'cause the meat has grain

I was just thinking about the Wendy's training videos I watched as a peon there. One of the few places where the training videos weren't referred to with a "we don't do it that way here."

There was this absolutely horrendous rap song about working grill:

Lay it down like you know you should
'cause the meat has grain, just like wood

Completely awful. But I still remember it.

That's what poetry is for: memory. It's why all of the important legends in all cultures are epic songs and poems. (rhythm is for synchronized action, but that's for later.) Because poetry has such specific rules, you can fill in blanks by using the cues from the lines you do know. For example,

America, the beautiful (something, something) (something -ood) with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

Sea. Hmm. Thee. God grant his grace to THEE. And from thy (-ood, I don't know)

Hmm. Amber waves of grain. (Amber and purple - mountain tops) And purple mountain's majesty, across the fruited plain. America, America. God shed his grace on thee. And crown thy good with Brotherhood from sea to shining see.

What comes before Amber? And is there something: until we see thee rise or still we see thee rise? And skies? (see lyrics here)

Anyway, a lot better than I can do with the Declaration of Independence.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary (to form a more perfect union?, I don't know.)

There's nothing left to give me clues.

Oww. It looks like I'm confusing the Declaration of Independence with the Gettysburg Address. Both of them moving, beautiful documents. That I can't remember.

I can even remember a Russian children's choosing rhyme. Aughti Gaughti Shlee Soldati. (forgive the spelling. I'm probably not even pronouncing it right). But I can remember it's something about a soldier. And soldier is Soldat in Russian. There's more of it, but all I have is the first line.

Enough of that. I hope I've embarrassed myself sufficiently to make my point.

Unfortunately, songs and poems are really hokey in the context of training. Even if you have your students create the lyrics. I wish there was an effective, non-hokey way to use this incredibly effective mnemonic.

Input - Output - Impact

1/25/06

Let's define task and step. Task: completing a series of steps to achieve a desired result. Step: recognizing and responding to an identifiable pattern (or discriminating between patterns) to partially fulfill the requirements of a step.

Let's take it one step further and define pattern. Pattern: a stimulus; a recognizable state of the world, a schema, which dictates a specific range of behaviors.

1/21/06

Of course. Training is a recognition of pattern, a decision and an action. Why must I come back to this time and again? Too simple?

Higher level intellectual skills: synthesis. Based on previously known patterns, posit a new one and act correctly.

Physical learning: nerve level decisions, practiced actions.

Attitudes: based on pattern make choice/decision between two or more options and act accordingly.

Theory: a description of larger pattern, allowing recognition of unknown variations in pattern. Harder to learn because less concrete. Is current pattern a variation of known patterns, or new pattern?

Brain level - schema, if you believe in them - network associations between pattern and decision - practice. Bob Bodine.

Actionable information is practicable. That's why people have little time for information they don't see as relevant. Limited opportunity for practicing associations.

That's why stories are effective: vivid patterns. Talking heads less so - hard to "see" from blather. Pictures, metaphors. Psychology study: caricatures make people more easily recognized than snapshots. Patterns highlighted for novice. How to caricature abstracts? Cartoons. Metaphors.

Best use of expert: display pattern. Expert talks his/her way through pattern recognition/decision points. What you don't need to notice. If recognition/decision extrinsic enough to be aware on conscious level. "Clean Trucks and Dirty Trucks"

Designers ask niggly questions to ferret out recognition/decisions. "Why did you do that?" "Why is this important?"

Pare away all information that doesn't support recognition/decision/action. All good designers do consciously or unconsciously. That's what it looks like when we "get it."

11/9/05

I'm not sure whether this is right or not but, when writing performance objectives, I've changed my focus from a specific language to a mindset. I focus on the Input, the Output and the Impact. The performance, the action that takes the input to produce the output, is the content of the training.

The Input is the signal for performance. The document that needs to be completed, the information that needs to be acted upon, the object that needs to be manipulated. It is whatever needs to be processed. Learners need to be able recognize the Input.

The Output is the deliverable. It is the correctly completed document, the best possible action, the perfected doohickey. It is the purpose of the performance.

The Impact is explains the importance of the output. What does a correctly completed document do for the organization, how does the action help the learner, what value is the doohickey? It is the ROI.

I've found that focusing on these elements helps me clarify the training and feed directly in to learning objectives. To do this, I start with the output. What output is required from the process? If there isn't an output, then the training is irrelevant. This answer is most often given for information. I'll be told, "This is background knowledge that the students just need to know." My response is a nicer version of: "If they don't need to do anything with it, they don't need to know it.

