Last semester, I brought the idea of using a wetpaint site to help our division draft rules, procedures and guidelines for our new on-line giving system. It seems to be very successful and I am grateful that I was able to use the new skill/concept I picked up.
I have mentioned in class that I feel like an internal consultant on a daily basis and that some of things we are learning about being a process consultant are relevant to dealing with donors. Well, I decided to use what I learned on Resistance with a group of students I recently hired to conduct the School of Social Work phone-a-thon, and here's what I learned.
Social Workers deal with clients as well, even though their clients have greater social issues than say a corporation, but never the less they totally got resistance and what a "client" is really saying. One of my students quoted Block and never even read him. She said, "resistance comes in many forms but what makes us successful as social workers, fund-raisers, etc is how we react to resistance." I was quite impressed and even more enthusiastic with our phone-a-thon program.
On another note, I had an interesting discussion with my dad Thursday evening. He had recently attended a modeling and simulation conference hosted by Senator Warner at the Va Beach pavilion. He explained that several of the speakers came from various fields with extreme ties to education. The point of the conference was to think about news ways modeling and simulation can work to help make better, Doctors, Dentists, Teachers, and Military leaders. Perhaps the most interesting take a way was for my dad and of course me, was our discussion on Medical training. The philosophy for medical training since the inception of medicine has been see one, do one, teach one. But wouldn't it be better for a student to learn first in a simulated environment? Or for a teacher to do the same? When considering adult education these are all important questions.
As a side note, my dads company deals primarily with the military aspect of modeling and simulation with the intent of teaching Marines about various scenarios before they even encounter them on a battlefield.
“What I’ve Learned about Organizational Change”
13 years ago
Ike, that's interesting that you use wetpaint in the workplace. The wiki sites have worked well in our classroom environments, but I never considered the possibilities outside of those confines.
ReplyDeleteYour point about learning in simulated environments is interesting. I think they are compelling arguments for and against this. I know that I generally prefer the safety of a classroom or other simulated environment before I take my new skills out into the "real world." However, I am sure that there are situations where simulation just won't cut it and an authentic experience is necessary for real learning to take place.
-Sarah