Welcome to Jean's Blog
Dedicated to Your Personal and Professional Development
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I’m presenting for ASTD-LA on April 5th in Torrance, CA – here’s the scoop.
You walk into a classroom ready to set up for your presentation. Rather than an empty room, there are twenty-five seated people looking at you impatiently. “You’re late!” you hear from a man in the front. “We should have started an hour ago!” You glance down and see that you are wearing clown shoes and no pants. “I must be dreaming,” you think, and thank goodness, you are.
Have you ever had a presentation anxiety dream like this? I have!
The “Running a Tight Ship” workshop offers tips, tools and ideas to keep your sessions friendly and focused. By “friendly” we mean that your participants will feel welcome, comfortable and ready to learn. By “focused” we mean that your event will start on time, end on time and be protected from going off course. We’ll have group discussions and share war stories. Expect to leave with the wind in your sails and who knows – you may find yourself sleeping better before big presentations, too.
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Now that so much learning is happening online, I use video as one of my storytelling tools. The same techniques used by TV and movie directors can be used to create memorable teaching moments. My colleague, Bryan Jones at eLearning Art shares one of these techniques called the Establishing Shot. I think he did a great job. Click on the photo if you’d like to check it out.
Great stuff, Bryan!
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This morning, I finished reading Igniting the Invisible Tribe by Josh Allan Dykstra. Josh describes how to “design an organization that doesn’t suck.” (My kind of guy!) And he’s calling for nothing less than a workplace revolution. One concept I love is the idea of doing away with a top-down, hierarchical structure and revamping the concept of management. Instead he calls for us to see ourselves as either either Builders or Architects. Both roles have value and one is not better than the other.
Josh asks us to change our words and thinking about those who do work that we wouldn’t want to do. For instance, just because I don’t want to do accounting work does not mean that no one wants to do it. It’s simply my preference. What if my contributions and the accounting (or janitorial) ones were viewed as just as vital and valuable? Josh suggests this type of thinking is critical in the new workplace. Dignity for all.
Today I get to meet up with Josh for coffee. Can’t wait to talk with him more about the concept in his book about businesses of the future and how they need to be Connected or Meaningful or Human. If you want to feel the excitement of what’s to come and be a part of it, read this book.
Go Josh!
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I created this video to help newer managers deal with employee discipline. This stuff is never easy – for either party. How do you think this went?
Here’s the talented team that helped bring this scenario to life: Written, Produced and Directed: Jean Franzblau, Director of Photography and Editor: Benjamin D. Brooks, Manager played by: Rachel Alig, Employee played by: Alicia Prato
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I’ve counted them – in the past year I produced over thirty training videos for YogaWorks. I’m so proud! Now I’m ready to take these services on the road. Introducing a new incarnation of Jean – Training Video Producer. Ahhh, I like the ring of that.
Enjoy this video which introduces a coaching activity called SMART Meetings. It features two fabulous YogaWorks employees – Amber Hazor and Jacqui Leake. Go Amber and Jacqui!
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Want to learn how to create training videos guerilla style?
I’ve been asked to lead the chapter meeting for my beloved American Society for Training and Development. Join us for this interactive session taken from real-life business experiences on how to use video as a compelling tool for training and telling impactful “teaching stories.” Let’s transform this training request into a training video!
Takeaways include sample videos that went from conception to roll out in under 10 days and tips that make training videos go viral.
PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN:
• To use stories to create teaching moments
• To find creative allies within your organization for video collaboration
• To use a flip camera and simple editing software to complete a video
ABOUT OUR PRESENTER:
Jean is a professional speaker with eleven years of training and coaching experience. She
has presented in six countries for up to three hundred people. As a consultant, her latest
career adventure is as the Training Manager at YogaWorks where she is the go-to person for
video. She regularly writes, casts, location scouts, directs and edits training videos on the
fly.Jean received her B.A. with cum laude honors at UCLA in Communications and Business
Administration. She completed the Train the Trainer course with ASTD-LA and served on
the Board for two years. As a performing artist, she studied at the renowned Neighborhood
Playhouse School of Theater in New York. She has performed in theater, television, voice-
over and film. -
If you want to start a good group discussion, pose a well thought out question:
If you could change one thing about your management style, what would it be?
What accomplishment are you most proud of this month?
I’ve found it helpful to plan ahead and craft my questions ahead of time. That’s because in the moment, I may not phrase it quite right which can cause some confusion.
If the responses you’re getting in the discussion are too “on the surface,” help your participants go deeper with these encouragements:
Would you expand on that?
Tell me more about that.
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Sometimes you may want to split your group into smaller groups for an exercise or have people work independently for a while. Either way, it’s up to you to end these sessions and get the group back together to continue the program. The challenge with this is that some groups and people move at a faster pace than others. Here are two techniques to help:
1. Give a 5 minute warning. “We’re going to complete this exercise in 5 minutes.” Or “Have your answers on the whiteboard in 5 minutes.”
2. When time is up say, “Welcome back everyone.” Most people will give you their attention. You may have to wait a few more moments and try it again for the rest to realize they need to hush up and focus back on you, “Welcome back.”
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It can be challenging to keep a session on target if there’s a participant who tends to take over the discussion or is long winded. Participants look to us – the facilitators – to deal with this. To create balanced participation, you could try two solutions. First, give limits to sharing:
“In two or three sentences, let’s have each person give their opinion on…”
“Each group will have 5 minutes to present their ideas.”
The second option is to speak to that participant during a break:
“Thank for participating so much. I’m noticed that a few people aren’t sharing. I’d like to make sure everyone gets a chance. Would you help me by letting others in the group have an opportunity to join in on the discussion?”
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Question: How do I deal with a well meaning participant who is going down the wrong road, without embarrassing them, but also letting the group know that the answer is not correct?
Option A: Rather than ask the whole group a question, you can ask an individual that you think will answer it the way you hope. “How would you handle this, Marla?” “What are your thoughts about that, Dave?”
Option B: If a person volunteers an answer and they’re on the wrong track, don’t be reactive. Instead, try responding as if all is well and ask, “does anyone else have a different approach?” Hopefully, the answers you’re going for will surface. Then you can diplomatically say, “Between all the answers I’ve heard, I think we’ll have the most success trying Donna’s option. Here’s why…”
Option C: When the participant offers an answer on the wrong path, you can handle it directly. “I hear what you’re saying, and I’d like you to consider a different approach…”
