Jump in, the water's fine

I consider myself a pretty positive person. And well, when I received a notice in my e-mail about Thiagi giving a webinar on Happiness, I must say I was more than a little intrigued. I mean, I have noticed that the word "Happiness" has been showing up in his monthly newsletters for a while now - and I am curious about that word. Happiness. It has a connotation of rainbows and Ziggy cartoons for me - a very 1970's word. But here it is 2010 and it is showing up in Thiagi's newsletters.

I know, I sound like a skeptic, and honestly I am not. I really love happiness. The real essence of what it is - I am very pro-happiness. But my skepticism comes from the advertising and media's interpretation of happiness. All sugary sweet, and although it tastes good, it isn't really good for you. It is like calling HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) sugar. But I attended this webinar today and donned my scarf of skepticism and waded into the webinar pool.

Now I must also tell you that I love grouchy people. I am not sure where it comes from, but show me a curmudgeon and I am all smiles. And I have met Thiagi, although I am confident he wouldn't remember me, but there was something I really liked about him when I introduced myself. And it became apparent to me when he self proclaimed to be a grouch. Tada! I knew it. And I settled in to listen to what he had to say about happiness. He even said that those of us love to teach the subjects we most need to hear. Ok. Well, he and Tracy started by presenting facts about happy people - how more creative they are, how much better they deal with work/life balance, how much better team members they are, the list goes on. And I promise not to ennumerate the entire webinar because that would be redundant - if you want to listen to it go here(http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/discussions/show/2095).

But by the end of the hour, I found myself really feeling authentically happy. And realizing that our authentic happiness is dependent on a mix of several factors. 1) 50% of your happiness is based on your genetics - nothing you can do about that - it is just what it is. 2) 10% of your happiness is based on circumstances - not a whole lot you can do there either. But then 3) 40% of your happiness is based on your deliberate choices of activities. Well, that is something we can effect. Pretty cool. And notice - none of the components really have anything to do with other people - of course genetics do - but I mean in the sense of other people making you happy. Aha! We make choices. We reflect on how those choices make us feel. We choose to make choices that help us feel better - leading us to feel more happiness. Simple right?

Well, here's something I challenge you to do... in fact while on the call I challenged my family to this as well - and this was totally an exercise from the webinar - write down 3 things that over the last 24 hours you are grateful for. And for bonus happiness points, try doing it for 30 days. If you write more than 3 great - but at least put down 3. See how you feel. You might even want to write down how you feel before you start the 30 days and then at the end, write down how you feel post 30 days. I mean, it couldn't hurt right? And if you want to do even more, check out this website (https://www.positivityratio.com/survey.php) where you can find out your positivity ratio for today and if you want, track it for 30 days. I started today... and am looking forward to seeing where I am "floating" in 30 days. So I will say it again, jump in, the water's fine.

Letting the Shelf-Life Drive the Design and Delivery

Being someone who is quite visual, I was struck with an image during a conversation with a client last week.  It was one of those rare meetings where your client says they would like to hear about all of the different services your companie offers.  It is a pleasure of course to recieve that type of request.  And it is during these times that there is a lot of good conversation about how we could help them do more creative things.  Brainstorming, new possibilities, innovation - sign me up.  For a short while, there is no discussion of budgets or constraints.  Together we are thinking out of the box. 

And then I started thinking, what are the best practices, what are our recommendations for this or that type of technology?  How can I distill the decision making process into a manner that is clear and easy to follow... aha a picture.  A chart really, about how much a given course is expected to change... yes yes.  And what technologies are easy to edit and what technologies are more complex and possibly involve outside resources to build and modify?  Yes yes, we now have our X & Y axis'.  What about our trend line? Volitility yes, from low to high.  By George, I think I've got it!

I like this image because it helps me remember to ask the client about change. How often do they expect the material to change - even a simple name change.  Because the answer to that question can help you recommend how the course should be delivered - and how it is designed.  If the product name is going to change twice in a year, but the general content of the material is relatively static; then maybe we find a way to put the name in a frame that can be easily edited in house, and keep the name out of every piece of flash. 

