for the Small Business Trainer of the Year, which gave me a monetary prize that enabled me to attend a professional conference. She was and still is my best promoter and business advisor.

If you've been reading these Tips for the past few months, you'll recognize her name. Joan not only opened doors for me locally and throughout the state of Wisconsin, she brought me to teach in Croatia. She is still the very first person to whom I refer any consultant wanting to get into training.

Over the years since, there have been many other wonderful people who have opened doors for me, pushed me in directions I never anticipated, and gave me opportunities I will always value and can never adequately repay. We absolutely do get by with more than a little help from our friends!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Tip #147: Teaching in a University Degree Program

During the years I had been teaching in the evenings for UW-Madison Extension and the Madison Area Technical College, I had held down a day job working for the State of Wisconsin in personnel management. Therefore, when I saw that Cardinal Stritch College was looking for ad hoc instructors for their Continuing Education Programs for Adults, I felt confident enough to apply. They required a Masters Degree, which I had earned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Once my application and resume had been accepted, the next stage of the selection process was to present a ten minute program. I think I may have done mine on Win-Win Negotiation, incorporating all that I had learned from my studies with Dr. Madeline Hunter to make the training educational, interactive, and entertaining. I know I brought koosh balls and bowls of candy, as well as my colored cartoon overheads.

It was quite an education to sit in on all of the presentations. I was amazed to see how much a ten minute presentation revealed about a trainer's skills! Later, when I interviewed trainers for my own company, Laurel and Associates, Ltd. ., I remembered and used this process. From that point on, all of my skill-building training programs (in communication, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, conflict management, assertiveness, and train-the-trainer, etc.) have included skills practice for ten minutes.

I was delighted to join the ad hoc faculty to teach in the first evening continuing education program in management for adults that was offered in the Madison area. Cardinal Stritch offered an Associate Degree, a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Science degree. The program involved four-hour sessions offered weekly for 56 weeks. The students took one course at a time, with each course lasting for four sessions. I was hired to teach two courses for the Masters of Science in Management program: the very first academic course they received, which was Personnel Management- and one of the last, which was Organizational Development. I also taught the very first session that students in all of the programs attended: Orientation.

The students were all working adults, ranging in age from their middle twenties to their late fifties. They came from all over the area, some driving more than an hour one way to attend the classes, which ran from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

I learned so much from them:

First, that they were creatures of habit. When I returned to teach the last class, they were all still seated in the same arrangement they had assumed over 50 weeks prior!

Second, because of the travel and class time, many were tired and hungry. I found that encouraging them to bring something to eat and giving them ten minute breaks every hour kept them much more alert. It wasn't until much much later that I learned that the brain gets saturated after fifty minutes and needs that time to relax and reboot.

Third, they were already living and working what we were teaching. The classes only served to give them a common vocabulary to discuss their experience. Their examples and stories brought every management principle to life.

Fourth, given the opportunity to propose questions for their examinations, they came up with questions MUCH harder than anything I would have asked!

Fifth, once they had reviewed the class and homework requirements for earning an A, a B, or a C in the course, almost every one of them contracted for an A and achieved it. They proved the power of setting goals and accepting personal responsibility for their own learning.

Sixth, they did a terrific job on their research papers, continually teaching me new information, new perspectives, and new applications.

Seventh, that four hours was a good period of time for learning.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Tip #146: Jumping In Without A Net!

After I had been an Assertiveness trainer for UW-Madison Extension for over a year, I was eager to expand my repertoire as a trainer. So I was very excited when there was an advertisement in the paper for an ad hoc instructor in Supervisory Management at the Madison Area Technical College. I submitted my resume and had a very nice interview with John Lalor, who was the Director of the Marketing Department that housed the Supervisory Management Technician associate degree program. A few weeks after that interview, I got a call in the evening from John. Apparently, an ad hoc instructor who was slated to teach a semester-long Supervisory Skills course was not able to fulfill his commitment. John needed an instructor immediately, to start the very next evening!

I was completely overwhelmed and protested that I had only taught Assertiveness- I knew nothing about Supervisory Skills!!! John was very reassuring, telling me that there was already a text book and that he knew I would do a wonderful job. I disagreed, knowing full well that this was WAY out of my league! But John persisted, even agreeing to meet with me in the early morning before I left for my day job with the state.

Although I am sure that I prepared a lesson outline and printed off materials sometime during the day, I really don't remember WHAT I did that first evening class. For the rest of the semester, I was always only one chapter ahead of my class. I also went straight to the library to find as many books as I could on the subject, liberally drawing content and activities from every likely reference source.

Luckily, the text book: The Art of Leadership, by Lin Bothwell, had terrific content and lots of activities, questionnaires, and self assessments. Its content and approach validated the use of dialogue, group activities, personal action plans, progress reports, and colored cartoon overheads to emphasize key points that had worked so well in the Assertiveness classes. I still refer to it to this day when I design supervisory training.

I found that I loved the subject and really enjoyed the students, many of whom were already in the work world. I was also stimulated by the constant challenge of coming up with creative and effective ways to teach new content and enable the students to experience and apply their new learning. Since the entire subject area was uncharted domain for me, I felt free to experiment with lots of different teaching methods.

When the semester was over, there was a need for someone to teach the next course ( I can't remember whether it was Running Effective Meetings or Active Listening Skills or Conflict Management). John asked me to do it and I said "Yes.” Although I didn't know anything about the topic, I now knew how to research content, create lesson plans, and incorporate educational as well as entertaining activities that launched the students on their own voyage of self discovery.

That began an entire second career for me. Each semester marked the need for a course on a new topic and I always said "Yes” and then made a mad dash to the library to start my research. Thus I slowly built up my repertoire of topics, as well as developed great relationships with many of the students. One of them actually became a life long friend, Teri Pickering, whom I am visiting this weekend to belatedly celebrate her birthday.

As you can see, this MATC teaching experience gave me many gifts. The key gift was the opportunity to face my very real fear of inadequacy. I gradually learned to trust that, if I did my homework and honored basic adult learning principles, the result would be mostly good. I was also forced to accept that I would always be a work in progress.

Lorraine Ortner-Blake pens the following quote on one of her beautiful art cards:

"When you come to the edge of all the light you've known, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen. There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.”

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Tip #145: How I First Became a Trainer

People often ask me how I got into training. Well, it certainly wasn't planned. While I was working on my masters degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972, a friend of mine (Sharon Sotsky) and I sat in on auditions for a spoken poetry night. There were a number of male students reading poetry, but almost no women. I had been writing poetry for years and had a number of poems about my experience of marriage, childbirth, separation and single motherhood. ( I was married at 20 and had my daughter, Jennifer, when I was a 22 year old junior in college. Within less than six months, I had separated from her father and by the time she was two I had moved halfway across the country to attend school and raise her alone). Sharon also had poems about her experience as a woman. So we signed up to read our poems.

