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Dear
!*FIRST_NAME*!
Here
is the latest edition of HRD Alert! to which you subscribed.
If you have trouble reading this, an online copy is available
here. You can
load it into your browser or save and read it off line.
EDITORIAL
Well,
the first month of the new year has gone in what seems like a
flash. Since last emailing you, I've been busy although I took
time to relax over Christmas. In just the few weeks over Christmas,
my two year old grandson Tory has learnt to string together a
few three and four word sentences ... fortunately, nothing obscene.
His sentences aren't always grammatically correct, the pronunciation
needs some polish, but we understand what he's saying. He continually
amazes us at how fast he learns. If only we adults could retain
our sense of awe, curiosity and the 'blank slate' mental state
of infants all our lives, we'd all be geniuses.
There's
only one major article in this edition. It's about information
dissemination and whether it's 'training'. Because it's long I
haven't written any additional articles, but there's some good
links in Worth a Look, one of which is a questionnaire in which
you can evaluate your time use. (Maybe it's best you don't ...
it may be a shock!). If you're hungry to read, the links take
you to a rich harvest of research papers on various topics.
I've
got plans in place and have commenced working towards a successful
and prosperous year. I hope you've done the same and wish you
every success for 2004.
Until next edition,
yours
in HRD
Robin
Henry
Principal Adviser/Publisher
PS:
Special welcome to Kelly who was the first subscriber for 2004
CONTENTS IN BRIEF
Is Information Instruction?
If you think information
dissemination is instruction, think again. This article discusses
the difference and gives some advice on how you can get the most
out of your information sessions.
Worth a Look
With the academic
year bearing down on us, there are two links with excellent research
material for those of you who are studying. There's a coaching
link with some equally useful resources for those involved in
coaching or training coaches. One of the sites will help you with
your time management and has an interesting self-assessment questionnaire
that will help you identify time wasters in your life.
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IS INFORMATION INSTRUCTION?
Do
you work for one of those organisations whose training invariably
consists of someone standing up in front of a group and saying
something? If you answered 'yes', you're not alone. It's a common
practice which leads to a widely held perception among many that
it's training. It's a perception that has annoyed me over many
years. I'm not against information sessions ... they have their
place. What I am against is calling them 'training sessions'.
Information
sessions are very useful for, strangely enough, disseminating
information. They are next to useless for transferring learning.
True, you can run an information session advising staff in a credit
union that the interest rate has risen from 6.3% to 6.7% and that
from hereon they are to use that rate in all transactions. It
would be hard to argue that there wasn't at least an element of
learning involved (and by inference, training). After all, everyone
who attended probably learnt that the new rate of interest is
6.7%.
But
consider the long-winded, verbose information session. How much
does anyone expect to learn from that? The problem with these
types of sessions is that there is usually no learning focus ie,
by way of learning outcomes or objectives, no structure in the
content, no practice, and little guidance in what to remember
and what not to remember. It's simply a matter of ... 'This morning
I'm going to tell you about the new procedures for ....' And then,
blah, blah with dozens of overhead projection slides.
I've
attended possibly thousands of information sessions. I'm an information
junkie. It's an illness I've never been able to overcome. I just
have to attend everything that sounds like it is relevant or interesting
for which I have time (and sometimes the money). I don't go to
learn specific facts, but to hear others' points of view. I may
recall some outstanding facts and opinions, but as time passes
and I move onto the next information session, the content of the
previous one is forgotten.
Occasionally
I write notes about what I heard and I link them to things that
are relevant to me. This helps me to consolidate major themes
and also provides a source of reference when I want to revisit
the concepts or principles again. In some cases, just writing
the topic and linking it to what is relevant to me makes a huge
difference.
Recently
the definition of what is, or is not training or learning, has
been blurred by the different ways in which we now facilitate
learning. Essentially, we still learn the same way, but the method
of processing the content is different. For example, just-in-time
training uses a demand/supply methodology ... we learn something
just before we need it so that we don't carry around a bag full
of knowledge, skills or attitudes that we may never use. Online
learning is a model that should still use structure, repetition,
revision, assessment, feedback and all the other good things learning
involves. Then there's on-the-job learning which is still popular,
but doesn't differentiate between accurate learning and learning
from low performers who perpetuate their performance in others.
Improving
Your Info Sessions
You
can improve the value of an information session by doing just
a few simple things. If the session is intended just to tell someone
what a great trip to China you had, it really doesn't matter what
they remember. If you are telling someone about the new, revised
procedures, focus on the changes that have occurred between the
old procedures and the new procedures. At the end of the session
ask questions to clear up doubtful points, then give your audience
a summary of the changes to which they can refer when needed as
a memory aid.
Alternatively,
if the information session is about something else, consider this;
if there are more than about five or seven key points to make,
break the session into several sub-sessions and do not handle
more than the five to seven points in each. Write the key points
you intend to make on a whiteboard or display them on a projector
screen in point form. Then address each point concisely and accurately.
Explain the how, what, when, where and why of each point. Ask
your audience if there are any questions, answer them and tick
off each point before moving to the next point.
By
not exceeding seven points you reduce the chances of detrimental
information overload. The visual cue helps your audience to 'home
in' on the topic you are addressing, to recall what has been finished,
and know what is to follow. They can then mentally separate content
into meaningful and manageable 'parcels'. This will result in
an information session becoming as near to a training session
as possible without crossing the border.
When you do the next session in a series, have a short revision
session. Ask some questions to get people thinking about the topic.
For example. 'Last session we covered five key points to consider
when analysing financial statements ... what was one of them ...
[pause] ... John?"
Information
certainly ain't instruction, but it can be much more effective
with a little planning, structure and effort. At your next information
session, give some of these ideas a run.
[TOP]
Free Resources from Accredited Training
Accredited Training, as the name suggests, offers a range of accredited
training courses. You can try their wares by doing an online course
in:
- Purchasing a Camera
(This sounds interesting)
- Email in the Work
Place (Use and Policies)
- Software Piracy
More
...
The
Center for Inspired Learning
If you
are a teacher or are studying an education or training and development
course, this inspiring site will be of interest to you. There
is an excellent collection of research papers on everything to
do with teaching and learning. You could well find some good stuff
to help with your first assignment for 2004.
More
...
UK
Coaching Network - Resources
This is
another excellent source of articles about coaching, an aspect
of HRD which has become huge during the last few years. As I had
been involved training subject matter experts as coaches in the
Westpac Mortgage Centre's Call Centre, I was interested to read
an item about call centre coaching. There's some great stuff here
- click the Resources link from the home page.
More
...
Get
More Done
I think
at times we'd all like to know how we can fit 38 hours of work
into a 24 hour day. Or perhaps get more time with our family or
doing our own things. Get More Done is a time management/performance
improvement site that has an interesting tabulator. You enter
the hours per week in which you do certain things and then it
compares you with others etc. It's an interesting enough exercise,
but as the total hours have to remain within the nominal available
hours per week, you have to make your entries pretty accurate;
or fudge as I did, spending more hours with my wife. It's worth
a look and if you have time, play with it. It does make you think
about how you fill in your week.
More ...
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