What Happened at Nasty Gal? Case Study

Periodically, The Training Doctor releases case studies used in our Teaching Thinking Curriculum.Since we want everyone to improve their thinking skills - not just those who are enabled to do so through their employer-sponsored training - we offer these case studies for use in your personal development, corporate or higher ed classrooms.

In the Nasty Gal case study, you'll be able to discuss and dissect business

• Risk

• Leadership

• Finance

• Market forces

 and individual

• Self management

• Decision making

 In just 6 short years, Nasty Gal went from being declared the "fastest growing retailer" (by Inc. Magazine) to filing for bankruptcy. What happened? Did the company grow too fast? Did it take too many risks? Was its founder and leader a creative - not corporate - type? Read the case study and decide for yourself..

Why the Ice Bucket Challenge is a Great Example of a Lack of Thinking Skills - but an awesome fundraiser!

Do you remember the "ice bucket challenge" of a few years ago? It was a fundraiser of the ALS Association. ALS is also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.

In case you are not familiar - the challenge was to dump a bucket of ice water over your head (or have someone do it for you) OR make a donation to the ALS Association.

One of our colleagues uses his Ice Bucket Challenge experience to illustrate the lack of thinking skills prevalent in society: His children challenged him, via social media, to take the challenge.  Seeing the bigger picture, and not really wishing to be drenched in ice cold water, AND due to the fact that he had had a family member die of ALS, he chose option B - making a donation to the ALS Association. His children (who were adults, by the way) were FURIOUS that he didn't "do it."  He explained to each of them that the challenge offered two options and that he actually made a bigger impact by making a donation to the cause rather than just a silly video. No matter. To this day they rib him about not being brave enough to take the ice bucket challenge.

What thinking skills do you see as lacking in this scenario? Here's what we see:

• Inability to see the "big picture"

• Not understanding the purpose of a request - but going along with it anyway

• Group think

• Choosing to ignore facts that don't "suit" you

• Not asking about or looking for alternate "solutions"

• Not looking for (or understanding) long-term ramifications

When working with your learners - the above bullets can be used as great discussion starters for any topic. Just pause. Look at the big picture. Seek alternatives. Think individually. Is this a solution for "right now" or more long term? What are the options? What is the best option?

= = = = = = =

Facts about the Ice Bucket Challenge

• 17 million people doused themselves with cold water; 2.4 million people posted videos of themselves on Facebook

• 2.5 million people donated money to the cause during the challenge; close to 1 million made no subsequent donations

• $115 million dollars was donated to the ALS Association in 8 weeks!

• The year prior to the ice bucket challenge the ALS Association received $19.4 million in donations

• People who chose the ice water over a donation were referred to as "slacktivists" or arm-chair activists

• The success of the ice bucket challenge caused the Muscular Dystrophy Association to end its annual telethon fundraiser citing its need to "rethink how it connects with the public"

• One death was attributed to the challenge

• The Ice Bucket Challenge has become an annual "event" held in Aug - so get your video camera's ready (or, preferably, your checkbooks)

How to Build a Better Leader

While we often repeat Malcolm Gladwell's premise, in Outliers, that it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at something, we rarely apply that idea to soft skills - like leadership. And that is quite possibly why we have such a tough time cultivating leaders in our organizations.

Joshua Spodek, author of the bestselling Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow likens leadership skills to athletic or acting skills. You must participate, you must start small and perfect different aspects of the craft, you must put yourself in situations beyond your comfort zone to really explore and understand your capabilities. You aren't simply "gifted" the title (or skill) of leader.

Tom Brady recently led his team to a 5th Super Bowl win. But he didn't join the Patriots as a leader. In fact, he was a sixth-round draft pick (the 199th player to be picked!) and, when he joined the team, he was one of four quarterbacks (that's two too many by most NFL team standards). Luckily, Brady was able to hone his skills (both athletic and leadership) while out of the spotlight - the rest is history.

Jennifer Lawrence is the highest paid female actress. It seems as though she just exploded on the scene but in fact she started her "career" in school musicals and church plays. Her first time onscreen was in a supporting role 10 years ago. She's acted in dramas, comedies and sci-fi movies. She has been the lead...and part of an ensemble. She has honed her craft and is viewed as a bankable star in Hollywood. 

How Can We Create Our Own Bankable Stars?

According to Spodek, the first crucial skill to master is self-management. One cannot manage others unless he / she is in command of himself.

Next is communication skills. Spodek rightly points out that people hear what is said - not what is meant. Remember, it's the speaker's responsibility to ensure their message gets across.

