corporate training

Building a Human Library Collection – Part 2

In my last post, I introduced the idea of using a Human Library as a training event – to either share institutional knowledge or to simply build relationships, communication skills, and understanding between your employees. (Use the link I enclosed if you need a review on the concept and basics of a Human Library.)

With the second (of two total) posts, I’ll resume my idea for the Human Library. Here’s we’ll review scheduling, logistics, communication, administering the event, and post event follow-up.

1) Schedule your event, considering participants (books and readers), promoting your event, and other logistics.

Of course, you’ll want to pick a date that is suitable and relatively convenient – don’t forget to reserve an event space. (We’ll discuss the space for hosting the Human Library in more detail later.)

If your event focuses on building organizational knowledge, you may work with your organization’s supervisory staff to determine where participants may need to grow. For example, if the participant isn’t working with the MIS staff, there may be minimal need for the participant to “read” book 1. If a participant works in an area that struggles with customer relationships, it may be vitally important for him / her / them to read book 3.
After your supervisor’s have selected where participants should converse with a human library book, consider how you will notify the “reader” of the event and his / her / their assignment.
If you event goal is to build relationships, you may want to allow readers to sign up to the topics (books) he / she / they are interested in learning more about. You can use any application or site to allow participants to sign up, or even a simple sign up by posting a piece of paper in a convenient location. Don’t forget to assign a deadline for registration.
If the event is open for any person in the organization to attend, you might have a variety of options to communicate regarding the learning opportunity. How would you usually announce instructor-led training? That may be an option for your Human Library

One more comment on scheduling – if there are topics that may be sensitive for your “books”, be sure he / she / they will have a chance to step away on occasion, to decompress or collect himself / herself / themselves between guests or readers.

2) There are other logistics you’ll want to consider, too.

Be sure there is adequate space for your event. You will need chairs for your “books” and other participants. Also, be sure there is enough space to separate your books, so other conversations do not spill over or becoming distracting.

Regarding your room setup, you may want to label each “book”, maybe with a sign above his / her / their seat or space. You could also create a map of the room’s layout for participants to reference upon arrival.

You may want to establish ground rules to ensure participants stay on topic. If you’re worried about conversations failing to kick-off your “human books” could prepare a brief statement or introduction, or you could share a few suggested questions with your readers.

Set a time limit – not too long or not too short. Be sure to sound a warning and call for wrap-up a few minutes before the conversation time expires.

Also, be sure you (or other training staff or trusted organizational staff) are available to circulate in the room. You will want to be available to address any participant questions or step-in should there be any question or concern with a book / read conversation.

3) As with any training event, your last step is to take participants’ pulse and collect feedback.

This may be especially important if the event is focused on organizational knowledge. Remember, you should keep the survey simple and maybe focus on a simple rating and a few open-ended questions. Keep the learning goals you established with the “readers” supervisor in mind when you are creating your survey questions.

“During the human library, I learned __________”
“When I return to my work-space and tasks, I can apply the following information that I learned from __________ (insert book’s name here): __________”
“I would like more information regarding the __________ procedure / process __________ (insert book’s name) mentioned during the human library.”

Lastly, check-in with your “book” participants, too. He / she / they may have heard something from a reader, an interesting idea or questions, that you can use to grow your human library and training plans. Of course, you will want to offer your thanks, that he / she / they were willing to share their knowledge and experience to benefit others.

I miss instructor led events and being in the classroom with others and learners. Until then, you could even conduct a smaller library (one book, multiple readers) in one Zoom, Teams, or other virtual meeting format. When the pandemic passes, when social distancing ends, or when you need a relatively simple event to kick-off training, share knowledge, and grow your organization’s training agenda, consider hosting a human library.

Building a Human Library Collection

My husband is an academic librarian, and in the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about that vocation and the services libraries provide. Interestingly, there are many similarities between librarianship and training/instructional design, especially for librarians who work closely with teachers and instructors.

Before social distancing began we visited a local, public library where several people in my husband’s professional network are employed to attend a Human Library event. The Human Library is an initiative that started in Denmark over twenty years ago with the intent to create safe spaces for open dialogue between the listener and the “open book” humans in order to create more understanding, reduce stigmas and stereotypes, and build community. You can learn more about the Human Library program or find an event near you by following this link.

When you participate in a Human Library, you are allocated a brief amount of time with an “open book” human to converse regarding his/her/their unique experiences or knowledge. Immediately following our participation I realized this would be a great learning activity for a corporate or teambuilding event. In the next several posts I will detail how you could prepare a Human Library in your organization. First, we’ll talk about building your collection, but in subsequent posts I will offer ideas on how you may schedule the event, manage logistics, and follow-up after the event. These planning activities are interdependent and may run simultaneously, but for the sake of writing a blog post (or drafting a training proposal!) this seems like a logical order in which to describe a Human Library.

First, draft your “open books”:
Librarians would refer to this as building a collection.

If your event will focus on building organizational knowledge, you will want to consider who can best articulate both tactical and strategic functions. This is an excellent opportunity to engage mid-level employees with expertise in day-to-day tasks and who also have understanding on how processes and procedures contribute to helping your organization meet big picture goals.

