Case Studies
Use of Voyage Mapping
Voyage Mapping: Using an Experiential Activity Remotely Invisio is a Learning & Development company based in Ireland that offers facilitation and learning solutions across all sectors. It had been arranged that a training exercise called Voyage Mapping would be used via video conference where the facilitator, Ann Alder from RSVP Design, would manage the session from her home in Cumbria for the Invisio team in their offices in Dublin. This is an unusual format as normally the facilitator would be in the same room supporting the participants as they use the experiential activity, and able to observe them. Louise from Invisio and Ann from RSVP Design both gave feedback on the experience of carrying out a training exercise remotely: What were Invisio looking for from the training exercise? Louise: We wanted to discuss changes to our consulting and our customers' needs. Ann: Invisio wanted an exercise that would help them explore changes to the financial sector and their clients' needs, and how well equipped they were to meet these changes. Prior to the meeting, I sent some articles to Louise about trends in the financial industry. Ann, why did you suggest Voyage Mapping? Ann: Voyage Mapping was ideal for the environment. It is a large roll up map and can be used with everyone in the same place. The tool was in place in advance of the meeting, although there was no previous experience of using Voyage Mapping. The imaging in Voyage Mapping is very useful as it helps people to understand the opportunities and risks in a safe and collaborative environment. Why did you decide to do the exercise remotely? Louise: We only had a short period of time - just over two hours - so it seemed a lot to ask Ann to come over to Ireland to facilitate. We had worked with Ann before and had a great bond, so the whole team were very comfortable with how she worked. Ann: There was a limited amount of time for this exercise. They felt that it was too long a distance to travel to the location, so it was agreed to do the facilitation by teleconference. What did the exercise involve? Ann: To run the exercise, we created a hypothetical client. During the exercise the team had to guess where the client's destination would be, what support they would need on their journey, and what pitfalls or opportunities could arise. We discussed the number of young people in their and their clients' organisations, and their wants and needs. We discussed their views on their own coaching and internal coaching by their clients. We created working prints and used these to extend the training. Did you enjoy the experience Louise? Louise: Yes, very much so. We quickly built a rapport as Ann is very articulate. The instructions were very clear and there were no real problems. Some in the group were leaving it to others, but we encouraged everyone to contribute to the exercise. Everyone ended up fully engaged. Did the remote facilitation work? Louise: We have used remote facilitation before, and we are used to it. Ann knows the Voyage Mapping exercise very well and although she could not see the map on the table, she was still able to guide us through the process. We lost our teleconference connection part of the way through the exercise, however with Ann's in-depth knowledge of Voyage Mapping she was able to keep us progressing. Ann: I found the remote facilitation and training process very easy. There were six in the group and by using a camera it worked very well. I didn't feel isolated in any way and enjoyed the session. Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Use of Matrix Product
Matrix - breaking down 'silo working' by using an experiential learning activity to powerfully demonstrate the advantages of working collaboratively Outlined below is an overview of how and where an RSVP Design Consulting Client used Matrix to help provide a powerful emotional experience to help people engage with an abstract concept and relate it directly to their own organisation challenges. Background: Client Request In Oil & Gas Businesses a large number of different departments must work collaboratively to unlock value for the enterprise. However Operations Excellence, Geologists, Rig operators etc. tend to work in silos and escalate decisions / requests for information up the hierarchy. This results in slow decision making and a lot of re-work. The client wanted a means to demonstrate the value and benefits of collaboration experientially. Consultant Response Approach: We decided the best way to do this was to actually recreate the organization structure using Matrix cords. When the activity got underway the group began problem solving in silos. It took about 15 minutes before one group they realized that they didn't have any white clips in their department! That led to the group discovering that they only way to success was by sharing resources. Their starting assumption had been that they could solve it individually! Once they determined they needed to share resources, they embarked on a very painful process of sending all the information up the network, to the 'boss' who would speak to the other 'bosses' and then send other information down. After 30 minutes they concluded that this was very painful and almost impossible to achieve. I asked for an estimate, and they said it would take - '4 to 6 hours!". At this stage I offered them 4 additional cords which they willingly accepted and used to connect the teams at the lowest level in the organization. Once those connections were in place, information and resources started to move rapidly. Teams that had been a foot away from each other that hadn't talked in the preceding 45 minutes were now engaged in heated problem-solving debates. In 15 minutes the task had been successfully completed. Matrix Activity Debrief The de-brief brought out a number of wonderful realisations from the participants: When you escalate things to your boss, you actually make his / her life more complex A lot of communication lines exist and are easy to use, but the ones that are formally established are the 'safest' Listening for what other people need can help you get what you need! Even though you might have all the resources you need to complete your task, you can still be a critical cog in connecting other people who don't have the same comfort you have in terms of task completion There is real value to collaboration in terms of speed, trust and greater engagement Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Use of Dialoogle Product
