Learning: The Magic of Making Training FUN

A young person approached me this morning and asked if it is a good idea to become a trainer. I used the classic answer used by consultants - " it all depends." Of course, it depends on what the young person wants to do, what his/her goals are. To explain myself I had to rely on my personal experiences and let the young person decide what is best. From my viewpoint, I certainly think training is indeed a very noble profession. You can call it by whatever name you want but if you are in the business of helping someone learn and if that learner is able to apply it in some form of work, I think you have evolved into a trainer. Training has been around since stone age and all of us have learned right from the day we entered into this world. The question is - was that training or learning cost effective. Hence a professional trainer is one who impacts people in a positive way. A Professional trainer is one with good communication skills and subject matter expertise. To achieve pro...

Rainbow Creators What do you do when a friend feeds you negative information? Do you respond defensively? Do you accept that as a fact? Do you filter the facts from the criticism and do what is neccessay for your growth? Today was an incredible day. I had a friend who fed me a lot of information that was negative. I paused - took the criticism - tried not to be defensive; never for a moment did I let that jostle my sense of cool. I figured it was a perception - I needed to understand that better. Nevertheless, I did not forget the point I made in my book Creating Your Own Rainbow that all of us need to - Recognise We can make a Difference.

Planning Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part I experienced this situation today. The lack of planning by a colleague threw the entire day's plan into disarray. I was not sure whether it was the person's fault or that we did not have the depth to plan for alternatives. We sure did survive the day reasonably well but thought we could have done better if only everyone involved had planned better. Last minute changes and let downs are difficult to manage if the customer is to be satisfied. Consistency in exceeding customer expectations comes from adaptive planning - a word used by Professor Moshe Rubenstein to describe a managerial response to plans and changes.

Keynotes I had the opportunity today to present at a high level Industrial Relations Convention. Possibly, I was the only non lawyer speaker there. While others were talking about the right of the employer to dismiss and the right of the employee to basic work, I was there to talk about Talent Management. The first session after a sumptous lunch is always a tough one. I used a simple formula - one idea for every ten minutes. Each idea had a theoretical point, a practical example and a story. Let me tell you the 200 people in the audience loved the stories as they were woven into the subject. To me, a high impact keynote presentation must involve the audience as well as impact them.

People development This year, the Asia HRDCongress will move to Jakarta, Indonesia. For details please visit www.hrdcongress.com The highlight of the event will be a keynote by the former Prime Minstter of Malaysia Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.