How to create an exam that everyone will enjoy

      Over a coffee with a colleague earlier today, the conversation turned to assessing learning after a training workshop. Of the many people who've attended my workshops over the years, some have been extremely capable practitioners for whom school most definitely would have been one of the least rewarding times of their life.  In fact at one workshop a delightful young man confided to me that he couldn't read, so please could I not ask him to read an excerpt out loud. (It's for this reason that I always call for volunteers to read out loud - and even when someone's workmates are laughing and pointing at one of their team to volunteer, I never accept the offer unless the hand comes out to take the paper. In the case of the nice young man, I was able to reassure him that I was looking for someone to pretend to be a grumpy judge, and that he was far too nice for the job!)
      When we deliver training, we really do need some way of assessing the learning outcomes that goes beyond the level 1 "smile sheet", which basically tells you whether or not people liked the food. But sometimes we train people we won't see again, so we can't assess the improvement in their workplace skills. In these cases we need some kind of assessment at the end of the day, whether on site if the numbers are small enough, or in a "classroom" style setting.
      Academic people are used to sitting exams and won't be phased by a written or text-based online  test at or after the end of a workshop. But for the non-academic people who at best are not used to sitting exams or at worst are still scarred by their school experiences, the terms "test" or "exam" strike fear into their hearts and will set them up to fail.
      Some years ago, I did a green building course over a weekend with Johann Bernhardt and Eddie Van Uden. Then they announced there would be a test at the end, and I was absolutely horrified! Sure, I was interested in green building and wanted to build a green home eventually - but I wasn't a builder and was convinced I'd make a complete mess of it.
      To my surprise and delight, Johann and Eddie set up the exam for everyone's success. They handed round a sheet of paper with 10 questions on it and space to write the answers (so far, so normal), got us all round a table (bit of a departure from normal there) and then read out the first question and said; "Well, what do you guys think?" (- by now, definitely abnormal in terms of any exam I'd ever sat!) Someone tentatively suggested an answer, someone else asked a question, another offered a story from their experience, and at the end, our trainers asked someone to sum up, then we all wrote the answer down!
      We went through all the questions in that way, with different people able to summarise the different questions, and the trainers making sure everyone had good chances to have some input. It was not only a thorough evaluation of the workshop, but also a thoroughly enjoyable way to review and consolidate our learnings.
      This approach would be just as effective for people who aren't confident writers and readers, too: to ensure these people can learn comfortably, we'd need to give open reassurances at the very start of the workshop and before the "test" that we will talk through the workshop at the end so the trainers can make sure people are confident about what they've learned, and that you can make notes if you wish. See? Choice not compulsion, participation not reiteration, and co-operation not isolation - much more how it is in a good workplace.
      Who among your trainees and which of your workshops could benefit from this approach?
   

