No story to this today. I just love the sentiment...
A bit of background story...
Friday 27 April 2007
Monday 23 April 2007
Is Time Management Training Worthwhile? - Wolfgang Halliwell
When a friend of mine announced that she did not think time management training was worth doing, I had to take notice. She is an experienced trainer who had just started working for a large company and usually knows what she is talking about. Her comment did, however, cause me to question her, so she expanded on her statement.
She went on to explain that she had nothing against time management training in itself. Her issue was the way in which it was being used in her organisation.
Typically, line managers would send their staff on time management training whenever issues about efficiency or productivity cropped up. Little thought was being given to whether time management training was the right approach.
Her frustration stemmed from the fact that managers were effectively trying to fit the problem to the solution rather than the other way around. They were not making any real attempt to work with individuals to find the root cause of the issues they were having.
The outcome was that people were attending whole day training courses run by my friend but getting very little out of this. The training she inherited was generic and had not been tailored to the needs of the business, let alone the individual participants.
Over a bottle of wine we spent sometime discussing how to fix this problem, and came up with a plan.
Step One: My friend would contact all managers requesting time management training for their staff, and probe them so she could understand the need. This would include revisiting what has been discussed with individual staff members so far. In many cases individuals were not aware that their efficiency was in question.
Step Two: Where necessary, she would conduct some on job observation to understand the situation first hand.
Step Three: She would design a new training solution based on the needs of the business areas and linked to specific business issues. However, she would also make alternative recommendations in individual case where she considered time management training would not be appropriate.
Step Four: Individual nominees would be briefed by their line managers three weeks before the training. Both parties would agree the outcomes to be achieved. The individual participants would also be briefed to complete a daily time log for two weeks, to help identify how they use their time now. A key part of the training event would be to link with the briefing and the time log. Individuals would not be allowed to attend the training without completing this step.
Step Five: The training event itself would end with each individual producing a plan of action.
Step Six: Follow-up one to one coaching linked to the action plan produce during the training. . In some cases this would be carried out by the line and in some cases by my friend. The amount of time spent on this phase would depend on the needs of the individual. This important step ensures that the training is set down to practical outcomes.
With a proper structure now built around time management training my friend confessed to being confident of success. She also admitted that time management training is worthwhile after all. Or was that just the wine talking?
Wolfgang Halliwell is a learning and development consultant who has authored a number of courses for Trainer Bubble. You can purchase his one day course on Time Management at www.trainerbubble.com
She went on to explain that she had nothing against time management training in itself. Her issue was the way in which it was being used in her organisation.
Typically, line managers would send their staff on time management training whenever issues about efficiency or productivity cropped up. Little thought was being given to whether time management training was the right approach.
Her frustration stemmed from the fact that managers were effectively trying to fit the problem to the solution rather than the other way around. They were not making any real attempt to work with individuals to find the root cause of the issues they were having.
The outcome was that people were attending whole day training courses run by my friend but getting very little out of this. The training she inherited was generic and had not been tailored to the needs of the business, let alone the individual participants.
Over a bottle of wine we spent sometime discussing how to fix this problem, and came up with a plan.
Step One: My friend would contact all managers requesting time management training for their staff, and probe them so she could understand the need. This would include revisiting what has been discussed with individual staff members so far. In many cases individuals were not aware that their efficiency was in question.
Step Two: Where necessary, she would conduct some on job observation to understand the situation first hand.
Step Three: She would design a new training solution based on the needs of the business areas and linked to specific business issues. However, she would also make alternative recommendations in individual case where she considered time management training would not be appropriate.
Step Four: Individual nominees would be briefed by their line managers three weeks before the training. Both parties would agree the outcomes to be achieved. The individual participants would also be briefed to complete a daily time log for two weeks, to help identify how they use their time now. A key part of the training event would be to link with the briefing and the time log. Individuals would not be allowed to attend the training without completing this step.
Step Five: The training event itself would end with each individual producing a plan of action.
Step Six: Follow-up one to one coaching linked to the action plan produce during the training. . In some cases this would be carried out by the line and in some cases by my friend. The amount of time spent on this phase would depend on the needs of the individual. This important step ensures that the training is set down to practical outcomes.
With a proper structure now built around time management training my friend confessed to being confident of success. She also admitted that time management training is worthwhile after all. Or was that just the wine talking?
Wolfgang Halliwell is a learning and development consultant who has authored a number of courses for Trainer Bubble. You can purchase his one day course on Time Management at www.trainerbubble.com
Friday 13 April 2007
Poems in training - A metaphor for success
Poems and stories can provide powerful metaphors in training, particularly when you are trying to get a motivational point across. If you think about the things you remember from your past education, you will probably note that most of them have come from rhymes or stories of some kind. I mean how did you learn to say your A,B,C's? I bet you're even saying the rhyme in your head right now!
