the early bird gets... to wait

Prompt is not a word people use to describe me.

But here I sit at PDX, more than two hours early for my flight - I've already eaten breakfast, visited my favorite paper store and caught up on email... Why did I think my flight left at 10:00 this morning?  Sigh.  It, in fact, departs at 10:50 a.m., so I still have plenty of time to kill.  Thank God for free wireless...

This mistake offers me a chance to update you on all the latest happenings - I realize it has been too long.  I am flying home from Portland where I spent the last three days presenting the sales & service initiative training to the District Managers.  The past few months have been an intense time.  In December, the initiative team (made up of senior-level operations managers and trainers from the Education & Training Dept) met for the first time, learned the sales & service material (from Adele Carter - who is, beyond a doubt, the best in the business) and conducted short teach-backs in front of our peers as Adele observed and wrote feedback.  Two weeks ago in mid-January, we met again, this time presenting hour-long teach-backs in tandem with our training partner  (team teaching is truly an art form.  I'm not kidding.)  and learning the coaching material.  Those teach-backs were evaluated not only by Adele but by our peers, too - I literally took from that experience more than 30 separate sheets of paper listing the strengths of my facilitation skills, and my areas of opportunity.  Wow.  It was at that meeting that decisions were made about which training pairs would present at this week's District Manager meeting - it should come as no suprise that I was thrilled when my partner Angie and I were chosen.

Last week was one of intense preparation as Angie and I practiced our separate sections of material and met for two full days to practice together.  Our hard work paid off - the meeting was a success, we connected with our training participants and pulled off an effective, fun, motivating week of learning.  Last night, the company honored our DMs with a graduation ceremony and a carnival - complete with karaoke - I'm actually hoarse from three days of speaking and more than three hours of singing and dancing! 

And so the journey has just begun - rolling this out to the District Managers was only the first step.  As a training group we'll meet again next week for more teach-backs and feedback - and the first week of March, we begin the Center Director roll out - three months of training to get everyone moving in the same direction - with Angie and I moving all over Colorado & Arizona to get it done...

Being a part of this initiative training team has impacted my life professionally and personally.  One of the biggest blessings to come out of this is having met and befriended Adele Carter.  Her skills as a faciliatator cannot be overstated - when the training team first learned of her theatre background, it made perfect sense - seriously, she's amazing.  I have grown by leaps and bounds as a presenter, and a listener, since having met her, watched her and been evaluated by her.  It was truly a new experience for me to get this kind of feedback: tangible feedback I can use and control to improve my skills.  I wanted to know how to get even more.  I approached her, we connected, agreed to meet for dinner (she also lives in Colorado) and long story short: she's become a mentor to me in every sense of the word.  Our dinner meeting last week was encouraging and fun, and we had a chance to further some of the discussions that began during our trainings.  In a past life, Adele worked with Ned Hermann, creator of the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) and author of The Creative Brain - we had an interesting (and for me, affirming) discussion on whole-brain thinking, and she started me on The Artist's Way: A spiritual path to higher creativity, by Julia Cameron.  I am at once thrilled and amazed that Adele has become my mentor and friend. 

And with that, just an hour remains until boarding - and Powell's Books is calling my name from the row of shops across from my gate. 

Comments

[Heather Moll]

Hey girl!!!!! I'm been thinking about you and missing you! It sounds like you have had a FANTASTIC time away! You truly inspire me, Sharon with your passion and zest for what you do! WOW! I'm so glad we're friends. I wish we could hang out and I could catch some of the excitement you have for life! Hugs, Sharon!

[Lesley]

Totally have the artists way and love it.. now get busy doing your morning pages...hee!