Friday, June 27, 2008

It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer


Everyone has their own facilitation style. Facilitation is an art form, much like dancing or playing in a band. In dancing, you have to hold a rhythm with your partner. In a band, you collaborate and co-create without straying too far from the score. Whatever your artistry, there are good practices and “ best practices”. Here are some tips for ballroom dancers that apply equally to masterful facilitators.

· Make your partner feel at ease.
· Lead gently.
· Value the role of your partner.
· Be enthusiastic.
· Smile.
· Stay focused.
· Don’t let them see you sweat.
· Turn imperfections into improvisations.
· Use proper form and make it yours.
· Use appropriate ballroom etiquette.
· Take lessons from a good teacher, not just a good dancer.
· Don’t wobble, or lose your beat.
· When you dance, your body should be in continuous motion.

And my personal favourite…

· Put some snap in your spin.

Learner as empty vessel? No way! They are filled to the brim!


Ever have a training day when it just seemed like nothing you were doing was working? Maybe you had "sleepers" or "chatters" or the preoccupied. You tried, you retried, you adjusted and tried again.......Well here is the good news....

After checking YOUR efforts first (did you use active learning techniques, was your approach multi modal"? etc.) it may turn out to be your learners. The revolt is at hand. New research shows that more and more adults are coming to our corporate classrooms already overloaded, overstimulated and just plain tired. They have our information already but can't apply it, they know our strategies but don't have the authority to make changes, their work sits and waits for them at the end of the class day. What they are telling us is THEY JUST CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE.

But, we are just the messengers, what can we do....?

Stay tuned over the summer as we identify some strategies for calming the learner revolt and reach the "inner student".

-Janet

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bandanna-Cup-Marble Teambuilding Game

This is a great, easy to use exercise that makes key learning points about each group member's responsibility to both follow and lead. Make sure you facilliatate this powerful debrief!


Group Size: 4 to 10 people per bandana
Time: 5 – 15 minutes
Space: Medium – Lots
Set Up Time: 60 seconds
Props: For each team of 6-10 people: one plastic cup, one bandana,one marble
Objective: Transport a marble balanced on a cup from one point to another.

Set Up / Preparation:
Create groups of about 8 people and supply each group with one bandana, one marble and one plastic cup (the plastic cup should have some kind of lip on the bottom of it).

The group surrounds the bandana and holds on to it with both hands along the edges creating a tabletop effective. The cup is now placed up side down on the bandana then the marble is placed on top of / balanced on the cup. The group is now asked to transport the bandana-cup-marble from one point to another.

Rules:
1. If the marble falls off the group must start again.
2. Everyone must hold on to the edge of the bandana with both hands.
3. The bandana must be kept tight and flat.
4. The supplied equipment (props) may not be altered.
5. No other supplies may be used.

Variations:
After everyone is set to go with the activity, ask them to place their bandana-cup-marble assembly on a small table in an adjacent room SIMULTANEOUSLY. There should be only one doorway to the other room so the teams are forced to wait on each other. The table should be small to force the groups to communicate and create a plan.

Debrief:

Have everyone circle up in their small groups and answer the following questions:

What metaphorically is the bandana, cup, marble, and table relative to your job in this organization?

What was your rolw in contributing to successs?

What got in the way?

More Variations
1. Place obstacles in the path of the group such as a tables or chairs. Consider
having the group go up a flight of stairs.
2. Use a taller cup and a larger, denser ball (like a baseball) to make this lots
harder

p>*From www.teachmeteamwork.com

Monday, June 23, 2008

How we do it differently!

Advance Corporate Training Ltd. (ACT) is a brain-based learning specialist - our logo represents the six key secrets to ensuring learning takes hold in the learner and can transfer back to the workplace. Here are the six secrets and why engaging each one of them encourages higher learning levels.

Personal Relevance
(Association Cortex)
When we associate learning with what we already know, we are more open to a new idea. Info that supports our existing knowledge is better retained and transferred on-the-job.

Kinesthetic Learning
(Motor Cortex)
When we are engaged physically while learning, our brain operates more efficiently and we are better able to apply learned skills consistently.

Emotion & Engagement
(Somatosensory Cortex)
Emotion is often missing in many adult learning environments. When we emotionally connect to the material we learn more and deeper. ACT designs all its courses to engage this cortex.

Auditory Learning
(Auditory Cortex)
When we listen and speak we deepen our understanding. This cortex needs time to engage, so the start of all conversations should be “losable” data.

Visual Learning
(Visual Cortex)
We all need to have visual stimulation to be energized by learning. If we visualize our changed performance, we are more able to achieve it.

Broca's Area
Our ability to communicate clearly and to understand complex concepts is controlled here. Without learning that engages this area of the brain, we know but we don't understand and can't share our knowledge. True learning occurs after we achieve understanding, and performance change can not occur without understanding. This area was identified in 1861 by Pierre Paul Broca to be the “seat of articulation”.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Why Facilitation?

