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Kurt Andersen

December 2014 - TD Magazine

Leading organizations with productive salespeople are taking a different approach to sales training—one that gets reps out of the classroom and into the world in which they’re required to succeed.

Sales Training That Keeps Reps Awake, Excited, and Learning

Whether you’re designing an e-learning course, a presentation, or some other type of media, you want it to look good. For some of us, though, that can be a bit of a challenge. We all have the ability to be better graphic designers, but it’s not likely something we can master just by reading a book or taking a class. I like to think of graphic design as a muscle that can be strengthened and grown—it just needs to be exercised on a regular basis.For instance, I’ve been trying to lose an extra 30 pounds for the past several years with little success. Although I’ve become an expert on every weight loss technique, routine, and diet, I just can’t seem to shake off the extra weight. Is this because I haven’t educated myself enough about weight loss? Absolutely not! The reason I haven’t lost weight is because I haven’t gone to the gym to apply what I’ve learned!Becoming a stronger graphic designer is no different. It takes determination, time, and practice. Here are three ways you can exercise your graphic design muscles. Challenge YourselfIt’s easy to stay in your safe zone when practicing any new skill. Unfortunately, we all know that growth doesn’t occur unless your push yourself outside your comfort zone. One of the best ways to become a stronger graphic designer is by investing time to practice. This means investing time outside of your day-to-day projects to try something new.  Try joining an online design challenge. David Anderson from the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community hosts weekly e-learning challenges, many of which are design-focused. Weekly challenges are a great opportunity to push your skills, try something new, and receive constructive feedback in a positive environment.I also suggest trying a technique- or tool-focused online tutorial. Let’s say you’re trying to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator. There are countless online tutorials that walk you through the process of creating a graphic or using a specific technique step-by-step. I like doing this when I want to learn how to use a specific feature through a practical exercise.  Find Sources of InspirationSeeing the work of others can be intimidating, especially when their abilities seem light years ahead of your own. But if you change your perspective, there’s a lot you can learn from analyzing the work of others.Finding inspiration is easier than ever–it’s just a Google search away. Here are some of the places I get design inspiration:Design category of PinterestBēhanceE-Learning Examples section of the Articulate E-Learning Heroes CommunitySo, once you’ve found a good source of inspiration, what do you do with it? The key to using the work of others is not to let it intimidate you; but rather, use it to help you learn and grow. I like to analyze the work of others to understand the different techniques used to create the final result.The next time you look at a source of inspiration, try looking at it from a technical perspective. Try drawing conclusions about the techniques or rules used to create the finished product. It might be helpful to know the principles of graphic design so you can recognize them and use them in your own work. Ask for FeedbackOne of the hardest aspects of learning any new skill is asking for and receiving feedback. Although feedback can hurt, you have to think of it as your friend. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses can help you focus your future efforts.When it comes to graphic design, I like to ask for feedback from both graphic and non-graphic designers. A graphic designer can help you uncover technique-related issues in your design. On the other hand, a non-graphic designer can help you understand how the average person will view your design. Unless your audience is a bunch of graphic designers, most of your work will be viewed by the average person–their opinions count!Finally, I suggest you get feedback from yourself—not on your current graphic design work, but on your past work. This is an exercise I practice on a regular basis. Looking back and analyzing your past work can help you discover how you’ve grown and realize your strengths. Looking at your past work gives you an opportunity to question what you would have done differently and helps you avoid the same mistakes going forward.Becoming a better graphic designer is a journey that is unique to each individual. Learning to challenge yourself, seek inspiration, and obtain feedback are simple ways to help the process gain momentum. What other ways do you exercise your graphic design muscles? Share your tips in the Comments below.

3 Ways to Exercise Your Graphic Design Muscle

“Willful blindness” is a legal term that means there is information that you could and should know, but have elected not to know. The term’s deliberate indifference or contrived ignorance is also used to describe the phenomena. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of willful blindness in the world today, which causes the downfall of an organization’s leadership and culture. Here are some examples of willful blindness:banks selling mortgages to people they knew could not afford them long-termmedical interns scheduled to work for 24 hour shifts when hospitals know the safety problems caused by lack of sleepthe Catholic Church ignoring the child abuse occurring under their proverbial roof for decadesthe Enron and Arthur Anderson scandals.Each of these examples exists because at least one person turned a blind eye. In many of these instances, the consequences were most catastrophic when many people turned a blind eye. This is especially common in the workplace. Multiple studies show that 85 percent of employees across the globe respond YES to the question: “Are there issues in the workplace that people are afraid to bring up?” That is an awful lot of silence! Worse, you can’t fix what you refuse to acknowledge. Indeed, this vast amount of willful blindness can hurt companies in a variety of ways:productivitysafetyinnovationethics.We see it in our workplaces every day. Executives decide not to survey their employees because they are going through a challenging time and are afraid of what they will find, or they decide to do the survey and the results are not positive. As a result, the executives put the completed surveys in a drawer and hide them away hoping that no one will ever know about them—even though the employees already know what the culture is like. It’s the employee that works at the hospital and doesn’t speak up regarding procedures or an issue even though they know it relates to patient safety or outcomes.  It’s the organization that has an accountant that has clearly manipulated payroll so they don’t pay taxes and is now being garnished by the IRS, but yet they still have their job  It’s the executive that keeps a sales person even though they are difficult, destroys teamwork, and breaks cultural mores solely because they bring in money. Although we have whistle blower legislation in place to protect employees and give them the freedom to speak up, legislation, rules, and standards won’t solve the problem. The only way to remove willful blindness from the workplace is through culture, leadership, and a strong hiring and selection process. Your culture has to be one that creates transparency and reduces fear in the workplace.  Leaders must support that culture by holding people accountable in a firm and fair way without being ugly, difficult, obstinate or berating employees. Leaders need to use mistakes for learning. We need to have cultures and leaders that reward employees for speaking clearly, plainly, frankly and professionally.Organizations must pay particular attention to those they bring into their company. Are they supportive of your culture? Will they continue your culture? Will they strengthen or hinder your culture?Some key steps to remove willful blindness: focus on creating self-awareness through feedback tools and programsuse data to make decisionscreate an environment where people are encouraged to play devil’s advocate use benchmarks or markers for feedback to know whether people are able to tell the truth or if they are suffering from burnout and you can identify problem areas in the workplacehire external resources to help you see your blind spots and encourage you as an organization to remove tunnel vision.Does willful blindness exist in your organization? Share your strategies to combat it in the Comments.

Kurt Andersen

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