DIALOOGLE – Dialoogle cards are a carefully created and selected set of abstract images, photos, and symbols to creatively kick-start, renew, diversify, and qualify group discussions and conversations to enable participants to ‘open up’ about their thoughts and ideas in a safe environment. Outlined below is a description of how this image-based experiential activity was used as part of an internal leadership programme during a session on high performing teams to allow groups to visually create a future vision of the team and a bold statement to capture it. This case study is provided City of Glasgow College and is based on an event organized for more than 100 college managers that came together. Subsequently several managers have now approached the Organisational Development function about using the cards with their teams. There were a number of newly appointed as well as some established managers from across the college representing not only the faculty areas but also the support directorate Here is the explanation of how Dialoogle activity was introduced: Team Vision Exercise For the purpose of this exercise you are part of a new management team. Imagine it is 5 years from now and the team is being recognised for making a game-changing contribution. Step One From the images on the table select one image to represent each of the following: The way the team works together What it feels like to work as part of this team What others e.g. senior management/students/stakeholders are saying about us Once everyone has selected an image to represent the points above each person is invited to share their chosen image and explain the reason for selection Step Two As a team distil the range selected down to one or two images for each point to create a collective representation of the team vision. Final Step Create a bold statement of the desired future e.g. “This team will be known for...” Feedback from Douglas Alexander, Organisational Development Manager “Dialoogle cards provided great feedback, but furthermore these image cards turned out to be a great tool that could also be used in the future. A week after the event there were managers asking for sets of Dialoogle cards to use in their team meeting. These provided an opportunity for everyone to speak up. Not only was the manager talking, but all the team is involved and everyone has a chance to express themselves. The engagement from everyone is the same. Of course, more vocal members speak up first, but passive ones also have the opportunity to talk.Images help, as a picture speaks a thousand words. This activity has also proved useful with multicultural teams where language may be a barrier and even when a translator is used, the images still provide the depth for the conversation. Images encourages sharing in an open and honest environment.” Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Use of Minefield Product
MINEFIELD – An experiential capstone learning activity to provide opportunities to use the competences required of good managers Outlined below is a description of how to use an experiential learning activity to provide the kind of complex challenge that will provide a group with the opportunity to rehearse, practise or try to manage their contribution to a task. The task is consistent with earlier theoretical input and asks them to apply management competences in a realistic environment. They are under pressure from the task itself but also from working with others in an unfamiliar context. This case study is provided by Derek Fox from DF Leap in Ireland and describes his work with two different clients. Mostly I use Minefield at the end of a 2-day session to reinforce the learning from the sessions. It always works really well, participants really get the learning out of it and the debrief usually lasts 60-90 minutes. I run a 6 day ‘Stepping into Management’ course broken down into three 2-day sessions (over 3 months). Module 1 is ‘Personal Effectiveness – Managing Self’ it covers: Understanding your role and context Planning Problem Solving Decision Making Time Management Prioritisation Managing Personal Change Personal Brand In the afternoon of day 2 we run Minefield as it ‘tests’ most of the competences above. For example, during the course we help them understand they need to know ‘What Matters Most’ to the organisation (Top Priorities). Then what is the business criteria and weighting for Decision Making and Prioritising. They cover Planning and Problem Solving. In Time Management we help them understand they can NOT manage time (it is fixed) but they can manage where they SPEND their time, so actually it is about budgeting your time (making sure you are focusing on the most important things). So Minefield works well here as: At the start I set up a company called ‘Minefield Inc’ I am the CEO and I tell them my Top Priority is MONEY! Make me profits! (this should link back to the ‘What Matters Most’ part of the course and focus them on solutions that maximise profits) I assign an overall Co-ordinator and 4 team leaders (one for each sub team A.B,C,D). The role of the Co-ordinator is to look at the big picture and co-ordinate communications across the 4 teams. The role of the team leader is to manage their team’s activities, plan, and deliver results Ideally if they do it right they should work out the following: The goal is to FIND