design Archives - Keystone Development and Training Ltd

Business as Usual in a MOST Unusual World

April 9, 2020Uncategorizedbusiness, coaching, design, HR, OD, training, training design

I’m not going to be pretend that the situation we find ourselves in is a massive opportunity. I know it’s important to focus on the positive, and I do, but let’s not pretend that the current situation bought on by the covid-19 pandemic isn’t pretty dire, because it is. And so many people are doing so many good things – selflessly volunteering to serve communities and support the NHS. So I felt pretty bad that I wasn’t closing my business, leaving my kids to fend for themselves (they are in high school) and getting out there too. I COULD have furloughed myself – the vast majority of my work has temporarily disappeared. Large corporates have (quite rightly) suspended all non-essential training. BUT the thing about working for myself for 14 years means that I’ve been through tough times before. And those tough times taught me to adapt. The last time corporate work was thin of the ground, I started the Training Designer’s Club. The time before that I created some online courses about how to design training. The time before THAT I created ready-written Power Hour training materials to sell to other trainers. So although my earnings may be very…

What we can learn about Management Development from Snowboarding

February 24, 2020Uncategorizedbusiness, coaching, design, development, HR, L&D, learning, management, management development, managers, OD, training, training design

Last week I attempted to learn to snowboard. If there had been learning objectives for the week, I’m sure I would have met them: I can now side slide, do a J turn, traverse across a hill, zig zag down it, make left and right turns and link turns together. But I can’t snowboard! It was very useful learning something completely new – as it reminded me that learning is HARD, and so many things have to come together to achieve success. Our instructors would explain, then demonstrate the next skill. Then they would guide us through it, step by step. So far, so good. Then, after a few (quite literally) hand-holding practices, we tried on our own… and generally failed. This is to expected, so they were very clear that we had to PRACTICE between sessions. This also makes total sense. I practised and didn’t improve – for two reasons: 1) I still needed actual physical support, and 2) although my head knew what to do, my body kind of did its own thing. Plus, there were many many small movements that had to be done in the right order, at the right time and in the right way…

The Training Design Podcast

January 20, 2020Uncategorizeddesign, L&D, OD, training, training design

It is with great pleasure (and slight nervousness) that I announce the arrival of the Training Design Podcast. I started listening to podcasts a year or 18 months ago, and find many of them very interesting. It’s a great way to do a bit of CPD whilst running errands or exercising. But whilst the L&D ones I listened to were thought provoking, few of them had a real PRACTICAL focus. So, when fellow designer Terry Pearce and I got talking about it, we decided that if we ever did a podcast, it would have to be practical above all else. And it is. Created BY practitioners FOR practitioners we take a main topic each week and discuss what it is, why we should do it, some key principles and practical tips for doing whatever “it” is! You can listen HERE We’d also love you to like the FACEBOOK PAGE so we can discuss the content of each episode as it is released,

Being “Better” in 2020

January 2, 2020Uncategorizedbespoke, business, design, development, HR, L&D, learning, OD, training, training design, variety

Here we are, the start of another new year. Many people are making resolutions – joining the gym, doing Dry January, setting ambitious business goals. I have not. That’s NOT to say that I don’t need to make improvements. I definitely need to lose weight (I’m currently a stone heavier than I’d like) and cutting down on the booze can only be a good thing. But you won’t find me reaching for the slimfast, joining Slimming World, hitting the gym 5 days a week, or cutting out the booze entirely. Because if I do that, I’m setting myself up to fail. It’s too BIG a change and it’s actually a bigger change than I need to make, so why make life hard for myself? I DO eat healthily most of the time (just need to watch those portion sizes and evening snacks). I DO exercises regularly – 3 Zumba classes a week most weeks. I DO generally have 4 alcohol free days a week In short, I get it mostly right most of the time. However, I need to be more consistent. I need to me more aware and notice more quickly if I’m straying from good habits. I need…

What’s the Difference between Ronnie Wood and Mark Ronson?

November 27, 2019Uncategorizedbusiness, coaching, design, development, learning, mark ronson, OD, training, training design

A strange question perhaps for a blog on a training design website. And to be honest, now I’ve asked the question, I realise that there are probably many differences. Furthermore, the one I’m going to refer to may not even be accurate – it’s based on my feeling after watching both men appear on Later with Jools Holland. Clearly, both are accomplished musicians, and for both music is front and centre in their life. It struck me that the main difference is that Ronnie Wood wants to PLAY great music, whilst Mark Ronson wants to MAKE good music. And there’s a subtle but significant difference. Ronnie Wood clearly wants to play the best music he can. He wants to entertain a crowd and play – anything, anytime with anyone. He seemed lost without a guitar in his hand and didn’t know what to do with himself when others were providing the music. Mark Ronson is more about putting together the best possible sound – whether or not he’s directly involved. Naturally he can play music and will if he will add value, but if there’s a better musician, or a different sound is needed, he will step back. In the…

