A client from the U.S. Department of State once told me:I have never looked at learning this way. In many ways, I am guilty of focusing on the content to impart to learners and missing the crux of the change in behavior, the ultimate goal of learning and training.Why does advancing experiences and telling their own stories help the agents behave as expected on the job?Neural Pathways, Flight and Alternate RealityThe chart above shows an event and incident which presents an experience to the learners. Going through this experience and seeing the consequences help intensify and generate more experience.Scientists tell us that even in imagined ways, our brains create neural pathways to record experiences even if we have not actually been through the event. From a psychological viewpoint, people are capable of flight. Only humans can travel in their minds. By doing so, they vividly see the alternate realities as shown in the consequences of their actions. We store the experiences in stories, and story questions retrieve and repeat the cycle.Essentially, our brains are constantly advancing experience. This is how we adapt and survive. Story Questions as EnablersStory questions act as enablers. The more we ask the questions the more we re-live and improve our stories and experience. Our experiences undergo a process of refinement.  Both our stories and experiences advance further.Application in Learning DesignIn the sequence of scenes below, the learner is drawn into the situation or incident. Story questions are asked. Pulling the learner into the story within the lesson helps advance the experience in multiple ways and assists the learner to mentally prepare in case the event or a similar situation occurs.Some ideas for considerationReflect on how you use advancing experience in your lesson design.Review your content and select an incident or event that can bring the learner into a story situation.Present the scenes of the event, incident or story.Question the leader's story questions to help them intensify the experience.Repeat the process a few times using different incidents relevant in real-life situations.ConclusionChange in behavior is one of the most important values for training people, not delivering content. Advancing the experience in the minds of the learners help them prepare to respond when faced with the actual situation.ReferencesHassabis et al. (2007). Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory. The Journal of Neuroscience.Buckner RL (2010). The role of the hippocampus in prediction and imagination. Annual Review of PsychologyTip#91 - 3 Story Sources for Deeper LearningTip#94 - How to Design Unobtrusive Test QuestionsTip#42 - Provoking Learners with Story QuestionsRay Jimenez, PhDVignettes Learning"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"Ray Jimenez, PhD Vignettes Learning Learn more about story and experience-based eLearning

To make products that are both in-demand and well-crafted, organizations need senior leaders who are masters of both right brain and left brain thinking.

