Insights – LINGOs partnership strengthens individuals and teams for global development

Eric Berg, Executive Director, LINGOs

When I was in the software business, there was an engineering manager with whom I never could seem to communicate. Somehow, no matter how much information I gave her, the time it took to make get a decision was always frustrating. After several uncomfortable confrontations I just came to accept that we would always have problems. This was unfortunate because we needed to work together on several important projects. It was only later I realized that what I perceived as procrastinating was her desire to get it right and really was a preference and style difference. Had I been a little more aware of that, I might have been able to provide information that would have improved both our communications and the speed of activities.

I want to share with you my excitement in having Insights (www.insights.com) as a new partner for LINGOs. A global company with many Fortune 500 companies as clients, Insights provides a wide range of products and services that help their customers:

o Develop individual awareness and effectiveness

o Build more productive teams

o Develop high performing leaders.

Insights’ products are based on Insights Discovery, a four color model based on the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. It measures a person’s preferences and provides an individual with an extensive personality profile which identifies strengths and areas for development. Each profile includes suggestions for development that can be put into practice the very next day.

Each LINGOs member representative attending the LINGOs Member Meeting in November will gain access to the Insights Preference Evaluator and will receive a custom 20 page personal profile. Members attending the meeting can also register for an all day workshop led by Insights staff to explore the meaning and application of their individual profile.

You are probably familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and may have completed that instrument and studied it sometime in your schooling. You might even remember your “type.” In some ways, the Insights Discovery model is similar in that it analyzes your responses to questions of preference and then feeds back a profile of your preferences and communication style. What is particularly attractive about the Insights’ model is that it has been extremely well “packaged” to make it simple to administer and apply in an organizational setting.

Imagine… Ibrahim, the CD for Sudan, just sent Simon, the Regional Program Quality Manager, his final monitoring plan for the new microfinance program. Ibrahim has already sent two versions of the plan, and there’s been a meeting and two tense telephone conversations about its adequacy. Ibrahim can’t imagine why it is taking so long for a decision to made, while Simon cannot understand why there was such a rush on such an important document. Both Simon and Ibrahim are considered outstanding in their roles and yet everyone knows they simply can’t get along. Many who know them both say it’s just bad “Chemistry.”  In fact, it is more probably a question of opposing preferences and styles. With some Insights into these differences, Ibrahim and Simon can take their work and that of their agency to the next level.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you; it is extremely revealing. I guess the best way to illustrate that is with my personal experience with the tool. Before we began serious conversations with Insights, I was offered the opportunity to complete the Preference Evaluator and get the personal profile I mentioned earlier. Being familiar with the Myers-Briggs and other instruments, I was eager to see the similarities and the differences. I completed the Evaluator and waited for my “report.” When it arrived, I quickly read through the resulting document and was startled with the accuracy and detail of what was produced. This may be best illustrated by the comments of my wife, Kathy, with whom I shared the report. She said to me, “I don’t know who these people are or how they know you so well but they may even know you better than I do after 30 years of marriage!” LINGOs Director of Member Services, Marian Abernathy, (with whom I also shared the profile) echoed Kathy’s comments when she said with a smile in her voice, “They pretty much “nailed” you.”

Some LINGOs members reading this know me well enough to appreciate some of the specific comments from my personal profile that Kathy and Marian are referring to. For example, under the section titled “Managing Eric” there is a list of “What Eric Needs.” One item says “Eric needs objective, direct and honest feedback…” to which is added the caution “- stand well back!” Everyone that has read the profile has stopped and laughed out loud in agreement at the caution.

Other sections identified weaknesses around listening adequately to others, making decisions hastily and my high sense of urgency creating stress for others. You can ask Robb Allen or Marian or other LINGOs staff members about those and I am sure each will have stories verifying the accuracy of those assessments.

So why am I sharing all this? I hope that LINGOs members will begin to realize the potential for using Insights Discovery to improve the communications and performance of the teams working within their organizations. During the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting, a group from Insights will share how the Insights Discovery model is being used in corporations around the world. You’ll have an opportunity to see how members might begin to think of ways of applying it to staff selection, leadership development, team building, individual development plans and a host of other targeted initiatives. Those interested in a more in depth exposure will have the chance to attend the post-meeting workshop led by Doug Upchurch and the Insights Team and spend the entire day exploring their own profile as well as techniques for applying the model in their organizations.

If you can’t attend the LINGOs member meeting be on the lookout for announcements of how LINGOs Member Agencies can access this new LINGOs benefit. Corporations around the world are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on this tool. Through the generosity of Insights, it will be part of member agencies’ core LINGOs benefits in 2013. We are very grateful to Insights and look forward to sharing stories of how their generous support has made a difference in the impact of the work of LINGOs members.