the mines (this is around Planning and What Matters Most) They need to do this in the most profitable way (What Matters Most) So if the goal is find the mines, than applying STEP 1 of Problem Solving (What is the problem) they should identify they need to lift the buttons to find the mines Now there are several strategies for this, if they are applying all the learning they should work together as one large team (this does not always happen due to the competitive nature) They should then PLAN out options, for example Option 1 – One team just lifts ALL the buttons Option 2 - Each team lifts buttons in their area of the mine and shares info with other teams Option 3 - Play strategically as Minesweeper and only lift the buttons they plan/pick to try to maximise profits Now selecting the strategy falls under Decision Making and Prioritising, so they have options, they need to pick one based on the criteria (Money, Time, Risk). Working across this criteria they SHOULD (but do not always) pick Strategy 1 or 3 (if they even decide to work together) If they are clever they realise: We have MORE money than needed to lift all buttons We have MORE people than needed (in Time Management we talk about resources being Time, People, Money) but we are limited in TIME, so Time is an important factor. If they go with Option 1 this is ZERO risk and VERY quick, but they do not make the MOST money If they go with option 3 this maximises the Money but there is a risk they get it wrong (this related to Risk Appetite , which is important in banking) Teams that do not work together typically run out of time and/or get it wrong (do not correctly identify all the mines) After the exercise I get the team leaders to debrief in their teams (what worked, did not work, do differently next time), then the Co-ordinator hosts a group debrief and they then need to report back to me as CEO. Case 2: Claims Handlers in an Insurance business. Here the course looks at key skills of: Observation Awareness Problem solving Identifying key information Big picture v details Asking Questions Again I run the exercise (but not as a large organisation) to test out their ability to look at the big picture, decide on a strategy and be aware of all the information/details to work out what is the key information. Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Cala Homes
Cala Homes, the UK’s Housebuilder of the Year in 2012, celebrated record success and growth in 2013. Significant recent investment and expansion allowed the company to create ambitious but achievable growth plans and, as part of their drive to create an innovative and forward looking culture they asked RSVP Design to support a new type of annual staff conference. The desire was for an interactive event, to replace the traditional ‘information briefing’ that had been organised in previous years. The briefing took place on separate days in two locations for the staff based in England and in Scotland, with the larger Scottish event being attended by almost 200 people. The theme that was identified was ‘thinking differently’. Built into this were three key messages: look for small innovations that move things forward in a positive and productive way explore ways of improving performance by seeking new solutions to old problems work across teams and perceived boundaries to share information and organisational learning. RSVP Design integrated three table top activities into the design of the day, ensuring that the key messages from speakers in the senior management team were illustrated in practice during the activities. The day opened with every participant taking part in a simple and entertaining practical task in which pairs of people were connected by rope links and challenged to find a way of freeing themselves within the rules of the activity - harder than it sounds! As pairs found correct solutions, the learning was passed around the room until everyone had completed the task successfully. This was a lively opening to the day, raised energy levels and illustrated the importance of sharing learning in order to achieve organisational success. A second activity, ‘Seeing the Point’, further illustrated how individuals and teams can limit their thinking by looking for obvious solutions and how, with some creativity and a willingness to experiment, can achieve ‘more with less’. The final exercise, RSVP Design’s Simbols exercise, became a competitive challenge as 9 teams aimed to problem-solve and organise the implementation of their solutions against the clock. A degree of enjoyable but productive chaos ensued and a number of the teams proved that even in difficult environments, good communication, teamwork and a carefully developed and well-organised strategy will deliver success. The feedback from the event was that it was engaging, motivational and coherent and that the activities reinforced the positive messages that ran through the business content of the rest of the day. Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led organization of forward-thinking companies that galvanizes the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. Through its members, the Council applies its respected thought leadership and effective advocacy to generate constructive solutions and take shared action to drive business action on sustainability in the coming decade and beyond. The WBCSD aims to be the leading voice of business that will support companies in scaling up true value-added business solutions and in creating the conditions where more sustainable companies will succeed and be recognised. Members work together across sectors, geographies and value chains to explore, develop and scale up business solutions to address the world's most pressing sustainability challenges. Through work to change the rules of the game and drive measurable impact, WBCSD is emerging as the leading and most compelling sustainable development business voice with multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank, UNFCCC, as well as with global platforms like the UN Climate Summit and COP negotiations. Leaders of the Future Tomorrow's business leaders need the skills and competencies to cope with an increasingly complex world as well as the social and environmental challenges across a changing competitive landscape. A sustainability perspective is critical to managing relationships, bringing about change and planning for the future. The WBCSD's Future Leaders Team (FLT) program is a unique professional and leadership development opportunity that aims to mold leaders for the future who understand sustainability challenges and can position these to make strategic decisions. The program is designed to help upcoming business leaders grapple with the complex topics, issues and concepts that will influence their future, as well as the future of their organizations. The program creates a global network of dynamic business leaders, capable of acting as sustainable development ambassadors both within their companies and in society. RSVP Design's Involvement in the Future Leaders Program RSVP Design were invited to make a significant contribution to the 2014 FLP. Our learning design specialists, led by Dr. Geoff Cox, worked in partnership with WBCSD and academic staff from the University of Cambridge, to create the first residential module of the international 9-month program, for approximately 30 Future Leaders. The module was structured in a way that: Introduced the participants to each other and created expectations about learning in a collaborative, supportive, diverse and respectful culture Built teams of people who would continue to work together on a range of real projects, around the world, during the program Established a common language and vocabulary with which to explore multiple aspects of the Sustainability Agenda, with a theme of 'Bridging the Capitals' Introduced key concepts around innovation, change and leadership for the future Raised awareness of the attitudes, skills and behaviors needed to be be future 'thought leaders' and influencers of people in their own organizations and beyond. The integration of RSVP Design's resources and skills Our objective was to raise awareness of, and create commitment to, a sustainable leadership culture which: Values decisions made for long term benefit rather than short term gain Is self-sustaining: leaders develop other leaders and a key success measure is the extent to which the next generation of leaders is empowered Sets out a clear vision of the future and engages employees through encouraging commitment and conviction Recognises that leadership can be exerted and applied from anywhere in an organisation Identifies potential for more sustainable practice and builds commitment to implementation (based upon the simple, visual, HBDI model) The structure of the program meant that we integrated a range of RSVP Design learning activities and processes into 2 days, weaving them through the academic content, linking them to WBCSD's presentations and using them to illustrate a range of attitudes, behaviors and beliefs within the group. The RSVP Design content 1. An introduction to different types of thinking, based upon the Whole Brain Thinking model of Ned Herrmann. This was linked to the Transformational Leadership activities identified in the CEO Study on Sustainability and provided an opportunity to reflect on the nature of leadership thinking. It also allowed the learners to reflect upon their personal thinking style preferences and the impact that these have upon their own leadership choices. 2. Introductory activity: Colourblind® a team exercise in achieving common meaning through the use of verbal communication. This allowed the participants to become more aware of how the different types of thinking translate into behavior, and the impact of this behavior on the task and other people. 3. Inter-group exercise: T-Trade. This exercise, which involves negotiation between groups, was used to highlight some key aspects of achieving sustainability: the balance between short/long term gains, the establishment of success measures other than financial ones, the importance of collaboration and partnership working. 4. Change Management activity: Challenging Assumptions, leading into a short session on the use of questions in innovation and change management, and a basic introduction to coaching as a tool for gaining commitment from individuals to a development agenda. 5. A practical leadership simulation: Top Priority. An extended, more complex task which requires overall and sub-group leadership: a simulated organization in which participants can apply and experience leadership in a more authentic context. 6. An extended debrief of the leadership exercise and a re-visiting of the Whole Brain Thinking model to identify where individuals can develop and extend their personal leadership practice in the remainder of the program, in relation to themes from sustainable leadership: Realism and context: Understanding the scale of the challenge and the opportunity Growth and differentiation: Turning sustainability to advantage and value creation Value and Performance: What gets measured gets managed Technology and innovation: New models for success Partnerships and collaboration: New challenges, new solutions Engagement and dialogue: broadening the conversation Advocacy and leadership: Shaping future systems RSVP Design's Training of Facilitators The 2014 FLP was so successful, numbers increased significantly for 2015. That year, WBCSD's own facilitators and sustainability experts facilitated the introductory module themselves, in the USA in association with Yale University. To support and prepare them, Ann Alder from RSVP Design worked with the facilitators over two days, to extend their understanding of the learning design process, the activities involved and the methods for facilitating the activity reviews