The Learning Revolution has arrived! Brain Friendly Learning…

The Learning Professionals’ Gym are partnering with Kaizen Training http://kaizen-training.com to bring you a fantastic event at an amazing price with partners:

As a Learning Professional would you like to:

Raise the energy and motivation of groups? To add more ‘sizzle’? To transform cynicism to excitement, or anxiety to unstoppable confidence, or low energy to high energy?

Improve the way their learners transfer and apply the learning back in the workplace?

Raise the credibility of training by finding better ways of linking learning to real business results?

Help participants to create truly compelling learning goals that keep them energised and engaged?

Master tools that enable them to design learning experiences more quickly and elegantly?

Take more account of individual learning styles and preferences – in the way they design and deliver training?

Create a learning environment that excites all the senses and stimulates optimum learning?

Understand the implications of the latest neuroscience research into learning?

Rediscover your own passion as a trainer?

Before reading more about what Brain Friendly Learning is here are some of the crucial details:

WHEN? 

7^th / 8^th /9^th September 2011

WHERE? 

Abington Hall Conference Centre, Granta Park, Cambridge – http://www.abingtonhall.co.uk .  Simple accommodation is available on-site at a rate of £84 per night inc breakfast and there are other alternatives nearby.

WHAT DOES IT COST? 

With a normal price of £995 (+VAT) we are pleased to offer the programme to you at £549 (inc VAT)…a fantastic saving!  To take advantage of the lower members price mail us for membership costs on mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk

SO, WHAT IS IT? 

Brain Friendly Learning is: 

Fit for purpose, fast, and fun … …and most important of all….. STICKY!

Recent research demonstrates that less than 10% of what gets learned on most training courses gets applied back in the workplace.

Brain-friendly learning is not about techniques and gimmicks. It is far more than just playing baroque music or playing fun games.  It’s a movement rather than a method. A movement to recover the real joy of  learning – combining substance with sizzle – and helping people become even more outstanding at the work they have chosen to do.

It takes the best from Accelerated Learning, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Emotional Intelligence, and the most recent research findings from Neuroscience. Kaizen have created a unique blend of all this and mixed it together with our quarter of a century’s experience about what works best to maximise learner engagement AND transfer of learning – leading to real, measurable return on your training investment.

Brain Friendly Learning lives the five principles of:

• Making training highly business focussed – keeping it real
• Getting participants into a highly motivated, resourceful state for learning… State is Everything (well….almost!)
• Honouring uniqueness and difference -tailoring training to the individual learning styles of the participants – and
  to the unique culture of your organisation
• Making all our training rich and multi-sensory
• Facilitating the creation of meaning and value – rather than merely the consumption of information

What can you expect from Kaizen’s Brain Friendly Learning Workshop?

As well as experiencing three days of brain friendly learning in action, participants work on a real project – and are coached to
use the principles and techniques to completely design or redesign a learning event.

The 3-day Workshop 

• a chance to experience three action-packed, rich and multisensory days of brain-friendly learning for yourself
• a treasure trove of practical ideas you can apply immediately to your training
• a 100+ page, full colour manual – a complete resource to designing and delivering training the brain-friendly way
• the latest brain research and its implications for trainers and designers
• personal coaching on your own course design
• subscription to our free weekly coaching tips for trainers
• ongoing personal telephone and e-mail coaching on brain-friendly training design

About your Coach: Kimberley Hare

A pioneering visionary for change and learning, her focus is on helping individuals, teams and organisations to create the future they want, and to enjoy the journey. Her passion is to combine Substance and Sizzle to bring brain-friendly learning to life in business.

A master trainer in NLP and an expert in accelerated learning, Kimberley is best known for training trainers in brain-friendly learning methods. She also develops transformational leaders in organisations across the globe. She is the co-author of “51 Tools for Transforming your Training – Bringing Brain-Friendly Learning to Life” published by Gower.

