I often turn to Henry Mintzberg’s writings for his sage advice on management and leadership, yet tonight I found his advice on teaching.  Here’s his “Ten Rules for Professors Who Want to Educate Real Managers”; they apply to anyone who is leading any kind of workshop, class, course, podcast or any other learning event:

1, 2, 3. Don’t pack it. Don’t pack it. Don’t pack it.

4. Schedule an extra hour for each session, but don’t tell the instructors until they arrive so they will have more time to turn the discussion over to the managers.

5. Profess less. Participants have at least as much to learn from each other as from the professors. (This is about what they learn, not about what we teach.)

6. Let participants run with the material on their agendas.

7. Be flexible. Let good discussion go on. If necessary, cut

what has to be “covered.”

8, 9, 10. Listen. Listen. Listen.

If you get nothing else out of that list, go back to #5; learning isn’t about what we trainers have to teach — it’s ALL about what the learners have to learn.  

Third Generation Management Development

It’s amazing how fast a year goes by and how much we cram into 365 days.  Hope everyone has a great holiday season and a terrific year in 2010!  At this time of year, I always look ahead to what’s to come, and 2010 looks like it’s shaping up to be exciting.  Here’s a peek –

Ontario Library Association SuperConference, Feb 24-27

Rebecca and I are facilitating a pre-conference workshop on Wed Feb 24 — Leadership Renewal: Conversations, Insights & Revitalization (P004) which includes segments with Cindy Ross Pedersen, Strategic Volunteer & Entrepreneur, Ken Haycock, Director, San Jose State University School of Libary & information Science & Senior Partner, Ken Haycock & Associates Inc. and Gordon Vala-Webb, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada PLC.  This interactive workshop should provide lots of wonderful conversations and insights.  Rebecca is speaking about Resolving Conflict - Reaching Consensus (317) on Thurs Feb 25 and Service Lifecycle Management: Pruning Gives Other Services Room to Grow (1228) on Friday Feb 26.  We have also put together a session on Thurs Feb 25 called Digital Strategies: Practices & Services (1021) which features Aaron Schmidt, District of Columbia Public Library, Amanda Etches Johnson, McMaster University and Daniel Lee, Navigator Ltd.  We hope to see lots of our friends and colleagues in Toronto at SuperConference!

Computers in Libraries, DC, April 12-14

This vibrant conference is filled sessions on topics of interest to all those in the information business.  Check out the program and join us for stimulating discussions, lots of learning and networking, and of course, fun!

Special Libraries Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 12-16

Rebecca and I are again facilitating a full day pre-conference workshop on Sat, June 12th — Strategic Renewal: Learning from Executives featuring Darrell Gunter, Chief Marketing Officer, Collexis Holdings Inc. Kate Noerr, CEO, MuseGlobal Inc., Barbara Robinson, Executive Coach, and Cindy Ross Pedersen, Strategic Volunteer & Entrepreneur.  It should be an illuminating and revitalizing experience.  Hope you can join us.  Watch for more details coming soon.

Next session at KMWorld 2009, with Tracy Conn and Kathy Valderrama discussing the experience of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland with lessons learned (LL).  Banks are notoriously conservative culture where ‘mistakes’ aren’t usually widely shared.  But they started the KM work in 2000 with after action reviews, looking for improvement opportunities.  But they found cynicism growing and the experience was pretty negative — not what they really wanted to achieve.  It also wasn’t connected to their core business of examining banks.

So, in 2005 they began to formalize their approach, and then, as is so often the case, a senior vp asked if new hires were being made aware of a case where a bank had failed in 2000.  That’s how it happens, isn’t it? A senior voice asks the right question.

Kathy & Tracy tell a good story — and that’s the approach they adopted with LL: they tell stories; they involved as many ppl as possible in interviews, with a facilitator to guide the process (using appreciative approach - yeah!), ask the questions & probe a bit; the interviews are recorded & the project managers set the context for the situation being discussed.  They not only talk about the problems encountered, but the solutions used - or what they wish they’d used –& then on-going follow-up and advice to future teams.

They also created some Balance Scorecard metrics.  That’s a lot! phew! Developing the process took them about 6 months & introduced the process at a department meeting to about 150 ppl with a senior vp endorsing it. The vp used the analogy of fire fighters — that they need to look at planning to prevent fires & how best to manage fires when they do break out.

This approach has been used for the past 3 yrs; they put the LL into the learning management system so they could track usage & embed these into existing training curriculum.  Now all new hires take the LL as part of their training when they start work. They are also tested on their understanding so that if their scores aren’t as expected someone sits with them to help increase understanding.  Their strategic objective is to accelerate the learning curve for new hires into bank examiner roles.

