Creative Professional Development for Your Staff
Bill Vriesema
Associate
Director of the
Service Desk
Calvin College
Coming up with ideas




What is a current problem? Motivation, morale,
burnout, lack of team synergy, leadership issues,
interpersonal relationships, troubleshooting skills,
communication, etc...?
Get ideas from conferences, fellow CCCU, Educause
or HDI members, Google searches, books,
professional journals, and your staff! (Ask them)
Customize and personalize it. Sometimes the
workbooks are not appropriate; time away from
your physical work place is a big factor.
Have realistic expectations of what you expect to
get out of it. Sometimes language is the best result.
Training I have experienced







Discovery Profile
The Agile Leader
Twelve Angry Men
Black Bear
For the Love of it
First, Break all the rules
Trombone Player
Wanted





Working with Emotional
Intelligence
Geo-caching
Telephone Doctor
Speed of Trust
The Dream Team
Thinking it through
Description
 What concern does it address? (purpose)
 Learning goals
 Who is/was the audience?
 The medium (book, film, speaker, etc…)
 The activity (and how long it took)
 Outcomes? Benefits?
 Resources available

Discovery Profile

Description
 The
Discovery Profile is a personality test/report that
offers a framework for self-discovery

What does it address?
 Developing
skills for people to build strong, effective,
working relationships with colleagues.

Learning goals
 Understand
self
 Understand others
 Create better interactions with others
Discovery Profile

Who was the audience?


The medium
Online test with Instructor-led discussion of results afterwards.
The activity (2-4 hours)
 Online test weeks before the training session
 Discussion on background theory of personality styles
 Test results: interpret our strengths and weaknesses, and how to
leverage them for best results.
 Examples given of how to interact with other personality styles
that were different than your own—sometime with humorous
results!


HelpDesk team; IT Leadership Team; then whole IT
Department. Also used for Local HDI Chapter Meeting. Many
other college groups did this as well—including Cabinet.
Discovery Profile
Discovery Profile

Outcomes? Benefits?
Better understanding of ourselves and co-workers
 “Permission” to be who we are
 Builds self-confidence (“I have these strengths...”)
 We staff project teams with mix of colors/personalities
 Some staff re-assignments to match personality (ie: put a
“green person” on HelpDesk phones several hours/week)
 Changes way we view communication (ie: He’s in a “red”
mood, don’t ask today…)
 “We need a “yellow” person to lead that social event”
 We use the “language” daily!

Discovery Profile

Resources available

Discovery Profile
 http://www.insights.com/LearningSolutions/Tools/
PersonalProfile.aspx

Other similar tests
 DISC Profile
http://www.discprofile.com/
 Leadership Style Inventory
The Agile Leader
Using Improvisational comedy to manage
unpredictable situations
The Agile Leader

Description


What does it address?


A workshop that teaches leaders to use improvisation to
help people manage change by improving their ability to
act intelligently and with integrity in unpredictable
situations.
Being able to “think on your feet” as a leader
Learning Goals

Identify what default behaviors you can use in a moments
notice.
The Agile Leader

Who was the audience?


College leaders, supervisors, managers.
The medium

A local Improv Comedian leads this very interactive
workshop (classroom-led with lots of role-playing)
The Agile Leader

The activity (6-8 hours)

This interactive workshop uses a variety of improvisational
exercises to allow you to perceive how an agile leader
reacts to a changing work environment, and status/power
issues within working relationships. The play fostered by
the games focuses on using the tools of improvisation in
order to promote interactive and purposeful
communication to improve collaboration, creativity, and
productivity.
The Agile Leader
Amygdale attack: The Thalamus short circuits decision making by funneling
information to the amygdale before the decision making part of the brain
(Cerebral cortex) resulting in flight or fight response.
The Agile Leader

Outcomes? Benefits?

Identified some default behaviors

Example 1: If someone “drops a bomb on you” ....you can say
“I’m sorry, tell me more.” Rather than getting defensive, your
apology helps defuse the situation and allows for clarity rather
than defensiveness to kick in (or worse, an “amygdale attack”
kicks in).
Example 2: Your boss says that you will need to support a new
service that you clearly do not have resources to do so. Rather
than saying “There is no way I can support that!” you might say
“Let me see at what level we will be able to support that.” (It
may be at a very low level or none at all once you are able to
research it and point out the facts—but at least you remained
open and did not shut down the conversation).
The Agile Leader

Resources available
 http://www.fishladder.net/
 Ask
your university’s Improv team to lead you in some
exercises
 See if there is a local Improv group who may provide
training.
 Go to an Improv comedy show with your team and
discuss these concepts afterwards
Twelve Angry Men
Twelve Angry Men

Description


In the movie “12 Angry Men” jurors are deliberating after a
murder trial, and their problem centers around their efforts
to convince the one juror to change his “not guilty” vote to
“guilty.”
What does it address?
I wanted to get our team thinking about decision making
and the dangers of “groupthink”
 Sometimes HelpDesk techs jump to conclusions before
getting more relevant information. This is really true for any
of us in most any interaction.

