Show & Share Transcripts

Presenter/Host: Sue Landay, Trainers Warehouse | Co-host: Sarah Cleaned transcript: filler words, false starts, timestamps, and auto-caption errors removed; lightly edited for readability. Welcome: Where This Topic Came From Sue: Welcome! I'm Sue Landay, this is Show & Share from Trainers Warehouse, and today we're talking about uncovering the iceberg. This topic came about because a friend who attended a Show & Share several weeks ago followed up with me afterward. She said she was wrestling, in an organization she's part of, with uncovering assumptions and biases — where they come from, how to identify them, and how to start talking about them. So I went through all of our Trainers Warehouse resources. The iceberg is a framework that won't be unfamiliar to people, but in our Trainers Warehouse way, I tried to come up with a tool to help people have these conversations. We didn't end up producing it as a poster with a set of facilitation notes, but the files have been sitting on our computers, and I thought, I'd love to share this. So that's what I'm doing today. I want you to know I haven't done this as a presentation before, and I'm guessing many of you have experience facilitating these kinds of conversations. I really hope this can be a conversation, with you sharing your favorite ways to do this, too. So raise your hand, put questions in the chat, stop me — whatever you like. Let me share my screen and show you some of the tools, and we'll take it from there. Sound okay? [Screen share] The Iceberg: What's Below the Surface Sue: So here's the iceberg. Typically what you see is just the top: actions, outcomes, results. But as we all know from the Titanic story, there's so much beneath the surface that we don't see — attitudes, perceptions, unwritten rules. The question I wanted to explore with all of you is: how do you start the conversation about what's below the surface? I also thought an elephant should be down there with the sharks, under the water. I realize an elephant can't be there, and I know I'm mixing metaphors — but the elephant in the room is sometimes the thing we don't talk about, so I just had to throw one in. Today I want to share a bunch of questions for starting conversations about the things we don't typically talk about, plus a couple of tools I think can help you get to this depth of inquiry. Opening Questions: The Surface Sue: I can't remember if it was John Riordan or maybe David Dye who asked, "What's a company rule you didn't learn in orientation?" That was one way they started surfacing the things we don't really talk about. Answer that question in the chat — or, if you have a different favorite opener question, please share it. Thank you, Courtney — you want to make sure you're framing the conversation before you dive in. Mm-hmm. Oh, a secret memo. Kelly, can you say more about that? Kelly: Sure — sorry, I have a bit of a cold. It's that famous expression: "Didn't you get the memo?" Like, "You didn't know today was Hawaiian shirt day? Didn't you get the memo?" I've heard it used as, "At what point did you get the memo?" or "What secret memos are in your organization?" It's really just a version of what you shared, Susan. Sue: Got it — same thing. What are those unwritten rules? Underwater Goggles Questions Sue: Back to my share — thanks for bearing with me. So that first question is the surface. Then I thought about two categories of next questions. One is the underwater goggles: you're snorkeling, seeing the next level down. The other is the supersonic submarine questions. I split the questions into those two categories. The underwater-goggles questions explore success, risks, mistakes, roles, rituals, decision-making, and management styles. I won't read them all to you, since you can read them yourselves, but please tell me if any resonate with you, or if there are other questions you can see yourself asking. Sarah, if you see the chat — oh, here, I can see it. I figured it out. "Just asking people to share." That's so simple and beautiful. Courtney, what's on your mind? Courtney: In my experience, especially in my current organization, we support six separate types of business, and they all have very different needs. There's often an overarching need, which is great, but they'll come and say, "I need training for this." And as L&D folks know, operations people sometimes think a people issue can be solved by training, and that's not usually the case. So being able to frame the conversation really helps: "Thank you for reaching out — I'm so happy to have this conversation. You mentioned you were interested in this. Can you share more about what's on your mind?" That lets them do the underwater-goggles thing you're talking about. They lead, they hit on everything they think is important for me to know, and they get it all out first — before I go into my analysis and ask the other questions I need to get the information I actually need. Sue: Awesome. Thank you. I also like Terry's "What is success?" — and appreciating that it's very different for different people. Hearing different people's interpretations of success matters, because there may be an assumption that it means one thing and it's the same for everybody. And Lisa's: "How does this land with you?" Interesting. Folks, if you see one of your colleagues typing something you want to ask about, feel free to ask in the chat. I love that this can be a conversation. Sometimes our Show & Shares are more one-directional, but I really want this one to have a lot of back-and-forth. I'm reading Joseph's entry as well: "Beginning with the end in mind." And Sandra: "Do you love or hate the idea?" Ooh — inviting them to disagree, and not just disagree, but disagree