CUSTOMIZED WORKPLACE
MINDSETS & SKILLSETS
LEARNING PROJECT
DEVELOPMENT, DESIGN
AND DELIVERY
Spotlighted Multi-Media Learning Project
Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI)
Working Group Paper and Educational Toolkit:
Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress or Crisis
In the autumn of 2020 when it was abundantly obvious the global COVID pandemic was having wide-ranging impacts on organizations of all sizes as well as their employees and stakeholders, the Ethics and Compliance Initiative established a Working Group to research and produce a White Paper titled Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress or Crisis.
Our Working Group was initially spilt into two subgroups focused upon researching both Internal and External factors. As a contributing team member who has extensive experience in the area of educating about the adverse impacts of chronic stress and pressure on individuals, teams, leadership, and overall workplace culture, I proposed that unaddressed/improperly addressed workplace stress creates an ethical risk to any organization. The pandemic brought to light the toll it was having upon individual mental health, and it was imperative that the harmful effects of chronic high-level stress be a component of our project in the form of a learning resources Toolkit.
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However, it became clear early on that including this information in the White Paper would make it unwieldily in both size and scope. After I gave a presentation to the entire team, the Working Group Team proposed to ECI leadership that I lead a complimentary team, and along with Working Group project member Kalwant Kaur create a companion Toolkit website that would provide comprehensive information about stress, pressure, anxiety, and burnout, as well as recommending a "whole systems" approach to teach E&C professionals how to address root causes of workplace stress and pressure. While we were still researching and compiling the data for the White Paper and Toolkit, I was invited to give a presentation to the ECI Fellows group along with the Internal and External Team leaders, which was exceptionally well-received.
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This project was deemed so timely and important that we worked on it throughout 2020 - 2021, with the White Paper findings and Toolkit published in January 2022 - right when "The Great Resignation" was taking place. ECI considered this project so valuable for its membership, that they approached Kalwant and myself to broaden the scope of the Toolkit project to include a series of webinars and a Community Discussion Forum. that lasted throughout 2022.
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Please click the arrow to visit a separate page containing the related work product and deliverables for this extensive Learning Project.
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Leadership Development Learning Project
One of the main components of the Educational Toolkit website I co-created for the ECI Learning Project, Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress or Crisis is that Adaptive Leadership and resiliency skill-building must frame all Change Management and workplace culture educational programs before an organization finds itself in a costly "clean up on aisle twelve" situation. This Learning Project highlights the leadership framework developed by Harvard professor Ron Heifetz, Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, along with his colleague Marty Linsky, professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, that has been growing in popularity in recent years during our increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) times, but it isn't yet another "trendy buzzword" leadership style that's easy to turn into a commodity – nor is it a quick fix.
Adaptive leadership empowers individuals and organizations to adapt to changing environments and effectively respond to complex problems. But simply being able to “adapt” isn't enough: organizations wishing to employ an adaptive leadership model must adhere to a set of specific characteristics to facilitate a desired outcome. While "agile" leadership is getting a lot of attention (even though it's not clearly understood by many that promote it), Heifetz and Linsky's comprehensive approach provides an actionable roadmap for successful Change Management initiatives that aren't either "perfect" or easy - but to be sustainable, no quick and easy fixes are worth the investment of an organization's time and resources.
Most of today’s challenges are a combination of technical and adaptive challenges. Merely taking a technical approach to a problem won’t always solve your problems. As experience may have already taught you, 
the same feedback and issues will just continue to return if you don’t also engage an adaptive approach.
Learning Project
Mindful Resilience for Law Enforcement:
Meeting Stress with Strength and Integrity
Onsite and Live Online/Interactive Learning Facilitation - Eight Modules
Development, Design and Delivery
This Learning Project was created after a police sergeant from California contacted me via LinkedIn and requested that I develop a mindfulness-based stress-resiliency immersive two-day training for police and first responders that would be held onsite at a law enforcement training center. While I developed it to be taught in person, it was also made adaptable for live/online/interactive delivery. The discussions and dialogue with attendees in a group dynamic were vital to its adoption and overall success; and individual Self-Directed eLearning is not recommended even though a sample of how it could be delivered is included here .
