All of us have many skills and talents. Some of them get used in our work, others with our families, and some go untapped or unused.

Stephanie West Allen shared this story with me and it got me thinking of a challenge I could issue to you.

Here is your challenge:

1. Read this article.
2. Identify one of your skills or talents.
3. Determine how to use your talent as a gift to others less fortunate than yourself.

Also posted in Leadership and Creativity.

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Two people asked me for a creative session opener today, and after talking to them, I came up with something, that you could use to combine the spirit of the season with creativity and a chance for giving and receiving feedback.

While I haven't yet done the exercise, I know it will be done at least twice in the next week (and that doesn't count you using it...)

Group Size: Any size, in groups of 4-8

Materials Needed:

- Sharpie pens, paint pens or paints and brushes in a variety of colors (numbers depending on number of groups and size of each group)
- Single color ball shaped ornaments (one per person plus a few extras in case any break!)
- 3x5 cards (one per person)

Round 1:

1. Split people into groups, based on your total number of people. If not everyone knows each other, allow them to group with people they know, or with their work team, etc.
2. Have each person write their name on the top of an index card.
3. Have people pass the index card to the person next to them.
4. Have people write something they like or respect or trust about the person whose card they now have. (or pick another attribute if it suits the content of your session.)
5. Continue to pass the cards until everyone in the group has written on the cards, but the owner hasn't yet seen them.
6. Pick up the cards.

Round 2:

1. Have everyone pick a card, looking long enough to make sure they didn't get their own. Continue until everyone has a card.
2. Distribute the ornaments and pens/paints.
3. Instruct people to create an ornament for the person whose card they have, adorning it with symbols or words that come from the card. Encourage them to put the person's name on the ornament too.
4. When all the ornaments are finished, go around the room with each person reading the attributes on the card to the group, then presenting both the card and the ornament to that person.
5. Debrief the exercise as best suits your situation.

If you try this, send me an email because I'd love to hear your results or how you tweaked the exercise the meet your specific needs.

Also posted in Training

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Last Monday's Wall Street Journal had the annual Top 10 Trends in Ten Industries Report. Publishing was one of the industries listed. At the start of the article they showed the downward trend in books shipped each year since 1999. The trend is down, which in itself, being an avid reader makes me sad.

This simple bar graph shows that the estimated number of books published (this doesn't mean sold because not all books that are printed get sold.) this year will be something more than 750 million - I'll use 800 million as my number of published books for the year.

After reading this I went to the U.S. Census site to see if I could determine how many people there are of reading age in the U.S. As of 5:09 EST on Nov 26 there were 294,842,504 people in the U.S. (an estimate of course). With some digging I got the rough breakdown of our population by age group. By assuming none of the 04 year olds were reading, one third of the 5-19 year olds weren't reading anything significant, and that 20% of the 65-84 year olds aren't in the reading population (and none of those over 85), I came up with 244,000,000 readers in the U.S.

Before I go any further, I know you could argue with my assumptions... and that is fine... stay with me.

244 million readers, 800 million books published this year. That is roughly 3.25 books published per reading American per year. Of course some of the books published aren't sold, and many sold aren't read, but let's use this 3.25 number for comparision.

Are you reading your average?

If not, why not?

If you want to advance in any part of your life, make reading a part of your daily routine. If you were to read one book per month in an area of interest or professional growth, you would be reading at 400% of the average person (actually since you would be focusing your reading in a specific area it would be more like 1000% above average).

You could make that book a month goal by reading 30 minutes a day.

What would it be worth to you to be advancing 400-1000% faster than the average person? Is that worth 30 minutes per day?

Also posted in Training and Leadership

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It is 7:00 am. By this time yesterday morning I was already in my 4th store. Do you think I'm crazy because I went out on this zoo of a shopping day? Maybe I am - after all the first store I went to had 2 local television crews capturing the initial rush of people and madhouse that ensued.

Overall I went to eight stores before I returned home. And while there were crowds of people in each store my experience as a Customer was quite good. A couple of times I wished I could find someone to help me, but that was understandable given the crowds. The Guest Services desk at one store was outstanding, and while I stood in line longer than I would like (again, understandable) my check out experience was great at each as well.