I find that participants respond extremely well when you sum up a topic with a rhyme that fits the occasion and there are so many wonderful examples to be taken from past literature that it really doesn't have to take too much time looking for them either. An example of this for me was the subject of 'procrastination'. I really struggled to get the point across to learners when approaching what is a pretty dry topic. However, once I added the concept of 'Swallow the frog' (shamelessly stolen from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn) they really started to get it. Now I quite often here people saying "Come on, just swallow the frog!" In case you are wondering, the phrase relates to a section in the book where Tom Sawyer says, "If you have to swallow a frog, don't look at it too long." (i.e. the more you delay doing a bad task, the worse it gets).
When there is no useful metaphor to be found, I sometimes come up with my own. It really isn't that hard to do and takes me back to my 'poetry time' sessions in school. Here is an example of one of my poems to get you going.
I find that participants respond extremely well when you sum up a topic with a rhyme that fits the occasion and there are so many wonderful examples to be taken from past literature that it really doesn't have to take too much time looking for them either. An example of this for me was the subject of 'procrastination'. I really struggled to get the point across to learners when approaching what is a pretty dry topic. However, once I added the concept of 'Swallow the frog' (shamelessly stolen from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn) they really started to get it. Now I quite often here people saying "Come on, just swallow the frog!" In case you are wondering, the phrase relates to a section in the book where Tom Sawyer says, "If you have to swallow a frog, don't look at it too long." (i.e. the more you delay doing a bad task, the worse it gets).
When there is no useful metaphor to be found, I sometimes come up with my own. It really isn't that hard to do and takes me back to my 'poetry time' sessions in school. Here is an example of one of my poems to get you going.
My Friendly Enemy
You pick me up,
You put me down,
I’m controlled by your desire.
You’ve made me friends,
You’ve caused me fights,
I’ve even been your liar.
No solitude when you’re around,
No bitterness or tears,
Cause and solution to my struggles,
Both creating and easing fears.
I think it’s time I took control,
I don’t mean to be rude,
I’m the boss, you have to learn,
My bittersweet attitude.
You pick me up,
You put me down,
I’m controlled by your desire.
You’ve made me friends,
You’ve caused me fights,
I’ve even been your liar.
No solitude when you’re around,
No bitterness or tears,
Cause and solution to my struggles,
Both creating and easing fears.
I think it’s time I took control,
I don’t mean to be rude,
I’m the boss, you have to learn,
My bittersweet attitude.
Try adding poems and stories into your own training sessions, you'll find it really helps the subject stick and if you're struggling for ideas, visit my website and pinch some of mine!
Wednesday 11 April 2007
Influence - The Human Shortcut, powerful but imperfect
Psychological research has shown that the human brain often uses shortcuts to solve problems. Rather than fully digesting all information before producing an exact answer, the brain sometimes uses tools to quickly generate an estimate. These estimates, however, aren’t always accurate.
This picture is a good example of how shortcuts can cause the brain to be tricked. Although the lines are identical in length, the line on the right appears to be longer because the brain uses a shortcut that leads it to believe it is solving a three-dimensional problem. The brain is tricked into believing the line on the right is farther away. And in a three-dimensional problem, items that are farther away appear longer than items that are closer.
Vision is not the only problem that the brain solves by using shortcuts, psychologists have also realised that we make use of shortcuts in our everyday judgements. Consider, for example, a plane crash in England in 1989. The plane, a Boeing 737 was in trouble due to its left engine not working, which in itself is not an insurmountable problem as a plane could still be landed safely on just the one engine. However, the black box flight details from the plane tell us an interesting story.
Shortly before crashing, the captain, when asked which engine is not working, is heard to say: “It’s the le…...right one”. The right engine (the only good one) was then switched off and the plane crashed.
Now this story does over simplify what was a complex issue. However, we can draw an interesting line of thought. In the cockpit with the captain were several other members of the crew who would have been well aware that it was in fact the left engine that was not working. So why did they follow the orders of the captain?
This demonstrates the shortcut rule that goes, “If an expert said so, it must be true.” In human interactions there is an unsettling tendency for people to follow orders simply because somebody in perceived authority tells them to.
This is a snippet from Trainer Bubble training materials. Look for the 'The Power of Influence' in our trainer resources section of Trainer Bubble.
Thursday 5 April 2007
Two new courses added!
Trainer Bubble today proudly announce the addition of two more training course materials to our growing selection.
These courses are; Time Management and The Power of Influence.
The first of these, 'Time Management', looks practically at the topic of personal effectiveness and how you can help your participants stop and take stock of how they are working and then make the best use of their time.
The second is 'The Power of Influence', which has been developed to help your participants understand the core principles of influencing and how they can be practically applied.
Both courses are priced at just £68, have never been available before and will make an excellent addition to your training resources. Visit us at http://www.trainerbubble.com/ to view the contents of these and our growing selection of Trainer Resources.
These courses are; Time Management and The Power of Influence.
The first of these, 'Time Management', looks practically at the topic of personal effectiveness and how you can help your participants stop and take stock of how they are working and then make the best use of their time.
The second is 'The Power of Influence', which has been developed to help your participants understand the core principles of influencing and how they can be practically applied.
Both courses are priced at just £68, have never been available before and will make an excellent addition to your training resources. Visit us at http://www.trainerbubble.com/ to view the contents of these and our growing selection of Trainer Resources.
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