Twelve Angry Men

Learning Goals
 In
its 96 minute running time, just about every concept
presented in small group communication is acted out on
the screen:
 the
phases of group decision-making
 critical thinking
 destructive and constructive conflict
 pressures towards groupthink
 leadership emergence
 supportive and defensive group climates
 the use of a devil’s advocate to check groupthink
Twelve Angry Men

Who was the audience?
 HelpDesk

Team, or any team
The medium
 DVD
movie and discussion (via PowerPoint); ideally the
1957 black & white version with Henry Fonda.

The activity (3-4 hours)
 Watched
the 96 minute movie, then had a targeted
discussion for 1-2 hours afterwards.
Twelve Angry Men
The Foreman (Juror #1)
(Assistant coach)
Ad man w/ glasses
(Juror #12)
Bank Teller (Juror #2)
Watch maker
(Juror #11)
Owner of messenger
service (Juror #3)
Garage owner
(Juror #10)
Stockbroker
(Juror #4)
Old man
(Juror #9)
Man from slums
(Juror #5)
Architect
(Juror #8)
Working man
(Juror #6)
Salesman, baseball fan
(Juror #7)
Twelve Angry Men

Outcomes? Benefits?
 We
learned how informal leadership is something we
can all do regardless of position.
 We identified how groupthink is counterproductive
 We discussed what prejudices we may have when
helping end-users over the phone (faculty vs staff,
student vs staff, level of end user’s knowledge, age,
previous interactions with a particular end user)
 Talked about “jumping to conclusions” too fast
 Talked about constructive vs destructive conflict, and
how a leader might navigate conflict in team settings.
Twelve Angry Men
 Resources
 From
available
Bill Vriesema bvriesem@calvin.edu
 “12
angry men.ppt
 “Twelve Angry Men chart.doc” that describes
each juror’s role on jury and occupation.
 “12
Angry Men” DVD is available from most
any movie rental (or purchase on Amazon
I
highly recommend the original one from 1957
with Henry Fonda. It is in black & white.
Black Bear

Description
A
challenging adventure survival simulation
 “On an early-morning hike in North Carolina’s Great
Smoky Mountains, your group stops to enjoy some
blueberries growing along the trail. Just then someone
spots a small black bear cub, the mother bear lunges
from the bushes and attacks the group’s leader— with
near-fatal results. Can you work as a team to save an
injured person’s life - addressing five strategy options
and ranking 10 backpack items?”
Black Bear

What does it address?
Teamwork, consensus building, and the value of everyone’s
contribution.
 Problem solving skills.


Learning Goals
To practice consensus decision making and to illustrate the
concept of group synergy. Problem solving and listening
skills are also invoked.
 Decision-making under pressure

Black Bear

Who was the audience?
 HelpDesk

Team
The medium
 The
Black Bear facilitator’s guide, participant books &
self scoring forms. A PowerPoint that helped visualize
the area of the simulation and the backpack items.
Black Bear

The activity (4 hours)
A
narrator (or activity leader) reads the directions for
this activity and keeps time. A PowerPoint show gives
the context of the situation and shows the backpack
items. Then, team members are asked to choose one of
5 strategy alternatives and rank 10 backpack items—
first as individuals and then as a team. The concept of
synergy is conveyed when the team results are shown to
better those of an individual working alone.
Black Bear

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Had
fun while learning about team synergy
 Saw problem-solving in action in an environment other
than IT Support. There were many similarities.
 Lesson learned: Don’t let your individual score be
higher than the groups (oops!)

Resources available
 http://www.hrdqstore.com/
 There
are many other survival simulations to choose from.
For the Love of it

Description


Dewitt Jones is a National Geographic Photographer who
has learned lessons from his photography that apply to
anyone who wants to change their attitude about their
work, or life in general.
What does it address?
Burn out and attitude
 How we can unite our avocations and vocations by
changing the way we look at our current situations at
work, at home, or anywhere.

