A life of learning and learning of life. That’s my tag line, and in essence is the purpose for my blog. But the real reason I started it? To create a digital presence and to put my thoughts out there; it was hubris. But over time I’ve changed. Now it’s not about putting my thoughts out in cyberspace and seeing if anyone comments.

Instead, I look at my blog more as a record of my growth. Tree of Learning is my pencil marks on the door frame charting how I’ve grown and changed over the years.

As an adult growth isn’t always linear, and it isn’t always about getting larger. In fact, I think one of the defining characteristics of adulthood is realizing that less is more, and that paring down to simplicity is actual growth. I don’t know how much I’ve grown in the past 5 months, but I do know I’ve changed.

5 months ago I was a new recipient of a Master’s degree, and anxious to find a permanent full-time job. I was looking for a PhD program, and comfortable in my contract position with a great boss. I thought I had arrived professionally. But that was before I spent the summer taking an Improv class. It was before I realized there aren’t that many jobs out there. It was before I procrastinated and paralyzed myself on getting my thesis published. And it was before I took a good hard look at myself.

So here I am with 5 months gone. I’ve had new experiences and self-revelations. I’ve compromised between theory and reality, and I’ve started my re-focus on simplifying my life. Have I changed? Yes. Have I grown? I’ll know that the next time I make a blog posting and check the differences in my pencil markings on the door frame.

My brother and I would literally spend hours pouring over that catalogue. My mom is a teacher who believes every moment is a teaching moment.We had a budget in our letters to Santa. We would write what we wanted, a description, and the page number. Practicing budgeting, math, prioritization, writing, and grammar. Not a bad training course on those topics, is it? And even better, we didn’t know we were learning… Oddly enough, that wasn’t the purpose of this posting, but it could be.  I’ll explore this further in a future posting…

But there is more to the Sears Catalogue than our letter writing. It was the toys. My parent’s motto was “You have everything you need, and some of the things you want.” Since Michael and I didn’t get every toy we wanted, we had to prioritize and figure out where we’d get the most bang for our buck.

We decided that the shiniest, most hyped toys aren’t always the best toys. In fact, those shiny “must-have” items often weren’t around the next year. We would watch the ads, we’d listen to our friends, and we’d think, “Boy oh boy, I gotta have one of those!” When we got it, yes it was shiny. And yes, people were impressed we had it. But it usually only did one thing. Once it did that one thing, then what? Don’t get me started on those board games with instruction books 10-15 pages long! Most of our childhood board games (except Monopoly) are still near-pristine condition…except for the money and the dice. We found uses for the money and the dice.

Our favorite toys? They were ones that were easy to use and that we could use in a variety of ways. For example:

• We had cardboard bricks we made into houses, the USS Enterprise, or anything we could dream. (Yes, I played Star Trek. Yes, I’ll admit to a small amount, a very small amount, of nerd-ish-ness.)
• My parents are still using our Radio Flyer Red Wagon…it’s transitioned from toy, to play station wagon, to lemonade stand, to garden tool.
• We had a two-sided chalkboard…you can’t imagine all the uses we found for that – or maybe you can!
• An old-fashioned black tape recorder could tape voices, or be a tri-corder (nerd alert again), or a strange discovery in a hidden cave deep underwater.
• On rainy days mom would spread wax paper on the counter and break out a can of dad’s shaving cream so we could create sculptures and art work.
• Mom saved all of our egg cartons, paper towel rolls (great for speakers, telescopes, and art projects), and old crayons.
• We used old socks to make puppets.
• All my brother’s electric train could do was go around in circles. But with some of those cardboard bricks on the tracks you have a tunnel, or a cave, or an ambush. Add in some Tonka Trucks carrying GI Joe and Barbie and you’ve got spies deep in enemy territory or a couple on their honeymoon.
• A broom could be a horse, or a flying broom, or a prop, or a weapon, or something to clean up with.
• My brother had Legos that we used with Fisher Price, Barbie, GI Joe, electric trains, insects, Tonka trucks, Radio Flyer wagons, and everything else.