The third key development opportunity is our favorite - constantly seek growth. Yes, increasing knowledge and skills in one's industry is a given, but Spodek suggests leaders-in-training should examine and challenge their core beliefs in order to be open to all possibilities.

Finally, Spodek stresses the importance of being comfortable with emotions - both one's own and one's employees. He suggests finding out other's passions in order to lead them in the way they want to be led. Daniel Goleman expresses this same sentiment but refers to it as empathy.

As you can imagine, none of the skills, above, are developed without devoted effort and analysis of what works and what doesn't. A little coaching doesn't hurt either - because it's nearly impossible to say to oneself, "You know what I lack? Self Management." (Thank you, Travis Kalanick, for shining a spotlight on that one.)

Leadership skills should be SOP (standard operating procedure), in terms of training, at all organizations. If your organization doesn't train for these - start today - before you find yourself with no quarterback.

Better Decision Making Through Reducing Bias

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about the word “bias;” usually in the context of unconscious bias as it relates to talent management decisions in the realm of diversity, inclusion, and recruitment. If you Google the phrase “Unconscious Bias + Talent”, you’ll come up with over 150,000 articles and resources in this vein!

But truly, the word bias has no specific implication. It simply means to be prejudiced for or against something, in comparison with something else (I am biased towards white chocolate, for example). Most of us would declare that we are unbiased, thinking that it is the right, or best, state to be in. But truly, there is no way to be unbiased.  A lifetime of experiences, “lessons learned,” and repetitive cause-and-effect relationships have created biases that exist in our unconscious (according to Malcolm Gladwell in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking). Generally we simply aren't aware of our biases.

The Power of Bias

Bias is almost a safety mechanism – with more than 11 million pieces of information coming at us every day, and the brain’s capacity to process only about 50 pieces of information at a time – if we didn’t have mental shortcuts, like bias, we’d never get through the day. In fact, unconscious processing in the brain governs the majority of important decisions we make. “What this means is that because we have brains, essentially we are all biased” (Andrea Choate, SHRM’s Neuroleadership Lessons: Recognizing and Mitigating Unconscious Bias in the Workplace).

Neither good nor bad, the brain is simply hardwired toward this tendency.

The Bias Impairment

Unfortunately, the brain is unable to make a decision while simultaneously noticing whether it is a biased decision. This can be risky both for individuals and for our organizations. Since we aren’t able to “see” bias – either in ourselves or in others – it’s imperative that we work proactively to raise awareness of bias and take action to mitigate it so that our employees are making the most fully informed and well-reasoned decisions possible.

Typical Bias in Decision Making

There are various forms of bias in the workplace – in relation to decision making. It’s possible you’ll recognize yourself in one or more of these examples (just by writing this article I’ve recognized a sunk cost bias – coupled with groupthink – that has been plaguing a non-profit board on which I sit).

Status Quo – Are you familiar with the Irish proverb: Better the devil you know than the devil you don't? That is the essence of a status quo bias. In other words, you’ll make a decision based on what has worked in the past rather than taking the time to evaluate if “business as usual” is still working.

Sunk Cost – The sunk cost bias causes us to throw more money and more resources at a lost cause because “we’ve put so much in to it so far,” rather than accepting that things are not working. Remember New Coke? Coca-Cola did NOT suffer from sunk cost bias. They did an immediate about-face to recapture customer loyalty and market share.

Confirmation – Confirmation bias causes us to seek out information or evidence that confirms what we already believe (and, conversely, to discount information that is not congruent). This might be demonstrated in performance reviews: Charles stays past closing two or three times a week and often comes in on Saturday – clearly he is a stellar performer. (Or, is it possible, Charles is in over his head and needs the extra time to keep up?) (See cartoon at the end of this post.)

Group Think – The Challenger Disaster has been widely attributed to group think bias – when we try to fit in to a particular group by mimicking their behavior or holding back on sharing thoughts that are counter to what the group is leaning towards.

Anchoring – We have the tendency to rely on the first piece of information available rather than seeking out and fully evaluating multiple sources of information. Many people who are promoted because they were “smart” or “the best” have a hard time delegating for this reason (no one can possibly do this as well as I can). Credit card companies use an anchor by identifying the “minimum payment” clearly rather than the total debt. The minimum payment makes the consumer think, “That’s not so bad.”

Ethics –Everyone thinks they behave ethically. Yale psychologist David Armor calls this “the illusion of objectivity.” Because I have made the decision, of course it is ethical. Think about the recent VW or Wells Fargo scandals. We have to presume the offenders didn’t say “This is a very bad decision, but I’m going to make it anyway.”

