in this issue
	Activity: Get a New Perspective Activity: Make a Change Design Strategy: Individualized Generic Training Activity: Get Creative

Activity: Get a New Perspective

This exercise is a variation on an idea presented in the book, Jump Start Your Brain by Doug Hall. The purpose of the activity is to get participants to expand their thinking about an issue or problem, or to expand the circle of resources they use when trying to address an issue or problem. Here's how it works. Ask each person to identify a challenge they face related to the training (or choose a group challenge they must address). Have them record on paper key information about the challenge (how long it's been happening, how much it costs, what solutions have been tried, etc.). Then explain that sometimes we get caught up in a problem and don't have the perspective we need to solve it. This activity will help them explore a new perspective. Tell them that their assignment is to find at least two people who should know nothing about this type of problem (a cab driver, waitress, their mother-in-law, a store clerk, someone in another department, etc.). They should explain the problem to these two people and see what advice they get. Then break for lunch or the day and have them complete the assignment. When the group returns, ask questions like, What ideas did you hear? What ideas did that spark for you? What preconceptions did you have about the ideas you would get? What new perspectives did you gain? What does this tell you about where you might find answers in the future? Did anyone not complete the assignment? Why not? This is a great way to get people to value other's input and get out of their own boxes.

Activity: Make a Change

This exercise is ideal for a workshop on change. You can do it as pre-work, during lunch, or as an evening assignment for 2-day programs. Instruct participants to do at least three things differently before they return to the workshop. You may need to offer some suggestions, such as take a different route home or back to your office, say hello to someone you don't know, eat something new or try a new restaurant, visit a new web site, buy a magazine you wouldn't normally read, watch a different news program. The possibilities are endless. Tell them to record what they did differently and how it felt on a worksheet. That worksheet should have space for them to describe the 3 changes they made by complete a series of questions. Your questions might be: How much of a difference was this from normal? How did you feel before doing it (anxious, annoyed, excited, etc.)? How did you feel during the experience? Now that it's done, how do you feel? When they come back together, discuss their experiences. How did it feel before, during and after? Did anyone NOT do the assignment, and if so, why not? How does their approach to these changes compare to the way they approach other changes in the organization? It's a good way to get into a discussion of our barriers to change, how different people react emotionally to change, and the pleasant surprises we might experience as a result of change.

Design Strategy: Individualized Generic Training

Individualized generic training. What, you say, is that! Okay, I admit it. I just made it up. Individualized generic training is a generic training workshop that works for an audience with a wide range of skill needs. We all know that, in the ideal world, you have an audience with similar needs. You don't want to try to teach beginners and advanced folks in the same class. In reality, sometimes we're given a challenge to train a mixed group of people. This happened to me recently when a prospective client asked for a proposal to develop a group of managers as trainers. She wanted them to learn how to implement the training programs she created. Most of the managers were great in one area, but poor in another. And whatever that area was for one, wasn't necessarily the same for another. She wanted them all to have practice and videotaped feedback on their training skills. They had allocated a day and a half to teach groups of 15 per session. My solution: Use our generic trainer skills program (albeit shorter than usual) and include 5 different opportunities for videotaped feedback. The catch: each person would practice and be videotaped in just 2 exercises. The exercise they practiced would be based on a self-assessment completed before training. Although this solution resulted from some imposed constraints, it actually has several benefits. First, participants don't get bored listening to everyone do the same thing. Second, if someone is really great at something, they don't need to waste their time practicing. Third, if you had worked with only beginners, you would only have time to address the basics. But with a mixed group, you can actually present more information and the audience (especially experienced people) can contribute more to group learning. Try experimenting with this concept. It might just work for you.

Activity: Get Creative

This activity is designed to get people to expand their thinking about an idea, problem, or challenge. It can be used as an introduction to brainstorming or as part of a workshop on creativity. Remind the group of the movie Forrest Gump. In a series of clips, a character is telling all the different ways to cook shrimp. The clips end when he says, "I guess that's about it." Then tell them that you want them to use their imagination and come up with a list of all the ways they can use something. That something can be an everyday item like a roll of duct tape, a product your company makes, or a product of one of your clients. You can make it a competition and award prizes (longest list, most unusual application, best idea, strangest idea, etc.). Give them 5-10 minutes to generate the list. Debrief the exercise by asking questions such as: How did your ideas evolve? What allowed you to make such a long list? Was there anything/anyone that blocked your creativity? In what ways did your approach to this task mirror how you face similar challenges on the job? An exercise like this can have numerous applications. You can make the point that there are multiple ways to accomplish a task, solve a problem, communicate a vision, design a training program, answer a question, and manage an employee. Sometimes there is more than one answer. Help your trainees see the value in exploring lots of ideas and keeping their minds open to many possibilities.