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.

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ROI Institute Announces 2015 Awards of Excellence ROI Institute announced the recipients of the 2015 Awards of Excellence, which honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding work in measurement and evaluation, and recognizes exemplary practices in research, design, and implementation of the ROI Methodology. The advances made with ROI is impressive as we continue to expand its use to various applications and in several different countries. Awards were given in the following categories: Best International Implementation: Nader Bechini, Saudi Arabia Best Practice Implementation: Reem Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, UAE Best Research: Paul Leone, Lou Tedrick, and Amy Hirsch with Verizon Communications Inc., USA Best ROI Impact Study: Marc Donelson, Time Warner Cable, USA Most Innovative Approach to ROI: Gina Sloan, Maja Karlsson, and Kyla Gowenlock, British Columbia Interior Health, Canada ROI Practitioners of the Year: Mike Hogben and Stacey Hatch with EDF Energy, UK Best International Implementation Nader Bechini is being awarded the 2015 Best International Implementation. Nader has managed training projects in over 10 countries. He is the Managing Director for AIMS Training & Consulting Ltd and he has worked as our partner for ROI implementation in the Middle East. During that period, he has established an ROI consulting practice, operating under the name ROI Institute Saudi Arabia. He has worked across borders to help partners and organizations to implement ROI. He has over 15 years of professional experience in management consulting and talent development. He is passionate about assisting business professionals in improving the process of their projects and showing their value. Nader understands and drives business development. He has proven his knowledge of how to identify a need for a new product, frame the market, develop products and services for the market, and take it to the market. Nader holds MSc in Marketing, he is Certified ROI Professional from ROI Institute, Certified Trainer from ISTD and Certified Coach from Association of Coaching UK. Best Practice Implementation Reem Mohammed Al Suwaidi is being recognized with the award Best Practice Implementation. She is a Certified ROI Professional from ROI Institute, and she has over 12 years of professional experience in Customer Service and Human Resources. Reem is the Manager of Development in HR- Talent Management Department. Her area mainly measures all training programs’ effectiveness and level of achieving employee development goals successfully through implementing of 5 levels of the ROI Methodology. Reem and her team have managed evaluating 100% of targeted courses under each level successfully in previous years by applying clear documented processes in an Official Quality procedure. Reem has measured the ROI for different courses such as Leadership Development programs, Project Management programs, customer service programs, different conference and technical Degrees (Master’s and Ph.D. programs). She ensures continuous improvement in her processes and the implementation of best practices in her field. Reem has started being a mentor in her organization last year and she is working on her coaching certification from The Coaches Training Institute FZ LLC. Best Research For 2015’s Best Research, we recognize Paul Leone, Senior ROI Consultant, Lou Tedrick, Vice President of Learning and Development, and Amy Hirsch, Director of Leadership Development with Verizon Communications Inc. It is given due to the continuous use of the ROI Methodology that has proven its effectiveness through the organization. The leadership team approves 12 - 15 studies every year that are bought to full ROI. Results have been taken to the highest executives in the organization and are used for some of the most critical decisions in Verizon’s training delivery teams. The Corporate Leadership Development team was tasked with creating an initiative-wide leadership curriculum tied to the 8 Leadership Capabilities that provided a structured learning path for entry level through experienced level leaders. As a result, a new leadership development curriculum model was created to offer three core curriculum tracks to all VZ Leaders. The Verizon Leadership University curriculum tracks were designed for targeted manager populations based on experience level in the business and focused on the foundational skills needed for every leader. By collecting the right data and measuring all levels of impact, they were able to create a comprehensive picture of what happened after the training. Best ROI Impact Study Marc Donelson is an Instructional Designer at Time Warner Cable. Along with his design responsibilities, Marc is responsible for designing, implementing, and supporting the ROI Methodology, to be used by all of Learning & Development at Time Warner Cable. Marc has been in the learning field for 20 years. Prior to his role at Time Warner Cable, he worked as an eLearning developer and then transitioned to an Instructional Designer. Marc’s study measured the impact of a New Hire Curriculum implemented for Time Warner Cable’s customer support chat agents. The company increased the number of chat agents because supporting customers via chat is less expensive than providing support via phone. The overall goal was to keep the quality of the customer support for these new chat agents at the same level, or increase it, compared to the company’s current phone agents allowing the company to realize the cost savings of investing in chat. Marc is currently working on multiple projects to continue the success of his implementation for measuring and evaluating to promote positive ROI for Time Warner Cable’s programs. Most Innovative Approach to ROI Three employees from Interior Health in British Columbia, Canada, are the recipients of an award of excellence for their ROI Impact Study titled "Physician Compensation Planning & Initiatives Department". In the study, Kyla Gowenlock, Maja Karlsson, and Gina Sloan demonstrated an innovative approach to ROI. The Interior Health Physician Compensation Planning & Initiatives department was developed in 2011 to address the upfront financial risks associated with physician contracts with a focus on enabling medical program service delivery needs via innovative, cost effective physician compensation models. An ROI Evaluation was completed to analyze and to document the value provided by the Physician Compensation Planning & Initiatives department within the Medical Affairs team at Interior Health. The financial analysis included measurable costs, resource savings, and impacts on the business completed by the department with resulting cost avoidance. By assessing the department using the five levels of the ROI Methodology, they were able to ensure credible results showing the value of this department, with a resultant ROI of 631%. Additionally, intangible benefits were realized such as enhanced physician recruitment, improved physician engagement, and greater alignment of physician compensation models with the intended service delivery models. ROI Practitioner of the Year 2015’s ROI Practitioner of the Year is granted to Mike Hogben, Head of Learning & Technology, and Stacey Hatch, Learning & Technology Manager with EDF Energy. Mike, Stacey and the Campus Team at EDF Energy led the start of a modified version of the ROI system across business units that were not yet engaged in the process and aimed to improve the current process to increase its value through higher level evaluation. It is acknowledged that the business-to-consumer customer service within customers has made significant progress in ensuring training is utilised correctly to add the most value. Both business-to-business and business-to-consumer, energy financial services have shown good progress towards the application of a systematic approach. EDF Energy has a deployed a systematic approach to Training, Learning & Development across all business functions. Both Nuclear Generation and Nuclear New Build have an established process with a key area for focus required in higher-level evaluation to ensure that training is really making a difference to the business. Customers and C&SF have embraced the systematic approach and are now adopting a grading version of this methodology including the evaluation of training programmes up to business impact and return on investment. About ROI Institute ROI Institute, Inc., founded in 1992 as a service-driven organization, assists professionals in improving programs and processes using the ROI Methodology developed by Dr. Jack J. Phillips. Patti and Jack Phillips are the leading experts on the use of return on investment (ROI) in non-traditional applications. They regularly conduct ROI workshops and provide consulting services, making the ROI Institute an industry leader in measurement and evaluation. ROI Institute, along with more than 100 ROI, consultants, applies the ROI Methodology in 20 fields, which have been implemented in 65 countries. ROI Institute builds internal capability with a process to aid people to achieve Certified ROI Professional (CRP), a designation respected by administrators in several formations. For more information on ROI Institute, please contact info@roiinstitute.net or visit www.roiinstitute.net. The post 2015 Awards of Excellence appeared first on ROI Institute.

