KIMBERLY DEVLIN
  • HOME
  • BOOKS
    • Focus On This, Not That
    • Don't Waste My Time
    • Same Training, Half the Time
    • Facilitation Skills Training
    • Customer Service Training
  • RESOURCES
  • Blog
  • SPEAKING
  • ABOUT
  • HOME
  • BOOKS
    • Focus On This, Not That
    • Don't Waste My Time
    • Same Training, Half the Time
    • Facilitation Skills Training
    • Customer Service Training
  • RESOURCES
  • Blog
  • SPEAKING
  • ABOUT

Cut through the noise
​and get to the essentials

10/1/2019

0 Comments

Goals and Expectations – Two Powerful Managerial Tools

 
Picture
Let’s have some fun. For each of the eight statements that follow, determine whether you believe it is a goal or an expectation: 
​
  1. Be on time for all meetings.  
  2. Demonstrate core values in all interactions with co-workers.  
  3. Keep project team informed of progress by updating Task Tracker weekly.  
  4. Process invoices in a timely manner.  
  5. Ask open-ended questions to develop an accurate understanding of clients’ needs.  
  6. Respond to emails within eight business hours.  
  7. Meet or exceed work quality metrics.  
  8. Meet or exceed work quantity metrics.  

Read More
0 Comments

9/16/2019

0 Comments

Are You Making Common Managerial Mistakes?

 
Picture
​Employees can only do what you expect when they know what your expectations are. That sounds simple enough, right? How is it then that so few people, when asked, can provide a fantastic—or even just an adequate—answer to “Will you tell me one specific expectation your manager has of you?”
​

There are three mistakes managers commonly make that undercut their effectiveness. The first two mistakes, failing to set and communicate expectations, and their fixes are detailed in Chapter 1 of  Focus on This, Not That, but Mistake #3, failing to maintain a focus on expectations, is nicely “blog-sized.”

Read More
0 Comments

3/11/2019

35 Comments

Can 10 Pounds of Training Fit Into a 5-lb Bag?

 
Picture
​You can't have the same training in half the time. You can’t. But you can have better training in half the time. Getting to better training in half the time will certainly include design choices. But better training also requires a communication strategy at the outset that sets you up to develop better solutions. My Five A’s model will get you there; and, this article will address the first of the A’s – Appreciate.

Read More
35 Comments

2/18/2019

1 Comment

One Great Idea: Meeting Time Management

 
Picture
​I observed this One Great Idea during a recent virtual meeting. Keep it handy to use the next time your virtual meeting gets off to a slower start than your schedule has room for.

Read More
1 Comment

2/4/2019

0 Comments

One Great Idea: Meeting Roles

 
Picture
​This One Great Idea was shared with me while working with a team recently. It seamlessly blends effective meeting management with employee development.

Read More
0 Comments

1/28/2019

78 Comments

14 Questions to Answer Before Holding a Meeting

 
Picture
​Success is not the result of a single action. It comes from a series of decisions, choices, and actions, it comes from consistently performing well, it may grow out of messy mistakes, and it certainly sometimes gets help from happy accidents along the way. This is true in life; it is also true of meetings.
​

Relying on accidental success is a questionable approach—which is also true in life and meetings. Instead, embrace happy accidents when they occur, but use these questions to engineer successful meetings.

Read More
78 Comments

1/21/2019

4 Comments

3 Steps to Have the Right People At Your Next Meeting

 
Picture
​Here is a riddle: What happens in a meeting when the right people aren’t there? The answer: Nothing—other than reinforcing the stereotype that meetings are a waste of time. 
​

The meetings you want to be known for—inspiring, engaging, results-driven—require having the right people in them. This is a basic premise for meeting effectiveness but one that is commonly violated. To have the right people in the room, you need to shift your approach to extending invitations. Two common extremes are inviting everyone you can think of or attempting to fly beneath the radar by inviting as few as you can.

Read More
4 Comments

1/14/2019

0 Comments

Losing Your Mind, One Meeting At A Time?

 
Picture
This really happened to a colleague. I am willing to wager that it has also happened to you or someone you know…
​

A newly hired senior vice president called a staff meeting to update her team on revisions to a mission-critical standard operating procedure (SOP) affecting the group’s work. A few weeks later, she confided her frustration with her staff to her executive coach: “I don’t get this place! Two weeks ago, I brought the whole team together to share this update. No one wrote a thing down or even brought a pen and pad. No one asked any questions either—I’m not even sure they were listening to me. And then, this morning, one of them sent a group email saying the process that had been in place—the one I updated them on—no longer works and needs to be revised. To make matters worse, two staff replied in agreement saying they experienced the same thing. I feel like I might lose my mind.” ​

Read More
0 Comments

1/7/2019

6 Comments

4 Ways to Manage Disruptive Behavior in One-On-One Meetings

 
Picture
It would be convenient if one-on-one meetings were somehow exempt from disruptions caused by the two participants. In reality, they aren’t. Whether pleasant conversations with people whose company you enjoy or tense conversations, one-on-one meetings can require you to manage disruptions.
​
Reality Check: Do you approach one-on-one meetings expecting an easy flow from one agenda item to the next?  If so, read on…


