The Professional Learning Iceberg

Members' professionalism, lifelong learning and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an integral part of my role as Membership Manager for the Institute of Chartered Foresters. The motivation behind members' CPD is an area that interests me greatly. Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post for the Institute of Chartered Foresters entitled The Top 5 Benefits of CPD.

On Tuesday of this week, I attended the Professional Associations Research Network (PARN) Conference - CPD: Making it Meaningful. I was infinitely impressed by the opening speaker Hilary Lindsay, Vice President of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Affiliated Researcher at the Open University, who enthusiastically shared with us her research on CPD and her Career Adaptability Model. It was most illuminating. 

In 2011 Hilary surveyed more than 500 Chartered Accountants and when asked to record the relevance of learning activities in their current role, the Top 5 responses were as follows,

1. Accessing the Internet for information 

2. Doing your job on a regular basis

3. Reading technical material

4. Reading magazines, newspapers and journals 

5. Attending courses, conferences and seminars

However, when the same group were asked to describe learning activities as CPD, the Top 5 responses were as follows,

1. Attending courses, conferences and seminars

2. Reading technical material

3. Reading magazines, newspapers and journals

4. Studying online learning modules

5. Accessing the Internet for information

It would appear many professionals still equate formal learning activities as the premier source of CPD. We, as professional associations have an obligation to our members to communicate and reinforce the importance of informal learning, practical learning and reflection as acceptable, and indeed desirable components of CPD. 

In her presentation, Hilary used models from Illeris (2002) and Livingstone (2002) to illustrate the three dimensions of learning and the informed learning iceberg (see below). The majority of our members will readily undertake cognitive learning activities, whether it be attending formal training courses or reading technical material. 

But as professional associations we need to encourage our members to,

1. Learn with or from others

2. Learn on the job

3. Learn through reflection

Only by embracing these interpersonal and intrapersonal activities (those learning styles submerged in the ocean at the base of the iceberg) will our members be truly competent professionals. 

How best to illustrate this to members of the Institute of Chartered Foresters? The iceberg becomes a tree, obviously. 

You can read more about Hilary Lindsay's research in the PARN publication - Adaptability: The Secret to Lifelong Learning. 

Further reading.
Illeris, K. (2002) The three dimensions of learning. Roskilde University Press.
Livingstone, D. W. (2002) Lifelong learning and underemployment in the knowledge society: A North American perspective. Supporting lifelong learning. Volume 3: Making policy work. The Open University.

I'd like to nominate...

On Tuesday morning, my Twitter timeline was peppered with a series of bleary-eyed celebrity selfies - Jemima Khan, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Clarkson, Claudia Winkleman and Tom Hiddleston to name but a few. This was my introduction to Unicef's #WakeUpCall campaign. A campaign designed to highlight the plight of thousands of Syrian children who have fled from the relentless violence in their country. No one could possibly question the aim of the campaign, but immediately something didn't sit right with me. I posted the following tweet,

Just me or does Unicef's #WAKEUPCALL campaign seem a little too contrived? "Let's make a viral campaign." Your thoughts? Awaits backlash.
— Stuart Glen (@stuglen) October 7, 2014

Somewhat surprisingly, no backlash followed. In fact, I wasn't alone in my questioning of the campaign. Zoe Amar and Charles Bagnall concurred, and Jonathan Waddingham referred me to a Huffington Post article on the very same subject.

To me the #WakeUpCall campaign seemed too contrived and manufactured. It was trying a little too hard if you like. It wanted to be the next #IceBucketChallenge.

As a former fundraiser, I don't feel comfortable publicly belittling a charity's fundraising campaign, but #WakeUpCall really irked me. I felt Dan Snow's #WakeUpCall contribution was one of the most infuriating.

Where @Jemima_Khan leads, I follow. Here's my hotel room #WAKEUPCALL. Pls Text SYRIA to 70007 (to give £5) @UNICEF_uk pic.twitter.com/eCjHATdeGo
— Dan Snow (@thehistoryguy) October 7, 2014

#WakeUpCall suddenly seemed like another narcissistic vehicle for celebrities, their stylists and their PR people. Hadley Freeman's feature in The Guardian distills my discomfort better than I could ever hope to achieve,

"Is this really what we have come to - needing to see photos of luminaries such as Nicky Hilton and Elle Macpherson in bed in order to give money to Unicef? Since when did charity become some kind of beauty pageant in which famous women flaunt their 'natural' looks?"

For some celebrities the act of nominating their 'celebrity mates' is almost as important (and self-gratifying) as the challenge, or indeed the cause itself.

However, the following day the game changed. I received an Instagram notification, Paul De Gregorio had nominated me. The bugger! I found myself with an interesting dilemma - nominated for a fundraising challenge for a campaign that annoyed me, but nominated by someone I respect and admire. Is the act of nominating others set to be the focus of successful fundraising campaigns over the next wee while?

Paul's #WakeUpCall contribution was particularly creative and certainly no narcissistic allegations can be leveled at him.

The eye mask is not a prop. I fear this is Paul's regular slumber attire. Digital Diva!