Measuring the Success of Employee Engagement Birmingham, AL, May, 2016- A new book, Measuring the Success of Employee Engagement: A Step-by-Step Guide for Measuring Impact and Calculating ROI, has been published and released by the Association for Talent Management (ATD). Authored by Patti P. Phillips, CEO of ROI Institute, Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice-President of  The Conference Board, and Jack J. Phillips, Chairman of ROI Institute, this new book shows practitioners how to measure the success of employee engagement. Half of the book is devoted to showing how ROI measurement is accomplished and the other half shows examples of organizations doing it often. "This is our sixth book in a series with ATD on Measuring the Success of series," explains Patti P. Phillips, CEO of ROI Institute. This particular topic is employee engagement. Previous topics are leadership development, coaching, organization development, sales training, and learning through technology. We are very pleased to offer this publication, our 46th with ATD, a long-term publishing partner." The book is designed in a step-by-step approach to show practitioners how they can measure the value of employees being engaged in their organization. Organizations have invested heavily in employee engagement. The investments began with investing in employee satisfaction in the 50s, and that morphed into organizational commitment, which led to what is now labeled employee engagement. Employee engagement is a very powerful data because it indicates the extent to which employees feel a part of the organization, are actively engaged in decisions of their work, feel responsible for meeting goals, and are willing to share information and help team members be successful. Because of the tremendous investment in engagement, many top executives are asking to see the actual connection between employee engagement and the impact in the organization. In some cases, they are asking for the financial ROI. "These new case studies show how to measure the ROI of employee engagement" adds Jack Phillips, Chairman of ROI Institute. "This appears to be a mysterious process, but it does not have to be. We unravel the mystery and show you how this is done with four outstanding examples of measuring the ROI of engagement. This type of information should satisfy the appetite for the top executives who often want this type of data." Of the four case studies, one shows how employee engagement is pushed to employees for their ownership of employee engagement in a home furnishing store chain. Another study shows how employee engagement is tied to a significant bonus. A third case study shows how employee engagement is used to tackle employee retention in a regional bank, and a fourth study shows how the desire to be engaged has become a part of the selection process for an upscale premium hotel chain. The book can be purchased directly from the publisher, ATD, Amazon, or wherever quality business books are sold. In addition, it is available directly from ROI Institute. For more information, contact ROI Institute at info@roiinsitute.net or visit www.roiinstitute.net. About ROI Institute, Inc. ROI Institute, Inc., founded in 1992 as a service-driven organization, assists professionals in improving programs and processes using the ROI Methodology developed by Dr. Jack J. Phillips and Dr. Patti P. Phillips. It is the global leader in measurement and evaluation, including the use of return on investment (ROI) in non-traditional applications. ROI Institute regularly offers workshops, provides consulting services, publishes books and case studies, and conducts research on the use of measurement and ROI, making it the leading source of content, tools, and services in measurement, evaluation, and analytics. Working with more than 100 ROI consultants, ROI Institute applies the ROI Methodology in 20 fields in over 60 countries. ROI Institute authors have written or edited over 100 books, translated into 38 languages. Organizations build internal capability with the help of ROI Institute and its ROI Certification process.  By successfully completing this process, individuals are awarded the Certified ROI Professional (CRP) designation, which is respected by executives in organizations worldwide. For more information on ROI Institute, please contact info@roiinstitute.net or visit www.roiinstitute.net. The post Engagement Book Published appeared first on ROI Institute.

Here’s the great little secret of motherhood: The superpower of all great motherhood communications is leadership.

Your relationship with your boss is paramount - it can make or break your career. Use these tips to make your relationship with your boss a better one.

When speaking with clients about succession, one of the most common questions I’m asked is ‘What are other organisations doing?"

A new book says "deep work" is the best way to produce work that’s valued. But isn’t working well with others valuable, too?

As I transition in and out of leadership roles, across functions, and in new markets, I ask: Am I ready? I answer: I’m ready now—and never.

New research from Brandon Hall Group sheds light on learning strategies, analytics, and development investment.

MBA programs don’t develop all of the critical skills leaders need. In some ways, a humanities degree is more valuable.

In the same way we adopt technology to improve process efficiencies, we can implement people processes to improve interaction efficiencies.