sheridan@keystonedevelopment.co.uk
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We’re Jammin’ … L&D Style

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I’ve just returned from a fabulous creative meeting with one of my clients. Three of them and I sat in a room for 3 hours and just talked about: What they need their managers to do more of What they ought to do less of What they see happening – good and bad What they’ve heard about happens in other places Our collective experience of what works and what doesn’t How people can learn to do more of the good stuff What genuinely gets in their way, and what excuses they hear What we can realistically cover in a training session What people need to learn for themselves How the whole thing can be implemented and measured At the end, we were all very pleased and the Senior Manager in the room said “Great. That’s that module designed then”. To a point, he’s exactly right, and to a point, he couldn’t be more wrong! What we have is a clear plan of what the session will look like: what the pre-course work will be, what will be explored in the live event (and how), and what people will be expected to do to put the learning into practice. However, it is…

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Shhhh! It’s a Secret

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I was at the CIPD conference yesterday, and many of the seminars and discussions touched in some way on mental well being or neuroscience. In particular, how making mental well being a priority, and understanding how our brains work can help us to create happier and more effective workplaces. I don’t profess to be anywhere near an expert on these things, but I do have some knowledge and (largely due to my active involvement on social media) have been aware of the key concepts and benefits for some time. I suspect that many HR and training professionals are in exactly the same position. Yet, as I sat in a seminar about the importance of neuroscience in HR yesterday, a worrying thought hit me: “It’s all very well the HR/Training team knowing about these things, but almost everyone else in the organisation is completely unaware of what this is, let alone how important it is and how to use it”. It’s like this is a big secret we are keeping to ourselves…and I can understand why. Many senior managers are still resistant to ‘soft stuff’ so unless you can link it directly to hard and fast results, they will dismiss it as…

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Why reinventing the wheel is necessary

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Yesterday I created a Learning Journal for a client. In some ways, there’s nothing new in this. I’ve probably created about 8 of them before, with the first around 10 years ago for Newey and Eyre. The Learning Journal I created yesterday bears little resemblance to the one I did for Newey and Eyre all those years ago, though I dare say that a paragraph or two will be recognisable. This may not be surprising to you. What may be MORE surprising is that it shares less than 50% similarity with a similar document that I created earlier this year. On a similar note, I’m currently starting the design of (another) Management Development Programme. Probably the 12th I’ve written. I will be able to take some elements of the programme from the previous 11, but much of it will be new. When I say ‘new’ I don’t mean never heard of before…I mean never included in one of my programmes before. And this is all because things change. Organisations change – each one is at a different stage and each has their own particular challenges and focus. Technology Changes – In my first management Development programme a ‘blended’ approach involved…

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The Secret of Personal Improvement

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I’ve been off this month (as much as you can be when you run your own business). I’ve been using the time to read, plan, think and reflect. I realised that a number of theories and principles have become more prominent in my recent design, delivery and consulting conversations. Also that previously disjointed ideas have started to come together. I’ve had a little bit of a revelation about making improvements: to myself, my business, my social life and my family. As a management trainer, I’ve turned it into a model (which even conveniently follows the pattern ABCDE). This is quite a raw thing at the moment. It certainly isn’t scientifically tested or validated. I can’t quote source material or research (though I’m sure many of my peers could – Roger Longden, Sukhvinder Pabial and Tim Slack immediately come to mind). It’s simply my take on personal improvement, and I wanted to share it.   When I have more time to REALLY think this through, I’ll explore each of the five steps in more detail, but here’s an overview of what I think each stage is about. Bear in mind, this is still work-in-progress! AWARENESS Before you can change or improve…

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I’m a person, not a profile!

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Maybe it’s a sign of my age as I reluctantly slide into middle age, but I’m finding it increasingly hard to get what I want as a customer. I feel I am constantly being forced into a box that doesn’t suit me. For example: Lovefilm seem quite determined that I should switch from my ‘by post’ service to instant download. Whenever I logon to their website I’m automatically redirected to the upgrade to Lovefilm Instant. I can’t use this service as my broadband connection is too slow. I’m trying to book a family holiday, but it is almost impossible to find accommodation for a family of four that includes two separate bedrooms. Our kids are too old to share a room with us, but too young to have a hotel room by themselves. Are we really the only family who doesn’t actually want to be forced together in one room 24/7? If you attend  pay-as-you-go sports classes you seem to be considered less important. Unless you are willing to join the squad or become an annual member, you are somehow considered less relevant. I do understand that businesses have to make commercial decisions and that they do need to target…

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Simply Providing a Training Service

