Seven things I learned in 2010

Hard to believe another year has come and gone. For the sake of “auld lang syne” then, here’s a quick accounting of my significant learning achievements in 2010.  In no particular order…

> Constructivism
I did a lot of reading, studying, and teaching on the broad topic of constructivism, and I have a better grasp on it now than ever before. There are many nuances to this rich and fascinating philosophy/theory, so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say that I have constructed a perfect, complete understanding of the topic. But I do think constructivism best describes how we learn, and I’m beginning to really get a handle on what it means to “teach” with a constructivist point of view. Favorite book on the subject: Relational Being by Ken Gergen.

> Presentation Design
I had the pleasure of designing and delivering a number of webinars and live presentations on professional skill development topics this year, and I learned a lot about how to make that work.  I’ve learned how to craft a motivational story or flow, and how to design great visuals and animations.  I’m surely not perfect, but much better at this. It’s not just about getting the content and the activities right so that participants cognitively understand a message, it’s about building commitment and momentum for adoption of new practices so that people are inspired to do things that will allow them to be more successful. Isn’t that what we want at the end of the day? For the best tips and techniques, I recommend: Made to Stick and Switch, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, and Slideology and Resonate, by Nancy Duarte.

> SharePoint for Learning
My company is adopting SharePoint, and we’ve spent this year researching and imagining how to use it to support collaborative learning. Some folks might have you believe that all you need to do is make the technology available and get out of the way, and magic will happen.  But I think there’s a lot more to it than that, and I’ve studied how people have designed sites and promoted participation. I have learned about important design decisions that need to be made while creating the site, and about techniques to keep the site active and fresh. We’re just launching our first forays in the new year, so we’ll see if we got a good start.  I’m sure there’s much more we will learn along the way.

> Scholarly Practice
I worked on an article about SMART Practice, and that got me to more closely examine what we know about scholarly practice activities and competencies. It’s more than knowing the body of knowledge related to our work, it’s also about figuring out ways to stay current and to seek out and apply relevant research in day-to-day projects. I continue to believe that we are more impactful when we know the theory and research behind our practices, and figuring out how to support and promote scholarly practice is near and dear to my heart.  I’m grateful for the companionship of folks on the Scholar-Practitioner Special Interest Group of AHRD, and I’m looking forward to more work on this in the coming year.

> Learning by Teaching
Teaching is absolutely the best learning strategy. I love, love, love teaching – the prep work helps me to solidify my understanding of the topics I teach (adult learning and instructional design), and my students challenge my thinking and inspire me to want to do more to support their growth. Because I teach about learning and instructional design, there’s an incredible synergy between learning more about what I teach and applying it to teach more effectively. I continue to learn about adult learning theory, constructivist techniques, instructional design, and design considerations specific to e-learning. Whether I’m delivering workshops in a corporate environment or teaching courses in a graduate school, teaching isn’t work to me; it’s my favorite way to learn.

> Spiritual Growth
I’ve certainly traveled a bit down a more spiritual path this year, inspired by our church’s 90-day Bible Challenge this summer, multiple Christian Enrichment activities around Biblical themes and messages, great preaching, interesting reading, and lots and lots of quiet time.  I look forward to what’s around the bend for 2011.

> Blogging
I’ve learned as well that I really miss blogging. Taking a few hours to capture thoughts on what I’m learning and doing really helps me to process my actions, reflections, and readings. When things have gotten really busy – as they did this past fall, I’ve put aside blogging.  But now I find myself wishing I had written more so that I could go back and look up my thoughts on a subject. They seem to get lost otherwise.  I also learn a lot from reading other people’s blogs and following their Twitter feeds. So that’s one resolution for the new year.  If you’ve enjoyed reading my various musings and sharing your comments in return, you’ll hear more from me in 2011.

Happy new year!

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People power

In the next couple of weeks, I have organized some discussions with colleagues about The Power of Pull (by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison), so I’ve been thinking about the book and its implications for our work in promoting learning in organizations as well as its implications for my own development. 

