Jamie Oliver caught my attention last month when he received the prestigious TED Prize for his work to “create change on both the individual and governmental level.” I had been aware of his work to encourage people in England to make healthier choices in their lifestyle and diet. Many of you are probably aware of Oliver’s efforts to ban unhealthy food in England’s schools in favor of a diet based on fresh, nutritious fare.

Fewer people may be familiar with Fifteen Foundation, which Oliver started in 2002. Each year his foundation trains teens in the restaurant business. Most significant to me is that these teens often have criminal records, a history of drug use, and other high-risk behavior. At first glance these youth don’t necessarily commend themselves to the culinary arts. What’s clear is that Fifteen Foundation is the vehicle for human enrichment. While Fifteen’s cadets become exceptional chefs, more importantly the Foundation encourages youth to develop character, self-respect, and ambition.

Trusting relationships between mentors and young people are at the heart of this remarkable enterprise. The training process utilizes an apprenticeship model in which the master chef shadows the apprentice. Mentor-chefs introduce youth to food, farming, and cooking. Throughout the apprenticeship they also help the youth with a range of personal challenges.

None of this good work would be possible without a funadamental shift in perspective on the part of Oliver and his staff. Most of the world sees these youth as destined to a life of crime, drug use, and dependency on government resources. Fifteen Foundation views youth through a different lens–seeing beyond the exterior and behavior, the coarseness and tattoos, to unique humans endowed with brilliance, gifts, and promise.

Eating good food is not only healthy, it can also be beautiful. Oliver, through the vehicle of food, is introducing youth to a higher plane of living. I hope he inspires you as he has me, and that we all can find ways to emulate his quality of mentorship in our own relationships.

Tags: at-risk teens, empowering adolescents, mentorship

Clear Transitions

In the spirit of the new year I will begin down a fresh path with my newsletters starting in January. I hope you enjoy this last newsletter of 2009 capping off the “Five Elements of Effective Structure” series.

To illustrate this final element of effective structure, Transition, let’s build on the example I introduced in the last newsletter: Imagine you are working with a group of youth to encourage them to avoid using tobacco. You’ve discussed with them the role of various media (TV, Internet, movies, etc.) which may employ subtle and not-so-subtle methods to encourage youth to smoke. After giving a brief, clear introduction, you facilitated discussion and dialogue during the process phase, synthesized the student comments, and helped them develop actions they can take based on the discussion. With your help, the youth arrived at some brilliant ideas and developed specific strategies–ones they now “own” in a way they didn’t when they entered the room. You’re sending them back into the world with a newfound sense of responsibility and clarity. Excellent!

The next topic you want to discuss is the role of peer pressure (again, insert your own topic), and how it relates to tobacco use. Here’s where we can stumble. Not infrequently I witness presenters that begin a new topic without connecting it to the previous topic. The topics remain isolated. By breaking these topics out of isolation we encourage students to strengthen relationships between the topics. As you draw the conversation about media to a close and prepare to move into your introduction on peer pressure, pose a simple question to strengthen the relationship between media and peer pressures: “Before we move on to discuss peer pressures, I’m curious, how would you say media influences and peer pressure are related?” I like using the second person in this kind of a question. It is a reminder that your audience members, not you, are responsible for their own learning process. Then, allow for silence. Brains are working.

Our brains crave coherence. Brain research indicates that our brains are wired to preserve what is coherent and purge dissonance. We want to know how things relate. This is how we learn. The transition phase is when you offer your audience opportunity to create meaningful connections between two separate topics. When we can strengthen the relationship between two or more distinct topics, we strengthen the learning process. This is the point of Transition–to connect the topic you’re leaving to the topic you’re entering. There’s a reciprocal, chicken and egg relationship here: Whichever comes second we will best understand by connecting it with what came first. Switching topics without a good transition is sure to create “topical whiplash.”

I’ve designed this five-part presentation progression to maximize the engagement of the learner. My desired outcome by practicing these elements is that our presentations will be more engaging, lucid, and effectual. Please don’t feel you need to adhere to every jot and tittle of this structure. Make it your own. Adapt it to serve your needs. Remember, the agent of change is you.

Tags: communicating with youth, effective learning, engaging youth

Motion Needs a Motor

Poison oak is profoundly communicable, at least for the four out of every five people allergic to its oils. I am not among the lucky 20 percent, and reserve a special variety of envy for those folks who are. I’ve broken out in rash without ever actually touching the stuff. The most recent insidious point of contact occurred somewhere on the banks of the Deschutes River during a fishing trip this summer. I had been hyper-vigilant the entire time. No matter. Two days after returning, a rash appeared that grew so voracious I had to take prednisone to quell it. I’ll spare you any additional details.

In the last two newsletters I talked about how important process and synthesis are to learning. This is how we learn most things. Through my latest bout with poison oak I gained a fresh understanding of how contagious poison oak can be. This was my process, and like all helpful processes it was messy. So what am I to do in light of my new understanding of poison oak? This question ushers us into the fourth element of effective structure in communication, Motor. Good process helps us understand something better. What was once abstract is now more concrete. Just what should it look like for us to act on this new understanding?

Imagine you’re working with a group of youth to help them avoid the use of tobacco. You’ve taken them through a clear introduction, opened the topic to exploration and discussion and synthesized their dialogue, thus forming a more crisp understanding vastly more relevant and meaningful to the youth. This doesn’t imply they’ve “arrived,” or will never alter their understanding. But it has now become more concrete–something they can and should act on.

Here is your opportunity to do something remarkable. Most people, like the youth in the example above, expect you to tell them what to do. Don’t do this! They’ve not asked you to. During Process you helped them explore their own ideas about the topic. In Synthesis you helped assemble their ideas. Don’t now alter course and impose your ideas upon them as to how they should act. Engage others to help them draft the most concrete, logical action they can, based upon the conclusions they’ve drawn from the process. There is a process in deducing action. If you tell them what they ought to do, you short-circuit this process.

Here are the simple steps to take during the Motor phase:

1. Summarize students’ ideas into something relevant and meaningful. This is the truism they can and should act on. But how?

2. Pose the question to your participants, “This being true, what should we do?” Let your participants answer this question. Facilitate interaction. Do as you did during Process but for the purpose of helping them determine new ways to behave.

3. Synthesize their ideas. Work with your participants to make their ideas as vivid as possible. Continuing with our example, “You say you think you should avoid others that use tobacco. If we could see you avoiding ‘others that use tobacco’ in the next 24 hours, what would that look like?” Make them work for their responses. Only then will they own them.

I’m writing with an assumption: You hope that the people you work with will do something different as a result of your time spent with them. It would be most disheartening to learn that your time, devotion, and effort spent with people amounted to inertia. The Motor element keeps the engine revved and wheels turning in the right direction. Through Motor you help others define what it is they want to do differently, and set down a new path. This is the change we seek.

Tags: effective coaching, engaging youth, facilitating change, motivating change