4 productive uses of your time while quarantined

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This is unlike any other time in our lives. Many of us are living under stay-at-home orders. Zoom is our new way of life. And we have even more time to scroll through social media and news sites to see what’s happening in the world and to search for some glimmers of hope.

Perhaps we’ll be back to normal in a few months. Maybe it’ll take a year for things to truly feel “normal” again. Whenever it is that “normal” returns, will you be prepared for it? Here are four ideas of actions you can be taking now to be sure you’re prepared when “normal” arrives.

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The Path to Getting Published

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Becoming a published writer can be tricky to navigate. Now that many of us are working from home and have a bit more free time, stretch goals like writing an article or even a book may feel a bit more realistic. In this podcast, we chat with Eliza Blanchard who is the Learning & Development content manager at the Association for Talent Development– ATD – to discuss what it takes to get published. She has several recommendations including how to get started, what writers should focus on, and how to get past imposter syndrome as a new writer.

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How To Keep Learning Going After Training (podcast)

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A lot of magic can happen during a training, conference, or webinar, but what happens after the session ends? Keeping the learning going after a session enables trainers to build on what happens in a session; however, designing this may not be easy. This week we sit down with Nancy Bacon of Nancy Bacon Consulting to learn how she finds ways to engage after training. She discusses tools, resources, and a few ideas on how others can approach learning after a session.

It should be noted that this podcast was captured before social distancing recommendations were put into place. While gathering may look a little different than it did a few weeks ago, everything in this podcast continues to apply for those of us who can meet and talk virtually. Whether virtual coffee or virtual meetings, now more than ever, it is important to find ways to continue to come together in new ways.

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Successfully Working in a Remote Office (podcast)

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Many workers are being asked to work remotely, but how does that change the way we work? In a post last week, we looked at some resources and tips around shifting to a home office. Recently, Gus Curran wrote a timely blog post about successfully adapting to a remote team. This week, Gus sat down with the Train Like You Listen podcast to dive deeper into how people can be successful in this work situation to which many workers are rapidly shifting.

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Preparing your organization to work from home

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Every once in a while, we training professionals are asked to drop everything else and put together some sort of emergency training program. The last time this happened to me, it was 2008. I was working for a national organization focused on foster care. Law enforcement officials had just raided a compound in Texas and 437 children were suddenly thrust into an already overburdened foster care system. I was asked to drop everything, take a half day to research the situation, and then hold a series of webinars to prepare people who would be asked to work with and represent the children in court.

Now seems like another one of those “drop everything” moments. Every day more companies and organizations are asking their staff to work from home, and as simple as it may sound, not everyone is prepared to effectively and productively work from home.

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Trying New Things with Mel Milloway (podcast)

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In a post last week, Brian asked a variety of questions, including whether people are inclined to experiment with new technologies or if they’d prefer to use their old stand-by’s. 83% of respondents said they like to experiment with new technologies.

Recently, Brian had a chance to sit down with Amazon’s Melissa Milloway to discuss how she pushes herself and others to experiment and try new things. Mel not only falls into that 83% category of people who are interested in trying new things,  she takes it to an extreme. In today’s podcast, we talk about how experiments can lead to big wins… and sometimes big fails (but always big lessons), and the support system that is needed to keep pushing yourself further.

If you want to know more about Mel, check out her website Mel’s Learning Lab which contains a wealth of information about her adventures trying new technologies and best practices.

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20 Questions (Training Edition)

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As I scroll through LinkedIn, I see lots of strong opinions about lots of different topics, especially when it comes to the language we use, the practices in which we engage and tools people prefer. I’m curious about where Train Like A Champion readers stand on some of these topics. Below is a series of “This or That”-style poll questions. If you have a few minutes, I’d love to see where you stand.

(Yes, I know that the binary format of these this-or-that-style questions doesn’t always offer a perfect set of choices, but simply choose the option that’s closest to how you feel!)

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Designing Webinars with Kassy LaBorie (podcast)

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Recently, Brian had a chance to sit down with Kassy LaBorie  of Kassy LaBorie Consulting to discuss her approach to designing and delivering Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT). They discussed how to make webinars more engaging, where she finds inspiration, and a few tips you can bring to your next live, web-based session.

If you want to know more about Kassy, check out her book Interact and Engage! which is chalk full of activities for virtual training sessions, meetings, and webinars.

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