My last days at the Frankfurt Book Fair

      Next year - I'm already planning it! - I will stay for the whole Fair. It was a difficult decision but with friends in Berlin and Brussels to visit in one week before my week in London, I decided to miss Sunday, the last day of the Fair. Unfortunately, this meant leaving Maggie, Richard and Adrian alone to tidy up our much-loved NZ Society of Authors stand on the Monday, and also missing a more relaxed day. 
      Saturday was a lovely day - Hall 3 was total madness on the Friday and over the whole weekend, as the public come in to look at the pick of German publishing (many of them in fancy dress - wonderfully entertaining!) -  but in Hall 8, the English-speaking Hall, it was much more laid-back. I visited the Princeton University Press stand and had a lovely chat with the two staff there - one of my brothers is a professor in the classics department at Princeton, and I adored the town and the university when I visited them some time ago.
      I decided to visit the Harvard University Press stand as well, to find their two staff also in leisurely chat mode, a big change from how busy all the stands had been from Wednesday to Friday. The more relaxed pace meant I was able to pluck up the courage to ask them what it would take to publish an article in the magnificent Harvard Business Review, to which I subscribe. They were very helpful and I came away with a great book on creativity, an area of great interest (see my other blog).
      I'd been warned that authors were not really welcome at the Fair as it is a business-to-business trade affair, with publishers, agents and scouts the main players. But all the publishers I visited were extremely helpful and I was very happy to leave materials with them about Niki Harre's book and my own, for their publishing, editorial and rights staff to consider after the Fair.
      Two New Zealand authors (Tui Allen and Mervyn Noel Whitley Jnr) and Sylvia, a German author living in Finland whose second name escaped me, also spoke at the seminar. I've now read Tui's book, a remarkable vision, while Mervyn and Sylvia are really pushing the boundaries of what a book can be.
      Next year will be fun - Brazil is the 2013 guest of honour - so I will finish another book or two and come again.
      And in one of those serendipitous encounters for which the Frankfurt Book Fair is so famous, on Sunday morning on the train to the main station en route to catch my train to Berlin, I met a charming Malaysian publisher - the second I'd met who wanted to know how to go about becoming the guest of honour. Thanks to marvellous expositions from  Carole Beu and Maggie Tarver, I am confident that with their help, I can pull together a list of key New Zealand contacts for the Guest of Honour programme, including a list of contacts from the New Zealand publishing supply chain - authors, publishers, printers, booksellers and of course the Book Council. Malaysia as Guest of Honour in 2015 or 2016? A great plan!
      Now for the real work - following up on the wonderful contacts made at the Fair and coming up with a plan to fund my writing!

More New Zealand authors at the Frankfurt Book Fair

      Among the other authors able to attend the Fair are Greg Scowen (The Spanish Helmet), Tui Allen (Ripple),  Jenny Mortimer (Knock the bastard off), Anna Gowan (Hollie Chips), Rachel McAlpine (Scarlet Heels, as well as some very good corporate communication books), Ron Riddell (A love beyond) and Owen Scott (Deep beyond the reef). Richard Webster and Adrian Blackburn also have their recent books on display at the New Zealand Society of Authors stand, and Michael Gill (Himalayan hospitals - Sir Edmund Hillary's Everest legacy) put in an appearance yesterday, too.
      And writer and performer extraordinaire Gerry Paul (Hank the wrestling shark) has been performing that book to music at 4pm every day to the delight of people at the surrounding stands and passers-by. Yesterday he also performed a joyful song about composting, reminiscent of the old song "Working on the chain gang"; "got no legs, got no arms, spend my days working on the worm farm" - the voice of the hard-working tiger worms!
      One of my speaker colleagues, Sylvia Bowden, has two books on the stand (How to stop your kids from going broke; and Get out of my pocket) though she isn't at the Fair. 30-odd other authors are not at the Fair but their books have been attracting steady interest, and all comers are given the very classy catalogue of all the books on the stand.
      Well-known gardening writer Kerry Carman has two books on the stand and kindly donated a dozen exquisite flower prints for a daily raffle. We all put the business cards of our publishing contacts in for the draw and each day two lucky publishers get to choose which print they would like - two of my contacts have won so far and were truly delighted. The raffle and Gerry's performances make our wee stand a "Stand-out" stand in the nicest possible way!
      We've also been visited by several very happy publishers from the Publishers Association of New Zealand stand just round the corner - this collective stand is doing very well and has been a great venture for them.
      And of course the parties have been happening - Tui Allen was invited to the Latvian publishers stand (the population of Latvia is only 2 million!) and feasted on very good cheese and chocolate (not somehow the cuisine I would have expected...).
      Yesterday afternoon we gate-crashed the Australian publishers' stand yesterday and expect to welcome them to the Publishers Association party tonight.
      Several of us were lucky enough to be interviewed for a UK publisher's journal and we've all been giving readings from or presentations about our books - excellent practice and a privilege to gain an insight into our colleagues' work.
      I have more publishers to visit today and hope to have time to revisit the New Zealand Pavilion again tomorrow to see some of our very famous authors in action. And will upload some photos when I can figure out how to do it....

