Lisa von Massow and Doug Bolger of L(earn)2

The Power of Acclimatizing

My Grade 8 visit to the CN Tower clarified one thing. I am afraid of heights. Watching others look down made me sick to my stomach. My father shares this belief and describes walking outside with his back to the wall, watching his class enjoy the same view. His trembling hands reaching out holding the wall until… he grasped the hand of another terrified soul. Together they inched toward the exit! He embraced that 80 year old grandmother – also afraid of heights.

To combat fear, my commitment to myself has been – “You must do anything you are afraid of, so that you will never be afraid of anything.” That commitment made me present unprepared to a group of 5000 when another speaker arrived late, made me bungy jump off the highest platform in North America (someday I might share that hugely embarrassing video) and made me walk across fire just because I was asked to go by someone. The commitment served me well, I am fearless in many ways.

Yet, I was still afraid of heights. So when the CN Tower asked us to design the EdgeWalk Leadership and Sales Programs – my palms started to sweat. That would mean having to walk on the roof of the CN Tower and face my one fear again. The CN Tower team described how the EdgeWalk would acclimatize people long before the platform was constructed and installed. The guide would immediately acclimatize participants to the height so they could enjoy their walk. I thought, “Nothing will prepare me to enjoy the walk.” I could only imagine fear.

Eventually the day came. Lisa von Massow, a partner in L(earn)², and I suited up and felt our fear mount as we were breathalized, scanned, triple and quadruple checked. We walked out onto the platform. Being last in line illustrated my fear, so I got to be acclimatized first! The guide asked to walk to the edge and put my toes over! My one toe made it but the other foot would not move closer to the edge. Lisa achieved success by switching feet when one refused to go further. Next we leaned out over the edge with only the middle of our foot touching the platform, and I did it! Then we walked more and leaned out over the edge face first at an impossible angle. A rush of realization hit me – I was not afraid of heights! I was never acclimatized to heights!

Aha moment! I learned the power of acclimatization. The CN Tower team were right! You can be acclimatized and enjoy the walk. Immediately the cascade effect started – I could acclimatize to any level of performance regardless of fear. By taking small, methodical steps into your fear, you can actually enjoy hanging off the CN Tower for photos.

What makes acclimatization work? A safe environment and trusted guide to take you step-by-step out of your comfort zone. Each step interrupts the Negative Self Talk with evidence of success for the brain. Moving forward within a group supports the more resistant members as they experience the positive support and pressure within the group. The guide ensures each step is not too large or too small and stretches the group’s comfort zone.

As facilitators, we acclimatize participants to new behaviours and approaches. We build a safe and supportive environment. We start practicing the skills one by one. Then we mix some skills together. Then we add some conditions like time pressure, specific outcome, or conflict. Then we practice in real situations starting with the most comfortable and ramp up to more challenging. After each round, participants share their learning, feedback and fears. We allow the participants to find their own solutions to empower their confidence. Choosing the right size of step toward the behaviour ensures continual movement toward comfort in the behaviour.

L(earn)2 Sell™ enables sales people to identify and connect with different buyers types to make sales easier and faster. Perform the sale how the buyer wants the sale to happen, rather than how you want the sale to happen. Some sales teams double sales using this approach and now a half-day L(earn)2 Sell Naturally™ program receives 4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs). http://ilearn2.com/#/experiences/sell_naturally/

L(earn)2 Handle Objections™ remains our most popular sales program due to result produced by alumni. Participants learn to remain in conversation rather than selling through objections using acknowledgement and questions to uncover the buyers other objections and thus make the sale. Remove the fear of objections and realize that without uncovering the objections, you will never make the sale. The incredibly popular L(earn)2 Handle Objections™ receives 3 CEUs for a half-day and 6 CEUs for one day. http://ilearn2.com/#/experiences/handle_objections/

L(earn)2 Present™ develops the presentation skills of professionals to focus on engaging the audience using multiple techniques. Stop focusing on yourself and focus on engaging the people in the room to create momentum and results. Many alumni have proceeded to give the most powerful and beneficial presentations of their lives and now a one or two day L(earn)2 Present™ or L(earn)2 Boost Your Presentation Skills™ receives 6 or 8 CEUs. http://ilearn2.com/#/experiences/boost_your_presentation_skills/

With over 12,000 members representing 1,500 companies, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals is the national association and the collective voice of the mortgage industry in Canada. L(earn)2 seeks to change the way the world learns and remains Canada’s most-awarded learning company with a library of 150 programs, a design team able to engage your participants to produce results and strategic consulting to cause sales and profit. L(earn)2 is pleased to be empowering CAAMP members to produce results for Canadians in one of their most significant financial choices.