So How Do We Overcome Bias?

Like any problem – the first step is admitting that you have a problem. Awareness of bias is key in being able to identify and counter it in our decision making. Although, as stated at the beginning of the article, the ability to make “snap” decisions based on our past experiences and lessons learned is crucial, it’s also wise to pause and assess:

• Do I have all the information? Is there better (or different) data I could gather?

• What would someone else do in this situation (ask for differing perspectives)?

• Is our workplace a safe place to “call out others” on what might be driving their decisions? A phrase as simple as “How did you arrive at that decision?” is often a powerful reminder to evaluate what contributes to one’s decision making.

• What would be the “opposite” of what everyone else is doing - and does it have merit?

When people are mindful of their biases they make wiser, more ethical decisions and can confidently explain their decisions to others. Awareness of bias is something that requires constant attention and vigilance – much like eating right or ensuring your car is in good repair. It is not a “one and done” activity. Ultimately awareness of, and vigilance in counter-balancing, bias results in better thinking, behavior, decision making and organizational practices. 

If Colleges Don't Teach Thinking - Who Will (us)

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of 200 nonpublic colleges: Many Colleges Fail to Improve Critical-Thinking Skills

At The Training Doctor, sadly, we are not surprised. It's why we have an entire curriculum dedicated to teaching thinking skills.

Here are a couple of highlights (lowlights?) found in the WSJ analysis :

• At more than half of schools, at least a third of seniors were unable to make a cohesive argument, assess the quality of evidence in a document or interpret data in a table

• Test results indicate the average graduate shows little or no improvement in critical thinking over four years

• Some academic experts, education researchers and employers say the Journal's findings are a sign of the failure of America's higher-education system to arm graduates with analytical reasoning and problem-solving skills needed to thrive in a fast-changing, increasingly global job market

You can see the full article here.

And we can help you to overcome this problem – if your incoming employees are suffering from an education that hasn’t actually educated them - by clicking here. At The Training Doctor, we teach thinking skills.

Why Thinking Skills Have Disappeared in the Last 50 Years

It seems that for the last 5 or more years, anytime you pick up a training magazine, HR journal or even a general publication like USA Today, you're going to find an article about the "skills gap." In fact, a recent Google Scholar search revealed that there were 118,000 articles written with "skills gap" in the title between 2012 and 2016 alone!

Young college graduates lament that they are unable to find positions. Companies lament that they are unable to find people with "entry level skills."  What has caused this sudden lack of capability?  Well, frankly, it's not sudden. It has been building for decades. And all our learning institutions are to blame.

The Scranton Bubble

Back in the 1960's, something called the "Scranton bubble test" was debuted. It was revolutionary! It was going to make educator's lives a lot easier. No more tedious grading of papers and individual answers. Simply have the learners fill out a "bubble form" (think your SATs) and feed the form in to the machine to find out the learner's score. What could be more efficient?

Yes, it was efficient administratively. But it started the fall of thinking skills. Now, every question or problem could be reduced to one right answer. Elementary education began to constrict people's abilities to "think bigger."

Higher Ed - Lower Standards

A few decades later, Higher Ed contributed to the downfall of thinking skills. College and graduate school used to be the time and place for more philosophical thinking. It wasn't as important to arrive at an answer as it was to contemplate all the possible answers. Professors almost always had a Ph.D. (a degree in philosophy) and pushed learners to think more deeply about topics and to extrapolate their thoughts to the world at large.

Thanks to the recession of the early 1990's, higher ed needed to find more bodies to pay tuition. Entry requirements were lowered. As enrollment rose, professors with lower levels of education were hired to teach. Since the learners had been looking for "one right answer" for a few decades at this point, the learner's capacity to think broadly was diminished. This confluence of factors contributed to the standards of higher education to be lowered. (A college in our area recently announced that the SAT scores of this year's freshmen were the lowest the college had ever seen.)

Corporate Training

Beginning in the late 1990's and early 2000's two things influenced corporate education: A severe reduction in staffing and budgets (which resulted in a reduction of offerings), and eLearning. eLearning, much like the Scranton bubble, was going to make educating workers much more efficient. Create the learning once and it was done. It could be delivered to hundreds, nay thousands, of people. It eliminated bringing people together (although we all know that people learn best when they work collaboratively with others), having to hire and train facilitators, having to set up facilities and arrange travel, etc. It efficiently reached many, many more people and you were sure of the "quality" because each person got the exact same training.