The night of the poetry reading, Ed Kamarck, who was the Director of Outreach for Theatre Arts at University Extension, was in the audience. He approached us after the reading and told us if we would create a play about the woman's experience, he would provide a venue for the performance. So Sharon and I began The Apple Corps, Ltd., which was the first feminist theatre in the Midwest. Our poem play, titled –Empty Space Blues,” dealt with the way that the feminist movement affected the lives of five different women: a divorcee, a Catholic mother, a student, a model, and a feminist. During the course of the play, which is humorous on many levels, each woman experiences her own soul wrenching epiphany. We found a director and auditioned women for the roles, attracting a number of women who were willing to work on stage, sets, and publicity simply because they loved the characters and the message of the play.

True to his word, Ed arranged for us to perform on campus for several nights. After the play, the actors, director, and playwrights came out on stage to discuss their characters with the audience. The night of one of the performances, there were two professors from Family Services at the University of Wisconsin-Extension in attendance. Connie Threinen and Marian Thompson drew me aside and told me they would like to see me teach an –Assertiveness” class for Extension. I asked them what assertiveness was. They responded that was the focus of our conversation with the audience and that I should read the book The New Assertive Woman by Lynn Bloom, Karen Coburn and Joan Pearlman.

So, I read the book and created an agenda for a two session class on –Assertiveness” for Extension, based on the content of the book. They publicized the course and before I knew it, I was teaching an evening course for UW-Madison Extension. That course went well, so we expanded the next course to eight weeks- and the participants requested that we extend that further to sixteen weeks. I was officially an ad hoc instructor for UW-Extension.

That was how I first got into training! I owe it all to the creative gifts of Sharon and the first cast and director of –Empty Space Blues,” and the incredible encouragement and support of Ed Kamarck, Connie Threinen and Marian Thompson. Talk about getting by with a little help from your friends and being in the right place at the right time!

I would love to hear your story, if you are willing to share it. How did YOU first become a trainer?

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Tip #144: Accelerated Learning in Croatia #5

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

After my first trip to Croatia to train trainers for the small business development centers in 1998, I returned four more times in March and July of 2000 and March and May of 2001 to work with the School of Economics at JJ Strossmeyer University in Osijek.. My assignment was to help them design the first European student-centered MBA program in Entrepreneurship and train the faculty there. My son Seth accompanied me on the first two trips, becoming a world traveler at the ripe old age of 10!

When I returned to Osijek in May, 2001, it was to be my last visit. However, this time I came as an honorary member of the faculty to co-teach a Negotiation Skills class with Ljerka. The course content was designed to meet the students'stated interests, based upon a training needs assessment. It included two days of Getting to Yes techniques, with a real-life negotiation homework assignment that walked them through the five steps. Because several of the students were seasoned negotiators, it also included two days of Getting Past No techniques, with a real-life negotiation homework assignment that walked them through the six steps.

After reviewing the nature of the negotiation situations with which the students were dealing in their homework assignments, it was clear that the last two sessions of the course needed to be focused on their issues, rather than case studies, as had been previously planned.

Consequently, the fifth session was redesigned to reinforce previously-taught concepts in order to prepare the students to successfully role play a real-life negotiation situation of their choice during Session 6. They worked in triads, with an observer providing an assessment, as well as each individual assessing his or her negotiation.

The homework assignments and in-session role play and assessments provided ample practice for the students in preparation for their course project. The project required them to complete similar negotiation planning worksheets, conduct a real-life negotiation, and then assess their performance. They submitted their completed project work to Ljerka after the class ended and she forwarded them to me by mail.

Ljerka's expertise, creativity, and perspective were essential to the success of the Negotiation Skills course. She was actively involved in the course design, organization, selection of outside resources, and implementation. During the course, she translated concepts and terminology, as well as directed, observed, and provided feedback for the small group activities and role playing. She conducted the last session's role playing activities with three students who were absent. She also collected the student projects, for transmittal to me.

The new training facilities were wonderful. The site in the old city was huge, with a beautiful sitting room and exquisite view of the river Drava and the old city. The sole drawback was that it was up three very long sets of stairs, which was a strong disincentive to any lecturer with heavy materials or audiovisual equipment!

The first generation of students in the Entrepreneurship masters degree program were extraordinary in terms of their experience, expertise, and commitment to the program.. It was clear that the lack of job and life experience of the second and third generations in the program would necessitate simplification of the current course content for Negotiation Skills.

As a result, we recommended that future Negotiation Skills courses focused in on a modified Getting to Yes content, with ample practice using each negotiation strategy in both prepared and real life negotiation exercises. We also recommended that the current Getting to Yes instructional materials be augmented with the staying calm and active listening skills exercises from the Getting Past No content.

All of the content and handout materials necessary for the redesign of the course for future generations were already in Osijek, with Ljerka. So it would be an easy matter to revise the lesson plan and create new participant materials.

After I left Osijek, I was able to read and grade the students'projects, which were all very effective and complete. They clearly understood how to apply negotiation skills in their work lives and had ample opportunity to practice them!

Although there were tentative plans for me to return again to conduct a team building session with the faculty, the occasion never arose.

I left this Croat training experience with more gifts than I can mention. The ones that jump to mind include the incredible opportunity to visit and get to know different people of varying ages, experiences, and backgrounds from throughout Croatia;

  • travel to and through Europe for the very first time;

  • make good friends in Croatia and in Hungary;

  • see the world and the United States from the Croat perspective;

  • enjoy the culture, the food, the architecture, the customs, the open markets, the art, the inland and Adriatic cities and the cosmopolitan capital, Zagreb;

  • watch my son build friendships and happy experiences that spanned language differences;

  • learn from the most stimulating economic marketing and entrepreneurship gurus;

  • be welcomed into different homes and family lives; and

  • stand in awe at the warmth, generosity, resilience, creativity, humor, and fortitude of the students, academics, and business people (and their families) I had the pleasure to meet.

And to treasure the gift of Joan's friendship, business acumen, generosity of spirit, fierce loyalty, and networking that made it all possible.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Tip #143: Accelerated Learning in Croatia #4

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

After my first trip to Croatia to train trainers for the small business development centers in 1998, I returned four more times in March and July of 2000 and March and May of 2001 to work with the School of Economics at JJ Strossmeyer University in Osijek.. My assignment was to help them design the first European student-centered MBA program in Entrepreneurship and train the faculty there. My son Seth accompanied me on the first two trips, becoming a world traveler at the ripe old age of 10!

When I returned to Osijek in March, 2001, it was again a busy time:

  • Facilitating the 8 hour Team Teaching Primer workshop for 14 faculty.

  • Outlining the 20 hour Negotiation Skills course to be co-facilitated with Slavica and Ljerka.