Being at the Frankfurt Fair is fantastic fun!

      There is so much to tell already.... the happy coincidences that saw three of the independent authors share the same flights from New Zealand and hooking up with incomparable Carole Beu of the Women's bookshop on the same flights... hearing her story of being able to go as a result of an introduction from a friend in publishing ... That story is worth hearing -  Carole's friend said she'd "watched Carole's growing success over more than 20 years, thoroughly enjoyed how Carole had just chaired an author interview at the NZ Writers and Readers Festival, and thought she might like an introduction..." to a young woman who is an arts reporter for one of the major daily Frankfurt papers. Sylvia, this young woman, said she had a spare room in her apartment especially for a New Zealander to stay with her over the time of the Frankfurt Fair. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person - Carole does so much for books in New Zealand. And at the airport in Frankfurt, Sylvia was duly waiting to pick Carole up and despite our vast quantities of luggage, gave a lift to two more passengers, me and Tui Allen (author of "Ripple"), taking us to the door of our hotel. The delightful and clearly gifted Sylvia is interviewing some of New Zealand's most famous authors in some of the many events at and associated with the Fair.
      It was lovely to drive through forests just turning into their autumn colours and past some exquisite old apartment buildings and houses - it made me realise how much I've missed Europe since my last trip many years ago. After a good nights sleep, what fun to explore the local centre and discover a genuine marketplace full of marvellous fruit and vegetables and more.
      Later that day (Tuesday) we went to the two opening ceremonies; that of the Fair itself and of the New Zealand Pavilion - as this year's country Guest of Honour at the Fair. We hooked up with Jenny Mortimer ("Knock the bastard off") and went off in a convoy of four - we got our tickets through the extreme smarts and generosity of redoubtable Switzerland-based kiwi author, Greg Scowen ("The Spanish Helmet"). On the way in we met Louise Ryder, wife of the New Zealand Ambassador to Berlin, a charming woman, who was accompanying Mary English to the grand opening ceremony. Both women were kind enough to be genuinely interested in our work, with Mary taking photos of us with our cameras!
      Bill English gave a very well-received speech which I thought was an excellent one, and Bill Manhire and Joy Cowley also gave two great speeches among those from some of Germany's and Frankfurt's leading literary and government figures.
      We were late for the opening of the New Zealand Pavilion, and arrived to find it in pitch darkness with a large and very convincing moon at the entrance - our 2012 theme is "While you were sleeping" - subtext presumably "we have been writing", far away in the antipodes - to a vigorous haka performance followed by some highly imaginative excerpts of New Zealand writing in films and animations. Excellent use was made of the shallow pools of water in the Pavilion to stage some live readings including one taking place under a deluge of water!
      Mingling outside, we got chatting to a mother and daughter from Frankfurt; the mother coming to sell her short ebooks to publishers and the daughter in charge of the Book Fair activities at the Frankfurt public library. She said the library has done this for the last 12 years or more, and it is absolutely huge now. Events as part of the Fair are taking place all over the city, and the city of Frankfurt itself has generously come to the party by giving all ticket-holders free transport on the wonderful public transport system.
      The Fair proper got under way the following morning and a rather nervous bunch of newbie authors gathered at the New Zealand Society of Authors Stand where we were made most welcome, and taken under the protective wings of NZSA CEO Maggie Tarver, well-known journalist and author Adrian Blackburn and New Zealand writing's best-kept secret, Richard Webster. These three undertook to have someone on the Stand at all times and offered to accompany us to any meetings with publishers. I've attended a couple of workshops with Richard before, so he kindly came with me to my first meeting, with Eric Dobby of Global Professional Publishing. I was quite keyed up but Richard made some gentle opening remark that eased us into conversation, and ended up having a highly animated and enjoyable conversation with Eric and had no qualms about handing over my business card and two flyers and will email him more information after the Fair.
      On the way back to the NZSA Stand, I spotted another of my target publishers, HRD (Human Resource Development) Press, and asked Richard if it was okay to bowl up without an appointment. With his blessing and deeply grateful for his support, in I went and had another great conversation with Global Marketing Manager Sam McLeod.
      Publishers are very nice people! More on the other New Zealand authors and the vast Halls of the Fair in my next post....