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Whether a lawyer, accountant, junior doctor or professional coach, the definition of professional work is transient and depends on the challenges and make-up of the groups and a detailed analysis of professionalism and power. When examining the relationship between professionalism, knowledge, the state, social stratification, organizations, bureaucracy and social power (Abbot, 1988; Hanlon,1993; Macdonald, 1996; Aharoni, 1999; Ciancanelli, 2002) it was found that the role of knowledge informs the debates about the future of the professions. It was useful to note that authors often cite the profession of accountancy (Broadbent, Dietrich et al. 2002, Brock, Powell, et al. 2006, Cooper & Robson, 2006), where challenges were faced during deregulation, and in contrast to the professional ethos of a decade ago, the emphasis for accounting firms is now firmly on being commercial and performing a holistic service for the customer. The emphasis on fraternity and collegiality has reduced in professional firms, and e.g. there is competitiveness within accountancy firms as partners have to cultivate business connections and bring in clients (Aharoni, 1999; Ciancanelli, 2002). Accountants are retained and/or promoted according to their ability to raise revenues and increase profitability, and are tightly controlled through cost control, personal supervision and quarterly appraisals. This process appears to fit with the accounting mind set of measurement, control and return on investment and I wonder how well it sits with the ‘helping professions’ of junior doctor or Coach? The emergent characteristics of the new firms and people within them need to be understood (Mayson, 2007). Professionals such as lawyers can reach a point of career stagnation and lack of entrepreneurial behaviour and can make their firms increasingly similar as they try to change them.  A natural selection occurs as those who are less fit for purpose are weeded out and the more powerful people in the successful organisations end up controlling the professional system e.g. being advisors to the Law Society, adding to the similarity and explaining why many firms end up having the same structures even though they have evolved in different ways (Di Maggio & Powell, 1983; Greenwood & Hinings, 1988; Greenwood & Hinings, 1993; Di Maggio & Powell, 1994).  Brock, Powell and Hinings (1999) summarise much of this previous research and conclude that the classic models of bureaucracy and professional partnership no longer fit the changing and dynamic environment of professional firms. As a result, they will need to restructure and possibly refinance to consolidate, to recruit, train and promote sensibly, and to engage in even more sophisticated systemic strategy and management (Chellei 2009). This is an interesting concept as the Personal Development Professionals are already at the newer end of the continuum and need to reverse to learn the basics of running a commercial enterprise. The developing notion of professionalism and its contradictions develops the fragmented professions into the two separate segments of specialist and entrepreneur (Hanlon & Shapland ; 1997; Brock, Powell and Hinings, 1999; Broadbent, Dietrich & Roberts, 2002) and  suggests whilst the concept of profession will not disappear, plans for the future cannot be based on the behaviours of the past.  This is a fundamental step forward as e.g.  the legal profession is possibly the last bastion of specialist professions to be deregulated and the most traditional. Previous research about the professions (Larson, 1977; Di Maggio & Powell, 1983; Greenwood & Hinings, 1988; Greenwood & Hinings, 1993; Di Maggio & Powell, 1994; Brock, Powell and Hinings, 1999) is 10 or more years old now and is still consistent with what is happening, demonstrating the very slow pace of change in the professional and suggesting that there may be much to be gained by paying attention to similarity and incremental change as well as variation in structures. There is interest in defining the norms and standards that shape and channel behaviour e.g. in individual competences, as resiliency and adaptability have become more important than organisational commitment, and individuals are still following traditional career paths because job security has decreased (Vockell, 2006). There is an increased lack of interest from many in working with organisational structure, design and development and no understanding of timing of critical interventions (Empson, 2007). Decisions are based on previous evidenced learning and experience although, these are so embedded, the information is processed very quickly so professionals may not be consciously aware of most of the things they perceive; only becoming aware of them if they consciously direct their attention to them. For professionals to become entrepreneurs they must get over the conflicts of change and risk aversion, and learn to experience and action new structures and ways of working very rapidly (Vockell, 2006; Gladwell, 2007, 2008; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). More enlightened firms are including financial and technological acumen, leadership, communication and business awareness in the competence framework and development activities, so broadening the skills and knowledge of individual leaders. Many could learn from other professionals who have de-regulated and diversified. (Craswell, Francis & Taylor, 1995; Brock, Powell & Hinings, 2006)  e.g. the engineering industry have researched into the need for ‘T’ shaped engineers, who are highly specialised technically, yet also broad generically (Carter & Mueller, 2007; Oskam, 2009). Conversely, the new personal development professionals can do the generic work and need to focus on gaining specialist skills and qualifications to justify their place at the table.   The post Professional versus entrepreneur appeared first on The Performance Solution.