vehemently. I think I learned this at a recent conference: ask a leader, "What's the zaniest thing you could do to make people's workplace better?" Not that you'd actually do it — but how crazy can you make it? You're inviting people not to be realistic, to take risks and make it funny, so that if they think something has to be a certain way, you take that off the table. Supersonic Submarine Questions Sue: On to the next slide, with another set of questions — even more probing, a bit more risky. I probably wouldn't go to these levels until you've had more surface conversations: What are we not talking about? How does our organizational structure encourage or impede our communication? Where are expectations and norms different from what actually happens? Again, like Sandra was saying, you're giving people permission to talk about it. Model the Vulnerability You Want Sue: Something else I thought about while putting these together: answer one of these questions first yourself, to model the kinds of answers that are okay to share. It's almost like how I started this session: "I'm a little scared to ask these questions because I don't have a lot of depth in this area, and you probably have more than I do." Share your own vulnerability. For example: "I think I'm sometimes really strong with the people in my organization, and I may sway them and not be a good enough listener." Something like that. You're modeling the kind of vulnerability you hope to get from others. No worries about joining late — we're happy to have you. Sarah, what should I see from the chat? Sarah: Bonita is asking whether accountability fits into one of these — which you touched on — and her question is: "What broken process or toxic behavior do we complain about while we quietly accommodate it?" Sue: I like that question. Great one. Sarah: And Kelly says, "Not sure it applies, but to make participants feel safe replying with whatever's on their mind, you can have a snowball fight. They write their answer, response, or idea on a piece of paper without their name, crumple it up, and playfully toss the snowballs around the room. Call time, everyone grabs a snowball and reads it. All answers are heard, but nobody is called out." Sue: I like that. Facilitation Tips for Hard Topics Sue: As I thought about probing in this way, I wondered: okay, say we do the snowball fight, or we get people sharing, and difficult topics come up. Can we share some facilitation tips with each other for handling them? One thing I always talk about is creating a parking lot — acknowledging up front that we may uncover some difficult topics, and that if they come up, we'll keep a flip chart with a list of topics we really need to come back to. That way you get all the ideas out without dismissing them, but also without getting lost in them. I also like the idea I shared earlier of modeling the kinds of answers you're looking for. What other ways can we help ourselves get out of the hot water? [laughs] I realize we're actually in the cold water — we're in the depths. "Saying there are no right or wrong answers." I like that. Other approaches that work for you? Part of it is just listening, right? Like we said earlier: ask the question and listen. Be present. Any other tips before we go on? Sarah: I think that ties into what Pam is sharing: "My company has been going through significant cultural changes over the last 20 to 25 years. We've discovered that one of the most difficult conversations is helping an employee decide that our company may not be the right fit for them, while still validating their perspective, values, and approaches that might not line up with our company's values." Sue: Hard conversations. Pam, did you have a specific question, or are you giving us the lay of the land? Don't mind me putting you on the spot. And Sandra — sorry, I'm trying to keep up with the conversations. Sarah: Sandra says: "Don't feel like you need to have the answer. The fact that you're listening, taking notes, bringing it up, and can follow through later is a huge thing." But I think she's also asking: when you come up against that and you don't have an answer, what have you tried, and what has helped? Sue: It may be following up: Who are the stakeholders here? If we're creating a parking lot and taking notes, how should we follow up? Who needs to be part of the conversation? And again, frame it from the beginning: "We may not have all the answers right now, but we're trying to learn, and we're asking where we are now and where we want to be." There can be frustration — "We're having this conversation, so let's solve it right now." I think the honest and transparent thing is to say we may not be able to. Questions About Bias and Assumptions — and Thumballs Sue: Moving on, being cognizant of time. There are a few more questions about how bias and assumptions are formed. As my friend was asking me about this topic and I was collecting resources, I thought about our Diversity and DEI Thumballs, which focus on power dynamics and some assumptions. They're more focused on diversity, but you could pull some of those questions, make them your own, and apply them to the topic you're trying to uncover and understand better. For example: How can we create a culture of inquiry? How could emotional intelligence break down the iceberg effect? These are just some other questions, and I'm happy to share these resources. You could create your own Thumball with a bunch of these questions, plus some of the others we shared earlier — focus on the ones most pertinent to you. I have a few other resources to share, and I think I need to stop and reshare my screen so the links appear when I click them. Any questions before I share these, or should we keep going? Sarah: Checking in — Pam had asked, following up on her comment, whether there are tips for those kinds of conversations. I replied that the Thumballs have a lot of questions that could be helpful. And we have some people who are new to Thumballs. Sue: Glad you asked! These things behind me are Thumballs. Each one has conversation starters — prompts — all over it. You catch the ball, read the prompt under your thumb, and answer it. Trainers Warehouse has created them for loads of topics: getting to know you, change management, team dynamics, emotional intelligence, safety, diversity, DEI — you name it. In creating all those conversation prompts, we also created a Create Your Own Thumball. It's a ball with nothing on it, and it comes with a permanent marker — permanent so things don't rub off when people handle it. It's great if you're opening up your own conversation, like an iceberg conversation. It also works for reinforcement exercises on a topic you've already trained people on, especially company-specific information. We wanted a version you could customize. And Sarah's put a link in the chat to where all of those are. More Free Activities and Tools Sue: Let me share a couple more tools and resources, and then I want to come back to your question, Joseph, if that's okay. Our blog post on uncovering assumptions. We keep a blog, and we have a post on uncovering assumptions with a bunch of free negotiation and conflict-resolution activities that cover this: Where Does the Number Belong? The Arm Wrestle activity The Orange negotiation, from the Getting to Yes folks Partisan Perceptions The Old Lady / Young Lady exercise The Dress (black and blue, or white and gold?) Perception glasses. John Riordan did a session for us on the power of perceptions, featuring a tool with colored glasses that let you see information on a page from different perspectives. Put on the glasses and you may see different numbers and different information. It raises awareness that people see things differently and lets you put yourself in someone else's position. Love that tool. Company Culture Game. This is a new one we recently introduced, with card decks about your company culture. Green practices are associated with a positive impact and move players forward around the board; red practices have more adverse effects. You look at them from both a salaried and an hourly perspective — how do different people in the organization see the same situation? For example: "Our company matches job duties to employee skills and preferences." People can discuss the benefits and challenges, and how someone in a salaried position thinks about that versus an hourly employee. Another card: "People in this company know that workplace culture and policies restrict complaints and prevent people from reporting problems." This tool lets people talk about what really happens in your company culture — great if you have iceberg issues to address. Collaborative planning tools. We also have planning tools that give you frameworks to get from where you are to where you want to be. Three to mention, and then I'll be done: Road to There: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How will we get there? What's the gap? A wonderful planning tool, available as a virtual facilitation kit. Square Wheels: A simple, very provocative picture that prompts conversation about how many organizations work. There's a person in front who can't see anyone else, people pushing from behind who have no idea where they're going, and processes that aren't working. Asking about it sparks really interesting conversations. Synergy Stack: A card deck that walks you through connecting, building clarity, and bringing people together to explore problems, build and explore their curiosity, and come to commitment together. A great tool for facilitating and creating new habits. So: a bunch of questions, a bunch of tools. I hope this was helpful. Q&A From the conversation to a project plan Sue: Thank you for the thumbs-up, Joseph. You had another question — do you want to explain it a bit so I don't have to read it? Joseph: High-level summary: I've been in the game a while, and we have all these worksheets and models — ADDIE, ADKAR — lots of things we can use for needs assessments. But in my experience, when I actually get into a project and start the work, people in the conference room don't want to do that. They'll fill out a Microsoft Form or do an email assessment. Your stuff here is really great, so I'm curious how other people actually apply this to real projects — to document things and move them forward. Sue: Courtney, do you want to share what you do? Courtney: [After some audio trouble] My organization is learning to get better about leveraging technology. For example, with surveys: my company culture is that people don't like filling out surveys. They like face-to-face conversations. And I've worked for leaders who say, "Show me the data where people are asking for this" — which is obviously challenging when no one will fill out a survey. So my team and I got creative. We build survey questions in Microsoft Forms, and as we meet people around the business and ask them those questions in person, we put our notes into the form. When we come back to it every other month or quarterly, we can see when and who asked, and what specifically they were talking about. It's an internal way of documenting what's being asked for in those verbal conversations. We can use it like survey data, alongside the other data we look at. I've found it very helpful for building a case: "This training is higher priority than that one," or "This initiative needs to go on the horizon." It's been very impactful in our company. Sue: It's almost like a cross between a