Recently, my teammate Erin Clarke attended a virtual conference. When she was finished, I asked if she wouldn’t mind sharing some of her key take-aways with the rest of our team. The result of this conversation was much more magical than I could have imagined.
I had asked Erin to share some of her key take-aways simply so that the rest of the team could hear about Erin’s conference experience and so that we can all get in the habit of sharing what we learned when each of us completes a professional development experience. Maybe in putting together a brief presentation, it would help reinforce what she learned and would remind her to put some of those things to use. Hopefully the rest of the team would be inspired to participate in professional development sessions and would also be willing to share their key take-aways going forward.
What I didn’t expect was the conversation that ensued. I had expected that Erin would share a 10 minute summary, and then our meeting would go on to the next agenda item. What actually happened was that when Erin began sharing and showing what she learned, other team members grew curious and began to ask questions.
What began as a 10-minute report-out quickly consumed the entire 30 minute meeting. Team members saw what Erin shared and began to ask each other: If you can do that in PowerPoint… can we do something similar in Storyline? Oh wait, I know you said you’d use that for X project, but I could totally see us doing something similar for Client Z, too!
I have no other word to describe this conversation other than “magical”. Though Erin was the team member who participated in the conference, everyone else on the team was inspired by her key take-aways. And it all began with a simple request: Would you mind sharing what you learned with the rest of the team?
Would you like to work with a team that finds magic in collaboration? Our Endurance Learning team is always excited to see how we can help – whether instructor-led or elearning – we love talking with new people, finding out what might be the best solution, then working together to make it happen. Drop us a note and let us know if there’s a project you need some help with, or if you just want to nerd out over the finer points of adult learning and instructional design.
