Run

So about two years ago, I was riding my mountain bike, just minding my own business when the earth decided that it had enough of me and threw me off.  Well, as you might imagine, I came back to earth but I landed on my shoulder.  Like most guys, I brushed myself off, found that I could move everything and rode home, telling my wife that it really wasn’t all that big of a deal but how cool it was that I must have cleared 10 feet.

But it did turn into a big deal. I really screwed up my shoulder.  Never realized how important my shoulder was until I couldn’t lift my arm.

Now, I think its also important to point out that I wear the equivalent of adult “Huskies”.  For those of you that didn’t have to wear this “fine” brand of clothing as a child, lets just say its for the more portly fellow.  While I enjoy mountain biking, I really need to.  Otherwise I tend to gravitate towards looking like Jabba the Hut.  So rather than say no to that third slice of pizza, I justify it with a frequent ride in the dirt.

Ok, so now what do I do?  So no to that last piece of cheesecake?!  Parish the thought!

Well, after several shots of cortisone and months of physical therapy.  I had my shoulder opened up and fixed.  But hopping back on the bike wasn’t so easy.  It took awhile.  A looooong while.  Since my goal hadn’t changed of keeping my weight under control, I needed to change my approach.  So I started running.  

Those of you that are also new to this, know all too well of what I am about to say.  I found muscles in my legs and back that I didn’t know that I had.  I seriously walked like a duck for several days.  The pain in my shoulder didn’t seem all that bad after enduring the shin splints.  But I kept at it.  

Now, I am back in the saddle, literally, as well as continuing to run.  I have lost about 20 lbs and managed to keep it off.  Well, I did have to draw the line on the occasional cheesesteak that finds its way onto my plate.  But I am doing it.  

So what does this have to do with learning or training in the office or even management?  Sometimes, we encounter obstacles.  Someone doesn’t agree with us, someone is demanding something that is not possible, or someone that won’t listen.  We can either keep doing what we have been doing and should then expect the similar results.  

Or we can try something different and run.

 

Tiger Woods and management…

Ever watch Tiger swing a golf club?  Its a beautiful sight.  Everything is in perfect and calculated motion.  And even though he strikes the ball with such intensity and velocity, it really doesn’t appear all that violent.  Why?  Because it is fluid.  

After the club strikes the ball, his head doesn’t jerk up to see where it lands.  His arms follow a fluid motion after the ball has left the tee on its long journey to a green far, far away.  Nothing jerky and sudden.  They follow the path that was begun when his arms were coiled up behind his shoulder.  

Now have you ever watched Michael Jordan hit a golf ball?  My neck hurts just watching it.  

Managers often tend to forget that people are watching them….very closely.  They say one thing and then do something else because something came up.  And lets face it, most managers do not own their day; their day owns them.  They spend the day putting out fires.  So it is understandable that they intend on doing one thing, but end up doing something else.  But it doesn’t make it ok.  

But wait a minute, HR called and they are wanted the DPS reports right away.  And then someone screwed up the numbers for the Pensky file.  And then there was the….well, I think you get the idea.  There is always something.  Know what?  Life sucks, get over it.  Being a manager is a thankless and tough job.  You have your superiors to keep happy as well as all of those that report to you.  There is never enough time and too much pressure to make it worthwhile.  But tough, its your job.  You accepted the job so suck it up and do it.  

But what about Tiger and his golf swing?  It is predictable.  It is practiced and it is fluid.  While many things will come up in your day that you cannot control, there are somethings that you can control.  Identify what you can and follow through.  When you say that you are going to do something, follow through like Tiger and complete what you begin.  And if something happens that is unavoidable, then make sure that you do not make excuses.  

Just do it.

 

Are we there yet?

I tell my 6 year old daughter to get in the car, what would you expect her reaction to be? 

She would get in the car. 

You tell a bunch of adults how to extract data from an existing database, what would you expect their reaction to be?

“Why are we extracting data from that database?” 

Often times, I find myself sitting in presentations wondering why am I listening to this? Usually I am asking myself that question because no one has bothered to tell me why I am there?  Is it going to help me do my job?  Is this a corporate policy?  Are all of the cool kids doing it? 