Kimberley is a regular keynote speaker at conferences all over the world, and has published numerous articles on learning, leadership and organisational change.  Kimberley is a CpF (Certified Professional Facilitator) certified by the International
Association of Facilitators.

Kimberley was named as one of six world leaders in Accelerated Learning by the Society of Effective and Affective Learning.

“The Brain Friendly Learning Workshop with Kimberley Hare lived up to its promise -it was, quite simply, the best learning
experience I have ever participated in. Kimberley skillfully and magically created 3 days of pure learning heaven. I would highly recommend this workshop for trainers, facilitators -and anyone passionate about learning”

The Learning Professionals’ Gym are delighted to make this offer available to you look forward to your questions and your involvement.  If you want to know more contact us on mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk

Here are the crucial details again:

WHEN? 

7^th / 8^th /9^th September 2011

WHERE? 

Abington Hall Conference Centre, Granta Park, Cambridge – http://www.abingtonhall.co.uk

WHAT DOES IT COST? 

With a normal price of £995 (+VAT) we are pleased to offer the programme to Learning Professionals’ Gym Members at
£399 (inc VAT) and to Non Members a price of £549 (inc VAT).   To take advantage of the lower members price mail us for membership costs on mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk

Our next Workout: 18.3.11…………..be there!

AGENDA

FRIDAY 18^th March

9.45am-1pm

 St Johns Innovation Centre

http://www.stjohns.co.uk/contact/location-map/ 

09.45	Breakfast and networking
10.00	Outline of the morning
10.05	Action Learning:What is it? When is it helpful? What are the benefits?A session run by Liz to help you understand why you should get involved in an LPGym Action Learning Set
10.35	Getting your Business to Six FiguresA business development session run by LPGym member, Wendy Howard http://www.spiritofvenus.co.uk.
11.15	Break
11.30	Brain Friendly LearningA session by Kimberley Hare of Kaizen Training Ltd http://www.kaizen-training.com   explaining the concept of Brain Friendly Learning and hopefully whetting your appetite for an opportunity to train through the LPGym in Brain Friendly Learning in the Autumn.
12.30	More Networking, this time a little more in-depth!
12.50 1pm	Wrap-upFarewells!

the next Workout: 19.11.10

Sue and I are gearing up for the next Learning Professionals’ Gym Workout.  Here is the agenda to whet your appetite.

Join us for a fab blend of personal, professional and business development.  The cost on the day to members is £25 and to non-members is £30

AGENDA

FRIDAY 19^TH NOVEMBER

10am-1pm

 The Missing Sock

Stow-cum-Quy

www.themissingsock.co.uk 

10.00	Breakfast and networking
10.20	Outline of the morning
10.30	Precision Thinking for Confident OutcomesA session run by one of our first members, Kate Atkin  http://www.aspire-2.com/
11.15	Myers Briggs Type Indicator or Action Learning?You have a choice of two 20min sessions to learn more about either MBTI or Action Learning both of which are a membership benefit to those who want them. These sessions are run by Sue and Liz
11.35	Break and networking
11.50	Bricks’n Clicks – Effective Websites for Real World Businesses:An enlightening session run by Bruce Bird, Internet Business Consultant, http://www.brucebird.com .  It will cover getting your foot in the online door with Google Places page and the 8 elements you must have on your site to turn it into an effective direct response website.
12.50	Review
1pm	Finish

If you are a learning professional in East Anglia we would be delighted if you would join us.  Please contact us on mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk to tell us that you are coming.

An inspiring cocktail!

Who saw Grand Designs last night? What an amazing case study of one man’s personal and magical cocktail of innovation, expertise, courage and experience.

A former blacksmith called Alan had a 30 year dream to build his own house.  Over 22 years he planned a completely new way of constructing it and the programme records how he literally builds the house of his dreams.  The added twist is that Alan is building the house as a prototype that may actually save his steelworks business.  If you didn’t see the programme you’ll be able to see it on-line soon.