  • Conducting consultations with seven faculty to: discuss interactive pedagogy; create, review, and/or revise lesson plans; and plan student projects.

  • Eliciting student feedback regarding the program to date, as well as desired content for inclusion in the Negotiation Skills course.

On the whole, I observed that the faculty appeared to be sincerely attempting to put into practice the interactive pedagogy that they had been taught. As with any new endeavor, some needed additional experience and coaching support.

Feedback from students indicated that they appreciated the program. They also saw visible evidence of professional growth and effectiveness of individual professors, citing the professor whom I had coached the last visit in particular!

The Team Teaching Primer generated a lot of good ideas among those present. They were aware of a continuing need to discuss their planned curricula with each other and integrate their lessons, where appropriate, to avoid unnecessary duplication.

Unfortunately, only a few full professors attended the Primer. It was clear that more would have to be done to minimize the impact of the traditional formal educational hierarchy on the partnership between the degreed and lesser degreed –faculty” in the program.

In order to establish a strong team identity and obtain commitment to shared team goals and procedures, I suggested a two day retreat:

The first day would be devoted to interactive team building training exercises designed to:

  • create a sense of team;

  • reinforce the importance of team work;

  • develop more comfortable interpersonal relationships; and

  • increase the awareness and appreciation of individual member's strengths and capabilities.

The second day would be devoted to establishing the formal Entrepreneurship program team by:

  • identifying team procedures and expectations (in relation to the program, the program faculty, individual teaching teams, and the students);

  • discussing the key focus and approach of each course to identify opportunities to integrate or build upon content; and

  • opening up both formal and informal communication channels.

Although plans were made to schedule this retreat, the difficulty in coordinating schedules with the Entrepreneurship program and their other teaching assignments ultimately made this impossible.

As an adjunct to this retreat, or to accomplish some of the same ends should the retreat not be possible, I also recommended that program faculty meetings be scheduled and conducted in which the overall program philosophy, as well as the individual course content and design, would be discussed. The desired end result would be an integrated and consistent program curriculum.

Individual faculty were encouraged to observe each other's lectures as well as to offer peer coaching, when requested.

In the interest of creating a formal systematized curriculum, I strongly encouraged that a written orientation to the Entrepreneurship program should be created for all continuing and ad hoc program faculty, so that there was a complete and consistent understanding of the mission, pedagogical philosophy, organization, structure, norms, and expectations.

It also seemed very important that annotated course outlines and lesson plans be created and/or compiled for each course.

After helping to draft and shape the curriculum, train the faculty in student-based teaching techniques, audit the courses, coach individual faculty members, and recommend ways to ensure a formal consistent program, I was eager to return for a brand new experience. During my fifth visit, I would actually join the faculty to present a negotiation skills class!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Tip #142: Accelerated Learning in Croatia #3

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

After my first trip to Croatia to train trainers for the small business development centers in 1998, I returned four more times in March and July of 2000 and March and May of 2001 to work with the School of Economics at JJ Strossmeyer University in Osijek.. My assignment was to help them design the first European student-centered MBA program in Entrepreneurship and train the faculty there. My son Seth accompanied me on the first two trips, becoming a world traveler at the ripe old age of 10!

I was very busy when I returned to Osijek in July of 2000:

  • meeting with Economics professors to design interactive curricula for core and elective courses in the second, third, and fourth semesters;

  • designing a 90-minute orientation session for incoming students;

  • auditing all first semester classes currently in session at least once;

  • creating coordinated course schedules for the first and second semesters;

  • advising professors with elective courses to develop marketing blurbs and making provision to have students rank their elective choices to ensure that all courses have sufficient attendance;

  • discussing the program web site and making plans to include information about adjunct professors;

  • planning to create consistent and reasonable student evaluation methodology;

  • planning to create a first semester progress report format to give students useful feedback about their performance; and

  • making provisions to provide ongoing e-mail assistance and support for the instructors as they continue to design their courses, as well as to review the marketing blurbs for the electives.

It was incredibly exciting to find that the students were enthusiastically and actively participating in all interactive activities, including case studies, mind mapping, group problem solving, group discussion, personal assessments, questionnaires, and role playing.

The students said that the assistant dean, Sanja and Ljerka had set a very high standard of teaching for the other professors to meet.

All of the first semester instructors were excited about their curricula and delighted with student interaction. Sanja mentioned that her lessons had exceeded her expectations.

It became apparent that the professors needed to learn techniques to manage class activities, including group work as well as guest lecturers, to maintain student enthusiasm yet exert necessary control to keep on schedule. In the meantime, a kitchen timer was suggested as a way to end group activities on time.

The work accomplished with the various professors ranged from the review of one lesson plan, to the creation of several plans, to the discussion of all content planned for the entire course. All were open to, and generated their own, very creative ideas, keeping in mind the need to ensure that the students receive practical tools to use in business.

All in all, it was extremely gratifying to see the interactive training techniques in successful use, both in the current sessions as well as the planned sessions.

If you are wondering how I managed to audit the courses, despite a lack of fluency in Croat or a translator, my secret is very simple. I used the Mastery Teaching Model to determine if learning was occurring. I watched for the content decisions (was there a clear and logical progression and were the students set up for success), the learner activity decisions (what was the ratio of lecture to interactive exercises that checked student comprehension and application of the content), and the trainer facilitation decisions (engaging the students in dialogue, coaching to correct answers, providing sufficient clarify when making assignments). Occasionally, I would ask a student fluent in English to explain anything that was unclear to me.

My son would explain that his mom spent the day sitting in classes where she didn't understand the language. Perhaps I didn't understand Croat, but I definitely could understand when learning was happening!

Also, as a wonderful side note, I also saw that these students, who had spent a lifetime in lecture classes without any interaction with the professor, were now unwilling to sit and be lectured to! When guest lecturers were brought in, they would sit patiently for about ten minutes and then raise their hands to make comments or ask questions. Once they had a taste of being an active partner in their own learning, they were eager for it to continue!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Tip #141: Accelerated Learning in Croatia #2

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

After my first trip to Croatia to train trainers for the small business development centers in 1998, I returned four more times in March and July of 2000 and March and September of 2001 to work with the School of Economics at JJ Strossmeyer University in Osijek.. My assignment was to help them design the first European student-centered MBA program in Entrepreneurship and train the faculty there. My son Seth accompanied me on this return trip and one other trip, becoming a world traveler at the ripe old age of 10!

It was gratifying to learn that that the small business center in Osijek, just started two years ago, when they feared that no one would make use of their training and small business counseling services (entrepreneurism is a very new concept there), now had over 44 clients and could not handle all of the course and counseling demands!