As I review the specific reasons people did well, I found people to be focused on helping Customers, smiling (and some even mentioned they thought the big crowds were "fun") and very proficient.

I applaud the stores I visited for training people to have the skills they needed and applaud the individuals for having a great service attitude, even on what could be viewed as a very tough day.

For more on a recent great Customer service experience, read this entry from Holly Power's blog, Independent in Indy (I'm proud to have Holly on my team and after reading this you will see one reason why.)

p.s. I didn't name any of the stores, because people reading might get clues about what they are getting for Christmas - I can't take that chance! :)

Also posted in Customer Service.

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On this Thanksgiving Day, I am very blessed. Everyone can, and most do feel that way on Thanksgiving Day. The beauty in this day each year is that people stop to think about it, and it is ok (and actually "cool") to talk about it.

But the truth is we are just as blessed and have just as many reasons to be thankful on November 26th or Oct 4th, or June 3rd as we do on Thanksgiving. Most of us just don't take or make the habit to be mindful of it.

I encourage you to practice gratitude more actively in your life - and not just today.


Our most recent Unleash Your Potential is all about Gratitude, so if you don't receive it in your email, I encourage you to read this issue. You can find it at: http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/current.asp

Let me close these thoughts with the verse I wrote for the Postcards we recently sent to Clients and friends of The Kevin Eikenberry Group:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We believe in being thankful for our blessings. There are few things we are more thankful for than having great people to be with, laugh with, work with, and learn with... people like you.

Thank you for everything you do for us!

I am thankful for so many things, including those like you who read this compilation of my thoughts, ideas and learnings. Thanks for reading.

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141 years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. He wasn't the only speaker that day, but he is the one we remember. (I encourage you to read the other two entries I've written about this day, First this one, then the followup.)

Here is that speech:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in
a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of
that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot
dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated
it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this
nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people shall
not perish from the earth."

The lessons for us are many (and in part descried in my other two entries), but they desire being repeated.

Be brief. Be focused. These are two keys to any great communicator. Beyond those great truths I see in this address a humility that bares reflection.

When communicating as a leader or trainer (or politician or whatever!) we will do best when we keep the message out front, rather than drawing focus to us. Lead by vision. Communicate the message. Train to the skills and knowledge.

And don't allow yourself to become bigger than the message.


Also posted in Leadership and Training.

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Bill Wake posted it on the NASAGA listserv. November 21-27 is National Games Week. There is even a website!

After a quick look at the site I had several ideas that I thought I would share here (that is why I have this Journal, after all)

- Make time in your family gatherings for Thanksgiving to play some games (you know, during all that time people just sit around the table after eating?)
- Bring some board games and cards to office and announce that National Game Week will be celebrated in your office with lunch time games. Encourage people to eat in the office and play!
- Take it as a team bonding opportunity. Take an hour or so on Wednesday (in the U.S. as the day before Thanksgiving it is probably going to be winding down anyway) and have people play games! Give people the chance to laugh together and you will build stronger relationships among them!
- Do a daily trivia contest via email or a bulletin board. Award prizes to the people who get the answers first (you can just use your old Trivial Pursuit set for the questions if you want).
- Have your trainers bring out the best training game they have and encourage people to play it - then you will get the engagement of game plus some new learning or a fresh review of some key information.

I could go on, but you get the idea. If you success with any of these ideas or with others spawned by this entry, let me know by sending me an email.

Also posted in Teamwork, Training and Leadership

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Tuesday I wrote about the signs posted in offices and what they might say about an organization's culture and how they could reinforce a culture. I talked about a message in my office, but Holly commented when she read it that I didn't mention the large, artsy metal signs in her office.

They are:

Giggle
create
dream
smile

All for say something about Holly, about our work culture and what we aspire to.

Thanks Holly for reminding me. And thanks to you for reading!

Also posted in Leadership

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In the summer of 1878 Thomas Edison and some friends and fellow scientists decided to travel west to observe a solar eclipse. Mr. Edison was wealthy man and as such could ride in any style he chose on this or any train trip.

While his compatriots rode in the luxury of the day, Mr. Edison had other ideas.