I love the programme and often admire those that have the courage and vision to create their  dream homes.  What struck me about Alan was his quiet demeanour and faith in his own ability and that of his team – the people that have worked for him over many years.  Building his ‘Concertina House’ must have been a risk of epic proportions for him:  his livelihood, his business and his personal dreams and those of the people around him, were all on the line.

Anyway, as the programme closed I reflected on the ingredients made up his magical cocktail:

• A crystal clear vision
• Talent, skill and expertise
• Precision processes and organisation
• Absolute (but not blind!)  faith in the product, himself and his team
• And…..courage and innovation by the bucket load

Alan deserves success for his design and his business and I’d like to shake his hand for reminding me of the recipe for achieving my dream of a successful and thriving business as an independent L&D specialist. 

I wonder where other members of The Learning Professionals’ Gym get their inspiration from?  Who would have thought that I could have got it from watching the telly in my dressing gown?!

Thanks Alan!

Join us at the next Workout on Friday 19^th November at the Missing Sock.  See you at 10am!

Resilience: the positive art of bouncing back!

Oh the irony of it!  For 6 months now I have been working to persuade a potential new client (with a limited budget, naturally) to take on a programme about Resilience.  Finally they came back to me in an Email entitled ‘Resilience Programme’ and of course I was EXCITED!  I opened the Email, read it and my little upward curve of excitement  took a bit of a dip as I read: ‘can your one day programme be condensed into one hour next June?’  They want to test the interest in the programme at a conference next June………………one hour? Next June?  I was rather hoping to secure a contract of several days early in 2011!  Ho Hum.

In my mind I went through how to deliver a quality product, in only one hour, about skills that it might take people many months to master - I had to take a new perspective.  Of course, it can be done!  My enthusiasm began to build again.  Of course, presenting a workshop at a conference is great exposure for me and my enthusiasm notched up a little more!  Next June?  That’s OK too – at least it’s a firm commitment and I’m quite busy at the moment anyway!

Suddenly everything has taken on a different, rosier hue and my inner Eeyore took a snooze and my Tigger started to bounce again.

I reflected that this is resilience in microcosm – resilience in its simplest form.  We have all faced far more difficult challenges than this in the course of our working and personal lives.  And, those of us who are freelance are probably amongst the most resilient of the lot.  Everyday we face decisions and challenges that test our skills, our integrity, our confidence and even our financial security. To grow, thrive and be successful we have to have the capacity to bounce back. 

I could get quite spiritual here and I will try not to!  However, when I think about what resilience is I am in awe of the human spirit and our ability to not just survive but to thrive in difficult circumstances.  If we are, in the words of the International Coach Federation, ‘resourceful, creative and whole’ we all have the capacity to tap into our innate resource and bounce back – admittedly with variying degrees of vigour.   Sometimes we need a little help:  a training programme about resilience might be what you need ; a coach; a mentor; a like minded network of people……do you see where I’m going with this?!  And so, without expecting to when I started writing, I have come full circle to The Learning Professionals’ Gym.

We really need you to join us at our next Workout:  19^th Nov, 10am – 1pm at a Cambridge venue (TBC). 

Please let us know that you are able to come  Mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk

See you there!

So this is where we’re at….

It was great to see some familiar faces, and some new ones at our last Workout on 17th September.    

 

Those of you who were there will know that we had a fantastic session on Belbin from Jo Keeler, and quite a few of you took advantage of her offer to complete your Belbin profile. We also launched the website and the concept of membership of The Learning Professionals’ Gym.

 

From the very beginning, Sue and I have been keen to create a community of freelance learning professionals who learn from each other, stretch and challenge each other’s thinking and have the opportunity to support and collaborate. The development of the website was the next phase in our vision for this fantastic community. Following the Workout, we’ve taken time to consider the future, review where we’re at, and plan our next steps.

 

The Website 

 

The website is a really powerful tool to assist the growth of the community. As members, it can provide you with a virtual community to supplement the one you meet at Workouts.   