Usually, "background knowledge" is laziness on the part of the SME or the designer. It is used in some way: participants need to use the language to build credibility; they need to recognize scenarios or terms in order to find relevant information: there is something that needs to happen with the information. As an aside, I've frequently found that items that "just need to be in there" really are important. The issue is that nobody has taken the time to clarify why they are important.

The output also defines the test items. It's what right looks like.

After pinning down output, I look at input. What signals the learner to perform the process? The most beautiful performance in the world is useless unless the learner knows when it's appropriate to perform it. Inputs can be anything: When Accounting sends over form B-93, when the customer approaches the register, on the third beat, if any of these three documents are missing, when your prospect raises an objection, when the whatzit comes down the assembly line. Something always signals the need for the performance, unless it's supposed to be done completely randomly.

Lastly, I define the impact. Impact is downstream from the learner. It's what happens if the performance is done correctly or if it is done incorrectly. Sales are increased, marketing can do their job more accurately, or scrap is reduced. Once again, no impact: no need for training. This helps define WIIFMs and can help 4^th level testing.

To provide an example of what my performance objectives look like after completing these steps:

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Recognize objections

• Increase customer commitment by using the 1,2,3 model to respond to objections

Alternatively, I might leave the impact in my head:

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Recognize objections

• Use the 1,2,3 model to respond to objections

But, I still need to know that the purpose of this objection handling model is to increase customer commitment. Why? Because I'll use that perspective when writing the module and will suggest that as a test element if we ever decide to create a level four test.

Why do I have a navel?

Bill Zipp, a contractor who does workshops for ADP, led my department in an examination of our Strengths as determined by Gallup's Strengthsfinder Index.

This has led to some further self-exploration, especially one exercise: he had us write a short paragraph as a mission statement-type-thing based on our Strengths.

This year, my Strengths are:

Strategic

Input

Learner

Command

Self-Assurance

My mission-y statement was something along the lines of "I'm an 'idea-rat' (referring to a Dilbert cartoon). I am energized by mapping out solutions to problems."

Since I identify myself as a problem-solver, Angela (my newest co-worker) asked why I didn't have Restorative. After all, that's the real "problem-solver" strength. As Gallup puts it:

People strong in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what's wrong and resolving it.

Great question! After some thought, I realized that I really don't care about resolving the problem. I care about figuring out a solution based on my perception of the problem. Now, I do solve the problem because I want to test my solution against the real world to see if it works. But the fun lies in putting together all of the pieces and coming up with a creative solution. Which sounds a whole lot more like strategic:

People strong in the strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

This was also my main impetus as a wannabe Social Psychology researcher.

Which gets us down another whorl in the belly button.

So, today on my nine mile walk (the last really long one for awhile), I started to put this insight together with my values. Which I'm choosing to exemplify by the inspirational material I keep on my desk. Hold my hand as we decend another layer.

One item that I need to locate, but is also one of the most important things I've had, is an IBM(?) advertisement that shows James Watson holding a model of the DNA double helix. He's one of my personal heroes - taking all of the bits and scraps of evidence from the people who came before him and coming up with a simple, elegant solution. Sound familiar?

I also have several quotes:

The wind and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator. - Edward Gibbon

This, to me, means that luck mostly happens to the expert - partly because they're the ones that can recognize it happening.

On my walk, I added on to this with a couple of bon mots of my own, "Some people can recognize an opportunity if it bites them in the ass. Perhaps because they don't realize that's what opportunity mostly feels like: a bite in the ass." And, "When God closes a door, he opens a window. And we know what to call people who go around throwing themselves out of windows."

Good artists borrow, great artists steal. - Pablo Picasso

This to me means that, if you are going to use something of somebody else's (and who doesn't?, as a matter of fact it's encouraged in the profession...) then make it your own.

Be like the bird that, pausing on her flight; Awhile on boughs too slight; Feels them give way beneath her, yet sings; Knowing that she hath wings. - Victor Hugo

This means that I shouldn't accept a situation where I'm not valued. Even if I leave without knowing what I'm going to do next, I'm strong enough to be ok.

Getting Things Done

One of my greatest finds for last year was David Allen's "Getting Things Done." This book provides simple guidelines to help you keep track of everything that you are doing, make good decisions about what you need to be doing now, and avoid procrastination.

Like many other time management books, he has you make lists. But what you do with those lists is a little different. For example, you don't make "to do" lists for that day (that get thrown out the window as you put out fires) and you certainly don't waste time transferring your "to do" items to tomorrow's list. His system gives you the freedom to do things that aren't "A" priorities without dropping the ball on the things that are. And you are better able to remember to do the five things that you need to do on the internet when you are at the computer. Best of all, he helps clear out all the mental clutter of the other stuff you need to do, so that you can focus on the task at hand.