in this issue
	Time Management Idea Book Club Expands Learning Feedback Templates Playing with Creativity

Time Management Idea

Here's an idea for a starter for your next time management workshop. I heard about it from one of my clients (although I can't remember who), so please forgive me for not giving credit where it's due. You will need a large jar (industrial size mayonnaise jar works well, although a smaller size will work), some very large stones, medium stones, small stones, sand, and some water. Begin by placing the empty jar on a table in front of the group. Fill the jar with as many large stones as will fit. Then ask the group if the jar is full. Chances are they will say, "Yes." (After all, it is full of the large stones.) Tell the group that the jar is not full, and add as many medium stones as you can. Again, ask if it is full. They may still say, "Yes." It's not. Add as many small stones as will fit. Then ask if the jar is full. You guessed it - it's still not full. Add the sand. Is it full? They may think it is finally full, but it isn't. Now you can add the water until the jar is full and just about overflowing. You can say now that the jar is, in fact, full. Debrief by asking how this jar is like our time. There can be many answers. Sometimes we think we don't have enough time when we do. If we get the large things out of the way first, we can get more into our day (and into the jar). I'm sure you'll hear many other analogies. It's a great way to get them thinking about their time and their attitudes toward it.

Book Club Expands Learning

Here's a way to foster development outside of the classroom. Start a book club to support learners after training. We established a Leadership Book Club for one of our clients, and offer it as part of the overall leadership development strategy. Here's how we got started. We had been teaching a workshop called, Discovering the Leader in You. As with most training, we realized that there was just so much that could be accomplished in the classroom, and we really wanted people to continue their focus on becoming leaders in everything they do. So we invited people to join the Leadership Book Club. At the beginning of each month, we send members a book on leadership. This month, it's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. Next month it will be Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni. With the book, we include a list of discussion questions and an action or two they can take to apply the concepts in the book. At the end of the month, we hold a conference call (members are not all based in the same office). The call is scheduled for 90 minutes, usually around lunch time. We facilitate the call using the discussion questions sent with the book. It's a great way to foster continuous learning and growth. Try it - you'll like it!

Feedback Templates

Have you ever created an exercise in which participants must give feedback to others? Perhaps in a presentation or a role play. Feedback can be especially valuable if you give them a form to complete rather than allowing them to simply offer their thoughts in an unstructured way. Let's say, for instance, that you are teaching a workshop on presentation skills. Participants can generally comment on what they liked and didn't like. But that feedback only goes so far. It usually helps to prompt people with questions about specific aspects of the presentation: body language, voice, opening, close, question handling, etc. Those guidelines help focus the feedback. So make it easier on the feedback giver and more useful to the feedback receiver by creating a form that can be completed either during the practice or immediately after. That form should include all aspects of the skills you have been teaching. Give people a minute to review the form before you begin (so that everyone knows what is being evaluated). Then get started. You can have everyone complete the form, or create partners to act as notetakers for each other. After the practice is completed, you can solicit quick verbal feedback, and then allow time for the individual to review the written feedback. For an example of a feedback form we use in our Train-the-Trainer, visit our web site and check the Free Downloads page. Click here for the Train-the-Trainer Feedback Form »

Playing with Creativity

Are you looking for a way to get people thinking out of the box - being more creative? Here's an idea that's fun for everyone. Collect a bunch of fun objects: children's toys, colorful stickers, noisemakers, balloons, toy rings, etc. Place them on a table and tell the group that you want them to get creative and share an idea related to the training topic that uses one of the objects on the table. For instance, let's say you're teaching a workshop on Instructional Design. Have participants choose an object and give an idea for how that object could be used in a training program. In a workshop on Effective Meetings you could ask them to share how they could make their meetings more interesting and fun with one of the objects. In a workshop on managing others, participants could describe how an object could be used to motivate someone on their team. Whatever the situation, you'll be getting them thinking out of the box. And they will have some great ideas that you might be able to use in future classes. It's also a great energizer - something you might use after lunch or during that mid-afternoon lull. They get to play, you foster creativity, and everyone wins!