The LINGOs 2012 Meeting is focused on engagement. For details, check out the Sept 10 post on LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting 

Ten Tips to Increase e-Learning Usage

Guest post by Suziana Shukor, Learning & Development Coordinator, Islamic Relief Worldwide

Inspired by recent LINGOs webinar with Dawn Kohler of The Inside Coach on eLearning Effectiveness, Suzi did some research put together Guidelines on How to Increase eLearning Usage for her team of learning Champions and has shared it with the LINGOs Community. This post contains 10 tips from the Guidelines, built from her review of the literature and The Inside Coach session.

1.     Talk to your audience – and share the results

While it would be nice if there were a ‘magic bullet’ that would make hordes of learners flock to online courses, there is no one right answer to the question of how to get users more involved with e-learning.

In fact, the most consistent point that came out of research was the importance of thoroughly understanding your users before figuring out how to ‘sell’ e-learning to them. We must know our target audience before selecting or designing e-learning courses that will appeal to them.

Some simple questions to find out about your users and their needs:

• What type of computer and internet connection do they have at work and at home
• Which learning topics are most important to them
• What time of day they prefer to learn
• What is their IT proficiency level

Do Research your audience before launching an e-learning initiative. Give users what they need. Then advertise the fact that they are getting exactly what they asked for.

Don’t   Assume you what users what without asking   them.

 2.     Pay attention to culture

Surveys and focus groups are good ways to find out what users need, but it’s equally important to understand something much less tangible: an organisation culture. And within a single culture, there are distinct subcultures, many of which develop around job titles. Project workers who are accustomed to competing in their jobs may respond well to games and contests – an approach that may fall flat with IT professionals.

Do Think long and hard about your organization’s culture and the types of marketing approaches might work with different groups of learners. Do users appreciate humour and whimsy, or do they want “just the facts”? Do contests and games motivate them, or are they more likely to respond to simple e-mail reminders?

Don’t Market e-learning the same ways in a “command-and control” environment as you would in a more team-oriented culture.

 3.     Be specific in your marketing

One of the most common mistakes people make when marketing e-learning is that promoting the initiative as a whole, rather than what’s in it for them. It’s important to talk with target groups about specific offerings. Mass marketing delivers the strategic message; target marketing is for sending very specific messages.

Target groups based on more than just job titles. Other factors to think about: level within the organisation (e.g. entry level workers, middle managers or executives), location, the language they speak and the extent of their compute knowledge. For example, if you are offering a basic course on using the Windows interface, send an e-mail to a group of computer newbies across all job functions, not to everyone in the organisation.

Craft your messages to answer the “what’s in it for me?” question for each group. If you’re sending an update to upper-level management, include personal comments from other higher-level managers who have seen their employees’ productivity rise as a result of the e-learning initiatives. If you are targeting a group of IT people, include testimonials from IT workers who have received valuable certifications using e-learning. Show how e-learning can give different values to different learners.

Do Make sure your marketing messages are directed at specific groups of people. Let each group know what’s in it for them.

Don’t Put all your effort in to mass marketing, leaving learners overwhelmed by a mountain of courses.

4.     Find e-learning champions

One of the keys to increasing e-learning usage is having a few strong advocates who will talk up your initiative. Again, the identity of these champions depends on your organisation’s culture. But no matter who your champions are, they should have the following characteristics:

•  A genuine, passionate belief in the value of learning. Don’t ask disinterested executive to say a few words at the organisation meeting simply because of his or her rank within the organisation. If your organisation dictates that you must have specific individuals speaking on behalf of the e-learning initiative, do everything you can to bring them on board before they begin promoting the programme.
• In some cases, your e-learning champions might simply be a talented entry-level employee who’s friendly, articulate and respected by his or her colleagues. If this individual takes an online course and spreads the word about his or her positive experience, it becomes a powerful incentive for the co-workers.

Do Put some of the marketing onus on users and managers. If they believe in the programme, it’s to their advantage to tell others about it.  Get users’ stories of how the learning initiative helped them to do their work better to achieve your organization’s mission.

Don’t Count on e-learning champions to come out of their own without any effort on your part.  Identify which groups or individuals are most likely to benefit and make sure they understand how online learning will help them.

 5.     Get learners’ managers involved

The most powerful champions or resistors of e-learning are often the learners’ own managers. E-learning may be supported at the highest levels within the organisation and employees may be clamouring for it, but your initiative will go nowhere if front-line managers don’t buy in.

Do Make sure managers understand the benefits of e-learning so they recommend it to the people who report them. Provide data from your LMS on employee learning to the learner’s managers. Share announcements and information on course availability to managers. Let managers know how their department is doing compared to others in terms of learning resources.

