Communication

23
dec
0

A Glorious Three-Hour Production

Posted by CommunicationNo Comments

By Lenn Millbower, The Mouse Man™

There is a 3D movie at the Disney theme park where I was a stage manager, the Disney-MGM Studios (now called Disney’s Hollywood Studios). It features the beloved characters made famous by Jim Henson: the Muppets. Called Muppet*Vision 3D, the show is presented in a theater and is supposedly the Muppets demonstration of 3D video technology. Needless to say, Muppet mayhem breaks out and the show ends in complete, and very funny, chaos. One set of lines from that film always leaped off the screen to me. It is especially relevant to learning.

The scene sets up the show finale. Sam Eagle—pompous, stuffy and by-the-book—has been tasked with staging the finale. Showrunner Kermit the Frog, desperate to salvage something from what is becoming a chaotic mess, asks Sam what the finale is about. Sam replies, “It’s a glorious three-hour production about all countries, but mostly America.” Kermit barks back, “You have a minute and a half.” Sam Eagle disappears in an indignant huff and the finale begins. The resulting scene is one of complete chaos as Sam crams all three hours of material into a minute and a half. The result is, of course, an incomprehensible mess.

(Many of you have probably already figured out the connection to learning.)

Sometimes, trainers are a lot like Sam Eagle. Many instructors think that everything they know is important. They fear that they might never see these learners again and that they have only one chance to impart all their knowledge. They throw everything they’ve got at the poor, unfortunate learners. The result is often comprehension chaos. And, unlike Sam Eagle, it is not funny. Those learners usually leave the classroom brain drained and confused.

Rather than being about all things, our instruction must be about specifics; delivering what the learners need … and no more. Some helpful tips for pithiness are listed below.

Learners Want Relevance – Experts are often too expert. We know the subject so well that we cannot comprehend what is relevant to someone who does not. We can argue vehemently to include some obscure point because it is interesting background information that adds perspective on the whole. But, when you learn to drive a car, for example, you don’t need to know how to change the spark plugs. The learner needs to get the car down the driveway first.

Learners Don’t Care About History – The only valid reason for sharing our background stories, scars and woes is because the information makes critical points. For many newer workers, the past is ancient history. The reasons why something used to be done in a certain way are irrelevant. Learners have enough trouble learning how to effectively deliver current procedures without having to comprehend what did not work in the past. The organization’s past is not the trainees’ prologue. Only the present matters.

Learners Want Minimal, but Critical, Detail –Although learners may be interested in background information and technical factoids, they want a focus on specifics they can use. Instruction that delivers the basic points required to perform the task at hand is sufficient. If you were to teach the phone book to a learner, for example, would you teach every name in the book? Of course not. You would focus on concepts rather than detail, and teach HOW to read the phone book.

Learners Want Connections – Learners’ brains, like all human brains, seek to relate what they are learning with what they already know. Each person’s brain stores information in a way that makes sense to it. New information is usually compared to older, already filed, information and then placed in context with the old. This sorting and filing take time. When instructors pile detail on top of detail, the time necessary for the brain to make and store these connections is compressed. The learners absorb less and less as their brains overload and shut down.

Learners Want Focus – Learners resent it when we don’t get to the point. When we meander around the topic, the information becomes hard to follow. They get lost and they can’t, having no previous history with the content, know what information is important and what is not. They try, as a result, to absorb everything and get lost in the process. What they most need from us is a tight focus on the concept with the minimal details clearly aligned within that concept.

Learners Want Applications – Information that does not provide immediate, relevant and identifiable applications is wasted. When they cannot tell how something relates to their needs, they stop listening.

Learners Want Practice – We’ve all been in situations where the instructor has more content than time. When this happens, the learner application practice is often discarded. Instructors keep talking in a vain attempt to give the learners every morsel of information they may ever need. Content covered is not content learned. In order to absorb the information, learners need to try it for themselves.

A Glorious Production

So, unless you want Muppet mayhem, don’t try to cram three hours into a minute and a half. Give your learners what they need, when they need it and where they need it. The result may not be as funny as the Muppets, but it will be a glorious production.

Attend the upcoming HRDQ-U webinar, Speak like a Mouse: Eight Strategies to Pixie-Dust Your Presentations, on January 20 at 2pm EST/11am PST.

