If I Were a Carpenter…

I've been reviewing online course authoring tools for the past few days, downloading demo versions and building courses with them. By staying current with these tools, I can make sure my opinion is valid when a client requests it. While these products vary in their “sexy” factor, I am reminded tools don’t build a house – a carpenter does.

Growing up, I was my father’s grudging apprentice for every household project. From finishing our basement to repairing our ancient lawn mower (again), I was sent digging through tool chests for half-inch box wrenches, or Phillips head screwdrivers, or pipe wrenches, or whatever was needed. I hated this indentured servitude, and worked only until the very second that I was set free to do important things like read comic books or torment my sister.

As an adult with home projects of my own, what I remember from working with Dad is his tools. They were mostly old hand-tools passed on to him by his father. My tools on the other hand are shiny, complicated gadgets with automated features that I never take the time to read about. The sad realization that my results are never as polished as Dad’s is a reminder that the tool is the means, not the end.

Remember this when you’re choosing an authoring tool. If you focus on the quality and organization of your content, the tool isn’t as important. Pick a tool you can understand and use, and your house – the training you develop – will stand the test of time.

Colorful Colorado

Representing the Colorado SHRM State Council, as the Diversity Director, I was invited to a Welcome Denver networking session. Welcome Denver assists new or relocated multicultural employees, representing Denver Metro Area corporations and law firms. Welcome Denver is an innovative approach to aid in the retention of ethnically-diverse employees that are high-potential, high-caliber executives.

Soon we will have new census data to make organizational decisions with the most recent demographics and determine just how colorful, “Colorful Colorado” is with regard to diversity. Throughout my career, I’ve learned that Colorado has difficulty attracting and retaining diversity in our state. During the Welcome Denver session this was again solidified.

When our organizations are successful and recruit diverse employees, the challenge becomes retaining the new hire. Ethnically-diverse employees report that they come to Colorado for a new opportunity and then have difficulty getting connected and feeling that they are welcome. I’m excited about what Welcome Denver is doing to attract, retain and acculturate multicultural employees into our state. To learn more go to www.welcomedenver.net.

Using Organizational Development best practices and my diversity background, at a former employer, I helped implement twelve Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). These groups help retain diversity and provide a safe forum for similar demographic groups to come together and strategically accomplish organizational goals. Depending on the organization, these goals may include brainstorming innovative products to grow the business, partnering with community groups to be socially responsible and identifying solutions to attract and retain diversity.

With the amount of money that our Colorado organizations are spending to attract diversity, I recommend that they implement ERGs to retain diversity. Not only does this improve attrition in the organization and help connect diverse employees; it is good for Colorado. Research shows that there will be a labor shortage and Colorado organizations need to be more proactive in addressing this issue by coming up with creative Organizational Development solutions to prepare for our future.

Your Lizard Brain

When you are faced with a challenge, do you deal with it head on or do you check your email again?

I have read several articles lately about accomplishing goals and becoming efficient that refer to the lizard brain. The lizard brain is the pre-historic physical part of our brains near the stem that is responsible for fear, and procrastination, among a few other things. It is the part of our brains that loves safety, busywork and does not challenge anything. It is that voice in our heads that tells us something will be hard, so don’t bother. Email is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the lizard brain. For me, this means avoiding a difficult project that I need to tackle because I have so many emails to return. I convince myself that I am accomplishing something great when really I am doing nothing. Meetings are another symptom of the lizard brain they contribute to the group think of avoiding things that should be accomplished. Let’s not actually do anything, as much as sit around and talk about doing something.

Do you have co-workers that when you ask how their work is going, they tell you how ridiculously busy they are? They are so much busier than anyone else, but busy does not equal important, this is also their lizard brain speaking.

I have been determined lately to try to quiet my lizard brain. I do this several ways:

1. I do not allow myself to get caught up in busy work and I analyze how I am spending my time regularly throughout the day; it helps keep me on track.
2. I tackle the most difficult thing on my list first rather than last.
3. I make sure that I check email at specific times rather than checking every time one comes in.

How will you quiet your lizard brain?

Using Assessments to Gain Valuable Feedback

When you facilitate a course or program, how do you know whether participants are actually processing and learning the content? How important is it to find out, and what would you do with the results if you knew them?

If your focus is truly on how well participants are learning rather than on reporting results back to management, for example, then using assessments can be an excellent tool for soliciting feedback. Assessments can be simple or complex, they always involve learner participation, and they are formative and context-specific.

Here are a few examples of simple assessment techniques:

• At the end of a session or segment of content, ask participants to spend just one minute writing answers to these two questions: What was the most important thing you learned? What questions do you still have? Alternately, ask participants to write a short response to the question: What was most unclear about this session/segment of content?
• If you have presented content that it is important for participants to be able to summarize and apply to a particular situation, ask them to write a one-sentence summary explaining the relevant who, what, when, where, why, and how. For example, you could assess participants’ understanding of how to give difficult feedback to direct reports.
• Alternately, you could ask participants to paraphrase a concept or procedure you have just presented, keeping a specific audience in mind. For example, if you have just facilitated a session on effective communication, ask participants to rephrase the concept in a way that would be meaningful to teammates or direct reports who aren’t in attendance.

If you’re going to use an assessment, it’s a good idea to to tell participants ahead of time that you’ll be doing so and to explain why so that you get their buy-in. It’s also best to keep their responses anonymous. Try to review feedback in a timely manner and to share it with participants. This could be as simple as saying, “Five of you still have questions about how to use the chat tool to engage learners in a virtual environment. Let’s take a few minutes to look at that again because it’s important.”

In conducting the assessment and sharing the results with your participants, you are communicating the importance you place on their acquisition of knowledge. You are also more deeply engaging participants and giving them a specific opportunity to participate in the feedback process. Most people like to give feedback, particularly when they see an immediate benefit from doing so.

One last note: Assessments don’t have to be limited to courses and programs. You could use them as part of regular team meetings or forums or even brown bag lunches. Think about a specific piece of content that you facilitate. How you could use a simple assessment in conjunction with that content to benefit participants?

This information is presented from “Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers,” Second Edition, by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross. For more information about assessments, including a comprehensive list of assessment methods that can be adapted for use in any environment, refer to the book.