Training providers adjusting to trends in learners' needs

      Two meetings last week reminded me of the utmost importance of understanding the needs of trainees, and revealed how recent trends are being reflected in major re-thinks by training providers of how they have traditionally delivered the information their stakeholders need.
      My business partner Susie Wood and I met with representatives of two major training providers, both professional membership organizations, to discuss their programs. We had perused their extensive suite of workshops and noted how carefully tailored they were to meet the needs of their very different member groups. We were, however, interested to note that matters relating to environment and sustainability were conspicuous by their absence in both sets of materials. Part of our discussions included canvassing how these organizations identified the strategic and operational issues affecting their members and the extent to which environment and sustainability featured in these.
      Our impressions from both meetings were very similar. Firstly, it was a great pleasure to engage with dedicated professionals who so clearly had their members' interests at heart: our meetings were enjoyable, informative and inspiring. Secondly, it was clear that in these unsettled times, the capacity of members to engage in training on their own behalf and to release their staff for training has been somewhat curtailed: people are reluctant to spend two whole days or even more, away from work. In fact, and this aligns with my own experience over the last two or three years, it's hard to get people to attend even a one-day workshop.
      As a result, both organizations were reviewing all of their training materials, carefully developed over many years based on members' needs and emerging issues, with the aim of reformatting many of them into half-day or even two-hour sessions. As I've also discovered as a result of some recent projects, this modular format lends itself to identifying a sequential series of learning steps that often build on some basic learnings which are common to several existing workshops on a given theme. On these basic learnings can be developed a modular series of workshops from which trainees and/or organization can select those that best meet their immediate needs. Such incremental steps reinforce and build on prior knowledge without tiresome repetition of important but basic knowledge.
      Different ways of engaging with members were emerging, more diverse than simply training, and information and awareness-raising were part of these: that is, people won't attend environment and sustainability training until they understand its direct and applied relevance to their work.
      Interestingly, in our discussions it became clear that while legal environmental compliance may be an issue for only some members of these two organizations, the business benefits of wider sustainability issues will, in different ways, affect them all.
      The ultimate lesson for us? The critical importance of focusing on trainees and their organization's business needs and making the case for why environment and sustainability meet personal, professional and organizational needs.  What fun!

Find out more about the technical work that informs the training Susie and I deliver here.
   

Re-inspiring myself about training

      Recently I had the privilege of attending a professional development session with Karen Boyes from Spectrum Education. What a whirlwind she is! Karen specializes in helping teachers understand how to teach so children learn and helping parents support their children's learning can  - and she teaches the children themselves how best to learn what they are taught.

      The interesting thing was that before we fully found this out, Karen was using these techniques on us while we were exploring different business models for our professional speaking. It was great to be re-inspired about diversifying how we train.

      On a similar note, I attended a presentation by Dr Rich Allen on whether e-training can fully replace face-to-face training - something that could have been presented lecture-style, but in Rich's inimitable style, was extraordinarily interactive - showing the value of inter-personal engagement by doing, you might say.

      That said, I've recently being working on blended delivery of environmental training - using a mix of workshop, on-site and electronic training methods. The two key themes emerging from my research were the growing desire of trainees to play an active role in their own professional development - something that dramatically changes the traditional role of the "trainer", and the gathering wave of collaborative learning, which can be so widely enhanced by social media. It's all very exciting!

Click here to find out more about Karen's work and here to find out more about the work of Rich Allen.

My book selected to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair - the world's largest!

