Greetings,

Every year at this time most of us say, "What happened to the holidays, its February already!"  Yes they fly by. For several reasons, I think it is appropriate for February to be "heart" month. Yes, Valentine's Day is a part of it... but most know that February is American Heart Month AND it is celebrating its 50^th year!  While this is to raise awareness of heart disease, it should remind us to make healthier choices in our daily lives.

In addition to this important reminder, I would like to take it a step further by saying that we should also think of heart month as a time to show more compassion, patience and empathy toward others.  In the field of training and development, we are there to guide people and it is important that we set the example for others to follow.

My goal is to practice more "random acts of kindness" and hope you will consider doing something similar in celebration of heart month!

Warm regards,

Christine Davlin

President

Southwest Florida Chapter of ASTD 

Have you ever heard statements like these at work:

"Our recent hires that just graduated just don't have the work ethic that I had to have."

"I can't believe my boss expects me to work this late; I have plans with my friends."

These generalizations and statements are typically a byproduct of value differences stemming from generational experiences and expectations.  

Our current workforce is composed of the following generations:

Traditionalist 1945 or before

Baby Boomers 1946-1964

Gen X 1965-1979

Gen Y 1980-2000

Some people may be born within a few years of the outer ranges so they may find that their style and expectations fit into 2 generations.

Traditionalist- This workforce sees work as an obligation, prefers formal communication, and likes one-on-one feedback.  No news is good news for this group.  Can view others who value work/life balance as lazy.

Baby Boomers- These individuals view work as an adventure and enjoy working on teams or one-on-one interaction.  Wants to hear "you are valued and needed." Works to live and does not necessarily value work/life balance.

Generation X- This population loves a challenge and to question "why".  Likes direct immediate feedback and autonomy to do their job.  Invented the term work/life balance.

Generation Y- This group highly values leadership and participatory work.  Wants to feel that work is meaningful and provides opportunity for creativity.  Expects work/life balance.

Do you see yourself or others you work with?  The next time you find someone's behavior or perspective to be so different, consider how generational difference may be making that impact. 

Want to learn more?  Check out these ASTD articles.

(You must be a National Member to access.  Not a national member? Join Here)  

Thank you for reading and enjoying this month's newsletter.  Our chapter is vibrant and growing.  Attend a meeting and you will find it to be value adding.

Charlie Carpenter
ASTD SWFL - VP of Communications & Technology 

Charlie@EducateVirtually.com 

Gamification for Learning  

Join ASTD of Southwest Florida on Wednesday, February 19th at Keiser University for a unique program that will start promptly at 11:30 a.m.

 

This meeting will be a deep dive into the world of gamification, and actually allow attendees to actively participate by completing pre-work in the form of a game!  The presenter will cover the psychological mechanisms of motivation that games inherently harness and how to begin thinking about applying games to organizational learning and engagement programs.  

DO YOUR EVENT PRE-WORK NOW!

(It takes about 15 minutes and you will receive a Personality Archetype just by playing Games! Print when finished. Use any browser except IE)

There will be an overview of some successful (and not so successful) gamification programs, as well as a roll call of some of the key market players.  Finally, attendees will take part in a seminar-style workshop to discuss their own results from a game-based personality assessment similar to a Myers-Briggs Inventory.   

What is Gamification?

• Psychology of motivation, Flow, and how this ties into basic game mechanics

Gamification is showing up in everything including:

• learning programs (Deloitte University)
• recruiting (employer branding and employee referrals)
• selection (ConnectCubed, Knack.it, Smarterer)
• specific skills training (Badgeville) 

The Research and Pre-Work Discussion:

• how games might be used to disrupt a legacy method for team building in employee and organizational development initiatives, i.e., typological self-report personality assessments (MBTI, DiSC). 
• simple computer games to study the relationship of player behaviors to the most widely accepted theory of personality in psychological science - the Big 5. 
• games have the potential to reveal robust personality information, but in a format that is fun for employees, difficult if not impossible to fake-good, and more in line with current trends in technology (e.g., Big Data). 

Participant Take-away:

By presenting case examples along with primary research, the audience will have a chance to experience and hear about a variety of implications for gamifying traditional talent management processes.

Mark your calendars:

January 15

February 19

March 19

April 16

May 21

June 18

July 16

August 20

September 17

October 15

November 12

December 10

Quick Links 

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