The problem with eLearning is that it leads people down one path. There is a linear delivery of information. And at the end there is usually a multiple-choice, knowledge check (similar to a bubble test).  Not until very recently, with the introduction of gaming / branching and simulations has eLearning allowed the learner to put him / her self in to the learning process. eLearning was nothing more than a colorful, pre-recorded lecture.

These are very high-level looks at the factors that have contributed to a demise of thinking skills in the U.S. I am sure you can think of counter-points and arguments to each of them (and I would encourage you to do so! because then you'll be applying critical thought to the content), but generally speaking, the "cause" goes back many decades and each misstep has contributed to a generation that does not think critically, looks for one right answer, believes there is only one right answer and is happy to have found it, when they do. Mission accomplished

A "Gut Feeling" or Intelligence?

The Power of Intuition

Malcolm Gladwell's Blink has been out for over a decade now, but it remains an engaging look at how we make decisions seemingly in the "blink of an eye."

Intuition is defined as the "ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning." In reality, intuition is the product of a lifetime of experiences and knowledge. You intuitively know that sitting on a ledge or railing is risky - a toddler does not. You intuitively know that rolling your current car loan in to your next car loan can't be a sound financial strategy - a young college graduate with his / her heart set on a flashy new car does not. Gerd Gigerenzer, a German social psychologist, calls this "the intelligence of the unconscious," (also the name of his most recent book.)

In some ways intuition flies in the face of what we've been taught in school for 12+ years - look at the facts, weigh the options, choose wisely and deliberately. Decision making is often thought of as a "well reasoned" approach. Gigerenzer says that in many instances this is over-analysis and too slow.  Gladwell says the trick to intuition is not to amass information but instead to discard it; essentially, to know when more information does not help the decision-making process.

There are many processes which are based on a "gut feeling" - scientific research, homicide investigations, and stock picking to name a few. Are these professionals making irrational decisions? No. They have honed their years of experience and knowledge to the point where they instinctively know the path to pursue.

According to Gladwell, just as we are able to teach ourselves to think logically and deliberately, so too we can teach ourselves to make better snap decisions. So how do we develop this split-second intelligence? Well, like most ways in which we teach thinking, it isn't easy and it isn't quick. 

One way is to ask people to analyze and verbalize their learning after an event. What went well? What went poorly? Could you have changed the outcome? What variables played a role? Is there a way to make them less variable in the future? And more. Asking people to consciously process what they have learned is very helpful in developing intuition. As people become more adept at this processing, they can begin to contemplate these questions in parallel (rather than sequentially) or in-the-moment, rather than after the fact.

One reason to teach intuitive thinking is the highly complex world in which we live, today. It is impossible to consider all the information or options before us. Things are changing all the time, there are often contradictions and ambiguity. Having experience to guide us helps us make better decisions in the "blink of an eye."

Albert Einstein said, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

We can help your people develop their gifts. Give us a call to find out how or learn more here.

Announcing our Teaching Thinking Curriculum

March 23, 2017, Charleston, SC

We are excited and proud to debut our Teaching Thinking Curriculum!

The curriculum is designed to accelerate the development of employee business-skills and is fully customized to achieve an organization’s vision and goals.“

“In a knowledge economy, such as is found in the U.S., we pay people to think, solve problems and make critical decisions; yet those skills are often glaringly lacking within organizations. In just the past year we’ve seen two very high-profile examples in VW and Wells Fargo,” says Managing Consultant, Dr. Nanette Miner.

Through a structured process of learning events, on-the-job assignments, personal assessments and coaching, the Teaching Thinking Curriculum helps employees master a wide variety of business-critical skills such as decision making, working in teams, assessing risk, managing projects, leadership and more.

“The curriculum is designed to accomplish in three-years what would normally take someone 20 or 30 years of work experience to learn and master. The goal is to have a more highly-functioning, productive, ethical organization through increasing the skills of all workers,” says Miner.

The company will begin offering its Teaching Thinking Curriculum beginning in April.

You can learn more about it here.

Now You See It... Now You GET It - The Power of Visuals in Learning

First, some important factoids regarding our vision:

• Vision is the hardest working process in our bodies

• Vision takes up 30% of the brain's processing capabilities

• Neuroscientists know more about our vison than any other sensory system in our body

• We don't see with our eyes, we see with our brains

As important as vision is for survival (is that a saber toothed tiger I see charging toward me?) it also trumps all our other senses when it comes to learning, interpreting and understanding the world around us. Vision is probably the best single tool we have for learning anything, so says John Medina author of Brain Rules (check it out at www.brainrules.net).