My discomfort with #WakeUpCall remains. Nonetheless, somewhat hesitantly, in some ways begrudgingly, I'm about to share my own #WakeUpCall contribution. I've made a donation to Unicef and I would urge you to do likewise.

Please text SYRIA to 70007 to give £5.00 to Unicef.

And so to my nominations. I'd like to nominate Sara, Andy and Helen for #WakeUpCall.

The job interview. A chance to impress a potential donor?

Did you see the recent story from the US about an entry level candidate to an unnamed not-for-profit that had to prepare a meal for 40 senior executives as part of a 12 hour interview process? Only in America?

As someone who has recently experienced the recruitment process I'm pleased to say its not as bad in the UK. It is demanding, and rightly so. Candidates are expected to jump through a bewildering array of hoops to secure that dream job - obligatory presentations, role play exercises, copywriting challenges, staged team lunches. The list goes on. Employers seem to want more and more from the candidate. One role I interviewed for expected the applicant to match 33 Essential skills, but no Desirable skills. Essential skills they defined as the attributes without which a candidate would not be able to undertake the full remit of the role; and applicants that did not clearly demonstrate in their application that they possessed the essential skills would normally be eliminated at the short listing stage. Really? 33 Essential skills.

I experienced first hand a great disparity in the manner charities treated candidates. Several organisations failed to inform me of the interview panel's decision. Others gave cursory feedback. A token gesture to appease the Human Resources Manager.

However, one charity stood out from the crowd. CLIC Sargent. A wonderful charity helping children and young people with cancer. In preparation for an interview I lived on their website, absorbing as much information as I could.

But it was CLIC Sargent's post-interview processes that impressed me. I was interviewed for a fundraising position by two senior fundraising staff. Following the interview I was informed of the panel's decision promptly by email. The member of staff offered a telephone meeting to discuss the interview in-depth. When we spoke, the member of staff went through each interview question one by one, often referencing exact phrases from the interview, in order to provide me with detailed feedback. Valuable, constructive feedback. This did not feel like a box-ticking exercise devised by the Human Resources Manager. Rather, an organisation that appreciated, respected, even valued the candidates that made the effort to present at interview. It struck me that if this is how CLIC Sargent treat an interview candidate, how on earth do they treat their staff?

CLIC Sargent are helping children and young people with cancer through out the UK.

So impressed was I with CLIC Sargent that I'm fundraising for them. This April, myself and group of friends are undertaking the 23 miles from Glasgow to Loch Lomond as part of The Kiltwalk. I'm proud to be taking on this fundraising challenge for CLIC Sargent. You can sponsor us here.

As fundraisers, we're only too aware that every meeting is an opportunity to impress a potential donor; whether its a scheduled face-to-face meeting with a well-researched prospect or a chance encounter at a dinner party. We accept the ambassadorial role for our charities. From these encounters, extraordinary relationships are established and transformational gifts received. But how many of us would treat the job interview as an opportunity to impress a potential donor?

The candidate in front of you may have the propensity to give? The candidate in front of you will most certainly have networks. Those members of staff that undertake interviews on behalf of a charity, remember you're not only interviewing the candidate in front of you. You're being interviewed by them.

Is this the best thank you letter ever written?

This weekend I received a wonderful thank you letter from Child's i Foundation. Child's i Foundation is an organisation very close to my heart - see The Three Robbers. The thank you letter is exhibits a high level of personalisation and details a degree of donor impact, nonetheless the title of this blog post is a pretty bold claim.

Here's the copy, see what you think.

Dear Stuart,

I just wanted to send you a little something to say thank you for everything you do for Child's i Foundation. It's not just that you believed in us from the beginning, or that you've recently more than doubled your regular gift (for which we are incredibly grateful) or even your unshakable online support. it's you endless commitment and enthusiasm which continues to help our project thrive. You really are changing children's lives - and not just in Uganda. We're committed to growing our successful model, using all experience from the project so far, to help change the lives of more children around the world. Thank you for believing in us and being part of our movement.

Love Teri and Lucy.

I could deconstruct the thank you letter, analyse individual components -

• It acknowledges the donor's range of support for Child's i Foundation
• It demonstrates staff know that the donor recently increased a monthly Direct Debit donation
• It reassures the donor of the impact their donation is making in Uganda (and beyond)
• It thanks the donor for believing in the organisation

But here's the thing. This isn't an automated, mass produced thank you letter spat out from a customer relationship management database with a series of merged fields to appease the donor's need for authenticity. This is a handwritten note, in a handwritten envelope that has the impudence to address me as "Stuart Glen, Childs i Super Supporter." This is a thank you letter that accompanies a simple piece of artwork from Issa, sent all the way from Uganda.

A thank you note from Child's i Foundation.

I don't know Teri. But I her imagine her taking ten minutes out of her busy day, amidst 101 other things screaming for her attention, to write a thank you note to a Child's i Foundation supporter. It's a letter from one human being to another. That's why I believe this is the best thank you letter ever written.

Fundraisers ask yourself, can you say the same about your suite of thank you letters?