So let’s apply this to L&D. The shiniest, most hyped toys aren’t always the best toys.

If your toy requires hours/days/weeks for you to learn to use it, there may be a simpler alternative. If your toy can only do one thing, is it really cost-effective for you? You learned when you were a kid that the best toys have uses limited only by your imagination. Look at the toys you already have in your toybox, and forget what the directions say. How can you add in some puppet socks and cardboard bricks to create something new?

New toys can be good, don’t get me wrong. I LOVED my Simon and our Pong game. Just remember what you learned as a kid. What toys did you play with the most? Which toys helped you create something new and exciting? Which ones made you think? The shiniest, most hyped toys aren’t always the best toys. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t.

CHALLENGE: Your parents left you alone, and you have a cardboard box (about 3-4 feet high and wide with no staples), paper towel cylinders, string, couch cushions, and other random items. What do you make/create/do with it?

NOTE: I am not endorsing a specific brand or toy or vendor. I not endorsing the purchase of these brands or toys from any mentioned vendor. These brand names are the ones I remember from my childhood, and the links are to provide you with an idea of what the toy is/was.

I met my husband face-to-face 5 years and 2 days ago. We still love each other and want to spend time with each other. And to me, that says a lot. But it’s more than love. We LIKE each other.  For me, marriage isn’t a business deal, and its more than love. It is work, and commitment, and compromise, and flexibility, and anger, and friendship, and irritation, and happiness, and frustration, and contentment, and caring, and nagging, and laughing, and crying, and sharing, and liking, and growing, and whole bunch of other “ands”. That’s a marriage kind of love.

Marriage is an institution that needs to encompass business – just look at the statistics that say most marriages fail over money issues. Marriage can encompass love – but it doesn’t have to. To me, marriage is more than love, more than money, more than a lot of things. I wrote my Love Definition….oh I don’t know….probably 20 years ago. It helped me to not settle into a marriage just because I wanted to get married. It helped me to wait and find the right person for me. I waited 38 years to meet my husband, and I’m so glad I waited.

So that’s my lead-in to my Love Definition. This is what I wrote back then, in one take, with no editing. I’ve never needed to edit it – it says it all for me. So much so that I read it at our wedding.

Love Definition

I’m not talking about some grand perfect fairy tale illusion of romance. I’m talking about the person that you love enough to realize that you won’t always love them every single day – but you’ll always be willing to fight for the next day when you will love them again. The person that will make the memories and history with you, so that on the days when love isn’t there, you stay together, knowing that what you have is deeper than love. That you will fall in love with the person they are constantly changing into, and that they will love the new you. A day-to-day struggle that you willingly enter into knowing that it’s not love that holds you together, but love (or the continual promise of it) that makes you fight and believe that you will be together. That’s what I want, someone to fight, on a daily basis, for the love that we will share over the years, and for our memories and history that we make in our day-to-day lives.

Me and Jimmy on our wedding day 10-22-05

Filed under: Personal Tagged: family, love, marriage ]]> http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/a-marriage-kind-of-love/feed/ 2 41.850033 -87.650052 41.850033 -87.650052 treeoflearning Wedding http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/the-sandbox-all-i-need-to-know-about-ld-i-learned-as-a-kid/ http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/the-sandbox-all-i-need-to-know-about-ld-i-learned-as-a-kid/#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 23:43:50 +0000 Patricia Ransom http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/?p=378 ]]> This past week has been filled with learning and education. I graduated, and then I spent three amazing days at the ASTD International Conference & Exposition here in Chicago. At the conference I absorbed the latest and greatest in Learning & Development (L&D) from the best and brightest in L&D. I spent a lot of time reflecting on what I was learning, what I knew, and incorporating all of it into my personal world-view of L&D.