One of the reasons that vision (and thereby the use of visuals) is so powerful is because something that we see is easy to label, identify, categorize and recall later. What's the circular thing with buckets that twirls at the carnival? Oh right. A Ferris Wheel.

Visual input is so important, neuroscience has given it a fancy title: Pictorial Superiority Effect (or PSE). In one experiment, test subjects were shown 2,500 pictures for 10 seconds each. Several days after the exposure to the pictures, the subjects were able to recall 90% of the pictures. The same type of experiment, utilizing words, fell to an abysmal 10% recall three-days after exposure. But the RIGHT words can help learners create visuals.

Words Create Pictures

The very tall man folded his body, in order to fit in to the sports car, then sped away.Did you "see" those words in your mind as you read them? Everyone did. And everyone saw a different picture. Very tall is relative. Sports car is generic. But you have a picture in your head related to what you just read. We don't see with our eyes - we see with our brains. You did not physically see the scenario that was described but you have a picture of it in your mind. Amazing.

Pictures Create Emotion

Additionally, pictures can evoke emotion, which helps with retention and recall. Think about the image of the Ferris Wheel a few paragraphs back. You pictured a Ferris Wheel in order to help you recall it's name, didn't you? Many of you also remembered experiencing a Ferris Wheel in some way - either the glee (or terror) of riding it, looking up at it all colorful and bright, or being at the carnival - with the smells and sounds - where you encountered it. You have a vivid memory of a Ferris Wheel. That memory is defined in a picture.

Important Ways to Incorporate Visuals in Learning

Because using visuals is so crucial to understanding and remembering, it is imperative that we give just as much thought to the visuals we use in training, as to the content we are creating. Here are some ways you can utilize visuals in your training:

Slides / Photos - include pictures - especially photos - especially photos of people - on your slides. Photos are more realistic than graphics or clip art and therefore more engaging to the brain. Photos of people are especially memorable. We like to see people "just like us."

Physical objects - whenever possible, include a real representation of the visual. Sometimes you'll have to stretch to make it work - but the stretch will be worth it because it will sear the message in to the learner's brain. More than 2 decades ago I attended a presentation given by a man. I have no idea who he was. I have no idea what his topic was. I DO remember that we were in a hotel meeting room (visual) and I DO remember that he said "Many years ago a computer would fill a room of this size, and now that same computing power can fit in something as small as this little pink packet."  And he held up an artificial sugar packet.  The room was large; the little pink packet was hard to see. It's a bit of a stretch from computer processing power to sugar packet... but the image (and the point he was making) has remained for decades. That's powerful.

Mental imagery - sometimes it's just impossible to find a photo or physical object to represent your message. Perhaps you are teaching virtually and there is no way to show the physical object (or the object is too big, or too small, or doesn't actually exist yet).  Instead you can help learners to create a visual in their "mind's eye."  (Definition: To see something in one's visual memory or imagination. Bet you always wondered what that phrase meant. Now you know. The first known use of the term dates back to Chaucer, in 1390. By the time Shakespeare used it in Hamlet, the phrase had been around for over 200 years! )

In Medina's book, Brain Rules (see link above), he talks about DNA and how long and complex it is. He says fitting a strand of DNA in to the nucleus of our cells is like trying to stuff 30 miles of fishing line in to a blueberry. IMPOSSIBLE! But memorable.  I may not remember much about DNA in the future, but I will always remember that it is long and complex.

Here is a challenge for you: Go back through the courses you already have and re-evaluate the visuals you are using. Can you add visuals to slides? Can you associate the content with physical objects? Can you make an analogy or tell a story that causes the learner to create a mental image in his "mind's eye?"  If you can - I guarantee - recall and comprehension will increase.  You will also see test scores go up. Your learners will become brilliant - thanks to you (and visuals).

Updated May 15, 2017: Nelson Dellis, the USA Memory Champ, was recently a guest on Lewis Howes' podcast, discussing how he can easily remember things. One of his tricks is to make abstract things - such as numbers - in to visuals that are easier to remember.  For instance, the number 32 is Charlie Brown and the number 95 is Tom Brady.  Associating those images with others helps him to combine numbers more easily - so Homer Simpson fighting a sword battle becomes a 4 digit number . This type of visualization technique earned him the record for the longest string of numbers committed to memory - 201. If you have an hour, listen to the podcast and learn about the power of Mind Palaces as a visualization / memorization technique as well. 

Want to test your cognitive abilities?