Thanks to Sanja, an associate professor at the School of Economics, University of Osijek, we were kept very busy: I spent the first week alternately meeting with Sanja to develop a 20 hour Creativity and Innovation course and with Ljerka to develop a 20 hour Presentation Skills course, both to begin April 13-15 with the inception of the masters degree program in Entrepreneurism there.

The second week, I met with a different professor each morning for four hours to help with their second or third semester course, then taught a train-the trainer from 2-6 for all professors who will be involved in this masters program. The emphasis was on having them use interactive instructional methods rather than 90 minutes of straight lecture. The group was open, enthusiastic, and very appreciative. I also learned a lot, myself, as they each had to explain their area of expertise (intelligent systems, statistics, economic finance, etc.) to me before I could help them.

Amazingly, almost everyone spoke English, with a broader vocabulary than most Americans. And each apologized for their English, which left me even more apologetic about my complete lack of facility in their language!

On the last afternoon of training, Ljerka presented a 45 minute segment of a lesson we had co-created in Presentation Skills the previous week, using all sorts of interactive methods and audiovisual aids. She did a brilliant job, modeling what we expected of each professor and establishing a very high benchmark.

Ljerka and I actually managed to design all 20 hours of her course, primarily due to her great facility with the English language (she teaches it, with a beautiful British accent), her quick and perceptive adoption of the techniques, and her amazing energy and enthusiasm. Sanja and I were able to design over 12 hours of her 20 hour course.

The exciting thing was that I knew I would be going back in July to audit all four of the courses that would be nearing completion in the first semester (two are being designed with professors at St. Louis University), as well as to work more intensively with the professors who would be conducting the second and third semester courses. So, I would actually be able to watch the designs in full fruition!

Of course, I brought 20 pounds of candy (as opposed to the 85 pounds two years previous, when I had trained five days in Osijek and five in Dubrovnik, along the Adriatic). And koosh balls, which they loved and which I left with them. I also showed my cartoons, but didn't choose wisely. There was a cute one about a wife using a football analogy to get her husband to take out the garbage- but football in Croatia means soccer!

While I was working, Seth spent the entire day with Jadranka and her three children with Danijel, who was a veterinarian: Tomi (turned 14 while we were there, and spoke and understood English), Denis (10, who understood it a bit, but didn't speak English), and Ivana (8, who didn't speak or understand it). Since the children had only four hours of school a day, one or the other two were always home for Seth to play with. Jadranka, who works for the School of Agriculture, took time off from her work for the duration of our stay so that she could entertain Seth. When I found out about this, I felt very guilty about such an extreme imposition on her time and income- however, she assured me that, as academic staff, she could make up the time later- and she saw this visit as an investment in her future- her children.

This beautiful, vibrant, loving woman took Seth and her children to all kinds of parks, bicycling, playing outside, to the city pool (which is new and puts Madison to absolute shame!), to the zoo, feeding Seth lunches, and overseeing his getting his huge amount of homework done (he is very conscientious and worked continually to complete it, which he did before we returned to Madison). Seth also went to give a talk in Tomi's class about America, using postcards and books of America and Wisconsin that we brought- and was such a huge hit (the children privately asked him questions, such as whether or not he had a girlfriend!), that they invited him to return the next day to visit the zoo with them. Jadranka also sewed up his left shoe when their small and protective dog (who was in a cage) took a healthy bite (of Seth's sock, but not his foot, which was in both, thank goodness!) when Seth inadvertently walked too near the dog's enclosure.

It was a wonderful trip, which ended in Osijek with all of the professors, Jadranka, Danijel, their children, and Seth and I sharing a lovely dinner at a very nice restaurant. A lovely and generous send off.

The world is an increasingly small place- and the warmth and generosity of people we met gave us a true feeling of connection. It would be wonderful if all children could travel to at least one other country and live with the people there. Once you have been in another country, it is impossible not to care about the health and well being of the people there. It would be a true investment in a peaceful world future.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Tip #140: A Tribute to Dr. Alma Baron

When I first started training adults in assertiveness in the mid 1970's, I taught in the evening for the University of Wisconsin Extension in Madison, Wisconsin. After I had taught two sessions, I got a call from a Dr. Alma Baron, who was interested in having me conduct a one hour after dinner program on assertiveness for her class at the Management Institute. Dr. Baron had recently introduced women's programs, beginning with a series of seminars on administrative and secretarial skills, and she thought I might possibly be a good addition to her program.

That one- hour after- dinner program soon became a two- hour afternoon program, then a four-hour program, and eventually an all- day program, as Dr. Baron took me under her wing, mentored me, and included me in more of her workshops.

We eventually even created a distance learning program in assertiveness, long before the advent of home computers and video hook ups. Alma asked me to write the introduction to the workbook, design activities, and administer the program, reading the participants'written homework which they mailed back every week! Surprisingly, it worked!

Alma was this petite bundle of energy who was always impeccably coiffed and clad in wonderful dresses and pant suits. Since she had spent a long time working in a women's clothing store with her husband, Lee, she knew just when to buy the latest fashions at the best prices. I'm sure I was a terrible disappointment to her in that arena.

However, she was a very vocal and enthusiastic supporter of my training skills and, because of Alma, I began my relationship as an ad hoc instructor for the Management Institute that would last over thirty years!

For years, her energy and vitality, her absolute love of being in front of a group and telling stories, her sincere commitment to help women move into management roles, and her ability to engage people to learn and share what they had learned were a beacon at the University.

Among Alma's many extraordinary accomplishments, the one that made the greatest difference to me was her decision to go back to school to earn her doctorate in adult education at the age of 51, while still managing Lee Baron's women's clothing store on the Square in Madison. And Alma never stopped encouraging me to return for my own doctorate, feeling that it was an important key to unlock my future.

It certainly unlocked Alma's, because she quickly expanded her sphere beyond the borders of Wisconsin and the United States to include yearly teaching commitments in India, Scandinavia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia.

She even created her own endowment: The Alma Baron Second Chance for Women Scholarship. The beneficiary of this annual award is a woman older than 45 years old who has been accepted at the University of Wisconsin- Madison to continue her education after a period of time away from academia.

Dr. Alma Baron died last week at the age of 83 after an incredibly full life as a civic leader and an amazing inspirational teacher. Because of her trust in a fledgling trainer and her prodigious support as a mentor, I was able to move with focus and certainty along the path she blazed as an independent training consultant.

I will miss her energy, her thousand- watt smile, her practical, can do optimism and creativity, her down to earth humor, and her wonderful stories and belief in the human spirit. We were all blessed to have had her with us to light the way.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Tip #139: Accelerated Learning in Croatia

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

In 1998, a good friend of mine, Joan Gillman, contacted me about my interest in conducting train the trainer workshops in Croatia. Joan had been working with the Open Society Institute, funded by Hungarian millionaire George Soros, to create small business development centers in underdeveloped and war-torn nations. Areas in Croatia (once part of Yugoslavia) had lost most of their major industries and needed to develop entrepreneurism to help the economy recover. The Open Society Institute needed to take business people and teach them how to train adult learners. Although I had never been to Europe and was worried about traveling to a former war zone, I trusted Joan and agreed to develop and facilitate two four-day train the trainer programs.