to ensure that the desired learning is achieved. During this training, the WBCSD facilitators facilitated the activity sessions with a group of their own colleagues, with mentoring from Ann, to ensure they felt completely confident in taking over the role for 2015. This process is a live example of our commitment to sustainability and capacity-building: the transfer of our expertise into the client organization where it can be developed and handed on to others in future. Feedback and testimonials from FLP participants "I think it is great! Diversity and competence were the basis of constructive discussions on sustainability between people from all over the world, working in different functions and sectors. The opportunities to discuss, share best practices, doubts and ideas really have developed each of us. We achieved so much in a short period of time, both from a learning point of view and also from a team-building perspective. In my opinion, the decision to involve people who do not normally work on sustainability was useful and brought the sharing of external and critical points of view." "For the people engaged in the program, it's an amazing and fun way to develop leadership skills and to build knowledge on specific dimensions of sustainability." "In addition to the technical knowledge I gained, we spent a substantial amount of time throughout the program on core skills such as leadership, networking, team, project, and time management. When I look back at my experience with the FLT program, I am mostly proud that at the end of the program I came to know and befriend 28 other amazing individuals from all around the world." Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Bahrain Polytechnic
Bahrain Polytechnic: A Case Study in the application of RSVP Design learning tools Bahrain Polytechnic is a government-owned tertiary education institute located in the Kingdom of Bahrain, teaching local students on a range of degree courses including Business, Information and Communications Technology, Engineering Technology, Visual Design and International Logistics Management. With an intake of approximately 300-400 students each academic year, the Polytechnic is small enough to offer a student-centred approach to learning and a high level of support to students who are struggling. A foundation year, ‘Preparation for Academic Learning’ offers additional teaching and coaching in core subjects of English and Maths and provides an opportunity to enhance study skills. There is also time to develop inter-personal, communication and team-working skills. A range of ‘electives’ – additional programmes which students select themselves – operates alongside the main academic programme. Integrating RSVP Design’s experiential learning tools The Polytechnic is committed to developing what the staff refer to as “21st Century Skills” – the skills that support independent learning, creativity and innovation, communication, the acceptance of individual responsibility and effective teamwork. They understand that in a small island, local students need to be prepared for employment outside their home environment and will benefit from developing a broad range of skills that make them attractive as employees in international businesses. In 2013 The School of Humanities bought a full range of RSVP Design’s experiential learning tools, specifically in order to develop an elective entitled ‘Thinking out of the Box’. This programme ran for the first time in the academic year 2013-2014 and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the students. The programme includes 60 hours of classroom based study, plus 90 hours of self directed work including in-depth, reflective assessments, and aims to give students a very different experience of learning. RSVP Design’s selected learning tools A number of key activities from the RSVP Design range punctuate the programme. The ‘Challenging Assumptions Puzzle’ challenges students to ask questions, challenge what they think they know and leave behind beliefs that will limit their academic progress Colourblind® rehearses and refines verbal communication skills and group problem-solving Counter Intelligence highlights the importance of applying critical thinking skills, emphasizing the need to evaluate and seek evidence in an age of freely available ‘mass information’ Webmaster offers a challenging, large group application activity towards the end of the programme, which assesses the students’ ability to manage time, resources and each other in delivering a complex project with a measurable correct answer, under test conditions. Examples of Student Feedback I realised in this course that I am resourceful and I can adapt to change even though my perspective at that start was that was not possible. I had no idea what I could be capable of doing especially in group. Dealing with difference, was very significant for me. I was exposed to students from other degrees and I have encountered that before. I realised that I can cope with uncertainty, I did not know this about myself. I realise that I had a perspective that I now believe was “wrong”. I saw that everyone in our team offered something. That having a shared goal and a commitment together makes a big difference,. I felt proud, not a feeling I was used to having here. I saw how well groups can work!! I had never had that experience before. In life I limited myself too much... my perspective of myself has changed. I was never confident walking into uncertainty. I avoided uncertainty. But this course showed me that I can cope with uncertainty and that if I just “go there “then great things happen. I realise I have a quiet confidence that I developed throughout the course. I realise I do not give up even though I had a perception that I do. I realise I like hands on I didn’t know this about myself and I am thinking I want to use this more in my life. I loved the course because it was so different from anything I had done before. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about myself. I realised that I do not like being responsible for others but in the course I had to address this. I had to be involved. I cannot believe it: I actually love the new things. RSVP Design’s Training of Trainers The elective programme has been so successful, and student feedback so encouraging, that Bahrain Polytechnic has confirmed its commitment to developing a more learner-centred, experiential learning approach across all of its programmes, beginning in the Faculty of Humanities. To support and accelerate this, Ann Alder from RSVP Design was approached to deliver a two-day workshop training to the Faculty Management Team, including programme managers and designers and lead teaching staff. The workshop, for 16 people, covered many aspects of the design and delivery of experiential learning activities and was tailored specifically to the skills and needs of the Polytechnic. This was followed by a one-day workshop which was extended out to 40 teaching staff, from a range of specialisms including Maths, English, IT, Engineering, Visual Design and Transport Logistics. This workshop introduced the concept of REALs – Rich Environments for Active Learning – and explored how to use experiential and accelerated learning techniques in teaching more technical subject matter. Feedback and testimonials “I have had the most wonderful two days of training that I have had in 40 years of working in education. I have to say, I have enjoyed this more, and learnt more, than in anything else I have done at the Polytechnic. And Ann Alder, is without doubt, the best facilitator of learning I have ever met.” Sajida Tabbara, Dean of the School of Humanities, Bahrain Polytechnic “Creating and delivering the ‘Thinking out of the Box’ elective has been a wonderful experience. The staff are motivated, excited and our enthusiasm is transferring to the students. Student feedback is outstanding – they are thinking about themselves, reflecting and producing assessment work that demonstrates a level of personal awareness and maturity that we never expected.” Jo Visser, Annie Roberts and Deborah Brownlie, Course Tutors Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
GCS is the third-largest district in North Carolina, serving more than 72,300 students across 127 schools in urban, suburban and rural areas. The district is divided into four regions, each with its own regional superintendent, office and support staff to provide personal attention to our schools. Because it is a larger district, GCS are able to offer opportunities that smaller districts, charter and private schools just can't. They have 47 magnet and choice schools with 54 programs, from Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to performing or visual arts, advanced academics, Spanish immersion, Montessori, health sciences or aviation. They also offer 192 Career and Technical Education courses in 50 schools, including programs in culinary arts, business, nursing, computers and automotive technology, among others. High schools across GCS offer more than 29 Advanced Placement courses. These college-level classes prepare students for the higher-level courses they will take after graduating from high school and moving on to colleges and universities. GCS also offers the prestigious International Baccalaureate program at four high schools - and it's open to all students who qualify. Only a small number of districts in North Carolina are authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the Diploma Programme, and GCS has been a part of it since 1996. Personalizing learning is a key value, and GCS are committed to personalizing learning for each of their students. The Strategic Plan 2016: Achieving Educational Excellence: Personalizing Learning focuses on reaching each student at his or her academic or interest level, then providing the tools to move them ahead. Coaching School Principals, Teacher Leaders and New Teachers GCS has a dedicated team of 13 within their Talent Development Centre, providing coaching support and on-going professional training to educators in schools. RSVP Design were asked to work with this team to help them to prepare professional development programs to be run as summer retreats in 2015, for three groups: 120 Teacher Leaders, 50 School Principals and 40 newly recruited teachers. GCS had already invested in a wide range of RSVP Design’s experiential learning tools and wanted to ensure that they made the best use possible of these exciting resources. RSVP Design’s involvement in the Program Ann Alder, RSVP Design’s specialist in the training of trainers and teachers, was invited to work with the team over 4 days. Part 1: Learning Objectives (2 days) To develop a consistent understanding of the principles that underpin experiential learning, in order to create confidence in choosing and using experiential learning activities within development programs To explore a range of methods of selecting, running and de-briefing experiential activities in order to achieve specific learning objectives To gain in-depth understanding of the available RSVP Design activities and to practice using them in different ways and in different contexts To understand how to apply learning from the activities in other contexts and environments Learning Objectives (2 days) To establish clearly defined learning objectives and outcomes for two x 3-day retreats To co-create programme outlines which will integrate experiential activities into strategic discussions and planning workshops To consider how to facilitate these retreats, in order to achieve benefits for all of the participants The integration of RSVP Design’s resources and skills It was clear, initially, that the focus of this 4 day event was on a transfer of training expertise from RSVP Design to the GCS education team, so that they could apply it in their program design. What was unexpected