Learn More
3
sep
0

Finding Gratitude in the Face of Uncertainty? A Simple Way To Say Thank You

Posted by CommunicationNo Comments

By: Devin C. Hughes

Have you noticed that some people are able to maintain a relatively positive attitude regardless of what’s happening around them right now? Like everyone, they can appreciate the good times, but they also seem to be able to focus on the positive in the face of so much uncertainty and a string of negative events that seem almost daily.

Fortunately, a positive attitude can be cultivated, with a little practice. Although we are born with specific temperamental tendencies, the brain is a muscle, and you can strengthen your mind’s natural tendency toward optimism if you work at it. And also, fortunately, working on building your “gratitude muscle” can be enjoyable in itself. But the benefits you gain would make it worth the effort even if it was a dull, difficult task.

In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Recognize:

Your job this week is a simple one. Choose one person in your world that makes you feel truly thankful for their part in your life. It can be a spouse, a friend, a family member or a co-worker. It really doesn’t matter who they are — what’s more important is the feelings of gratitude they elicit in you.

Write:

Now, I want you to write them a letter. As you write this letter, tell them why you value their relationship and include a few points that are especially noteworthy — a great ability to listen, the best time you’ve ever shared with them, character traits you really appreciate. Anything that comes to mind and helps to build the whole of your gratitude.

Reveal:

Here comes the more difficult part — you need to read them your letter be it over the phone, Skype, or any other number of means, you need to convey it to them personally. Follow up by mailing or hand-delivering it.

Reflect:

As you do this, make note of the different feelings it might bring up — nervousness, happiness, contentment, giddiness, or maybe even a little sadness or distress.

Each of these emotions and responses plays into that overall gratitude you feel, and as you begin to recognize its different components, you’ll notice that these come up in day-to-day life, and you will soon start noticing how small they can be and that they, too, are grounds for gratitude.

A positive attitude makes for a happy life!

What tips do you have to share on keeping a positive outlook right now?

27
aug
0

The Impact of Culture During Turbulent Times

Posted by CommunicationNo Comments

By Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen

Adapted and updated from an article that first appeared in Strategy & Business Magazine, September 2010.

While working as senior talent leaders for a global organization that went through a 2.5 billion dollar scandal (not counting peripheral damages) when the Chairman confessed to “cooking the books” causing the near bankruptcy and closure of the company, we had the opportunity to observe and be a part of culture’s true influence. During turbulent times, like those we are going through now with Covid-19, leadership is not determined by rank but by the strength of the talent and conviction to build the relationships necessary to bring about collaboration and seek solutions. In our situation, leaders came from all areas and from all levels. There was a sincere desire, but without knowledge, they required continuous guidance. This is a must-start, high-impact area for HR and talent professions. HR and talent professionals should continuously communicate with leaders, provide advice on how to lead during turbulence, and make available rapid skill enhancement. One such area where they can have tremendous impact is by educating (yes, we mean educating) leaders about how much they influence their organizational culture.

The “fallout” from organizations going through turbulent times like Covid-19, extends itself to the employees, their families, the public and many times the greater global community. Recall the ramifications of the volcanic eruptions over Iceland. It had a tremendous financial impact on the airline industry and those of us who fly hither and yon. It also resulted in many people being laid off. Peripherally, businesses (many of them small) all over the world dependent on the airline industry were also impacted. From taxi drivers, to hotels and the local flower shop down the street from where you live that could not import the special arrangements you wanted. The culture of an entire industry, those working for that industry and each of these examples were influenced.

Consider the Toyota crisis. Cultural differences between Japan and the United States brought about other challenges. In Japan, subtlety and withdrawal have very deliberate intentions, where in the United States they would be seen as arrogant or dismissive. Rooted in many aspects of Confucianism, Japan puts much more focus on the responsibility of the individual to others. Building and helping community is an expected responsibility and when an individual does not meet those expectation there is great shame. There is, therefore, a great pressure to unite around ideas, projects and causes than what we might see in the United States.