Insights generated by participants included:
“Orange Skies arrive late and leave early” – Joyce Ericson; “understanding another’s approach allows you to bridge to common ground”; and Benevolent manipulation best describes the approach of the Green Planets – Denise Metcalf. Participants stressed the benefits to their organization included: an increased ability to moderate my approach to others, how to listen and try harder to identify with other(s), appreciating staff who are different and learn to make things better as a result, look at the people I’m hiring and the impact of how work will get done and their organization will benefit from how we approach our staff, volunteers and board members because I see the effect I have on others.

L(earn)2 Communicate Naturally™ gives participants the tools and ability to communicate with others in a way that achieves results. Participants become aware of their communication approach and learn how to communicate the way others need to receive the information. To book this highly-popular session, please contact Lisa von Massow at 416-410-6434 x22 or email LvMassow@iLearn2.com.

As part of Learn @ Work Week, 2011, L(earn)² is providing an opportunity for teams to experience the benefits of workplace learning first hand. Set sail aboard the RMS Titanic with your team and see if you can save the passengers, the crew and the ship herself.  As laid out by The Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD), the goals of Learn @ Work Week are:

• To raise awareness of the impact of workplace learning
• To celebrate the best practices of workplace learning
• To celebrate the success of the ‘learning organization’

To celebrate, L(earn)² will be hosting an exclusive session of their experiential learning program L(earn)² Save the Titanic^TM–among the most awarded learning programs in the country with numerous awards from the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD), Meeting Planners International (MPI) and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA)- on Thursday Sept 22nd in the L(earn)² studio.

Titanic's Crew hard at work!

Captain Smith leads the crew

Learn @ Work Week comes at a time when the economy is undergoing significant challenges, creating potential opportunities and requirements for change. “Never before has the need to learn at work been so critical to the financial future of an organization or the stress level of the workers,” said Doug Bolger, L(earn)²’s Chief L(earn)ing Officer. “Learning at work means everyone learns new behaviours together which improves everyone’s ability to handle the future. Teams learn to take responsibility and solve problems together which makes work and life more meaningful. Canada was once a global leader in pragmatic collaboration – let’s return to our roots.”

For more information about Learn @ Work Week visit www.cstd.ca and for more information on L(earn)² visit www.iLearn2.com Follow us on twitter and facebook for a chance to win a table for you and five colleagues at our exclusive Learn @ Work Week showcase on Sept 22, 2011 or call Lisa at 416.410.6434 x 22.

About L(earn)²

L(earn)² offers a wide range of programs and experiences to help businesses identify learning best practices that deliver results, enhance product and service offerings and achieve business objectives. Participants gain knowledge from each other while learning by doing. L(earn)² experiences continue to receive national and international recognition for excellence in adult learning by transforming the traditional training lecture into a dynamic, involving and compelling learning experience. L(earn)² transforms people and performance with the power of experience. For additional information, please visit the L(earn)² website at www.iLearn2.com or call Lisa at 416.410.6434 x 22

About CSTD

CSTD is a national, not-for-profit membership association serving the field of workplace learning and development with members drawn from the public, private, not-for-profit and labour sectors. www.cstd.ca

AFTER ACCEPTING THE President’s Award this year, I addressed our chapter. Although I didn’t expect to receive the award and so had nothing prepared, I discovered I had a lot to say.

You Affect All of Us
My commitment to our industry, like many of you, is to building a stronger industry. How you do what you do affects everyone in our Chapter. As planners and suppliers, if you organize a bad meeting, it affects all of us; conversely, if you create something amazing, it affects all of us.

We as a Chapter, even as an industry, are listened to based on the quality of meetings we organize. If a meeting does not achieve the desired result, we are all affected. Our industry is tightly connected. If a VP of Sales never sees an increase in sales due to the National Sales Conference then we become less important, less strategic and are less likely to be listened to as relevant. We end up relegated to presenting themes and finding entertainment. Now, more than ever we must deliver results. For some of you this means getting clear on the true intent of the meeting and finding content and process to achieve the intention.

Independent Yet Interdependent
Toronto Chapter remains one of the strongest chapters within MPI and I believe in this chapter and what we are capable of doing together. You influence the choices your clients make. You can take the easy way – the well-walked path that produces happy feelings without producing the intended result; or you can choose the way of results, finding the right way to engage and involve the participants to ensure they internalize the key messages and take action immediately following the meeting. Meetings of this nature increase our listening as an industry.

New Economic Consciousness Rising
Please, do not let this economic consciousness that’s transforming the world intimidate you. Get out there. Stand up. Stand up for the value you know you deliver or learn how to deliver that value. We believe a new economic consciousness rises from the crisis of confidence in the greed of the banks, financial companies and citizens. The economic crisis receives 24 hour attention on the Constantly Negative News station, CNN. Much like a child who cries for the loss of the toys he melted with the magnifying glass, they media focuses on the economic crisis they intensified.

