Last week I had the pleasure of presenting at the Greater Cincinnati ASTD. The subject, an adjusted and tweaked version of my Building Leadership Development from Scratch.

From what I was told it was the highest and best attended monthly meeting they had for the year… I think that is pretty cool. Without further adieu here are the slides from that session. If you would like to have a downloaded version please subscribe to the blog and then contact me and I would be happy to send you the notes!

Beginning Video from the DDI Study (Development Dimensions International)

Now how do you approach and build your own Leadership and Training efforts?

Being someone who has specialized in the field of Learning and Development much of my career I have always tried to be aware of various approaches, techniques, and technologies to help enhance and advance the learning experience. When “E-Learning” became the big trend to go towards in training and development I was leery. Over the years my suspicions have been proven when most people, practitioners and companies turned the big craze of E-Learning into an overblown PowerPoint or conference call.

But the advance in technologies and the idea of “Digital Natives” (being anyone born after 1990 and most of the life has been immersed in mobile technologies) there is true potential in the power of these technologies for actual learning. I tend to see that my colleagues, associations, and consultants are going to be in for a rude awakening when the audience that has traditionally attended ILTs (instructor lead training ‘s) begin to disappear and the demand for new and more dynamic ways of learning are… well… demanded!

I just hope that I can help others, as well as myself keep up! What do you think? I will be press at the ASTD International Conference in Orlando so feel free to connect on twitter: @BenjaminMcCall, Subscribe to this blog or talk while you are there!

So are you ready for the transition? Let’s

From Voxy.com

Via: Voxy Blog

I think by now everyone saw or heard about the Christina Aguilera mistake at Superbowl 45. If you didn’t then I have included it below. We all make mistakes. We all fail. Point is, who decides which mistakes have more weight.  We all get up in front of a training class, our employees, and our friends and say something we didn’t mean to say. We take actions that don’t always represent out intent. And that is the main point. The meaning behind what we do and how we do it, is in the intent of our words and our actions.

Like Christina we have made mistakes. Now unlike her, not all of us have done it with the world watching. While many are appalled I am empathetic. I like to sing and when I do, even if it is something I have practiced and know through and through, I have messed up the words.

Next time someone makes a mistake, no matter how big or small… give them some room to grow. We all fail, we just need the people around us to give us room and time to learn from that failure instead of rope to hang ourselves. Understand the intent behind the action and you will begin to understand that all mistakes, no matter how appalling…. are not all appalling!

What was the biggest mistake you made? How did you learn and become better as a result of it?

This post was originally written on December 31st, 2009. I think it is just as true today. As more companies are beginning to hire and develop talent for succession planning and workforce development, it is important that those leading the training(s) make it usable and actionable for their participants.

As we go into the new year, everyone will have Resolutions. I want to lose weight, I need a better job, I will, I won’t, I want. There are others that will want to advance their own skills and knowledge by attending new training, seminars and classes. This is great. But what if you attend one that doesn’t do any of those things.

The Scenario: You are ready to learn. You register for a seminar that you are ready and willing to engage in and actually help you to DO something new and different. You arrive at the seminar/class and they discuss a topic at a high level. All well and good but you have no previous knowledge of the topic or process and your entire purpose of attending was to learn something and possibly take a few templates, ideas and actions away from it.  Mind you they never really break down what works, any new approaches and/or possible step by steps on how to do it better.

During the session they discuss a lot of points but nothing that you or many people in the room could use. When you ask the presenter “how” you can apply the points within the seminar in a real life scenario they say, “Well, you need to be sure you provide TRAINING.” Umm isn’t that what you thought you were suppose to get out of that session? Isn’t that what you paid for? Well maybe they just take your money.

What the Fudge: How many of you have ever been in this situation? Many times people use the words and lecture rather then outline steps and provide simulations for us to take the time to put what we have learned into practice.

Help Me Do It Better: If you are unable to provide examples or allow simulation time, then at least have some hand-outs that include best practices, scenarios and/or quick guides and templates on how someone can practices what they have learned within the next 30 days.

Practice what you preach: I am a firm believer that what you are teaching should be placed throughout the actual presentation/facilitation in order to allow participants to experience, recognize and put what they learned into action.

Speak Up: Next time you face this in a presentation, be sure to call the person out because you only get what you ask for! And don’t you want to be the best?

Have a great, educational and prosperous 2010!