survey and a focus group. Courtney: Yes. With as many conversations as we have, we always have the questions we want answered as a team in the back of our minds. So we started putting them in a form. If I don't fill out the whole form every time, that's okay — I still have a place to track who's asking for what. When I look at the data holistically, I get a true picture of how many times people are asking for, say, Six Sigma training versus change management versus other initiatives. Sue: Awesome. Thank you for sharing that, Courtney. I realize we're at the half hour, and some folks might need to go. I'd love to continue the conversation and will stay on for another half hour. If you need to leave, we won't be offended — thank you for joining us. Joseph, do you want to push a little further? Did that answer your question? Joseph: Courtney, that was brilliant. As an org psychologist, I love that you walk around with questions in the back of your mind while talking with the organization. I'd just say there's so much paper stuff that just exists, you know? I find it's more the pragmatic work of sitting with people and hearing what the problems are. We build a plan and drive it forward — there isn't really a systematic way, per se. So I really appreciate Courtney's approach. I'll end with this: we can do a great thing like the Thumballs — super great, really cool. But how do we take the information from a Thumball session or that type of conversation and apply it within a project to drive it forward? Because we have deadlines, like a go-live. I'm just musing, because I love what you have at Trainers Warehouse. Thank you. Sue: I think of it as a process with steps. The Thumballs don't do everything. They start conversations, build relationships, and open up topics you might not otherwise talk about. That's why I always come back to the parking lot and writing things down on a flip chart. If you think of the conversation as a start, then you can say, "Wow, we learned a lot about each other and about what we need to do. How do we get from here to there?" That's part of why I wanted to share those other tools. Sometimes you want an approach — a rubric, a way of thinking about a problem — to get from here to there without bringing in a consultant or making it really complex. Sometimes it's a Start, Stop, Continue, Change: organizing the ideas that came out, getting everything up on the board, sorting and prioritizing. Having a process — that's the word I'm looking for. Your first step is the conversation. Then you pick the process: What do we want to implement, and how? Thank you for asking that and pushing a little. Open Conversation Sue: Other questions, about the iceberg or anything else? We still have about 25 people on. Anything top of mind — a challenge in your training or your organization right now? How do you help others see their own iceberg? Participant: I have a question for the group, and I'd love insight from others. How do you get someone else to see the iceberg? In L&D, we're always in the service business of helping other groups in our organizations. Sometimes it's easier for us to see, in different departments and subcultures, "These are the surface problems, but here's what's actually happening down below." But how do you approach those conversations to help the people in that space see the iceberg? I feel like that's the hard part — getting them to see and acknowledge it's there. Once they do, that's usually where your buy-in comes from when you start talking about solutions — whether it's process, performance, people, whatever. How do you get them to acknowledge the iceberg? Sue: I want to hear from others as well. For me, it goes back to questions like "What is success to you?" It's figuring out which question to ask so they see, "Oh, we have different answers to this. We see things differently. I had no idea you had this other perspective." So you might ask: What are your expectations about X? How do we make decisions? Some of those underwater-goggles questions, just by being asked and answered by multiple people, can help people appreciate that there are different perspectives — that there's something going on that we're not all aware of. And knowing what some of the issues are, you may need to formulate your questions a bit differently to help people come to it and see it on their own. What I'm hearing is that you don't want to just tell them — you need them to see and appreciate it themselves. So: Is it about roles? Mistakes? How we're working together? Our internal processes? Are things falling through the cracks? How we support each other? Is this resonating at all? Joseph: To jump in — when I saw the iceberg model, I initially thought of Lewin and his change process: unfreeze, change, refreeze, when you want to change the dynamic of an organization. As an example of under-the-surface problems: I was on a cybersecurity project in oil and gas. One team member, an IT person, would spend forever in a meeting thinking through an answer. He'd get to the right answer, but it would take 15 or 20 minutes. It was painful — the worst — but it was still the right answer. So, as an L&D and change person, I'd do drive-bys during the week — hang out, cup of coffee in hand, talk to people. I'd stop by this guy's desk — his name was Dave — and we both love Marvel movies, so I think we talked about Doctor Strange for a couple of weeks. I'd sit, listen, and get to know his thought patterns and how he talks. Then, a day before a meeting, I'd say, "Hey Dave, I'm thinking about doing this for the cybersecurity program. What do you think? Does this make sense?" And I'd stand there for the 15 or 20 minutes while he walked through his entire thought process, making a mental note