There are forums for you to ask questions of each other, ask for help, share your favourite exercises, authors, websites, etc etc. It can be a really useful resource for you.  In addition, you have the opportunity to use it to upload your profile – telling other members and potential clients about you and your business – a real showcase for your talents! If you’ve not explored it yet, then take a look at http://thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk  - but please bear in mind that if it doesn’t do quite what you expected, it’s still a work in progress.

 

Membership and Benefits

 

The website is a really powerful tool to assist the growth of the community.  As members, it can provide you with a virtual community to supplement There are loads of benefits to being a member of The Learning Professionals’ Gym – all of those we’ve talked about under the headings of “Learn, Stretch, Support, Collaborate” – and, in addition, we’re working on others that we think you might appreciate.  Check out our thinking by looking at the outline of the Benefits on the website.  Amongst other things we are offering a free MBTI profile to all members, and the opportunity to take part in Action Learning sets. To make sure you’re getting what you want, is there anything else you’d like us to investigate? As we said at the Workout, we’re also exploring discounted rates on meeting and training rooms – is this something you’d appreciate?

So….what is all this going to cost?

 

Membership   

We’re delighted to offer founder members (you guys who have been active members of the group prior to 17th September) this great membership package, provided you join before the 29th October: 

Joining fee (one-off payment) £30

Annual membership – paid up front £12

This Annual membership is the cost for the website licence, and will be pegged at this level in perpetuity, unless our service provider increases their rate to us. It gives you access to the website and the other benefits outlined on the website.  After the 29th October, the membership fee will be £10 per month.

Workouts

From 19th November – our next Workout – the cost will be £25 to members. They have been subsidised in the past, and it may not be able to continue using the Missing Sock. We’ll be delighted to see visitors at a cost of £30 per Workout – regardless of how many they attend.

Next steps? 

If you want to join us or have questions please call us or mail us:

mail@thelearningprofessionalsgym.co.uk   / Liz 07940 177153  /  Sue 07889 422802 

Update that details of the next Workout: 17.9.10

We promised to update you on what’s been happening with the Learning Professionals’ Gym, and where we’re going so here you are! 

Progress to date

Liz and I have been thrilled by the attendance at our first 2 workouts and the enthusiasm and appetite for the concept of the Gym. When we first got together and talked about a network group for learning professionals, we thought we’d probably start with maybe half a dozen people meeting for a coffee in a hotel foyer somewhere. As those of you who have been to one – or even both! – of the workoouts will know by now, we’ve had 20 attendees. The room was buzzing on both days, we’ve had some great feedback, and certainly Liz and I feel that we have learned, stretched, received support and collaborated!

Following this success, we’ve reviewed what we’re doing with the Gym, and have started planning the way forward.

The way forward

The Learning Professionals’ Gym website is now under development. The website will be similar to that of other networking groups, with access for the public, and a members only area.

The members’ only area will allow you to post your profile, advertising your business – which the public will be able to see; join in forums; have your own blog; offer services to fellow members on a bartering basis; sign up for events and advertise your own events.

We’re also looking to partner with other businesses to get discount for our members, e.g. cheaper meeting rooms.

Membership

We’re moving towards a membership system, with a monthly membership fee, and a subsidized entrance fee to events for members. Our events will be open to non-members, but they will need to pay more.

We’re really excited, and believe that we can offer our members some great benefits:

• Sharing ideas and best practice with other freelance learning professionals
•     The opportunity to collaborate
•     Continuous professional development
•     Increased exposure
•     Discounts
•     MBTI profiling

Next steps

We’ll be showing you the website at our next workout on the 17^th September, and talking through our plans in more detail then.

Come and workout with us on 17^th September

As we’ve already said, at our next workout, we’ll be sharing our plans with you. In addition, we’ve got a great guest speaker for you – Jo Keeler info@belbin.com  from Belbin www.belbin.com.

Jo’s session will cover an update on Belbin Team Roles – the research, the 9 roles, the reports and the future! Using participants’ own reports we will look to see how Belbin can be used as part of a team training day, and how some participants may perform as a team! We will also play a game or two to help illustrate the point that people are different, and that we need to communicate and co-operate to get the most out of our working environment.