Because of the “pull” I have with some of the blogs and journals I read regularly, some of the ideas Hagel, Brown, and Davison discuss are not exactly new to me.  What strikes me as the one big idea to ponder and act on for my own work is the notion that the power of pull is NOT generated solely using electronic means; the power of pull is in the ability to draw one-on-one interactions with people who share your passions. 

I’m a relatively introverted person, so I love to “lurk” online.  I listen in on various conversations and read and reflect on articles and posts that speak to the things that interest me.  I often feel quite “in the know” with regard to what is on the horizon and I am able to use that information to form opinions and share implications with people who I work with on a day-to-day basis (work colleagues or students).  I know this active monitoring of the industry makes me more effective as a manager and a professor.  But that is only part of the equation (and not even half!).

Here’s a key point about developing relationships from The Power of Pull:

“As we begin to engage with this level of pull, we’ll foster encounters with people who can be helpful in expanding our horizons and creating the new knowledge that enables us to achieve new levels of performance.  Yet brief encounters are typically of little value.  You have to do more than have a brief conversation or e-mail exchange.  You have to invest time and effort and build trust-based relationships if you are to access the knowledge that is most valuable.  Building these relationships requires reciprocity: We must be willing to give if we are to receive.”

The authors share a lot of advice around “shaping serendipity” – putting ourselves in a position to collaborate with others who share our passions so that together we expand our understanding of key ideas and amplify our ability to apply those ideas to real problems. 

I remember the powerful conversations I have had with people at conferences and over lunches, and I know how critical it is to cultivate real relationships.  I have felt rewarded by the ways I have been able to help other people shape their thinking, and also unbelievably energized by the way they are able to enrich mine. 

So the key action item I am taking away from The Power of Pull is a recommitment to developing more engaged relationships.  It can be too easy to stay inside my own head.  But it’s clear that one-on-one discussions clarify my thinking, challenge my assumptions, and often shift my ideas in different, more useful directions. 

Hagel, Brown, and Davison offer application questions throughout The Power of Pull, and here are some of the questions I’ll be pondering (and acting on!) over the next few weeks:

> Who are the smartest, most accomplished people who share my passions or interests?  How can I get these people in my network?

>  How can I get to know these people more personally, and share with them my own ideas so that we can mutually support each other in advancing practice?

>  What are the conferences, meetings, and other venues that attract people who share my passions and interests?  How can I ensure that I engage in these gatherings as an opportunity to form and develop relationships with others with whom I can collaborate to raise our capabilities?

Frankly, this approach is a bit out of my comfort zone, but The Power of Pull makes a strong case for the power of people.  I’m one of those folks lucky enough to be able to say that my passion is my profession, but I can only excel if I can link up with others to learn, collaborate, and move the whole profession forward. 

If you’re passionate about the same things I am, let’s arrange to talk!  (I added a “contact me” box on the left – hopefully, it works!)

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Overlooking the Tennessee River

This week, I’m taking my annual walk on the academic side of the street – attending the Academy of HRD conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.  As I write this, I am, in fact, looking out over the Tennessee River (from the windows of my hotel room). 

Academic conferences have a whole different vibe from the practitioner conferences I attend.  Oddly, I sometimes have trouble finding the symposiums or research roundtables that will expand my thinking about topics of immediate interest.  So this time, I plan to approach the conference differently.  As an adjunct faculty member, I don’t get to “hang” often enough with academics, and here they are!  I find I have a lot of opportunity while breaking between sessions, hanging in the lobby, or chatting over meals to connect with my academic counterparts, and I want to take advantage of that.

So I’ve brought along some conversation-starters, things I’d like to discuss a bit…

>>  How is the education of professionals in our fields changing in light of new technologies?  I am especially interested in how we prepare master’s candidates in instructional design and adult learning.

>>  Informal learning is getting a lot of attention from the practitioner side… what are other professors advocating along these lines?

>>  How do other professors teach adult learning orientations?  Do they advocate one perspective (cognitivism, constructivism)?  Or do they try to bring out the best from all of the various learning theories that have been offered?

>>  I love teaching online, but it does have its challenges.  What instructional strategies and projects have other professors found to be particularly impactful?