of what he said. The next day in the meeting, I'd say, "Dave, I'm thinking of doing X, Y, Z — what are your thoughts on that approach?" — summarizing what he'd said. He'd say, "That sounds good." And everyone else in the room would be like, "How did you do that?" So what I'm hearing from you, Susan, in this whole session is: use different techniques to listen, to become aware, to become interested, and then learn how to ask the right question. It's not about telling someone directly that their culture is wrong. It's about asking the right question — which takes time to formulate — so they think about it, come to their own conclusions, and make it their idea. Sue: Thank you. Sarah: Sorry, Joseph — Courtney's asking you to remind people who had that model. Joseph: I believe it was Lewin — old-school change-management planning. If you look up "Lewin iceberg model," that should work. L-E-W-I-N. Participant: Kurt Lewin. Joseph: Kurt Lewin. Thank you. The "Seven Whys" Sue: And Sandra and Bonita have reminded us of the seven whys. Would either of you like to talk about how you've seen it work? Participant: Hey, Sue. The seven whys is really about getting people curious and pushing them to think deeper. If they're coming to you with a problem, or you're looking at why something isn't working, you ask why — sometimes people use what — and the idea is you keep asking why seven times, because it forces you to go deeper. So: "Why isn't this working?" "Well, people just aren't jumping in." "Why aren't they jumping in?" It forces them to process it and think beyond the surface answer. The first time you do it, it can be a little awkward. But people start to realize you're trying to go deeper, and sometimes you can process it together. We tend to go to the surface answer first — that's human nature — or we look for places to blame. Just by continuing to ask the same question, you move through the process, and it can surface things we don't necessarily want to say out loud, or things we kind of know but haven't put words around yet. Wrap-Up Sue: Thank you for that. Sarah, let's say thanks to everybody and turn off the recording. Andrea, I see your hand up — we're going to keep going, but I just want to cut the recording and do our formal close. [Recording ends]

Presenter: Jazmin Webster, The Quality Experience | Host: Sarah, Trainers Warehouse (filling in for Sue Landay) Cleaned transcript: filler words, false starts, and auto-caption errors removed; lightly edited for readability. Welcome Sarah: Okay, let's get started. I'm Sarah Metcalf. Sue is out for a few weeks, so I'll be taking over. As we were discussing before everyone got on, the main event is Jazmin, so here's my little intro. Jazmin Webster is a champion of quality learning experiences, from design to delivery to lessons learned. Jazmin has brought her 20+ years of experience in the biotech and pharma industry over to L&D. She enjoys serving her community as a thought leader and supporting the growth of others by encouraging new connections and curiosity. Take it away, Jazmin. Jazmin: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Sarah — and Sue, I hope you're resting well. If you watch this recording later, know you were in my thoughts and prayers. I'm so glad to hear you've had a good recovery, or are well on your way. My name is Jazmin Webster, and I'm the founder of The Quality Experience. I'll start sharing my slides in a moment, but first, a question. How Does "Review" Make You Feel? Jazmin: When you think about the word review, what feelings come up for you? Type a feeling in the chat. Let's see what we've got — Sarah, please help me out if you can see the chat, too. Anxiety. Oh, dear — yes. Potential bad feedback. Is the trainer doing it? Learning time crunch. Absolutely — you start feeling that pressure. Nervous. Boring. Yes, some people just aren't excited about review: "Man, it's another task I have to do." Review can cause stress when you're thinking about how to incorporate it into the experiences we offer — whether it's an e-learning, an infographic, an email communication, a PowerPoint presentation, or an instructor-led facilitation event. All of those can involve some level of anxiety. My job today is to help ease that tension and show you some ways to make review easier and make sure you're getting actionable feedback from the people you partner with. Thank you for answering that in the chat. Now another question: what sounds more like you? Put a 1 in the chat if you usually review and test your work yourself, or a 2 if you regularly bring other people into the review process. We've got a mix — some twos. That's awesome; give yourselves some applause. "I wish, but I'm a one." That's okay! Sometimes we're really protective of the information we want to share, and that can cause us to keep it to ourselves. For me, I often don't want to put pressure on someone else, especially if I'm under a crunch. I don't want to give them that same feeling by sending them a review request on short notice. So I'm glad we have a mix of ones and twos here. Why Review Gets Skipped Jazmin: When I worked in a regulated industry, there were different phases of review. Some were very critical steps where the go-forward decision could impact project timelines — or the quality of the solution we were delivering to the customer. And I started thinking, I don't want to be the one to delay a project. Should I really send this to a colleague to review? Maybe I should just do the review myself. But by doing that, I'm defeating the purpose of the whole review process. That can actually create more stress for us, and ultimately it impacts our quality output. We become focused on just getting the task done, when there are other variables affecting our ability to deliver quality. So: what might be impacting your quality output? Respond in the chat. "Still modifying after reviews" — yes, Renee, absolutely; you have to. Time. Additional deadlines. Good call-out. What else? Not fully understanding objectives. Specifications and criteria. New applications. 