American Society for Training & Development - Twin Cities Chapter

Note From the Editor
by Jane Neumiller-Bustad

What is "ASTD-U" and Why Should You Care?

September is "back to school" time for those of us with kids - new schools, new teachers, new notebooks, etc. It's fun to see how much our children grow from year to year, and we take delight in seeing all the new knowledge that's learned and put into practice.

But as we all know, learning is certainly not limited to kids! At ASTD-Twin Cities, we responded to member requests and put a professional development series into place a number of years ago. Called "ASTD University," or "ASTD-U" for short, we wanted to offer more extensive learning and development opportunities to our members.

Most years we offer at least one in-depth ASTD-U workshop a quarter - and coming up this fall we have two excellent workshops for your career development!

Most of us in the training and development profession end up managing projects. For some, things flow well. the project stays on time and on budget. For the rest of us, project management often resembles a delicate balancing act between competing managers, priorities, dollars, time and energy! You often feel like a punching bag at the end of the day...

Struggle no more! On September 15, nationally known expert Lou Russell will help you build collaboration and negotiation skills, integrate change and project management, and achieve stakeholder buy-in...in one dynamic project management workshop. (You can continue the learning the next day at the monthly ASTD-TCC luncheon). Lou is in high demand around the country for her fun, engaging and practical workshops and training sessions.

Read more about Lou Russell in the Spectrum by clicking here.

Then, on October 20, the highly respected Bob Mosher will offer an ASTD-U workshop on using Performance Support to accelerate employee learning, decrease training time and expenses, and maximize ROI for business processes and applications. Bob is the Global Chief Learning and Strategy and Evangelist with LearningGuide Solutions, an internationally respected training and development firm. He is an influential voice in the IT training industry, speaking at conferences and participating within industry associations such as CLO Magazine, CompTIA, ASTD, and The eLearning Guild.

Again, you'll benefit from Bob's expertise and global experience in a hands-on setting with your fellow practitioners.

Register for Bob Mosher's ASTD-U Workshop here.

If you want practical, efficient and sophisticated professional development with industry-leading experts, look no further than ASTD-U this fall!

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ASTD-TCC and PACT Jointly Offer Lou Russell on September 15 and 16

Join ASTD-TCC and PACT (Professional Association of Computer Trainers) for a co-hosted workshop with Lou Russell, on "The People Side of Project Management" on September 15. Lou will then be our guest speaker for the September 16 monthly meeting with "Project Management for Trainers," and we are looking forward to having many PACT members attend as well.

The full-day workshop on September 15 is a condensed version of the two-day National ASTD Certificate Program called "Project Management for Learning Professionals." This presentation by a national speaker and respected author in the field of project management promises to be an exceptional learning opportunity for ASTD and PACT members, as well as colleagues in our networks.

With nearly 25 years of experience, Lou Russell motivates and inspires as a consultant to companies, schools and colleges; a popular author; and a dynamic and entertaining speaker who is considered a topic expert in the fields of training and performance. Her upbeat and humorous style enlightens and entertains as she offers practical insights for improving communication, teamwork, and leadership.

Lou is the president and CEO of Russell Martin & Associates. Based in Indianapolis, the consulting and training company improves business results through fun, flexible, fast and measurable learning experiences in the areas of project management, leadership and organizational learning problems.

She is also the author of Accelerated Learning Fieldbook, Project Management for Trainers, IT Leadership Alchemy, Create Strong Leadership Training Now!, and Training Triage. Lou is also the author of The People Side of Project Management, part of the Villanova Advanced Project Management certificate program. Her writing also extends to contributions to Computer World, Cutter Executive Reports, and Inside Indiana Business, among others, and publishes the monthly Learning Flash electronic newsletter.

A popular speaker, Lou addresses national and international conferences such as the Project Management Institute, Project World, LotuSphere, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the Society of Information Management (SIM).

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ASTD-TCC Membership Drive - Share with Your Colleagues!

NEW and Exciting Reasons to Join ASTD-TCC

Good news! Our "summer special" for the Regional Conference on November 14-15, 2011 drew over 200 registrants! Last year at this time we only had 56, so thank you for your early commitments to an excellent learning experience. If you missed the summer pricing, you're still in luck. "Early Bird" pricing is in effect until October 17. In addition, if you register a group of 10 or more you can take 20% off of the conference price!

You'll find ASTD-TCC events listed on both LinkedIn and our Facebook fan page.

