A new discovery 8 August 2010
Posted by agsteele in : Personal,Training , add a comment
Friends in the Northumbria Community recently introduced me to a new musician – new to me that is.
Andrew Peterson‘s new album is called Counting Stars and is available through lots of different places.
I was particularly struck by a quote he offers on his website.
God gave music the power to carry his light into the darkness. That’s a mighty privilege. It means intentionally telling stories and writing songs that bear truth that outlasts the songs themselves. If I did this in hopes of thunderous applause and piles of cash, I would have quit years ago. But there are moments on the stage when I sense something magical, a connection with the band and the audience, when our stories intersect and suddenly we’re wading in an ancient river. Suddenly the song is secondary to the greater story being told through each of us.
The importance of our story to ourselves and to our friends, neighbours and acquaintances is often missed. Our story is also important for those of us called to train.
Enjoy the song and the story.
Has the penny dropped? 5 August 2010
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I was chatting with a colleague yesterday about the processes we often see in the classroom.
Typically you can identify three groups of learners.
- The first group are those for whom the ‘penny has dropped’. This group seems to immediately or quickly grasp what the issues and challenges are. They appear to have moved quickly to an ability to analyse the materials and gain an ability to apply it in new ways.
- I would describe the second group as those who, if pressed, would declare that ‘their brain hurts.’ They can see that there is something to learn but they are struggling to take it on board and understand how they might use it and apply it in their own context.
- The third group typically look bored, disinterested and disengaged. If the training was relevant you wouldn’t be able to tell from their body language.
Leaving the third group to one side, I reflected on the sense of success that I often have when I see the first group. Using Bloom’s learning levels, they are achieving a degree of understanding and fluency with the material that demonstrates good learning.
But then I recalled all the times I had felt my brain was about to collapse as I struggled to understand and take the application on board. In fact, perhaps, that willingness to struggle and make the learning come alive is a truer indication of success than the apparently higher achievements of those for whom the penny just drops.
On Sunday I’ll be off to SE Asia to work with trainers who want to develop their training skills. Perhaps I’ll get to see this in action again.
To be a trainer is to be lonely! 23 June 2010
Posted by agsteele in : Personal,Training , add a commentWell, I’m not sure that I really believe that the role of trainer is always forced to be accompanied by loneliness. There are trainers working in lots of teams who have a perfectly happy and supported professional life.
But thoughtful trainers do, often, find themselves in solitary and vulnerable places. In smaller organisations or for the ‘freelance’ trainer loneliness is part of the calling.
This morning I found myself reading an extract from The Restless Heart by Roland Rolheiser.
To be human is to be lonely. To be human, however, is also to respond. The human person has always responded to this pain.
Sometimes it has moved us to greater depth of openness towards God and others, to fuller life, and sometimes it has led us to jump off bridges, to end life; sometimes it has given us a glimpse of heaven, sometimes it has given us a glimpse of hell; sometimes it has made the human spirit, sometimes it has broken it; always it has affected it. For loneliness is one of the deepest, most universal, and most profound experiences that we have. Even if you are a relatively happy person who relates easily to others and who has many close friends, you are probably still lonely at times. If you are a very sensitive person, the type who feels things deeply, you are probably, to some degree, lonely all the time.
The sense of isolation, of having to travel alone, can be deeply disabling which is why I often encourage fellow trainers to find a friend they discuss the challenges with. A friend who will, when appropriate, challenge, encourage or empathise.
Was that a coalition I saw limping by…? 12 May 2010
Posted by agsteele in : Personal , add a commentWell, the UK finally has a new government and, probably not the one that anybody wanted. All the talk of coalition and deals leaves few convinced of the way ahead.
What is certain is that the next few years promise deeper cuts in public services than we’ve seen so far in the global recession. And it isn’t hard to predict that training and development will take a significant hit.
With money tight training becomes a luxury that financial managers may well decide can be surrendered for the time being.
But there are approaches to learning in the workplace that could avoid the penalty that will fall upon those organisations that decide they can do without developing their staff.
The world of work-based learning or, as I prefer, practice centred learning offers refreshing approaches to learning and development which has yet to be explored – especially by the so-called third sector.
One thing that I am certain of is that those organisations that continue to invest in their staff will be better placed as the economy moves out of recession.
Am I boring…? 31 March 2010
Posted by agsteele in : Training , add a commentThanks to Training Zone I had the opportunity to reflect on some thoughts by Seth Godin, a fascinating thinker on social media and business.
A few months ago I purchased his book, Tribes, which was very helpful in a whole range of areas – from work as a trainer to building our local church community.
Training Zone has taken the the conversation forward and Godin expounds the opportunity to take a new approach to building the business of training by reminding us that most trainers are small businesses.
I was struck by several points according to Godin…
- Most advertising involves people shouting at people in the hope of persuading them to buy something that they don’t want or give to something that they aren’t particularly interested in
- Small organisations are run by people and other people want to follow those of us who are authentic
- Small organisations will make a difference because they touch people, are generous, make change; because there’s something about what they do that people connect with
- Small organisations get people to talk about them by being different, original. If our focus is boring products for boring people then be prepared to be invisible.
So how do I ensure that the work I do isn’t ‘boring’?