What did I realize from all of this reflection, you ask?  All I need to know about L&D I learned as a kid. In this series of postings, I’m calling it The Sandbox, I’ll explore this concept from many different angles:

• The newest and shiniest toy isn’t always the best. Sometimes a box, a stick, and some imagination are all you need to keep yourself occupied for hours.
• Collaboration is good, but if you’ve got a big group of kids, you learn to do what the oldest kids say, and to find fun and value in that.
• Let’s not forget the grown-ups that were in our lives: the ignore-er of kids, the condescend-er to children, the kid-hater, and the cool grown-up that wasn’t a friend, but understood you nonetheless.
• There were games, but also times for quietness and reflection.
• And there were the personalities of the kids you played with. There were the quiet ones, the bossy ones, the criers, the bullies, the fun ones, the smart ones, and the strange ones.

I’m going to cover each of these angles – toys, big kids, grown-ups, games, personalities – and relate them to my view of L&D. I’m sure as I go through this I’ll think of others. I’m hoping that you will suggest other ideas, and share your input with me.

She said it with such utter conviction (at least I thought it was conviction…maybe I was reading too much into 140 characters) that I started thinking. Am I a Queen of Simplicity?

I want to be a Queen of Simplicity.

I love simplicity.

Take me anywhere, and I’m watching everything going on around me and offering a running commentary to my long-suffering husband on how the process could be more efficient or more simple. I try to organize our home and our lives to make things more simple. I read Real Simple and clip articles such as How to Fake a Clean House. Do you know what I’ve found?

Simplicity ain’t simple!

My mom is a Queen of Simplicity too…and she makes it look so easy. You know, like watching Michael Jordan, the Rockettes, or Payton Manning. Apple products are simple…my parents were able to pick up an iPod and figure out how to use it without any instructions.

Simplicity, to me, implies an ease of movement. A fluidity to every action, placement, thought. By definition, all extraneous stuff is gone.

So why am I talking about this in a posting about being In Transition? Like I said, Simplicity ain’t simple…and it takes time and effort to achieve it. Michael Jordan spent hours every single day practicing. My mom has spent years culling down to the bare essentials and putting in organizational structures to support her concept of simplicity. There is work involved – a lot of work. Dolly Parton said “you’d be surprised how much money it costs to look this cheap!” I say “you’d be surprised how much work it takes to be this simple”.

Being In Transition has given me the time to actually step back and look at my life and to see where I can simplify it. Physically I’ve been able to empty out some closets. Mentally I’ve had time to begin work on some areas of my personality that can be a bit intense. Monetarily…well being out of a job takes care of that!

I’m not a Queen of Simplicity. I’m not a princess, nor even a lady-in-waiting. I guess I’m a debutante of simplicity. I’m just beginning my journey to define what simple means to me, and how I can achieve it. I haven’t even touched the fluidity aspect.

But to complicate my simple revelations about simplicity is the fact that I’m married. I cannot take my journey alone – I have a traveling partner. So that means my journey is also his journey, and he is going to have to be involved in my re-defining and efforts.

So let me tie all this back to learning…because to me life is all about learning. I’ve learned simplicity ain’t simple. I’ve learned that I need time to find where I can simplify. I’ve learned that I’m just beginning this path. I’m constantly re-learning that I’m not on this path alone, and that I have to be flexible enough to include my husband on my journey – if he wants to go. What if he doesn’t want to explore simplicity with me? Then I’ll learn how to compromise and listen to what he is truly saying.

And I may find that my life is simple after all.

But I succeeded. In fact, I did so well that my Master’s Project was chosen by my department as the Outstanding Master’s Project for 2010! This is me at the awards ceremony Thursday night:

Accepting award for Outstanding Masters Project 2010

My husband and mother were in the audience watching proudly as I accepted my award. They listened intently as the presenter described the project as a simple, original, and publishable idea. I was glad my husband was there, but I know my mom was close to tears as she was listening and watching. And this is where history, school, and I collide.

School

Roosevelt University opened its doors in 1945 with the determination to”make higher education available to all students who could qualify academically…[without] Considerations of social or economic class, racial or ethnic origin, sex, or age.” The idea must have been unimaginable to most people then.