Personal development is based on the theory of reflective learning, which emphasises that learning derives from our experiences and can be constantly updated through the process of recording and thinking about the experiences we have. A very important aspect of reflective learning is that it is a process in which we can learn about ourselves. Gibbs’ reflective cycle (1982) identifies 6 stages of reflection which help students to make sense of their learning experiences. In the world of coaching high value is placed on the skill of being a reflective learner. This means that students can: * critically evaluate their learning * identify areas of their learning that require further development * make themselves more independent learners Reflective Practice is a modern term, and an evolving framework, for an ancient method of self-improvement. Essentially Reflective Practice is a method of assessing our own thoughts and actions, for the purpose of personal learning and development. For many people this is a natural and instinctive activity. We can use Reflective Practice for our own development and/or to help others develop. Reflective Practice is a very adaptable process. It is a set of ideas that can be used alongside many other concepts for training, learning, personal development, and self-improvement. For example, Reflective Practice is highly relevant and helpful towards Continuous Professional Development (CPD). ‘Reflective Practice’ is a theory by which modern and traditional self-improvement ideas can be more clearly defined, refined, expanded, adapted, taught, adopted and applied, for the purposes of personal development, teaching and coaching, and wider organizational improvement. Reflective Practice is also helpful for personal fulfilment and happiness, in the sense that we can see and understand ourselves more objectively. Reflective Practice enables clearer thinking, and reduces our tendencies towards emotional bias. So we are considering a fundamental human concept. We are grateful for the work of Linda Lawrence-Wilkes, an expert in Reflective Practice, for her contributions to our own development in reflective work. She discusses that ‘Reflective Practice is the use of self-analysis to understand, evaluate and interpret events and experiences in which we are involved. This extends to being able to form a theoretical view or analysis, as would allow clear explanation to others, if required. The process of Reflective Practice seeks to enable insights and aid learning for new personal understanding, knowledge, and action, to enhance our self-development and our professional performance’. Metacognition is another form of reflective practice. "… It can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving. There are generally two components of metacognition: knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition… This higher-level cognition was given the label metacognition by American developmental psychologist John Flavell (1979). The term metacognition literally means cognition about cognition, or more informally, thinking about thinking. Flavell defined metacognition as knowledge about cognition and control of cognition. For example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B; or if it strikes me that I should double-check C before accepting it as fact.. (JH Flavell 1976, p232)…" David Kolb (b.1939), an American educationalist, produced seminal works on experiential learning theory (see Kolb Learning Styles). In his 1984 book, ‘Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development’, Kolb extended the ideas of Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget and others, about adult learning, to produce an experiential learning concept - often represented by Kolb’s Learning Process Diagram. This famous diagram shows four main stages of the learning process, as a continuous loop, in order of: 1. Experience, 2. Reflection, 3. Learning/Conclusion, 4. Planning/experimentation (and then back to Experience…) David Kolb’s Learning Styles concept has become a classical model representing the way we experience learning in our everyday life and work, and how we learn best in a practical sense, moving between active and reflective modes, and specifically through the stages shown in the Kolb proposed that if we become better at using all the stages of the learning cycle, notably including reflecting on experience, we will become better life-long learners. In other words, if we learn better and have better outcomes, we will be more successful in life. Much of our thinking is biased, judgemental, and leaves us in delusion and denial - we are after all human. Linda Elder (2007) suggests that thorough reflection results in critical thinking which is a self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers - concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They strive never to think simplistically about complicated issues and always consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world. It is vital that coach supervision causes both reflective practice and critical thinking to evolve whilst being honest about the shadow side. Any coach supervision training leading to the ILM Level 7 qualification in Coaching Supervision will cover this. The next ILM Level 7 programme at The Performance Solution starts in September 2016 with the second module at the end of March 2017. 1:1 Coach and/or NLP supervision is available by Skype at £90 per hr inc VAT. The post Some thoughts about reflection appeared first on The Performance Solution.

The Four Generations, One Workforce class has given us another way to approach diversity topics and strengthen collaboration at Jackson Family Wines. We now offer it in Spanish to our Spanish-speaking employees. Some notable differences in facilitating to non-English speakers is the relevance of childhood events and popular culture. For most of our non-English speakers, their formative years were spent in a another country and their coming-of-age years were predominately influenced by their move to the United States. To bridge that gap, participants are asked to share their influential factors rather than the topics provided in the materials, since those topics do not resonate with them. The Spanish version of the class gives participants a different insight into co-workers behaviors and has created a stronger inclusive working environment. It clearly has increased people’s awareness and offered new ideas about how to engage and better communicate with other generations.

Want to know how to bridge the workplace generation gap and retain top talent? Then join us on June 15th in Pittsfield to hear generations expert Diane Thielfoldt share strategies and insight to hire, develop and retain the four generation workforce.

Diane Thielfoldt will be speaking at the 6th Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta this August. She will discuss the characteristics and challenges of each generation and of those just entering the job market. Click here to view her intro in the Steel Market Update.

Managers hear questions every day.  Some serious; some trivial.  "Are the merger rumors true?" "How much is our budget being cut?"  "Can we extend our deadline a couple of days?"  "Is our team going to have to work over the weekend?" But the ONE question that you have to answer correctly every single time is this:  "What are you working on?" It’s particularly crucial that you give the answer right when responding to your own boss. But your reputation can also suffer when you blow that question with your colleagues.

Did you ever play a game as a child when you made up the rules as you went along?  I’m guessing that those evolving rules often proved to be a source of contention! Leaders at work find the same to be true. When managers decide to disregard their moral compass as the official business handbook, they begin to make up the rules as they move along. Anything can happen, and the situation frequently proves to be a source of conflict.