100% — there are new things we have to learn and then incorporate. Availability of reviewers and colleagues. You're already thinking, "I may not have the time" — and they may not either. The Numbers: Interruptions and Time Jazmin: That brings me to a couple of statistics. Did you know that we're interrupted, on average, around 275 times a day? That means something could be pulling our attention away from our work every two minutes. That's definitely going to impact our quality output. Also, 80% of the global workforce says they don't have enough time. That's obvious in our chat, too. Time is a huge factor — not just for you, but for your peers and colleagues. Without enough time, it's harder to think clearly, look at content carefully, do a review, or even have the energy or desire to do it. Earlier in the chat I saw comments about anxiety, nervousness, and dread: "It's another task I have to do." These are already part of our everyday work-life story. We're constantly facing them, and they're not going away. To reclaim and protect our time, we have to acknowledge them and help each other out — to make sure we have quality output, not just for our organizations, but for ourselves and our own personal integrity. So I've got three quick tips. The bad news is I don't have the whole hour with you, but you can always follow up with me for more. Tip 1: Get Organized and Be Specific in Your Ask Jazmin: Tip number one: get organized. Know what you want to ask for in your review process — and then make the ask. Don't be shy about sharing your content. Identify the key stages in your project that help you progress. Think project management — the stages-and-gates mindset — applied to your learning deliverable. Which moments are essential, where having an answer will impact the next stage of the project or learning solution? Then be specific. For example: "Doug, would you be interested in doing the design and visuals section of the review for me?" Doug said no! [laughter] That's good feedback for me. Doug would rather do the functionality piece — maybe that's his area. [laughter] So you can adapt the review request based on the person's specialty, their area of expertise, and where they feel they can contribute most. That also gets you buy-in from your reviewer — they have a greater stake when it's content or a pathway they're interested in. And being specific also means being specific about the content. You're not just asking Doug specifically — you're asking Doug for a specific thing. Try to build that into actionable review requests. Tip 2: Use Preview Mode — and Record It Jazmin: Tip number two: use preview mode. Raise your hand or give a thumbs-up in the chat if you use preview mode in any of your design tools. Lots of thumbs-up. Awesome — that means you're already winning. If you have access to preview mode, take advantage of it. It's also an opportunity to record your screen. There are many free tools out there: some folks like Snagit, others like Greenshot, Clipchamp, or Loom — Loom has free access. Use them to record a short intro for your reviewer so you can tell them what to look for: "Hey, I just created this solution. I'm really concerned about the formatting on slide five — please give that some focus." That ties back to tip one, where you were specific in your ask, and tip two gives you tools to capture the feedback and the response. Thumbs-up if you respond to your reviewers after they send you feedback? Good — I see some thumbs on that one, too. Responding to reviewers is a great way to continue the communication and encourage others to keep sharing feedback. Doug, is that a question, or are you raising your hand to say you do respond to your reviewers? Doug: No, no question. Jazmin: That's fine, too. So giving your reviewer that response is essential to your process. Tip 3: Ask For and Share Your AI Reviews Jazmin: Tip number three — here's a tricky one: ask for and share your AI reviews. It's no secret that AI is out there and we're all using it in some capacity. Some of you may ask AI to review content and give you specific feedback. In some cases it'll give you a percentage: "You're 80% there" or "90% there." That's nice and might make you feel good. But what's even more impactful and actionable is to share that AI review with a peer or colleague. That helps you make decisions and verify that the feedback is accurate. So download and share the AI reviews you did for yourself. There's nothing wrong with asking someone else to take a look, and it can help them focus on specific areas. If AI gave you 100% on a specific piece, you may want to double-check it. If AI gave you 0% on something, that could be a big flag that you completely missed a learning objective. It's also a way to measure the accuracy of what the AI is telling you. Bonus: Peer Review This Session Jazmin: And a bonus: feedback is a peer review. Please scan this QR code. While we keep chatting, go through the few questions there — some may not apply to you, and that's perfectly okay — and share your feedback on the content so far. I'll also put the direct link in the chat in case you can't scan the code. Give me just a second. Q&A Avoiding duplicate effort with AI reviews Sarah: Jazmin, sometimes when people use AI, it can feel duplicative — an extra step on top of the process you're already doing. How do you incorporate both so it isn't repetitive, and you get something unique? Jazmin: Really good question, Sarah. I'd go back to being specific. When you're leveraging AI for reviews, target one portion. If you feel the full report would be too much for your reviewer to digest — or you only want Nora to focus on one piece of the module — grab that piece of the AI feedback and give it to Nora: "Nora, here's what the AI said about this part of my learning solution. Can you look at it through the lens of your experience and give me feedback on this specific piece?" That reduces duplicate effort. Otherwise, I might get that report and think, "It looks like a good summary — what exactly do you want from me? What expertise can I bring?" Targeting a portion of the review really helps. Great question — thank you, Sarah. Any other questions? Put them in the chat or raise your hand. What does an "AI review" actually look like? Autumn: You're talking about AI reviews — and I'm sorry if this was already asked; I was filling out your questionnaire. I've never had AI review content before. That's new to me, and maybe I'm behind the times, but I typically have AI create a lot of content, so I assume it's already reviewed. Help me understand that a little better. Jazmin: Absolutely, Autumn — and anyone else who's used this approach, please chime in. If AI has helped me design or develop something — say, a slide deck — I take it, work my own magic on it, and make revisions. Then I bring it back to the tool and say: "This is the final product. Evaluate it against my original learning outcomes and objectives. Give me specific feedback on the flow, whether I allowed relevant time for participant interaction, and what questions might come up in discussion. Then score me in each category on a 100-point scale." You can be very specific about how you want to be rated — a five-point scale, 0 to 100, whatever — and ask for feedback on the particular topics you care about. That's the report I'm referring to: go back to AI with what you consider final, ask for feedback, and then hand that report to your peer reviewer. Autumn: That's awesome. I just ran into a situation where I could have used that. People were saying a particular training wasn't for frontline employees, and there was a lack of understanding of what the content was. It would have helped to run that AI review for both parties: "Okay, where are we?" If I'm off, it'll tell me — and if they're not understanding, it'll help me explain. Thank you, that's very helpful. Jazmin: Absolutely. And Renee chimed in in the chat: when prompting, be as specific as possible so you get a high-quality review. The review is only as good as your prompt — and AI can only go so far. AI isn't going to make the decision for you. The human involved helps you judge how the information will be received. You know your audience and how they'll feel; your AI tool may not, especially emotionally. You can describe your persona or learner profile in as much depth and detail as your prompting skills allow — but yes, Renee, we need to make the decision. Which AI platform is best for presentation feedback? Sarah: You were also going to get back to Heidi. Jazmin: Yes! Heidi asked: Is there an AI platform that's better for feedback on a PowerPoint or presentation? I've dabbled in both Copilot and ChatGPT, and those are my two preferred platforms for feedback. ChatGPT gives me feedback in a more narrative form — it's having a conversation with me and talking things through. Maybe that's also how I've trained it to converse with me and ask questions. Then it gives me blocked feedback on different sections, which I like. I also like tables; they help me visualize and categorize information. So when you think about review and feedback, think about the output format you want. And don't underestimate the power of comments and track changes in Word and PowerPoint — they're still very relevant. If you have a document with track changes and comments, you can ask your AI tool to categorize and summarize them into groupings. For example, if there's a group of formatting issues, that's where Copilot comes in: it can make adjustments across all your slides in one action. In my experience, Copilot is more reactive — it suggests fixes and says, "I can change that for you." So it depends on your preference and style. Those are the two I have the most experience with. Anyone else with experience getting PowerPoint feedback from AI, please chime in. Renee says she prefers Copilot for content review and role-plays, and Mosaic for data analytics and creating bots. Thank you, Renee. Free and low-cost non-AI tools Sarah: Some of this AI comes bundled with other programs, or it's free, or you can try it. Are there other non-AI tools you use that cost little or nothing? Jazmin: Yes — I mentioned Loom. Loom, Clipchamp, and Riverside all let you do some type of video recording. I've used Riverside a lot this year. My free account lets me record my screen along with my voice and myself presenting, as if it were a recorded webinar. I was traveling internationally for a conference and wanted feedback from someone in a very different time zone, so I recorded it and sent them the link so they could give feedback on specific points. Free recording tools are very valuable — not just for content creation, but as part of your review process. Loom is easy — you don't have to download anything; it's accessible through your browser. I believe it adds a browser plugin, so you can see the button and start a Loom review anytime. I've also used Clipchamp quite a bit. And again, don't forget comments in Microsoft PowerPoint or Word. And the last one — Articulate. I have a lot of experience with the Articulate Review module. If you're an Articulate user, it lets you send a direct link to