History

1945. The Army was still segregated. Brown vs. the Board of Education was almost a decade in the future. Emett Till was only a 4 year old boy in Chicago…never dreaming of how he’d change history 10 years later in Money, Mississpi. Martin Luther King, Jr was still a college student in Atlanta Georgia. Malcolm X was a petty criminal about to serve 8-10 years in prison.

And my grandmother, Callie Miller Murphy, was a homemaker living in the Ida B. Wells housing projects in Chicago with her husband and two daughters.  Her life was full with family, friends, and church. But apparently she felt something was missing…

Collision

Fast forward to January 2008. I’m a brand new student talking to Mom about the first day of school. She asks where I’m going and I say Roosevelt — silence. Then she says in a choked voice “you know, that’s where your grandmother went to school before we moved. I remember her riding the bus downtown so she could go to class…”

I don’t think Grandma graduated; Grandpa moved the family to Idlewild, MI around 1948 or so and it would be about 15 years before she finished her degree and started her career as a teacher.

In May, I’m graduating from Roosevelt University with a Master’s degree, about 60 years after Grandma began her college career there. Though I’m the one receiving the degree, Grandma is the one who fulfilled the school’s mission to make higher education available to all qualified students without regard to social or economic class, racial or ethnic origin, sex, or age.

There are photographs in the hallways of Roosevelt’s Auditorium building – pictures of students taken in the 1940s and 1950s. I find myself walking slowly down those hallways, hoping one day to catch a glimpse of  Grandma.

What being laid off has given me is time. Not time to do nothing, but time to do all those things that I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve cleaned out closets, organized cupboards, started cooking, worked on my knitting, driven around the city, ridden public transportation by myself, done daily grocery shopping, discovered second-hand and thrift stores.

I’ve done all of those while still taking 3 classes, working 2 part-time jobs, and learning to navigate unemployment. I’ve had time to be as busy as I want to be.

In the process I’ve become more relaxed, slightly more patient and accepting, and I think a lot more fun to be around. I notice that I smile more, and that I don’t get as stressed out as much. I really can put stuff off until tomorrow, and I know it’ll get done instead of being buried by other to-dos.

I like not working 40 hours a week. I like not working 8 hours a day. I like not working over weekends. I like not working at home in the evenings. I really really like it. I know it will change, and I know that I’ll adapt. But until then I’m enjoying my time.

I remember a conversation I had with someone in 2002. She had had a job with a non-profit marketing company in Manhattan; after 9-11 her company closed and she was out of work. She told me that the following 6 months were the most fun she had ever had…she got a job as a temp receptionist, and when she wasn’t working she was exploring the great city of New York. She said she gave herself picnics in Central Park, subway rides to neighborhoods she’d never been to before, and just wandered up and down streets and soaking in the energy of the city.

I didn’t understand what she was talking about -  what about her time? What was she doing? She wasn’t working, wasn’t she nervous or stressed? I was thinking to myself “yes, yes, yes…those things are nice, but why aren’t you  spending your time better? Why aren’t you looking for a job?”

I understand her now. Picnics, subway rides and wandering through neighborhoods are as important as a paycheck and career.

So I have to say “Thank You” to my former company. Without being laid-off I never would have had this time to relax and be me.

One of the questions I must answer is along the lines of “Did you attend school or training during this period?” Since I’m taking 3 graduate-level courses, 2 weeks ago I answered Yes. And that’s where the problems began.

After back and forth and all types of hassle, what I learned is this – “since you’re taking online courses, you aren’t attending a real school”. What the unemployment department meant is that I wasn’t in a brick and mortar building.

Since I’m taking online courses, I’m not attending a real school. And in a larger sense, that’s the problem, isn’t it?

As learning and development professionals, we spend time and effort to design and create good e-learning.  We spend money on the latest e-learning software and then even more time learning to use that software. We network with other e-learning professionals, and we invoke adult learning theories, and e-learning theories and best practices. All of that, and the perception is still “online courses aren’t real school”.

And for those of us in the corporate world, how many times have we heard, “well, let’s just create some e-learning until they can come to the training session/induction/new-hire orientation and ‘really’ learn it”. Once again, the message is that online courses aren’t real school.

