I just got home last night from attending the ASTD TechKnowledge Expo.  What an amazing experience!  ASTD is the American Society for Training and Development.  

I had the opportunity to listen to Jane McGonigal and Stuart Crabb.  These two keynote speakers transformed me.  I realized that I was stuck in a rut of just completing training to tick off a box and I really need to consider the future of my learners.  

Jane McGonigal is a game designer who designs socially-conscious games that can bring about social and political change.  Which would you prefer to do, go to class, listen to lectures, and take a test; or, would you like to play a game where you can fail and learn and figure out to succeed?  I know my answer is the latter.  What is nice, is that it doesn't have to be overly technical to begin this process in our own training lives.  This woman's games have generated new ideas and predicted future problems.  I am looking forward to reading her book "Reality is Broken."  If she writes as well as she speaks, I am in for a treat.

Stuart Crabb is the head of Learning and Development for Facebook.  He appears to be about my age and lives a life that inspires.  Facebook's company model is definitely something to consider when taking on the challenges and collaborative needs of learners and employees.  No one, not even Zuckerberg, has an office.  They don't even have cubes.  Everyone works collaboratively and their basics needs are managed.  When staff feels empowered, they give much more to their organizations.  One of the newest innovations delivered by Facebook was suggested and designed by an Intern!  The latest generation of learners and employees will need a different paradigm and companies that disregard that paradigm shift will end up behind and could end up lost completely.

One course I took shared with us a list of free training and collaboration tools.  It was eye opening and here it is two days later and I am already using and hoping to fully implement these features within my own company.  

Several other courses inspired me to change the whole way I look at delivering training. Now, the task is to convince others.  I hope that my management team will see how excited I am about delivering this new style.

If you aren't a member of ASTD, join.  If you are a student the cost is not overwhelming and it is worth every penny.  This one event more than paid fo my investment.

With the holidays over and people returning to the "grind" of everyday life, the kindness of our words seems to have slipped.  Remember, the way we word things has an impact on how the words are received.  I would like to think that everyone approaches the world as I do with empathy and understanding that words matter, but they don't.  I even re-posted an anonymous quote on my Facebook page recently stating, "I am responsible for the words I say, not how you hear them."  That isn't necessarily true.  Sure, the words we speak are filtered through other's lenses but there are still some responsibilities we all have with how we word things.  

For example, I received an email, recently, from a stranger and it started with, "This is your first and final warning..."  People make mistakes.  A simple misunderstanding of the purpose of a web site group should not garner such abrupt and curt responses.  A less offensive approach would have been, "Perhaps you did not get a chance to review the group standards, attached are the expectations of the group.  Your most recent post does not meet those standards, please keep these in mind the next time you post to the group."    

Every mistake is a training opportunity.  Perhaps we didn't communicate our intentions properly, or the person misinterpreted those intentions.  One of the very best managers I ever had pulled me into her office after a reasonably sizable mistake on my part, and took full responsibility for it.  She said to me, "I may not have explained the returns process effectively to you; so, let's walk through this together and see where we missed the mark."  She asked me to show her how I did the returns then corrected the process with me.  In her position, she could have very well "written me up" or even removed me from that position.  Instead, she took my mistake as an opportunity to be better at my job.  I have never forgotten that.

Those person's position in a leadership or ownership role should keep the basic rules of communication in mind:

• Use "I" messages - "It would be most helpful to me if ..."  "I found myself frustrated, because of your..."
• Re frame/Rephrase - "What I hear you saying is..."  "It sounds like you feel X because of this situation."
• Logic doesn't help when emotions are involved. - We all may have a feeling that it doesn't make sense why this person feels this way, but it is how they feel and discounting that just escalates the problem.
• Use concrete words - Connotations and metaphors can create some of the biggest barriers to communication.  Even those who speak the same language often have different colloquialisms that can cause misinterpretation.  

There is nothing wrong with being direct.  However, there is a difference between being clear and rude.  Remember, not everyone comes from your life experiences and lessons.  Spending just a little time trying to see things from the other's perspective can improve communications in all aspects of life.

I was considering, recently, the few signs posted on the Web by some about how recent college graduates have such specialized degrees that they shouldn't be surprised they can't find gainful employment.  This got me thinking, where does the blame really lie?  Who encouraged these students to be so specialized?  Where were the college advisors when they headed down that path?

I am approaching the completion of my Master's degree in Adult Education and Training and while I am hopeful, I will continue to be gainfully employed, I regret returning to college and taking on student loans to pay for it.  I often wonder if I had had a chance to "try" the courses before buying into the program, I may not be looking down the barrel of $60,000 in college debt.  Had I realized that it was going to cost me an additional car payment for ten years.  When I am done paying off my student loans, I will have no time left to set that money aside for my retirement.  When I started back to school in 2008, I figured, two years down the road, I would be able to start a small business and quit my "day job."  After $40,000 in loans, I realized that I was never going to recoup my investment.  But! I couldn't see myself just quitting, having to pay back loans with nothing to show for them.  So, what does one do?  We find another program that "might" bring about the ability to recoup the investment.  That is how I ended up in my current program.  I booked the remainder of my outstanding loans to make sure that I was not going to have to add any more to my student loans, but that apparently that wasn't enough.  So, in order to have something to show for my degree, I have to apply for, yet another, student loan.  When all is said and done, I will be in over $60,000 in debt and no additional income potential.  

So, would I have been better off not attending?  Or, would I have been better off with some consideration and counseling?  What about all these young people who were interested in specialized subject matter?  Where were the curriculum and academic counselors when these students headed down the this road?

To answer the first questions: I simply regret the amount of time and money wasted heading down the wrong road.  Spending time with some fully informed persons and having the ability "try before we buy" would have helped me find a better path.  If I had a chance to go back to 2008 and speak to 38 year old me, I would have said, "if you want to go back to school, think about what you do every day and how you can be better with education, and DON'T TAKE ON A STUDENT LOAN! Use your 401K or save up until you have enough to pay for school."  

Now, as far as these young students and their specialized degrees...

What would I tell these students when these students were registering for these classes?  First and foremost, I would do my best to express the importance to consider the real skills and knowledge needed in the working world.  Liberal Arts, general studies, degrees, for non-skill-specialized students, is a great way to show that you can read, write and reason.  Those skills are vital today and tomorrow, despite the technologies and advances.  If a potential employee shows the ability to learn, they are valuable above and beyond today's technical skills.  

So, what should college counselors consider when helping students determine what path is best for them?  Pay attention to the student and the environment within which they will be looking for work in just a few years.  Help students understand that if they want to be gainfully employed when they graduate, take the time to consider their skills and what will make them a valuable candidate upon completion of their degree.

I believe it is time to reconsider how students attend and complete their college educations at all levels.  If you want to be a specialized degree seeker, then you will need to make sure you are the very best in your field.  If you are not going to be the very best in the field, maybe something more well rounded is your better path.