Don’t Miss March Madness at ASTD Golden Gate!

That’s right, your ASTD Golden Gate Professional Development Team has two exciting programs planned for you next month - Speed Networking on March 6 and Facilitating Organizational Change on March 30!   These programs combined with our regular monthly program, Human Performance Improvement on March 14 and the 3D Learning and Technology Special Interest Group Meeting on March 7 make March a month not to be missed!

Get out your business cards and join Bill Bankhead at Sugar Café in San Francisco on March 6 for a full night of networking and meeting new people.  Always a hit, these events focus solely on networking and offer participants an opportunity to talk to everyone in the room!  Space is limited – don’t delay  – register today!

Hone your change management and influence skills by attending the March 30 “Facilitating Organizational Change – Achieving Success as an Internal Consultant” workshop offered by Bev Scott and Kim Barnes.   Now more than ever, the ability to facilitate change, build relationships and positively influence the organization is vital to success.  Whether you are an internal workplace learning professional, a manager, an individual contributor or an external consultant, this workshop is for you!

During the workshop participants will learn and practice specific influence and negotiation skills to achieve results and build relationships with their clients and colleagues and they will build their competence in facilitating organizational change.   Don’t miss out - register now!

New Year, New Chapter Website: A how-to guide

We are very excited to reveal our brand new website.  You’ll still find it at astdgoldengate.org.  The new site is easier to navigate and is full of features that will enhance your user experience.

Here’s what you need to do to fully experience this new website:

Login and complete your profile

We’ve created accounts for all Chapter members. You can log in using your email address and the initial password: astdgg.  We’ve even created a little video to show you how to do that.  Click on the video link in the first paragraph on the homepage.

Once you’ve logged in, you can change your password, update your profile, set privacy level, register for events, check out the job postings and network with other members.

A quick glance at the navigation tabs and what’s in each tab:

Navigation Tab	Contents
Home	Contains the latest news and featured story
About our Chapter	Learn all about our chapter here, including bios and contact details of all Board Members
Event listing	You can: View event calendar Register for monthly programs, webinars, workshops, SIG and GIG events Start or participate in event discussion forum View or post photos of past events
Chapter Membership	Manage your individual or corporate membership here.
Post a Job	Post a job using our online job posting form.
Special Interest Groups	Information and discussion forums for our 3D Learning and Consulting SIGs.
Geographic Groups	Information and discussion forums for our North Bay and South Bay GIGs.
Community Outreach	Learn all about our Community Outreach Program here: Sign up for volunteer opportunities Get information for how COP can help your nonprofits Watch slide show of past activities
News	This tab is linked to our Chapter’s blog. You can read about Recap of past programs Messages from our Chapter President Workplace learning and development related articles As a chapter member, you can contribute to the blog.  Please contact Pi Wen Looi at  comms@astdgoldengate.org if you are interested.
Advertising and Sponsorship	Advertise on our website and get your message out to over 2,000 training and development managers, facilitators, organizational development professionals, consultants, and other workplace-learning professionals.
Speaker Proposals	Use our online tools to submit your speaker proposal here
Members Only	This is the members’ area. (This tab is only visible to logged in chapter members)  You can: Search for jobs View the Member Directory Sign up for volunteer role with our chapter Download past event materials and, of course, get the member rate for all events.

To register for programs and events:

All chapter events will be promoted on the website.  You will still be sent emails inviting you to future events and now you can register and pay for them through the website.  (Your payments will be automatically routed through our new Paypal portal).  While the chapter much prefers online payments, you will still be able to pay at the door for some events, but we can only take cash and checks, no credit cards, and there is still an additional $5 administrative fee.

We hope you find this how-to guide helpful.  Let us know if you have questions or suggestions, please send your comments to: admin@astdgoldengate.org

See you at our next event!