Roland Kelts addresses this in detail in an article in the Christian Science Monitor, February 2010. According to Kelts, “…we tend to prize opinionated, headstrong mavericks who are often lauded for their capacity to stand out from the crowd. In Japan however, it is the individual who can facilitate and sustain maximum harmony among group members – the Japanese concept of wa – who achieves praise for leadership in society…”

Never wanting injury or death from such an event, in many ways their culture of humility drove Toyota, a Japanese-based corporation, where Mr. Akio Toyoda took this as a very personal catastrophe and, again, according to Kelts…” a surer sign of a successful corporate leader in Japan is that he (they are almost all men) remains virtually invisible to the public eye, while his organization thrives, and face saving, allowing others to maintain their dignity even when they have erred, is tantamount to ensuring that all group members feel respected. Openly admitting a mistake, or forcing another to do so, invites embarrassment and disharmony. Far better to indirectly make or exchange concessions; indirection eludes confrontation, thus avoiding conflict.”

Do you see where we are going with this? When Toyoda testified on Capital Hill the entire exchange of plans for the event and his subsequent trip to Washington, D.C., were fraught with cultural mishaps and miscommunications. His apology was akin to the ultimate public humiliation. For the sake of Toyota and the global community he called upon all the strength he had available to do so. Toyota employees around the world saw him as a great leader and a hero. This selfless act helped to begin rebuilding the lost employee pride in the never-before tarnished reputation of Toyota. They felt more united and the organization began its recovery.

BP employees also experienced what it feels like to have shame introduced into their culture. It’s quite common for employees to take on the embarrassment caused by of the actions of others and good leaders must recognize the need to care for these wounded leaders and employees. If the organization has planned and prepared well, many programs and systems would be in place for such turbulent times. If not, the road back is tricky and filled with additional challenges because it requires shifting the organization’s culture to get it back on track. An event that rocks their world, such as the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, can be the catalyst that introduces many new and unwanted elements into the culture.

Turbulence of any kind can affect an organization’s culture. To prepare for these changes, the necessary steps to protect and adjust the organizational culture must be planned, and this planning needs to be done before, during, and following turbulent times. This is an area where talent professionals play a primary role. They have regular access to more people than those in any other part of the organization making them are uniquely prepared to play a powerful role in its revitalization. They can gather information, facilitate learning solutions, communicate changes, assist in determining necessary cultural changes, and provide coaching for leaders to introduce and reinforce desired outcomes. Moreover given their scope of responsibility, they are well positioned to observe the organizational culture as it grows over time. And thus they also tend to be well aware that people tend to be become comfortable with the current organizational culture, for them to consider cultural change, a significant event must usually occur. Any major event can be the catalyst for shifting the organizational culture. Even so, attempting to change this culture could well be the most difficult project anyone will ever take on.

Let’s take a look at BP. Their perceived lack of disclosure and transparency has now become part of their culture. In addition to impacting their brand, it influenced the decisions of employees around the world. The collateral damage is well known, the small fisherman who closed his family owned business after three generations and 30 years, the restaurant owners who were unable to provide fresh oysters for their guests and saw diminishing sales as customers went elsewhere, the families who survived one crisis after another in the Gulf, and the thousands of species at risk for extinction. Had BP come forth earlier with the facts about how many gallons of oil were actually leaking into the Gulf perhaps better or faster methods might have been available for containment. Until the leaders decided to be more transparent and forthcoming with information, they continued to have consequences that became a long term part of their culture.

Looking further at BP’s culture, how could they have overcome the shame that their employees are now carrying with them? The could have added it to the leadership development agenda, and taken measured steps to constantly reinforce the need to communicate with employees, to let them know everything about what is known and unknown. Beyond that, an organization like BP needs to invite their people to be a part of the solution (which is much more than capping the well in the gulf). With the right steps, BP could have reduced the fears of their people and engaged them in the process of revisiting their culture from the inside-out to reap the benefits of having more than 100,000 brand ambassadors. Instead, they suffered for years and have yet to come back to the strength and reputation they enjoyed prior to the spill.

Remember healing always starts from within. These lessons don’t have to be learned in crisis. Organizations can create and sustain a culture that welcomes the positive influences and eliminates the negative with talent professionals can be right there at the front lines, using leading through learning strategies to help their organizations.

Join our upcoming HRDQ-U two-part webinar series titled “Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times like Covid”.

Leveraging a Lights On Strategy on September 2, 2020 at 2pm ET/11am PT.