It would be great if you could complete the Belbin self-perception inventory, and add a minimum of 4 observer assessments by the 14th September. The report will be emailed to you on completion, and you will need to print it and bring it along!

Instructions:

To complete your Self-Perception profile contact Sue or Liz for the log-in details.  You will also be looking for the input of others to give you a 360 view.

The workout will take place as usual at the fantastic Missing Sock, Stow-cum-Quy, Cambridge  http://www.themissingsock.co.uk/ from 10:00 – 1:00. The price, again as usual, will be £15. We’d love to see you there – and please, don’t keep it to yourself! Bring a friend along too!

All we ask is that you confirm that you’ll be there, to help us with the catering – oh, and any special dietary needs you have.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Liz and Sue

What do you keep in your toolkit?

I’ve been thinking about the models that I keep in my ‘toolkit’.  You know what I mean….the ones that are versatile, tried and tested and always useful to you. 

Most of my L&D work is a mix of input and facilitation and the models that I draw upon the most relate to creating the best learning environment for personal and management development.  They encourage openness, ownership and feedback.  They offer a vehicle for raising self-awareness, changing behaviour in some way and encouraging ownership.  As for theories and schools of thought – Transactional Analysis and NLP are my guiding lights.   

There are a variety of different contracting exercises that I will use and there are two models that I often use to underpin the dialogue between group members and I – they help to ensure that the participants take responsibility for their own learning; that my voice is heard as the (adult) facilitator as opposed to the (sometimes parental) trainer and they help to engage the group with one another’s learning experience.     

You may already know them:    

   

The Support & Challenge Matrix

 

The Support and Challenge matrix  

 It can be used in contracting so as to agree that a degree of challenge is healthy and to establish boundaries.  It can also be used in relation to Motivation and to demonstrate that a balance of support and challenge is energising.  It’s great in helping to achieve an agreement on what type of feedback would be most useful and constructive. 

   

   

 

The Hamburger model

 

The Hamburger model   Another versatile model: 

Task = the objective(s) /purpose of the session…. 

Procedure = agenda / timings / structure / session plan…. 

Climate………. well it can literally mean the climate and environment but more broadly it relates to the relationships in the room.  Without a healthy atmosphere and dynamic the quality of the RESULT will be hampered.  Achieving depth through managing the group climate will ensure that the outcomes of the session/meeting will be meaningful.  Use it to contract at the beginning of a meeting or in a group learning environment. It’s great in helping to set the ground rules and contract for conversations, feedback and in helping you to manage the ‘hidden’ stuff that might be going on in the  group.       

I’ve got more models up my sleeve but we’d love to hear about your favourites:  

As Learning Professionals what’s in your toolkit? 

Sue and I are really excited about the next LPGym Workout.  We’ll be at The Missing Sock http://www.themissingsock.co.uk/ on Friday, 17th September.  10am for coffee and networking with the session kicking off at 10.15am.  We’ll post more information about what to expect over the next few days.  Please let us know if you are able to come along.

Workout update: Finding new clients

 

The World Cafe at the LPGym's July Workout

Welcome to the fourth of the four updates to come from the World Cafe event at the July Workout.  Steve Catchpole of Coach Me Ltd http://www.coachme-ltd.co.uk/ hosted the table on Finding New Clients and has summarised the discussion in this document finding new clients 1

The main themes to have come out of the discussion were:

Create a Sales Plan:

• Create a sales plan to support your other business planning activities…………and use it!
• Without it you are ‘driving a bus without knowing where you are going or how you will get there’
• Be structured: set targets and direction

 There are multiple methods of approach:

• There are many, many methods that you can use some of which are outlined in Steve’s summary document and Steve’s hot tip is to work with a variety of approaches and that you should focus on the ones that suit YOU the best   

 Learn and use the key steps to securing a sale:

• Build rapport
• Questioning
• Features and benefits
• Recognise the buying signals
• Trial close
• (questioning)
• Close

My reflection is that some of us are very at home with the sales aspect of running a business and many of us are not – after all we are Learning Professionals and not naturally Sales Professionals!  If you are one of those who aren’t then why not have a chat with Steve?