November Program Recap: The Power of Coaching in the Workplace

On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, our Chapter brought four experienced coaches—Judy Burgio, R.Ph., C.N., Janet Chahrour, Elizabeth Doty, and Paul Larsen—to discuss The Power of Coaching in the Workplace. This program continued our exploration of the CPLP Nine Core Competencies. Dr. Pi Wen Looi, founder of Novacrea Research Consulting and our VP of Communications facilitated the panel. These coaches discussed their coaching models and shared their coaching insights with our participants. Their desires for client success generated a well-rounded discussion of coaching in the workplace.

2011 November, ASTD Golden Gate Chapter monthly meeting. The panel, from left: Dr. Pi Wen Looi, Janet Chahrour, Paul Larsen, Judy Burgio, R.Ph., C.N., Elizabeth Doty.

All the coaches help clients clarify their view of the starting situation, reach new insights about that situation, recognize some influences, make plans and come to new ways of doing things in order to produce results. These coaches offer their clients some uncommon reflection in response to the client’s words and actions. The ROI of coaching in a workplace includes better job performance, increased employee engagement, and decreased attrition rate.

Collective Wisdom of Coaching

Judy Burgio brings compassion to the coaching relationship. She has seen clients beat themselves up if they don’t meet their goals. She helps clients focus on what is working, develop strategies to achieve their goals, and help them learn a new powerful compassionate language to address the situation. Judy shared an example of a manager coaching one of his employees to be on time to meetings. When the manager reinforced in a positive way when the employee was on time, the on-time behavior increased.

Janet Chahrour is a relationship coach. She sees a powerful connection between making changes and showing appreciation. One of the most powerful things she sees is around giving and receiving appreciation. She has found that her clients have the greatest difficulty receiving appreciation from others, and feeling it within themselves. Janet uses a relationship system approach to help clients see patterns they may choose to change and gets people physically moving as they make efforts to move forward in their lives.

Elizabeth Doty notes that whenever there is a change in an organization, at least one person feels they are making a compromise. She works with clients to turn it around. She helps clients to uncover the real choice for them so they can see what they will gain. Using her Compromise Trap coaching model, she helps clients identify five things they can do in a “trap” situation to turn it around. She also incorporates an “after-review” to look at the results, its impact on their environment, and the people around them.

Paul Larsen encourages people to break the cycle of false positive talks in their existing models of current behavior. Through the metaphor of tourist vs. traveler he encourages his corporate and non-profit clients to stop letting someone else figure it out (i.e., just be a tourist). Instead, he coaches his clients to take initiative and ownership for their own results (i.e., be a traveler).

Coaching is about gaining insight, following that insight up with action, reflecting on the results of that action, and making adjustments and continuing as needed. A coach helps to activate a powerful state in the client’s mind that brings up insights, which often leads to personal growth.

And that may lead an employee to leave his/her current job or make drastic changes in his/her personal life. This is the risk of receiving coaching that the coachee and his/her employer need to recognize.

You can deepen your knowledge about coaching with these books:

1. The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work without Selling your Soul, by Elizabeth Doty
2. Co-Active Coaching: New skills for coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life, by Laura Whitworth, Karen Kimsey-House, Henry Kimsey-House, and Philip Sandahl
3. Seven Transformations of Leadership, by Bill Torbert
4. The Neuroscience of Leadership, by David Rock
5. Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work, by David Rock
6. Mastery, by George Leonard
7. Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called “Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A”, by Ken Blanchard

Written by Wendy Sterndale, edited by Pi Wen Looi, PhD.

Best Gala EVER!

ASTD Golden Gate Member Appreciation and Volunteer Recognitioin Gala. Photo credit: Bill Bankhead

May I just say, Best Gala Ever!  Wow — what a great evening.  Great food, great game (thank you TeamROI!), great venue, great prizes, great gifts, great pianist (thank you Jerome!) and most of all our great people – members, volunteers, and this year’s speakers in attendance.  It will be hard to top this one next year, but we will try.  Thank you to everyone who made this event so fabulous -especially our wonderful Board of Directors.