Those questions should give me an opening or two when the opportunity arises!

The other facet of this conference that I am really looking forward to is continued discussion of the role of the scholar-practitioner.  We have a terrific pre-conference event planned as well as a number of innovative sessions that will discuss the responsibilities and challenges of this role.  And the Scholar-Practitioner Special Interest Group has a couple of events here as well to connect and plan next steps.

It should be a good week.  I hope to “live-blog” a bit, so stay tuned if you’re interested.

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Keeping up

I spent some time over the weekend catching up on others’ predictions for 2010 (see sources at end of post). It got me thinking… how will I ever keep up?  3D learning, open learning, mobile learning, informal learning, social learning, game-based learning, new tools, new gadgets…  It’s clear that the need for learning and the potential avenues to get support for learning are both exploding – what’s a learning professional to do to stay current so she can be effective in her role?

For me, it’s a balancing act between knowing a little bit about a lot of the landscape and a lot about a little bit of the landscape. While it’s critical that I maintain a grasp of all of the tools and techniques for learning, I have to make choices about where I want to establish and maintain my expertise.

The core of my work requires that I have a deep understanding of adult learning principles and techniques… and maintaining that expertise will help me to imagine how all of the tools can be put to use to support learning.  Upon that foundation, I can be helpful and influential in strategizing broad-based learning environments that integrate a number of resources, tools, and techniques.  Another part of my work requires that I know the latest in instructional design practices and processes, and keeping up with new approaches will help me to understand how these can be applied regardless of what is being designed. 

I love the work I do in designing formal learning for delivery in classroom and online learning environments, but I focus in on facilitating learning in adult learning theory and instructional design rather than honing an ability to design for any topic. (I believe there will always be a place for formal learning, so I’m not feeling vulnerable that I hold that as an area of expertise.) I also love researching and writing and focus my efforts there (like here in this blog) on those same topics.

I’m not likely to ever create a flash-based e-learning component. I won’t be designing an electronic performance support system. I still don’t own a smart phone, and designing “an app for that” isn’t in the cards for me. Learning games and simulations are very powerful, but I won’t be designing one anytime soon. 3D learning isn’t going to figure into my own work in the near future.

Our landscape in the learning and development field is so very varied and complex that we really need to be able to rely on each other to develop particular areas of expertise so that we can work together to create the kind of learning environments in which learners can flourish and from which businesses can benefit. I am constantly amazed at how various social learning media have allowed me to tap into the minds of deep thinkers in those areas in which I have no expertise… they are critical to my ability to know “a little bit about a lot of the landscape.” Thank you to all of you out there posting blogs and sharing links in your Tweets!

My to-learn list for 2010 includes deepening my understanding of constructivist learning theory and research, as well as studying more on brain-based learning concepts and their relationship to cognitivist and constructivist approaches.  I plan on honing skill in creating online courseware and creating online learning communities. And I’ll be using various opportunities to develop skill in researching, writing, and communicating ideas. That’s enough for one person.

My sources for predicitons for 2010:  The Big Question for January in the Learning Curcuits blog, and the 2010 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium and Educause.  All interesting reading – thank you for sharing!

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Misadventures in scholarly practice

I had a rude awakening this week when I was asked by a colleague to identify and share research that could help guide a project she was working on. A funny thing happened… I knew what theory and research would advise about the issue, but putting my hands on a specific theory or piece of research proved much more difficult. 

I found myself browsing my bookshelf and searching my EndNotes citations and wondering… Where did I read that? Which theorist had that model? Who did that research? As I slowly uncovered some of what I was looking for, I realized that in “knowing” what theory and research would advise, I was extrapolating from a wide range of material.  There was no “killer” piece that I could point to as having the perfect perspective. In the end, I lucked out because my colleague really just needed me to give her advice based on my knowledge base and experience, not to support it with specific justification.

It got me thinking about the challenges of scholarly practice (a.k.a. evidence-based practice). On the one hand, good for me that I’ve paid enough attention that I knew what might be helpful for my colleague’s situation. On the other hand, I would have been hard-pressed to name my sources. I have a terrible memory for names and other details (inherited from my mother, I’m sure, who had six children and never got our names right on the first try). 