The programs were designed to generate two key outcomes:

(1) competent and confident trainers, with knowledge and experience in designing and presenting participant-based training to adult learners in their subject area; and

(2) training exercises and modules that taught entrepreneurial content and skills that could be used for future training programs.

Day One focused on adult learning principles and lesson plan design. Day Two focused on learning styles and instructional method use and design. Day Three focused on motivational techniques, accelerated learning techniques, and stand-up presentation skills. Day Four focused on instructional practice and assessment.

Once the materials were designed, they were sent to Croatia to be translated and then duplicated for the participants.

In planning what to take with me, I decided that the training environment and experience should be as close as possible to that which my American participants enjoyed. So I packed Koosh balls, music compact disks, small plastic kaleidoscopes, colored overheads with cartoons as well as key bullet points, colorful candy bowls, and 85 pounds of assorted candies (in their own suitcase!).

It wasn't until I arrived in Budapest, Hungary after the long flight and was asked if I had anything to declare by an armed soldier pointing an Uzi at me that I finally realized I could have been arrested for black marketeering the candy. Luckily, he let me pass. But I held my breath each time we drove through the Hungarian checkpoints and then the Croatian checkpoints. When the soldiers opened the trunk, I prayed that I wouldn't get myself or Boris, the young Croat man who had picked me up at the Budapest airport, in trouble.

Once in Osijek, Croatia, I set up my training room as usual: candy in the candy bowls in the center of each training table, different colored Koosh balls around the candy bowls, a kaleidoscope at each participant's place, and music playing. As the participants walked in, there was a colored cartoon on the overhead projector. What I didn't know was that the participants'sole educational experience was in lecture halls, with no interaction between professor and student. And these participants in Osijek were primarily associated with the University of Osijek as professors and instructors, ranging in age from their late 60's down to their mid 20's.

So there was an immediate culture shock when they walked into the training room. Then I began by asking common ground questions to which they had to raise their hands: "How many of you have taught for many years?” –How many of you enjoy teaching?” –How many of your students enjoy your teaching?” Suddenly, they needed to be physically active and open to humor.

Next, I had everyone stand up and, using one Koosh as an Indian talking stick, had them throw the Koosh to each other to introduce themselves. Although I'm sure that a few of the participants were simply obeying the –professor's” assignment, many of them got into the spirit of the activity immediately.

Then I had them look through the kaleidoscopes and explain how that experience was like training, and I had an interpreter capture their ideas on a flip chart.

Soon, they were playing with the Koosh balls, enjoying the candy, interacting with each other and with me, and laughing at the cartoon overheads. Since the entire program was designed around application exercises, I learned some Croat relatively soon so that we could conduct task analyses and create learning objectives on flip charts.

The next day, they had the opportunity to experience participant-centered learning activities for the very first time: questionnaires, case studies, hands on activities, and role plays. And then they had time to create their own, which they loved.

During the third day, we experimented with the specific accelerated learning technique of designing curriculum around a meaningful metaphor. Not only did they absorb the idea, they were amazingly creative with their metaphors and associated props to teach business-related content.

The fourth day, when they put it all together to each facilitate a 10 minute participant-centered activity that they had developed, they were amazing! They captured the best of accelerated learning and incorporated props, metaphors, and hands on activities into business-related modules they could then use in the small business development centers.

We all celebrated by going out for fish soup!

Most telling, the Dean and Assistant Dean of Economics at JJ Strossmeyer University were so impressed by the results of the train the trainer that they discussed having me return to Osijek to help them design the first European student-centered MBA program in Entrepreneurship and train the faculty there!

The next day, Joan, Boris and I drove to Zagreb, the beautiful cosmopolitan capital of Croatia, which had not been touched by the war. And the following day, we flew to Dubrovnik, a 1000-year old walled city along the Adriatic that had sustained a lot of bombing damage that had ended all tourism in the area.

This time, most of the participants were business people rather than academics. And by the fourth day, when they facilitated their 10 minute modules, I cried because they were so very good.

When we left, my candy suitcase now empty of candy but full of gifts from Croatia, Boris finally admitted to me that when he had lifted the 85 pounds of candy in the Budapest airport parking lot, it had almost killed him!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Tip #138: Trust Accelerated Learning Techniques

Accelerated learning techniques include involving as many senses as possible for whole brain learning and to meet the needs of different learning styles. Color, music, touch, movement, visual stimulation, and the use of metaphor and story are all very important ingredients in an accelerated learning classroom.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to conduct a train the trainer program for five men who work and train on oil rigs around the world. As I was planning what to pack, I had second thoughts about bringing the kites and colorful agenda map I usually put on the walls, the koosh balls, clay, pipe cleaners, candy, and the music I play. Rather than a distraction to learning, these items generally satisfy and stimulate different learners to enrich their learning. However, these were rough tough guys who worked in the most difficult and dangerous places in the world- and I was concerned that I would lose credibility if they came into the training room and saw all of this.

After a lot of thought, I decided that I believed in accelerated learning and I needed to trust that they would respond positively.

Yes, they were a tad surprised when they walked into the room- but it was a pleasant surprise. Not only did they respond positively, they turned out to be one of the most creative tactile groups I've ever had! They went through the clay and the pipe cleaners so quickly I needed to refresh their supplies every day. And they loved receiving the pictures of their creativity and their work posted on flip charts, which I always send to groups after a program.

I learned to trust what I know works- and that if I am positive about what I am doing, most of my participants will feel the same way.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tip #137: Don't Make Assumptions About Your Effectiveness

I am a highly interactive facilitator. This means that if the folks in my training session don't actively participate, my goose is generally cooked. And, by active participation, I mean being verbally rather than telepathically responsive.

A number of years ago, I was asked to conduct a workshop on different personality types for a conference of certified public accountants. There were probably 150 folks in the workshop. Now, this was a great topic, wonderfully interesting and engaging, and lots of fun for the participants and for me! I began by asking them to think about someone with whom they have terrible difficulty communicating. I cautioned them that hopefully this person was not a boss, a spouse or a significant other. That comment typically gets at least a titter, but I got NOTHING! There was absolute silence...

So, I tried harder! I began to explain the four different personality types and how they perceived each other. I used humorous anecdotes, drew on people in the audience (by using their names from their name tags) for mock role plays, and showed funny cartoons. Still NOTHING. The group was completely quiet. However, the good news was that they were all still looking at me. This told me either that they must be interested -or they had all learned how to sleep with their eyes open!

