10 tips for teachers

Are you working as a teacher? Do you like to teach & help others? Here are ten tips to help you further.

At work I was asked to share some tips about teaching (and as extrinsic motivation a talent assessment toolkit, the “Talentbox” of Luk Dewulf, was promised). I’ve been teaching since I was a student and continued teaching (in evening school) during my work. I offer these 10 tips from more than 5 years experience in evening school.

1. Your talents may be unknown territory for others. Be aware of this.
2. It’s ok not to know the answer to every question. I always say: “I’m not a robot”. Admit that you don’t know, commit to finding an answer and stick to it.
3. You’ll meet students with different capabilities. I’ll try to diversify by:
   1. Providing regular and advanced exercises.
   2. Letting the best students help the others (in preschool it’s called “mini teacher”).
   3. Giving slower students more guidance.
   4. Stimulating working in peer (if possible).
4. In courses that take more than one session, start the next session with making a “live” mindmap with the students to recapitulate the topics of last time.
5. If you ask a questions, use the silence. Avoid answering yourself, even if it takes long.
6. In courses that take more than one session, facilitate an evaluation after the first session. Ask if the current format (theory, exercises, review) is suited. This way you give the students the chance to determine the flow of the next sessions. Remark: the typical course if evaluated after the last session, but the participants have no incentive to participate because the only benefit is for the students of the next course.
7. If you have a know-it-all among your students and he’s exhibiting it, use him as specialist. Let him explain parts of the material, ask for his experience and/or pass on questions you get from the group. Make him a contributor instead of a blocker. Remark: this is valid for a “her” to 😉
8. If you want somebody to contribute “more” than the other students, don’t surprise them during the course, but ask them on beforehand if they’re ok with it. Eg. when you want somebody from the legal department to elucidate something.
9. Add a fun element to your course (voting, video, sound, game, assignment, …).
10. Murphy is always present during your lessons. Make sure you test your equipment before the sessions starts. Keep a local copy of your material on the hard drive (instead of the network drive).

Do you have more tips to share? Please add them to the comments. Your feedback is appreciated!

Training for Performance Management

How would you give a Performance Management training for a very diverse public in an evening course? You better avoid too much one-way traffic and better add some interaction. This exercise uses the PDCA-cycle to build and manage their own small company.

I was asked to deliver a training in Performance Management to a very diverse public who volunteered for it in evening school. The challenge lays in creating a course that is interesting, but challenging enough for participants who just worked a full day. Participants who have experience with Lean, but also participants from other sides of the organisation.

Introduction – 15 minutes

Theory: To get everybody on the same line, give a short recap or introduction of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. What is the concept behind it? Emphasize that they actually already know and probably practice it (implicit) in their daily lives.

PDCA cycle

Exercise: To get their minds warmed up, give them 10 minutes for a small assignment: create the PDCA cycle of your own diet. You can find this exercise described here: “The PDCA cycle applied to your diet“. Ask following questions if they’re stuck:

• Plan: How much do you plan to loose/gain in weight? What is your ideal weight? Can you make it to that in one iteration?
• Do: What will you actually do or do different for reaching your diet goal?
• Check: How will you check if you’re doing fine? With what frequency are you checking?
• Act: What will you do if you make it? What if you don’t? How will you celebrate success?

The main exercise – 120 minutes

Preparation for the facilitator

As preparation, go to the Kickstarter.com website and find a few projects which look fun. Create a mission and vision for them. I advise to make such a company for each 3 to 4 people in your group. So with a group of 10 participants, you would have 4 groups (two of 3 participants, one of 4).

PLAN – The start-up (10+15+5 minutes)

Theory: Explain the Voice Of the Customer and Voice Of the Business concept. Explain that VOC and VOB need to meet each other. Avoid going to deep into details like interviewing techniques.

Exercise: Divide up the group in smaller teams and explain the start-up company concept to them. Explain that you already created the mission, vision and value proposition (as CEO) and they are your management team that needs to deliver results. Each participant gets a different role: CEO, head of Sales, Production and Quality.

The first job of the management team is to create a strategy. For this they need to:

1. Determine who your customers are, customers’ wants and needs, how you are going to capture these wants & needs, how frequent and when. Also, you need to find out how to get customer feedback.
2. Determine what your business needs are. What does your management want?
3. Determine your short-term (1 year) and long-term (5 year) target.