Workout update: Marketing

World Cafe Marketing action!

 

Here is the third in our series of four updates from The World Cafe session at the Workout held in July.  Janet Burton from The Training Manager http://www.thetrainingmanager.com/index.html kindly hosted the Marketing table and captured the contributions of those who joined her discussion.   Read on to find out what was upper-most in people’s minds:  

 The World Café – Marketing  

The three sets of people who came to the café table were mostly talking about the need to find customers and felt that marketing could be instrumental in helping them achieve that goal.  Some of the points made were:  

• Marketing is making people aware of your ‘brand’
• Marketing is communication
• Defining your ideal customer and finding them
• Need to get the message out, being reliable
• Having a continuing approach
• Not taking a Scatter gun approach

It is clear that people in the LPGym are experts in their own fields and want help to find the best way of marketing or promoting their individual businesses.   Their gut feel was guiding them in the right direction.   They were clearly recognising the need to approach the market in a structured way.   They knew that they needed to identify the right type of customer for their specific offering.  

I introduced the concept of Marketing being a jigsaw of decisions which when achieved shows a clear picture of the way forward, helps to focus and therefore brings success.  The right Product, In  the right Place, in the right Packaging to make a Profit.   There was awareness in the groups of four ‘Ps‘.  At this point it was said that the person is the brand so there is a need to present the right profile.  Also that People buy People first.  

When specifically discussing customers some of the problems identified were:  

• Hardest part is getting them to speak to you.  Dragons at the gate are rarely needed nowadays as voicemail filters out the unwanted ‘sales’ calls  
• Some organisations will not take any phone calls and will not even give out the name of the person responsible 

It was said that there is a need to find the right hook to get started.   This referred to the need to be different or present oneself differently or have a different approach.  It was recognised that email, newsletters and websites are the usual methods of communication used by everyone.  So how to stand out from the crowd?  

Regarding networking as a way of marketing the business, the point was made concerning the fact that everyone is trying to sell to one another and rarely is anyone there to buy.  The useful idea was that instead of trying to sell oneself and what you have on offer, but that you concentrate on what you can do for the other person.   That is, sell the Benefits.  I introduced Features and Benefits to the discussion which was picked up and related as follows.   When writing materials, take out the ‘we’ and ‘I’ and put in the ‘you’.   Identify what your customer wants and then give them that by selling the ‘benefits’ – what you can do for them.    

Also relating to networking we had a discussion around Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and having a few words ready to explain what we do making sure that there are clear benefits within the sentences.   

It was recognised that the talk by Sharon Gaskin http://www.thetrainerstrainingcompany.co.uk/ gave some very useful pointers and that it would be very useful if the LPGym revisited ‘marketing’.    

The concept of being a generalist was discussed with one lady saying that she writes out with a different message each time to illustrate her wide range.  Referring back to Sharon’s talk when Sharon recommended that we should be recognised for one specific area and that people would still ask…”Do you do… as well?” so being a specialist does not stop you getting work in other areas.  

A book called Top Grading Customers was mentioned.  

The discussions centred on customers and ways of reaching them.  Due to this part of marketing being the hardest bit, we did not get very far with pricing and promotion, advertising etc.  I got the impression that the people in the groups knew in their hearts that they need to adopt a marketing process but that the process was not quite understood.  However, there were elements of marketing in their thoughts but just not organised into a specific thought process, which of course, is what marketing is really about.  Making a whole range of decisions, each interdependent upon each other which when complete is a marketing plan which really works.  

By the nature of having three groups of people discussing the subject for a relatively short amount of time, some discussions were repeated, however, there was real enthusiasm and buzz for getting into marketing.  It was a very interesting event which I am pretty certain gave everyone concerned a great deal more to think about.  

Janet Burton, The Training Manager