Read More
6 Comments

1/2/2019

0 Comments

4 Steps to Get the RIGHT Participation

 
Picture
Meetings that lack participation can be awkward and uncomfortable—such as those characterized by the leader who asks a question and when he gets no responses, quickly fills the void with “OK, well here is what I was thinking….” At the opposite extreme, meetings in which participants dominate, ramble, negate everything, introduce tangents, or “participate” in other counterproductive ways can be as or even more painful to experience. 
​

Yes, you want participation—but not all participation is created equally. If you expect people to automatically participate productively in response to “I’d like to have everyone’s participation today,” you will likely be disappointed. Instead, use this 4-step process:

Read More
0 Comments

12/26/2018

4 Comments

​6 Strategies to Build Development Continuums

 
Picture
Shift your mindset. If you are responsible for developing teams’ skills, change the definition of your role from “creating learning events” to that of “building development continuums.” When you do, you will be able to enhance learning outcomes and regain lost training time. Building a development continuum requires designing a complete learning solution—one that prepares learners for the core course, provides multiple touchpoints to the body of content, integrates on-the-job application, provides support to learners after the core event, and taps into the frequently overlooked role played by learners’ managers. 

Read More
4 Comments

12/11/2018

31 Comments

Trigger Action with 3 Learning Boosters

 
Picture
​Have you ever committed to do something for a friend only to have it slip your mind? Then, days or weeks later, a passing comment, commercial, or other trigger reminds you of it? And, even though you had every intention of following through, without the trigger it wouldn’t have happened?

​Learners experience the same phenomenon—even in the best-case scenario, in which they appreciate the learning opportunity, arrive motivated, value the course material, and intend to use it. When they return to work, they get hit by all that transpired while they were in training and often lose sight of their implementation plans. Learning boosters can refocus them on their action plans and implementation strategies.

Read More
31 Comments

6/1/2018

7 Comments

Make the Most of Limited Training Time

 
Picture
Which learning strategies provide the greatest return with limited training time? Which engage learners, but also enable personal reflection? Cause learners to work hard, but also play with purpose? Allow learners to fail in a safe setting, but also set learners up for success? These are not conflicting opposites. They are the mix of learning strategies that provide the greatest return in a limited amount of time—and, frankly, in any amount of time. How does an instructional designer remain true to these tenets?

Read More
7 Comments

5/7/2018

80 Comments

What Makes Training Great?

 
Picture
It isn’t easy to create effective learning events. If it were easy, there would be little need for instructional designers—everyone would build their own learning events. So, your Word of the Day is andragogy, which was popularized by Malcolm Knowles in The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (Knowles 1984).

What do you already know of andragogy?  

Read More
80 Comments

5/1/2018

0 Comments

When Was The Last Time You Did Something For The First Time?

 
Picture
Do you recognize this post’s title as lyrics from Darius Ruker’s “For The First Time”?  Maybe you are even in singing it in your head right now. I often sing the line to myself – mostly for the encouragement it provides me.

Personally, I want to live a life in which I have a quick and recent answer to “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” They don’t have to be grand-adventure-type answers, but they do need to provide me with new experiences, memories, or perspectives. Possibly even take me in new directions.  

Read More
0 Comments

4/9/2018

4 Comments

Some Things Just Don't Matter

 
Picture
In preparing for a series starting this week, Staying Centered Through Conflict™, I wrote a note to the participants. Part of it read: “For me, conflict tends to arise in two categories: critical needs and inconsequential stuff. Our sessions will provide tools for managing the critical needs. The conflict that we classify as inconsequential stuff is perhaps best managed by recognizing it for what it is – annoying, a nuisance – and ignoring it. Our effort is so much better directed towards other things.”  

Read More
4 Comments

3/8/2018

76 Comments

How Did Training Fall Under Such a Time Crunch?

 
Picture
In Same Training, Half the Time, I invite readers to expand on this excerpt from the book – a list of challenges that are driving increased demands on learning.  Please share additional reasons from your experience in the comments of this post.
  • 1. Listening Versus Learning. What technology can accomplish in regard to content transmission is unquestionably impressive. Today’s enhanced speed of information and speed of communication leave many people believing training should happen as quickly. And the pace shows no prospects of slowing. Content transmission is not the same thing as learning though. Read that last sentence again—it is foundational to the challenge of this book.

Read More
76 Comments

2/27/2018

2 Comments

How L&D Leaders Can Achieve More By Doing Less

 
Picture
In my work with learning and development leaders, I commonly encounter professionals working hard to enhance other employees’ skills and develop them for the future of their positions. Yet, so often, that same effort isn’t invested in preparing themselves for the future. So, beyond mastering the fundamentals of the field, what is a L&D leader to do? 
 
Here are five ideas to achieve more by doing less based on two themes I consistently hear from learning professionals.  

Read More
2 Comments

    Author

    Kimberly Devlin

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Book Excerpts
    Boost Productivity
    Develop Good Habits
    Improve Time Management
    Maximize Talent Development
    Simplify + Get Organized
    Virtual Conference

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn

KIMBERLY DEVLIN


BOOKS
BLOG
TRAINERS HUB
EVENTS
MEDIA KIT
SPEAKING
TOOLS + GUIDES
CONTACT
SUBSCRIBE