I really need to have good system for recording some of my favorite references and compiling good models that can guide practice. I’ve frequently thought about this, and have kept up some good practices, like recording EndNote citations, tagging material to my Delicious account, keeping a file of my favorite models, and the like. I’m also thinking that I’d like to cast my net a little wider, expanding beyond the academic publications and thought-leader blogs that I currently frequent. 

I’m thinking that’s a pretty good new year’s resolution. I’m going to be taking a look at material on connectivism, personal learning environments, and personal knowledge management for advice on this (at least I know where to find resources on those concepts!) Please share your thoughts on specific record-keeping techniques as well as favorite academic journals in learning and development.

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Progress

A study reported in January’s Harvard Business Review* found that the most important factor for motivation at work was…. progress!  Now, there’s a blinding flash of the obvious.  I have to agree that my best days, at work or at home, are those days on which I feel like I’ve made progress on something that’s important to me.

I’m taking that insight to heart as I embark on an ambitious 2010. A little less spending time cleaning out e-mail inbox and surfing the net. A little more time making at least incremental progress on the many projects I want to get done, books I want to read, adventures I want to have, and oh, the things I still want to learn.  I’m setting my resolutions and to-learn list up so that the goals are as much about making progress as about grand accomplishment. Sure, the grand accomplishments are the real goals, but some have seemed too daunting to tackle in the time between other commitments. I think those researchers may be on to something.

BTW, another thing that turned up high on the list of things that motivated people was collaboration. I guess that means I should get out of my head more.  🙂  I’m looking forward to the Academy of HRD conference in February, building an online scholar-practitioner community with AHRD, working with a new committee at work, and many other ways I get to work with some brilliant and fun people who keep me energized and focused.

I don’t know about you, but I love turning the page on a new year. I allow myself that clean-slate, fresh start feeling and revel in compiling a list that will take the whole year to complete. Here’s to 2010.  Happy New Year!

* See What Really Motivates Workers by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer – #1 on the HBR List of Breakthrough Ideas for 2010.

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I knew I’d regret it

Earlier this summer, I accepted an invitation to speak at the beginning-of-the-school-year convocation for the faculty of one of the universities for which I serve as adjunct faculty.  The minute I said yes, I knew I’d regret it… and I was wrong.

Sure, I regret the summer Saturdays when I could have been reading or enjoying activities.  I regret how many times my Facebook page said “working on my speech.”   But I can’t regret what I learned by having taken on this challenge. 

The content of the address is not new to me; I did a little research to solidify the case to be made, but most of the key points were things I talk about regularly.  It’s amazing, though, how much you clarify your thinking when you’re going to try to communicate it to others in a formal way.  As a learning facilitator, I know that, of course, but it’s been a while since I actually had to communicate at this level, and it was enlightening, energizing, and daunting.

I also learned a thing or two about crafting a decent speech (I hope) – with a shout out to Brent Schlenker and Karl Kapp – two experts who I heard speak in the last month and who really set the bar.  I’m pleased with the slides I created, too, with a little help from expert colleagues.  So it’s been a good journey, if a time-consuming one.

The topic of the address is “Educating the 21st Century Professional; Emerging trends in teaching and learning.”  (Spoiler alert if you happen to be attending on Wednesday.) 

I started out thinking that the 21st century professional was a moniker of the millennial generation, but a snide remark from my brother reminded me that in 2009, we are ALL 21st century professionals (unless you happen to be retired, I suppose).  We are all living in a rapidly changing world and most of us have access to an amazing array of tools and technologies that support our performance and our learning.  There are no generational differences in terms of the way the mind works to accomplish learning – and all of us are capable of using the spiffy new tools for access and collaboration as well as using the tried-and-true methods of interacting with others, learning by doing, and reflecting on experience.

