Not just another Train the Trainer program

Developing as a Facilitator

What exactly is the difference between a trainer and a facilitator? Think they are the same? To tell you the truth, just like most other people, I was not aware of the difference either before i entered the learning and development space. I actually thought that a Facilitator Development Program was equivalent to a Train the Trainer program!

So let me explain the difference to you. A trainer is one who is well informed about the content that he has to deliver but a facilitator may not be well aware about the content. Confused? I'll explain. Well, facilitating is basically ‘making an action easier’ and bringing out the learning from it. So, a facilitator is one who helps the participants in assessing the issue and finding out a way to resolve it while point to specific learning outcomes. So a facilitator does not have to be a subject matter expert. He just needs to help the subject matter experts to analyse what wrong and help them reach a solution by facilitating the process.

Facilitation at its Best

Facilitation focuses more on the learning aspect of the process rather than focusing on achieving the target. In fact, it is actually about focusing on achieving the objectives from the perspective of a learner.

So a facilitator helps in assessing, planning and guiding in a process by encouraging the group members to participate and contribute their ideas and learn from it during the process. However one thing that the facilitator needs to keep in mind at all points of time that he must carry a non-biased attitude. He must give every member the same opportunity to contribute and should not contribute his own point of view on the situation being discussed, lest he colour the opinions of the members. He is just supposed to facilitate the process of drawing out ideas from the members and bring them to the table, not add his own. Thus a trainer who can facilitate learning engages his audience the most and helps them draw meaning and awareness from activities which they were unable to do in the past.

The FaDP

To facilitate the development of a Trainer into a Facilitator, we are conducting a Facilitator Development program. We call this the FaDP and its going to be held sometime in May in association with Pegasus Institute for Excellence. I am frankly super excited about it and am eagerly waiting for it!!! It's a great opportunity and am so glad that I am going to be a part of it. To be coached by a person of the calibre of Mr. CK Dwarkanath is a true privilege. He has an experience of around 20 years of service with organisations like IISc, DRDO and ILFS. Currently, he is a senior faculty in Pegasus Institute for Excellence and also is the lead for Knowledge management, Research and innovation. He has special interests in subjects like co-creation, faculty readiness in higher education and employability enhancement of students. As a programme architect, he blends in the conceptual detailing of the program with participative action research and has already coached many participants on the same.

FaDP is about learning the facilitation concepts by experiencing the facilitation practices in a simulated environment for developing oneself in the facilitative process. The methodology that is used is simulations, role plays, narrative inquiry, etc.

So why should you join this program when you are already doing well at what you are doing?

1. To become more effective in your profession by 'learning to train'
2. To learn concepts and professional practices to make your programs more effective
3. To learn to evolve as a better facilitator or as a better coach

All you have to have to benefit the most from the program is, is the readiness to ‘Know’ things (concepts), ‘Do’ things (practice) and ‘Be’ (self), the three spheres of learning. The ultimate objective of this program is to enable individuals to ‘learn to learn’ and to facilitate learning. Mind you, facilitation development is not just limited to Facilitators and trainers. Anyone could be an eligible participant, be it a coach, consultant, leader, manager at any level, teacher, professor, social worker, tutor, etc. So it is an open platform and anyone can be a part of it. In fact, I myself am a novice in the L&D space, but am eagerly looking forward to program. I know it is definitely going to add a lot of value to me not just as an L&D professional but even as an individual. It perfectly falls under our philosophy of ensuring that we also add value to our clients as well as ourselves.

It would therefore be great if you could join us to be a part of this 'beyond the Train the Trainer program!' This developmental program will definitely help you in self-development and become more effective professionally. To know more about the FaDP, you can drop us a mail on info@theyellowspot.info or call us on +91 9769733305. Don't forget to visit our website http://www.theyellowspot.com/ for more information about us and our offerings:)

Our Organisation is a Learning Organisation

Honestly speaking, a Learning Organisation as a concept is very complex. However, if I were to put it simply, a learning organisation is one which continuously transforms itself through learning. So it is one where people in the organisation look forward to increasing their capability to gain better outcomes in order to achieve what they truly desire. It is therefore the process of overall development of the people, culture, processes and technology of an organisation and also it's ability to deal with the external environment.

For an organisation to be a learning organisation, it has to work as a team on a whole. It has to be one solid unit. Why as a team, because when you truly work as a team, you learn a lot from each other and develop at a much faster rate.

We all know the three pillars of a team right? Openness, inclusiveness and control. Since a learning organisation is made up of one big team, these pillars are also essential to a learning organisation.

A learning organization has to have an open environment where people are open with and to each other, open to suggestions, open to discussions and most importantly open to learning. It has to look at inclusiveness, which is about people feeling included, the feeling of belongingness. Lastly, it also needs to consider the control factor, which talks about trusting people to do what they have to without too much control, yet keeping enough to maintain the required order. It therefore believes in letting people work on their own by giving them the power to make decisions as and when required.

Typically which kind of organisations is this seen in more? Flat organisations where each person is responsible, teams are very well connected and everyone knows what’s happening, not just internally but also externally i.e. technologically, politically, socially, with competitors, etc. That is when an organisation truly learns and eventually develops itself.

