T is for Training 323 – This Needs Salt!

On the call were Maurice Coleman, Paul Signorelli, Sardek Love, and the newest friend of the show Anne Bruce. We talked about their new book from McGraw Hill Business Essentials Publications –  Presentation Essentials.

Anne and Sardek {with Paul and Maurice occasionally contributing} talked about the wisdom, tools, and best practices of presentations, the difference between presenting, training, and lecturing, and how both new and seasoned speakers can hone their craft.

A fascinating conversation featuring stories and insight from these two wonderful speakers.

Give a listen. 

And buy the damn book.

It’s a TARDIS. It’s bigger on the inside.

The podcast had to work around the occasional minefield of technology aka Talkshoe.  We recorded in Zoom (THANKS PAUL!)

From the T is for Training Bookshelf: Innovate Inside the Box

Sometimes a book can be much more than what rests upon its pages. It can be a catalyst. A meeting place. An invitation to engage in reflective learning. And the center of a community that forms when each of us, through our own reactions and interactions with the book and other readers, end up producing our own individual, highly-personalized versions of that book—which is exactly the sort of multilevel, potentially transformative experience that George Couros and Katie Novak have produced through Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL [Universal Design for Learning] and the Innovator’s Mindset.

The book itself–discussed in Episode #261 of the podcast–is a paeon to the idea that innovation can be fostered as much by and within the limitations we face as trainer-teacher-learners as by thinking outside the box: “…the system, with its rules and limitations, is never a reason not to innovate. To the contrary, the system or ‘box’ you work within may be the very reason you need to innovate,” Couros writes in the opening pages of the introduction to the book. And, as has happened both times I have read books he has produced, I find myself taking an innovative approach to the act of reading itself: slowing down rather than racing through the text; stopping to follow links to sources (e.g., blog posts, short articles, or videos) he has cited in his text so that they become part of my personal version of the book; reflecting, through blog posts, on the content he (and, in this case, in collaboration with Novak) provides as a way of more deeply and rewardingly absorbing what he offers; and engaging in online interactions with others who are also reading—or have read—the book.

Section One of the book—“The Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning”—has Couros, as a co-conspirator in our learning process, walking us through chapters exploring the importance of relationships in learning; learning that is learner-drive and evidence-informed; creating (and engaging in) empowered learning experiences; and being both a master learner and a master educator—recognizing, at all times, that the word “master” does not mean that we are perfect.

The second section fully carries us into chapter-by-chapter explorations of the “characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset”: empathetic, problem finders-solvers, risk-takers, networked, observant, creators, resilient, and reflective. A short, very sweet concluding section suggesting “You Are the Change You Seek” serves as a reminder that “finishing” the book does not mean we are about to place it on a shelf where it becomes covered under an ever-growing shroud of dust, for this is not the kind of book you finish—or that is ever finished with you. As long as we remember what we have gained and apply it to the work we do, we will continue innovating within the box—and far beyond it, too.

(A more detailed version of this review is available on my Building Creative Bridges blog.)

–Paul Signorelli

T is for Training @ #ATD2019 Monday Monday Final Edition – Meet, Talk, Repeat.

So today at #ATD2019 for the show was awesome. Here goes the bullet points of my day:

Sat in on the Chad Udell @visualrinse presser about his book  Shock of the New. Hope to have him on the show to talk about his work including how you can use his 30 question rubric to help you evaluate your organization and how technology can be used by your organization.

Sat in on the Paul Smith (@paulsmithatd) discusses his new book Learning While Working which focuses on successful training while in a particular position.   His interview will be coming up on the show soon.

After lunch and some time in a session by Bob Pike (@bobpikectt) where he trained some trainers. And did so with style and humor. Paul Signorelli @trainersleaders has the notes about that session and a session with Jamie Millard/Frank Satterwaite authors of the book Becoming a Can-Do Leader. If we are lucky we will get them on an upcoming episode of the podcast.

Then a string of great serendipitous interviews with:

• Paul Meshanko (@paulmeshanko) about the keys to respect. An organization were the employees respect each other is a more productive workplace with an engaged workforce not focused on their limbic brain. That two part interview will be up soon.
• Ken Phillips (site to come) talked about evaluation and how to build a strong evaluation tool and his work on the 12 questions to effectively evaluate the transfer of learning. He taught me that what I don’t know about evaluation would fill several volumes. Two parts up soon.
• Dr. Chan Lee (@hrdream) from Seoul National University talked about AI and that AI won’t take away jobs but allow job restructuring to free workers from mundane tasks.
• Dr. Claretha Hughes and I talked about the intersection of talent management and technology and how companies can keep their people if they treat them like technology. Her most recent book is called Workforce Inter-Personnel Diversity: The Power to Influence Human Productivity and Career Development.
  

