Transformed Again?

I was telling about how cruel and brutal my courseware was thrown back?

In fact, I went through a few 'shitty' weeks. Let me vent and I'll be enlighten!

With our previous courseware approved and accredited super-smoothly, I was inevitably confident this would too. Perhaps it was this expectation that led to my personal disappointment.  I had the AM (associate manager) listing out everything there were to be reviewed and I went through them meticulously and over a million times.  I had wanted the final and second submission to be seamless, at least, almost seamless.

This was what I received...

A total of 57 pointers to take note and make changes to. Although I had hoped it would be as simple as just making amendments as per highlighted by each pointer, many of those highlighted herewith, were asking me to review the methods or asking me to provide evidences etc. Just imagine this and more, multiplied by 3 pages...

The weeks I had undertaken to correct the courseware were unbearable.  It had kind of shaken my usual confidence and habit, and even, my passion in designing one.  I realized I was second-guessing myself with every little step I made or took to move forward.  I went through the materials over and over again and there was always something else I had to change again in order to feel comfortable. Everything became difficult.

Today, after 1 month of making the changes, I submitted the materials again.  When I clicked 'send' at 4.30pm, a sense of emptiness set in.  The rush and stress suddenly subsided and Dr P's face popped out and into my mind!  I was suddenly reminded of how Dr P made me feel so uncomfortable with facilitation during FAL. How I was suddenly made to be more aware of the usually-neglected little details like standing to a side at the flip-charts, body language and gestures and all.... how facilitation became difficult and conscious rather than easy-breezy. Yet despite all the uneasiness and uncomfrotable processes, we emerged more knowledgeable and confident than ever before during our Final Skills Practice! It was Transformational Learning then and NOW I finally understood, IT IS TRANSFORMATIONAL Learning now too!

I've been hit! It was painful and difficult! - that's stage 1. Isn't it?
I experienced 'Disorienting' and forced self-examination when the materials were thrown back. It hit hard.
I was uncomfortable and was detached from the passion to design courseware because it seemed so difficult and uninteresting for the 2 months - that's the 'Alienation' from my usual role in courseware developing!
When I finally reframed - My final words to my manager was, 'I'd want the final courseware to be even better than before knowing that could be used as a template or even, a benchmark for myself eventually!'
Re-integrated! I think I did.  I took the experience in stride and am rather pleased with the final version though I'm still waiting for the response from the AM.

It's amazing.
I experienced Transformational Learning while at work too!


It's strange I kept on thinking how Transformational Learning can be applied in my training because it seemed unsuitable in this context, yet I've experienced it myself and emerged better not once but twice. I'm truly amazed and wish I could bring this great sensation to my trainees.

A Few Things...

I kept on reminding myself, in training or facilitation, the facilitator and trainer will make a difference in the learners' learning. How we present ourselves and impart the skills and knowledge are also pretty much subjective in the eyes of the learners.

At such, after being 'hazy' in TNA & ID module.... I saw clearer pictures again from AS and now CBT. Perhaps the 2 facilitators who guided us through TNA & ID were just, not my style. I had to read the modules up all again by myself. But some of my coursemates have differing opinions of them too. We all have our own thoughts.

This made me think. How about myself? Did I give my trainees different learning thoughts too?

* * * * * * * * * *

Our assessment for TNA+ID+AS just went by. Nerve-wrecking? Of course. The usual nervousness and unsettling mind kicked in before, on and even after the assessment. I was extrememly worried knowing our assessor was going to be a caucasian. Why not? I have every reason to be worried. I'm not a good auditory person and conversing with someone who may speak with a different accent was about to kill me before I even start. However, it came and went by.

What I appreciate about Mr P, was the fact he gave constructive feedbacks on our strength and even weaknesses. Many a times, everyone just wants to hear the good things but good things don't help us improve. Mr P pointed out my specific weakness and I know I must work hard on them.

In fact, this assessment was the BIGGEST stress I've ever felt so far! But he made it worth going through. Thank you Mr P.

* * * * * * * * * *

At work, I've encounter a few more good things recently.

I've sent in my 2nd course for accreditation and it was cruelly thrown back. Did it hit my confidence level? Without a doubt. The feedbacks were seriously brutal. BUT I was fortunate. I embraced this rejection with an open-mind to learn and improve. The AM auditing the program was very 'fierce' but extremely kind. I felt he had intention to help me improve. He gave very harsh yet constructive feedbacks and I know if I could review them all, the courseware will turn out, at least, almost perfect.