Optional: The facilitator acts as customer and CEO, but is are not direct available: the companies have to ask their question on paper to you (explicitly addressed to the customer or CEO). The facilitator processes the questions in First In First Out (FIFO) mode and responds in person to the team.

Reflect: After the round, let the subgroups explain to the rest with an elevator pitch what they got and what they learned.

DO – The action (10+15+5 minutes)

Theory: Explain the roles and responsibilities matrix (RACI), the need for processes and process owners.

Exercise: Let the subgroups think about what actions they need do to realize their short and long-term strategy.

• How will you sell and deliver the end product to their customer? Eg. produce the product, distribute the project, sell the product, etc.
• Which profiles do you need?
• Who will take the decisions?

Reflect: After the round, let the subgroups explain to the rest with an elevator pitch what they got and what they learned.

Check – The check-up (10+15+5 minutes)

Theory: Explain the performance indicators (KPIs), leading en lagging, the link with the roles and responsibilities matrix and KPI trees.

Exercise: Let the subgroups think about what they need to monitor the realization of their strategy.

• How will you measure if they are successful?
• Are the measurements in line with the VOC and VOB created earlier?
• Who is responsible for the measurements?
• Who is accountable?
• Make sure you have result indicators and early warning measurements.
• Create an example measurement chart.
• How will you use these measurements to motivate the work floor?
• Which measures does management need, which the work floor?

Reflect: After the round, let the subgroups explain to the rest with an elevator pitch what they got and what they learned.

Act – React on measurement (10+15+5 minutes)

Theory: Explain the need for giving feedback, problem solving techniques, rethinking the strategy, and meeting structure.

Exercise: Let the subgroups think about how to act upon problems.

• Which problems could occur in your company?
• Which problem solving techniques do you know?
• Check again your measurements, are the measurements indicators for the problems that might occur?
• How will you report to the CEO?
• Which meeting structure do you need?

Reflect: After the round, let the subgroups explain to the rest with an elevator pitch what they got and what they learned.

Wrap-up – 15 minutes

At this point, your participants are trained in (the basics of) creating a performance management culture. It’s impossible to handle every related topic, but they made time to reflect about the subtopics.  Make sure you give them handles for follow-up: documentation, tutorials, websites, etc.

The Bridge Game – Learning to live the project

The Bridge Game

Last year in September i attended an international cooperation around project management organised by the Xios Hogeschool (Belgium) and the Hogeschool Utrecht (the Netherlands). We did an interesting game about project management that is called The Bridge Game.

The Bridge Game is a game to get acquainted  with project management. The challenge is to build a Meccanno like bridge as a team effort. During the game you will learn to work project, but most of all you will learn what the pitfalls are by experiencing them yourself.

The total time needed for the game is 2 hours, but i’m convinced the game has (educational) value for the participants.

In short, i will give an overview of the game, it’s challenges and it’s learnings.

Goals of the game

• Bridge the gap in people skills
• Team dynamics
• Personal leadership
• Customer driven focus
• Effective communication
• People learning to work with people

Some steps in the game

You follow the steps, just like with a real project.

• Reconnaissance phase
• Agreeing on the project lead
• Making the project charter and budget estimation
• Risk estimation
• Requesting time & materials
• Handling budget, time, scope and quality
• Delivery and inspection

Some real world difficulties

During the game, some unexpected real world difficulties are introduced by the game leader.

• Power goes down
• Team members get sick
• The project lead is changed
• A saboteur is introduced
• Extra resources are added
• Requests open for interpretation
• Difficult interfaces to work with
• If you assume, you make an ass of u and me
• …

How did I become a promoter?

• The game puts theory into practice
• Somewhat confronting
• After the game you get an AHA moment
• Team work/play
• Lessons are learned in a “save” environment
• Reflection and sharing experiences afterwards

Usage in your company

• Applicable for both novices and experienced project and program leads
• Addition to the (rather theoretical) standard project management training
• Recap exercise for project/program leads
• Team activity in combination with HR event
• Develop soft and job skills

Be careful! Playing the game can improve your PM skills!

Dealing with a customer complaint

During a training I gave, I was suddenly interrupted by a participant with a rather harsh remark:

“What is this all about? I thought we were here for X, but all I can find in the slides is Y! I expected to learn about X”

I was actually startled. A lean as we try to work, we did a Voice Of the Customer (VOC) survey in advance to check which topics they wanted to discuss. We didn’t receive much response, but with the answers received we composed a slide set which was suited for purpose.