By the time the workshop was done, I was completely wiped out. I didn't have another ounce of energy, enthusiasm, or humor left. The woman who had hired me came up to me with a huge smile on her face. She told me that the group had LOVED me and would I come back the next year and do another workshop for them? I was absolutely stunned. Luckily, I restrained myself from asking her –How could you tell they were alive?”

I learned (again the hard way!) that folks can be totally interested in a topic, feel that they are learning a lot, and truly enjoy the experience, even if they don't show it. I slammed headfirst into the reality of different learning styles. Now, these days if I have a very quiet group, I draw a few participants aside at the break to check how things are going. Invariably, what I hear is that everything is fine and to keep doing what I am doing.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Tip #136: Don't Take It Personally

You know how you work hard to engage every participant when you are training? I certainly do! And I used to focus all of my energy on the ones who did NOT seem engaged.

I was conducting a training program and continued to notice that a woman, sitting right smack in the middle of the class (isn't that always the case!), was continually making unhappy faces at me. So I did everything I could to draw her into the session, being as charming and informative and entertaining as possible. Nothing I did made a dent in her negative demeanor.

When the break came, I walked behind her because I was planning to ask her what the problem was. Then I overheard her explaining to another participant that she was in great pain because she needed an operation on her leg. Her unhappy non-verbals had absolutely NOTHING to do with me or the training session!!! So I asked her if she would be more comfortable resting her leg on a chair and adjusted the seating arrangement to enable her to do just that.

I learned a very important lesson from that experience. When someone has to leave a session, or falls asleep even sitting in the front of the room, or makes unhappy faces, I do my best NOT to take it personally and, even more, not to notice and have the behavior affect me. I know that my training sessions are engaging and entertaining, incorporating ample participation and application of new learning. The one time a person actually did fall asleep, I knew he had to be incredibly tired- and found out later that he had been up all night with a sick family member.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Tip #135: Learning Respect the Hard Way

Back in the late 1970's, I was employed as an Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor and Trainer on a project basis by the state of Wisconsin in their first Affirmative Action Office. I investigated a prima facie case of sex discrimination in hiring, where the interviewing supervisors refused to hire women for lead building maintenance positions. As a result of that investigation, all of the building maintenance superintendents were ordered to attend a training session. They came into the session knowing that I had “fingered” them.

I began the session from a very self righteous position, knowing that I was right and they were very wrong. My tone, my demeanor, and my words all came across with a clear message to the participants: "You discriminate against women and you need to stop that right now!”

The men were all in their forties, fifties and sixties, and very large and strong, since they spent their days in physical labor. They were also furious with me. As I pontificated, one of the men stood up and started bellowing at me and moving toward me. I had no where to go- he was between me and the exit. I was so frightened, I couldn't move anyway. So I did the only thing I could think of to save my hide: I asked him why he was so angry.

He proceeded to tell me that he had a wife, sisters and daughters, and he would not want any of them up on the Capitol roof sweeping ice during a snow storm. It was much too dangerous! He had been raised to protect women and that was all he was doing when he refused to hire women into the lead building maintenance positions. It would be irresponsible and completely against his social and family responsibilities to allow a woman to be in danger.

It had never occurred to me. I suddenly realized that I had been sorely mistaken about their intentions. It didn't change the fact that their ultimate behavior was illegal, but it opened up a very different avenue for conversation. So I admitted that I had not understood before, apologized for never asking for their reasoning, and thanked the man for explaining their perspective on the situation.

Rather than telling them what they had done was wrong, I started to ask questions to help them recognize that women had a right to decide for themselves if they wanted a particular job, even if it was dangerous at times. I was able to draw on their love and concern for the women in their lives as I framed the questions. They certainly would not want someone else standing in the way of their loved ones'right to make decisions that affected their economic well-being.

I completely changed my tone, he sat down (whew!). we all had a great conversation, and every one of the superintendents voluntarily sent all of their supervisors to the next training sessions.

I learned a very important lesson from that group, to set aside my "holier than thou” mantle and ask questions so I could really understand where they were coming from and what they were thinking when they acted in certain ways. I learned the hard way to treat the participants with respect.

Monday, August 7, 2006

Tip #134: Let Learners Convince Themselves

That wonderful accelerated learning guru, Dave Meier, says that we should never do what the learners can do for themselves. I learned this truth a long time ago.

While I was conducting a team building session for an agency, the President came over to congratulate me on the session. He then proceeded to say that he wanted my help in converting his organization into a participative management system. He explained that he had run the organization for eighteen years and was now ready to retire and move to France. He wanted his employees to learn how to run the business- and he thought that I was just the person to help facilitate that transformation. The one challenge that he anticipated was convincing the psychologists and psychiatrists on his staff (this was a social service agency). Since they were paid only for client contact time, it made sense that a participative management approach requiring lots of administrative meetings might not be that attractive for them!

He scheduled a mandatory training session for all 150 of the psychologists and psychiatrists, where he expected me to do my magic. In the meantime, I fretted over how I was possibly going to “out-psych” the psychs!

I finally decided to place a flip chart next to the entrance with the focus question: "How will converting to a participatory form of management benefit you?” Everyone saw the question as they entered the training room.

I began the session by referring to the question and asking for their responses. Do you know, that was by far the easiest training day I've ever facilitated?

They proceeded to brainstorm thirty different ways the new management style would benefit them, including –creating a new system for compensation.” I spent the entire day in the back of the room drinking hot chocolate while they formed themselves into different task forces and proceeded to plan how to transform the agency! Afterwards, the President was thrilled with the results and thought I walked on water!

I learned a very important lesson from that group. It is much easier and much more effective to let the learners convince themselves!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Tip #133: Inspiration

My mother, Merle Levine, was a high school social studies teacher for many years before she became a high school principal. In a recent Tip, I mentioned that she was the one who first introduced me to Dr. Madeline Hunter's Mastery Teaching Model, which had an enduring impact on my philosophy and approach to training.

I have always known that my mother is an incredible teacher- creative, caring, dedicated to bringing history and culture alive for her students through role plays, field trips, literature, debates and all of the interactive and challenging avenues through which excellent educators introduce and teach critical thinking.

This week, I received a message from someone who had been trying to locate my mother. When she googled my mother's name, it brought her to that Tip, so she wrote to me. In our correspondence back and forth to give her my mother's contact information, the writer had this to say:

I was a student of hers (Wheatley '73) and think of her often... She is the main source of many of my fond memories of [high school].”

It must be a common dream of most educators to have an impact on their students. Imagine one of your students remembering you and thinking of you “often” for over thirty-three years!

