Blog

How Does Your BALANCE WHEEL Measure Up?

WELLBEING TIP 1.

Imagine that the wheel below is, in fact, a life raft. The idea is to keep air in all six compartments because if any one were to get spiked and lose its air, the other five would keep you floating.

If, on the other hand, you had all the air in one compartment only – like ‘work’ – and that compartment got punctured, you and your life raft would rapidly deflate and sink.

A great way to check your \’spread of air\’ is to place this symbol of the life raft into your calendar dates for the next two weeks, with the aim each day of ticking the spokes where you did something deliberately to inflate the air.… Read more

Masters in Manipulation

If you are a Trainer, then here’s a title to add to your resume you may not have heard of before.  As a Trainer, you are, in effect, a ‘Master Manipulator’; because in Training, manipulation is the name of the game for effective knowledge transfer.

Have you ever wondered why some people just seem to ‘get it’, and others just don’t? Take, for example, Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The former just observed everything almost unconsciously, while the latter barely kept up with the astute observations from his colleague. 

Have you ever noticed that some people know their material, but can’t seem to be able to articulate it well, and the more they try to do so, the more confused them seem to become? … Read more

Five big mistakes made in Learning design

1. TRAINING TO ‘TICK THE BOX’– It’s Boring! It’s been done before and is just for Paperwork’s sake.

Too many times Trainers focus on the features and technicalities of the training rather than the benefits – what the training will do for the trainee.  How will true mastery of these techniques benefit the participants in their own personal lives? Trainers need to focus on the WIIFM being \”What\’s In It For THEM\”?  How will knowing this information and acting on it benefit them in their lives?
So….Keep it real!

2. TELL THEM AND TELL THEM AGAIN, and then tell them what you have told them until they get it.

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Get them doing

A great learning design rule for brain friendly learning is to spend 30% of the time on giving out information and 70% of the time on the learner doing something with that information.

This often goes right against the grain of what we have done in the past and what is asked of us. We usually have so much information to load into the time allocated it seems impossible to allocate time for them to “DO”.  Yet it is in the doing that neuro-pathways are cemented and this is how learning happens.

Eighty percent of our brain’s Neurons are pattern finding neurons that seek to make meaning.… Read more

You’re ready to TEACH but are they ready to LEARN?

“Get ‘em early and Get ‘em interested”

You may have learners physically present at your learning event, however, it’s vital that you get them mentally present and ready to learn as well.

If you want to be a great learning developer, it is your role to give your learners a positive learning experience to reignite their passion for learning. If you have them in a mentally ‘excited and engaged’ state whilst taking in information, then the learning sticks in the brain for long term retention, retrieval and action.

A trainer’s role is to embed information in the most effective way possible for the brain to absorb easily.… Read more

Un-tapping the Potential of the Learner’s Brain

Impact is CREATED.  It doesn\’t ‘just happen’.

Learning is a natural, inquisitive state, which everyone has naturally engaged in from the moment they were born. It is inbuilt and instinctual. Unfortunately, workplace Learning is not always designed to tap into this natural inquisitiveness, but rather seen as time-consuming, compliance-driven and a ‘tick and flick’, legal process.  This can be boring and non-productive. Real behavioural change can run a poor second to administrative concerns and ‘ticking the box’.

When a learning program is designed with the Brain in mind, it is easy to stimulate this natural inquisitive state, even with the most mundane of topics.… Read more