TestMyBrain is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to collaborating with citizen scientists throughout the world by providing measurement tools that allow people to engage in science and learn about themselves.  Currently the organization has tested over 1.5 million individuals in over 240 countries / territories. 

Recent findings have identified that our cognitive abilities change as we age - and can tell you when you'll be the smartest.

If you'd like to participate, you'll not only be advancing research but you'll receive personalized feedback too (you'll see how you compare to the "average" person) !Tests change frequently, depending on the research being conducted and, sometimes, as the tests are being refined, the test itself may change from one day to the next.

Currently the website has tests for facial recognition, the ability to concentrate for periods of time and multiple memory types, among others.  Begin testing YOUR brain today at: www.TestMyBrain.org

Note: this research was started by Harvard University but is now supported and managed by the nonprofit Many Brains Project, the Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Health Technology at McLean Hospital & Harvard Medical School, and the Human Variation Lab at Wellesley College.

Teaching Thinking Through Synthesis

Synthesis

According to Bloom's Taxonomy   Synthesis refers to the ability to put parts together to form a new whole. This may involve the production of a unique communication (theme or speech), a plan of operations (research proposal), or a set of abstract relations (scheme for classifying information). Learning outcomes in this area stress creative behaviors, with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns and structures. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, one definition of synthesis can be:

a combination of thesis and antithesis into a higher stage of truth

What do these definitions mean for us in the training department? How can we teach thinking through synthesis? Here are a few ideas:

• In relation to Bloom's definition - ask your learners to read a case study, whitepaper or even an article on a topic and then distill it down to (options:) the most important idea, the most critical sentence, a sentence of their own making, three key words.  If you are working with a group of trainees, give each of these assignments to different individuals or small-groups and then compare and contrast their responses.  This process requires people to truly think about the content and how to express that content in a way that is easy to remember and agreed upon by all.

• In relation to Merriam Webster's definition - have learners read two opposing articles, whitepapers, etc. and then come up with a new, balanced viewpoint or stance.  Rarely are ideas completely opposed, so working with the ideas to identify their common ground is very useful in having a well-rounded understanding of a topic.

Interview with Karl Kapp re: Gamification

hardbackcoverlaying

kapp_book_image

What inspired you to write this book? T

wo things compelled me to write the book. The first is that I had been working on the concept of "gamification" before I even knew the word. I was/am a big video game fan and wanted to try to bring game concepts into the learning I was designing. I had started to do that but never had a word for it. Then, one day, I saw the word gamification and I said "that's it, that's what I've been trying to do." So I started researching the concept and learning more and more about it.

However, so many people, in my opinion, were getting gamification wrong. People were focused on the least exciting elements of games (points, badges and leaderboards) and they were focused only on making learning fun.

So the second reason I wrote the book was to try to provide research-based explanations and techniques of why gamification should be about engagement and not about "fun."  I always say, "if you want someone to have fun...give them the day off." If you want them to learn, create engaging instruction. 

If you could distill your message down to just one - what would it be? 

Gamification is about engagement. The elements from games that make them engaging and interesting are the elements we should use in gamification of learning and instruction. We should not take a superficial dive into gamification, we need to really explore the elements of games that lead to engagement and learning. And, if I could sneak one more message in here it would be that gamification is based on research-backed principles. The ideas of learner motivation, spaced practice and spaced retrieval used in gamification have been shown to lead to positive learning outcomes. It's not bells and whistles, it's based on sound scientific methodology.

How would a learning professional best use your book?

 I've written two books about gamification. One has a white cover (Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education) and one has a black cover (Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice).

The book with the white cover is designed to describe why gamification is effective, to highlight the research behind gamification and to explain how to match instructional content to certain types of games. It is more on the theory and justification of gamification.

The book with the black cover, the field book, is more about the implementation, it explains how to design interactive learning with gamification, games and simulations. It's the "how to book." 

Do you have a personal motto related to the book?

My motto is to help people understand the convergence of learning, technology, games and gamification through engagement, fun, laughter and insight. 

Bio

Karl M. Kapp, Professor of Instructional Technology, Bloomsburg University, Lynda.com author and author of six books including the Gamification of Learning series. 

Writing Learning Objectives

Here is a useful article on Learning Objectives.  It will help those who have to write them as well as those who wonder why training takes so long to develop.

The authors use a 5 concentric-circles view with the outer ring being the organizational objectives, and then subsequent circles being roles needed to fulfill the organizational objective, competencies and skills, and knowledge needed by those roles, and finally the learning objective itself.

VERY helpful in understanding how everything is intertwined. 