He traveled across the country in some special accommodations he arranged with the Union Pacific railroad... he rode on the cowcatcher! In case you don't know, the cowcatcher is the steel "scoop" on the from of the locomotive the moves things off the tracks and out of the way of the train.

Edison traveled from Omaha, Nebraska to the Sacramento Valley in California from this vantagepoint, except for a short distance through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Want to be more creative? You must strive to see things in new ways. As this story about Edison tells us, he didn't take this idea of a new perspective as a philosophical idea, but as a matter of plan.

When was the last time you rode on your version of a cowcatcher?

When will you make a conscious choice and/or plan to gain a new perspective?

Note: I read this story in Blaine McCormick's book, At Work With Thomas Edison, and if you want to learn more about Thomas Edison as both a inventor and a businessman, I encourage you to pick up a copy.

Also posted in Creativity.

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I was walking through an office building recently and noticed the signs...

"Exit"
"Please turn the lights out when you leave"
"No smoking"

Which got me thinking about some of the signs my Dad posted in the shop at our farm growing up...

"Think"
"Safety First"

All of this got me thinking about what kinds of signs we could put in our workplaces that might promote the culture in your organization. Would you have ...

"Make sure to ask permission" or "Caution Adults at Play"?

"Be careful" or "Take a risk"?

Spend a few minutes thinking about the signs your culture would reinforce, and if those are the signs you'd want to reinforce."

I've got "Dream Bigger" and a whole lot more on my bulletin board. And after thinking a bit about signs, I feel pretty good about it!

Also posted in Leadership

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I am honored to serve on the Advisory Concil for the Dean of the School of Agriculture at Purdue University (Go Boilers!) At our meeting yesterday we were exposed to one of the new programs being developed. It is called the Agricultural Innovation and Commercialization Center.

Their website offers people a chance to ask themselves and answer all the questions relevant to investigating a new idea for possible commercialization (it is free, you just have to sign up so you can come back to your work later). It was developed for people wanting to start buisnesses in food, agriculture or natural resources areas, but the tool is just as valuable for people wanting to explore any business idea.

It was also written for entreprenuers, but will be useful to existing businesses wanting to explore new ideas or product lines as well.

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If we want to be more creative, one way to make that happen is to continually find new ways of looking at things, new perspectives and by asking new questions.

I don't know what questions the developers of http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html were asking, but they certainly provided us with a new way to look at the world and current events (if you think the current hour is current enough).

I'm not going to tell you anything else about this site except...

If you like a fresh look at things, visit.
If you like world events, visit.
If you want a way to catch up on events very quickly, visit.
If you are a web designer, visit.
If you are curious at all (and I hope these few words have made you so!), visit.

I think you will enjoy it.

Also posted in Creativity.

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My daughter Kelsey is in kindergarten and has homework each night. Part of her homework involves drawing pictures of words starting with the letter of the day. Yesterday it was T. She was working on that homework and apparently was ready to label a picture. She asked me from a cross the room, "Daddy how do you spell TV?"

I thought for a minute about spelling television rather than TV, but quickly moved past that notion. I replied, "capital T, capital V" with enough pause between the letters for her to stay with me.

After a pause she asked, "Daddy, you just spell TV, TV? Is that all?"

"Yes" I said.

She replied with a smile in her voice, "That was easy."

There are (at least) two lessons in this quick story.

First, practice is a good thing. There is homework every night, but it doesn't take her long. It engages the parents, reinforces the learning and is building a good habit and value around practice and effort.

Second (and the one that really struck me), not all tasks are as hard we thought. Too often as adults we make things too hard. Examples?

- Consultants mystify their work to increase the perception of what they can do.
- People assume a new task will be hard, just because they've never done it before.
- We build processes for things that could be done in less time than it takes to build the process.

I could go on, and perhaps you are in your own mind.

Don't make your work harder than it is. Don't make your training difficult or complex than needed. Don't make your Customers jump through hoops if they don't have to. Don't complicate your messages or tasks as a leader.

Also posted in Leadership, Training, and Customer Service

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I stated my goal here, publicly (at least to anyone who came to read it) that I would report on the 2004 NASAGA Conference in Washington DC each day.