      I am still recovering from the shock of having my book selected to go on the New Zealand stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair.  The New Zealand Society of Authors, to which I belong, is showcasing 40 New Zealand books at Frankfurt, the world's largest book fair. Supported by generous sponsorship from Copyright Licensing Limited, the stand takes advantage of New Zealand's status of Guest of Honor at the 2012 Fair.
      This is a great thrill and the Society is already giving the 40 authors excellent advice about promoting our books to the publishers from all over the world who will be attending - I'm reliably informed the headcount of publishing firms is 20,000!
      Preparing information about my book is helping me focus more and more on who needs to use it, why they need to and how it will benefit them. Very helpful. The book itself is for environmental experts in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors who find themselves involved with training.
      Trainers call these invaluable people "subject matter experts" or SMEs - not to be confused with Small-Medium Enterprises, another common meaning for "SME"...  Many environmental subject matter experts have specialized knowledge gained from their experience, rather than from a formal qualification. Their skill and enthusiasm means they can make very good trainers, and the advice in my book, based on my 20 years of experience with environmental training programs, helps them access and apply new knowledge from the world of professional training. It's a winning combination that can really lift the environmental performance of a wide range of business activities.
      As well as marketing my "7 Steps" book to real live publishers, I aim to have a near-complete manuscript of a further book and a list of other books I'm keen to write about different aspects of the business benefits of good environmental performance. I'm most definitely more than a one-hit wonder - though turning my first book into that first hit is my immediate goal!

    Click on these key words to find out more the Frankfurt Book Fair, New Zealand as the 2012 Guest of Honour, the New Zealand Society of Authors, Copyright Licensing Limited - and, of course - my book, "Seven Steps to successful environmental training programs".

E-training for contractors

      Some years ago, a major New Zealand water utility company wanted its contractors to prepare environmental management plans. 

      The company was conscious that how it installed, operated and maintained its city’s water, stormwater and wastewater services had the potential to affect the natural environment during the regular upgrades, maintenance and repairs that all such large networks need. It decided to actively seek environmentally sound solutions that complied with law and regulations, and to go beyond ‘compliance as a minimum’ by aiming for best environmental practice. This meant working closely with the contractors who carried out the work on its behalf.

      Given that its contractors build, operate and maintain lifeline water services that support healthy communities, the company believed that its contractors needed formal systems to avoid or minimize environmental damage every bit as much as they needed financial, health and safety, quality and traffic management systems.        

      Accordingly, it decided to require all its contractors to prepare environmental management plans, or EMPs. These plans would help them manage their activities and associated environmental risks, staff responsibilities and communication so as to avoid or minimize potential impacts of their activities and to help maintain and improve the environment. It also provided a framework for both the contractors and the utility itself to monitor their environmental performance.  

      To be eligible to bid for work with the utility, every contractor was required to prepare a company environmental management plan every year. Some large or very environmentally risky projects also needed a specific project environmental management plan.  

      However, many of the contractors were very small firms, some of them ‘one-man bands’, such as concrete cutters who carry out their work from a tradesman’s van. It would have placed a big burden on these suppliers make them write an EMP without giving them any help. Other contractors were big companies who either had existing plans or were well able to prepare their own plans, but the utility didn’t want them all taking different approaches, because it would be too difficult to assess the resulting variety of plans. The company also wanted to create a ‘level playing’ field, providing equal opportunities for all its contractors, regardless of  their size or capabilities. 

      To ensure a consistently high standard of environmental management plan, the company provided a budget and support package to outline a minimum acceptable standard of environmental protection measures and control procedures. The aim was to help contractors reduce the environmental risks of all their day-to-day operations, thereby reducing the potential for environmental non-compliance from works being completed by contractors on the utility’s behalf. 

      The support package provided a Guide to preparing an environmental management plan and a corresponding Template into which the contractors could start writing their plan. The Guide set out a straightforward project planning process to identify environmental risks and the management strategies to reduce them. This process helped the contractors to:

• prepare detailed plans for using best environmental management practices 
• comply with the conditions of project approvals 
• comply with general environmental legislation and regulations 
• minimize environmental risk 
• avoid and minimize adverse environmental effects of works 
• monitor activities and effects 
• take action to mitigate or remedy any adverse environmental effects; and, if necessary, to change the way they do things to prevent any recurrence 
• continually improve their environmental performance.

