Matthew Richter posts daily comments in LinkedIn—well, almost daily. You can follow him and join the conversation by going to http://linkedin.com/in/matthew-richter-0738b84.
For the benefit of our readers, we decide to compile and reprint some of his provocative pieces from the past. Let us know what you think.
I Like Improv
It’s fun to do and sometimes even fun to watch. Over the last 15 years improv has become a popular technique in corporate training, meeting management, and more. One challenge is many teachers and coaches of improv are highly skilled improvisers but lack the expertise in pedagogy and business acumen. So... when I need improv, one of the best experts I turn to is Kat Koppett and her book Training to Imagine. Kat has the education, expertise in business— and happens to be pretty darnn good at actually improvising. Anyway— if you need an improv book, check her out. The book is cost effective and full of useful stuff.
Grades and Ranks
My daughter just got a B on a Physics test. She is very upset and would probably kill me for sharing with all of you— so don’t tell her. I, however, am very happy. All year she has been getting A’s and A-‘s, but I am not sure she truly understood the material. She certainly knew how to take the tests, but did she completely comprehend? Today, she learned a bit of what she doesn’t know. Grading can be problematic. A grade implies perfection or gradients below perfection. They don’t imply the path to learning the content more effectively. They don’t imply gaps that can be filled. In my corporate training, many participants often take part in simulations. They become embarrassed if they don’t perform well, rather than use the simulation as an indicator of what to do better. Intellectually, they get that is what they should do, but after a lifetime growing up in a system of grades that can yield different feelings of self-worth, they would rather perform perfectly than use the simulation to close learning gaps. I believe the root cause for this problem stems from societal issues in how we educate our children. Risk, non-perfection, ranking all incentivize us away from intrinsic desires to learn and grow.
What Goes Into Your Training Bag?
A question to all my live classroom trainer friends. If you were to buy or make for yourself a trainer gear bag, a kit with all the odds and ends you always want to have with you for all your workshops, what would it contain? For example, mine would have a whistle, index cards, power plug and international adapter, masking tape, markers, dongles for the LCD, and a Bluetooth speaker.