I didn't succeed.

It wasn't because I didn't learn anything - I learned a ton. (some was written about on other entries - take a look)

It wasn't because I didn't enjoy myself - I did.

It wasn't because I didn't have my laptop, I did.

It was because I ran out of time (contrary to the belief of some I do like to sleep).

So while I haven't included all of my lessons learned from the conference in a daily entry, I will share other things with you in the coming days. And I will leave you with three final thoughts now that I am back in Indiana.

1. If you ever get a chance to play Junkyard golf, do it.
2. If you want a truly FUN blog to read, go to Bernie DeKoven's site and check out his weblog.
3. And after all the talk about fun, and while my philosophy about learning includes the value of fun, I was reminded that while learning can happen effectively through fun, it can happen through other emotions as well - in fact, perhaps all learning requires an emotional component - this is something I'll be thinking about for a long time to come.

Also posted in Training.

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Today the Conference opened with a session called 99 Seconds. This model was developed by Thiagi of The Thiagi Group many years ago.

The premise of the session is that the key points of any typical conference session can be distilled into a short time period. In thinking about this idea, Thiagi decided to give people just 99 seconds to get share meaningful, useful information with the crowd.

I have participated in several of these before and two things always stick out for me.

1. Very experienced speakers and trainers who would not be nervous at all to present for an hour or half a day can be very nervous about this format. 99 seconds isn't very long and the message needs to be very clear!
2. A tremendous amount of learning can take place in just 99 seconds!

I spoke about our need to slow down - that while we look for learning to be interactive and fun, we need to remember that high energy doesn't necessarily equate to engagement and that people can be engaged even when the energy is lower.

I believe this lesson matters for trainers, and instructional designers. I think it is also important for leaders.

My message in far less than 99 seconds?

Strive for engagement, not just energy.

Also posted in Training and Leadership.

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During the Pre Conference Session that I led at the NASAGA Conference yesterday, we used an exercise where people were given one of four 2 page articles to read. While I won't go into all of the details of the exercise, the first three instructions were:

1. Read your article.
2. Personalize your learning from the article - extract what you will or could use from it.
3. Paint a picture of some future point when you have used the ideas from this article and describe what your success looks like.

As I listened to the debrief after the completion of the article, it came to me that when I do these things, I am a better reader.

So, my advice to you is the same as my advice to myself: Personalize what you are reading and project yourself into a future when you have successfully used what you are reading about.

I'm excited about this aha, and hope it is helpful to you too.

Also posted in Training

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The first day of the NASAGA Conference found me co-facilitating a Pre-Conference full day workshop with Brian Remer. The session was designed for people to learn about designing games and simulations and leave having done just that! Teams of people would build a simulation, game, or exercise that they could use in their training sessions. The session also allows for those designs to be tested by others in the group and for people to receive feedback on the results.

The workshop went great and four very usable exercises were created and tested. The rest of the group and I learned about innovation, having effective teleconference calls, and team alignment, we experienced a game about learning uses for Microsoft Office software that could be easily adapted for other content.

Beyond that great learning, I learned about the value of working with a talented co-facilitator. There was a time when I did a good deal of co-facilitation (while at Chevron), but now it seldom happens any more. I learned a great deal from having trust in a talented person with a different style than mine. If you are a trainer, I encourage you to think about finding an opportunity to co-facilitate which gives you a great chance to explore the differences in style and to gain knowledge from the other person as well. It also frees up some of your mental time to really observe the group - making you better when you are leading.

If you would like copies of the handout materials Brian and I use for this session, drop me an email and I'll get it to you.

Also posted in Training.

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Tomorrow the annual conference of the North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) begins. This is not:

- an organization of people interested in gambling
- an organization of people interested in hunting

But rather, gaming to help illuminate learning and make learning more interactive, enjoyable and lasting.

This will be my 12 consecutive conference, but the first where I can share with you my insights and learnings through my blog.

Along with attending, I will presenting a pre conference session tomorrow, a Cracker Barrel session Thursday, and a concurrent session on Saturday. (I guess I am slacking on Friday!)

I will share ideas and concepts with you - and I am looking forward to it.

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