The bigger change in teaching the 21st century professional is in the content of what we teach.  In researching the talk, I came across this quote by Dr. Ann Pendleton-Jullian:

A twentieth-century approach to education holds fast to the notion of teaching as a systematic delivery of knowledge—knowledge that is vetted and sanctioned and delivered in discipline-based packages from expert teachers to students. It is education in which one learns about specific stuff and how to do specific things.

In contrast, twenty-first century learning environments are about learning that extends far beyond the classroom… The assumption is that we need to prepare for futures in which the specific things we will be doing, and specific stuff we will need to know, do not yet exist. (emphasis mine)

So teaching in this century is not so much about transfer of knowledge as it is about helping students learn to think more deeply.  We need to prepare students to grapple with the real, challenging issues of their professions (and of our world in general).  We also need to support students in recognizing and learning to deal with issues of ethics and with concerns about social, economic, and environmental sustainability.  That’s quite a charge for those of us in the business of educating the 21st century professional!

Fingers crossed, I think it will be a pretty good speech; I figure if I learned some things along the way, then my colleagues in the audience ought to be able to take a few ideas away as well.  All in all, it’s been a good journey, even if it has put a crimp in my summer and made me miss a few weeks of blogging.  Wish me luck!  🙂

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On my bookshelf

When I was at the library yesterday, I picked up what looks to be an interesting book called, Promised Land.  In it, author Jay Parini has chosen what he considers to be “Thirteen Books that Changed America.”  It got me thinking… of all the books on my bookshelves, which ones have really changed the way I think, teach, design, or practice my profession? 

Mmm…  I thought I”d share the list I compiled; it actually came together very quickly.  The books run the gamut from very practical to quite heady.  These are the books I keep coming back to, that inspire me, that seem to endure.  They are in no particular order…

The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge (1990).  I remember thinking that The Fifth Discipline was one of the most profound books I had ever read – and I had no idea what to do with the ideas it discussed.  Luckily, I was able to figure some of it out.  Senge pioneered many of the best ideas around how organizations and individuals develop the capacity to learn.  Just so you don’t have to look it up, the five disciplines are personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking (the fifth discipline that integrates them all).

Active Training by Mel Silberman (1990).  A terrific book about how to create engaging training experiences, now in its third edition, but I have the original.  The companion work, 101 Ways to Make Training Active (1995) always came in handy as well.  Silberman was my guide in learning to create solid classroom training, and I often gave his books to new designers.

Michael Allen’s Guide to e-Learning by (guess?) Michael Allen (2003).  I think Michael Allen knew what good e-learning looked like before anyone else, and he described it in a clear, actionable way.  This is a book I still recommend all the time.

Improving Performance by Geary Rummler and Alan Brache (1995).  An excellent guide to help managers and learning professionals get a handle on all the factors that contribute to performance.  When the training and development profession embraced performance consulting back in the mid-90s, this book provided a terrific framework for thinking about how to analyze a performance system.  From it comes the famous quote, “If you pit a good performer against a bad system, the system will win almost every time.”

The Performance Consultant’s Fieldbook by Judith Hale (1998).  A practical guide to performance consulting with an excellent assessment model.  I’m always using Hale’s framework to check myself on performance analysis.

Learning in Adulthood by Sharan Merriam, Rosemary Caffarella, and Lisa Baumgartner (2007).  I actually read the second edition when I did my doctoral work, but I invested in the latest version a few years ago. This is an excellent overview of learning theory, and I pull it off my shelf often.

Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity by Etienne Wenger (1998).  An amazing book that deeply explores the nature of learning in community.  These concepts inspired my dissertation research work.  (Wenger’s later, more practical books on building communities are helpful, but not nearly as enlightening about learning and identity formation in a community.)

Creating Significant Learning Experiences by L. Dee Fink (2003).  This book set me on the right track when I started teaching graduate classes.  It provides terrific advice about designing academic coursework that has lasting impact on students – advice which can be used in other settings as well.  While I don’t implement Finks’ approach to the letter, this was (and is) an inspiring handbook for being the kind of professor I want to be.

