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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 or prefer to read an online copy,
you'll find one here.
You can load it into your browser, save and read or print and
read off-line.
EDITORIAL
Welcome
to another issue of HRD Alert!
I
was surprised this week to learn that the Australian National
Training Authority is being abolished from 1 Jul 05. It was set
up to design and implement the National Training Agenda and it
seems that its job has now been done. Although I don't know for
sure, I expect the States and Territories will pick up the slack
with a helping hand from the Federal Department of Science, Education
and Training. It should be an interesting eight months as the
wind-up progresses.
I've been beavering away setting up my new site (see Worth a Look),
but it's a laborious task and I've had numbers of interruptions,
so it's taking longer than I had hoped. The good news is that
my traffic rank is increasing daily because of the way in which
Site Build It! sites
are written and optimized for search engines. And of course the
SBI team spends huge amounts of effort ensuring it's sites get
to the top of the search engines. After all, traffic = sales.
Of
course, the days and weeks between each newsletter also see me
looking after my grandson, having the occasional glass of red
wine, cleaning the house, lawn mowing and doing all the other
tasks that keep popping up. Talking about popping up ... I still
haven't got to my weeding. Maybe next year.
Until next issue,
yours
in HRD
Robin
Henry
Principal Adviser/Publisher
CONTENTS IN BRIEF
Working
Outside Your Comfort Zone
Think
about whether you are locked into a comfort zone and how you might
benefit from escaping from it occasionally.
Training Ways - Skits
Robin
recalls his police training and how skits were used to aid learning
and make the learning experience more practical and interesting.
Worth a Look
There are four sites.
One is mine so you can have a sneak peek. There is a site for
a US Federal Government agency that looks after labour, employment
and training, an Australia site that is a portal for training
consultants and course providers, and last, a UK site where you
can do some free online courses to do with using the Internet
for specific types of study. All are worth looking at.
[TOP]
WORKING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
The
Problem
When I asked my wife recently whether she had become tired of
being a midwife after 34 years, she said it was more physically
demanding now that she was older, but that she was comfortable
doing what she knew well and was good at.
It got me thinking about comfort zones and the difficulty I experienced
encouraging my TAFE teaching team to take on 'different' subjects
from those they had been teaching year in and year out. ('I've
always just taught bookeeping and typing') They had all the resources
prepared, knew the topics off by rote and their daily grind was
much easier than having to learn new content and prepare new resources.
I guaranteed them a three month lead-in period which they reluctantly
agreed to; I'd tell them three months in advance what new subjects
they would be teaching in the new semester. They had ample time
to prepare without being pressured.
Guess what happened? Everyone who took on the new subjects agreed
that they had been an enjoyable, refreshing change.
Human resources professionals are no different from midwives or
anyone else when we get into a comfort zone and stay there. Edward
De Bono spoke of the lack of progress among medical practitioners
that comes from using only tried and tested methods
to cure ills ... 'If you try nothing new, you may not find something
better', he said. He's right. He's right for doctors and right
for all of us (as De Bono usually is).
Somewhere there could be a better way of doing things, but we'll
never discover it if we don't design, test, evaluate, and retest
occasionally.
The Solution
Pick something you do every day as a routine. If you are a teacher
or trainer, analyse the way you have been presenting sessions
and the psychological methods you are
using. If you are a manager, think about how you problem solve.
Next, think about other approaches you could use that will get
you out of your comfort zone and 'stretch' your imagination and
intellect in a different direction or to a higher level.
Think about the different outcomes you might expect from a different
way of doing things. Jot the new approaches in a small action
plan: 'Next time I ... I'll do it this way, Step One:, Step Two
etc'
Give the new approach a test run and evaluate it. Was it better
than the old way? How did you feel using a different approach?
Was it refreshing? Enlightening? Did it work better?
If the evaluation proves negative, do what we always do as trainers;
back to the drawing board to redesign and retest.
Keep trying until you find something that works better. And remember
the words of Thomas Alva Edison who, when asked what he thought
now that he had failed for the thousandth time to make a light
bulb work, said, 'I've discovered another way it won't work.'
The
rest is history.
[TOP]
Some
of the best training I ever did was police training. There was
a fair dose of learning by rote for such things as powers of arrest,
search and seizure or the occasions on which deadly force could
be applied in order to stop an offender (I still remember them
from a mneumonic 30 years later; piracy, arson, rape, burglary,
intentionally endangering lives of people on railways, treason,
murder, attempting to escape custody, and attempts to commit any
of the above offences when found offending). This approach obviously
worked, but the practical training was always much more effective
and interesting.
I once attended a detective training course where, after lunch
on some glorious afternoon when most of us were almost asleep
listening to a session about witnesses statements and powers of
observation, our attention was drawn to two people arguing in
the corridor outside. Suddenly the door to our classroom opened
and two people entered, neither of whom we had ever seen before.
One had a revolver and was threatening the other. Two shots rang
out and one of the people fell to the floor. The shooter bolted
with several of our members in hot pursuit.
We
were initially shocked ... stunned might be a better word. Then
it all started to make sense. Each of us was given a statement
form and asked to write what we had seen; to detail every bit
of it. (By then the deceased had come back to life and left the
room). We were not to discuss anything with our colleagues, but
to write our own statements.
Later,
a summary of our statements was provided for us highlighting the
many different views of our experience. And the many errors in
describing such things as the offender's hair colour, dress, the
type of revolver etc. The messages being that even with the best
of intentions, witnesses never recall with 100% accuracy and if
you average estimated measurements from witnesses statements,
you'll usually find the average fairly accurate.
What
is a skit?
A
skit is a short, rehearsed, sometimes dramatic or humourous presentation
involving two or more persons. They are used to introduce a topic
for discussion, highlight an issue or to depict a problem. The
above example was superb use of a skit.
Advantages
The
advantages include the:
-
need for active participation by at least some of the group
-
emotional involvement which helps reinforce learning
-
helps engender interest
- stimulates
discussion
Limitations
- needs
careful planning and rehearsal and therefore takes time
- good
performers must be available
- the
plot needs to be focused on a signle, clear message or the audience
may beg confused
- every
member of the audience must be able to see the skit
When
next you are responsible for organising a training activity, think
about whether a skit might help generate interest and help people
remember what they have been taught.
[TOP]
Human Resources Development Centre
This
is my new site which will run in conjunction with my existing
Desert Wave Enterprises site. It's not finished yet, but I plan
to make it very comprehensive over the next year or two. Visit
...
Your Training Needs.Com (Australian)
This site
is said to be a one stop shop for all your training needs. Training
organisations, consultants etc can advertise with Your Training
Needs and when people search, perhaps by geographic location or
specialism, they may find you. Visit
... here.
Employment and Training Agency (US)
The
home page of the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training
Administration. It's chock full of useful and informative articles
for those of us with an obsession to be informed. Visit
...
RDN
Virtual Training Suite
This
is a beauty. There are heaps of free online courses you can try
out. The RDN Virtual Training Suite tutorials teach the key information
skills for the Internet environment. Learn how to use the Internet
to help with your coursework, literature searching, teaching and
research. Visit
...
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