Don’t Direct your marketing efforts only at learners.   Assume managers don’t want to be able to check in with their staff on their learning progess.

 6.     Brand your programme

Any company that’s launched a product or service knows that one of the keys to success is branding. When consumers have a positive experience with a certain brand, they’re likely to remember it and to buy it again and again. A branded programme will help learners remember it and go back for more. It’s also likely to give staff the impression that the learning is supported at the highest levels of the organisation.

Do Brand your e-learning effort – or your training programme as a whole with a logo/animated character and/or consistent typefaces. You’ll provide users with a visual trigger, reminding them that this new flyer or Web Page is related to the one they saw last week.

Don’t Haphazardly send out communication pieces that look and feel different from each other.

 7.     Don’t stop with the launch; keep communicating

While a launch party or other kick-off even can help generate excitement for a new e-learning initiative, that’s only the beginning. Other types of communication methods include: newsletters, e-mails, events etc.

•  Refresh users’ memories of what they learned at the launch of your program
  • Send a series of emails or
  • post pamphlets/fliers around the work place
• Send personalised email messages with updated offerings every couple of weeks or once a month, to specific groups.

Do Keep people engaged long after the kick-off party by regularly informing them of new courses, certifications and services. Also, communicate in a variety of ways, including e-mails, pamphlets, posters, and lunch-and-learn sessions.

Don’t Overwhelm people with too much e-mail. Weekly or biweekly messages give just enough information without being perceived as “junk.”

 8.     Link learning to outcomes

Research shows that most companies are using a variety of incentives to encourage employees to learn online. However, it usually takes more than a gift or certificates to turn employees into repeat e-learners.  Some ways to add accountability include:

•  Talking about training expectations during performance appraisals. Many managers already require their employees to complete continuing education or upskilling courses as part of their professional development plans. Build eLearning resources into this education plan.
• Making e-learning a prerequisite to classroom learning. If your online library includes a course that complements an instructor-led class, require people to take the online class before signing up for the in-person event. Not only does this bring everyone up to speed on the basics before they come into the classroom, allowing you to make the most effective use of the valuable “face-time” with the instructor, but it reminds employees of the valuable eLearning resources available to them 24/7.
• Offering certification. Offer online courses that lead to highly desired (or required) certifications that will allow the motivated learner to advance within your organization.

Do Let learners know how important e-learning is by tying courses usage or completion to performance reviews and access to certification.

Don’t Assume people will take online courses without a “push” from managers.

 9.     Give learners enough time and space to do e-learning

In a classroom session, it would be unusual (not to mention rude) for a learner’s manager or co-worker to barge in and ask a quick question or borrow a pen. But when an employee is sitting at his or her desk, quietly staring at the computer screen while typing or clicking, the person’s co-workers don’t know – and, in some cases, don’t care – that he or she may be in the middle of a class. These constant interruptions, as well as, the resulting perception that e-learning is somehow less important and therefore easier to disrupt than classroom learning may discourage people from taking or completing online courses.

One of the best ways to increase e-learning usage is actually one of the simplest. Make sure learners are able to concentrate while they’re taking an online course. There are several ways of doing that, including:

•  Setting up a separate area for e-learning. Ideally, this would be a designated room for quiet learning. If there is none in your organisation, give some time e.g. afternoon session to enable your staff to learn;
• Posting visual reminders that someone is “in class”. If your organisation isn’t able to set aside separate e-learning areas away from learners’ desks, make sure people have some way of communicating that they’re taking a course and should not be interrupted. For example: tape a sign “Learning in Progress” to the back of your chair.
• Forwarding e-mails and calls. If someone is taking an instructor-led course off-site, they wouldn’t be expected to check their e-mail every five minutes, nor would they be required to take phone calls during class. The expectations for e-learning should be no different.
• Offer your employees an option to take eLearning courses off-site (from home, or another location with internet, either during work-hours or on their own time).

Do Minimise distractions to learners as much as possible, either by creating a separate learning section or by posting visual symbols in e-learners’ offices to let their colleagues know they’re busy learning.

Don’t Expect e-learning usage to increase in situations where learners are constantly interrupted by phone calls, e-mail messages and colleagues.

10.     Make it easy

From our experience, easy access is crucial because if it is difficult to access to e-learning, staff will be put off. If they have to jump to 10 loops and have to get multiple approvals and long delay, they won’t bother. As such at Learning & Development we have designed a very simple process.

We have also developed a three-piece ‘Managing e-learning courses in your office’ for   e-learning champions which comprise of:

1) Enrolment process for learners

2) Approving courses as LMS Order Manager

3) eCornell process (this resource runs on a separate platform)

Do Make easy access to learners – don’t make them have to jump over 20 loops. Make approvals easy for learners – don’t take 3 months to approve one course! Ideally, your local learning champions should be able to do this. So train them. Limit the number of courses learners can take at one time – if not, you will find 20 courses on your LMS for each learner. Again, local champions will be able to advise learners what courses they should prioritise.