Adult learners are far more likely to engage in training if they know why this stuff applies to them.  Now, hopefully, the reason is more reaching than “its required”.  And sometimes it comes down to that.  But without understanding why this material is important, the message tends to get lost very quickly. 

Not only do we have a responsibility to deliver content, but we need to assume some responsibility for creating an environment for learning.  We know how to do this thing that we are talking about, otherwise we wouldn’t be the one talking.  But we also know why its good stuff, the learner doesnt know either. 

Without setting the stage and explaining why this stuff is important to them, we are asking the learner to get into the car and not telling them where they are going, and who wants to do that?  Well, unless you are six.

 

5 Dangerous things…….

I recently came across this video on Digg and I had to share it. Its about 5 dangerous things that we should let our children do and it really makes alot of sense.  Its great for everyone to look at because it gives us another perspective on learning and seeing things.  Check it out here http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/202 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

 

This year……

Happy New Year!  The year is a day old, how many have blown their resolution?  Com’n, lets get those hands up.  Don’t feel bad, you have alot of company.

How often do we set out with the best of intentions, only to have our plans foiled by some evil does in finance?  Or the HR person reminding us of a policy that could impact our well laid plans?  So we decide, “Oh, the hell with it” and scrap the idea.  Explaining to everyone that it wasn’t going to work out or maybe just blaming it on the executive team saying, “You know how it is with the suits; if it makes sense, they don’t like it”.

Kinda sounds like some poor planning.  Forgetting to plan for disasters or diversions can hurt, but so can not budgeting time or planning for problems.  Budgeting time is often where great ideas fall apart.  Try breaking goals into smaller chunks so they aren’t as intimidating.  Focus on getting to the next step, not just the ultimate goal.  Going a year without being late to a meeting is really hard, going a day without being late is alot easier. 

So maybe this years’ resolution needs to become today’s resolution.  If you blow it, there is always tomorrow. 

 

New managers and other fun things

Hiring people is a tough job. 

I have hired quite a few people in my career and there is no exact science to it.  Thats why we have the HR department.  But the HR department can only help you so much.  You need to be clear about what you are looking for in an applicant.  Hiring managers is a great example.

We have all seen poor managers that are really “nice” people.  They are alot of fun to hang out with and have no problem just doing all of the work themselves because “its just easier that way”.  But they struggle to make that jump from co-worker to supervisor. 

Or the new manager that takes their new title and runs with it, focusing more on their new title and less on their actual responsibilites.  I bet we all have quite a bit of experience with those managers!

But what about the manager that was really good at their previous job and they got the management job because of how well they did their old job.  Is past performance always an indicator of future success?  Nope! 

So what do you do?  This comes back to good ol’ fashion mentoring and training.  First, make sure that you have a very understanding of the position that you are hiring for.  Is the applicant clear on what is expected in this role?  People will tell you anything you want to hear in the interview so plan to review the responsibilites after you have made the hire.  And then plan to spend some time with this person as they aclimate to thier new job.  Give alot of feedback and don’t assume anything.  Point out the good stuff as often as possible , it makes it much easier to hear the not-so-good stuff. 

And of course, use other resources.  Get other peoples’ input on your applicants and new hires.  A new hires’ success is a reflection on you, so don’t just look at them as someone taking work off of your plate, rather, as someone that represents you!

 

New Job!!

I got a new job!  To tell you the truth, this was not one of my smarter moments but I simply had a gutful of the ………nevermind, I just decided to quit.  Had nothing lined up, I just quit.  I have never done that before.  I did give notice but I was feeling like there was little point in me coming in everyday.  I was being viewed as a Powerpoint person rather than as a training professional that might actually have some good ideas on how to diseminate information.  And life is too short to not feel valued so I told them that they needed to find someone better suited for what they needed. 

I was on “vacation” for 5 weeks at home driving my wife nuts but I was fortunate enough to land a great new gig at Blackboard as a Training Consultant.  So that is why I have been a little quiet as of late. 

Anyway, I am building up a head full of steam and getting ready to spew some more thoughts on management and the training of adults. 

 

Presenting ain’t Training!

I am an educator. I am very proud to call myself that. I have worked in training and education for 10 years. I have seen it from many different angles and they aren’t all pretty. But watching the lightbulb turn on and seeing someone “get it” is a truly beautiful thing.

