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Practical Advice to DS Instructors from
CDS Master Trainers
In selecting the "demonstration" person you will
never know exactly what you will get, but here are some guidelines
to increase your odds of a good result. REVIEW ALL "PRE-WORK"
The first suggestion is to review as many of the "pre-work" packets
as possible for selecting a demo. This is a simple notion,
but the more you have to choose from the better chance of
finding a good one. You will improve your odds.
SELECT A DEMO WHO REPRESENTS THE MAJORITY
The demo must be representative of your participants. Most
participants should see the demo as being "like" themselves,
including….
- Gender: If you have mostly females, select a female
- mostly males, select a male.
- Education: Do not select the one Ph.D. in a group of
lesser educated people as your demo. Select someone with
an education
level similar to the majority.
- Socio-economic: If you have mostly "blue-collar" workers
in your group, select one for your demo. Do not pick a "white-collar" worker.
- Ethnicity: Select
a demo who represents the majority ethnic or cultural make
up of the group.
- Other: Note
other special characteristics of your group and, again,
select a demo who matches these as much as
possible.
CONTENT OF GOOD EXPERIENCES
This becomes very subjective, but look closely at the "content" of
the top 5 Good Experiences. Try to select someone who has…
- Varied
Sources of GEs
Look at the "types" of top Good Experiences the
potential demo has listed. How varied are they - some from
work, some from home, some personal, some recent, some from
the past? Often this will be helpful. It will show that strengths
can come from any time and type of Good Experience. On the
contrary, someone with only recent "work" related
GEs may impact participants to believe they, too, must
only talk about these type of Good Experiences.
- Varied Content of GEs
Sometimes the person has the same topic for all their
top Good Experiences. For example, they all have to do
with "teaching".
This will not give a "full picture" of the person's
strengths.
- A Pattern of Strengths
Often the "pattern" of a person's strengths can
be deduced from their GEs. This will provide a good demo
for writing the "first paragraph" of the Report.
For example, a person may show "leadership" in
Good Experiences as a high school officer, present day
office manager, parent, and volunteer Board member.
AVOID PERFORMERS
Shy away from persons who show an extreme pattern of "performing" or "showmanship".
They may want to "steal the show" and become difficult
to keep on track or stop talking.
AVOID SILENT TYPES
This is obviously hard to judge from the content of the
Good Experiences in the pre-work, but you will want someone
who can talk easily, with more than just one word descriptions.
AVOID GENERALIZED GOOD EXPERIENCES
Good Experiences such as "A wonderful marriage", "Raising
my children", "Getting my Master's degree", "Helping
others" are very broad and difficult to work with. They
can work but you will have to "dig" deeply by asking
for "examples" within those experiences of something
they feel they did well, enjoyed and are proud of.
SEEK SPECIFIC GOOD EXPERIENCES
Conversely, specific Good Experiences which are concrete
and confined to a short time span - a particular event -
seem to work better. The person actually remembers the event
and "relives" it in the retelling. If someone starts
by saying, "I remember the time I….." , you
can be assured they are telling a specific experience.
On one occasion recently, I had a demo whose Good Experience
was "Helping students". She was a teacher who often
had students come to her with their problems and she would
listen and be helpful. She said she did this for many years
and had many such interactions. This was very generalized
and did not give us a picture of her in action. So I asked
her, "Is there one student who stands out in your memory
you can tell us about?" . "Yes", she said. "What
was his or her name?", I asked further. She recalled
it was "James" and proceeded to tell us the story
of a particular time she helped James through a tough situation.
This is an example of prompting the person to get very "specific" -
connecting with a particular event - so they can retell a
story rather than just generalizing.
CONCLUSION
I must say however, even by following these guidelines you
can still be surprised! I remember the time carefully reviewing
the "pre-work" packets and selecting a demo who
looked good on paper but was the ultimate "performer".
I invited her to sit down and she brusquely said "No!".
I again said, "Yes, please sit down". She adamantly
insisted she must stand and walk around to speak. So I sat
while she paraded around basking in attention from the group.
I did my best to keep her on track, talking about good experiences
and what she did to make them happen, but after a short compliance
she would take off on some unrelated story. I felt like the
pet owner trying to retrieve his recalcitrant dog - repeatedly
calling out, the dog coming back almost within reach but
never close enough to catch, then running off again merrily
down the street while the owner gets more and more frustrated
as this teasing game goes on.
However, this turned out to be a good demonstration. It
clearly showed what "not" to do in the quads. The
audience got this. They realized what I was trying to accomplish
and realized her need to be the center of attention. So again
to my surprise they learned how to operate in the quads by
observing a prime example of what NOT to do! Again, the DSA
process seemed to work in spite of the obstacles.
So even when you do your best to pick an appropriate demo,
be aware you may still be surprised. Sometimes the seemingly
talkative person will clam up and hardly give any information.
Sometimes, a person who seems very quiet will do the opposite.
But rest assured, the demonstration will almost always "work" no
matter who you select. The participants will listen and always
hear strengths for you to list. And often the demo you have
to work hardest at digging for details will be the best example
for the rest of the group.
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