Don’t Require multiple approvals – remember easy and open access Assume learners don’t want to learn – if some learners or Country Offices have a low e-learning take up, find out why. Never assume staff is lazy! Lump all the hundreds of courses on the LMS and expect them to work wonders because you need to “sell” them. Assume that the best learning technologies can lead to the best learning because they won’t. You will still need to engage with your learners. And that means, folks, sometimes you need to sound less clever so that others can sound cleverer (get rid of that hubris!).

For more insights and tips, read the full Guidelines on How to Increase eLearning Usage.

 

	Watch the recorded webinar with Dawn Kohler of The Inside Coach
	Attend the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting – it’s all   about Engagement Review   the preliminary agenda
	Check out the gold medal tips from a learning champion, posted on the blog last summer

LINGOs Offers 5-Week PMD Pro1 Certification Prep Course

International development agencies do great work. As John Cropper, Director of Project Services for LINGOs, pointed out in a blog post last year, the product of NGOs is projects!  Non-governmental organizations plan and implement projects to help transform communities and improve people’s lives in the developing world in fields ranging from agriculture to water and sanitation – with key topics like child nutrition, education, emergency response, health, housing, human trafficking, microfinance, natural resource conservation and peace building, to name just a few, in between.

LINGOs is pleased to announce that on September 18, we will open registration for a blended learning course in project management. The five-week course, open to all, is designed to meet the needs of any NGO project manager, program quality manager or supporting staff responsible for the creation and implementation of a development project, and who has access to a reliable internet connection. Participants who successfully complete the course will be prepared to take the PMD Pro1 exam.

At LINGOs, we’ve done a lot of work, especially in Africa and Latin America, helping NGOs build their capacity to better manage projects.  

Over the past few years:

• The PMD Pro  (Project Management in Development Professional) Certifications were created, came online and were recognized. More than 3,000 people have taken the exams for the PMD Pro1 and PMD Pro2, with more than 2,200 becoming certified. 
• Many agencies are working internally to build capacity, contracting with international training organizations such as InsideNGO and RedR, local training companies in Brasil, Guatemala, Haiti, Panama and Paraguay and LINGOs directly in countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, with most work being done in Africa and Latin America.
• We’ve learned that blended and distance learning approaches not only allow a more diverse group of learners to participate, but also can be a highly effective means to lead to change and transfer of training into practice.

Participants in LINGOs’ 5-week blended learning program will spend approximately six hours per week in self-paced eLearning resources and in a virtual community of practice. Three hours will be spent in virtual classroom training and coaching, offered between 9:00 and 10:30am eastern US time on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Oct 16 through Nov 15, and three hours will be spent reading offline.

Several of LINGOs’ most experienced project management instructors,  John Cropper, Eric Berg and Roger Steele will facilitate the course. The course will be taught in English and the content is based on the PMD Pro1 Guide (free download available from www.pm4ngos.org).

Those interested may find more information and register for the course online. The course fee is $180 for staff from LINGOs member agencies and $225 for non-members. The fee includes all classes, access to all materials including self-paced modules and community site and private instructor coaching. Please note the course fee does not include the certification exam fee.

Upon completion of this course, all participants will be prepared to complete and pass the PMD Pro1 certification examination. The last session of the 5-week course will focus on applying the tools and techniques learned during the course in individual organizations. Throughout the course, time will be provided for coaching from instructors to clarify material and to review application of concepts.

Course Schedule

Week One     Tuesday, October 16- Introduction to Course and Technology

                    Thursday, October 18 – Overview of Project Management and Competencies

Week Two    Tuesday, October 23 – Project Identification and Design

                    Thursday, October 25 – Project Start-Up

Week Three  Tues, Oct 30 – Project Planning

                    Thurs, Nov 1 – Project Implementation

Week Four    Tues, Nov 6 – Monitoring and Evaluation

                    Thurs, Nov 8 – Project Transition

Week Five    Tues, Nov 13 – Certification Exam Preparation

Thurs, Nov 15 – Action Planning for Application in Individual Organizations Preparation

About PM4NGOs

PM4NGOs (Project Management for Non-Governmental Organisations) aims to optimize international NGO project investments by enabling project managers to be reflective, professional practitioners who learn, operate and adapt effectively in complex project environments. As a group of international relief, development and conservation organisations, PM4NGOs works together and collaborates with private sector companies, professional organizations and universities to achieve this goal. Visit www.pm4ngos.org/ to learn more.