For the Love of it

Learning Goals
 Begin
With A Full Cup (take care of yourself)
 Find Guides (mentors)
 Act As If (“will” yourself to act in a certain way—the
feelings will follow)
 Express
Gratitude
 Make a Contribution
 Pass It On (Be a mentor)
 Chase The Light (Don’t wait until all is perfect)
For the Love of it

Who was the audience?


The medium


HelpDesk Team & IT Leadership Team
DVD to rent or buy; facilitator & participants books
The activity (4 hours)

We watched the provided DVD, then worked through the
concepts with a workbook, interspersed with movie clips I
found that related to each concept. (For example: A river
runs through it –father’s passion for fishing)
For the Love of it

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Language:
“Have you filled your cup lately?”
 Language: “Act as if” you are happy to take that next
support phone call... (or start that new project) the
feelings will follow”
 Got to know each other more personally
 Recognized how burnout and attitude affects our jobs
 Talked about ways we might incorporate the thing you
are passionate about with your particular job.
 Helps me facilitate conversation during our one-on-one
meetings
For the Love of it

Resources available
 Resources
from Dewitt Jones
 For
the Love of it
 Focus Your Vision
 Celebrate What’s Right With the World
 Everyday Creativity
http://www.starthrower.com/dewitt_jones.htm
 Bill
Vriesema bvriesem@calvin.edu
Spreadsheet “For the Love of it workshop.xlsx” with a
training itinerary.
 “For the Love of it.doc” describing learning goals

First, Break all the rules
First, Break all the rules

Description


What does it address?


Leadership book on the "four keys" to becoming an
excellent manager
Focusing on an employee’s strengths rather than
weaknesses
Learning Goals
Focusing on strengths of employees
 Defining the right results
 Selecting staff for talent--not just knowledge and skills.
 Finding the right fit for employees

First, Break all the rules

Who was the audience?
 Leadership

Team
The medium
 Group
Book Study of “First Break all the Rules” by
Marcus Buckingham

The activity
 Read
the book as a group and meet 1 hour every 2
weeks.
First, Break all the rules

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Discussed
what strengths we and our direct reports
have and how to develop and use those strengths.
 Discussed ways we could adjust our leadership styles
so we spend less time trying to fix weaknesses and
more time focusing on strengths.
 Example:
I am not a good metrics person; my head tech
is—so he is now in charge of reporting and metrics.
 Made a conscious decision to do our employee
performance evaluations differently by putting more
emphasis on developing strengths than correcting
weaknesses.
First, Break all the rules

Resources
First, Break All the Rules (coauthored with Curt
Coffman,1999)
 Now, Discover Your Strengths (coauthored with Donald O.
Clifton, 2001)
 The One Thing You Need to Know (2005);
 Go Put Your Strengths To Work (2007)
 The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success (2008)
 FIND YOUR STRONGEST LIFE: What the Happiest and
Most Successful Women Do Differently (Sept., 2009)
 Standout Assessment (2011)
http://www.marcusbuckingham.com/home.php

Trombone Player Wanted

Description

Marcus Buckingham speaks in each movie for 10-15
minute clips about the essentials of developing your
talents into strengths and being part of the 20% of
people who say they use their strengths every day.
The movies have a story running in the background,
which plays at key intervals throughout each film. The
story highlights the life of a school-aged boy who is
unwittingly stuck playing the trombone in the school
orchestra, when he'd much rather be playing the drums.
As the movies progress, he takes the necessary steps to
do what he loves. The steps he takes follow Marcus's
main points in the film .
Trombone Player Wanted

What does it address?
 Identifying
your strengths, identifying the strengths of
your direct reports.
 This was a good follow up for “First, Break all the
Rules.” It helped visualize many points from the book.

Learning Goals
 You
really do not change much over time
 Your strengths and weaknesses most likely will remain
the same over time
 Identify your strengths and channel and focus them
 Identify direct reports’ strengths and channel and focus
them
Trombone Player Wanted

Who was the audience?
 Leadership

Team, and other campus groups
The medium
 Six
DVDs around 10-15 minutes each
 Online questions (and downloadable PDFs of each
DVD “chapter”

The activity
 Watch
one or two DVDs and discuss for up to one
hour per week.
Trombone Player Wanted

Outcomes? Benefits?

