The Barnes & Conti Newsletter:
March 2014

It’s a Steal!
Public Program Special Offer

Work on your personal skills and get a feel for how our programs could benefit your organizations by signing up for our Public Programs.

Click here for the 2014 Public Program Schedule

Our Global Partner: ASAS Training Center,
Saudi Arabia

2014 Training Industry Trends are Bringing Opportunities for Local Training Companies

Tawfiq Algargoush, General Manager, ASAS

Key training industry observers are saying that trends in 2014 are moving from generic, learner-centric training programs and shifting towards focused, customized business-centric development. Doug Harward, in this winter’s issue of Training Industry Magazine, notes this trend toward business-centric development. Previous practices “missed the mark on the most fundamental principle of success: ensuring that training is aligned to the needs of the business first.” The new focus needs to be on developing skills that impact overall business performance.

The Saudi training market is no exception to these international trends. Multi-national organizations capture the largest market share of the Saudi training industry—an estimated $2.6 billion with a 6% yearly growth rate...

Read the Entire Article on the Barnes & Conti Blog

A Note from Our Trainers:

Dealing with a Difficult Classroom Participant... It May Be as Easy as Five C’s

Bette Krakau

Tackling a disgruntled, argumentative or overly critical participant can pose a challenge for even the most savvy and experienced facilitator. Dealing with difficult participants is a skill worth perfecting. It requires reflecting on “Why is this happening?” And “What are the options?” By focusing on the options, positive things can happen so that the Trainer, other participants, and the learning outcomes do not become victims of the situation. Conventional wisdom suggests that it’s not personal, so there is no need for the Trainer to take it personally.

Dealing with Difficult Participants starts with the Trainer and has five critical C’s—calm, cool, curious, candid and clear—to use for identifying the “why” and determining mutually satisfactory options for solving the problem.

Calm: The first move is the simplest, take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. When calm and composed, the Trainer is able to be more objective.

Cool: Use neutral and non-judgmental voice, facial expressions, and body language when communicating with a Difficult Participant.

Curious: Maintain control by asking open-ended questions that help deepen understanding of the situation. Follow-up with active listening, checking for understanding, and clarifying issues.

Candid: Acknowledge the feelings that the participant has shared, and identify some options for dealing with their concerns.

Clear: Share openly with the participant any benefits to them for being fully engaged in the learning. Ask the participant for their support of the training and the other participants.

Good luck on your next training venture!

Updates from Barnes & Conti

Training 2014 Conference & Expo

Training 2014 proved to be another great conference. As always, it was good to see some old friends and meet many new ones. We loved the “States of Being” theme: Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Human and Be Forthright. We added one more…#BeInfluential!

Many training facilitators and consultants stopped by our booth to try out a tablet version of our Influence Behavior Survey. We were all surprised and pleased by how quickly participants gained insight into their influence challenges and behaviors. In reviewing summary feedback, we heard responses that probably resonate for many of us:

• “I know I should do more listening in the work I do with my clients.”
• “While I ask a lot of open-ended questions, I need to draw out more before launching into my proposal.”
• “It’s sometimes hard for me to find meaningful incentives that don’t sound like reasons.”
• “I’m worried about damaging relationships when I describe consequences.”
• “Envisioning can be very powerful; I should use it more.”
• “My role as an internal consultant demands that I pose challenging questions.”

Contact us if you’re interested in more information about the Exercising Influence Behavior Assessment or to discuss how we might help you build your influence and consulting skills.

Our congratulations to all of the Best Practice and Top 125 winners. We want to give a special shout-out to Capital One and Novo Nordisk for making the Top 125 this year and to Verizon on being named to the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame!

Recipe: Kofta—Middle Eastern Meatballs or Kebabs

 

Kofta—whether as pan-fried meatballs or grilled “kebabs” on skewers are popular throughout the Middle East. The seasoning varies from country to country and region to region.

The version below, in deference to our Global Partner in Saudi Arabia, is seasoned with spices familiar to that region. Although I use a mix of ground turkey and beef, all beef or all lamb is more traditional.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lbs. ground meat (lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, or a combination)
• 1 very large onion, chopped
• 1/4 large bunch Italian parsley, leaves only
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs or gluten free flour mix (fried version only)
• 1 egg (fried version only)
• Small handful of mint leaves
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Method:

• Put the coarsely chopped onion and stemmed parsley in a food processor. Pulse on the “chop” setting until finely minced.
• Mix onions, parsley, and seasonings well with the chopped meat.
• If you're going to fry the kofta, add the egg and bread crumbs or gluten-free flour. (You can also use cooked rice for gluten free). Mix well.

For Frying:

• Roll the mixture into meatballs about the size of ping-pong balls (or small patties like sliders).
• Heat plenty of olive oil in a skillet. Fry the kofta until browned on all sides and cooked through.

For Grilling/Broiling

• Mold the meat mixture over 6 inch or 8 inch skewers, leaving a “handle” of about 2 inches at the bottom.
• Grill or broil over a hot flame for about 4 minutes per side, until the kofta is browned and cooked through.

Serve with rice and/or pita bread. It’s nice to have a sauce with the kofta as well. A garlicky, lemony tahini sauce is very good, as is cucumber yogurt sauce (tzatziki is the Greek name), also made with garlic and lemon. You can precede the kofta with a selection of your favorite Middle Eastern salads and dips.

Serves 4 - 6

 

Did You Miss Us at Training 2014?

 

Visit us at Booth 1319 at ASTD and take the tablet version of our Influence Behavior Survey!