Though I have questions in my head I couldn't answer, like how did my previous courseware went through smoothly and why not this time... I know there's no point dwelling. I'd rather channel my energy into making this one, better than the previous! And I'm excited because I know it will.

* * * * * * * * * *

In training, work and even life, we'd meet people who'd have said or do something to you, or had given you a certain minder... and when you look back, you'd realized they helped you grow and see things differently.

I've been blessed and I hope I could give back to my trainees.

Thank you.

Catching Up

I have not made any entry since FAL. Bad. Ashamed.
In fact, I've been lost for awhile.

After FAL, we've gone through TNA, as well ID.

TNA, in particular, was a pretty long module and something totally new to me. I was not able to grasp the entire module. Yes, I had difficulty and it somehow shut down my learning ability! Scary. Though I sought consolation that more than half of my class are first-timers to TNA, they seem rather 'ok' with the subject and assignment.

I was also completely amazed my company has no proper TNA system or models.

As stressed out as I am, I had to start before it's too late. I spent the whole weekend trying to decipher the entire folder and build up my assignment for submission. Thank goodness, the more I try to input, the clearer the picture becomes. Whether I could try to ascertain the need to roll out TNA for my company, its still too early to tell and I've better become more familiar and better at this before I start to even think about any proposal. :)

ID - It came and went by. I was not particularly intrigued, nor surprised. Confused, perhaps a little but it wasn't a big of a deal. It was just some words E used that crumbled my knowledge in ID itself. Those words, if he could have rephrased or explained or make comparison to what I've already know, I'd have received them better.

However, I must say that the few activities and games introduced during ID were good activities I could readily used in my training. Here's one of them, the STRAW game!

An easy to conduct brain-teaser.. example, how to form1, 3, 6 and 8 equilateral triangles with 6 straws given. :)

We have just started AS. Pretty shocking to me it only has 3 sessions. I was just telling some of my course mates, It usually take me about 3 to 4 sessions before I could grasp any modules, this time round... I may not have the luxury of time to grasp the idea.

So, keeping fingers crossed.

Till then.
Have a good week.

End and Beginning

Tonight is the end of our FAL but the beginning to practising what we've learnt and practise it for life.

Dr P made us cozy in a circle and asked each of us to reflect and share on 'What I've Learnt in FAL..'
Yes. Most of our list emerged similar except all of us focus on different areas. Here's mine.

1. The renewed importance of writing 'properly' on flipcharts
2. The amazing power of what an activity can make or break our facilitation
3. The impact of how a 'black out' draws the learners' focus - less the distraction
4. The language that speaks a million words - Body!
5. The assertiveness I should exercise!
   

And I've already started applying them at work.

I know why I enjoyed attending the sessions so much even if I'm tired - Every session I was excited and was looking forward to getting 'slapped with new enlightenment' that would help me improve since this is what I love to do as a career and a passion.

With these said.

I'm looking forward to the next module too... :)

Peer Share Vs. Presentation

I logged this entry on 5 Jan in my note book and has completely forgotten to transfer it in here.
Anyhow... I had wanted to record this -

* * * * * * * * * *

5 January
I conducted January's 2-Day Orientation Training yesterday and today and I felt some things have changed, permanently.

There is this part in Orientation where I'll usually share information of our company's competitors with the trainees. That was how it has always been done.

BUT!

Something is different this time around and it's a refreshing change in 5yrs. I split the trainees into groups and gave them all the brands to research on and present their findings in class the next day. At first I was worried that some were more reserve than others and may not carry out their tasks. When I announced, at the end of day-1, that they'd have to do these research homework, they didn't look shock or unhappy. I took that as a huge relieve.

In fact within the groups, they delegated tasks further to each team mate pretty much on their own, so everyone gets 1 or 2 brands to research on and was not left out.

I thought that even if they've missed out a few details, I'd be glad that they'd found most of the information on their own.

The next morning, some of them planned to meet in the classroom early to consolidate their group findings and I found that really responsible. They did the sharing in class after that and I am confident this must have helped them remember better than if I were to feed them the information via presentation. This also made them more active and interactive with a sense of ownership.