The Limits of Working Memory and Training Effectiveness

learning

In this fascinating blog post from Patti Shank on the ATD site, she discusses the reasons we can't have a one-size-fits-all approach to training.

Aside from the typical learning styles excuse, Patti explores an interesting point related to neuroscience: knowledge and experience dictates the way we can present the content and further impacts the way the learner is able to work with it.

The crux of the difference is working memory vs. long term memory. When newbies are learning a topic, everything they "know" is in working memory - and they are paddling madly to keep processing and applying that information to the learning process. But when a more knowledgeable or more experienced employee has long-term memory associated with a topic, we can work with that topic in deeper and more meaningful ways for the learner.

This chart is an excellent comparison of working memory approaches to training vs. long term memory approaches.  This chart may cause you to rethink your training designs altogether.

How will YOU reinforce the learning, once the training is over?

Exit

The Training Doctor was once shown the door at a client site when our response to the question: How are you going to reinforce this learning once the training is over? was... "That's not our job, that's your manager's jobs."

It was an eye-opening experience to realize that a company requesting training didn't feel responsible for ensuring the training would work or benefit the organization.So before you design or develop any training program, be sure to ask your potential client (external or internal): How will this new knowledge or skill be reinforced on-the-job once the training is over?I

t is important for a business / business unit to take responsibility for the training's success. There is only so much an external consultant or even an internal trainer can do to ensure that people are allowed to practice and master their new skills on-the-job once they leave the training.An extra service you might provide to your client is to create a list of options / ideas to reinforce the training. For instance:

• They might schedule a weekly brown bag lunch check-in at which the newly trained employees could bring up new questions or share tips and tricks that they had learned since the end of the training and the practical application began. As trainers we know that it is not possible to teach everything in a training class and often the learners will discover short-cuts or other methods of working as they've had time to implement their new skills on-the-job; it would be helpful for everyone to know about the short-cuts rather than requiring each individual to figure it out on their own.

• The training department might send out a series of emails which would reinforce some of the key points of the training. For instance, following a coaching class, a series of weekly emails might reinforce each step in the coaching process, such as Week 1: Remember to ask the employee how things are going from their perspective; Week 2: Probe and ask additional questions based on the answer(s) you got to the How is it going query.  Week 3: Praise the things the employee has been doing right since your last coaching conversation, etc.

• Suggest a follow-up check-in two to three weeks after the training (allowing time to practice on-the-job).  At this follow up meeting the trainer would be available to answer questions or provide reinforcement of the key concepts.

• Many times managers do not realize that their employees do not come back "fixed" after the initial training, and don't realize that they have to allow for time for practice on-the-job, so a simple suggested schedule for managers which identifies the time needed to practice (such as week 1 allow one hour of practice, week two allow 30 minutes of practice, etc. ) might be all that is needed to see success soar. This approach not only reinforces what was learned but gives employees permission to practice on the job, knowing that it is supported by management.

Whether or not you provide the suggested reinforcement techniques, the responsibility for reinforcing the new knowledge and skills lies with the managers. Trainees must be given time and permission to practice their new knowledge and skills until they are more competent than they could have been by simply "being trained."

Interview with Darlene Christopher, author

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The Successful Virtual Classroom by Darlene Christopher

What motivated you to write this book?

I think that delivering training via virtual classrooms offers so much potential to organizations in terms of the ability to scale the delivery of training to dispersed audiences. The books I found on virtual classroom training focused on the "what" of virtual classroom training but I felt there was more to be explored in terms of the "how" so I decided to write about it.

I also included a chapter focused on delivering virtual training to global audiences since globalization is a growing trend affecting many organizations, yet little has been written about it.

If you could distill your message down to just one - what would it be?

Delivering training programs in a virtual classroom requires adjustments in two key areas in order to engage a live online audience: content and facilitation. Adjusting your content and facilitation techniques takes some time, but in return it saves travel time and cost for both the enterprise and learner.

How can trainers use this book to assist them in the work that they do?

The goal of this book is to provide facilitators and other training professionals with the tools and techniques to confidently design and facilitate engaging virtual programs. A supporting framework - the PREP model (plan, rehearse, execute, and post-session review) - is covered in detail.

The book is also filled with tools, checklists, and worksheets-as well as case studies from Oracle, UPS, and more. I aimed to make the book as practical as possible and I hope that training professionals will find the tips, sample exercises and icebreakers and real-world examples directly applicable to their work. 4

Darlene Christopher, Senior Knowledge & Learning Officer. World Bank

Entry Level Employment Skills - What Do Employers Want?

Last month SHRM and the consulting firm Mercer issued a joint report titled EntryLevel Job Applicant Skills.

