We recently had an opportunity for learning while doing good. Our local chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD, formerly ASTD) has collaborated with the Dane County chapter of United Way (UWDC). The purpose was to build our training skills while creating online toolkits for UWDC employees to use for their development.
Four Topics
After consideration of staff competencies, employee feedback surveys and leadership strategy sessions, UWDC chose four topics:
- Influencing: How to Manage Up/Across;
- Collaboration: How to be a Great Team Member;
- Feedback: How to Give and Receive Feedback; and
- Relationships: How to Build Trust.
This project will span 10 weeks. During this time the entire group of over 30 ATD volunteers will meet every other week to learn a new skill. The they will work within their smaller topical groups on alternate weeks to implement what they learned. At the final all group session, we’ll showcase our toolkits and celebrate.
Desired End Product
The desired end-product is a pdf for each topic that includes:
- a brief written introduction,
- a short “how to” video,
- action learning activities, and
- a management coaching guide to the materials.
All training will be mandatory for all staff. UWDC will select the sequence of the sessions and assign one at a time so that all employees practice the newly learned skills at the same time.
Two Complications
For the toolkit developers, there is a learning curve for each step in the process. This is further complicated by the need to work collaboratively with six other individuals to design and agree on the final products.
The First Step: Creating Performance-Based Learning Objectives
The first step was to create performance-based learning objectives that incorporated three considerations:
- Performance-what the learner should be able to do;
- Condition- how and where the learner would need to complete the action; and
- Criteria-how much the learner should be able to perform.
It Was Not So Easy
Our group, tasked with developing the Influencing toolkit, had difficulty focusing in on the learning objectives. The topic is so large, involving many different skills depending on what type of influencing needs to happen. We spun our wheels, listing more and more skill. Finally, one practical member proposed a simple scenario we could use. That helped us key in on the primary skills needed to influence up and across.
It was reassuring to learn that the other groups had similar difficulties. We had ultimately confined ourselves to three learning objectives. Others were not so disciplined. However, all of us were operating under the assumption that we would create several videos. Our hopes were dashed when we were told we could only develop one video lasting 45 seconds to 1 ½ minutes.
The Next Step: Creating an Animated Video
Our next step was to learn how to create an animated video using Vyond.
After watching an introductory video, our small group split into three work groups to: (1) create the script, (2) storyboard the script, and (3) add the video content.
I was torn between wanting to do something I’ve never done before, such as add the video content, or doing what would be easier and faster for me. Given that we have two weeks to create the entire video, I chose the second option and joined the script writing group.
Script Writing
Script writing has involved identifying the action and accompanying narration. We have been advised to keep each line to one sentence of 5-15 words. In addition, we can have no more than 25 lines to ensure we stay within the desired timeframe.
The video content can’t be added until the storyboard is created, and that is dependent upon the script. As a result, we need to create and finalize the script very quickly. The three of us have each drafted scripts, which are all very different from the other.
We need to:
- incorporate content to achieve our learning objectives,
- use plain language and
- try to be interesting as well as funny.
We meet tomorrow to hash this out. Wish us luck!!
If you would like to learn how to do this, please book a call to discuss the process. https://laurelandassociates.com/contact/