* * * * * * * * * *

I guess in the past I tend to worry too much that giving activities or homework would take away their time to rest since all of them work long retail hours. Perhaps, the thing I should really do right now is - let go of that and be more generous with giving them opportunities for research works or discussion that could be eventually be useful to those who could learn through sharing individual projects and aid help them in this learning rather than worry about them having no time to rest.

I should have faith and allow them to research more often in future. This will help empower them with the ownership to learn and also peer-share. I'm pretty sure that this way, they will instill the learning deeper too. All gain and no loss.

YES. I shall be doing that often!

Alright, time for more lesson plan adjustments! :)

Transformed!

I had my Skills Practice 2 last night. To be honest, I stressed over it for a week because facilitation suddenly became very tedious and not-as-easy having to remember the things I should do less of (gathered from class's and Dr P's feedback to me)

• de-clutter the slides
• be more comfortable with flip charts
• remove the unnecessary WSQ 'stuff'
• have clear phrase or title to an activity
• give personal experiences
• 'Use it' and 'Lose it' slides
• enough to cover for 20mins

... and remembering the things we have also criticized about our class in SK1

• speak at a comfortable pace
• watch our body language
• too much text on slides
• must have activity
• activity to link with learning

I've also spent more time wondering and reflected on several important points that were constantly mentioned throughout the last few weeks... and I asked myself over and over again!

"Is the activity important to be included?""Are the activities worth having?"
"How does it link or help with the learning?""Did they learn?"
"Within this 20mins, did you meet the learning outcome?"
"Was there active learning?"
"Was it presentation or facilitation?"

These were ringing in my head constantly and the more I asked myself, the more mindful I've become. I'm very sure I'm conscious with them from now on.

* * * * * * * * * *

While I was preparing for SP2, I laid out lots of ideas, cracked my head figuring different approaches and ways to facilitate for this class. It wasn't easy trying to determine if the activities are suitable, or not. Eventually I gave up wondering and went ahead with the activity involving my favourite and old-school - Hula Hoops. I've made slight adjustments to the activity though.



The Magic Hula HoopsThis activity was originally designed in our customer service training to

• show that customer service must be smooth in a cycle with no breakage from greetings to goodbye
• establish the importance of teamwork and help them conceptualize that once the circle (team) is broken, tasks cannot flow smoothly
• emphasize the difficulty and importance of serving many customers at the same time(different hoops were inserted at different points) and not to compromise on our service.

When this is done back at workplace, I'd imposed a timer to see if there are improvements round after round. I'd also use more than 3 hoops or 4 at the same time mainly because I have more participants who are more energetic of a younger age group and 'fun and laughters' were the important consideration.

In class last night, I changed some of the rules. Since they were 'acting' as managers instead of a regular operations colleagues and also the age and professional background consideration,

the new rules and instructions were

• the movements of the body now represents a task or work flow in the store
• the hoops inserted represents the significance of how customer service loops through all other tasks and emerged as the most important focus in the store
• the manager role was created to give the team opportunities to strategize whereby they could improve the speed in passing the hoops and made the rounds smooth, therefore emphasizing the importance of a store leader's role
• no restrictions on time to let them feel and fiddle with the concept as they would likely want to process the outcome and link.

During planning, I realised that activities can be contextualised too, not just lesson plans. The goal is always to ensure there is active learning! When I evetually saw they enjoyed the activity too and could somehow relate it to the concept I was going to share next, that was a humongous bonus.






Then, there was this second activity that was to link to the concept I wanted to drive next. Here are the cards that they had to sort out.

I came up with this theory because I know they had to be given something catchy and easy to remember. The word 'shine' is rather relevant thus I've expanded it with meanings.




In this activity, I gave them the Header and the Descriptions and they were to match them and explain their choices afterwards to each other within the group. An intimate small-group sharing time!

I'll review and give examples for every step after the group sharing so there will be interactions between learners and facilitator about 'SHINE' .

My turn came and went and no one, except H, caught my nervousness. I must say they were extremely kind with their comments and feedback to me. I felt that, especially after I saw the timer flashing the amount of time I have left, I've kind of lost my thoughts and abruptly ended the session skipping the final explanation and debrief of the last 'SHINE' activity, just to meet the time-requirement. Shame. Though in real life this wouldn't happen but still, it came as a form of setback which I know I must work very hard on.

