reviewing our virtual identity

Creating the context for learning

A new article that will appear in Human Invest's newsletter.

I am an ASE graduate from the Commerce faculty. I majored in Tourism and Services so basically both my academic and working background relates to the things we can feel but can’t touch – services.
The reason why I love services is exactly that! Or in different words, I think it’s an amazing experience to just know when something is wrong or right for you because of the way it makes you feel. No arguments in the world, at the end of the day, can change the way you feel about something and that’s the most important truth in the world of services.

Working in training and dealing everyday with learning services I have constantly questioned and challenged what are the things that make a difference in this field. As it is for me now and definitely not a novelty, the difference is made up from a mix between three factors: intention, content and context.

In our inherited mechanistic attempt at measuring and at dealing with tangibles we try turning even learning services into products. Therefore, the least talked about subject in most of my client meetings is context. The space, the environment, the energy created within a learning experience that enables learning to take place. A beautiful service from my perspective, completely intangible and still making so much of a difference! Moreover, quite hard to be faked or forged.

As Albert Einstein said: “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” But what could these conditions be?

I believe the first one is designing a learning context with the understanding of who is this experience about! We spend a lot of time with ourselves and with the client focusing on client needs and how we can do our best in the classroom setting, forgetting that the most important person in the room, at the end of the day, is the participant in front of us. Not us or the way we manage to prove our knowledge, not even the corporate strategy. At the end of the day, learning takes place if as a participant it feels it was all about me, my questions and it all feels good according to my learning style and priorities.

The experience needs to fit me. I, as the core of the learning process. I, the participant.

So, in this context, do we ever ask: “how participative would YOU like the day to be?” how much interactivity, how much time to work by yourself or just listen to the trainer and write down would YOU need? How often do we ask “how important is this day for YOU?” We assume it is all important since it is part of the corporate strategy or, on the other hand, we might know it’s not important at all. In the first case, we assume that we’ll have a great learning context given the mutual interest. And we’re often wrong. In the latter case, we assume that the context can’t be any better so we just do our job right. How often do we ask “what could we do together to shift the context so it makes a really important day for me?”

We must remember: in creating a context, it is not about us!

The next conditions are flexibility and follow-through. The more flexible you are prepared to be, the more you will sense the needs of the audience rather than the internal calls of sticking to the plan. There is no plan. There is content as such but creating the learning context is sensing the needs and being flexible in meeting them. A role-play can become a space for debate, a theory bit can become an individual exercise with a group debrief, and a learning space that suits you as a trainer can be transformed into one that suits the group. The misunderstanding of flexibility though is the lack of follow-through. The best context is the one that fits the needs of the people in front of you in an open manner and still meets the stated content to be reviewed.

An enriching context comes with purposeful flexibility and appropriate follow-through. To give an example, purposeful flexibility is to take the decision beforehand that you’ll turn the wheel right when the road takes a turn rather than turning the wheel right whenever you decide the road should have taken a turn. Follow-through on the other hand is arriving no matter if the turns of the road were the way you’d expected them to.

To sum up, what energizes me when working with the context, is the unique opportunity of discovering, sharpening senses and enabling learning to take place from within rather than pushed from outside. And at the end of the day follow-up comes if the learning felt right for me and no arguments in the world can change the way you feel about something! That is the most important truth in the world of services, including learning ones.

it's happening

A day like this gives me more hope, more strength and reminds me that I am not alone.

There's a stirr around... there are springs of fresh ideas forming and we'll soon have the river of change flowing down the plains that used to be devoid of content or hope. Many of us left the battle... I am still standing. Where are you?

Today, I'm proud of:
1. my friends that had the guts to do this in a beautifully meaningful way: http://www.tedxbucharest.com/
2. people I admire involved in this: http://miscareaderezistenta.jurnalul.ro/
3. a very special lady that touches hearts: http://www.humanitas.ro/humanitas/jurnal-2003-2009
4. the ray of light that settles in my inbox every morning: http://www.romaniapozitiva.ro/

Today, I am grateful to have the context and the freedom to contribute in my own project!
I owe this to all the people who inspire me, I owe this to my parents who taught me that freedom is a state of mind irrespective of the context and that purposeful aspirations are the normality rather that a debilitating disease.

Today there's Marius, Bogdan, Cezar, Dreea and I. And the dream of a community that learns. More about life and more about being ourselves. I know our numbers will keep doubling every week from today on. The story is unfolding...

Care to join?

Day 3&4 of Art of Hosting - belated updates :)

Day 3 - From the shadows into the light

We have been travelling far. We have found and lost and found ourselves again so many times. The day begun with the lights and the shades playing in our eyes. The courage. The inspiration. The beauty of the people bringing the shade into the light. They sat down in the middle and spoke their hearts out. And that inspired. Voices followed. Hearts followed. And suddenly it was all out and we were set free.

The freedom of being in the open space. Of being the open space. Of exploring, co-creating and putting passion into ideas that shift contexts and heal worlds inside and worlds outside.

There are many ways in which to voice what’s inside: through whispers or songs or tales of morality. Here we are, all round the fire with a song. And a tale. And a children’s lullaby. The moon is almost full and we can walk back home on a lightened path.

Day 4 - The end and the beginning

Not much to say. Much more to do instead. Plans for home, decisions to take.

