CALMet XV 2023: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

Is it the content? The people? Persistence over time?

It is hard to sum concisely.

How do we describe that community? Does the word for it change over time?

Did our Regional Focus Group become a Community of Practice? Yes, I think it did.

What are your thoughts?

What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

NietosvaaraVesa - 2023年11月13日星期一 13:08

Bernie, Regional Focus Groups are a Community of Practice (CoP) to me ... they are an organized group with people having the same interest in interpretation of weather. They meet regularly and share information to improve and advance their skills. All this matches the definition of CoP as I have seen it.

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ConnellBernie - 2023年11月15日星期三 05:22

Hi Vesa,
I responded to the two other comments and then felt I had to come back to yours :) I agree fully with the share information part. I join in to discussions to hear what other perspectives are, then compare that with my own assessments and make adaptations - sometimes unconsciously. Members also tend to build trust and respect. I do not always feel that same sense of respect and trust in all venues...
It is getting late here and I must sign off.

Cheers,
Bernie

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ParrishPatrick - 2023年11月14日星期二 14:48

Hi Bernie,

Since your question uses the words, "worth the effort and investment," it sounds to me like you are talking about "outcomes." In other words, not inherent rewards of the process.

Yet, it is the inherent rewards that keep the effort going--keep the people together over time that lead to bigger outcomes.

I wonder about what things might be meant by "content." It might mean what is said, what is shown, what activities are conducted. These certainly lead to outcomes. But "content" might also mean the act of working together and the community that is built.

A last thought: that term "Community of Practice" is a mouthful. It also sounds academic, a term invented by academics and not by the people who build such communities of their own accord. I wonder if it is OK to substitute "Learning Communities" or "Professional Communities." I think the key is the word "Community"--a group of people not defined by governmental or financial mechanisms, but by how the work and play together.

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ConnellBernie - 2023年11月15日星期三 04:19

Hi Pat,
Funding tends to guide what we do and our funders are asking - 'what are the impacts?' and 'is this a good investment?' When we believe that this activity is making an impact, we find ways to keep it going. When there are other stressors in work or life, we have to choose our battles. When you know that one of the outcomes of of this activity is community and people seem to appear and help when they are needed, that provides a renewed sense of hope for the community to continue and thrive. At the same time, hope is not something our funders want to hear as a measure of success. Because this is informal, how do we measure the impact? By persistent people participation over time? By the expansion of the number of different organizations and disciplines that participate (network analysis as mentioned by EOTEC DevNet)?

As for your last comment, I find myself tripping on words every day. Does the term "Community of Practice" fit under jargon (tune in on Friday!) We still call the sessions 'Regional Focus Group (RFG) ' and we add 'Weather and Climate'. Would it be helpful to change the term?
I came across a quite by Deng Ming-Dao recently: " Because words are imperfect, every generation rewrites itself."

Cheers,
Bernie

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ParrishPatrick - 2023年11月15日星期三 08:51

Bernie,

Roro is collecting stories about CALMet this week, some of which can hopefully be used to demonstrate the value of the CALMet Community. Have you tried collecting stories of value gained by the members of your Groups?

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

Ross-LazarovTsvetomir - 2023年11月14日星期二 16:50

Hi Bernie,
A great set of thought provoking questions!

I'd like to borrow an idea from Micheal Allen about effective training. In his words, training that gets "people to do the right thing at the right time." is worth the effort and investment. "Just knowing what to do isn't sufficient and isn't success unless employees know how and when to do it." Allen, Michael W.. Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning: Building Interactive, Fun, and Effective Learning Programs for Any Company (p. 41). Wiley. Kindle Edition.

Cheers,
Tsvet

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ConnellBernie - 2023年11月15日星期三 05:03

Hi Tsvet,
I have not read Michael Allen's Guide although that sounds like a good approach, particularly for well defined tasks.
I'll put that on my list to read. One of the things I like to hear is when someone notices and comments on an unexpected feature observed in a standard product. How can we encourage curiosity, especially for those tastks that are not so well defined?

Cheers,
Bernie

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

Ross-LazarovTsvetomir - 2023年11月15日星期三 17:33

Hi Bernie,
I am not sure that many sponsors are willing to fund training that encourages curiosity. I have not encountered that in the last twenty five years of my work so I cannot comment on that.

There is however another element that could be related - motivation to learn. Very few trainers make instructional activities by purposefully designing them to foster the motivation to learn. In my experience, if people have the motivation to learn they become curious.

In the same book Allen suggests: "In contrast to traditional practice, I would suggest that if you have a very small budget, it might be appropriate to spend nearly the entire budget on heightening motivation and to make learner attitudes as positive as possible. For more average size budgets, perhaps up to half the budget should be used to bolster motivation. Why spend so much on motivation? Highly motivated learners will find a way to learn. If necessary, motivated learners can be quite creative in finding sources of help, information, best practices, and so on. They will support one another, exchanging information and teaming up to find missing pieces. If your training program gets you only this far, you've probably already won the toughest battle."
Allen, Michael W.. Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning: Building Interactive, Fun, and Effective Learning Programs for Any Company (p. 77). Wiley. Kindle Edition.

Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist, recommends that we adopt a scientific approach towards all aspects of our experience: "Thinking like a scientist involves more than just reacting with an open mind. It means being actively open-minded. It requires searching for reasons why we might be wrong—not for reasons why we must be right—and revising our views based on what we learn."
Grant, Adam. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know (p. 25). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Perhaps, one thing we can do as trainers is spend more of our budgets on increasing motivation to learn and being actively open-minded and less on providing information.

I'd love to meet a sponsor like that and work with them!
Tsvet

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

ParrishPatrick - 2023年11月15日星期三 19:37

Hi Tsvet and Bernie,

Very true that curiosity is never measured and never mentioned as a learning outcome. It might be mentioned as a competency in some universities, and demonstrated a variety of ways.

And yet, creativity and innovation are highly valued in the staff persons within organizations, and these are driven by curiosity. Maybe it should be valued as a learning outcome. We often say that good teachers can stimulate the curiosity of learners.

Which comes first, curiosity or motivation to learn? Or are they the same thing? They sure seem like it to me (although motivation also has an implied persistence component). Maybe the same for "open mindedness."

As Bernie has said, language is imprecise. But at least what all these have in common for teachers is focusing on more than information.

Great quote by Michael Allen. I like the quote by Adam Grant even more!

Re: What aspects of training make it worth the effort and investment?

VeeckLuciane - 2023年11月16日星期四 08:22

Hi All,

I read this thread with much interest, and I also got caught in the question: what comes first: curiosity or motivation to learn?

For me, curiosity can be a reason for a person to want to learn about something. In this sense, curiosity could be interpreted as one of the motivations to learn.
Maybe this is more commonly observed in young people, like kids being curious to learn about something they observe but do not understand it yet. Also, for people passionate about a subject, so the curiosity is driving the personal desire to learn more about it.

But when thinking about professionals working to meet deadlines and extra busy schedules, I believe that knowing the direct benefits of application can increase the motivation to invest precious time on learning something new.
Perhaps we should consider describing the benefits more clearly in course descriptions?

Thanks for the reference on the book by Adam Grant. Sounds like a very good reading for my holiday ;)