Help us spread the word by clicking "I'm attending" and then passing these links along to your friends and colleagues! We appreciate all of your help as we spread the word about our fantastic fall offerings. It is a world-class conference at a very affordable price.

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"Learning Keeps Me Alive"
by Loras Holmberg

"Learning keeps me alive," says Consuelo Cervantes Buenk. "Although I have a full time job and am also a mother of two boys, I know the importance of professional development."

Consuelo was the 2010 winner of the Ana Alvarez-Holmberg Scholarship. The $2,000 award is given annually through a joint contribution from the local chapters of PMI and ASTD.

In the 12 months since the award, she has continued working on her master's degree at the University of St. Thomas. She is enrolled in the human resources and change leadership program and will be done in another 18 months.

Consuelo has found the scholarship helpful. "Although my organization provides tuition reimbursement, this amount is capped per year. I can complete the program in a timely manner and not feel I have to sacrifice from the family budget to do so."

In August, Consuelo was promoted within Cargill to the position of Business Human Resources leader for the North American Power & Gas Trading Group. She has been with the company since 1996.

When not working in the office or tending to her family, Consuelo keeps busy. She believes in serving the community.

"Every other weekend, I visit a local elder carehome. Going to Presbyterian Homes for one-on-one visits with residents provides a perspective on how different people in our community live."

Consuelo's family left Mexico when she was two. In the ensuing years, she has lived in Chicago, Buenos Aires, Cincinnati, and Amsterdam prior to the Twin Cities.

Don't try to keep up with Consuelo on languages. She is fluent in Spanish and at an intermediate level in Dutch and Portugese.

The international exposure has helped Consuelo develop. "You learn more about yourself. You learn how your values compare to the local culture."

Consuelo resides in Minnetrista with her husband, Michiel, and sons Miko and Dalian.

The scholarship is named for Ana Alvarez-Holmberg who passed away in 2005 at age 46. In both PMI-MN and ASTD-TCC she held leadership positions. Through her commitment to these two organizations, to her family, to her friends, to her faith community and to the community at large she became a model of service and volunteerism.

Congratulations to Consuelo!

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Member Success Story: Liberty Diversified International
by Ann Miller, Workplace Effectiveness Specialist, Liberty Diversified International

Liberty Diversified International has evolved the way it champions and supports learning over the last 20 years. We have shifted from more formal learning opportunities, training and classes, to more on-the-job, just-in-time learning where the learning happens simply because employees do their jobs in a new and improved way.

We have adopted a 70-20-10 philosophy around learning at LDI.

• 70 percent of learning should come from the on-the-job experience, stretch assignments, making mistakes, doing the "work."
• 20 percent of learning should happen from other people, in the form of mentors, coaches, supervisors and even family members.
• 10 percent of learning should take the form of more formal learning events, like classes, seminars, forums, books and workshops.

In the past, LDI had flipped this philosophy, spending 70 percent of our resources on the classes. We have evolved into a learning organization that integrates growth and career development into the job, not separate from it. We have done this by creating a more robust individual development planning process, allowing employees to own their own development and pursue learning activities that will help them on the job.

If you could write a newspaper headline that sums up your success story, what would it say?
When People Grow, So Do Profits!

What's the "lead paragraph" of your success story?
The link between employee development and business development has never been stronger. At LDI, our key competitive advantage is our people, and we're committed to giving them what they need to be successful on the job. Whether it's a stretch assignment that challenges them in new ways, connecting them to learning opportunities, or giving them tools to really "own" their development, we know that investing in people means investing in our future success.

Employee engagement scores on our annual survey have consistently outpaced the industry average for four years straight. Our people are not only happy to come to work, they are ready to make a significant contribution to LDI's success.

Our success is a winning collaboration among three critical partners:

• Our leadership team, who know that their number one job is to help their employees win at work.
• Our Workplace Effectiveness team, who work hard every day to bring tools and resources to help employees develop their careers.
• Our employees themselves, who come to work every day ready to grow, learn and succeed.

Yes! And for others looking to grow their business by growing their people, do everything possible to ensure that the three partners listed above have what they need to be successful.

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Exclusive Book Signing and Evening Networking with Kevin Wilde

We've just added a Special Book Signing and Networking Event on Wednesday, September 21 with Kevin Wilde, Chief Learning Officer, General Mills. Join your fellow ASTD-TCC members for this exclusive event on Wednesday, September 21, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Dorsey Ewald Conference Center in St. Paul. Limited to the first 100!