When William A. Ward wrote this sentiment, I'm certain he was thinking of my mother and of all the special teachers who make an indelible positive impression on the lives of their students: "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Tip #132: How It Feels To Facilitate Learning

School will be starting soon. My son, Seth, will probably be part time at a technical college and part time finishing the one English credit he needs to graduate early from high school. He is anxious to continue his long and dedicated interest in computer animation. I have watched him teach himself how to draw, learn computer programs, read and then develop his own tutorials for his international network of computer animators, and continually seek to learn and try new techniques as he hones his personal style.

At the other end of the career spectrum, I spent a week at an Elderhostel in the San Juan Islands with my octogenarian mother, who is a retired high school principal and college educator busier than ever working hard to continue to make a difference in her community. (We get together for a weeklong adventure somewhere in the United States when my octogenarian father goes to what he calls his –music camp” at a college in Massachusetts to continue his lifelong learning on the clarinet.) So many of the incredibly fascinating folks at the Elderhostel were- you may have guessed it- current or retired educators!

Until now, Laurel Learning Tips have focused exclusively on the principles and techniques for assessing needs, designing curriculum, facilitating and presenting training, and evaluating training. What we have not discussed is how it actually feels to facilitate learning. Is it entirely altruistic, or is there something we as teachers and trainers get from the experience?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that all teachers and trainers are a special breed of lifelong learners. They continually seek new information and techniques that will allow them to be better at their craft, which increases the probability that they will have the amazing opportunity to see the light go on in learners' eyes! And what teachers or trainers leave a class without learning something about themselves as individuals or as trainers, in addition to new topic-specific information or techniques that they learn from the learners themselves. I have said that I will stop training when I stop learning from the participants in the classes I have the honor to facilitate. When learning is a cooperative venture, all of the partners benefit.

Friday, July 7, 2006

Tip #131: MTM: Effective Examples

Trainer behavior is concerned with what the trainer will do to facilitate learning. The use of relevant examples can ensure that learning occurs more quickly and is retained longer, because the example already has meaning to the learner.

Last week, we looked at four criteria involved in creating effective examples. Dr. Hunter also has suggestions for how to present those examples:

  1. Highlight critical attributes by offering obvious –non exemplars.” Half of knowing what something is, is knowing what it isn't. A “non exemplar” is an example that is similar but lacks the critical attribute or essence of the example being taught.

    Analyze each example in advance. It is difficult to come up with an excellent example off the cuff. The example is more likely to be effective if it is carefully thought out and validated against the four criteria discussed last week.

  2. Introduce trainer-generated examples first. To ensure quality control, it is best if the trainer gives most, if not all, of the examples at the beginning of new learning. After the concept is very clear, it is then useful to have the learners generate additional examples to check their comprehension.

Dr. Hunter concludes: "Generating interesting or humorous examples that use students' past knowledge and highlight the essence or critical attribute without ambiguous or emotional overtones is a manifestation of artistry in teaching.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Tip #130: MTM: Trainer Behavior Decisions

Trainer behavior is concerned with what the trainer will do to facilitate learning. The use of relevant examples can ensure that learning occurs more quickly and is retained longer, because the example already has meaning to the learner.

According to Dr. Madeline Hunter, "If the examples have certain critical characteristics, positive transfer will more predictably occur and learning will be accelerated.” To produce effective examples:

1. Identify the "essence” of what is to be learned. This essence or critical attribute is that which makes something what it is; no other thing has that particular attribute or set of attributes. Examples of critical attributes:

  • Mammals possess mammary glands and hair.

  • A pledge is a verbal statement (written or oral) made to convince someone else that the pledger intends to do something.

  • Persevere” means to make oneself continue doing something even though one is tempted to stop.

2. Use examples from the learner's own experience. For example: a seal might be a more meaningful mammal than a cow for someone in Alaska.

3. Check examples to avoid ambiguity. It would be less confusing to begin a discussion of mammals with the example of a cow rather than a whale. Although whales are also mammals, the fact that they live in water like a fish can confuse the issue.

4. Avoid emotional or controversial overtones that can distract attention from the critical attribute. To introduce whales as mammals that are in danger of extinction can be distracting from the focus on mammals.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Tip #129: MTM: Trainer Behavior Decisions

Trainer behavior is concerned with what the trainer will do to facilitate learning. One key decision relates to how to make the most efficient use of time for effective learning. This requires awareness and preparation to avoid the wasteful –time leaks” that can occur during three different phases of the teaching/ learning process:

  1. Transition time

  2. Instruction time

  3. Post-instruction, independent practice time

For example, waiting time can become learning time by having participants think about or do something during transitions. You know that participants arrive at different times. Some are there very early and others come later. Wouldn't it be nice to honor their time by having them get involved in an activity related to the program as soon as they arrive?

Transitional learning activities (called “sponges”) can productively “sop up” waiting time that would otherwise be wasted in waiting until instruction can begin. These can include instructions (on a Power Point slide or flip chart) to meet other participants and discuss questions relevant to the training, or participate in a self reflection activity (“Please identify one thing that would make your participation in this program worthwhile and write it on a post-it note and then place it on the flip chart.”)

As participants leave for a break, you can even ask them to “be thinking about” something related to the content that will be covered after the break. Although they will not be aware they are actually thinking about the content while they are on break, once they return to class they will be immediately ready to get into the content. This is called an “anticipatory set.”

To patch instructional time leaks, DON'T:

  • Assign tasks so difficult that no amount of effort will result in success- or so easy that little or no effort is required.

  • Include material in a lesson that is related and could be important in another lesson, but is not necessary to achieve today's learning.

  • Make digressions that distract the participants.

  • Present material in such a way that participants see no relevance to themselves. Consequently, they aren't motivated to put forth learning effort.

  • Pass out materials one at a time to each participant.

  • Name the participant who will answer, before asking a question. This lets every other person in the room off the hook for even thinking about the answer!

  • Discipline a participant while the others "enjoy the show.”

To patch independent practice leaks, DO:

  • Have participants spend time on practice and activities that produce large learning gain.

  • Make sure the participants know when their answers are incorrect, so they do not continue to make the same errors and the errors become "set.”

  • Make sure the participants know what to do after they finish a task.

Dr. Hunter says that –Time is the coin of teaching. That is what we have to spend to obtain learning.” We need to avoid wasting precious learning time!!

Monday, June 12, 2006

Tip #128: MTM: Learner Behavior Decisions

How do we decide what input method will be successful so that the learner output will validate that learning has occurred?

In other words, how do we decide HOW the learner will learn and will demonstrate that learning?

How do we select the input learning methods will enable the learner to acquire the level of learning that is necessary? Here, we need to keep in mind three different considerations. The first is a task analysis that breaks the learning into smaller essential components and places these components in a logical sequence. The task analysis will let us know what needs to be taught first, second, third, etc.

The second is a determination of the level of learning necessary for each separate essential task analysis component. The level of learning will indicate which learning methods are more appropriate. For example, if we want to ensure knowledge, then reference materials, lecture, a video, a panel discussion, or small group self discovery may be appropriate.