Many great insights that challenge the status quo of
management thinking:
 Myth: “As you grow, you change”
 Truth: “As you grow, you become more of who you
already are
 This

helped change the way I do PDPs
Resources
http://www.tromboneplayerwanted.com/
 Six DVDs and downloadable PDF questions

Working with Emotional Intelligence
“For star performance in all jobs, in every field, emotional
competence is twice as important as purely cognitive abilities”
Working with Emotional Intelligence

Description
 This
book makes a strong case that “the single most
important factor in job performance and advancement
is emotional intelligence.”

What does it address?
 Understanding
the importance of “soft skills” as
leaders in our hiring and training processes
Working with Emotional Intelligence

Learning Goals
 Emotional
Intelligence determines our potential for
learning the practical skills that are based on it’s five
elements:
 Self-awareness
 Motivation
 Self-regulation
 Empathy
 Adeptness in relationships (social skills)
Working with Emotional Intelligence

Who was the audience?
 Leadership

Team
The medium
 Group
book study on Daniel Goleman’s book “Working
with Emotional Intelligence.”

The activity
 Read
the book as a group and meet 1 hour once per
week to discuss
Working with Emotional Intelligence

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Language:
“this potential hire (or current employee)
has great technical skills, but needs to develop some
“EI” skills”
 The career path at Calvin HelpDesk requires a
certain amount of “people skills” training
 In IT the emphasis is so often on technical skills rather
than social competency. Emotional Intelligence makes
the “hard” case for “soft” skills.
 Learned how to recognize an “amygdale attack,”
how it high jacks our decision making, and how we
might control it.
Working with Emotional Intelligence

Resources
 “Working
with Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel
Goleman
 Bill Vriesema bvriesem@calvin.edu
 “Working
with Emotional Intelligence questions.doc”
 Deborah
Monroe, HDI faculty member and expert on
Emotional Intelligence.
 Newsletter on Emotional Intelligence: “EQ News”
 http://www.6seconds.org/oempro/form/
Geo-caching

Description
 This
was an IT Department Christmas party activity.
About 25 of us divided into about 5 teams and looked
for hidden treasures all over campus.

What does it address?
 It
was not meant to be a training activity, but ended up
being a great activity for team building and team
dynamics.

Learning Goals
 None
as this was unplanned
Geo-caching

Who was the audience?


The medium


Our whole IT Department (25 people)
We borrowed several GPS units from an Academic
department; digital cameras, a “clue” sheet.
The activity

25 employees were put into about 5 teams. Each team had
a GPS unit and a sheet with clues as to where a “cache”
was hidden. Each group recorded their finds with a group
photo at each cache site (about 12 sites across campus).
Geo-caching

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Although
just meant to be a fun Christmas party
activity, it helped us learn to:
 form
a team quickly
 identify skills
 assign tasks
 work together towards a goal.
 Built
camaraderie
 Worked with co-workers we normally did not work
with
 Enjoyed snacks and a fun slide show afterwards of
all the photos taken on the cache hunt.
Geo-caching

Geo-caching could also be used for:
Training new student techs/staff how to find key areas on
campus. Other student groups as well.
 A fun team-building exercise (especially for us IT folks
who like to play around with cool toys!)
 *It could be a great way to demonstrate how a CSIRT
Team could function (Computer Security Incident Response
Team) in terms of solving problems under pressure.


Resources
 GPS
units
 Digital cameras
 Someone who can make clever clues
©Telephone Doctor, Inc, St. Louis, MO www.telephonedoctor.com
Telephone Doctor

Description
 This
is a series of customer service training videos on a
variety of communication topics.

What does it address?
 Being
able to provide customer service training to
students (and staff) without supervisor time and effort.

Learning Goals
 Telephone,
email and face-to-face communication skills
Telephone Doctor

Who was the audience?
 Student
staff, full time staff. (Several campus
departments have borrowed these over the years to
train their full time and student staff).

The medium
8

to 26 minute DVDs (workbooks included)
The activity
 Usually
during slow times I have my student workers
view the DVDs. They fill out a simple form for each title.
Some have been used in a team training session.
Telephone Doctor

The form they fill out
 Name,
date, name of video
 Question 1: What concept(s) from this video do you feel
you do well.
 Question 2: What concept(s) from this video do feel you
could improve on?