* * * * * * * * * *

I reviewed the video when I was home. Horrified.

I remembered hearing PS used the word 'actually' many times and K used plenty of 'ok'. I think I was worse. I caught it on the video and I've used a million 'k' (short for ok). How could I not know?

Thank goodness for such recording!
No matter what, I have to be even more mindful with what I say from now on.

* * * * * * * * * *

At the end of the evening when a few of us stayed behind to help, Dr P said we are going through Transformational Learning and elaborated how she saw the alienation in us during the first few sessions. How did she know???? But she is right, isn't she? It was an uncomfortable process only because we were so accustomed to handling things the way we've always done them, to train the way we've always been doing, to speak and present the way we're so comfortable with.

Through the process, we've reframed our mind to see the importance and outcome differently with totally new focus while planning the lesson plans, slides and activities. Most importantly, we've experienced these changes ourselves in motion, and in action, through both our SP, as well as the process of contextualising an existing lesson plan to fit in an Adult Learning Theory.






After that she encouraged us saying she could see that we are more conscious and mindful now and she looked so genuinely happy - A trainer's satisfaction comes from the learners' learning and the learners' genuine appreciation. That's what all of us strive to achieve at work everyday, isn't it? :)

Speaking for myself at least, that first few lessons I wasn't understanding the meaning and concept of it all and yes, it was a very uncomfortable process. Eventually and true enough, as she said so convincingly during our first evening, that we'd be transformed by the end of FAL - I assured her last night that we did! I felt her hard work paid off.

Thank you.

Thoughts...

Last Wednesday, the class mentioned a couple of things...

R said that she was nervous for Skills Practice being the only one who doesn't have experience in facilitation or training. She pointed out about educational background too. I felt rather sad. I feel her insecurities because I've been there too. I had wanted to soothe her by telling her I felt the same nervousness and butterflies during SP1 too regardless of how many years of training or facilitation experiences we have behind us - because it's only natural.

There is a vast difference in between conducting our usual training or facilitation at work vs. conducting in front of a 'panel' of 'judges' and what's more, in front of a rolling video-camera. Without a doubt.

Yet I struggled and thought - if I had told her how I felt, she may feel less confident and accepting her worries as relevant. If I choose not to share my feelings with her personally and, like the rest of the class, assure her that she's probably been worrying too much, that may lead her to accept this is something we have to go through and perhaps she could 'rough it out' and find her own comfort in facilitation soon?

This honestly sets me thinking, many of our trainees or learners at work felt the same way too especially those with language, education and age. Accordingly to situations and profiles, some we'll acknowledge their worries and play a listening ear or counselling role and for the rest, we'd use other tactics like convincing them they worried too much hoping that will give them that boost of confidence we feel they need.

Something to think about... could there be any other way to deal with this?

* * * * * * * * * *

While in discussion with P about challenges facing Contents. We came up with a few,

• There are many topics or performance criteria, how would we know which to focus more on so that we'll not be trapped as trainers with beautiful slides but not enough time to finish presenting them.
• For activities, how would we know if an activity is too easy or too difficult for the learners to carry out?

While discussing these challenges, I could quickly think of solutions, almost on-the-spot, and saw why the challenges were relevant for discussions.

I found the discussion important in the end! It made me think... and thus there is solution. This further confirms that having group discussions and sharing are important because they do, whether you believe or not, triggers memory retention and triggers ideas that may lead to a fruitful solution at the end of it all.

Looking back, I've always included activities and most of which are there to just keep learners active with some or sometimes, no connection to the learnings. Also, many times, unfortunately, I'd explain complex theory just to achieve our objectives and obligations of delivering them. No matter how casual or interactive I could be, the memory retention probably didn't last as long as we'd hope it would.

In future when I plan a lesson, I must be mindful

1. to include suitable activities that could lead learners to link them to more complex theory and better still, elicit them to come up with the link
2. to have less presentation just to fulfill requirements by the company or WSQ, and this could be done by doing point 1 + by simple hands-on activities
3. to check learners' progress by imposing active experiementation rather than a written assignment
   
4. to design or contextualize activities too, not just contents, to suit the profiles of the learners and retain their memory to achieve effective learning outcome
   

I'm beginning to see what Dr P said... we would be transformed!
Happy.