All attendees will receive Kevin's book, Dancing With the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now. This special event is ONLY $20, including the book (value $19.95) and appetizers. Sign up today!

Kevin is responsible for world-wide people and organization growth at General Mills, including talent management, executive development and the Leadership Institute. Since joining the company in 1998, the organization has been consistently recognized for its innovative development work, highlighted by Fortune's #3 ranking as one of the best companies in the world at leadership development and Training magazine's designation as a "hall of fame" inductee as a top company for employee development. In 2007, Chief Learning Officer magazine selected Kevin as CLO of the year.

Kevin is a columnist for Talent Management magazine and serves on the editorial board for a number of professional journals. His work has been published in over a dozen books, including Coaching For Leadership and the Pfieffer Annual on Leadership Development. He has been quoted about talent and leadership development by Fortune magazine, Business Week, the Financial Times and Time magazine.

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Conference Sponsors Wanted!

(click for larger picture)

Our 6th Annual Conference and Expo on November 14 and 15 will draw in more than 400 attendees from all over the Midwest.

More than 25% of the them are at the Director or C-level for decision making.

Marketing will touch more than 4,000 professionals multiple times through a regionally focused, aggressive multi-media campaign. This conference offers international-quality presenters, an enhanced expo for our valued vendor partners, and unique opportunities for you to create lasting impressions with your target market.

We still have openings to offer 15-minute vendor demos, or a 75-minute breakout session slot!

Click here to download your copy of the sponsorship prospectus and sign up today.

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Conference Excellence: Interviews with Gail Zack Anderson and Gary Cohen
by Denise Patrick-Johnson, ASTD-TCC member and Documentation Manager, International Decision Systems

As the conference draws ever closer, my interviews this month prove again how our conference presenters are applying contemporary solutions to deliver tangible value. This month, I chatted with Gail Zack Anderson of Applause, Inc. who will grace us with a half-day presentation about building skills and confidence to give your own superstar presentation. Gail has more than 20 years experience helping others realize their strengths as speakers. Yes! We all have presentation strengths. You just need to discover them.

I also spoke with Gary Cohen, CO2 Partners founder and executive coach. He will give one of two keynote presentations, which is sure to put you into an inquiring mind for the duration of the conference. With interactive audience participation you will grasp quickly the ability to make better decisions by asking good questions.

Gary's presentation will focus on his "Just Ask Leadership" approach, which he outlines in his book: Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions (McGraw-Hill 2009). CO2 Partners focuses on coaching and leadership development to help talented people move to the next level. Formerly, Gary co-founded ACI Telecentrics, which he grew from 2 to 2200 employees. After 18 years of leading a company in an industry that went from go-go to no-go, Gary has experienced the entire corporate lifecycle and weathered the constant up-and-down transitions.

Presenting Using the Authentic Self

Gail's preconference session will focus on helping participants gain confidence through learning what is special about their presentation style. Gail's approach is diverse with focus on speaker confidence by coaching on delivery, content, slide design and presentation techniques because good presentations are about all four.

By helping you find your unique delivery strengths, Gail helps you build self-confidence as a speaker. I asked her how she does that. She said, "people let their thoughts hold back their performance... a lot of the time, people have good skills. They just don't know what they are. Each person has a certain way of doing things [attributed] to his/her personality he/she may not be aware of." You might be great with word choice, humor, or have fabulous gestures. But because you are not aware of it, you don't play it to the fullest.

To help you find your skills, Gail will record each presentation. You will give a two-minute presentation with Gail providing the lecture framework. You choose the content. At the end of the session you receive a DVD of your performance to review in private. Using the checklist Gail provides and the tips and information offered during the session from Gail and other participants, you can discover your presentation strengths. A recording may seem a bit uncomfortable - how many of us really like to watch ourselves on camera - but Gail encourages you to try it. You can only learn good things about yourself - and no else will see it.

"You just need to know who that is and how to give your best presentation. We don't make a good copy of someone else," encourages Gail. So much of what we do in our work is about developing others. Here is your opportunity to develop yourself, regardless of your current role. If you can find ways to use your strengths to be a better presenter, it will pay for itself over and over.

Keynote with Gary Cohen: "Just Ask Leadership"

"So much of what leaders do to get ready for a leadership position is about knowing," Gary tells us in his podcast interview with Michael McIntee. From school to college to work, we learn that if we have the answer, we are sought after. Having the answer lands us the A+, the bonus, the company perks. We start to believe that having the answer is the way to great leadership. When we finally step into a leadership role, if that role is not a subject matter expert role, we start to struggle. We discover the people around us know more than we do. What do we do? We shift from having the answer to having the right question to ask.