was the extent to which the event also became an intense team development experience for those involved, addressing issues of trust, teamwork, knowledge-sharing, strategic planning and leadership. Ann believes firmly that the best way to discover the power and potential of the learning tools is by experiencing them first hand. As the team members worked through the activities, then reviewed their own learning, patterns of behavior began to emerge that they recognized from their day-to-day working relationships and systems. Some of these were positive and productive and some were less useful. The development planning that the team undertook during the program, and have committed to continuing after the event, was a major and surprising extra benefit from the training The RSVP Design content Day 1 was an introduction to the underpinning theory behind RSVP Design’s work: the models, theoretical frameworks and principles of learning design that we use to ensure learner engagement and powerful learning that will be retained and applied. This was done through practical experience, eg. introducing ideas about ‘the learning process’ through the experience and debrief of Challenging Assumptions, a puzzle that requires many assumptions to be explored as ‘old learning’ is put aside and new solutions developed. Colourblind® - a team exercise in achieving common meaning through the use of verbal communication - allowed the participants to become more aware of how the activity and debrief can be used to draw out multiple learning points and how important it is to have clearly defined learning objectives to keep both the trainer and learners focused on their specific learning needs. In order to demonstrate the need to apply learning from one context into a similar but more challenging one, the participants moved on to the Simbols activity. Working as sub-teams, they applied the speaking and listening skills, and use of language to achieve shared meaning, that they had learned in Colourblind®. They added in the requirement to develop an operational plan, under tight time constraints and to ensure that every individual was well briefed. The team’s failure to meet the time deadline illustrated a development need that they recognised and led to an exploration of the nature of leadership in different contexts. Learning from this exercise was applied in Minefield, which has the added advantage of introducing issues of competition and collaboration. Day 2 continued to focus on selected RSVP Design tools and as new activities were introduced, their potential for sensitising learners to important issues and providing them with a safe practice ground to rehearse and refine specific skills became more obvious. For example, whilst half the team worked on Sequencer as an exercise in project planning and time management (which brought to light many of the team’s own ineffective patterns!) the other half of the team acted as 1:1 observers. Following the general review of the activity, the observers met with their partners to provide a structured session of feedback and peer coaching, based upon their observations of input, contribution and effectiveness during the activity. This served two purposes, developing observation and feedback skills as well as demonstrating how a practical task can be used to generate personalized learning. As they worked through their chosen exercises, Ann introduced a wide range of different techniques for debriefing and drawing our individual and group learning. These included visual resources such as picture cards, kinaesthetic techniques such as group lineouts and description of emotional responses and activities such as grafitti sheets and post-it exercises to ensure maximum participation. Examples of structured learning review and future planning tools such as the Voyage Mapping facilitation tool were also explored. Throughout the 2 days, as the participants explored their resources and ways of applying them, they were able to begin to visualise how they could be integrated into the different tea RSVP Design’s facilitation support Days 3 and 4 of the programme were used to work in small groups to plan the three separate teacher retreats. Ann offered a design framework which all three groups adopted and then allowed them to work independently, responding to questions, coaching and suggesting possible input as required. The atmosphere buzzed: ideas were developed, improved and gradually three exciting and challenging programme designs emerged. Each one followed the principles of good learning design and each one was tailored to the very different needs of the three participant groups. For the School Principals, a programme developed exploring how they could use the very simple Action Centred Leadership model to balance the leadership demands made upon them in challenging school environments. For the Teacher Leaders, who face significant change in their role and relationships, a programme was devised using the Voyage Mapping metaphor and movie-making to action plan for the year ahead. And for the new teachers, experiential activities were designed into two important strands: a) managing themselves and their ongoing learning whilst experiencing the pressures and stresses of a new job and b) using their creativity to ensure that they offer engaging, challenging and interactive experiences to the children in their care. Feedback from the program “Our team had the opportunity to spend four days with Ann Alder, learning how to maximize our usage of numerous RSVP tools. Ann was amazing! Not only did we learn how to facilitate the RSVP tools, the experience changed the way our team will interact, communicate, plan, and design adult learning experiences forevermore. The learning tools were so well designed and easy to use. They are far more versatile than we ever imagined and it was Ann’s training that allowed us to realize how many applications each of them offer. Some of our favorites were Sequencer, Simmetrics, Minefield and Colorblind. Our only regret is that we did not work with Ann sooner!” Amy Holcombe, Ph.D. Executive Director of Talent Development, Human Resources, GCS Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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BAE SYSTEMS: Surface Fleet Supervisors