The remark triggered me to react rather defensive:

“The main topics and objects were spread way in advance and you could decide for yourself to participate or not. Further, we did a survey in the week before this training and it was possible to add topics to the agenda. You do are in a training about X, you know.”

The remarks of the participant were taken along in the remainder of the training, but it kept me wondering if it was the best approach to address the issue. I will use the benefit of hindsight to reflect on the issue.

Understand

With the remark of the participant I was driven out of my comfort zone. I felt almost personally charged at in front of the group. I actually was attempting to let the participant understand me instead of trying to understand him. So I broke an important rule:

            Seek first to understand, then to be understood. (Steven Covey, habit #5)

While I was studying on the topic of customer intimacy, it became clear to me: I didn’t put myself in the position of the customer. Even if you do a VOC survey in advance, the customer can still be unsatisfied and express his opinion or complaints.

Power to the customer

A customer complaint is actually a very powerful thing to work with, but it isn’t that easy.

The literature learns us:

• Listen. Seek to understand.
• Put yourself in the position of the customer.
• Don’t defend yourself.
• Reformulate the complaint to check if you’re on the same page.
• Give priority to the customer and his complaint.
• Find a solution together.

This fits the nonviolent communication framework very well. We learn there:

• All human beings share the same needs .
• All actions are attempts to meet needs.
• Feelings point to needs being met or unmet.

If we put it in steps:

1. State the observations that you would like to talk about.
2. State the feeling that the observation is triggering in you. Or, guess what the other person is feeling and ask.
3. State the need that is the cause of that feeling. Or, guess the need that caused the feeling in the other person, and ask.
4. Make a concrete request for action to meet the need just identified.

So if we would apply it to the situation, it could have gone something like this:

Participant: “What is this all about? I thought we were here for X, but all I can find in the slides is Y! I expected to learn about X”

Teacher: “I notice that you’re very interested in X. Do I understand you correct that you expected something else?”

Participant: “Yes, I didn’t come for Y, but for X.”

Teacher: “I feel a little uncomfortable because I really tried to adjust the course to the needs of the groups. Which topics and viewpoints do you want to see discussed in group?”

Participant: “I certainly want to know how to apply X in the context of Y.” 

Teacher: “I agree, it looks interesting to me too to take that angle. Is it OK for you that we continue further and take these topics along and apply them where possible?”

Participant: “OK, thanks.”

 

With this approach we combine handling a customer complaint with the lessons learned from the nonviolent communication framework. We’re not pushing the customer away anymore, but we’re trying to understand his needs and make sure they are met. Further, we just defused a potential harmful situation in front of a full class room.

Make customer feedback leading

You don’t have to be a car factory like Toyota to use the Lean principles of continuous improvement. The Lean methodology and its techniques are applicable to various sectors.

For example, I use some of the techniques when teaching in evening school. I’m a teacher for ICT courses like “Starting with VBA”, the Ms Office packet, but also for some energy and environmental courses.

Feedback after the facts

The IT courses in most cases take three to five evening slots of 2,5 hours. So, we’re spending a lot time together. After the training course, the participants get an evaluation form and the results get to me after about a week. There are some problems with this questionnaire. To begin, the questionnaire is taken in the last 5 minutes of the last lesson. People are rushed to get home and enjoy the rest of their evening, so not much time is taken for getting into details. Also, the survey is taken after the course. So all feedback & tips that are given to me can be only processed after the course and be used for the next batch of trainees. The added value of the evaluation has no effect on the current trainees, so they know they are not going to benefit from putting in a lot of work into the evaluation.

This implies that the current customer feedback (i consider the trainees are my customers) is only lagging. Which results in quick written evaluations of shallow depth with no direct added value for the writer.

Make customer feedback leading

With the mindset of continuous improvement in my head, i decided to move the evaluation moment forward to the end of the second or third evening course (depending on the number of evenings). When the feedback is requested in the middle of the course, the trainees will see the added value and give their full participation.

Also we are not using the standard evaluation form for this survey. To get the most out ot the group we did a SWOT analysis (Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats). The strengths will be kept and build upon. Opportunities that match strengths can be exploited so there’s extra advantage taken from the strengths. For the weaknesses an action plan needs to be developed: you got your feedback, so what are you going to do with it? The threats should be handled like project risks and a mitigation strategy is needed to avoid hitting the wall.

Because the company needs the input in standard evaluation forms, the survey is kept and can be used as follow-up to see if the actions did have the expected result.

By letting your customer give intermediary input, you can steer together the remainder of the course into the road of success.