About LINGOs

LINGOs is a not-for-profit consortium that focuses on enabling international humanitarian relief and development organizations to share their learning resources and experiences. LINGOs also engages Partner Organizations – companies and associations working in the field of technology assisted learning – to provide expert help and other support aimed at alleviating poverty around the world and effectively responding to emergencies. LINGOs Member and Partner Organizations include some of the biggest names in the non-profit and technology sectors, including Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Care, Articulate, Blackboard Collaborate, Cegos, MindLeaders, eCornell, The eLearning Guild, TELL ME MORE and many more. Visit www.LINGOs.org to learn more.

LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting: Increasing Engagement

LINGOs members who participate in the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting November 28 and 29 will be engaged  through interactive plenary and concurrent sessions led by invited experts, the LINGOs team and fellow  LINGOs members, in addition to several “un-conference” sessions based on evolving discussions and requests.

The theme of this year’s member meeting is engagement. Learning and capacity building professionals who analyze needs, design, develop, implement and evaluate learning and development programs know that learning programs that meet defined learning needs are not enough. Transformation of practice requires that programs also be engaging: attention-getting, attractive, pleasing, and inspire the learner to change behavior and work practices.

Please see the member meeting site: http://bit.ly/LINGOs2012 for updates to the schedule and speaker lineup!

	Christopher Pirie, General Manager, Microsoft Sales, Marketing & Services Group Readiness, and Chairman of the Board of ASTDChristopher Pirie serves as General Manager of Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing and Services Group Readiness (SMSG-R) organization, delivering field readiness and training for 42,000 field employees worldwide. After joining Microsoft in 2004 as Senior Director of Learning Product Development, he went on to serve as General Manager for Microsoft Learning where he led the worldwide marketing and sales team to drive reach, revenue and increased customer satisfaction across all markets. Chris also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and development professionals, and a LINGOs’ Partner.
	Martin Baker Founder The Charity Learning ConsortiumMartin Baker has been involved in eLearning for more than 20 years and is passionate about the benefits of collaborative working. He is the founder and CEO of The Charity Learning Consortium – the largest group of UK based charities collaborating to make eLearning affordable. He is also the Managing Director of the newly formed Corporate eLearning Consortium – bringing the benefits of collaborative working to the corporate world. Martin is regarded as being one of the top ten most influential people in eLearning in the UK and works to raise the profile of the industry, regularly contributing to publications and presenting at conferences. He is a founding ambassador to the highly regarded learning technologies benchmarking organisation Towards Maturity, is an ambassador for LINGOs and sits on the eLearning Network board.
	Ashley Brown, Director, Digital Communication & Social MediaThe Coca-Cola CompanyAshley Brown, a member of the LINGOs Board of Directors, leads digital communications and social media for The Coca-Cola Company. In this role he leads the development and execution of the Company’s digital strategy, expands the company’s ability to amplify the Coca-Cola story online, and guides the development of digital and social media policies and training. He also works across the System to equip employees to be effective brand ambassadors, and advises customers and partners on their digital and social media efforts. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Ashley led international public relations, consumer campaigns, and issues management for Microsoft’s Windows group. While working on the agency side, he managed media relations for Gilead Sciences, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization. Ashley has also worked for Population Services International.
	Tom Kuhlmann, Vice President of Community at ArticulateTom Kuhlmann, author of widely popular “Rapid e-Learning Blog” with over 93,000 readers is an eLearning Rock Star. Known throughout the industry for his practical, no-nonsense approaches to e-learning, and tips for making PowerPoint do things its creators didn’t envision, Tom’s core focus is on helping people succeed and grow. In addition to leading an Engaging Session during the meeting, Tom will lead a one-day workshop on Storyline, Articulate’s groundbreaking new rapid eLearning Authoring tool, on Friday November 30.
Insights Team	LINGOs’ newest partner, Insights is a global people development organization. Insights partners with organizations to achieve their  goals by helping  improve the effectiveness of their people and their performance. Insights’ unique programs are simple, yet deeply insightful, providing immediate impact and offering endless possibilities for positive, lasting change.  All meeting participants will receive access to a personal Evaluator Survey and the resulting customized, personal profile which identifies strengths and areas for development, communication preferences, value you bring to the organization, and leadership style.