Countdown to the Gala

ASTD Golden Gate 2010 Gala, photo by Jessica Levant

There is so much buzz this time of year.  The chapter Board of Directors is buzzing with activity leading up to the December 6  Gala.  We’re buying door prizes and other gifts, finalizing the menu, creating the slideshow, lining up entertainment.  Our annual Gala is all about celebrating our successes, networking, and enjoying an evening in a festive setting. Click here to see photos* of last year’s Gala. 

If your holiday season is not too buzzy, please join us. It’s not too late — you can just come and register at the door. It is sure to be a fabulous time.  We are all abuzz!

*Photo credits: Jessica Levant.

Volunteering for our Communities – an opportunity to work with our Community Outreach Program

Image by radzfoto via Flickr

In November, we surveyed our members to assess their interests in volunteering to help communities in the Bay Area. The message is clear: COP volunteers are willing and available.

Read more about the survey results and what it means to you.

COP Volunteers are Willing and Available

By Jason Lai, COP Volunteer Manager

As I look at those who come through the doors of the ASTD Golden Gate Chapter, I see all kinds of talented people who bring a vast amount of knowledge and expertise in the fields of Organization Design, Talent Development, Training, Facilitation, and the like. I see professionals who are respected leaders in their industry.

The Community Outreach Program (COP) of ASTD/Golden Gate is fortunate to draw from this pool of talent. COP aims to involve and team up Chapter members so that we may give back to the community. We want to utilize the skills and abilities of our members to make an impact in and for the Bay Area nonprofits. Volunteers play a crucial role in COP. Essentially, without volunteers, ASTD is without COP. Recently, COP has been surveying Chapter members to systematically involve as many people as we can.

Some areas we analyzed were:

• Strengths, skills, and areas of expertise of potential volunteers
• Areas that people would like to develop through COP experience
• Time commitment and involvement availability

Overall, we had a great response. We were aiming to recruit 12 volunteers and ended up receiving 19 solid responses.

That means that COP will be able to continue its work. We have volunteers who can conduct 3-4 Needs Analysis with potential non-profit clients. We have capacity to design, develop, and deliver 2-3 workshops per year. We have volunteers who can facilitate strategic planning meetings. That’s a win-win for the profession and for the community.

We appreciate all of your thoughtful responses. COP will look for ways to get our willing volunteers to work! We are dependent on volunteers like you to keep this program running.

Thank you for your support, dedication, and commitment. And, of course, as new members come to the Chapter, you are always welcome to volunteer for COP.

To volunteer for COP, contact me at volunteer_astdcop@astdgoldengate.org

Our Amazing Volunteers

Maybe I’ve said this too often, but newer members might not know.  Do you know all of our programs, our Board of Directors, our commitees, our SIGs, our upcoming technology transition to Wild Apricot, the survey request you just got — ALL OF OUR WORK is done by volunteers?  This is just amazing. Workplace learning professionals just like you join our chapter and then they volunteer to do stuff.  They commit, and they actually do stuff. There must be some reward in it.

I have volunteered on the chapter Board since 2002.  It has been one of my most rewarding professional experiences. I have made lasting friendships and have even gotten a couple of jobs through this affiliation.  And, I’ve learned so much.

The reward is intangible in many ways, but because our volunteer corps has been so committed and has made our chapter such a great place to be, we want to say Thank You! Our annual December Gala is one way to thank our amazing volunteers.  They get a special invitation to our Gala and attend at no charge.

Even if you haven’t volunteered (and don’t feel bad about that — not everyone can do it), we want to say Thank You to all of our members.  We need all of you — and our Member Appreciation and Volunteer Recognition December Gala (that’s the official long name) is for you, too (for a small fee).  Please come and celebrate our success, eat, drink, network, and have a fabulous evening in San Francisco, December 6th.  As always, see our website for details.

The Gala is put on by your Amazing Chapter all-Volunteer Board of Directors as a huge Thank You to you, our members and member-volunteers for another fantastic year. We look forward to seeing you there!