Transforming from a Traditional to a Learning Organisation[/caption]

Well, if you ask me, the best example of a learning organisation for me is ‘The Yellow Spot’ itself. At The Yellow Spot, we truly believe in practising what we preach. So when we go around telling our clients to build a learning organisation, we ensure ours is one too! So we have a flat structure with an open culture where employees are more like partners. We don't believe in hierarchies and work as a team; deal with & solve problems, discuss, suggest and learn together. All these are of prime importance to us and are the main reason for making us reach where we have. So every new programme we deliver, we learn something new from it and ensure we use the learning to take future programmes to the next level. Apart from this, we also spend time in reading, reflecting, experimenting, attending other sessions, etc. to ensure that we are updated and well versed to deal with the current needs of  our client organisations and their people. That is how we are a learning organisation ourselves.

Now coming back, why do learning organisations play such an important role? Primarily because they focus on both individual and organisational development, which are highly interrelated and cannot be treated separately. They focus on the total quality of the organisation by developing the individuals, teams, leaders and the company on the whole; to be able to sustain themselves in the ever changing environment and move ahead to create a difference.

They foster an environment of team learning which helps in thinking together to manage the complexities to take the business to the next level. They offer an open culture and emphasize on a readiness to unlearn things in order to learn new things and develop oneself. The people oriented approach they follow always pays off, as the human resource is the only resource that actually appreciates with time!

Learning in an organisation is a continuous process and when implemented appropriately, it positively reflects across levels and helps in managing change, creating a competitive advantage and developing and engaging all the stakeholders taking into consideration their collective aspirations. It thus brings in the feeling of togetherness in the organisation and builds a cohesive team which helps take it through to the next level.

Having realised the importance of a learning organisation, organisations today are investing heavily on their developmental activities. They are empowering their employees and giving them opportunities to develop and go to the next level. This in turn is increasing employee motivation, engagement and the feeling of ownership and loyalty that they have towards their company.

As one of the top corporate training companies in India, we help organisations step into such a learning environment and help them grow. Our developmental programs help organisations adapt to change and deal with challenges in the rapidly changing environment. We help them become self sufficient and capable of sustaining growth. Learning is an on-going process for transformation and learning encourages innovation, which further encourages sustainability in this highly competitive world. Hence learning and developing with time is important and essential.

So when are you planning to become a learning organisation? If you need help in your learning journey, you can always let us know. Visit our website http://www.theyellowspot.com/ and let us know how we can assist you.

Taking Forward Transactional Analysis Training

Welcome to Part 2 of our article on Transactional Analysis Training. In the last article we discussed about Life Positions. Let's talk about Drivers and Ego States in this one.

Drivers

Drivers also play a big role in helping you feel OK or not OK. They are parental messages given to us by our parents or other parental figures in our lives like older relatives, teachers, etc. As the name suggests, they literally start driving us!

Some common drivers are "Please others," “Try hard," “Be Strong," “Be perfect," “Hurry Up," “Try Hard," “Boys never cry.” Sound familiar don't they?

Now each driver has its positives and negatives, it's really in the way you perceive it! For example, the positive of "please others" is that you can establish relationships really fast by pleasing others. The negative on the other hand is that you end up trying to always make others happy and tend to make yourself miserable in the bargain!

So where does the difference lie in the perception of the driver? It's in the life position that you see it from. So if you operate from an (I+U+) position, you will be able to connect with people really fast using this driver. However if you operate from (I-U+), you will land up pleasing others at your own expense. This in turn will take a hit on your self-esteem and you will get stuck in a vicious cycle because you will then try to please others as a means to make yourself  feel good and bring up your self esteem! In this way the driver will really have you  stuck and going around in circles.

“Try hard” is another driver where you keep trying hard all the time forgetting that there are smart ways of doing things and that everything does not need to be done the hard way. It also means letting go if something is not working for a long time.

The flip side of "Try hard" is that it makes you try again and again until you succeed.

Thus identifying one's drivers and the life positions through which you see them from is of utmost importance.  This then enables us to you use the positives of these drivers and diminish their negatives. However it’s important to remember that it's a gradual process and takes time as you are trying to change something that you have been following for a major portion of your life. So don't be harsh on yourself or you will land up pushing yourself to an I am not OK position!

Ego States

As per Eric Berne and Claude Steiner, the 3 ego states are formed over a period of time and we actually operate from either of them in every transaction.

E.g. the Parent Ego state is about what has been told to us by our parents. What we have acquired from our parental figures - the values, beliefs and other things that we swallowed without questioning.

The Adult Ego state is about questioning, inquiring and understanding the reality; keeping in mind the thinking, feeling and behaving. This state depicts a balance. Its the rational or logical thinking state and is an objective state.

The child state is the feeling state. It’s about your own childhood experiences of thinking, feeling and behaving. It feels in the body mainly and is an intuitive thinking state.

Ego states are the building blocks of the personality. Even children have all the 3 ego states in them, however the child ego state is the one that is dominant in children.