Concurrent Sessions: Decisions, Decisions

Members may find it beneficial to send several staff members to the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting to be able to take advantage of more than a dozen concurrent sessions with sector-specific, interactive content on topics related to engaging international staff in learning for global results:

• Designing eLearning for a Global Audience
• Scaling up Blended Learning: Managing for Scale
• Learning Platforms: Features and Approaches that Strengthen Engagement
• Communities of Practice
• Designing a Leadership Development Program in International NGOs
• Building Organizational Capacity in Project Management
• Planning for organizational Knowledge Management: Sharepoint Stories
• What works: Strengthening Global Employee Engagement
• Scenario-based learning
• Leveraging the LINGOs Membership: Session for Newer Members

Optional Workshops

Another reason for sending more than one person is to be able to attend to be able to participate in more than of the three optional post-meeting workshops.  On Friday, November 30, Member Agencies have access to three exclusive, limited-space workshop opportunities:

1.     Project Management in INGOs: How to develop project management capacity in your international non-governmental organization

 If you are interested in looking at what it means to build your organization’s capacity to manage projects more effectively, this day-long workshop with members of the LINGOs Project Services Team, can help you to identify some next steps.

Ideal for participants who are familiar with the concepts and vocabulary outlined in PMD Pro1 , but certification is not a prerequisite.

2. Insights: Speed the Delivery of Results & Enable Success in your INGO

In this interactive workshop, exclusively available to LINGOs Member Agencies, we will explore who you are and how you interact with others with the aim of helping you speed the delivery of results and enable success—personal, professional and organizational. You will learn practical skills so that you can become more effective in your role, whether you are an individual contributor or in a leadership position.

Participants will receive a customized, 20-page personal profile which identifies strengths and areas for development, communication preferences, value you bring to the organization, and leadership style. We will explore how this Profile can be used for your personal development and possibilities for implementing this program within your organization.

3. Articulate Storyline: Advanced E-learning Made Simple for LINGOs Members

In this session with Tom Kuhlmann, staff from LINGOs Member agencies will learn how to use Articulate Storyline to build engaging, interactive courses. We’ll review the core authoring process, introduce you to key Storyline features, and then practice creating interactive content using the Slide Layers, Triggers, and States features in Storyline.  Participants should come with a laptop with Storyline installed.

Register for the Meeting and Optional Workshops

Staff from member agencies may register for the meeting and optional workshops through a convenient registration site. Participation is exclusively for staff of member agencies.  Http://LINGOs2012.eventbrite.com

Hotel: Courtyard DC/Dupont Circle: Located across the street from the FHI360 Conference Center, LINGOs’ special meeting rate is $183 plus taxes and fees. This block is reserved through Oct 25 or when the hotel fills.

The meeting and workshops take place across the street from the Courtyard at FHI360’s Conference Center on the north side of Dupont Circle (on the DC Metro’s red line). For those flying in from out-of-town, Washington’s Reagan National Airport is on the Metro’s Blue/Yellow line; Baltimore Washington Airport has public transit to connect to the metro (US$6 for a 20 minute bus ride to the end of the Metro’s green line); and Dulles International Airport (US$10 for a 25 minute limo/bus service  to end of the Metro’s orange line).

Not a Member Yet?

If your organization is thinking about joining LINGOs, there’s never been a better time.  Organizations that join by October 1 are eligible for staff to attend the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting. Click for the online membership application form, or contact Marian Abernathy for more information.

See a list of LINGOs Member Agencies

Back to School Energy and Excitement

Posted by Marian Abernathy, Director of Member Services & Communications

When I was growing up (in the Northern Hemisphere), this time of year was marked with the energy and excitement of going back to school: learning new things, acquiring new skills, seeing old friends and making new ones… and getting to bring snacks and lunch in a new lunch box.

photo: Ashworth Associates

Learning Departments at International Development and Humanitarian Relief organizations can bring some of that energy and enthusiasm to their global staff with resources from LINGOs.  

New Approaches: Join Dawn Kohler of The Inside Coach in a highly engaging webinar to learn how to bridge the gap to make organizational elearning programs wildly successful for all stakeholders. She’ll share best practices on how to:

• Dramatically increase course usage
• Increase skills competencies
• Enhance accountability and skills execution
• Create sustainable results
• Measure success

Register for the September 20 session here.

Timelines: Taking some tips from school and from human behavior, externally imposed deadlines make a difference for almost all of us in getting tasks accomplished. Click hereto learn three approaches that LINGOs LMS Portal Administrators can use to set time limits or deadlines for learners (click on “Time Limits for Courses” under the “Tips & Tricks – Portal Administrator” section).

New Content: The start of a school year is a great time to launch new courses for staff, whether they be compliance courses required by either your organization (check out FHI360’s experience at the September 13 Virtual DemoFest) or your geographic jurisdiction, such as the California state law 1825 that requires 2 hours of training on sexual harassment prevention for managers every two years).

Social Learning: Many learners appreciate the opportunity to learn by interacting with an instructor and/or with fellow students, as demonstrated by the overwhelming success of the recent series of Spanish-language webinars offered through the GEPAL program and outlined in Tito Spinola’s June 14 virtual coffee break on social learning.

