The Key
June 26, 2009

Entelechy's Newsletter for Trainers, Managers, 
HR Professionals and Others Responsible 
for the Performance of Others.

Letter from the Editor

I love to read. I read, of course, to acquire information for my job. However, I REALLY love reading for fun. While my wife enjoys the #1 Ladies Detective Agency type of books, I’m more of a mystery reader that enjoys a bit of horror and supernatural. Living in New England, one of my favorite so-scary-you-can’t-sleep authors is Stephen King. I had the opportunity to get up close at a recent (and increasingly rare) book signing. For about 20 minutes I watched Mr. King from a distance as he mingled with guests; I was a bit nervous, wondering exactly what was going on in that mind of his that produced such horror thrillers as Cujo, Pet Semetary, and Duma Key. The guy – while appearing normal at the reception – MUST be a bit cracked. I wonder what Mr. King would write if he were asked to produce a training manual – say on interviewing and hiring…. Or on sales questioning techniques (probing – YIKES!)…. Or on leadership (made versus born … BWA HA HA HA!!! GULP!!)

The reason I like to read is because of the writing. I LOVE a well-turned phrase, a word that fits PERFECTLY, a description that sends a chill up my spine. I am AFFECTED by good writing. Aren’t you?

So, why should all the good writing be limited to pleasure reading? Why not bring some of the same concepts – precision, deliberate choice of words, editing for clarity – to training?

Because of the work Entelechy does in creating comprehensive training programs for clients, we understand the importance of clear and precise writing. With clarity and precision, our clients receive a program that sails smoothly; without well-written materials even a well-designed course can fail.

In this issue of The Key, we offer the second and final set of general writing tenets AND I get to rant a bit on my five top writing pet peeves. If you take last issue’s tenets and combine them with this issue’s tenets and pet peeves, you can add them to your style guide that you use when writing your training materials. If you DON’T have a style guide, then take my advice and start now. A style guide – like a template – is a valuable development tool, saving you a ton of time from making the same decisions over and over AND increasing the effectiveness of your writing – people will learn more and learn faster from your written materials.

While good writing is always in style, for certain demographics, it’s even more important. Precision and brevity are critical in web-based training, for example. Another demographic that requires precise and efficient writing is the emerging group of Work At Home (WAH) employees. Increasingly, Entelechy has been designing training for WAHs – and you may find our tips valuable.

Now, about that training manual for new hires…. “John, the newbie, wondered exactly what was going on in the so-called marketing department. And why was his boss so adamant that he ‘ignore what marketing does?’ Just what was so secretive? John had his suspicions and vowed to find out. Now.” 

Terry

Design and Development Efficiency/Effectiveness

In the previous issue of The Key, I shared with you some writing tips. In these economically challenging times, faster is better and less is often more; the better – clearer, with more precision, more descriptively – your training materials are written, the faster and more effectively learning occurs.

Entelechy has honed our design, development, and delivery processes to a razor-sharp edge. In the previous issue of The Key (http://unlockit.com/newsletter.htm), I discussed Writing Style and outlined – and gave examples of best practices in – the first five General Tenets for Effective Writing:

1. Write for your audience. Put yourself - your opinions, your feelings, etc. - in the background. 
   
   

2. Make it as simple as you can but no simpler. 
   
   

3. Write in the active voice.
   
   

4. Avoid unnecessary words and phrases.
   
   

5. Write with nouns and verbs. Eliminate superfluous adjectives.

In this issue, we’ll cover general tenets 6-10 and I’ll share with you my top writing pet peeves. In future issues, we’ll share Entelechy’s Style Guide – how we’ve agreed as an organization to punctuate bulleted items or write words like email (or e-mail or eMail) and flipchart (or flip chart).

6. Avoid colloquialisms. Colloquialisms are a substitute for clear thought.

7. Write clearly. If necessary, revise.

8. Use punctuation correctly.

9. Define “it” and other pronouns. Using pronouns often confuses the subject of the sentence and is often a substitute for clear thought.

10. Separate ideas when each is important.

Pet Peeves

1. Pet Peeve #1: Using less instead of fewer. Less refers to quantity, fewer to number.

2. Pet Peeve #2: Using that instead of who. If you’re talking about people, the word is who!

3. Pet Peeve #3: Using which instead of that. That is restrictive; it narrows our focus. Which is illustrative; it provides additional information. Which uses commas to set it and the phrase off from the rest of the sentence.

4. Pet Peeve #4: Using i.e., and e.g., interchangeably. e.g., is Latin for exempli gratia and means for example; use e.g., to provide general examples (of many) or further definition to illustrate your point. i.e., is Latin for id est and means that is; use i.e., to provide specific examples.

5. Pet Peeve #5: Capitalizing words at random.

What’s YOUR biggest writing pet peeve? Write me at ttraut@unlockit.com and we’ll publish it in the next issue of The Key AND we’ll provide you with complimentary copy of Entelechy’s Style Guide!

Designing Training for Work At Home Employees

Entelechy has always been a virtual company with employees who work from their homes. Perhaps we started a trend 17 years ago that is slowly but surely finding more acceptance in the corporate world today. While the economics of Work At Home (WAH) employees are undeniably favorable, training them can be a challenge for a variety of obvious and not so obvious reasons.