      Also in the support package was an interactive toolbox containing:

• a leaflet summarizing the package 
• a background document explaining the environmental management plan framework and the reasons for setting it up, as well as the objectives and scope of a plan 
• an electronic plan template with all the headings set out and some helpful information already provided 
• printed workbooks containing background information and examples to help contractors fill out the template for their organization 
• a set of environmental control procedures (also known as environmental management procedures or standard work practices or operating procedures) and other resources prepared for the contractors to use and adapt for their plans and their site management and monitoring processes 
• a self-paced interactive online learning program, supported by classroom-based training 
• ongoing support from staff of the utility.

      The first plans were uniformly excellent – a result that could not have been achieved cost-effectively in any other way.

      Regular site inspections then made sure the contractors were supported in following and, if necessary, reviewing their plans.  

      An interesting finding from the process was that having such plans was invaluable when these contractors were bidding for other work, especially council or government projects: it gave them good non-price attributes and a great track record.   

      There were other benefits of contractors developing and implementing their environmental management plans.

      For both the utility company and the contractors, these included a clear understanding of how the utility and the contractors would act as one team to comply with legal requirements, avoid environmental impacts and achieve best practice in environmental performance, and an accepted agreement on environmental best practice before works start. 

      Other benefits for the contractors were a reduced risk of budget overruns due to unanticipated environmental problems and a head start in terms of non-price attributes when competing for other contracts. 

      Other benefits for the utility company were confidence that its contractors had planned and identified how to complete works in an environmentally responsible manner and the development of a tool to more accurately measure the time and effort taken to address environmental issues and practices. 

      And of course, other stakeholders and the wider community could have confidence that the utility’s works were not only timely and cost-effective, but planned and carried out in accordance with sound environmental practice. 

      All in all, the environmental management plan program resulted in a step-change in industry capacity and capability. It provided contractors large and small with new and enhanced skills that offer both business and environmental benefits that will continue to grow over time.  

      Michael Lindgreen was the project sponsor. Now with Andrew.Stewart Limited, he says that ‘to achieve the corporate goal of a consistent level of environmental best practice we recognised that we needed to do things differently. We wanted to challenge the industry norm of simply prescribing our environmental requirements and standards and then expecting contractors to meet them. Instead, we opted to go down the path of engagement and partnership to build industry capacity and change behaviors over time.’   

      He is convinced it was this ‘one-team’ approach that produced their industry-leading environmental management support package – a toolkit developed specifically for contractors to understand environmental risk, risk management strategies and how to develop and implement effective documented management systems. 

      Support was crucial, says Michael. ‘Following the implementation of the system and the requirement for all contractors to develop environmental management plans, we further supported our contractors through tool-box talks, industry presentations, a ‘help-line’ email address and free staff advice when required. The final, and perhaps the most important step, of “bringing the plans to life” through effective implementation was further supported through on the ground monitoring, advice and education.’ 

      With a concerted effort and, importantly, buy-in from all levels – from senior management to the digger driver – Michael says the organization saw ‘the quantifiable number of environmental incidents drop significantly, while the intangibles of improved industry reputation, contractor buy-in, client – contractor relationships and demonstrated industry best practice increased dramatically.’ 

      Find out more about Michael's company here.

E- and m-training: glimpsing the future in what we're doing now

     After four failed attempts to build a grassed swale along a motorway to the design and performance specifications, an environmental manager told me she finally got the project engineer to agree that maybe the topsoil had to be sieved after all, and that perhaps it was indeed a good idea to mark out the dimensions for the digger driver to follow. 

      Roadside swales are notoriously difficult to build for long term operation and trouble-free maintenance. Fifth time lucky, she got what she wanted – a swale that was properly shaped, compacted, topsoiled and planted – and that didn’t come apart in the rain!