In a nutshell, that is Gary's "Just Ask Leadership" approach. To prepare the book he interviewed more than 100 leaders. Over and over again he learned that leaders have struggled with this very issue, but they had to self-discover the problem. Simply by helping the leaders become consciously competent, they began to perform at a higher level. They shared that 70 to 80% of their day is about finding out information. Knowing how to ask better questions helped them raise the bar on their leadership skills.

Shifting from "I know" to "I don't know"

It is forever frustrating for leaders to get to this. Gary gives an example: A pro tennis player hits a ball at 150 mph. By the time the ball is hit, it moves across the net in a quarter of a second. At that level of play, it is too late to decide where the ball is going when it comes back if you wait until the other player hits the ball. Players spend years learning where the ball will go based on the player and body language.

All that learning is very helpful if you continue to be a tennis player, but it becomes a problem if the tennis player becomes a leader of tennis players. Knowing is different than engaging the players to play - coaching. In a leadership position you need to get others to do what you did. You know so well how to do it that it gets in your way. People stop showing up because you keep giving the answer. They stop giving you their ideas. Why should they? You do it all; you have all the answers.

Getting over this hurdle is the toughest part of being a leader, but it is the key to increasing alignment, engagement, and accountability. This transition is very difficult for leaders because of their training, but it is necessary to building better teams and organizations.

Gary's keynote presentation focuses on helping you figure out how to ask the right question at the right time while still being authentic to who you are. He will give his presentation through a combination of audience participation and knowledge sharing. With his keynote presentation, he will share tactical information for helping people gain interest in switching to leading using his questioning approach. Participants will leave with a better understanding of how "Just Ask Leadership" leads to better alignment, engagement, and accountability.

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October Coaching SIG Meeting

Energy Leadership - The Energy of Success
Monday, October 3, 2011
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Hennepin County Southdale Library, York Ave. S., Edina

Bring your lunch. Free and open to the public.

To thrive in today's world, people must have a true sense of who they are
and how they "show up" in the various roles they play. They must be powerful enough to inspire others and themselves to take positive action - to lead themselves and others to greatness. Our ability to lead effectively relates to our level of energy.

In this session, you will:

• Explore how you define and measure success;
• Learn how certain levels of energy attract success while others repel it;
• Assess your level of engagement within your leadership role.

Everyone is a leader - either by choice or by default. How will you lead?

Understanding Energy Leadership will create the awareness needed to shift
your perspective/energy and ensure your success.

Our Presenter:

Robyn Green, CPC, MP-ELI, will introduce Energy Leadership, a process for developing a personally effective style of leadership that positively influences and changes not only you, but also those with whom you work and interact. Contact Robyn at Primary Solutions. www.primarysolutionsllc.com

If you have questions about the Coaching SIG or you'd like to present on a topic relevant to coaching in organizations, please contact co-chairs Julie Berg, Julie@julie-berg.com, or Cindy Edwards, cindy@tofindyourfit.com, or visit the ASTD-TCC Coaching SIG group on Linkedin.

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Follow us in Social Media

Follow us on Twitter: @astd_tcc

(The hash tag for the regional conference is #astdtcc2011conf)

Follow us on Facebook - click here.

(We need a volunteer to manage the page - are you interested?)

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Upcoming ASTD-TCC Events

We are committed to planning and delivering quality programs with knowledgable and engaging presenters who will provide you with tools, tips and techniques you can apply to your career and company.

Don't miss these upcoming events:

We welcome your event listings!

Every month, ASTD-TCC sponsors monthly meetings, special interest group meetings, educational seminars and special events for members and nonmembers alike. In addition, our partner organizations, i.e. MCDA, sponsor events of interest to our members.

We also accept calendar listings for your organization's workshops and seminars. Please click here to view our submission guidelines, costs and convenient online submission form.

ASTD-TCC is the go-to resource to drive business results through learning, performance and development. Be a part of it!

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Thanks to our new and renewing members for your support of ASTD-TCC.

New & Renewing Members

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What would you like to read?
If you have ideas for articles or information that could be shared in Spectrum, feel free to contact the 2011 editor Jane Neumiller-Bustad at janen@astd-tcc.org.

Spectrum is a subscription-based email publication from the American Society for Training & Development's Twin Cities Chapter to its members.