Renewing your Employee Value Proposition on September 23, 2020 at 2pm ET/11am PT.

9
mar
0

Five Tips for Formulating Great Questions

Posted by Communication, TrustNo Comments

 

By Sue Lanaday

Asking questions can be tricky. Your goal is to get the person to open up, but not overshare. You also want to ask more than a simple “yes or no” question. Here are some tips on formulating great questions that people will want to answer.

1. Keep questions open-ended and focus on experiences, interests, and wishes

Try to stay away from yes/no questions. If you’re asking a question that suggests a one-word answer, be sure to follow up with a “why?” to draw out an explanation for the answer.

The goal is to get interesting responses from questions that are easy to answer. While different questions may be easier or harder for different people, questions that draw from people’s experience tend to be easier to answer than those that require on-the-spot creative thinking. For example, consider this poor question: “if you could invent one thing, what would it be?” People spend years trying to think up inventions, and you can’t expect someone to come up with an adequate answer in a moment’s time.

2. Understand what your goal is

Determine the type of dialogue and relationships you hope to nurture through your discussion questions. If you have a short period of time, you may simply want to break the ice and get people accustomed to sharing. You should select more superficial questions that don’t require too much thought, discussion, or explanation.

If you want people to get to know one another, network, or find common interests, you’ll need questions that scratch under the surface, but don’t feel too intrusive. If your group knows each other well, but wants to explore a topic more deeply (like stress, team dynamics, ethics, values, etc.), you can select more probing questions.

3. Make the questions “safe” and Inspire dialogue and sharing

No matter what level of intimacy you’re seeking among the participants, you want to be sure that they don’t feel like they’re being put on the spot or judged. In part, this can be addressed by setting up ground rules (like listen actively and respect differences), however you can also adjust the way you phrase a question. For instance, if you’re exploring your team’s dynamics, you shouldn’t ask “who’s not pulling their weight?” But you could ask, “what if someone isn’t pulling their weight?”

Thought-provoking questions, which might take a little more time to answer, can also stimulate an interesting discussion. If your desire is to open up conversation, make sure that there is not a right or wrong answer to the question.

4. Mix in “would” and “should” questions

Questions can feel different if they are framed as a personal inquiry (what would I do if…?) versus as a general inquiry (what should we do… or what should one do…?). When formulating questions, consider whether one format or the other would be easier or more comfortable to answer, and which would better promote a positive and productive discussion. For example, these three questions below are all likely to result in different conversations:

  • “What would you do if you witnessed bullying”?
  • “What should you do if you witness bullying”?
  • “What should we do to respond to bullying”?

5. Balance reflective and appreciative questions

Some questions require that people think back on prior experiences. These can be a beneficial way to understand someone’s past, but that perspective ought to be balanced by asking appreciative questions, which focus on goals and on envisioning the future. If, for instance, you want to foster conversation about leadership techniques, you’d want to include prompts that evoke current experience, such as “I make employees feel valued by…” as well as those that promote forward thinking, like “I’d be a better leader if I….”

Summing it Up

Having great questions is most important when it comes to facilitating dynamic conversations. But having a good process is also key. Keep these quick tips in mind:

  • Transparency. Before you begin a Q&A activity, be clear about your goals and intent for the conversation. This will help participants understand how in depth they should make their answer and what they should hope to get out of the experience.
  • Simplicity. Whenever you’re facilitating conversations on any topic, be sure to ask questions that are short, concise. and easy to digest. Long-winded questions are harder to decipher and answer.
  • Repetition. Repeating the question once or twice can give participants additional time to process the question and think of an answer.
  • Ground Rules. If you’re concerned that conversations might be emotionally charged, set a few ground rules to help guide your group. These rules might include: critique ideas but not people; speak only for yourself and avoid generalizations; speak with respect; make sure everyone feels heard and validated; agree to disagree; use “I” statements; and be positive.
  • Timing. Understand that some individuals, and some questions, might require more thinking time. For a rich exchange, don’t rush. Give participants ample time to offer a thoughtful response.

Armed with these tips on formulating questions and facilitating discussions, you can look forward to stress-free conversations and getting to know people a little better.