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I’ve starting working with a few new clients recently. They think I’m quite unusual. I don’t claim to be: A catalyst A transformer A guru An inspirationalist An enabler Likewise, I don’t have a model, programme, tool, test or approach to sell. My business, Keystone Development and Training Ltd is a service provider. Nothing more, nothing less. We LISTEN to what clients want We QUESTION their assumptions, outcomes and expected benefits We provide ADVICE and suggestions We ASK how we can help them to achieve their outcomes We FILL A GAP: be that in expertise, design, delivery or general support, And when that gap has been filled, we quietly exit stage left. In fact, Keystone Development and Training Ltd is one of the few businesses out there who seems to be actively seeking to put itself out of work! We design training for internal delivery (so once the material is ready, we aren’t needed). We train trainers (so you don’t need us for delivery). Now we’re even training people to DESIGN training! On the one hand, this is brilliant. Training should be available to everyone so the more people who can design and deliver it competently the better. However, it…

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When being the ‘best’ isn’t enough

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I don’t watch football, but I am very aware of  the outrage caused by Luis Suarez and his latest biting incident. This behaviour by itself is bad enough, but the fact that some people see fit to defend the player or try to play it down ‘because he’s a good footballer’ is just as bad, if not worse! If one man bit another in a the street he would (quite rightly) be charged with assault or GBH, for that is what it is. The fact that the attack happened on a football field should make no difference at all. If, as a society, we feel biting people is wrong then it is wrong full stop. The trouble is, people get blinded by short-term targets. They will forgive his behaviour if (within a 90 minute window) he scores enough goals to get a good result for the team. The same happens in businesses up and down the land. Particularly if those business are built around achieving short-term goals: the weekly sales target, the monthly profit margin, the daily output target. The ‘best’ sales person, the most ‘commercially-minded’ manager, the most productive operator are almost left to their own devices to achieve the…

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I hate ‘students’

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A number of training providers refer to the people they train as ‘students’. Personally, I hate this. It smacks of ‘listen to me, I know best, I’m the expert, you don’t know anything, just concentrate on passing the test’. Maybe this is because many trainers come from the world of education, and many formal qualifications still use this language. I was a student once. I was young and penniless with no responsibilities beyond keeping myself safe, warm and fed. The whole world was unfolding before me. I had no real expectations, little real-world experience and nothing to judge the information I was given against. I simply soaked it all up with a view that it a) may come up in an exam, b) may be useful one day, or c) was interesting. I’m now in my 40s (not so young), and thankfully not penniless. I have very many responsibilities… two kids, a mortgage and a business to run. I have amassed a fair amount of knowledge, tested it out, experienced quite a lot of ‘life’ and worked in different business environments. I’ve been put under pressure, had to work things out as I go and yes, made a few mistakes…

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Trainers…Who Needs Them?

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Increasingly businesses are wanting to put their learning on line. Turn it into an ‘app’. Make it accessible 24/7 from anywhere in the world. This (they argue) will mean more people are learning more of the time. Accessibility and flexibility is key. Yes… …and no. How many of you have fitness DVDs/games at home? What about home gym equipment? How much do you use it? I had a terrible week last week. My husband was on a course which meant he didn’t get home until 7.30 each night. This in turn meant I could get to any of the Zumba classes run by my preferred instructors. Gutted! Now, I have my own Zumba playlist. I know the routines for about 20 tunes, and (having no other option) I Zumba’d like a sad thing by myself in my kitchen. Many people wouldn’t have even done this. However, even though I ‘worked out’ it wasn’t the same. I didn’t get the same level of enjoyment and I CERTAINLY didn’t sweat as much, despite doing a full hour of the same routines to the same songs. And this is why I pay my money and go to a class: It’s more sociable Its…

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What when there’s no burning platform?

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I’ve been in the training business for a long time (over 20 years although I like to think I don’t look that old) and I’ve seen all manner of approaches to training. We’ve gone from five-day residential programs through distance learning, coaching has been the tool of choice with e-learning always hovering on the horizon. Bite sized training is currently very popular and of course social learning via technology and apps. They all have their pros and cons. Just as we all learn in different ways, different training approaches will suit different businesses and different topics at different times. There is something though that is starting to worry me. And that is the engagement of learners. I’m not talking about participation on an event, or take-up rate of distance learning module but actual deep commitment to the learning opportunity, and more importantly, to its application. Afterall, the whole point of training is to bring about a change in behaviour. I work with lots of different organisations, and the HR and training teams are generally very intelligent, realistic, and business savvy. They have done their research, and they know what training needs exist and how fulfilling these needs will benefit their…

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