I have a chart of all the titles, each employee’s
name, and they can fill in the date they viewed the
DVD so we both can keep track.
Telephone Doctor

Outcomes? Benefits?
Well trained HelpDesk staff
 Common agreed-upon rules for how to engage customers
 Can train students without supervisor time and resources


Favorites:
Five forbidden phrases
 From curt to courteous
 How to handle the irate caller
 How to deal with the foreign accent
 Call Center challenges
 How to avoid emotional leakage
 Determining caller needs

Telephone Doctor

Resources
 http://www.telephonedoctor.com/
Speed of Trust

Description
 Covey
states that “trust is one of the most powerful
forms of motivation and inspiration. People want to be
trusted. They respond to trust. They thrive on trust.
Whatever our situation, we need to get good at
establishing, extending, and restoring trust—not as a
manipulative technique, but as the most effective way
of relating to and working with others, and the most
effective way of getting results.”

What does it address?
 Lack
of trust between co-workers, between IT and
Campus
Speed of Trust

Learning Goals
 What
exactly is trust?
 Self trust, relational trust, organizational trust, market
trust, societal trust—must all start with self trust.
 Four Cores of Credibility
 Integrity
 Intent
 Capabilities
 Results
 13
Trust Behaviors (can you identify trust?)
Speed of Trust

Who was the audience?


The medium


Leadership Team
Group Book Study of “Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R.
Covey
The activity
Read the book as a group and meet 1 hour every 2 weeks
(total 6 sessions)
 Prepared question sheet addresses real issues we faced or
are facing as a Leadership Team
 There are at least 2 quizzes during the study that give allow
each person to gauge personal trust organizational trust
competencies.

Speed of Trust
Speed of Trust

Outcomes? Benefits?
 We
recognized we did not fully understand all the
facets of trust—and where we needed improvement
 We have been discussing where we might build trust in
our processes (projects, communications, etc...)
 Been relating recent instances of interactions where we
were able to restore trust, and what we might have
done differently to restore trust.
 See how campus trust is broken in IT when we do not
deliver on time, or when we do not communicate our
intent for changing a service or performing an
upgrade.
Speed of Trust

Resources
 “Speed
of Trust” by Stephen M. R. Covey
 Note: Had to write all study questions since Covey does
not provide inexpensive resources.
 You can become “certified” to deliver the course
material which contains workbooks and movie clips
Speed of Trust

Resources
 From
internet downloads (or created by me)
 Speed
of Trust group study overview.docx
 4 cores quiz.doc
 The 7 Trust organizational taxes.docx
 4 Cores Tree diagram.docx
 5 Waves of Trust.docx
 13_BEHAVIORS.doc
 Speed of Trust organizational Quiz.docx
 What Low Trust vs High Trust looks like.docx
The Dream Team

Description


In the movie “The Dream Team,” Dr. Weitzman works with
patients in a sanitarium. Convinced that all that his "group"
needs is some fresh air and some time away from the
sanitarium, he persuades the administration to allow him to
take them to a ballgame. Unfortunately, he accidentally
stumbles across a crime in progress, is knocked out cold, and
ends up in hospital. The group are stranded in New York
City, forced to cope with a place which is often more
bizarre than their sanitarium—all without their therapist.
What does it address?

I wanted to have a fun movie to create a memory together
and get us thinking about what our “dream team” would
look like.
The Dream Team

Who was the audience?
 HelpDesk

The medium
 DVD

Team
of “The Dream Team” 1989 133 minutes
The activity
 Watch
the movie together
 Discussion on the movie itself relative to team work.
 Discussion on what makes a good team, and what
would our “dream team” look like?
The Dream Team

Learning Goals
 What
are the traits of a good team?
 Recognizing and celebrating the things your team
does well
 Discussed what we envision our “dream team” could
look like. List items that we may be able to improve.
The Dream Team

Outcomes? Benefits?
 Had
fun watching a hilarious movie.
 Good discussion on our front line support structure.
 Made some changes that will improve our front line
support for both us and our customers.
 The movie was the ‘vehicle” that allowed me to
introduce a potentially sensitive topic.
The Dream Team

Resources
 DVD
 Ten
of “The Dream Team” 1989 13 minutes
Qualities of an Effective Team Player
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ten-qualities-of-an-effectiveteam-player.html
 Some
short YouTube clips of team work
Thinking it through
Description
 What concern does it address? (purpose)
 Learning goals
 Who is/was the audience?
 The medium (book, film, speaker, etc…)
 The activity (and how long it took)
 Outcomes? Benefits?
 Resources available

Questions?
Bill Vriesema
Assistant Director of Technology Support Services
Calvin College