We walk in pairs. We share our joy. We look around in the gallery of our learning. How amazing this is, being free and letting all creative energy flow! Small wonders all around us: a drawing, a message, a stone or an angel. A footprint. Or a soulprint…

The circle is closing. Some of us sit on the bench looking at the film of the departure as if rewinding the film of the arrival. It all appears to be the same in reverse. But it ain’t the same as before no more! And that my friends, is the most important thing!

Hugs, thank you for everything! The spoken and the unspoken, the thoughts and the seeds for thoughts, the light and the shades. The things that happened and the possibilities that were born.

Allowing it to take place - Day 2

The journey. Preparing to hear the call. Anticipating the day, holding hands to celebrate the soul of our expectations’ leaf. A walk then. The journey outside and the journey inside. Are we prepared to hear our call?

The picture. The picture of life and the forming of purpose. We descend step by step into the room that holds our meanings. The air is electric. The magic is formed. The beauty stops the breathing. We contemplate. We admire. Our souls thank each other.

The opening of space. What do we need to explore to move towards the future we desire? The thoughts spiral towards the core of the circle and we invite the meaning in. Each circle allows magic to take place. Some of us laugh, some of us cry, we all feel the power of the choices we are making.

The synchronicity builds. The miracles start happening. “There is a crack in everything/ that’s how the light gets in” (leonard cohen). The light does get in from above, feeding the seeds of hope we are planting.

Make a move. Take the day in. Share your energy and your thoughts. Thank the space. It’s so open…

„The birds they sang at the break of day
Start again I heard them say
Don't dwell on what has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”

Art of Hosting UK - day 1

Listening to the voices

Morning. We greet the sun. The sun welcomes us. As awareness builds, rays of light are reflected by our eyes. The sun is rising. Inside and outside. Deep silence. The silent majestic green of the nature is slipping from outside within. We look in each other’s eyes. They speak the truth. We are slowly coming here.

Check-in. The eyes carry voices. The voices unearth stories of the past. They become real, gain life and shine in the sun, in the middle of the circle, guarded by the angels. There’s a rattle of angels’ wings at every breath. It’s so soft… it’s so much filled with life… it’s the gift of listening. We all come from all over. We are so diverse. Still, we arrive as one.

The magic is formed. The walls are falling. The spirit is here.

We celebrate. The buzz over lunch fills the valley and honors its past. Its purpose.
Teaching. The space has changed. We have changed. We listen again, with intent, we discover the meanings from others that found them and we embark on their path. There are questions. There are answers. There are even more questions unformed.

The rhythm breaks. It’s the chorus. The chorus that builds the world café. Our voices rise again, forming the song of the thoughts. Thoughts circle around and become gifts. The gifts are laid on paper. They are offered. We learn to take in and receive.

We end the day. The tree centers us. We make sounds and play and get used to being with each other. Thank you tree!

PS: grateful for i can finally write again...

10 years of Human Invest!

My company is celebrating today 10 years of existence! It's fascinating to think that I've been around for half of this history... Moreover, it's an unique feel to see how things grow and take shape, from a small entrepreneurial idea to a solid company! Proud to be part of this story ;). So, here's an article written by Vio, one of the partners! Enjoy!

"Human Invest - 10 ani frumosi! Multumesc celor cu care am reusit impreuna!

1999 - prima intalnire cu Richard, asociatul meu de azi, la cafeneau hotelului Hilton, cu ocazia unui proiect pentru Coty Cosmetics.

Primele mari contracte: debutul anului 2000 - Connex Romania; 2001 – PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2002 – Bricostore Romania.

In 2003 semnam un contract pe termen lung cu Holcim Romania si lansam programul intern de abilitati manageriale ProManager (care a ajuns la ultima editie abia saptamana trecuta!).

In toamna lui 2004 semnam contractul de reprezentare exclusiva in Romania pentru compania Ken Blanchard si Human Invest incepe o noua epoca!

Din 2005 ne specializam pe programele de dezvoltare manageriala, renuntand la programele de “vanzari” si “customer service”. Incepem sa lucram cu licente ale partenerilor nostri: Ken Blanchard Companies, Inscape Publishing, Tom Peters Company UK, Human Synergistics, Spencer Johnson Partners, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

2006 aduce consolidare interna, vizibilitate publica, personalitatea si caracterul companiei incep sa prinda contur. Incepem sa trecem de la sesiuni de training independente, la implementarea unor procese de invatare.

2007 si 2008 sunt ani de consacrare si noi inceputuri, cu aspiratii mai mari: programe de leadership de anvergura, facilitarea unor conferinte de management ale clientilor nostri, construirea programelor insotite de procese de asistenta in implementare, Lansam programele publice Nextep si sesiunile scurte. Lansam programele de e-learning. Human Invest ajunge frecvent in primele optiuni ale companiilor care investesc in educatia manageriala a angajatilor.

Am crescut impreuna cu o echipa plina de viata, ne-am distrat si ne-am intristat impreuna, am invatat de la ei lucruri pe care credeam ca le stiu, am facut greselile pe care le recomand clientilor sa nu le faca!

Azi, 17 martie, compania face 10 ani! E o zi in care sunt mai emotionat decat ma asteptam! Multumesc mult inca o data tuturor celor care mi-au fost aproape in acesti ani!"