Just consider the hourly wage
of each person tied up in a workshop.  Is the R.O.I. worth the lost wages and service?

I have written elsewhere on this blog about the benefits of meaningful professional growth opportunities and collegiality.  Today, let’s explore a quick feedback exercise for an enhanced R.O.I. for your professional development resources.

Too often what passes as professional development is little more than quick hits, one-and-done meetings.  The participants might feel “juiced” during the session but little happens afterwards.  Without an opportunity for meaningful share time, follow-up and application sustainable change is unlikely. Participants need a call-to-action to maintain the momentum.

Image: kromkrathog @ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is a quick exercise to move your (and your team’s) call-to-action along: Write a brief (can be as short as a page or two) paper that gives you a chance to examine professional applications and personal reflections based on the training experience.

Professional Applications:  As soon as possible after the event, but no later than 24 hours after the conclusion, each participant should write about three specific actions they will take as a result of the development program.  Key words here: specific and actions. Stay away from platitudes and fluff.  How will you specifically apply the material you engaged during the event?  Until you do something, have you really changed or enhanced anything?  For example, you could commit to

• review a specific process
• use new technology
• develop a new collaborative strategy
• change office layout and flow
• evaluate your meeting structure
• examine customer service, and/or
• model health and well-being for your colleagues.

Personal Reflections:  Beyond the practical professional implications, how did the training touch you as an individual? So as a result of the event, maybe you could

• consider setting aside specific personal reflective time
• change your exercise routine
• improve your nutritional habits
• disconnect from technology and reconnect with the people in your life (if even on a small scale)
• set aside time to repair a relationship
• make time to build a new relationship, and/or
• engage in community service.

Video recommendation for the week:

For the more visually and auditorily-inclined, here is a quick explanation from me to you.

You could add a lot more.  Whatever you do, take the event you already invested a portion of your life in and make it work for you. If you are a leader, this exercise makes practical sense.  Just consider, from the basest perspective, the hourly wage of each person tied up in a workshop.  Is the ROI worth the lost wages and brand service?  How about if you send people out of state to a conference, what bang for the buck do they bring back to the team?

And from a personal perspective: Since you will never get that time back, why not make it grow for you?

One last suggestion.  Share your written thoughts with a colleague. Have her share her ideas with you. You both can serve as accountability partners.

Make it a great week. And H.T.R.B. as needed.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post. Please share it (and any of the archived posts on this site) with friends and colleagues. You also can follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. If you get a chance, visit my Facebook page and join in–or start–a conversation (www.facebook.com/stevepiscitelli).  If you have suggestions for future posts, leave a comment.

Check out my website (http://www.stevepiscitelli.com/programs.html) for programming information as well as details about upcoming webinars  (http://www.stevepiscitelli.com/webinars).

Information on my book, Choices for College Success (3rd ed.), can be found at Pearson Education.

(c) 2015. Steve Piscitelli. All rights reserved.