Visit Website
Get More Information
Forward to a Friend

November 2009 Newsletter

[firstname,fallback=Good Morning],

Performance appraisals - we love them and we hate them.  Okay, okay, I don't know too many people that love them.  Dr. Todd DeWett talks about why performance appraisals are so painful in his article in this month's newsletter. 

Coming Soon

The Designing Training for Fun and Results Self-Study Course is about to be rolled out.  Harriet Meyerson conducted eight interviews with regard to my expertise on this subject.  We've added a handout (which is multiple pages) for each interview as well as a qualification quiz to get a Certificate of Completion, a designing training checklist, and a self-study schedule to help you record your progress.  We hope to qualify for Continuing Education Credits in 2010.  We look forward to sharing this new offering soon!

Otto's Toot

Early in the development process of your training class, you will need to collect data and research the topic for additional ideas and content.  You may have collected and researched much of this data during the needs analysis phase.  Regardless, you should have some idea of what data you still need to collect and research.

After the data is collected and researched, you will need to get organized.  This is where you begin to "clump" the material you're collecting in "like" files. 

For example, if a client indicated that they wanted some training for their teams, but couldn't clarify their thoughts on "team training," you could research "teams."  As you can imagine, there is a lot of information available on this topic. 

As you collect the information, you might cut and paste and type a variety of information into various files.  Some of the files that might be created are:

• Creating Effective Teams.
• Stages of Team Development.
• Managing Conflict in Teams.
• Team Meetings.
• Creativity, which is an important concept and skill for teams.
• Miscellaneous, which is used to capture all the material that didn't seem to fit in one of the other files.

(For more information on designing, developing, and documenting training, check out our Designing Training for Fun and Results eWorkbook.)

Remember, submit your tips or ideas on designing, developing, and/or documenting training to be featured in an upcoming newsletter!

Site Additions

Susan's Picks are now featuring:

• Affiliate Marketing Partner: Marta, whose passion, competence, and experience, makes her a trusted advisor within the nonprofit community. She facilitates nonprofit success through organizational development, strategic alliances, project management, training and executive coaching. Her enthusiasm and leadership bring a sense of balance during challenging times.
• Recommended Resources: Dave Piltz with The Learning Key®, which creates Play for Performance® learning tools and simulations ranging from industry specific books, to alternatives for role-playing using picture cards, to day long simulations, to team business-based board games.
• Book Review: I'm looking for contributors...your own or others' books.
• Miscellaneous Providers: Impact 100, which is a non-profit organization comprised of women with a desire to make a difference in the lives of others in the Greater Cincinnati area.  As busy women, you can choose to be as involved as you like.  Sign up before December 31, 2009 to contribute for the 2010 "give-away."

We've added a few more articles to our website.

• Why Performance Evaluations Are So Painful by Dr. Todd DeWett
• Communication: What's the Best Way by Robin Throckmorton

Continual Thanks

Per my 2008 Thank You, our November adopted animals are the Panda for the Endangered Species Adoption (which was February's Most Popular Species) and the Emperor Penguin for the Most Popular Species Adoption.

Noteworthy

I just won the quarterly "Why is English so hard to learn?" contest for Dottie Janson's newsletter, Conversational Voiceover Snippets.  Here's my winning contribution; I had to use trifle and sound as well as the various pronunciations of "omb" with comb, tomb, and bomb.  Enjoy...

It might sound a bit trifle to those who aren't huge Halloween fans, but a fearless goblin tried to comb Dracula's hair in his big, black coffin.  Yes, it was the very coffin hidden in a secretive tomb guarded by a wicked witch.  Rumor has it that this fearless goblin had a conspiratorial ghost set a bomb off in the adjacent cemetery, located by the Pumpkin Sound, to distract the wicked witch who was eating a trifle with her black cat.  They should have known not to trifle with the wicked witch because she was not of sound mind!

Don't feel like you need to "rate" me on my story writing.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Blog

Over the past few weeks I have been adding thoughts about my experiences at the conferences I’ve attended.  Want to read what I learned?  Want know what I thought?  Check out my past and future blogs.

As a Wrap Up

Who will do my performance appraisal?  I believe that my clients "appraise" my performance with referrals, additional work, and timely payments.  How about you?

Exceeding my clients expectations,

Susan@Training-Modules.com
Training-Modules.com
(859) 292-0095

Creating fun, customized training for organizations!