They are now engaging subject matter experts to help them create their “legacies”  - in some cases these are video-taped. And they are using km champions to identify situations to explore, with real examples to reinforce the concepts.  People remember the stories - don’t we all?

The other part to their LL is aligning with business imperatives; they faced a dilemma of more than twice the normal number of new examiners who had to go thru the 3 yr training program.  And, the bank had a high risk of extensive knowledge capital loss with many examiners leaving; 40% of their staff (much higher than other banks) had less than 5 yrs experience.

They developed an online simulation with all the main players — from the chief examiner as the coach, right through to the bank board members (all fictitious).  So the avatars talk to the learner, while the text runs on the side simultaneously.  It has built in decision paths, so as soon as the learner chooses, the coach can respond.  COOL.  And the learner can select a variety of coaching videos as they go along from REAL people, not avatars — but from those more experienced within the bank. COOL COOL.

This learning approach gives a wealth of experiences to the learners that may not come up in their real work during the first 3 years. They are also finding it not only leverages & reuses the knowledge in the bank, but increases retention because it is interesting & relevant for the learners. “Tell me how you handled an angry bank manager?” resonates for new hires — they want to hear other people’s experiences. The new hires on on the road 70-80% of their time, so they are trying to put some of this into podcasts. It’s not replacing the whole LL process, but leveraging it & enhancing it. What’s different about their approach?

- it’s embedded in exisiting business processes & usage is tracked throguh the LMS

- it puts real examples in real context for them - & it’s interesting for the learners - combines people who have “been there, done that” with avatars - story telling brings results

The content is in small pieces, so changes or edits can be made to small pieces & not the whole program. They use commercial products to do the simulation and for their LMS.

If you are doing anything in the learning arena (either formal or informal learning - just helping people “get it” in terms of doing something or knowing something), be sure to follow Jane Hart’s E-learning Pick of the Day, and link to her other sites and blogs as well, including her homebase, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, and  Social Media in Learning.   Her August update of “Top Tools for Learning 2009″ lists the top 10: Twitter, Delicious, Google Reader, Google Docs, Slideshare, Wordpress, YouTube, Skype, Google Search and Audacity.  Fast up & coming, Hart says, is prezi - which we hope to try out in the next few weeks. We’ll let you know how it goes. Have any of you tried prezi yet? I’ve been experimenting a bit with it….embarrassing as it is, I get a bit whoozi with the screen moving around so much - but the possibilities are fantastic - and I’m sure this old powerpoint dog can learn some new tricks!

Further to my recent post on Transparency, Strategy & Success where I linked to Michael Edson’s talk on the Smithsonian’s transparency strategy process, the  Smithsonian Institution has relased its web and new media strategy.

“The strategy talks about an updated digital experience, a new learning model that helps people with their “lifelong learning journeys,” and the creation of a Smithsonian Commons—a new part of our digital presence dedicated to stimulating learning, creation, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian research, collections and communities.” Check out Edson’s post for more about the transparent process and to see more details of SI’s web & new media strategy.

April 12-14, 2010

Can you believe the Computers in Libraries conference has been running for 25 years?  and that I have designed the program for the last 15?  Amazing & exciting for me and hopefully for you too!  The theme this year is Information Fluency:  Literacy for Life.  Information fluency goes beyond literacy (the ability to read and write), information literacy (the ability to find, evaluate and use information), media literacy (the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms), and digital literacy (the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information). It extends to other types of literacy necessary to grow, learn and live – cultural literacy, global literacy, news literacy, scientific literacy, economic literacy, social literacy, health literacy, multimedia literacy, computer literacy, social online literacy, and more. Information, and fluency with it, permeates every part of our lives. Developing skills to become fluent with information is the key to our success individually as well as in groups, teams and communities.  Send in a proposal to speak at CIL2010 and plan to attend the 25th anniversary of the “largest technology conference & exhibition for librarians and information managers in North America”.

Change is not easy and it’s definitely not a fast process.  It requires a lot of communication and transparency.  Transparency first came on my radar in 2003 with Don Tapscott and his book, The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business.  We have been talking to our clients about transparency a fair bit lately, and so has Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Office of the CIO, Smithsonian Institution SI).  Michael was a keynote speaker in April at Computers in Libraries 2009 and just spoke to the Potomoc Forum about the transparency strategy process.  The first number of slides are similar to those he used for CIL2009, but this new presentation has a lot more about the actually process that the Smithsonian is using.  The SI has now developed three themes in their strategy:  update the Smithsonian digital experience, update the Smithsonian learning model, balance autonomy & contrl at SI.  Interesting and probably something that many libraries should be thinking about.   They have eight goals: mission, brand, learning, experience, interpretation, business model, technology & governance.  And, they have 54 tactical recommendations with 5 “do next” items:  post doc to wiki, synchronize with other strategy efforts, appoint a leader, develop a tactical road map, & embrace the Smithsonian Commons, the centerpiece of the strategy, “facilitate learning, creativity, innovation through open access to Smithsonian collections, resources & communities.” Libraries have a lot to learn from Michael.  I first heard him speak in Dec 08 and he has come a long, long way in moving a conservative organization along the route of transparency, planning and change.  Good work, Michael.  Will look forward to an update at CIL2010!