To close, I would like to quote former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) who said that, "Change is inevitable, change is constant." And remembering that in meetings with clients can help them and you make better decisions about how to deliver their content.

When a wrong makes right...

So many of my insights for this blog come out of our ADDIE to Improv web class.  I am sitting there in class and ideas and thoughts come to me and then I am off into a world of idea association.  I have found that if I make a short note, something I can come back to later, I can quickly avert the "down the rabbit hole" excursion and stay with our class.  And this topic is definitely one of those topics.  We talk about the value of practicing the wrong or ineffective behavior, and the benefits of using humor to highlight this kind of behavior.   Jeff Foxworthy comes to mind with his "You just might be a redneck..." bit.  I came across a short video (5 minutes or less) when reading the Rapid E-Learning Blog that did a great job of highlighting some of the wrong or ineffective behaviors around e-mail.  It has something for everyone - those of us who are frustrated by e-mail to those of us that are clueless that what we are sending in e-mail might be frustrating to others.  If you have the time, I encourage you to take a short jaunt down this rabbit hole. Go to this link .   Make sure to watch the  YouTube Video

But getting back to the idea of practicing the wrong or ineffective behavior... In the Improv world this game is often known as the game: The World's Worst.  And the idea behind it is to say things that embody the world's worst _______________(fill in the blank: Occupation).  

 Here's my example of The World's Worst Trainer:  (In a monotone, soft voice, sniffling from allergies) As you can see here in bullet point 6, that I highlighted the most important concepts in light gray, and the less important words in darker gray... I will just leave the slide up for a moment so you can jot down notes before I move on... uh Susan, go ahead and order lunch for everyone as we should easily get through this 106 slide slide deck by 1:30.

Thiagi has a great description of how the game can be played in an applied situation and he has a great list of the World's Worst Salesperson lines under his field notes section - Aside from all the wonderfully bad statements - where does this get us?  What is the value in practicing the wrong behavior?  The gold is in the debrief.  Thiagi recommends using a debrief he calls THIRTYFIVE .  The debrief is the area of where trainers can be eager to get past - because, this leads into territory that is less controlled, less planned.  Things can happen out here.  Unplanned discussion - but valuing that discovery and seeking it can really help your adult learners to process and think about what they have just been asked to do.  

Thiagi takes it a step further and asks the participants to rate the debrief responses that are written on cards -further instilling the thought process about what they just witnessed - and if that isn't enough, the participants, as a part of the debrief, asked to talk to one another - which by the 3rd round you most likely are talking to people you don't know so well.  Eek! Pushing the comfort level for both the traditional trainer, and the participant.  Wow!  But we learn empathy, by experience.  We get the opportunity to experience things first hand, in someone else's shoes.  We may even see ourselves from a different perspective.  We practice the wrong behavior to turn the whole problem inside out and see it from another perspective - and then we talk about it.  

The Importance of Listening

It struck me in our last ADDIE to Improv class, when we got to talking about the importance of listening, how difficult it can be to really listen.  Be it our spouse, our customer, our team members.  This cartoon came to mind.  I used to have it pinned up in my cubicle many years ago - and it speaks to the truth of not listening. 

We all want to be useful and helpful.  We all want to use our skills, especially when our economic situation has been so trying.

But how many of us are comfortable with really listening?  To set aside the impulses to jump to a solution before really hearing what is being said and then staying present in a dialogue about what the problem really is.  Does our culture make this easier or harder?  And why?

For me I think the reason I tend to jump to a solution before the person is finished talking is mainly fear.  Fear of not looking smart.  Fear of not having all the answers.  Fear of not being in control.  Ooh, I know.  Big stuff.  I also know that I cannot demand that my fears just go away - but I can recognize them.  Allow them to be there, but still move forward, still listen, remain present, ask questions that further open the conversation, follow the dialogue. 

Because in the end, we come to a better place.  We have authentically built our relationship with another person and ourselves.  We can share our thoughts and ideas and hopefully have a better solution, one that actually addresses the current issues rather than an egocentric solution that is built on what we already know how to do.