Review of July Development Day

Hi Folks. Rachel Kelly, the Cogent Coach, has agreed to write this month's review of the Development Day. Here it is!
Team training day at Ystrad Mynach, 4th July 2008

Dave started the day in his usual relaxed style and set the tone for the day. Everyone was willing to share and explore ideas. Our introductions on the theme: ~WAS, ~AM, ~WILL BE, produced a variety of responses.

The theme of the day became STORIES

We all told stories about ourselves which helped everyone learn a little bit more about each other.

In fact, some of the mistakes people make when networking is that they try to sell themselves, rather than being themselves, so just tell some STORIES!

Peter took the second slot and was very brave to show an hour long video entitled 'Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes'. This showed the experiences of a 3rd grade teacher in the USA called Jane Elliot who used an experiment in her class to show the effects of discrimination and how she now runs training and speaks on discrimination across the world.

It generated discussion in the group about ethics and training style in a modern environment in comparison and how kinaesthetic learning is so powerful, by experiencing the situation rather than just talking about it.

After lunch, David told us STORIES about his rather varied life, from Hell in Bratislava to waste management in Bahrain and chairing the Monmouth Chamber of Commerce. In the feedback, we all commented on what we had learned about cultural differences, picking your partners and barcodes in the UK.

Robert rounded off the day with a presentation on pressure and stress. What is the difference? Stress is the reaction people have to pressure. Robert also explained all the chemical things that happen to each of us when under pressure that can cause the physical stress reactions. This led to more stories being shared amongst the group.

I also learned that you can 'white' out a Powerpoint by pressing W during the presentation and 'black' out by pressing B! So useful.

It was another great day.

After 'giving out' all week it is so refreshing to have some time to oneself to share some STORIES.

Come along in September and hear some more STORIES.

Rachel

Rachel Kelly
The Cogent Coach
rachel@thecogentcoach.co.uk
01600 860497
07813 787637