They assessed 15 skills and attributes employers commonly look for including dependability, communication, creativity, and integrity, to name a few. The top "vote getters" (skills or attributes deemed most important) were:

• Dependability and Reliability

• Integrity

• Respect

• Teamwork

Interestingly, these are all soft-skills and attributes rather than the hard-skills (communication, problem solving) that many employers are saying candidates are missing at the entry-level. Less than a quarter of the survey respondents said mathematics was a critical entry-level skill.

The #1 tactic suggested for securing entry-level positions was career-related internships. Internships are able to help a potential employer assess the skills bulleted above. Panel interviews are the most widely used interview technique for assessing the desired attributes.

This study / survey has interesting implications for training...

• If candidates lack these attributes... can we train for them?

• Are these attributes prerequisites to skills training or entirely different from them?

Is it a Knowledge Check or a Quiz?

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In the midst of designing a facilitator-led curriculum for a client, we were met with a conundrum: according to our SME(s), one particular class just had to have a quiz at the end.

There were many problems with this idea, including the fact that  none of the other 6 courses in the curriculum ended with a quiz and that the audience was new-hires - so how intimidating would a quiz be?

We finally compromised on a Knowledge Check - that way our SME felt fulfilled (and  we fulfilled compliance requirements) but the learners wouldn't be too intimidated  (we hoped).

What's the difference?

A quiz is used to check for comprehension. Did your attendees learn what you taught? A quiz can come in many forms - you might ask your learners to recognize an answer,  as in the case of a multiple choice text. You might ask them to recall an answer,  as in the case of fill-in-the-blank. Or you may ask them to think of the answer  by giving a "case" and asking: What should you do next? In all cases the results  of the test matter. There is a score (perhaps numeric, perhaps pass/fail). There is a record of that score. And often the scores are compared to one another - resulting in a ranking of some sort.

Alternatively, a knowledge check is more of a review. It's used to determine if  the learners can find the answer. They are often allowed to use their learning materials  (handouts, workbooks, etc.) and potentially to work together. A knowledge check  might be in the form of a game (such as jeopardy) or it might be a solitary activity.  Knowledge checks are often used to help solidify the learning, allow learners to review the content one more time, and enable them to leave the training more confident in what they learned.

A knowledge check is appropriate in all situations; a quiz is only appropriate if  you have to ensure people know the answers before they leave training. There is  some consequence to not knowing the answers (such as performing the job incorrectly),  and you need to prove the "results" of the training.

Who Will Give Their Sign-Off on the final design of the training?

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Who will give their sign-off on the final design of training seems like such an obvious answer that it does not need to be asked, right?

Wrong.

Not asking this  question could result in a lot of wasted time and effort. Just like a needs-analysis,  to determine exactly what type of training would meet the audience's needs, asking  Who will be the final sign-off on the design is a way to ensure that the training you design meets the needs of the organization.

The Training Doctor was once involved in a project for a retail organization: working with the corporate Director of Operations to design training for the stores. The entire training had been designed and developed in close-association with the Director of Operations, who gave her approval. The program was then presented to the vice-president-of-something, who said within the first 5 minutes of seeing the final product: No, No, NO - this is not what I wanted at all!

In order to save yourself and your organization unnecessary frustration as well as lost time and money - whether you work internally or externally - be sure to always ask, Who will have the final sign-off on the training and, ideally, have a conversation with that person at the start of the project in order to understand what the expectations are. Who would have thought that the Director of Operations could have gotten it so wrong?

Teaching Thinking Through Comparison

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One of the best ways to understand or learn something is to relate the new information to something you already know. Most people don't do this naturally, however. They often struggle with understanding new information and resort to memorization rather than working with the material to really understand it and internalize it.

Since most people don't take the time to do this on their own (or don't know how  to), you can assist their learning by designing activities which cause them to focus on this comparison.

One way is to ask them to create an analogy. For instance, How is continuous improvement like a game of golf? Like building a house? Like shopping for a car? Like a basket of fruit?

Another option is to create a story. Assume your learner must learn the inventory  layout in a cooking store. Their story might be about a customer who is throwing  an important dinner party for their boss. What will they need to make it successful?  What would you suggest they buy? Where are those things located in the store?

If you have an on-going curriculum, asking your learners to relate a new topic to  the topics they've already learned is a helpful technique. This type of activity  not only causes them to have to really understand the new material, but to understand  it in a bigger context.

Try any one of these activities in your next training course and see if your learners  don't say, "Oh, now I get it!"