At the same time, an economic consciousness continues to naturally grow and develop within us all. We ask more questions now and consider the long term consequences of our choices. The economic consciousness helps each of us choose more wisely. More conscious awareness in one part of your life makes you more conscious. As we grow and develop our consciousness, we notice more, experience more and improve more. Consciousness provides you with more choice and let’s face it – since poverty is the absence of choice, then wealth is more choice.

How do we choose more wisely every day? First of all, be careful what you allow into your unconsciousness. Do you remember what happened after the news when we were young? The TV went off. It stopped broadcasting. Now, hundreds of channels broadcast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The impact of carelessly watching TV is that you may start to believe the media’s messaging, which brings us doom and gloom from every corner around the globe. The reality is that many people have given birth, gotten married, celebrated accomplishments and made the world a better place, which the media fails to recognize. Be careful what you watch and think about it all, for it affects you.

Choices
Choose clearly. Do you believe in economic crisis or economic consciousness? Find your intention so that you build your business and your life on a solid foundation. How do you do that? Well it is surprisingly easy. You choose your intention and notice how your mind indentifies supporting data and supporting opportunities. Having chosen your intention, you become less likely to absorb someone else’s intention. When they ask in hushed tones, “So how is business?” you can answer from your intention rather than from your fear.

Tie up your shoelaces, roll up your sleeves and find ways to deliver the intended results at every meeting. Let’s make this year the best one yet.

Our learning levels (the intention of our learning designs) allow participants to become increasingly conscious about what they are learning, how to apply that learning and how they learn. In Distinction (level 2) – participants distinguish between their current way of doing something (their how) and become aware of other alternatives (or possibilities). They, in essence, create choice points. When participants distinguish the difference between one way versus another to achieve a task or communicate – they now have a choice. Or a choice point. The choice point means they get to consciously choose between two or more different ways to proceed. That choice, when you notice it allows you to live consciously. Consciously choosing your action/approach to your action.

Years ago, on a site visit with World Accord in the hills of Honduras, Chet Thomas explained choice to me from a completely different perspective. Chet had given up his powerful New York agency and gone to develop sustainable agricultural practices and community development in Honduras. Chet had a tremendous impact on me because he distinguished choice and wealth for me. I had been giving kids my spare change. And Chet chided me. He explained, “Poverty was the absence of choice.” Think about that (I have for 15+ years). Poverty is the absence of choice. No choice… you are poor. Inside those few words lives a lifetime of understanding of humanity. If poverty is the absence of choice, then wealth is the presence or abundance of choice. Simply, consider us reading a menu (of choices) versus the billions who eat what they can get when they can get it.

Choice then has informed much of my life. I actively look for choice even when it occurs like there is none (there always is). So consciousness seems, in practical terms, be connected to the noticing of choice points. Perhaps we could measure consciousness this way – the degree to which you are conscious could be measured in how often you notice choice points and then consciously choose. Perhaps this is the basis of living a conscious life. From simple choices of requesting a reuseable coffee mug when you are staying, instead of just receiving the paper cup. An example of how many of us live unconsciously, ignoring a choice point.

So the more conscious you are, the more choice you have. The more choice you have, the more wealthy you are. Could this mean – the more conscious, the more wealthy? Could that mean that the new bling or the nouveau riche will become consciousness. Media attention seems to be shifting that direction and all hail the tipping point on that concept. Conscious capitalism may be the next mutation of our collective evolution. Now to be the change I wish to see in the world.

“I just need to focus.” How many times have we heard that, or said that ourselves as we tackle a project, a document, a presentation? When something occurs as difficult or time consuming our response is often, “FOCUS!” As this methodology is time-tested and popular I cannot disagree that the ability to focus is a handy competency to embrace. What causes me concern, is the lack of attention as to WHAT we focus on! Why is it that whenever we need to accomplish something, all of our mental energy seems to move to very thing we want to avoid? The fat vs. the fit; the tactics vs. the strategy; the mistake vs. the learning; the actions vs. the result the very thing we want to avoid vs. the thing we so desperately want to accomplish!

Every newspaper I read these days is a perfect example of this phenomenon. There isn’t a Canadian alive that seems to  want a recession, and yet every headline warns of impending doom, falling stock prices, job layoffs, and credit crunches thereby creating the exact opposite of the outcome we are looking for. Are there no good news stories out there? Companies outpacing the market, having year end results of actual growth, hiring vs. layoffs (By the way, I am in the market for a fantastic sales person…yup, that’s right, we are hiring!) And never mind that media, where is our own dialogue focused? Oh you know what I mean….When you ask “How are sales?” , with that wise or don’t bother to tell me I already know look in your eyes. As you talked about Christmas – did you talk about how much you did spend and what you spent it on or did you talk about how you were reining it in and toning it down. Do you train your people when its easy and effortless to achieve target or in lean times when they absolutely need the support and motivation?

