I have asked the same question to two different large team building & leadership groups this week. One group was Corporate HealthCare staff the other was High School teachers. Both groups developed great ideas and support that they need in order to be more effective in getting their work done.

With the HealthCare staff I asked What do you need from your patients in order to be more effective at getting your work done?

With the High School Teachers I asked What do you need from your students in order to be more effective in getting your work done?

Following the question, in both groups, we worked to define, create and develop continued training, coaching and consulting to work with the patients and students to make these ideas into reality.

On to the inquiry:

• Choose who you directly affect through your work, meaning who do you serve in your role. For health care group it’s patients, for teachers it’s students, for managers it’s subordinates, etc… The challenge may come if you work internally, for example an accountant within a company who doesn’t see the customer, think about it…
• Ask What do I need from them in order to be more effective in getting my work done? What else? What else?
• Is any of this happening already? Even a little?
• How did you manage to make that happen?
• What is the next step you can take to implement what you need to make your work more effective?
• When can we go-and-see what you have done?

Please share your responses and feedback.

michael cardus is create-learning

image by kevin dooley

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• Lycra tube final sequence-focusing on creating a proper sequence of risk from trust circles to body movement to coordination and team-work.

One part of my work is facilitating Train-the-Trainer workshops. These workshops vary from corporate audiences, classroom teachers, non-profit organizations and colleges + universities. Here are some images and notes from a Train-the-Trainer Experiential Education for Physical Education Teachers at The College at Brockport, New York.

Exploring Critical Thinking & the L>E>A>R>N model. Teaching these soon to be teachers low risk interactive ways to create community and critical thinking skills within their classroom. We began with some noodle innovation.

Physical education is about motion and learning to better understand how your movements coordinate with others. Above is an example of a great partner activity that creates – shared movement, connections and negotiation skills.

HOOPDOM – is a always a favorite – a non-competitive version where the students must work together to solve a challenge. In our processing after this activity we spoke about applications to the classroom and how HOOPDOM can be used in Physical Education.

Using metaphor cards to teach reflection skills. For teachers and students the ability to reflect and connect the activities to school and lives is necessary. The teachers really enjoyed exploring and learning many, many, many variations of using metaphor cards.

With one team we used the Cycle Time Puzzle – VERY TOUGH. For Physical Education we were able to discuss how to handle challenging situations within the classroom and how to decide whether to modify or stop the activity all together.

Using I2U2ME2WE as a closing and learning activity brings the students back together in small learning teams. Additionally we were able to use this time as a reflection and connection time.

At one point I took out the “Putting It All Together” kits and one of the students said, “We have already done that!” That gave me a great opportunity to talk about how do you handle that in a classroom? The solution is variations!

A nice closing discussion of Experiential Education and it application in a Physical Education Classroom – using the lycra tube.

Thank you The College at Brockport Physical Education Department and I will see you again soon!

To enroll your class, team, yourself in a train-the-trainer workshop;

Contact Me I travel to you and can develop a program to make your team and you better.

michael cardus is create-learning

I had the honor of giving a speech to Nardin Academy sharing some insight and lessons on Innovation and how it is or is not connected to 21st century learning.

Here were some of the benefits from the talk;

• Determining where the organization currently is (Current Applied Capacity).
• Setting action and ideas into what could be better.
• Talking about the necessity of core pedagogy, while creating separate methods for innovative practices within the Organization, Classroom and personal levels.
• Identifying blocks to innovation.
• Learning a method to overcome the innovation blocks and grow the school to reach its potential.

This talk is valuable to corporate as well as school groups taking the time to determine what 21st century learning is, and how to drive innovation into your existing culture is a necessity for survival.

Quality is skilled knowledge of our practices; Quality is just what we do and what is expected from us.

Innovation is about identifying outliers from our quality work to continually improve and strive towards potential. For 21st Century Learners innovation MUST align with our quality – Being what we do, and what is expected from us.