      I suggested to her that next time the now-expert team built a swale, she could stand nearby, with a colleague filming everything on video while she explained exactly what they were doing, how they were doing it and why it had to be done that way (noisy machinery may necessitate doing a voice-over later on). Even better to get the operators and other people actually doing the job to explain how they do their work. Then I suggested this video go on the company’s intranet as part of their training and quality procedures so that this knowledge can be easily passed on to others.

      This reminded me of the operations manager of a major utility company who decided that with the imminent retirement of a whole tranche of baby-boomers, he needed to film them talking about their routine procedures so they could pass on their skills to the very junior people succeeding them. He got them talking about anything and everything they could think of about the network and the different jobs they did to keep it in good shape. I loved the example he gave of one man describing the exact sound and vibration a valve makes as it's being properly bled - priceless value!

      E-learning and m-learning – electronic and mobile learning – are the way of the future. One e-training project I worked on was really quite astonishingly successful. No matter how interactive they are, such methods will never totally replace face-to-face training or, especially for practical work like environmental management, on-site practical learning. But they will increasingly be used to demonstrate on-the-job skills as part of gaining a qualification. 

      Consider this scenario, which I’ve adapted from a story recounted in 2005 at a meeting of the NZ Association of Training and Development by Elizabeth Valentine (now working with a major Industry Training Organisation): 

      A worker on a big construction site is doing his round of routine inspections of the erosion and sediment controls. He has a map-based checklist that he can tick off and comment on so he can document and report on what he finds. He also has a smartphone with a camera and the ability to access the as-built diagrams for every measure. He sees something wrong with a large control measure and dials up the as-built to check what it should look like. He takes a photo of the fault and uploads the image to an online register that records the measure’s name and location and the time and date of the photo. The upload alerts the environmental team that a repair is needed. The next device is smaller but also has a minor fault. This time, he photographs and uploads an image of the fault, then fixes it and uploads the image of the repaired and now fully functioning device. He also uploads the last two photos to his e-learning portfolio as part of gaining his work-related qualification.

      How cool is that!

The quality of our projects depends on the quality of our relationships

      '"The quality of our projects depends on the quality of our relationships" - I learned this from Tangata Whenua,' said Green MP Catherine Delahunty yesterday at the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education (NZAEE) conference which I'm currently attending. (Tangata Whenua means the people of the land, the Maori people so strongly and positively associated with place in New Zealand.)
      What better way to sum up the theme of my book, Seven Steps to Successful Environmental Training Programs: partnership is, I firmly believe, at the heart of this success.
     The topic of my book touched a chord with lots of people, including some of the many overseas delegates attending this wonderful conference. One man told me how he works closely with a wide range of stakeholders when preparing and delivering his plant and animal pest control training programs - he'd never thought of how he worked as being "partnership" - but it undoubtedly is - and all the better for being how he naturally goes about his work. And having a conscious awareness that this is what he is doing could strengthen those relationships still more.
      Wait for a case study on his work soon....!
      Several people from local and overseas universities and polytechnics were present, and it is thrilling to see an emerging focus on adult vocational training as a positive force for environmental change as part of a new knowledge-based restoration economy.
      This year's NZAEE conference theme is "Changing course for a sustainable world" with the image of a mighty waka (canoe). The Association does wonderful work in early childhood, school and tertiary education, with strong input from local government, and I see training as being another powerful paddle for the sustainability waka.


      Over the next few weeks, I'll update this blog along a new series theme and we'll see where that journey takes us.
      There is a new short e-book on training available on my website (Environmental Training – how to change the world, one workshop at a time), and printed copies of the long book (Seven Steps to Successful Environmental Training Programs) in colour are now also for sale - click here to find out more. 
      Click here to find out more about the NZAEE and here to find out about this year's conference - there are similar associations in many other countries - here's the Australian one, for a start.