LINGOs member agencies can offer their staff the opportunities to:

• Learn to design and deliver virtual training with other NGO colleagues from around the world through the Virtual Training Mastery Series offered September 25 & 26. Click here to register;
• Build coaching skills with other global NGO colleagues in the October Coaching Out of the Box sessions. Next 2-part class is October 4 & 18. Click here to register.

Join the discussion with over 800 learning professionals helping each other with organizational learning on the LINGOs group on LinkedIn.

Plan to attend the LINGOs 2012 Member Meeting in Washington, DC – November 28-29 with optional workshops on November 30 in Washington, DC… Details and the registration links coming soon! Snacks and lunches will be included, so you won’t need to bring a new lunch box.

Blended approach gets learning to where learners are

Posted by John Cropper, LINGOs Director of Project Services

Training and facilitating used to be so simple. The trainer would travel to a a pre-selected venue, participants would arrive, training was delivered and after a couple of happy sheets and usually a rather nice group meal and photo, everyone departed. Easy!

 

Old School Training…

The costs of this approach are huge. Apart from the travel costs, everyone would be in the training – not actually doing their normal work. So if you had a group of twenty five participants doing a five day course, you used one hundred and twenty five person days. Run two trainings like this in a year and factor in holidays and you would have used up the best part of a person year – and we all think we are understaffed!

LINGOs is all about learning where it really matters. So, to find a way round this, LINGOs has conducted a number of what we call blended trainings on Project Management  (the PMDPro certification)  We’ve tried several approaches and I’ll describe two of them here: First with World Vision International in Southern Africa and second with Oxfam GB in East Africa. The approaches have been different but in both cases, noone had to travel and participants were able to fit the learning around their other work commitments.

In the case of World Vision, we used a “hotspot” approach to ease connectivity challenges. A number of offices were chosen and World Vision made sure that each office had a USB speaker phone and a projector. One computer would be connected and participants would either look at a shared monitor or the screen would be projected onto a wall. Participants were given a clear timetable and instructions about what was expected of them. They had a program of reading through the PMDPro Guide, using the practice exam, webinars using Blackboard Collaborate, a ning social network where they could ask/answer questions and where we could post all the documents and finally there was an ‘instructor’s hour,’ when a facilitator would be online and participants could ask any questions on a one-to-one basis. Each course was scheduled over a two week period.

With Oxfam, we adopted a similar approach but it was much more extensive. The course had the same components but was designed to be taken over a 10 to 12 week period. Participants were advised that they would need to spend 3 to 4 hours each week. No one component was mandatory and they could spend their time on any of the different components. If the facilitator or the Oxfam sponsor thought that a participant was not engaging in any element, then s/he was not allowed to sit the PMDPro exam at the end of the course.

So what?

Well clearly, the blended approach is much more flexible and obviously more cost effective. One additional immediate benefit was a higher percentage of women participants – as described in an earlier post for International Woman’s Day. Interestingly results from the extended, Oxfam approach have been the best with an exam pass rate of 50%. Best of all was to see this post from the Tanzania Country Director, in which he noted his experience of “a case where training has created learning that has turned into change. There is improved quality of work and increased commitment to share one’s learning.”

Clearly this kind of approach can lead to skill transfer and application.

What learning is there from these pilots?

1. Setting up a hotspot is a considerable investment in time and equipment – but once it is there, it can be used again and again. We have seen staff use the equipment for virtual meetings rather than travel – another great benefit.
2.  In both cases, it is helpful to have champions and clear leadership – without buy in from the top, any training is more difficult. Participants need to have a clear structure and they need to understand what they are expected to do, when and why.
3. Participant selection is as important as  managing expectations – participants need to commit to putting in the time over a two/three month period.
4. The biggest learning I have taken from all this is simple. Blended learning can work and work well. One participant from Tanzania said in one of the webinars, “I need to leave now. I am in a village with no electricity using a 3G connection and the laptop battery is going.”

 I wish I had had a photo! When we think about virtual/remote learning – or whatever we want to call it, perhaps we should stop ask asking “why?” and start asking “why not!”

 

Gold Medal Tips from an NGO Learning Champion

Guest Post by Regina Bell, International Justice Mission

International Justice Mission (IJM) is a human rights organization that works with local governments to rescue victims of sex trafficking and labor slavery and helps local police and prosecutors apprehend and prosecute perpetrators. Over the past 15 years, IJM has grown from one field office to fifteen, and from a small group of Washington DC lawyers to an international team comprised of 455 global staff members. Approximately 95%IJM’s staff members are nationals of the countries in which they work, and IJM is committed to supporting its indigenous leaders with world-class professional development resources.