5
mar
0

Getting to Know Others in the Workplace

Posted by CommunicationNo Comments

 

By Sue Lanaday

You don’t get to know someone in the first five minutes you meet them – or even the first few times you meet. It takes a lifetime to get to know someone. And yet, for many, our tendency is to rush and learn as quickly as possible if someone we meet will remain an acquaintance or become a true friend.

While people seem to be increasingly good at texting, Snap Chatting, Tweeting and Facebook posting, conversation is becoming a lost art. This may be part of the reason why icebreaker questions and conversation prompts have proliferated online. Another explanation could be the fact that our lives are increasingly complex and the number of people we “connect” with has grown exponentially.

In response, our tendency is to find communication shortcuts and determine as quickly as possible if we want to invest our precious time into getting to know someone better.  Whatever the reason, we hunger for new questions to prompt conversations – prompts that are a step up from “do you come here often?”

Four Levels of Discussion Prompts

Determining the right question to ask to start a conversation can be difficult.  The “best questions” to ask may depend on your goals, how well you already know the other person, the type of relationship you want to develop, and how intimately you want to connect with them. In other words, how deep do you want to get?

When evaluating and considering discussion prompts, think of these four levels as a continuum from easy-to-answer surface questions to deeper and more introspective “let’s get personal” discussions:

  • Level 1: Icebreaker questions. These are surface questions to stimulate casual conversation
  • Level 2: Common ground questions. These allow you to find shared interests and build new relationships
  • Level 3: Getting to know you questions. These are probing prompts to get to the real you
  • Level 4: Deep-Dive questions. These are deeper discussions to build intimacy and understanding or to address specific challenges

For Level 1, if you just want to scratch the surface or make light conversation, then there’s nothing wrong with a question like, “What’s your favorite fast food restaurant?” or “What’s your favorite cartoon character?” Such questions are not necessarily conversation starters or relationship-builders, but they can help you break the silence and get people talking to, and maybe laughing with, each other.

For those who want to go a little deeper than simply talking about the weather or other superficial topics, Level 2 discussion prompts help people find common ground — that is, topics and interests they might share. These prompts should be easy to answer and not delve too deeply into inner secrets. The goal is to use these questions to determine with whom you might like to build deeper relationships.

Moving down to Level 3, “getting to know you” questions start to uncover the real person. While these may take a little more thought to answer, they are likely to reveal more about an individual’s goals, ambitions, and past experiences. Prompts that fall into these categories include: A high school regret, how your birth order affected you, something I’d like to learn, a major decision, a memorable moment, etc.

Level 4 deep-Dive questions can grow more intimate or delve into a specific topic like stress, diversity, or team dynamics. In Mandy Len Catron’s New York Times essay, “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This,” she references a study by psychologist Arthur Aron who “succeeded in making two strangers fall in love in his laboratory.” The study said: “A heterosexual man and woman enter the lab through separate doors. They sit face to face and answer a series of 36 increasingly personal questions. Then they stare silently into each other’s eyes for four minutes.” Six months later, the couple married!

In his study, Aron categorized his questions into three levels. He skips over the more trivial icebreaker questions, starting with this one: “given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?” and ending with “share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.”

The two core principles in his study are:

  1. As you grow more comfortable, you become more willing to answer personal questions
  2. The experience of discussing personal topics truly does bring people closer together

“A Lifetime” vs. “The Right Questions”

While not everyone looking for conversation prompts is hoping to fall in love, many long for a way to connect more deeply with the people in their lives — at work, at home, and in the community. Depending on your goals and how deep you want to go, you can find many discussion questions online, but unfortunately they’re generally not sorted by goals or levels of conversational intimacy.

Useful Resources

An easy and playful resource for discussion topics that are categorized by level are Thumballs. Each ball is imprinted with 32 prompts for a specific depth of communication — breaking the ice, finding common ground, getting to know each other, and diving deep.

If the sequence of questions is not important, the spirit of play brought in by the Thumball can also help to reduce stress and foster increased sharing.  You can have each participant answer a different question, or have everyone respond to the same prompt before jumping to the next one. These activities are also easy to facilitate — simply select the one best suited to your group’s needs.

Although it might take a lifetime to truly know someone, a handful of really good discussion prompts can get you pretty close, in a much shorter time.

 

Page 1 of 3
123