Why not training, teaching, coaching or instructing?


I have been an aggressive advocate of facilitation in adult education ever since I was in a very poorly led class at a University on teaching adults. We were literally told not to ask questions, not to "try to reinvent the wheel" and to just do essays on what was in the textbooks - we were also told not to challenge the professor as he was close to retirement and had already put up with it for too long! Imagine!

Interestingly enough, many of my classmates were fine with these guidelines as they then clearly knew expectations and knew what they had to do to get top marks -they were right, it made it easy to succeed if success was based on good grades.

but.... I was one of those annoying students who actually wanted to learn something practical and relevant to my world. This wasn't working for me and when I challenged the status quo - the teacher's and institution's response turned me off from expecting my learning to take place at University....so much so that I became a "difficult student" .

On the flip side, I happened to take another course where the teacher set us up for success the moment we walked through the door, and let us know that he trusted that all we knew from life was real and relevant to his class and that an open-mind was all we needed - not a textbook and not obedience to his ideals. He was still controlling, discipline driven, challenging and worked us hard - but for me it was worth it as every day after class I could walk away with at least one thing relevant to me. He FACILITATED my learning.... and my motivation for more.

That experience sold me - and I have been an advocate of facilitated training ever since. Not just fun activities in class, not just a pleasant environment, not just high energy classes but truly facilitated learning - where the answers and the content come into the class with the learners and is not invested in the trainer in the front of the room or the material we are teaching from.

We ask all our trainers at Advance Corporate Training to master facilitation - and we offer to the class our skills in bringing them out and freeing them to try things in new ways... we don't want to be experts because the learners already are... our job is to create change , not impart wisdom.

I am a facilitator....

I am change....

Here are some definitions of facilitation from the web... what do you think?

Definitions of facilitation on the Web:


A process of decision-making guided by a facilitator who insures that all affected individuals and groups are involved in a meaningful way ...www.nymir.org/zoning/Glossary.html

Involves the use of techniques to improve the flow of information. https://acc.dau.mil/GetAttachment.aspx

The condition of having something made easier. (Like a catalyst in that facilitation makes easy a previously difficult activity with little or no extra energy expended on the part of the group participants.) www.mgrush.com/content/view/70/33/

The promotion or hastening of any natural process; the reverse of inhibition.www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_f_01zPzhtm

Coordinating rather than leading an exercise so that all group members are encouraged to participate in the discussion or activity.www.evaluateit.org/glossary/

Helping others think through what they want and organise themselves to achieve it.www.scottishmediation.org.uk/smn/fxcseven/pgz/six.htm

Facilitation in business, organizational development (OD) and in consensus decision-making refers to the process of designing and running a successful meeting. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitation (business)

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Icebreakers

I am working on some activities for a large scale teambuilding event and found this site with a great list of simple icebreakers.
Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Cultural extensions exercise

I just found this exercise online and it looks great - I have emailed the site for permission, in the meantime, check them out yourself... http://www.culture-at-work.com/body.html.

What extensions have humans created for these various functions of the body?

Purpose: The world can look different for several days after doing this exercise! It is useful in linking our societies' complex systems and technologies and beliefs with the fundamental, central reality of the human body as the core of our experiences and actions.

Materials: Names of different parts of the body, different functions of the mind, each on a separate slip of paper. For younger groups, you might also want to put one or two examples of extensions on each slip.

Instructions: Review the question "What objects or systems have humans developed to extend this particular body/mind function (beyond what is physically possible for a human to do without extra help)?"

Pick one of the slips out of the hat, and have the group generate a list together with the leader's help. Then ask participants to pair off. Each pair chooses a slip out of the hat. Give them about 5 minutes to generate the longest, most imaginative list they can.

Some Examples

Fingernails: screwdriver, scratch paper, backscratcher, thimble, shovel, utensils, tweezers.

Visual memory: camera, books, paintings, movies, post-it notes, planner, advertising, maps.

Skin: clothing, buildings, sunscreen, racial classifications, bedding, tatoos, artificial vitamin D.

Territorial part of the brain: maps, boundaries, armies, signposts, locks, global positioning systems.

Lungs: oxygen tanks for scuba diving, yoga, microphones and speaker systems.

Feet: trampolines, bicycles, escalators, cars, ballet point shoes, airplanes, 12 inch measurement unit, postal and delivery systems, canes.

Emotion of sadness: mourning rituals, Prozac, poetry, naming of buildings and places.

Counting on fingers (the original computing method was digital!): arithmetic, calculators, mathematics, computers, outlines, systems for ordering objects, calendars, money.

Discussion: You can either have each group read out the two examples that they think are most interesting, or draw a large silhouette of a human being and have each group write in one or two answers next the the appropriate part of the body. (You may need a separate sketch of a head if you have many pairs.)

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Does Your Training Make the Grade?

Presentation slides from a well received presentation to the local chapter of CSTD.