Now, let me be clear, I am not asking for us to be obtuse or ignorant to facts. I am asking us to look at what facts we are focused on …are we focused on possibility or inevitability?  As we go about our business, lead our teams and lead our customers, are we focused on fear and scarcity or on possibility and abundance. Where your mind is focused your behaviours will follow…

Michele Ferrari

Executive Vice President, Learning

Mysteries Revealed in L(earn)² Reveal the Secrets

We have all been there. The meeting with the salesperson who wants to tell you all about his product or offering and doesn’t have a clue, or seemingly doesn’t care about what you need. They drone on and on, never noticing your blank expression and then are surprised when they don’t get your order.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to never be “sold” to?  Can you imagine a sales process where people weren’t selling but in fact solving problems!

That is the secret to effective selling…speak into your client’s needs, speak into your client’s listening. Solve someone’s problem!

A value proposition is a wonderful thing but only if you are sure, really sure, that it meets your customer’s requirements. The truth is, we are currently in an opportunity market, at least if you understand how to take advantage of the opportunity. In order drive revenue, we need to sell more and in order to sell more; we need to sell more effectively. In order to sell more effectively, we need to truly understand what our customer needs. It sounds simple and yet how many sales people do you know that actually understand their clients? Maybe it is time to do a pulse check!

To book this find out more about L(earn)² Reveal the Secrets contact  L(earn)² at 416.410.6434.

Lessons in L(earn)ing

How connected are you?

We all have seen them before; colleagues that come in each day and continue to be skeptical and indulge in negativity that contributes little to the success of the organization. They “hide out” while affecting others as they continue becoming disconnected from your organization’s priorities. You can politely call these people “The Disengaged”. Surprisingly there are more disengaged employees than engaged and engagement matters! Whether the economy is good or bad  it affects performance. Simply put, without engaged employees productivity and, more importantly, results will suffer.

The latest statistics indicate that “fewer than I in 3 employees (29%) are fully engaged”. Imagine the impact that has on your company’s productivity. If you could just change a fraction of a percent what would that mean to the bottom line? The truth is that everyone wants to have a connection to their work. They want to feel that they matter and the work they are doing is actually meaningful. Simply put, engaged employees are more satisfied and committed to not only their own success but the success  of their organization.

Here are some of the most common scenarios that result in disengaged employees:

• Not enough development opportunities to learn and grow
• Disconnection to the mission, purpose and goals of the company
• No recognition and praise for doing good work
• Individual opinions don’t seem to matter
• Underutilized workforce
• Unclear tools and support for achieving career goals
• Overworked and unclear expectations

Over the years L(earn)² has noticed that broad organizational tactics to combat disengagement are limited. To be successful a macro and a micro plan must be utilized. Firstly, on a macro level the work environment must support engagement. It must have the necessary resources and tools readily available to breed engagement. On a micro level employees, with the help of their managers, “need to establish a thriving personal connection with their work and carve out a satisfying future in the organization”. It is in our experience that the most successful companies make engagement a priority. It’s an ongoing commitment not a once a year event.

Many successful organizations hail engagement as their secret competitive advantage ingredient.  Here are a few positive correlations to the impact that an engaged workforce can have on a company’s success.

• Best Buy reports that stores which increase employee engagement by a 10^th of a point (on a 5-point scale) will see a $100, 000 increase in sale for the year
• MolsonCoors estimates that by “strengthening” employee engagement, the company saved $1,721,760 in one year. For example, the average cost of a safety incident for engage employees was $63 compared to the average of $392 for disengaged employees.

The organizations above shifted from a once a year Management Event mentality to a consistent, systematic approach to engagement. The results speak for themselves. Are your employees engaged?

To learn more about how you can increase your employee engagement contact L(earn)² at 416.410.6434 to hear how we can help.

Telling it Like it Is…

“Simply put, engaged employees chose to freely give the effort required to improve our department’s sales performance.  Employee engagement drives client engagement.  And learning and development drives employee engagement.”

“L(earn)2 is our primary partner for learning and development.   Their programs always hit the mark, and deliver a high return on investment.  We have no doubt that L(earn)2’s contribution has helped us build employee engagement, and has consequently improved our service to clients and our business performance.”

Cheryl Fry

Sr. Manager, People & Development

Media Sales & Marketing

CBC Television