The most important thing to understand after you learn about the PAC (Parent - Adult - Child) states is that each state has its positives and negatives and it is up to you to see how you can create a balance between the two.

The further sub divisions of the parent and child state are:

• Controlling Parent
• Nurturing parent
• Free Child
• Adapted Child

Each of these sub divisions too have a negative and a positive side.

E.g. Let’s look at the Nurturing Parent. A negative nurturing parent is over pampering and behaves as a very soft ego state which can actually lead to the people around the person taking undue advantage of the person’s empathy and over sensitivity.

However a positive nurturing parent will always support the people around appropriately. He / She will create an environment conducive to others growth and will also know when to keep a stand as per the situation on hand.

It therefore greatly helps if one can reduce the dominance of negatives of each ego state by increasing the positive side so that one operates from a healthy ego gram. The best part about an ego gram is that it always looks at creating a healthy balance of each state. So you don't need to diminish the negative ego state, just enhance the positive side of the same to balance them out.

So a Controlling Parent needs to ensure that he doesn’t keep controlling all those around them all the time, a Free Child needs to also take responsibility some time and an Adapted Child needs to ensure that he does also do what he feels like sometimes!

Transactional Analysis is thus a beautiful tool to help one with enhancing communication with the self and eventually communication skills with others. It is a tool for enhancing self awareness which in turn helps produce change.

If you feel Transactional Analysis Training can help you in improving your relationship with yourself as well as those around you, do join our Transactional Analysis Workshops.  You can also visit The Yellow Spot website to learn more about the other programs we offer.

Transactional Analysis Training, the way forward

Transactional Analysis Training comes from a wonderful school of psychotherapy which deals with self development, communication with the self and interpersonal skills. It was created by Eric Berne and gained momentum across the globe in the later years of his life as well as after his death. Many of his students like Father George Kandathil (ICTA Kochi), Thomas Harris, Albert Mehrabian, Ian Stewart and Vann Joines (their book 'TA Today' is widely regarded as a definitive modern interpretation), John Dusay, Aaron and Jacqui Schiff, Robert and Mary Goulding, Pat Crossman, Taibi Kahler, Abe Wagner, Ken Mellor and Eric Sigmund, Richard Erskine and Marityn Zalcman, Muriel James, Pam Levin, Anita Mountain and Julie Hay (specialists in organizational applications), Susannah Temple, Claude Steiner, Franklin Ernst, S Woollams and M Brown, Fanita English, P Clarkson, M M Holloway, Stephen Karpman and others have been instrumental in popularising this school of thought and spreading it across the globe.

As some of you may be aware, TA theories focus on Life Positions, Ego States, Drivers, Scripts, Transactions etc. We will be discussing the first one in this article and some of the remaining ones in articles to come.

Life Positions

Life positions are one's basic beliefs about one's self and others, based on which we behave.

The four life positions that we tend to operate from are:

• I am OK; you are OK (I+U+)
• I am OK; you are not OK (I+U-)
• I am not OK; you are OK (I-U+)
• I am not OK; you are not OK (I-U-)

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The Four Life Positions

(I+U+) depicts equality, balance, positive self esteem, consideration for others, win-win, world is a great place to live, we all are equal and life is progressive, I am willing to consider myself as well as listen to the other.
(I+U-) depicts resistance to others ideas, aggressive, win-loose, get rid of other's ideas, one up and homicide.
(I-U+) depicts inferiority complex, others are better than me, passivity, feel victimized, poor fellow, get away from it.
(I-U-) depicts despair, suicidal, frustration with everyone and everything around, nothing is worth it and all is vain.
Pretty self explanatory isn't it!

The beauty of these life positions is that they form in early childhood and most of us practically spend the rest of our lives operating through them unconsciously!

As per the Transactional Analysis philosophy, the best position to operate from is the I am OK you are OK position and this thought process actually has a profound impact on one's inner landscape. It gives a deep sense of accepting oneself and others and the universe the way they are, with love and awareness.

In fact it really helped me as a Consultant too. I can now see that an Individual, Team or Organization for whom an intervention is being held is typically operating from a position other than the I am OK you are OK position. This creates disharmony, both for themselves internally as well as for those around them. As a Consultant, it is up to me to bring them to an I am OK you are OK position so that they, their teams and in turn their Organisations can benefit.

The first shift that is to happen is to move to an I am OK position. This comes from accepting ones self just the way we are. With this deep acceptance, the you are OK follows automatically. Most of us operate strongly from an I am not OK space or you are not OK space and to look at oneself as OK and others as also OK the way they are itself is a huge shift in one's consciousness.

We also need to realize that we all have a preferred life position. There may be momentary variations in this position depending upon the situations we face, however we tend to steer back to our preferred life position.

So is there some way to change these life positions or are we stuck with our preferred life position for the rest of our lives?

The good news is that we can change them. How? With awareness , the most powerful tool. When we get aware of the life position we are playing out of at that moment of time, we get the power to change it and can with practice gradually move towards the I am OK you are OK position.

To know more about our Transactional Analysis Training, visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/