Drawn to the abundant resources LINGOs provides for international NGOs, IJM joined LINGOs in 2007 as a Level 1 Member, using the shared LINGOsLearning portal. The staff in IJM’s office in Chennai, India, has been the biggest user of the LINGOs learning resources. The key reason for this is a highly engaged leader in that field office, Director of Administration Priya Juliet.

 

Priya’s Story

Priya Juliet

Priya’s story is particularly inspirational, as the LINGOs Learning resources played a big part in her professional growth and ability to make a difference for her colleagues in Chennai. In fact, Priya is a model for the type of internal leadership development that IJM is working to develop more widely in its field offices. She joined IJM in 2005 as a legal assistant, and has also filled roles as a receptionist and paralegal.

Priya remembers distinctly the day that she received an email sent from IJM HQ announcing the rollout of LINGOs courses. For Priya, the opportunity to take courses for free which would promote her own professional development was exciting because high quality, accessible professional development resources are scarce in Chennai. Priya was particularly interested in the Harvard ManageMentor courses (due to the Harvard name), and she completed all of the courses in short order. “When an opportunity like the Harvard Management Course Series comes along, take it,” she said. “It’s an incredibly accessible program, yet, it comes free (through IJM’s membership in LINGOs).  This is an excellent opportunity for learning and professional growth.”

As a reward for Priya’s diligence, the field office director offered her a day off, but in Priya’s words, “the better motivation was receiving the completion certificate.” When IJM first launched LINGOs learning resources for staff, there was little formal support in place, and staff were instead encouraged to take advantage of the programs based on their personal interest – as Priya says, her learning efforts were “200% [her] own personal interest.”

Two years after Priya completed all of the Harvard ManageMentor courses, she was promoted to Director of Administration and charged with overseeing all Human Resources and Finance functions in the Chennai field office. Since then, she’s become a gold-medal learning champion. During her tenure as Director of Administration, Chennai staff members have completed close to 400 courses, with 10 staff members earning completion certificates in the past year. These results far exceed those of IJM’s other field offices, no doubt due to Priya’s hard work and personal involvement with learners in her office. We’ve learned from her approach and shared with the IJM Global HR team – and here with the LINGOs community.

Our hope is that as more IJM HR staff in the field take an active role in encouraging learners, future leaders like Priya will take advantage of the courses and will be better equipped to provide rescue and relief to the clients we seek to serve.

 

5 Tips from a Learning Champion

Priya is a Learning Champion – here are a few tips she recommends to others taking advantage of LINGOs training in their organizations:

 

1.  Motivate and Encourage Learners

• Introduce each staff member to learning resources

Priya meets with each staff member individually and informs them using simple terms about the available courses. Responses to these informational meetings have been enthusiastic.

• Language support- audio versions

 Priya makes certain that staff members with varying degrees of comfort in English have the support they need. For example, she found that at times, individuals are better able to understand the audio version of the Harvard Business Publishing courses.

• Communicate to encourage use of courses

Priya encourages staff members to complete the courses with frequent communication (weekly status updates, calls and texts), and even goes into the office on weekends to help trainees as they work through the courses.

 2. Monitor learner progress

Priya created a simple monitoring system once staff were registered, and personally monitors learner progress. She uses the reporting functionality of the Learning Management System (LMS) to track user access and progress and communicate progress with learners.

 3. Keep supervisors up-to-date with learner progress

Priya also keeps supervisors aware of their employee’s learning achievements. Now that she is an office leader, she desires to motivate and encourage staff in their learning efforts, recognizing how important this is as a source of encouragement.

IJM Chennai learners proudly display their hard-earned Harvard ManageMentor completion certificates. (Faces obscured for security reasons).

In Chennai, as in many places, certificates are an important way to publicly recognize achievement. IJM has developed a certificate of completion for the Harvard ManageMentor courses, in accordance with the Harvard Business Publishing Guidelines available through the LINGOs membership.

 5.   Share Successes and Support Learning Champions with Promotional Resources

IJM’s global learning team has sought to replicate Priya’s methods on a global scale, with the goal of similar engagement in other field offices. Recently, IJM’s LMS administrator held virtual classroom events (via Blackboard Collaborate) with HR staff in each region, to reintroduce HR staff to the eLearning resources and encourage them to act as learning liaisons in their respective offices. The administrator shared a slide deck that the champions can use in their offices, and encouraged them to keep in close touch with the learning team at HQ, and with one another, to share successes and challenges.

Participating in the LINGOs community – through the LINGOs Group on LinkedIn, Virtual Coffee Breaks and vDemo Fests, and the Annual LINGOs Member Meeting – is a great way to become a learning champion! You can learn new approaches and share what’s working well for you with others working to build capacity for international development, humanitarian relief, conservation and social justice. Join us!