How do we change this perception? I have no idea.

What I do know is that we, learning and development professionals, are partly to blame. Every time we’re asked to create that e-learning to tide people over until they can come to an ILT and “really” learn it, we’re perpetuating this belief. Every time we create bad e-learning, we’re helping this thought grow deeper into the psyche of people. “Online courses aren’t real school.”

Every single one of us has made that compromise between what we know is best for our learners and the time-frame or resources allotted to us to do the training. Why do we make that compromise? It benefits no one. Bad e-learning is a waste of time and resources for everyone. When asked to create bad e-learning, say that. Tell people its a waste of money. Be honest. Otherwise you’re just feeding into the “online courses aren’t real school” myth.

Oh, you know they’ll fight back. You’ll hear things like:

• “But at least they’ll be familiar with the concepts when they come to training or class.” Or
• “Something is better than nothing.” Or my favorite,
• “But it’ll be a good reference resource for everyone.”

You know these statements are false – you know it in your gut, and you can pull out mountains of research to prove it. In the words of Nancy Reagan, Just Say No.

Be honest – you know learners won’t be familiar with the concepts because you know bad e-learning doesn’t result in a transfer of knowledge. Say so and pull out research to prove it!

Be honest. You know that using your time and effort  to create something that won’t be remembered 5 minutes after completion is much much worse than having nothing. What the organization has lost is your time – how many hours did you spend creating this bad e learning, and what is your hourly rate? That money is gone forever from the organization. The organization has also lost all the work-hours of each person sitting through the horrific course. And if they can’t remember a thing about it in a week, then the company might as well just have paid them to sit and stare at a wall. Say so and pull out research to prove it!

Be honest because you know people don’t access bad e-learning as a reference. If you’ve just put a powerpoint up on your intranet and called it e-learning, how can the learners quickly and easily find the nugget of information they need? How can they easily print it or share it with others? How do they even know where to look for the information? Bad e-learning, by it’s very definition, is un-organized, un-searchable, and un-sharable. It cannot and will not be used for reference, and you must show that! Just ask the person you’re talking to the last time they used an e-learning course as reference material.

All I’m asking is that you fight the good fight when someone asks you to create bad e-learning.

The consequences to your organization can be measured in lost productivity and dollars.

The consequences to our profession are felt each time we hear “online courses aren’t real school”.

No is not a bad word. It’s all in how you say it and the reasons behind it. Don’t get me wrong, saying no to a job is never easy. It’s even more difficult in the middle of a recession when you work in a field that’s been decimated by layoffs. But I think it’s a perfectly reasonable response to a job offer. What’s important is that you know why you’re saying no, and that you communicate those reasons clearly, concisely, and professionally.

I’ve recently met Iris Grimm, who is a career coach. One of her sayings is “What price are you willing to pay for your prize?” Think about that. If your prize is a job, what sacrifices or prices are you willing to pay for it? It’s such a simple question that involves knowing yourself, your values, your priorities, and your vision. It also encompasses understanding the realities of your world and professional landscape. To know what price you’ll pay, you synthesize disparate groups of information. You evaluate your understanding of self, realities, and the job offer. And, as I’ve learned, it also involves communication.

There are a lot of experts, websites, books, columns, blogs, and what-have-you on how to conduct your job search. But for me, it’s all about boiling it down to the intangibles. Not the resumes and cover letters and networking, but rather self-awareness, professional awareness, evaluation, and communication.

Self Awareness → Career/Field/Professional Awareness → Evaluation → Communication

Once you know who you are and what your non-negiotiables are, then you apply the realities of the world to yourself and the job offer. This is the evaluation. This is also where you determine what price you’re willing to pay for your prize. So far for me, the price has been too high. A 4 hour commute or a 60 hour work-week doesn’t fit into my priorities.  If I accepted a job, even a great paying job, with a 4 hour commute or 12 hour work-days, I can guarantee I’d quit within a year. And for that entire year I’d be miserable because I wouldn’t be in alignment with who I am and what I want. And the company would be miserable because they’d have to start the entire search all over again.