Social and Collaborative Learning

October 13, 2019Uncategorizedcoaching, design, HR, learning, managers, OD, performance, training, training design

Last week I attended a webinar run my Andy Lancaster from the CIPD called “Social and Collaborative Learning: What really makes it work?” It was a very good webinar. I found it useful, informative and interesting. I learned new things and I had some of my own ideas validated. It was also run very well (as you would perhaps expect!). But I do have issues – and I realise it’s probably just me being pedantic. My grumpy old woman is starting to emerge perhaps… A list of the top 200 collaborative learning methods was bought up. However, not one of the top 200 was coaching, feedback, on the job training, action learning, stretch projects, workshops, even having a good conversation i.e. face-to-face, in person interaction…. It’s like we are being hoodwinked into thinking that we can’t be “social” unless we are using some app or technical interface!! Well, as far as I can tell humans have been learning socially since time began, and we will continue to do so with or without apps to help us. Personally, I’m 100% on board with learning via social technology – I learn through it myself – particularly my two favourite Facebook communities: The…

When Creativity Strikes

June 17, 2019Uncategorizeddesign, HR, learning, managers, OD, pace, training, training design

Designing training is quite a creative thing. Yes – there are some things that you can do to progress the creation of a course when your brain isn’t in it, but when creativity strikes BOOM!! You work so much more quickly and what you create is so much better. I’ve just experienced this in a non-work capacity. In my lunch break, I decided to go and pick the raspberries (we have so many growing!!), and whilst I was outside, allowing my mind to wander, I suddenly knew how I wanted to re-design the garden. It’s been something we’ve been talking about for about a year, but despite looking in magazines, searching on-line, going round garden centres and so on, we didn’t move our thinking on much. But little ideas have been stored here and there. Last week, we found ourselves watching an episode Springwatch. We weren’t even giving it our full attention, but there was a small item on creating a nature garden in a small, urban space. What a nice idea I thought, but that was it. However, today, as I finished picking the raspberries, I turned and looked at my rectangular lawn and dilapidated shed and tatty patio,…

Designing Training for Designing Training!

March 20, 2019Uncategorizeddesign, training, training design

The Training Designer’s Club is only a couple of weeks old, and we already have over 50 members – a real mixture of experienced designers and people coming to it for the first time; freelancers and internal designers. So far. I’m delighted with the feel of it and the conversations that are starting to place. And it made wonder if there would be demand for more formal assistance for new training designers? I don’t know about you, but I just picked it up, and then over the years discovered why some things worked than better than others, and started to add to my toolkit. It’s taken a long time. And its time that many people don’t have. So I’ve had a genius idea (or perhaps I’m living in cloud cuckoo land)… Please take 5 minutes to watch this video and let me know your thoughts. So – what do you think? If you want to be told when I’ve developed the idea, please add your details here, and I’ll email you when I have more to show and tell. And, if you haven’t already, why not join the Training Designers Club on Facebook?

Introducing the Training Designer’s Club

March 5, 2019Uncategorizeddesign, OD, training, training design

I’m getting excited about the development of my Training Designer’s Club. It’s a support group for anyone involved in designing training – whether it’s at a strategic level or at the nitty-gritty end of creating session plans and delegate materials. If you are a lone L&D person in your organisation OR new to training OR responsible for learning design, it’s for you. Please come and join me, and help me to shape the direction of what I hope will become a valuable community. LEARN MORE or JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP NOW.

Creativity in Learning Design

March 3, 2019Uncategorizedbusiness, design, HR, managers, OD, training, training design

Last week, I attended the Manchester L&D ‘Unconference’ – an opportunity for L&D professionals to meet, agree their own agenda and have the conversations they want to have about all things L&D. The first session I joined was all around the question “How can we be more creative in training design?”. It was quite insightful, and here are the summary thoughts that I came away with. Firstly, what do we mean by creative, and why do we feel the need to be creative? We quickly agreed that creative doesn’t mean ‘wacky’. Creativity can be quite serious! Creative training is defined in relation to the topic and the audience. Yes, sometimes creative training may involve crossing streams and building rope bridges: It may involve Lego, singing, or lots of coloured pens; It may simply involve a live demo, detailed case study or expert interview. Creativity in training is simply about providing an alternative way in to the learning – a different way of exploring it from the norm. It’s about providing multiple touch points and appealing to different learning preferences. It’s about getting people off autopilot and grabbing their attention, taking them out of their comfort zone, but only by a…

Tag: design

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: