Category: Training & Development

You don’t really want to make a wrong turn and there is no GPS for this.

How often do you consider the training method you will use to train a particular topic in terms of its actual outcome?

To do that requires much thought and speculation.

With all the products out to choose from, the process can be a mess of twists and turns. It is a labyrinth when you consider what training will produce the best results for the minimum of cost. The frustration makes us want to jump a hedge and take a short cut or believe when we should be more discerning of the information we are being sold.

Let’s face it.

• There are topics we must make sure our people have signed off as knowing. Those topics don’t need a trainer to go over it in class. Here is a good opportunity to use a web-training, a simple PowerPoint, or even a less technical handout everyone must sign.
• Those pieces of information, employees will read and understand simply, and will take your word for its importance; for this type of information the employees doesn’t need elaborate or expensive training. It is likely that, this kind of information you are required to give your employees by law.
• In fact, the more formalized you make it, the less likely they are to take it. However, the more creative and fun it appears the more likely they are to take it without complaint.
• My plain and simple advice: if it requires motivating change, face to face training works best.

Some would argue “I can do it simply on video.” Some trainers can be dynamic on video but they do lose the power of interaction if they are done too simply. I have heard of webinars, video conferences, and teleconferences that can do this very well for some subjects.

If you choose a video or online source that claims to have interaction with its audience, check it out for yourself to see if you are convinced this “interaction” is effective.

There are tricks to the trade that are indeed sufficient for feedback in situations not face-to-face. Still not much beats a good trainer in a face-to-face encounter. It’s hard to anticipate the questioning or skeptical looks, among other nonverbal audience reactions from a distance and without a visual conduit.

Where does that leave us? Match your training with the training product or method that will give you the result you want. Be careful not to alienate your people by force feeding them the “cheap.” They will resent it and feel less appreciated, and you may find this is worse than not giving them the training the need or are required to have by law. Try to understand when they grouse about about it. Believe it or not, it is usually because they, too, feel it is interrupting or affecting they way they do their job for you.

And, there’s more.

Maybe this does require selecting an in-house training manager (if not a trainer) who does more than select off-the-shelf training or does-it-all in-house, without a lot of creativity. There is more to training these days than ever. We know more about learning, and we have more tools to achieve maximum results. We also have so many to choose from it becomes confusing as to which is most effective.

It seems to me navigating the labyrinth is an important job that shouldn’t be relegated to the most junior executive. It is not a starter position and yet it is often treated as such. Perhaps an answer lies there. A trainer is not just a presenter or a manager of off-the-shelf products or an employer of outside trainers, but a discerning eye toward what is needed by the company.

So the discussion starts there–with a training position that should be neither a starter position nor a glass ceiling position; unfortunately, sometimes it is regarded as both. Hopefully, as we have seen training emerge into the strategic side of business this situation is changing. A training manager that is key to company success contributes to morale, motivation and performance.

Selecting the right training method or tool is an important part of all three. It starts with you, the manager, and the training manager, if you have one, and ends with effective training. If you feel that the proper selection is not something you can do yourself, hire someone from outside, not a vendor, but a professional training developer who will help you select a variety of methods and tools as needed and not his or her own product.

A short one today. Feeling a little under the weather. Check out my website for more. If you need a training developer, I am one as well, but go with whom you feel most comfortable. I don’t have a list of referrals, but I’m happy to chat for free if it helps you decide what you need. Happy Training.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

In an article I wrote called How to Make Training “An Affair to Remember I didn’t talk a lot about different training methods; I was concerned mostly with the trainer’s role and responsibilities in making classroom instruction most effective. For a long time I highlighted this point on my website. Even though some time has passed, I still think the ideas are valid. My training group on Gov Loop received a question which merits a revisit to that article.

Here’s the question: Do you think this [article] refers only to traditional training methods – or can it also be applied to e-learning and distant learning? Is there a way to capture the charisma and energy Shaw highlights in digital training modules?

As a public speaker, psychologist, actor, director as well as a trainer, I believe we all need an audience to interact with us–even if it is unperceived by the audience itself. This is in the form of biofeedback.

You can make e-learning and distant learning more exciting with dynamic presenters, however, the biofeedback is hard to add. Whether online digital even with video of individuals, and dynamic special effects has the same effect on learning is suspect. In some cases, I’m sure it can have a positive effect. In others, I’m not so sure because some people are simply more prone to respond to others who respond to them in some direct fashion. How much effect has not really been studied, but the ads for these programs would have you believe they do indeed have a healthy impact. They are certainly cost effective.

With either training method, there is little direct feedback the presenter can see (or sense) in the audience and adjust his or her presentation for that particular audience in the moment of time it is occurring, if at all. With pre-packaged programs, there is none at all; the closest you can get is anticipating audience reactions. Still not optimum. I’m not saying there is not a place for this kind of training, but it can’t compare with the right trainers motivating and working with an audience, and immediate learning taking place.

E-learning and distance learning, for the most part, are designed to reach more audiences or audiences that can’t be reached by traditional methods. It’s also cheaper. Some e-learners can learn with applications that involve the students interaction and learning by doing as opposed to or in conjunction with seeing and hearing. It’s not the same thing; however, I won’t deny it can be effective for some.

Generally speaking, people probably do not learn best by this method or even stay attentive. Going back to my experimental social psychology days in graduate school, I suppose we could place electrodes on their fingertips, brain or elsewhere on their body and when they drifted off zapped them to attend to the subject at hand. It might result in getting their attention, but not making sure learning took place. We know learning takes place best when it is self-motivated.

Ironically, a blended teaching and training method is taking hold. It’s not just the Corporate Universities, or the pragmatic universities like Phoenix, DeVry and others whose market is mostly those who work and don’t have time for a traditional college-level program, but many traditional universities teach many blended or online courses to cut down on class time and costs. In some classes it can be more effective, but how valid is it in a public speaking class or a class that needs lots of time in face-to-face discussions? It’s not much different from training.

There is a different between what people say online and how they say what they “say” (subtext included) in a face-to-face discussion; the same goes for class room training or coaching. Body language plays a part, especially questioning or puzzled looks, I-don’t-understand looks, I-don’t-agree-but-I’m-not-going-to-say looks. These are times you can adjust. With the other methods, you can’t adjust if you don’t see it.

A more dynamic presenter can add “charisma” and even a dynamism with some creativity to e-learning and distant learning modules, but it still loses something in the direct connection.

Keep in mind that the stage is different from the television or the computer screen in the actual performance approach by the trainer. Just like acting for the stage is different from acting for television or film; one is a distance medium and the other is filled with close-ups.

I would treat the e-learning and distant learning as a close-up performance because your audience is mostly intimate. You can assume otherwise, but I would say the same rules apply. By the way, if you are talking teleconferencing, remember that even radio announcers use mirrors to give them the feeling they are talking with a real audience instead of an imagined ones. It’s hard to make numbers of people real, but that is one technique to make it easier, believe it or not. Ask any DJ whoever did a show in an empty studio. Should work for podcasts, too.

It bothers me a bit that we are losing our direct contact with our people through our wonderful technology, but hopefully, we can adapt as we go to get the feedback or make the best of what we do receive. My novel, hopefully out this year, deals with the subject of what happens when we stop talking face-to-face and rely only on the devices for acceptable communication.

There’s an interesting play, LOVE LETTERS, that I reviewed for STAGE Magazine. In the play, a couple are separated but write each other all the time. What the audience sees on stage are actors reading the letters, but the letters tell the back story, which loses a bit as the audience sees what happens without face-to-face communication.

Letters are cleaned up; versions are adapted to ensure the person receiving them gets exactly the message we want to send. The point of the play is that the subtext that is missing or words and feelings left out for the sake of brevity may be important, too, leaving unanswered questions and even miscommunication.

The same can be said for digital learning, and, in fact, any kind of training that does not take place where the trainer can see his or her audience and react to them. Even an actor, with lines memorized, does not act in a void. An actor wants an audience because it makes the performance complete; it also makes each performance a little different. So, it should be with training.

That’s my opinion and I stand by it. As always, I welcome opposing views and if there is research out there, I’d love to see and post the statistics for all to see–either way. My other “outrageous” writings are available on my website, or in my new e-Book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, which is a common sense guide to training and development. Personally, I think it takes you back to thinking what training is all about from the beginning rather than finding a single focus to ply your trade. But I would be wrong to say I haven’t found my niche, and it’s a passionate one. We go with our strengths and I hope I’ve made the right choice for me just as I hope for you have for yours.

I’m here for you. Have your say and come back often. I’m pleased to have guest bloggers who have different points of view or focus on one aspect of training. speaking of which, Sandy Cormack will be back with Unlocking Creative Potential – A Neuroscience Approach, Part III. It’s good to learn to stay fresh and stimulated. Happy Training and Happy Holidays.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

I am thankful for the opportunity to share what I think is one of the most important topics to society at large, to the world at large: good, clear, effective communication among us all.

I am fortunate to teach at a fairly basic level as well as coach corporate executives and business professionals who speak as an important part of their jobs. The college-level students, to be sure, learn it as a necessity to get through the college curriculum (if they see no other value). As educated adults we forget we learned it all along and, as we get into our special interest areas, we may discover how important it is to work and life. That’s why I consider it basic. The students are just getting started; the executives (one-on-one) have realized their performance or approach needs constant tweaking for them to be consistently successful at public speaking, which in turns enables them to be successful in business. Still the same basic tenants apply. For me, one job pays considerably better, but perhaps more satisfaction in helping those realize the importance of good communication who don’t see it yet, and need it more.

This may seem a little off topic in the training world but it has to do with training or teaching public speaking and presenting, and more. So, judge for yourself.

I teach two classes of public speaking as a visiting professor–one class made up of mostly black students who live or work in urban in Philadelphia, and the other a suburban community outside the city comprised of mostly white blue-collar workers working mostly on technical degrees.

For these classes, the entire idea of communication is irrelevant or relatively insignificant; and to some, because they are so smart in other areas, they believe it is something akin to basket weaving–a no-brainer course. It is my intent to prove them wrong. It is also a subject where just getting them to verbalize what they personally have to say is difficult. Both groups take the idea of adding “yourself” to a speech, essential in good speech-making, all too personal.

Although I am a professional communicator and speaker, I do not teach my class as a performance class. Since I am also a professional actor and speech coach, it is also ironic, however, here my roles and goals are different. I am a teacher and a coach. My goals are success training and communication–oftentimes working hand-in-hand.

The first part of the term is devoted to developing ideas and supporting them–writing clear objectives and organization to those objectives, and hopefully give impact to ideas and purpose. I consider the first half of the class a chance for them to practice. We do an introductory speech, a personal speech (to put them in the speech-this I may change to an exercise later that puts them in any subject they talk about) and a scripted speech to understand the difference between doing a speech that someone else writes and they write (they learn empathy). If students have to make-up a class, it involves writing, organizing and presenting to the class.

The focus on the class is just as much on organizing and maximizing impact on the audience as it is in practicing, or even better–gaining experience speaking. Practice is what you do in front of a mirror; experience is what you do in front of an audience.

Second half of the class, my students are practiced and experienced, more comfortable speakers and have been instructed in the dos and don’ts of speaking as well as how to organize. Now they are ready for me to grade their informative speech, persuasive speech, and reflective or ceremonial speech; they are aware of how this works. I believe I am teaching them to communicate effectively rather than perform, but I am also teaching them to deal with their fear of speaking, among other things, and in the end they are all better speakers.

In the beginning, I have students who are smooth in front of an audience but can’t organize worth a darn and students so shy they can barely look at me. In the end, both groups hold their heads high, having accomplished what many thought was impossible–making a presentation and making a difference. It’s a great feeling for me, too.

My course is a variation of making a “mission impossible” for some, “an affair to remember.” We talk about knowing your audience, knowing your subject and knowing yourself. But in the end, it’s not just about public speaking; it never really was.

It’s about communicating–reaching out and touching someone else with ideas, facts and images to affect them personally and learning from your audience, from people, and interacting. It’s about making a difference. It’s about life and getting along, getting ahead. It’s about knowing others and yourself, and about being you.

It’s about fitting in everywhere, which is what humans do. In this vast world, man and woman has managed to live and survive, and often thrive despite the extreme climatic differences and geographic differences.

Effective communication with others has helped make that possible by the transfer of knowledge and fitting in where others lived before. (Granted the situations weren’t always ideal or morally correct. Hopefully, we’re better now.)

In the world closer to home, we still have to fit in with other people who may be very different from us in some ways but not so different in others.

We need to fit in the global economy, which means we need to understand cultural differences. That means analyzing our audience almost without thinking. We need to fit in a workplace that has people there who come from a very different place, but if we can communicate… If we can do that, we can consider ourselves proudly–not just survivors, but thrivers.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Other thoughts from the Cave Man of training and development are available on my website and in my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. I look forward to your comments. Just a reminder, if you are looking for an unusual, down-to-earth and creative approach to training, I’m your Cave Man. I also coach executives in the fine art of charismatic public speaking to bring out the best in you and give your presentation or speech the most impact you can deliver. You’ll find details on my website. Meanwhile, happy training.

Are Your Cave Drawings Distracting Your Audience?

It is an abuse of a less serious nature, but important in the world of training and development, and of course, public speaking in general. I thought I’d dwell on a Cave Man basic of training a little. Using visual aids. My cave drawings were distracting my audience. Or, am I distracting my audience from enjoying my visual aids. Ever happen to you?

This a more traditional blog for me, but I thought it was time to direct some energy toward a basic, but essential part of training–the presentation or delivery of training, and the most important tool we have to use. After ourselves, of course. I’m talking about visual aids, how we abuse them, and hopefully, how not to abuse them.

The biggest problem speakers and trainers have with visual aids is in speaking to these inanimate objects in most cases and not their audience. We don’t yell at these objects. Maybe we curse the technology when it fails, but for the most part, we love our visual aids–especially when they work for us. However, when we fail to use them as intended, we are abusing them.

We like to use them as an outline or cue cards for what we are about to say. This becomes a problem when we get lazy, thinking the visual aid is what matters most. We need to go back to the basics once in awhile and think again who all this is for. We need to not insult our audience by reading the slides verbatim. While it is perfectly fine to refer to a bullet point or two and expand on it, taking each one becomes, not only repetitive, but also turns what could have been interesting, given your point of view, an exercise in the mundane. A speaker or trainer should never be mundane.

We should be about dynamic presentation, using those aids as intended, to enhance and add impact. Visual aids can also be the spice, adding beauty and clarity. A visual aid, such as a basketball being dribbled in by the speaker, serves to get our attention. Of course, the speaker should be talking about basketball or dribbling and use it as visual aid to elicit attention or make a point.

Bad visual aids can ruin a speech. Good visual aids can make it dynamite. If we don’t abuse them.

Even though we all know the rules, we can’t help but show all we know, be artistic if we are that, or technical/special effects genius–if we are that. Herein lies the danger: making too much of the visual aids we use or forgetting (a momentary lapse, I’m sure) of why we use them in the first place.

Amateurs put too much on a slide. “But the information is exactly what they need to know?” Yes, but do they need it at the exact moment you are speaking. I hope not–because that would be a pretty boring presentation. Take someone helping others to fill out forms. What happens when that form is blown up on the screen as a visual aid? Nothing! Well, eyes glaze over. When you do that no one’s going to read the document. If you pass a copy out to the group or even each individual, you will lost the entire group’s attention. Make an abbreviated snapshot but provide a copy the whole document as a handout if necessary. Make that handout (also a visual aid by the way even though you are handing it out) available at the end of the speech or training session unless you want your trainees or audience focusing on the printed page instead of listening to you. When you do that–even if the form or document is the subject of your presentation–you lose your value as a speaker. Once in the hand of the trainee or audience member, you’ve lost them to the printed page.

Better to focus your talk on what the audience needs to hear. If your talk is to help them understand the document, focus on what will guide them on their own–unless you are doing an over-the-shoulder with each of them.

Let’s not forget the basic advantages of visual aids. They do give us clarity, add interest, help people retain information, provide additional credibility, and an artful or dramatic image can be persuasive.

You’ll find the rest in an speech book chapter on visual aids.

Keep in mind. Good visual aids are one thing and how you use them is another. Simple is better than complex. You can either show us pretty pictures, put up lots of unusable data, make our audiences work harder or you can direct them to what you want them to see.

I know this is basic, but I still see visuals abused every day in the conference room, presentations that evoke boredom, elicit questions of “why me,” or “that’s cool, but what does it have to do with anything?” If your audience is thinking about your visuals in any way other than seeing them as adding to your presentation, something is seriously wrong. For lack of good visuals an entire presentation of valuable information, a speech of substance and meaning becomes a meaningless exercise. Visuals are an important part of the package, yes, but not all.

We all know the audience comes first. The speech or training is about them, and not about us; however, it is not about our visual aids either. We are married to our visual aids when we use them. Don’t abuse them.

Can’t get more basic than that from the Cave Man tradition. It’s tough writing on walls. Just enough works all the time.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Enough from the Cave Man. More platitudes and ruminations can be found on my website under What I Say. I am available for public speaking, presentation delivery and design, training development, consultation, speech and presentation coaching, etc. Just give me a call. My eBook, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, is out and available through major distributors, and I have a second book in the works based on many of my blogs here that I hope to publish early next year.

Meanwhile my dystopian novel, Harry’s Reality, is being offered through Amazon. Believe it or not, it’s about a world and a time when we don’t need people to ruin the world for us and we turn to an evolving artificial intelligence to fix the mess we started. Sound familiar? Not with all the twists, I put in it. ‘Nuff said for now. Happy training.

It was an amazing experience. Perhaps, “amazing” isn’t the right word, but it was an experience I will never forget. Nor should you if you ever decide to speak or lecture on a cruise ship. Sounds like great fun to anyone who likes cruising and enjoys talking to groups. Even though I am an experienced speaker and feel comfortable interacting directly with my audiences, my first experience was a real learning curve for me personally.

There’s nothing quite like a cruising audience.

Imagine a speaking arrangement where you find yourself speaking after the adult glee club practice and before the BINGO group? The subject doesn’t really matter, does it? It doesn’t even matter it is not long after lunch. I found myself in such a situation, but I asked for it–not once, not twice, but three times–and I got what I wished for. Whether it was a good idea remains to be seen, but I learned from it, and now I hope to share the experience with you.

How many times have we warned others and fallen victim ourselves to being enticed into doing something we really aren’t prepared to do? You may have guessed already that I’m talking about giving a speech or presentation without proper preparation because the opportunity sounds sooooo good and how awesome the event and the client will sound on your resume. So, you do it. A topic you know so well you can wing it now. You think.

I am so guilty of doing what I teach my students not to do about being prepared to speak. Even if a wonderful opportunity presents itself. Still, I am busted. Was it worth it? In experience. It’ll still go on my resume. Does it exactly make me proud? No. Why? Because it was ill advised by an expert: me. I should know better. Okay, I’m human. There are circumstances where we find ourselves looking back and knowing we should have restrained ourselves and didn’t. You know, the too much dessert, too many drinks with friends; but this was different. This was the golden opportunity.

I was going about my business preparing to take a family vacation aboard a cruise line, and I thought, “I can give a talk as an enrichment lecturer. That might be fun and perhaps another venue to explore.” I am a communicator I told myself; I can speak about virtually anything. (I don’t believe that completely, but I was going for the dramatic effect.)

I wrote a letter to the cruise line asking for the opportunity. I already knew by looking at the website that this particular cruise line allowed qualified guests to speak and even brought others in for no pay. If the speaker was a big name, he or she would come under the heading of entertainment; I was just looking for opportunity and a chance to get a free cruise every once in awhile. I didn’t hear back from the cruise line and wrote a second letter, this time naming the cruise director and making all manner of social media to make contact. I finally received a letter saying, “Thank you, but we usually have people talk on very cruise-related topics like oceanography, cultural anthropology, famous ports of call, etc.” Or, words to that effect. Oh, “and if I wanted to contact the cruise director, remember he is a busy man on ship and may not have the time to see you.”

What I had wanted and what I got were two different things. I wanted some subject-matter ideas that the cruise line would like someone to talk about and given time I could have researched and put together a pretty good presentation. Instead I was a little put off by the response, even though it was a perfectly fine response from a customer service point of view. From my point of view, however, I was insulted they hadn’t jumped at the chance to have me speak. Actually I was disappointed I had not sold myself to them well enough.

I did what I am not known for doing: I backed down and said, okay, I’m on vacation. To be perfectly honest, this is what my wife wanted anyway, but she supported me. Two days into the cruise I heard the cruise director say he had an open door. Bold little me decides just to meet him and thank him for the courtesy of even being considered an “enrichment lecturer” for free. I had given up reluctantly on my original course of action. I walk into his office confident and sure I am just being courteous. The cruise director is a veteran communicator himself, and smooth. He looks at me, and as soon as he hears my name, he has my letters to cruise company on his computer as well as my resume and other materials I sent.

“I have an opening if you want to speak. Are you interested.”

“Sure,” I said, feeling victorious after all.

“What do you want to talk about?”

I pause, then realizing he has the letters right in front of him where I have made suggestions, point that out to him.

“Whatever you want to talk about is fine. Just let me know by the next port of call.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said rather introspectively. “Thanks so much for opportunity.”

“Great! We’ll videotape it and send it to corporate so they can call you when they have a need for someone of your skills and talents.”

I’m smiling now. “By the way, where exactly would I be speaking? What conference room?”

“The big room. The auditorium” If you have never seen a cruise ship auditorium, it is an actor or speaker’s dream, but it was way more than I expected.

“Wow…great!” Then, jokingly, I said, “The last cruise line when I attended an enrichment lecture had about twelve guests.”

He just looked up at me and smiled, “Oh, I think I can guarantee you more than that.”

True to his word, I did get more than twelve. The “big room” became the very large and unusually arranged disco lounge. Nothing to be disappointed about really. Interesting sight lines. I had a headset mic, which was great for mobility, and my slides were on screens all over the room. I was set…almost.

As I had looked at the schedule in the morning the day I would speak, I saw, of course, the change of venue and the event and audience that would precede me and the one that would follow. No worries. No panic. I’m a professional. I think I can handle any crowd, although I have to tell you those single-minded BINGO players are set on what’s to come in the room next, and it doesn’t matter if you are talking about more important matters like our world’s self destruction.

So, here I am to give a talk on What If. What if you come home and nothing is as it was when you left? What if you can’t talk to someone without going through technology first? What if your world is ruled by the machines we left behind? Remember, we were on a cruise and most of those devices don’t work without costing a fortune and the Internet (still costing a fortune) works slowly. Most people use their smart phones to take pictures, not talk or text. Seemed pretty connected anyway.

Some audience members were genuinely interested in my topic; you’d think I paid them, they were so supportive, but most of the eyes were glazed over thinking of the excitement of BINGO and the riches they could win. I also had chosen to remain flexible and interact directly with the audience as I like to do; hence, the headset. I was going to do some dramatic interpretation of a few scenes of my new novel–the topic I’ve already mentioned, but decided that might be too scary just to hear myself talk. Instead I talked about it, what it was about, why I wrote what I did, and why I would publish it the way I intended–electronically instead of the traditional. (Topical reasons, in case you’re wondering.)

Did I bomb? Honestly, I think it hurt me more than it did them; they were waiting for BINGO. So, it was a small bomb. I was still making a pretty good show for a guy without a real audience. And, it was all my fault. I hadn’t prepared as I would for any other engagement, and had to rely of sheer instinct and tap dancing talent. Not that it was bad. We are always our worst critic or so I keep telling myself especially in this situation. Next time will be different.

I wasn’t set up. The cruise line wasn’t laughing at me. They even sent me a nice letter suggesting cruise lines and services that hire lecturers. I am grateful for that, truly. I fell to temptation. My eyes glazed over as well–over a dreamy opportunity.

That’s my story about getting what you wished for, and not being prepared to be what the moment should have been. My next excursion will be more dynamic. I will have a presentation with lots of great graphics and I will charge my subject like a rhino into the din. I will be entertaining as possible and all the audience will have to do is sit there and take it in. Winging it is not an option. It never should be. We all know that. But there is always temptation. The cruise director may be the devil’s own (although he treated me with the utmost respect), my good sense should have ruled. But I learned and I’m always happy to learn. And, look I got to write about and pass my story on to you. It’s not all bad. Now, if I can only hide this blog from my public speaking students…

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

I’m ready for my next training adventure. Are you? Just as this comment section is for you to tell me what you think, my website is always there for your perusal and response to anything I write as well. My opinions are mine alone. By the way, the book, published by Amazon, Harry’s Reality is a science fiction thriller about what happens when the world decides an evolving artificial intelligence can take care of the world’s problems better than we can. I have another book that is available now called The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, which is a look at this training world of eyes through a different perspective. Mine, of course. Happy training.

We all go through egocentric phases, and we need to understand them. We admit our audiences or trainees are all egocentric. The fact is that we all are, but we, as trainers, even need to see how we change over time and how it affects our decisions, attitudes and choices.

Shakespeare’s quote never made more sense to me. “All the world is a stage…” needs to be read several times to appreciate the genius of its wisdom because it’s meaning is many-layered–as people tend to be. It’s not about people on a stage, but about the stages of life, putting it simply. But there are complicated stages in between these simple stages that affect our most important life and work decisions, our attitudes and our choices.

Decisions can be easy; we do things because they make sense at the time. This is a fancier form of hind site; I’m calling it reflection. This will no doubt be my most unusual post on the Free Management Library and this Training and Development blog, but I promise to connect it beyond the usual because we are all humans (for my students, reference clarifying and narrowing down “too broad” a topic).

Attitude. My wife is convinced I am going through a mid-life crisis because I’ve been particularly cranky lately; I’m a little impatient with rude people, uncaring people, and want to be passionate about dealing with them. No holds barred. That means take restrictions off the “nice guy.” That’s all, but upon reflection, I will admit I am struggling with growing up again, wanting to know what I want to do, wanting it to matter to someone else. We all do this a various times in our lives.

Choices are easy, too, believe it or not. To make a choice, we simply make a decision based on our attitude, which is shaped by events, and it’s done. Hopefully, we are happy about the choice we made, but the rest is more complicated. It is a conundrum we are faced with everyday, making sense of egocentricity-a relatively simple concept.

Now, we always say the most concern for making the right choices applies to youth and anyone in today’s market, but I think it is more than that. The answer is actually not all three, but none of the above, which are merely off-shoots of something far more important. Of course, it doesn’t seem so now in our individual egocentric minds. (Transition for my students.)

We’re nervous. We’re nervous because the economy doesn’t give us much choice unless we are rich, but for some of those who were rich (the smart investors who lost a lot of money, and I’m not being facetious here) suffer now to from the same conundrum. I received an e-mail from a talented, well-educated and accomplished woman who was asking me and others to consider where she has been for future endeavors where she might use her experiences and education after she lost so much in the market.

I felt a little like Charlie Brown. “She’s asking me? Little me who nobody notices?” She was an investor who lost a lot when the economy crashed. Me, I didn’t invest–at least not in the same places. It wasn’t particularly smart of me–just lucky. In the scheme of things, she and I are different from one another, but similar in a big way. That’s what follows here.

Compared to her, I am pretty boring. But she started my reflection of how the world works. I know, “too broad a topic my students would say,” but I mean from my perspective of understanding how the world worked for me. I think we all have such perceptions and it’s useful to reflect like this. We know people are at different points in their lives and have different needs and therefore truly different people than they were a few years. This is probably easier for older people to get since they’ve been there. For me it became a stress point, not realizing it.

It’s a matter of perspective. After the Marines, finding a job was easy; I was young and pretty much willing to do anything. I had decided I wanted to be on air in radio and I didn’t really care in what capacity. At that time I would be working for minimum wage I knew; after all, I had only a year of college (but I was going back). I sent out a rough demo I had asked a friend to help me produce at the base radio studio. I had never been on-air at that time, only on stage, part-time professionally at a dinner theatre in San Clemente, California before getting out of the service. I enjoyed acting but I didn’t want to be an actor for life. In my mind, it wasn’t minimum wage that bothered me, but I didn’t want to wait on tables, which to me pretty much summed up what actors starting out did. A career in broadcasting made sense.

I sent out the resumes and demos, hoping some radio station would give me a break. I got two responses initially. Remember I had absolutely no experience–only a voice of sorts. One interview offer was for a local station who wanted a DJ with a first class radio telephone license; I would be an engineer as well. Always good to take the interview, but I knew walking in that I was totally unqualified. Then, Ed, a program director in Missouri said to come in to see him when I came home. He said he didn’t have anything at the time but he did know some people.

He didn’t forget and sent me off to KARE radio station in Atchison, Kansas–the radio station that cares about you. How sweet is that. Also ironic in this situation. It was a middle of the road station, meaning it played music not to offend anyone, but they seemed to know their place so well in the market that they could hire college kids to work 3-11 weekdays (every other day because you had school), and 7-3 or 3-11 on the weekend. What was great here was that they didn’t care if you had to switch with the other guy you were working with because you needed to study for a test. Luckily he and I went to different colleges so our schedules varied. Best job I ever had.

You’ve heard the saying I learned all about how to treat people in kindergarten. This is how I learned a business should treat its employees. All it took was flexibility. We affected the business as would anyone at that level–not much, but it gave us the chance to apply ourselves.

After going back to school and working in radio and television later, I was ready for a new challenge and that was the Air Force. It’s a much longer story I’ll reserve for another blog maybe. During that period of my life, family and other personal reasons entered the picture, which is now getting more complicated. I am now really looking at life for a career and a place in society.

This is important because it is another phase. Not too deep yet.

I had great jobs in the Air Force and it offered me the security I needed; however, I had married someone who did not appreciate the military aspect of my life–even though from my perspective I had a pretty regular job. I was a public affairs officer by trade, but at the time I was on a special duty assignment as an instructor of English, speech and theatre at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Still, military… I left the military and the marriage split anyway.

Ironically I became an Air Reserve Technician, a civil servant who wore the uniform and trained Reservists. Later, I gave up the Reserve part and made civil service the way I would fill out the phase.

The final phase came when I felt all that I had learned in life was being pushed into job descriptions, mission statements, needs assessments, and very little seemed to be what I cared about. We are egocentric. We are multidimensional and it is important to realize it. I think that when we begin to feel like a number that things don’t go well. That can be a decision time. I think it was for me. I’m sorry I waited so long actually, but that’s the way it is sometimes.

Now I write, teach and act or direct when I want. I live. I find I get passionate easily about things I feel strongly about. I have to watch that or I become a cranky old person. I need to keep some things in and reflect on them or try them without broadcasting them. Maybe it’s personality thing, but it’s something I’ve learned about myself.

We talk about how leaders need to be reflective of the decisions they make, their attitudes because those things affect the people who work for them. They also affect the people who don’t work for them, and by the same token, by not actively noticing people are themselves egocentric and that it is okay, we lose credibility and we lose good people who have to make choices maybe they don’t want to make.

Remember, the book, The Right Stuff? Tom Wolfe is looking at the space program through the eyes of the government and the people setting it up, but showing us the guys who have the “The Right Stuff.” Interestingly enough, those who have “the right stuff” according to the government and astronauts themselves see it totally differently.

Some people realize it sooner than others, no one really cares about the details of your story–only in how it affects them in some way. I like to think people care–really care, but I think I have to put it in a mature perspective.

The evidence has been in front of me for years. I teach students and others to analyze your audience. Recognize all people are egocentric, and it’s not just the audience. It should be a “duh” moment.

I am about to embark on a number of adventures, as we all are, and I am determined to not be cranky, which will make my wife, kids and probably everyone else happy. I am going to pursue my latest dreams because dreams evolve, but I may not talk about it as much. I’m going to explore and risk within limits things I think I’d like to do. I still want things to be relevant to me; I’m egocentric like everyone else. A hard lesson to learn and to apply to our lives is that the journey makes changes in us despite of what we vow at the beginning. We can’t help it.

There is no reason this phase of my life should be any less or more than any previous or future phases. I said I would make this apply to training. I lied. It applies to life and our perception of people and, if you really need me to be specific on the training connection it is about how we analyze our audience. I have always said, know your audience, know your subject and know yourself. Two out of three ain’t bad. And the one that seems to be missing, the subject? That’s easy, too. That’s you and me. Our audience and ourselves.

I told you this would be different. I hope it offered perspective, light, amusement or even a shaking of the head. If you got this far… It should be no surprise to you that refer to myself as the Passionate Communicator, or more recently, the Cave Man trainer who is looking for training organics, training from the perspective of someone who only had needs to fulfill. The Cave Man found learning and training wherever it was to be found. I even have an inexpensive but dynamic Ebook called The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. Under the What I Say category on my website I talk about traditional and nontraditional approaches to training and development, communication, theatre arts, and social behavior. You’ll even find voice demos.

One short note and I’m out of here. I will be on vacation for a week, thinking of you from the deck of a ship. I hope to do some speaking on ship, but if that doesn’t happen, I’ll smell the salty sea, bask in the sun until an opportunity presents itself. I will probably make myself a bit of a nuisance in learning about shipboard training practices, organizations, methods so that I’ll write it for you the next time. I may sneak a blog in if something rattles me. In the meanwhile, remember your egocentric audience, and don’t forget you are, too. Happy training.

For my students: there’s a blog, a rant and a ramble. Right now this is a ramble that became a reflection. It’s too long to be blog.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Either I have weird friends or friends who just know weird things. To be quite honest, they know true, scary things. Not exactly Edgar Allan Poe but still interesting facts of history I thought I’d share on Halloween. Not exactly Cave Man stuff, but close. I’m thinking more 15,000 B.C., but we’ll find humor just 500 years ago.

Oh, but these are useful fun things that trainers and speakers can use. I could be wrong, but I’m probably not, since history was made before copyright law.

At any rate, check out the true stories (as told to me) as to why we humans do things we do, why we have sayings and poetry that makes no sense today. Not that it was terribly deep then. This may get a little deep itself, so if you are do-do sensitive, please refrain from reading. No laughing or smiling for you.

Some of these facts would be straight from Ripley’s, but these are from Ron Harris, a friend of mine and fellow actor, via someone else via someone else until we get to some monk in the dark ages. However, this is the time of dark. Halloween, and not of dark days ahead. Check this out…

Friend Ron says, “Us older people need to learn something new every day…just to keep the grey matter tuned up.”

Ever wonder where the term “piss poor” come from? I always thought it was a “dad” original. Interesting History.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And, then once a day the urine was taken and sold to the tannery…and if you had to do this to survive you were “piss poor.”

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot. They “didn’t have a pot to piss in” and were the lowest of the low.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because of the water temperature. If it isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some more facts about the 1500s:

• Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
• Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.

• The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
• Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm so all the cats and other small animals including mice and bugs lived in the roof.

• When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
• Hence the saying, “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.

• Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
• That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

• Hence the saying, “dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors.

(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

• Hence the rhyme: “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old?”

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and, you guessed it, they would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

• Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination of lead and alcohol would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.

• Hence the custom; of holding a wake?

England is an old and small country, and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of twenty-five coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.

• Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be “saved by the bell” or was considered “a dead ringer.”

And that’s the truth, according to Ron.

Now, whoever said History was boring! So, get out there and educate someone! Share these facts with a friend. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, “What the heck happened?” Now we know.

“We’ll be friends until we are old and senile. Then we’ll be new friends. Smile, it gives your face something to do!”

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Imagine training others, not only how to make the wheel, but how it could be used to make life easier. This trainer had a full-time job. He probably ate well, too, thanks to grateful people.

I should probably explain the “Cave Man” thing. I wrote an inexpensive ebook called The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. It’s subtitled “A Common Sense Guide by the CEO of Acting Smarts.” And it seems to be resonating in the training development community. I even have students in several universities using it as a study guide in the formal academic process because it makes plain sense. Still, since it kind of came out of the blue, and as a reaction rather than a rush to make money, I feel an explanation is necessary.

At first glance, most people think it is like the famous commercial, but it is not, “So easy a caveman can do it.” I’m not addressing simplicity–not that it isn’t–but I am referring to the time when we learned the basics and how going back to basics is not always a bad idea. I am also referring to two parts: “Cave,” which is a place of work, home, society, etc. and Man,” which is man at work, man at home, man in society.

It is a way of looking at training and development, and soon at communication in general how we can find solutions we are making so hard and expensive for ourselves. I know I don’t have all the good ideas in the world, but like all of us I am trying to make a difference.

My difference is in pointing out sometimes the obvious, but more often those things we have forgotten. Most situations are no-brainers when you put people in the equation, but we get hung up on this complex and complicated world, and stick to what we know.

We leave the very people out who can help us out of the picture because “it isn’t done that way here.” We ignore them or their talents and skills because they don’t fit the papers we’ve written on how it should be done. Too bureaucratic? Perhaps. Do we have to be? Is it all about money? If it is, maybe we should examine why we became a company in the first place, when we had all these new, risky ideas and people with vision.

There is probably some clever quote on how people and companies that don’t change, wither and die, but that sounds more like Poe. Doom and Gloom. But I’m not trying to be gloomy. In fact, just the opposite. What if we looked at every opportunity in the company as a way for people to shine. When they shine, we, their supervisors look good, and the company looks. Companies that do that now are enjoying tremendous staying power when other companies stuck in the near past (not caveman times) are faltering in this economy.

Trite as the saying may be, people are our greatest resource, and yet we abuse them and expect them to work for us without complaint because we give them money to support to their families, to survive. Ever really think about why going postal happens? It’s not all deranged individuals; it may have to do with some basic needs not being met and survival of the fittest takes on new meaning, and not a positive one.

People are trying to survive and for the right opportunity that rewards them with praise and kindness for a job well done, they’ll probably do more for you if couldn’t pay them until the following week–if they truly trusted you. You only get that by trusting them. Of course there are exceptions. People who take advantage, people who use others, people who want power and don’t care who gets in the way. I have my suspicions these behaviors may have manifested themselves over the long term abuse they perceived they received from others. Think not only of Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs also motivational theories, and Darwin’s evolutionary survival of the fittest–the term, which by the way was not defined by Darwin, but Charles Spenser, a philosopher of the day.

The term has “evolved” (pun intended) to encompass more than Darwin’s biological theory. I think we can also include Darwin’s basic ideas in the evolution of the human mind beyond Maslow’s actualization as we strive as humans to survive in the modern world certain adaptations are occurring even now.

Although I am a psychologist, I don’t think in those terms necessarily. I am a communicator, which I think takes in other aspects of the dynamics. I am also a theatre critic.

Strange as it may sound, this unusual combination has brought me to the Cave Man approach. I was a “formal” trainer for a number of years and did it all from managing, developing and delivering training; I was a public affairs officer, which if you don’t know is different from the public relations officer. The public relations officer is thinking about the company, first and foremost, while the public affairs officer is wide open and looking out for the public good, within the realms of confidentiality and propriety.

The difference means the public affairs officer cares about the public more directly while the public relations officer is concerned about the public connection to the company. Nothing wrong with either tact, but there is a different perspective. My job as a critic has enabled me to look at theatre, which as an art, reflects–dramatizes even–the nature of man. The Cave Man. Who we are at our base. Our basic needs. Our desires.

This is the Cave Man Approach. You could probably find some New Age way of branding it, but I like basic. It’s fun to imagine what life was life when we were trying to find ways to survive, to grow as a society, to thrive as a community.

There were experiences in my life that set me over the edge, that made me realize things were stupid the way they were. That’s putting it bluntly, but some days I’m not known for subtlety. If saying something is stupid and offends someone. I apologize for offending, but it is still stupid. I can do better. One of my most popular blogs is really a rant. It’s called The Needs Assessment Disconnect and I’ve expanded it in my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. The rant began as I was filling out a needs assessment form.

Now remember I was a trainer at the national corporate-level myself and I know how these things come about and how they are used. My boss, who might complain my productivity and others is now giving us something else to do without any preamble. Filling out a Training Needs Assessment. From that, of course, our training will be developed; our training that no one will really want to attend; that will see no reward us for as employees.

The idea is that this training is for us and therefore we should fill out what we think we need, how what we have in-house is useful, and would train willingly and enthusiastically. All I could think of was to ask a question: how does this benefit me? It didn’t; it benefited the company if they increased productivity because of it. Would we receive credit on our evaluations for taking this training? No, but if we didn’t it would be reflected.

Top it off, we had a meeting later that day and managers were concerned if we gave this same training to contractors who worked for us, they could take that training, put it on their resume and use it on another job. Bet the contractors had it in “their” evaluations.

My point is: all this is fine for the company, but anyone in communication knows the audience (the people) matter most. That’s why you are there. The company has customers. Last I checked they were people, too. Do they want to work with a company or people? I think the answer is people they trust with a company name for reputation.

You’ve heard the term–all we learned in kindergarten? Well, this goes further back. Not only that, but people like being included. The needs assessment says we need you, but at the same time “kicks you in the ***.” Training is a mainstay with any organization. Don’t train and people who don’t know what to do–let alone be productive. Make that training count. Make it part of their portfolio. The military does.

I wrote a piece asking why all training and professional development couldn’t be like training for your black belt. See the article and you’ll see what I mean. Every step of the way the training is counted, rewarded and respected by peers. We say accomplishments say what we are capable of; training is an accomplishment. On the other hand, training alone doesn’t cut it, but fix that by being honest.

You may have a job to fill and I may need that job, but one day I’m just going to wish I could punch you out for treating me like an idiot… Can’t say that much does much productivity. Or, job growth for either one of us. Then, the Cave Man would have used his club. Problem solved.

Better yet, let’s embrace the Cave Man. Let’s see if we can get rid of petty maneuvering for power and reward merit. It doesn’t always have to be a promotion. People know others may have more of what it takes to do a certain job and should be rewarded for it. Recognize or seek to know other talents your people may have and interests they might want to pursue. You might discover something wonderful to benefit all in the form of a new product or process. Maybe some ways we do things have to be do overs, starting with the people. Leave egos and clubs behind and talk as people.

As for a good and reasonable how to do a needs assessment, check out this link: http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/how-to-conduct-a-training-needs-analysis/

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

My book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development, is available now. It’s inexpensive and is available in several downloadable e-book forms, including basic PDF. My blogs here on The Free Management Library do reflect my own opinion, but I do accept opposing views and even guest bloggers. Check out the link at the top. The place to find my other writings as well is currently called Shaw’s Reality (which works well for writing, not so much for training).

Happy training.

These Questions and Answers lay out in plain and simple–in Cave Man terms–how easy it is to be misunderstood. Not only be misunderstood, but be quite funny in the process–intentional or not. Enjoy.

While I suspect this series of jokes hits the Internet every so often, the answers did make me smile so I thought I’d share them with you. It’s that time of year anyway. I have no idea of the origin of these questions, but something tells me there is modicum of truth to them as there is to any humor.

I was sent an e-mail that contained these Qs and As. I thought they were a little scary–only in the OMG factor that students may actually think like this–and perfect for Halloween pleasure, and so I thought I’d share.

Humor keeps our attention in training and educational instruction of any kind. In communication it is an invaluable tool. Besides, it is healthy to laugh, or so say the scientists.

These are indeed treats, not tricks; although I’ve been told by students I have tricked them into learning. To which I reply, “And, this is bad, why?”

The following questions were sent in last year’s GED examination These are genuine answers (from 16 year olds)…………and they WILL breed.

Q. Name the four seasons.

A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.

A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q. How is dew formed?

A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q. What causes the tides in the oceans?

A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight.

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?

A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed.

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections?

A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

Q. What are steroids?

A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs. (Shoot yourself now, there is little hope)

Q. What happens to your body as you age?

A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?

A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery. (So true)

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.

A. Premature death.

Q. What is artificial insemination?

A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow.

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour.

A. Keep it in the cow. (Simple, but brilliant.)

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)

A. The body is consisted into 3 parts – the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U…

Q. What is the fibula?

A. A small lie.

Q. What does ‘varicose’ mean?

A. Nearby.

Q. What is the most common form of birth control.

A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium. (That would work)

Q. Give the meaning of the term ‘Caesarean section’?

A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome.

Q. What is a seizure?

A. A Roman Emperor. (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit.)

Q. What is a terminal illness?

A. When you are sick at the airport. (Irrefutable.)

Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?

A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas.

Q. Use the word ‘judicious’ in a sentence to show you understand its meaning.

A. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)

Q. What does the word ‘benign’ mean?

A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight. (Brilliant.)

Q. What is a turbine?

A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head.

IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR US? You tell me.

Now, I don’t claim to be this funny, but I’d like to be… Might even take a class in comedic delivery. Does that sound like a real class, complete with a curriculum? Sounds about right for a speaker or trainer. Good to have in your repertory of tricks.

The timing seemed right for those of us who mock reality or celebrate the absurd with Halloween. Humor is the bridge to the ridiculous. We laugh because what we hear sounds true and not true simultaneously. If it is true–a treat, and not, well–a trick.

No offense is intended by these questions and answers. They are offered in the spirit of humor. If these are true answers, I suppose we should be concerned or train comics. By the way, I have thought that would be great training for professional speaker or trainer. As you all know, we all take many paths to get here.

Although I never intend to offend, it can happen as I try to hard too hard to be cute. Sarcasm, often used in humor, can be misconstrued to reflect a vindictive purpose. Sometimes it isn’t the words themselves and their intended meanings; it can be just the topic with “triggers” that set people off emotionally, but always–always I do my best to be fair and even. Even typos and misspellings can get you into trouble if you aren’t careful.

Still, there’s always room for a smile or laughter in the training environment. At least I hope there is. and, I think it’s worth it.

Contradictions are sometimes funny, we don’t always laugh at them. “I may live inside the box, but I always think outside.” And, whatever is politically correct? However, if we can laugh, we can relax. If we can relax, we can stop worrying about our troubles and listen and learn. Maybe live outside the box. I would be willing to bet everyone has learned something here in between uncontrollable laughter. The answers are important to the GED–no doubt, but we should all know these answers, which is what makes them funny. But you knew that already.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

If you can take more of me, more writings can be found on my web site. Can’t decide yet if it’s a cave or a website. My unusual and often thoughtful scribblings are under What I Say and range from training and development blogs found on this site, to theatre commentary and reviews. You may not see it now, but the two professions are intricately linked. Performance is performance after all. I have been told by others and almost believe it myself that performance reviewing is my profession; however, passionate communication is my life. My inexpensive, yet incredibly profound, interesting and amusing ebook is out now: The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. In the very near future I hope to have another Cave Man book out based on my cave art and Cave Man approach to today’s life: The Cave Man Guide to Binding One’s Spear, or something like that. Happy training. Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Today, I start my first day as a professor of public speaking in a hybrid teaching environment. Oh, I’m not new to teaching–just the environment. Granted, it’s been awhile. It is both an exciting and daunting task. I won’t mention any names because it really doesn’t matter what institution it is; they are all relatively the same in how the process works.

This post begins my first hands-on experience with urban students and then it’s on to the suburbs to teach the same class to a different group at a another campus. You know about different audiences so I won’t go there except to say, it is, of course, something I must consider in how I relate my subject to my students. Not that these are necessarily big things–just different. Just like any other audience. You have to know who you are dealing with so you don’t step on your tongue, assuming anything.

Students have a different experience from when I was learning the same, but the parts that need to be in class are in class; those that can be written or discussed can be done in a form–a mandatory thread and posts that meet certain requirements and standards. In my class, communication is the name of the game so we’re talking practice on all levels. Because we are in class a few times, eight to be exact and for three to four hours, the days in class a student can miss are severely limited. Miss two and you can be withdrawn from class completely. gone are the days of showing up and passing (or not) the mid-term and exams in some classes. Here, you have to be present because that is when most of the substantial grading is done. Easy to fail; easy to be withdrawn for lack of attendance.

Let’s face it. This is when I am going to have my students show me they know how to give a speech. In the threads, we’ll talk about about we do things, give examples that we know what we are talking about. And, of course, I am there to guide and instruct.

I’ve written on hybrid education before, and I still feel it is definitely part of our future, not only in education but also in training. In fact, I think trainers got there first, but I find it interesting that we don’t put nearly as much emphasis on it in training; it’s as if we only want to save money, rather than train, making training somewhat less important than education. We could debate the two and I think education wins in the long run because it is training for life; while we are training to do a better job.

We have become a society of too much to do and too little time. We have technology for everything, and we even have technology to manage our technology with voice commands. On our phones. Today it’s the I-Phone 4S. Tomorrow?

I have already had one student request to use her smart phone (at least I’m assuming it’s smart) to do the online portions of her class because her computer is in the shop; life happens. Now, I know smart phones are seducing us in the market as the only electronic product we’ll ever need, but I still have a hard time writing on a laptop, let alone a small phone screen. Different too is the touchscreen. For some, it’s a dream to others a nightmare. But here’s something students won’t let you know they know: libraries have computers and internet access. Teachers know it. Internet cafe’s? Sometimes you have to do what you’ve got to do. I’m a survivalist, remember. Cave Man–that’s me. I just look better on paper, but I’ve been there and I’m a good resource.

I find it interesting that here on the Training and Development site, I have a following of students from another university that I think operates the same way or similarly. In essence I am doing the same job of teaching these students online. I love it. I really do, and I am so glad to see they get why I am saying something. It’s a free education. Even at my age, if someone offered me the chance to go back to school…I’d jump, but life does influence our choices. I waited a long time to do what I love because life was hard and I needed a job and I needed security. Well, I still need the security, but I could only last so long not doing what I love. Eventually I tried to do it all and nearly wore myself out. But it’s worth it. I’m working harder and loving it more.

Had I been born sooner, as a student I like to think I would have used the Internet for the very same reasons and more. I hear something in a movie or read something in a book, it’s so easy to clarify what it is I don’t know. I review plays, too, as some regulars to this blog know. I don’t always know the show. How could I know them all, but I use the Internet to find out what others have said, starting with Wikipedia because it is a good basic place to start. Is it the kind of place I will accept has having authoritative information? No, but there are links found there that are.

My first day. I am not worried about the students–except that I don’t know them yet. I like them without knowing them and I want them to like me. I want them to see the value in what I convey to them and apply it to their lives. They don’t know I had my share of problems growing up; first impressions can be deceiving. We all got to where we are based on where we come from. You can’t help who your parents are or where they came from. I could just as easily been born somewhere else and grew up in a totally different environment, but this is the one I’ve got; this is my reality.

It is the reality of my students as well. This electronic age and how it affects education is what it is. Beats the one-room school house, which I’m sure in it’s day beat the not having a school at all. Of course, you didn’t need some of the sophisticated tools of today, like being able to communicate well. All you needed then was to read and write, and if you did that, you were off to a good start. Many jobs were open to you, but some still required more specialized education. You made choices.

We have choices today. Of course, I feel communication (and public speaking) paves the way for many jobs, and can communicate credibility and leadership traits necessary for success. If you want success, that is. I’d like to say, “Who doesn’t?” It’s always apparent some aren’t willing to work for it. Being “old” I know that it pays off. Guess it’s my job to convince them.

Today I have to figure out how the grade book works. Important. Not just a log book like in the past, but an electronic marvel that provides real time feedback. I always hated waiting for grades. Teacher and student habits. We have to get into the routine. Once there, we won’t need to think about the routine, we’ll just know it and do what we have to do.

My biggest concern is that students (and I know what it’s like) will wonder how to minimize what they do. Efficiency. “What do I need to do to pass?” Not good. “What do I need to do to excel?” Better. “What do I need to do to succeed, not only in this class, but use that information to everything else?” Best.

As for me, don’t wish me luck. I’m doing what I love. I will be challenged. I know my audience (I will know them better shortly), I know my subject, and I know myself.

I will follow from time to time with similar ruminations on life teaching the hybrid education and how it relates to training. Totally off this topic, I am planning to talk about the enrichment programs at sea on the cruise lines. Sounds like a fun thing for a trainer, speaker, actor, author to do. In a couple of weeks I will be doing my first on ship. I’ll pay for the cruise, but I want to be on that stage, working with that audience, and seeing what else is out there to experience. As I keep doing all that do because it is exciting and worthwhile. My passion.

For now, the words here are my own. There’s more on my website, including dramatic criticism and comment. Saw and reviewed three wonderful shows this weekend: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, and PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE. Talk about variety. All did a profesional job communicating life. I had my suspicions of ROCKY since it has a cult following, but in the hands of a professional theatre group, the original theatre came through. PICASSO, if you didn’t know, is Steve Martin’s first play and it is a witty look at how art and science are very similar. Two guys walk into a bar…Picasso and Einstein. I’ll put in the links later, but you can find them on my website under What I Say.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

Check out my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development. If you don’t know me, I take a rather non-traditional look at training, reacquainting us with the basics and reminding us what we may have forgotten since the days of the Cave Man. The book is inexpensive and an easy read–a compilation with some modification of related blogs you would find here. End of plug. Happy training.