“I have worked with the sales and marketing department for over two decades and focus on growing relationships with and retaining our established customers.”

“I am Associate Counsel and understand the contracts, insurance and liability concerns, safety, personnel, and other legal concerns of the organization.”

“I am a supervisor in our Management Information Systems group, and my team works to ensure our internal technologies and customers’ technology integrates smoothly.”

If your event is more team-building in nature, you may simply want to spark conversations that allow employees to get to know each other better. Who are the people in your organization with unique backgrounds? How have they applied this experience to achieve professional success?

“I played professional baseball for seven years before injury forced me to retire.”

“I served for two decades in the U. S. Navy, spending significant time underwater, months at a time as a staff member on a nuclear submarine.”

“I took a hiatus from our industry to pursue my childhood dream – working as a television meteorologist.”

Now that you have a grasp on the type of books you would like to be available in your Human Library, you will want to think start thinking about event logistics. Tune in for the next post, where I’ll discuss schedules, event set-up, and more!

Revisiting and revising previously published content

There were constant reminders throughout 2020, especially in the last quarter of the year. As of this past December, Adobe ceased supporting Flash, which means any content you may have developed using this software may need to be published to another format. But how do you go about revisiting previous content?

Here are a few questions that may help when you need to revisit previous projects:

Is there any compliance requirement?
This content may be required by a state agency or insurance carrier, or it may impact employee licensures and certifications. With a previous employer, a great deal of our training focused on topics related to Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation. This type of lesson needs to be up to date to ensure your staff remain qualified to do their jobs, or these lessons may may be mandated by local, state, or federal legislation.

Regardless of the reason, you are accountable for making sure the organization remains accountable to this training demand.
What may have the biggest operational impact?
Maybe it is a commonly used software or a standard operating procedure, but whatever influences this topic also influences productivity and organizational success. It may be a wise idea to keep these courses, tutorials, and training products high on your list for revision or update during system updates like Flash’s retirement.

If staff members are not abreast of the latest processes, this lack of understanding can negatively impact the organization in many ways.
How many, what percentage of employees will be impacted?
Is there a location or region specific need?
Don’t forget to consider the number of persons or locations impacted when setting your redevelopment priorities. I’ve worked in organizations with nationwide locations, but training topics that were required based on locality or region. These topics often related to a specific customer requirements, regional issues, or local mandates. (Anyone who has managed the anti-harassment content required in California, New York, Illinois, or other states understands this demand.)

As mentioned above, you want to ensure training initiatives meet regulatory requirements, but it can be difficult to get buy in for a training requirement that only impacts a small fraction of the workforce. That doesn’t make these topics any less important in your redevelop, republish, or update plans.
Do we still need training on this topic?
How do we store content that has been retired?
Keeping your comprehensive catalog updated is just as important as updating the individual pieces of content. When processes or workplace expectations change and the established training is no longer relevant, be sure the content is removed from your Learning Management System, calendar, intranet site, or other places where employees may have access.

Similarly, be sure you have a plan in place to store material that is no longer in use. You never know when you may need to reference previous training for employee development and performance plans or when preparing new training content. I prefer to store retired content in a well organized network drive, but you can brainstorm a plan based on what is most efficient for your staff, training department, and organization.
Lastly, formulate a process for revisiting and revising previously published content.
As with any project, it seems like half the battle is having a plan of action. Revisiting, updating, and retiring training content may be influenced by the size of your organization, the demands on your training function, and many other factors.

With my current employers, most requests to revisit or revise training come from the Marketing Department, since they will quarterback product releases and updates.

At my previous employer, the training function was smaller. Once each year, I would contact project managers and subject matter experts, name the lesson(s) we had produced during the previous year, and ask if there had been any in the material. If I learned of changes within a function or department at other times, I would also reach out. (“I heard your department developed a new protocol for “Department Process”. I’ve scheduled a meeting for DATE so we can discuss how this will impact “Training Course Title”.)

Even with carefully designed and curated content, you will still need to revisit past projects on occasion. Whether this is influenced by organizational changes, technology changes, your annual catalog maintenance and housekeeping processes, or some other factor, you are one of the staff members whose voice and expertise can influence training content and their updates. Good luck with applying a plan that works best for your revisit, update, and republish strategies!

Resource: Daily Agenda and Learning Goals

When hosting instructor led events, I often include an abbreviated agenda with the invitation. Since plans and schedules may change in the weeks leading to the training session, I’ve learned it is easier to distribute the detailed agenda when the event begins than make revisions to what has already been communicated. Usually, I handout a simple document- the specific schedule, presenters’ names, and a brief synopsis of the topic. For a three to four day event, this would be three to four pages of details.

A few weeks ago, I realized a daily agenda might be a better format, and I don’t think this would be any more complicated to prepare than the document I currently provide to learners. Most likely, I would supplement this with a basic agenda that simply lists presentation titles and times, presented as a handout or as a wall chart.

I’ve attached an example here. Pay close attention to the space on the right side of the document. In addition to listing details regarding the day’s events, the blank space provided for questions and follow-up goals will hopefully prompt your participant to think strategically about the knowledge he/she/they gain and how they might apply to make performance improvements in the workplace!

Agenda-and-Learning-Action