This division of BAE Systems builds naval ships to supply MOD contracts. Several years ago they needed to train approximately 100 of their operational supervisors in supervisory leadership skills. Formal, accredited training with classroom style teaching and theoretical assignments had proved a disaster: the inappropriate learning style and the lack of content relevance to the supervisors had created a high drop-out rate and de-valued all training in the eyes of the participants. RSVP Design were commissioned to re-design the programme and to deliver a modular, 5-day programme to all new and recently appointed supervisors. This resulted in the delivery of 20 days of training (4 x intakes, each undertaking a 5-day modular programme over 2 months) and this programme continued into the future as new supervisors were recruited. Key elements of this programme are: A simple, pre-programme personal and line-manager assessment of confidence and competence against carefully selected and relevant competences, to give a ‘benchmark’ of starting performance Trainers spending a full day shadowing a participant to get a sense of the reality of the working environment and issues A highly practical and coherent workshop design, in which learners built skills in a step-by-step process, using activity based (experiential) learning that made no real demands upon ‘academic’ ability but recognised practical contribution, common sense, sensitivity and awareness of inter-personal issues and the need to change behaviour to accommodate different situations Flexibility on the part of the trainer to deal with issues of real concern …”So what do I do when this happens?” The creation of personal, individual action plans for continuation beyond the programme Follow-up interviews and observation by line managers, supported by HR specialists in the company. An initial needs assessment and observation of the first cohort in action identified the following key factors in the programme design. The supervisors needed an activity-based programme. The participants both enjoy and remember the learning derived from the activities. The process of activity, review and introduction of ‘comparative’ theory matches the learning style of the majority. The supervisors had, in general, a very low level of self-awareness and found it difficult to reflect on their own behaviour and preferences. The standard of observation and listening was not very high. They needed time and coaching to begin to notice the effects of their own, and other people’s, behaviour. There was a relatively low level of confidence in tackling new or unfamiliar problems. Technical problem solving (‘fixing’) was good: the ability to see a bigger picture and grasp the implications of the wider problem was more of a challenge. This translated into dealing with ‘people problems’ in which the impact of their choice of behaviour was difficult for them to assess, for example in dealing with conflict. Bearing these things in mind, we created a five-module programme. We saw the need to ‘lead’ the supervisors through a coherent and developmental process, allowing them opportunities to build upon their skills and to have multiple opportunities to practise new skills. Our structure Day 1: Induction. Emphasis on learning styles, the role of the supervisor, expectations of the leadership role. Introductory team work projects. Day 2: Basic teamworking skills. Working on a series of team tasks to explore issues around the achievement of tasks when working under constraints of time and resources. Basic task management, planning, problem-solving, some introductory time-management and delegation Day 3: Achieving results through others: a strong focus on communication skills as they supervise more complex, multi-task activities. Some introductory work around motivation and delegation in order to achieve high quality results through the management of people. Focus on observation and listening skills Day 4: Dealing with ‘difficult situations’: using influencing skills, motivational and conflict management skills to deal with situations which become more complex. This included negotiation skills, to address conflicts over resources, performance issues and inter-personal tensions. Day 5: Achieving excellence. Process and performance improvement, prioritisation, problem-solving. Influencing upwards, Self-development. Working with the supervisors to create an environment that supports learning. A practical opportunity to put into practice skills developed in other parts of the programme along with those from the previous modules. Outcomes Feedback from the programme was been universally and consistently positive. Line managers reported observable behavioural change. Approximately 80% of the supervisors completed all elements of the programme, including technical, IT, HR and Stress Management training conducted by other providers and received company certification. Those who did not complete had largely been limited by illness or other work demands: and planned to finish the programme with later cohorts. The Supervisor Improvement programme won the BAE Systems Chairman’s Bronze award in 2008. The Chairman’s Awards scheme recognises employees and industry partners for outstanding, new and innovative ways in which they shape BAE Systems and contribute towards its global success. Further Information To learn more about how we can help you to integrate or facilitate powerful, experiential learning activities in your training, please contact sales@rsvpdesign.co.uk or call +44 141 561 0387
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