whatever you've created so someone can go through it and leave feedback on specific points, whether it's an e-learning or something else. Sarah: I love the direct links. Jazmin: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Sarah, for taking notes — these are great resources for everyone. And Renee wrote that she likes Claude for talking back and forth — the longer she uses it, the more it learns her. Absolutely. How many of you have had other voice interactions? I activated the voice tool in ChatGPT and had conversations in my car, brainstorming different topics. I know folks who use Copilot that way, too, having actual conversations with their AI tool. Now, that's not quite peer-to-peer feedback. [laughter] But — quite a few of you, yes. Awesome. Closing Jazmin: I'm rounding things out. I want to thank Trainers Warehouse again, and Sue — I know you're not here, but thank you so much for inviting me into your space and your community. I'd like you all to jot down one thing you're inspired to try in your peer review. When we talk about peer review, we mean interacting with someone you work with to help you deliver quality output in your learning solutions. I know we're all pressed for time. And I truly believe each of us wants to put forth our best effort. We know we'll face over 275 interruptions in our day, and we want to do our best to avoid mistakes that could impact what our organization delivers — or what we deliver for our own personal integrity. So thank you again for your time. Douglas says there's so much here, he's not sure he can pick just one. [laughter] That's awesome. If you want more tips and tools, there are some additional slides I hid in this presentation. When you scan the QR code, indicate that you'd like a copy of the resources, and I'll get back to you. You can also drop a comment in the chat, and Sarah or Sue can let me know if you weren't able to complete the survey. I'm happy to share resources with anyone who'd like to connect. I'll put my LinkedIn in the chat as well — there you go. Sarah: And as Jazmin indicated, we record these sessions and post them on the website, and we can follow up with an email that includes these additional resources. Jazmin: Perfect. Open Conversation Sarah: As we normally do, we can stay on a little bit if people want to chat or share more. I love all the new resources you've shared, and the whole framework of thinking about peer review and feedback. It's an important part of the process. It sounds like a lot of people are doing it, but it's always nice to get confirmation that you're following the steps you should be. Thank you. Jazmin: Absolutely. And I'll say that while producing this slide deck, I shared it with a colleague who's very good at spotting AI hallucinations — there's another word for them now; if someone knows it, put it in the chat. There was one slide that bothered him: this one. If you look at the graphic, the notepad is facing her, but the text is facing me. I had to make a judgment call: do I re-prompt to fix it, or just let it be? [laughter] Another thing we've noticed recently in AI images — once you see it, you can't unsee it — the proportions are often off. The head is full adult size, but the arms are much smaller, almost like childlike arms on an adult head. [laughter] Once you see it, you can't unsee it. I've given you that gift now — you can thank me later. Renee, you had your hand raised. And — too many fingers, Autumn, yes indeed! [laughter] Getting peer review when you work independently Renee: That was fantastic, by the way. I've never seen too many fingers, though, Autumn — yikes. I've had too many me's in one of my images, but not too many fingers. Okay, I do have a legitimate question, Jazmin. We're talking about peer feedback and peer review, but I'm a party of one, doing my own thing for my own company, and I'm no longer in the corporate world. So who do I go to? For me, peer review would be — let's say I speak at a conference, or I get a client and I'm speaking at their workplace. How do you make sure you're getting legitimate peer review from the people who hired you or that you're working with, who aren't in your company? Are the same three tips relevant, or is there something else to think about? Jazmin: That's a really good question, because in those spaces there can be a sense of competitiveness — between presenters, or between sponsored content and individual content. You may need to craft the request slightly differently. You could be more general: "What have speakers done to encourage interaction in a workshop about X?" And you can ask for feedback very specific to what you're delivering or why you're there. Bless you! Something I've seen and really appreciate: some conferences I've spoken at have given me feedback reports on my submission. That is gold. "We accept you, we want you to speak — and here are some comments from our reviewers." That's a game changer. I'd love to encourage more conference organizers to give speakers specific feedback beyond "you were accepted." Another thing some organizers are doing is a speaker prep session. Go to the session or watch the recording, and if they say "ask us questions," ask questions — it's all fair game. More than likely, they're really encouraging. They want you to be successful, because that elevates the quality of their conference. So don't hesitate to attend speaker prep sessions — or ask for one if you don't see one offered — and see if they'll share specific feedback from their review of the content you submitted. Renee: Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Jazmin: You're welcome, Renee. I hope that answered your question — I got excited. Renee: No, it did. [laughter] You're spot on. [Transcript ends]