The third is the selection of learning methods that will meet the needs of different learning styles. Although there are many learning style models, at the very least we should ensure that there is a visual, an auditory, and a kinesthetic component to the learning methods that we select.

The second part of that equation is also not difficult. Our guiding principle is that the learner should have an opportunity to do in the classroom whatever we expect the learner to do once s/he leaves the classroom. The ultimate level of learning that is necessary (whether it be knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation) will again automatically indicate what learning methods are appropriate. Following through on our examples from last week, if the level of learning is independent application of a specific set of skills, then we will need some highly experiential learning method: hands on if it is a technical skill and possibly role play if it is an interpersonal skill (such as interviewing or negotiating). We need to select methods will enable the learner to demonstrate his or her learning.

If the level of learning is comprehension of the changes in a procedure, then a questionnaire, a game, a group discussion, or a case study might be appropriate. Again, any method is appropriate that will allow the learner to prove his or her comprehension.

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Tip #127: MTM: Content Decisions

How do we decide what degree of difficulty or complexity of content is appropriate for our learners? Our needs assessment will have to determine:

  1. Who is the target audience?

  2. What general content needs to be covered?

  3. What will our learners be expected to do once they leave the training session?

  4. What is their current level of skill or knowledge in this content area?

  5. What post-training reinforcement is available to the participants?

The answers to these questions will help us to decide what level of complexity in the content is necessary and appropriate. For example, suppose that we determine that our learners will be expected to independently perform a responsibility that is entirely new to them. We will know then that we have to start simply with the basics and gradually increase the degree of difficulty and complexity of knowledge and applied practice to the point that they have learned and demonstrated all of the necessary skills to perform that responsibility.

On the other hand, suppose that the general content is a series of changes to a procedure with which the learners are already very familiar and that their supervisor will reinforce their performance back on the job. In this case, there is a limited degree of difficulty and complexity, since the key outcome is that the learners become familiar with and understand the changes. The real application of their new learning will occur on the job, not in the classroom.

It is really a simple mathematical equation, in which we subtract what they already can do (the answer to question #4) from what they will be expected to do (the answer to question #5). The remainder is what they will need to learn.

Clearly, this is not a situation where one size fits all. If we want to be effective trainers, we must have answers to these questions and the flexibility to tailor the content to meet the learners' needs.

Thursday, June 1, 2006

Tip #126: MTM: Theory

According to Dr. Madeline Hunter in Enhancing Teaching: “Teaching, like medicine, is a relativistic, situational profession where there are no absolutes. There is nothing that an effective teacher always does or never does (with the one exception of never causing a student to lose dignity)....”

“We now know that teaching is an action-performance profession based on knowledge that must be put into action, often at incredibly high speeds. While lesson planning can be done on ‘one’s seat,’ teaching involves, at high speed, making modifications of that plan on ‘one’s feet’ as a result of perceiving data that are emerging from students and situations. “

Dr. Hunter did not endorse any particular teaching model, method or technique. All she asked was that teachers make decisions about the methods and approach they would use after considering these three factors, which I have partially paraphrased:

  • The degree of difficulty or complexity of content that is appropriate for the learners


  • An input method that is successful because the student output validates that learning has occurred


  • Appropriate use of research-based principles that promote motivation to learn, increase rate and degree of learning, and contribute to the probability that learning will be retained and productively transferred to new situations that require problem solving, creativity, and decision making.


Who could possibly disagree with these basic teaching principles?

Next week, we will look at some practical applications of these principles.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Tip #125: MTM: The Elements of Instructional Design

There are eight elements that should be considered in the design of an effective lesson. These elements constitute building blocks that, if placed in the appropriate sequence for the content to be taught, can ensure that the learners have the basic knowledge they need so that they can be successful.

  1. Objective: identify the learning objectives so that the students know what to expect in the lesson.

  2. Anticipatory Set: ask a question or use a brief activity that requires the students to focus on the learning objective.

  3. Input: present the content to be learned, or draw it from the students, possibly through their response to the anticipatory set.

  4. Model: provide an example of the content, possibly through an analogy to explain the essence of what is to be taught.

  5. Check for Comprehension: ask or respond to questions.

  6. Guided/Monitored Practice: walk the students through another example so that they can participate in applying the content.

  7. Independent Practice: have the students participate in an exercise that requires them to apply the content in another example without the instructor's assistance.

  8. Closure: end the lesson to close down thinking.

The elements can be combined: for example, checking for comprehension and guided/monitored practice. They can be placed in a different order: for example, letting the students identify what the objective is later in the lesson rather than telling them right away. They can also be eliminated if they are not relevant to the learning process.

For some reason, some early adopters of the Mastery Teaching Model did not realize this. They insisted that all eight elements must be used and should be sequenced in a specific order. This misguided practice generated a perception that the model was rigid and stifled creativity- when in fact the essence of the Mastery Teaching Model is teacher flexibility in decision-making to meet the learner's needs.

This misunderstanding distressed Madeline Hunter. In her last book, Enhancing Teaching, she devoted two early chapters to responding to her detractors. She began: "What's wrong with Madeline Hunter? More specifically, what's wrong with a model of teaching that increases the probability of learning by (1) identifying professional decisions teachers must make; (2) supplying research-based cause-effect relationships to support those decisions; and (3) encouraging the teacher to use data emerging from the student and the situation to augment or correct those decisions? Doesn't knowing cause and most probable effect free teachers for creative, successful teaching? I always thought so. In fact, I still do..."

"...Our clinical theory of instruction is based on the premise that the teacher is a decision maker. Because no one can tell the teacher what to do, our purpose is to tell teachers what to consider before deciding what to do and, as a result, to base teaching decisions on sound theory rather than on folklore and fantasy."

Monday, May 29, 2006

Tip #124: MTM: Three Training Decisions

The Mastery Teaching Model was developed by Dr. Madeline Hunter of the University of California at Los Angeles to increase teaching effectiveness. More than ad hoc charismatic oratory, she defined teaching as "a constant stream of professional decisions made before, during and after interaction with the learner; decisions which, when implemented, increase the probability of learning."

According to Dr. Hunter, regardless of who or what is being taught, all teaching decisions fall into three categories:

  1. Content: what content to teach next;

  2. Learner Behavior: what the learner will do to learn and to demonstrate that learning has occurred; and

  3. Teacher Behavior: what the teacher will do to facilitate learning.

This is such a simple concept with enormous implications. I love the idea of teaching (and training) being an ongoing organic process, continually growing and changing to meet the needs of the learner. It is inherently respectful of the learner, making it crystal clear that the focus of attention is on the learner, not the teacher. It is no coincidence that when the acronym for these three decisions is reversed, it spells TLC (or tender loving care)!