I asked my staff to list their tips and also tapped into Sandy and Jason (thanks guys!) who provided their expert insights to come up with the following tips. Enjoy!

1. First and foremost, you can’t take a classroom designed curriculum and simply cut the hands-on activities and call it ready for virtual. The training needs to be redesigned specifically for a virtual environment, sometimes from the ground up.
   

2. Many limitations of WAH employees are the result of location (home) and computer systems being used (highly variable). The audio capabilities of users can be a problem because of compatibility with their sound systems or even the interface they use in getting to the training (like Citrix for NEW). Plan on testing each user’s equipment/connection so that the first session goes smoothly; there’s nothing worse than having 14 people waiting while the last person struggles getting connected.
   
   

3. Ensure that the training has a minimal footprint for computer system resources required. There is a minimum system capability that is dictated as a requirement to being a WAH employee, but there is still a lot of variability so keeping the footprint as small as possible will minimize chances for delivery problems for some.
   
   

4. Unless you are having your attendees print material (the printing and distribution of which is cost-prohibitive), they won’t have anything tangible while going through the training. Don’t be afraid to go heavy on the details whenever you are describing something and don’t be afraid to work pictures into your presentation too. 
   
   

5. Tailor training exercises for delivery to a virtual audience who cannot put their hands on things, or directly interact with others – perhaps even the facilitator. Be very creative in how you approach group activities: white boards on presentation programs and interactive slide presentations are a great way to achieve the same effect. If you have the resources to utilize web cams, that technology can be a big help too. 
   
   

6. It may seem like class size could be limitless, but the opposite is actually true. The more you have in the class, the less likely you will be able to engage someone.
   
   

7. Keep the PowerPoint slides short and move through them more quickly than normal. Usually the slides are the only visual the trainees have so move quickly enough to keep them engaged.
   
   

8. For a facilitator working with a virtual audience, the key to success in delivering the material is to effectively engage the participants – with both the facilitator and amongst each other – and encourage, or even demand, audience participation because the isolation of individuals facilitates just the opposite. The material itself has to be more complete and self-explanatory than in a classroom environment and, of course, must be completely paperless in its delivery. 
   
   

9. Participation is usually harder to get in WAH training sessions so it’s important for the facilitator to work this aspect more than they would probably have to in a live environment.
   
   

10. Additionally, the facilitator must be “over the top” in delivery. Part entertainer, part facilitator, the instructor’s delivery must be like a performance. Think You Tube.
    
    

11. Use polling/quizzing to maintain a level of interactivity throughout the session. It’s a neat way to get feedback from your audience and make sure they are “getting it.” Participants know they may be called on at any time to provide their feedback on a topic or provide answers to an activity in the participant guide. You can also turn the control over to a participant and have them demonstrate something. Interactive approaches can help to minimize the amount of multitasking that folks are doing. 
    
    

12. Also, your ground rules for running a class virtually need to change, now you need to ask that people:
    
    

    • Turn off the automatic email notification.

    • Change their IM status to Busy/Do Not Disturb.

    • Mute themselves when they are not talking. 

    • Refrain from multitasking. Be here now! 

    • Say their names before speaking.

    • Ask questions!
      

And Now, for Something Completely Different

This is What Marriage is All About

My wife, Cathy, and I just celebrated our 28th anniversary and, admittedly, we do share a lot – but not as much as the elderly couple we saw at McDonald’s last week.

The old man ordered one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. He unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife. 

He took a sip of the drink; his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them kept looking over and whispering. You could tell they were thinking, “That poor old couple - all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.”

As the man began to eat his fries, a young man came to the table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said they were just fine - they were used to sharing everything. 

The surrounding people noticed the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking a sip from the drink. 

Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old woman said, “No, thank you. We are used to sharing everything.”

As the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin, the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked, “What is it you’re waiting for?”

She answered … (Click here – to be taken to our website for the answer. Scroll to the bottom of our home page to find the punch line.)

Pasting Unformatted Text in Word

Tired of pasting and then reformatting text into Word 2003 or 2007? You can paste unformatted text by clicking on Paste->Paste Special->Unformatted Text, but who has time for all that mousing and clicking?

Whenever you paste text in Word 2007, the Paste Options icon appears near the end of the pasted block of text. Use that button to select formatting for the pasted block because occasionally the block may contain formatting that looks ugly after it’s pasted in.

1. Point the mouse at the Paste Options icon. The icon turns into a “button” with a dropdown graphic on the right.
   
   

2. Click the dropdown graphic to display your options. Choose an option to match the formatting you want:
   
   

   • Keep Source Formatting: The formatting is fine; don’t do a thing.
     
     

   • Match Destination Formatting: Reformat the pasted block so that it looks like the text it’s being pasted into.
     
     

   • Keep Text Only: Just paste in the text — no formatting.
     
     

   • Set Default Paste: In Word 2007 (depicted in the graphic), you can even set your default paste action so that, for example, pasting will always paste the text only and not the formatting. Clicking Set Default Paste… opens the Word Options dialog box where you can, in the Cut, Copy and Paste section, permanently set various pasting options in Word.

Cool, huh?!

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Terence Traut, President of Entelechy "unlocking potential"
ttraut@unlockit.com   
phone: 603-424-1237
fax: 603-424-6361
http://www.unlockit.com