And this is where No comes in. I had to tell the recruiter, “No thank you. I have certain priorities and non-negotiables, and that long of a commute is something that I can’t do. However, I know someone who I think may be a good fit for this position – would it be OK if I sent them your contact information?” And that’s the other thing I’ve learned – if you say No, have an alternative ready!

Filed under: In Transition Tagged: In Transition, job search, linkedin, no ]]> http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/in-transition-no-is-not-a-bad-word/feed/ 1 41.850033 -87.650052 41.850033 -87.650052 treeoflearning http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/in-transition-the-moment/ http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/in-transition-the-moment/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:18:09 +0000 Patricia Ransom http://patriciaransom.wordpress.com/?p=264 ]]> When I started this blog in 2008, I was a corporate trainer and working towards my Master’s Degree in Training and Development. I saw my path, I was on it, and life was good.

But, as we all know, life doesn’t always follow the path we want it to. In December 2009, I was laid off from my company and I joined the millions of Americans who are “In Transition”. This posting reflects back to the moment I learned the news.

In Transition: What it means to me

In Transition – at first I wasn’t sure I liked this – it just seemed to be the phrase of the day. But I kept thinking about the word Transition. It’s an action word – an action initiated by me. If I say I’m laid off from my job, that implies something being done to me and is limited to my professional life. If I say I’m transitioning my life and focus, that’s something that I’m doing and encompasses growth, learning, and all aspects of me. Transit is also in motion – it’s happening. Its moving. I’m proud to say I’m “In Transition”. What’s my destination? I’m not sure, but I know I have one, and it’s going to be great! I’m excited about this new movement in my career and life.

Excitement and Hope

In fact, excitement and hope have been the dominant feelings I’ve experienced since my manager told me the news. She pulled me into her office and calmly explained what was happening and why. While I was sitting there, I kept waiting for the feelings of anger, despair, and sadness. I’ll admit I was sad and would miss my co-workers.  But anger? Didn’t show up. Despair? Couldn’t find it. Anguish? Nothing.

In fact, my biggest feeling was one of hope and excitement for the future!  As she was talking, I was making plans to be a full-time student and graduate in May. I was plotting how to best organize my time so I could clean out the house, work on my photography, finish the scarf I’m knitting, blog more, volunteer, and blog more. I felt free to expand myself and explore all the things I hadn’t had time for while I was working and going to school.

Lessons Learned

Life is about learning and here is what I learned/did while I was still working in the office (I had a 3 week period between being informed and my last date).

• Attitude is everything! Of course I didn’t like hearing I was being laid off, who does? But what would I gain by showing anger to my manager, co-workers, or anyone else? I’d still be out of a job. My manager (Sr. VP of Human Resources) said that I had the best attitude of any person she’d ever had to release in the past 20 years. If there is an opportunity to work with her again, how is she going to remember me?
• Truly understand the business reason for the situation. I had to separate myself from the business. It was nothing personal.
• Show up for work every day and work! I was still receiving a paycheck, so therefore I needed to provide value. There were projects I was involved in, and as long as I was on the payroll, I still had responsibilities to my projects and my co-workers.
• Never bad-mouth anyone, nor display anger or disappointment. Ever. Not at work, not on Facebook, not in email, not on Twitter. Save those conversations for family.
• Make plans for the future. Plan to keep yourself busy, and start acting on the IMMEDIATELY! This set my mind for action — the idea of transit is about action.
• Transition your work to the best of your ability. My rationale was that I could conceivably work with these people again, and I wanted them to remember me in the most positive manner possible.
• Say goodbye to everyone, personally if possible. I walked around and thanked every person and provided my contact information. I let them know I was looking for work, and if they heard of anything, to contact me. I also sent out an email with my contact information and yet another thank-you for providing such a wonderful working experience for the past 3 years. I was surprised by how many people wrote back to thank me and tell me how much they appreciated the good-bye.

In my next posting I’ll blog about the actual steps I followed after leaving the office – things like unemployment, COBRA, and beginning my job search.