Writing for Scholarly Publication by Anne Sigismund Huff (1999).  I heard Ann speak when I was in graduate school, and she had a profound inpact on the way I think about academic writing.  She uses the metaphor of entering a conversation that really resonated with me (although I had colleagues who weren’t nearly as impressed).  Dr. Huff’s latest book, Designing Research for Publication (2008), is a gem as well.  So much to write, so little time…

Critical Human Resource Development: Beyond Orthodoxy, edited by Clare Rigg, Jim Stewart, and Kiran Trehan (2007).  I deliberately attended sessions on critical HRD at the Academy of HRD conference a few years ago just to get an idea of the topics of the day, and was intrigued.  This book compiles a number of critical perspectives in one place, and gave a lot of food for thought.  It’s important for us to question our assumptions and purposes, and to pay attention to who and what our work serves. 

Novations by Gene Dalton and Paul Thompson (1986).  This one is going back quite a way, but it’s the first book I had read that talked about specialization as a unique and important career path.  This book, along with Caela Farren’s Who’s Running Your Career? (1997) gave me the perspective to pursue learning and development as an area of deep expertise.

Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham (2007).  Marcus Buckingham dares to dream that there is a way for all of us to play to our strengths for most of our working day… and in so doing, be productive, happy, inspired, and energized – and to contribute positively to our companies and to the world around us.  I am blessed to feel that I am for the most part living that dream.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (2008).  Dr. Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who unfortunately died last year after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  The book (and the videotaped lecture you may have seen on the internet when it went viral in 2007) is about really achieving your childhood dreams, and it’s quite inspirational.  For me, the more relevant aspect of the last lecture was Dr. Pausch’s reflections on his role as a professor, which he likened to being a “fitness instructor of the mind.”

Like Jay Parini, I’ll stop with the baker’s dozen – thriteen books that have inspired me professionally.  I’d love to hear ideas from you – summer’s here and I love to read at the beach!

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Everyday learning

It’s a simple fact of human existence that we learn every day. 

I think it can be very helpful if we make everyday learning a more conscious effort.  My to-learn list has helped to keep me focused.  But now that I think about it, the list has helped me mostly in terms of some of my learning activities (books I choose to read, what I choose to write about, people I seek out, conferences I attend).  I also need a concerted effort to solidify and apply what I’m learning.  Appreciative inquiry offers a couple of interesting principles that can guide that effort.  One principle says that we move in the direction of the questions we ask.   Another observes that what we anticipate changes the way we experience our lives. 

So here are a few activities I’m going to try:

> Start the day with a simple question… what do I intend to learn today? 
I think it might be helpful to take a look at the appointments on my calendar and the tasks on my agenda and focus for just a moment on the learning opportunities they embody.  I know I sometimes cross something off the list and regret that I didn’t take that opportunity to try something new, or pay attention to a particular aspect of the process so that I could learn from it.  

> End the day with another simple question… what have I learned?
In my experience, this isn’t always a simple question.  I often marvel how something just worked really well, or fret that something else just missed the mark, but surfacing the rights and wrongs isn’t always easy.  Asking the question is easy, though.  And appreciative inquiry research has shown that asking the question does move us in the right direction.  In addition, there are plenty of obvious lessons to learn in a day and making note of them will help to ensure we take those lessons forward.

> Read more intentionally.
Before starting a book (or after reading the opening chapter that tells me what the book is about), write down one to three things that I hope to learn from reading it, along with noting the situations in which I hope to apply its lessons.  I also want to do a better job of making a deliberate plan to take the learning forward once I’ve finished reading.  Having been subjected to fairly long ruminations on some of my reading (via this blog), you might think I do that all the time.  But I read far more than what I take the time to write about.  And I’m ashamed to say that sometimes writing about it is as far a it gets…  I’m sometimes so intent on opening the next book (so many books, so little time), that I’m not taking enough time to savor each one.  My reading certainly becomes part of my background, but I wonder what would happen if I made it more a part of my foreground as well.