I was truly lucky to meet such a group of smart and engaged people today. I do need to clean up some sound, including two different breaks for convention center unexpected furniture movement.

We will be talking about some of these subjects on the next episode of T is for Training this Friday at 2pm ET.

T is for Training @ #ATD2019 Monday Monday 1 – Chad Udell, @visualrinse Shock of the New briefing notes.

Here is my report of the press briefing of author Chad Udell (@visaulrinse) discussing his book Shock of the New.

Some notes:

• The book is platform agnostic.  The tech and evaluation is important not the container.
• The book has a 30 question rubric to help you evaluate your organization and how technology can be used by your organization.
• Budget in Learning and Development should include money for R and D of new technology and how it can be leveraged in your organization to promote better employee engagement.
• Organizations need build the capability of its workforce.
• 10 years from now the workplace climate will be as different as our homes are now compared to 10 years ago.  Smart devices, connectivity and seamless knowledge access are becoming the norm not the exception in places.

Very approachable and accessible person, so I am assuming that his book is just as approachable and accessible.

Looking forward to a longer interview on T is for Training in the near future.

@TisForTraining Resource Recommendation – Universal Design: Places to Start

Jay Dolmage, associate professor at the University of Waterloo (Canada) is a committed to disability rights.  His writings on the topic include the book Disability Rhetoric  (2014), Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education (2017), and Disabled Upon Arrival: Eugenics, Immigration, and the Construction of Race and Disability (2018).  He is the Founding Editor of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. In 2015, he published online a “long list of UD suggestions, organized according to some of the different modes of ‘delivery’ or styles of teaching in higher education.”  The list – “Universal Design: Places to Start” – in a 23-page appendix (PDF) in Disability Studies Quarterly.

On T is for Training, we have frequently discussed elements of universal design, without using that phrase.  Some of the suggestions are things we’ve discussed, while some are not.  With an increased focus on accessibility, this list is definitely worth using.

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions”

Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions. (2018). Alexandria: ATD Press

Clark Quinn

The training myths, misconceptions, and superstitions to which we subscribe are hurting us, the organizations we serve, and those served by our learners, Clark Quinn maintains throughout his wonderfully engaging new book, Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions.

Quinn’s respect for and commitment to evidence-based research, his puckish sense of humor, and his obvious commitment to setting and fostering the highest possible standards of professionalism in learning and development are on clear display throughout the book–as they were during his T is for Training conversation in Episode #230.

Highly recommended.

–A longer review of the book is available on the ATD (Association for Talent Development) Science of Learning blog.

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “Revolutionize Learning & Development”

Revolutionize Learning & Development. (2014). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons and ASTD Press

Clark Quinn 

Clark Quinn is certainly not the first to say he is mad as hell and to urge us to not take it anymore. But in this well-researched, highly- and finely-nuanced book, he does far more than recycle old rants. He builds upon research-based evidence to show where we continue to go wrong in talent development and, more importantly, offers suggestions for changing our course(s) to the benefit of those we serve. The real winners here are the learners we will better support by adapting Quinn’s first-rate recommendations to fit our learners’ and organizations’ needs.

–This brief review, originally written as a “shelf talker” posted in the conference bookstore at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver (May 2016), is re-posted here with the permission of our ATD colleagues. A longer set of reflections is available on the “Building Creative Bridges” blog.

 

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development”

ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development. (2014). Alexandria: ASTD Press

Elaine Biech, editor 

If the title doesn’t already say all it all, let’s go one step further: Elaine Biech is one of our great ATD (Association for Talent Development) resources, and the Handbook is a treasured, foundational part of my talent-development book collection. Well organized and comprehensive in its survey of all aspects of talent development, the book makes nearly 100 of our greatest colleagues/mentors accessible to us within one volume. Whether you use it as an encyclopedia (exploring topics on an as-needed basis) or decide to read it cover-to-cover (and there’s no reason why you can’t do both), it’s a cherished must-have book.

–This brief review, originally written as a “shelf talker” posted in the conference bookstore at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver (May 2016), is re-posted here with the permission of our ATD colleagues. 

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning”

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results (3^rd edition). (2015). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons and ATD Press

Roy V.H. Pollock, Andrew McK. Jefferson, and Calhoun Wick 

When you sit down to read The Six Disciplines, you’ll want to have a highlighter nearby: every page of this book bursts with wonderful guidance and stories that remind us talent development [aka training-teaching-learning-doing], at its best, is a results-driven endeavor. Having been tremendously influenced by the first edition when the Six Disciplines phenomenon was initially gaining steam, I found myself falling in love with the book all over again in its latest iteration; it’s like meeting an old friend who had a first-rate makeover none of us realized was necessary. Glad the authors continue to build on their earlier successes.

–This brief review, originally written as a “shelf talker” posted in the conference bookstore at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver (May 2016), is re-posted here with the permission of our ATD colleagues.