Interested in Mike being a speaker at your next meeting, event or conference? Contact us and make your team and leadership better.

michael cardus is create-learning

Outcomes;

• Students to meet and determine individual strengths.
• From these strengths find people with different skills and develop a method of cooperation to make each other and the dorm better.
• Increase resiliency (ability to handle adversity & challenge) of RA teams.
• Develop a method for planning and decision making.
• Have fun!

Below are some of the photos from our time together, to see more images.

Team finished “Putting it all Together” this was led in a 2 team method that forced collaboration and real-time planning. Resulting in a process for giving and taking feedback, plus understanding that a clear and distinct goal is needed for successful college programming.

Using “infinite loops level 2” to change the focus from individual to team systems. Resulting in understanding that the process / system needs to be explored and not the person. If we find people under-performing, is it the person or the system causing that?

They were very happy they completed the challenge!

Discussing what is needed for great work, allows people to share why they are part of the team and what they need for success.

Once the fun stops and the work starts-using real-time processing we can create new habits and behaviors for solving problems.

Thank you Nazareth College and Creative Themes for for pleasure of facilitating your Resident Advisors, Peer Mentors and Directors.

Would your college team benefit from increased team-work and communication amongst students and staff? Contact Mike to make your team and leaders better. 

michael cardus is create-learning

I was in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania working with a corporate group and a teacher group. The corporate group was not alright with me disclosing who they were so, I will say it was great and we created an amazing process to solve problems and make decisions.

The teacher group okayed me writing about them.

The school was Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School.

Outcomes included;

• Get to know each other (this is a new school)
• Develop a process for communication and listening.
• Develop a process for collaboration (information sharing, best practices) within and between staff and departments.
• Learn about the experience, diversity and talents of team members and departments
• Develop an action plan to transfer ideas and skills gained from program into YSWPCS culture and practice

Here are some images and Team Development outcomes for our time together;

I2U2ME2WE to develop a shared knowledge of who each other is and why they are part of this team.

Sharing stories of success and how to make things just a little better.

Beginning the process of creating high performance teams, sharing why you are on this team and what skill sets you bring.

Processing the lessons and how each person and team applied to content on Innovation and trust to their team.

Moving into goals and commitment – using a planning model. Putting the content of the school planning model into action with Zoom.

Framing common words to develop a shared culture for the school. Defining what and how as a team our operations should move.

Group photo.

Thank you YSWPCS you are an amazing and talented group of teachers.

michael cardus is create-learning

This week I was in Pittsburgh PA, working with a corporate group then a school teachers group. While both teams are different the experiential method and processing questions tend to be similar. The difference is seen in the people and how they are motivated to learn, improve and build their team & leadership skills and by their knowledge of each other and the systems that run their organizations.

With both groups I led ZOOM – an active simulation with the outcomes of;

• Developing a shared process for planning therefore enabling the execution to take place quicker and with less stress.
• Team members develop the understanding of how others need to have high amounts of access to information or low amount of access to information. Creating a streamlined communication system where the ideas are accepted and absorbed quickly so the execution and return on investment happen.
• Teams develop a system that drives improved results and less wasted time on sharing unnecessary information and facts.

With both the corporate and teacher group I used the same processing method; which brings us to this weeks inquiry –

What would need to happen for you to be one step higher?

Following the team thinking they are in the right order for ZOOM I ask the following questions and the team shares answers and lessons learned;

• Who feels they are in the right order?
• How do you know?
• Who feels they are in the wrong order?
• How do you know?
• On a scale of 0 – 10; with 0 being wrong order and 10 being perfect order…where would you rate the team?
• What would you need in order to be one number higher i.e. if you are at a 6 what would be different if you were at a 7?
• Can we try that?
• Does something similar to what just happened, ever happen in your meetings, work life?
• What would you need in order to be one number higher in your knowledge and preparedness to go ahead with work plans?
• Can we do that?
• How can we apply what we just spoke about?

 Thoughts: when you plan for a project how do you do it? What would you need in order to be one level more prepared? Please share your thought, feedback and comments.

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michael cardus is create-learning