> Engage with others to talk about what I’m learning.
Oh, how I miss my doctoral cohort!  In that world, talking about ideas, sharing interpretations, and pushing the envelope on applying deep thinking is all part of the process.  In the business world, I’m sorry to say, practicality reigns and deep thinking is done in the background before one offers suggestions or makes a case for a new approach.  Business leaders tend to want to cut to the chase (the five key points or action steps that come from the thought leaders) rather than enjoy the full journey.  Don’t get me wrong – I think a lot of people wrestle with ideas and bring their new-found clarity to the table in the business world… but we tend to engage at the level of discussing a plan for achieving a specific goal rather than at the level of sorting out what the ideas mean and how they might be applied even before we have a concrete situation in which to apply them.  I really enjoy ruminating, and I enjoy hearing others talk about their ideas and experiences, but I don’t often take (or make) the opportunity to engage in learning conversations.  I need to do more of that.

I need to recommit to living my department’s motto:  “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”  (Abigail Adams)

Note:  I’ve adapted some of these ideas from an approach offered by Jacqueline Kelm in her book, The Joy of Appreciative Living.  Finding more joy in life is also a noteworthy goal, and I recommend the book if you’re in need of a more joyful outlook on life (and aren’t we all?).

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On being a professor and coach

The late Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture) described the role of professor as being a fitness instructor for the mind.  As I have been considering ways to improve my own skills as an instructor/facilitator and as a mentor/coach, that image haunts me and inspires me.

There are two kinds of fitness instructors.  One kind you just hate.  They’re mean-spirited, demanding the next-to-impossible as if it were easy, and they’re dismissive of your genuine efforts, scoffing that you’re not trying hard enough.  The other kind you love to hate.  They push you, stretch you to your limits without breaking you, cheer you on, build on your strengths.  They tell you, “you can do it.”   They explain technique and tell you why it’s important.  They set demanding but reachable goals, and work with you to achieve them.  They don’t let you get away with slacking off.  It’s not easy working with this kind of fitness instructor, either, but you leave your workouts feeling good about yourself and ready for the next challenge.  As a fitness instructor for the mind, that’s the kind of professor and coach I want to be.

Becoming an effective fitness instructor requires two things:  knowing what it means to be fit, and knowing how to work with people to get them there.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve been clarifying both for my own role as a fitness instructor for the mind.  I’m defining the skills and knowledge base that I want to strengthen, and I’m considering a different method of challenging my students and my colleagues to get there. 

In doing some further reading on 21st century work skills, I’ve come across a starter list of the skills that need to be the focus of our mind fitness exercises.   We should be working to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills; collaboration and influencing skills; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurialism; effective oral and written communication skills; the ability to access and analyze information; and  – best of all – curiosity and imagination.  (List from Tony Wagner.)  These skills can be honed through course assignments and through work-based coaching if we do our jobs well.  I’m also a strong advocate of a scholarly, evidence-based approach to workplace learning, and we can enrich people’s understanding of the theoretical and research base of our field – and why it’s important – as we coach on projects.  In our field, we can focus on designing learning strategy as a core skill as well.  I’ll be continuing to clarify what I think are the critical few areas of focus.

As to how to strengthen the mind without sapping the spirit…  The strengths movement and appreciative inquiry perspective both talk about how to take strengths and leverage them.  Both approaches remind us to ask questions that move us in a positive direction rather than highlight what is wrong and fix it.  I want to develop that approach.  Being able to identify what is missing from a project or an assignment and provide feedback is an important role.  But I’m considering that another way of approaching that role is to spin the feedback around the good that can be found in any effort.  Together with an employee or student, I can ask:  What positive features can we bring forward and expand?  What message is intended and how do we strengthen it?  How is this effort reflective of the characteristics of the ideal, and what changes could we make to have it be more so?  What learning do we want to take from this experience that can be applied in later efforts along these same lines?  I’m hopeful that I can become more encouraging but no less demanding, and I’d welcome any additional suggestions in this effort from fellow fitness instructors of the mind.

I see the role of professor/mentor as an important responsibility and opportunity.  Teachers and coaches can have a tremendous impact on the people around them – either for good or for ill.  It’s well worth considering how to be among the best in these roles, and it’s one of my personal commitments for 2009 to become more fit myself in this area.

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