Great conference!

I hope all the 2000+ attendees, speakers, and exhibitors enjoyed Computers in Libraries 2009 as much as I did.  Three terrific keynotes: Lee Rainie, Paul Holdengraber interviewed by Erik Boekesteijn, Michael Edson.  Almost 200 terrific speakers.  A fabulous Dead & Innovative Tech evening. Follow the coverage by Information staff and other bloggers at the conference.  And, of course, the Twitter feed (#CIL2009) which was a top trending topic for several days of the conference as well as the hundreds of pictures on Flickr which are still being loaded.  And I just got the link to Michael Sauers’ highlight video — 4 days of CIL in 11.5 minutes. Thanks everyone for making it such a great experience — filled with learning, laughing, conversations, networking, and so much more.

Isn’t this an interesting Google pic?  Reminded me of snow and red rock.  I love the southwest of the US with its wonderful red rock, always stimulates me when I’m around it.  And to see red rock hills and mountains with snow is such a treat.

However, this Google pic was designed for a different reason.  “In 1890, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli drew this map of Mars… on his 174th birthday, we are excited to include his work with many other new features for Mars in Google Earth.

We salute Schiaparelli’s pioneering spirit, his drive to explore, and his desire to understand the universe. His observations impacted the way humans viewed Mars for nearly a century and started a revolution in Astronomy.”  Pioneering, exploration, understanding, thinking, stimulating…. well maybe there is a connection!

Continuing with my “I love Harvard Business Review” theme, I’ve just listened to 2 great podcasts from www.Harvardbusiness.org at http://blogs.bnet.com/intercom/?cat=27. And both tie into the Think Tank LMD is holding on Saturday June 13th at the Annual Conference (only $299 for members!)  Ticketed Event #280

In the podcasts, Tom Kolditz highlights his book,  “In Extremis Leadership: Leading as if Your Life Depending on It,” and speaks of how, in dangerous or uncertain times, the #1 thing followers look for in their leaders is competence, and their trust depends on that competence being demonstrated.  Sydney Finkelstein, talks about how good managers make bad decisions when they ignore certain warning signals.  The Think Tank addresses these and other issues that information professionals who work with leaders - eurior who are in leadership positions themselves need to grapple with.
Clare Hart, Executive VP Dow Jones and President, Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group — is the instructor for Being Recognized, Being Heard. Clare works with the group on communication and influencing styles to ensure the message being delivered is clear, engages others and - eureka! - leads to commitments and the desired action(s).

Darrell Gunter, Chief Marketing Officer for Collexis Holdings, Inc. — is the instructor for Decisions & Judgment, with frank conversations about assessing the situation, making tough choices, and exercising that judgment — knowing when to hold and perhaps when to fold.  Oh yeah - and then communicating the decision. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but critical for information professionals moving forward with their careers.

Kate Noerr, CEO MuseGlobal Inc. — is the instructor for  Success without Compromise. Kate explores the delicate art of balancing your personal and professional aspects of life as well as holding true to your personal values when they may be in conflict with what’s being asked of you professionally.

And how do you really know what your values & personal energizers are? Because Barbara Robinson, an information professional who is an Executive Coach works with the group on their Leadership Styles and Approaches, helping participants understand that how we see ourselves and others shapes our approach to assessing situations, problem solving, strategic issues, and managing others.  Barbara does this by offering participants an incredible offer on the Birkman Assessment.  If you are interested (& we need to be — in this environment we need to understand ourselves to direct ourselves and our careers), contact me at rebecca@dysartjones.com.  Those who took the Birkman with Barbara last year said, “I loved the Birkman. The level of detail was amazing. It provided me with perspective on both my strengths and my areas of stress! ”

Come join us in the Think Tank. You’ll have a blast &  have one-on-one’s with executives who understand our world. Here’s comments from last year’s participants:  “Speakers were inspirational.” “Thank you very much for putting on this superb CE session!  It was a great opportunity to be in a room with thought leaders from both within our profession as well as from the greater industry.  The pre-session readings were on target with leadership issues, and the thought-provoking dialogues we had before, during and after the session were … well … thought provoking - which is what it was all about!”