Education involves the imparting of knowledge. Could be teaching a child to read or it could be teaching a grown adult to use a stamping machine. It is assisting someone to get to a new place in their life and that’s a pretty cool thing.

But I feel compelled to point out that those who stand in front of a group of people and talk from a power point is not necessarily teaching or training. When I step before a group of people at a training session, not only am I about to impart some new information, but I am also going to put it into a context that will help them understand it. I am going to embrace my responsibility to the learners in that group to help them understand the information and review it with them. Otherwise, what is the difference between me and a book, or reading that power point on their own?

Whether we are teaching second grade or working with a group of accountants learning some new software, we realize our responsibility to our audience. Incidentally, those of you who are working with second graders or anyone else within our school systems, you truly are the rock stars and you have my ut-most respect. I will take the group of accountants any day over a group of kids. Back to my soap box, what differentiates us from presenters is that it is not a one sided experience. There is interaction. There is involvement on both sides. We prepare for our interactions and we analyze the process to see what we can do better. We continually strive to help the learner retain the information quicker and more efficiently.

I am sure that we have all seen someone trying to call themselves trainers when they are really just presenters and I would be willing to bet that it sounds like nails on the chalkboard when you hear it. Someone recently said that to me and I couldn’t help but get a little indignant towards this person.  I once mentioned the silly notion that people learn in different ways and the importance of addressing those ways and this person looked at me like I had just grown a third eye.

I am very proud to be a trainer. I take it very seriously. Its not about the glory and the money because there isn’t much, it’s about watching for the light bulb to turn on.

 

The Art of the Presentation

I just reviewed a power point presentation that is being delivered in a training session next week by a member of the management team.  He has one hour to talk about marketing and somehow he figured that he couldn’t get his point across with less than 152 slides.  No joke.

Corporate America discovered PowerPoint and has become incredibly lazy. Just let the slide do all the talking. No need to think about how its being said, as long as its on the slide we’re covered.   I cringe when ever I come across a slide that is loaded so much content that the font has been reduced to a size 12.  And in this case, all 152 slides are using….well, I will let you guess.

Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist and current venture capitalist, had a great posting on his blog awhile back on PowerPoint.  Check it out here. His rule on PowerPoint applies primarily to pitching to a VC, but he points out the basic issues that we so often see in training environments. I am not sure that I think we can limit ourselves to 10 slides during training, but the point is valid.

Another great resource is Presentation Zen. PowerPoint is a graphic display of our presentation and is worthy of the attention of a designer.  And if we don’t have access to one, then we must be mindful of what we are putting on screen. Its not about cramming as much stuff on the slide as possible, its about making the most impact.

 

“Knocking one out of the park”

“Come on team, lets knock one out of the park!” 

Sound familiar?  This is starting to sound like one of the buzz phrases from the 90’s like “synergy” or some crap like that.  So what does it mean?  What are we really saying when we are told to “knock one out of the park”?

Recently, I heard a relatively new and inexperienced manager implore her team to do just that, knock it out of the park.  Nice way to motivate, but the problem with little phrases such as this is that it feels like eating a chinese meal, an hour later you are hungry again and wanting more.  Why is that?  Because it doesn’t give any real direction.  When managers drop this line, they fail to define how they want it to happen.  Or they are masking the reality that they are micromanaging but by asking everyone to knock it out of the park,  the manager is hoping that everyone feels part of the solution.

People need to be empowered to hold the bat and take a swing.   Yes, some will fail, but that is truly how we develop our people. And even though its like helping our children to ride a bike; we hate to see them fall and skin their knee, it is part of the process and we need to let it happen.  We aren’t protecting anyone by not allowing them to try.

No one will push themselves if they don’t have any ownership in it.  Why would anyone try for the fence if someone will come along and claim the ball as theirs?  And if you have never been told what to watch for and how to hit it, then can you be expected to succeed?  Pretty easy to encourage you to achieve greatness but even easier to pick you apart if you haven’t been told how to get there.

So next time you are trying to rally the troops, think for a second about your role.  Have you coached your teammates on the finer points?  Have you defined the goal?  And if they fail at bat, the question isn’t just “what could they have done better?”  The question is also “what could you have done better?“