I had no experience with employees in this sector and it took several months to do thorough needs research and assessments, conduct interviews, and understand the particular challenges to mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing that is common in the law enforcement profession, but was not being given the attention it deserved. While there is a lot of controversy over policing in the U.S., there are many good people in law enforcement who are truly suffering. The sergeant was my consulting SME and also offered to voluntarily co-lead the weekend intensive since he had the real-life experience that is essential to create the necessary rapport with law enforcement officers (LEOs) and first responders.
I crafted a course proposal that included a draft outline of the deliverables and my training fees and travel and lodging expenses, and it was approved. I then built the entire course, which consisted of eight modules to be delivered in-person, a learning project management timeline, learner assessments, four weeks of Mindfulness Toolkit follow-up review emails with supplemental recorded practices. It was exceptionally well-received and perhaps the most meaningful course I've ever built and had the honor to lead.
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Deliverables Examples:
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• Course Proposal
• Logo Creation - "Mindful Responders"
• PowerPoint Module Six
• Handout Sample: "Mind Traps" from Module Three
• Adaption of Module Six PowerPoint in Articulate Rise 360 for eLearning, PDF (LMS delivery format available) even though this format is not preferable.
Learning Project:
Conscious Eating: Making Informed Choices for Greater Health and Wellbeing
Onsite, Live Online/Interactive, or Self-Directed Learning Facilitation Options
Instructional/Course Design and Delivery
Deliverables Examples:
• Introduction to Course Lesson One PowerPoint
• Adaption of Lesson Four PowerPoint: Sugar, Fat and Salt in Articulate 360 for team eLearning, PDF (LMS delivery format available)
Learning Project Collection - Workplace Ethics & Integrity: Foundations Series
Mini-Trainings, eLearning, Webinars, and "Lunch and Learn" Private Events
Onsite, Live Online/Interactive and Self-Directed On-Demand Course Options/Instructional Design and Training Delivery
Learning Project Collection: Curious.com
I developed, recorded and edited three on-demand/Self-Directed video courses (ten weekly lessons each) that were exclusively licensed to Curious.com for five years. Because times, needs, and knowledge evolve, once that agreement expired I updated each one and offered them in both onsite and on-demand learning platforms:
• Introduction to Mindfulness became The Life Skill of Mindful Awareness
• Foundations of Mindful Eating became Conscious Eating: Making Informed Choices for Greater Health & Wellbeing (see above Learning Project)
• Mindfulness Skills for Work+ Life Success became Mindfulness Skills for Work + Life Harmony
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Below is a visual representation of the evolution and rebranding of the latter of the three:
Deliverables for both Curious.com and Independently produced Learning Projects included:
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• Scripted Didactic Transcripts
• Three "Knowledge Check" exercises within each lesson
• Downloadable Video Recorded Practices
• Downloadable Handouts
• Weekly Homework
• Downloadable Process Journal for self-reflection and tracking learning process
• Availability for student Q &A during course duration within the Curious course forum to whom I provided private feedback to
• Learner feedback surveys that included options for student commentary
• Option to sign up for follow-up course review emails which included bonus Downloadable Handouts and Video Recorded Practices
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Learning Project:
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Harmony Conscious Leadership Academy
Thinkific-Hosted, Independently Created Online/On-Demand Courses
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During the early years of the Thinkific.com online learning platform, after I graduated with my B.A. in Organizational Leadership (my second B.A., during which I focused on Training and Development and Change Management), I created several online leadership courses that reflect my dedication to workplace ethics and building a sustainable culture of harmony and integrity. Unfortunately I was not happy with how their integration of student learning tools, course promotion, analytics, marketing and monetization programs were run at the time, so I discontinued using their services.
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However, I'm very proud of the courses I created as I continued along my path as a Course Designer and Learning Facilitator:
Each course included:
• Scripted Didactic Transcripts
• "Knowledge Check" exercises within each lesson
• Downloadable Video Recorded Practices
• Downloadable Handouts
• Weekly Homework that I provided individual feedback to
• Downloadable Process Journal for self-reflection and tracking learning process
• Availability for student Q &A via email during course duration
• Learner feedback surveys that included options for student commentary
• Three months of access to each course upon completion, including bonus downloadable Handouts and Video Recorded Practices
Learning Projects:
Online/Interactive; Lead Trainer/Learning Facilitator
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eMindful.com: Led two weekly live courses Mindfulness at Work and Metabolic Health in Small Bytes, as well as led online half-day formal mindfulness practices, and self care retreats. Live Video Online/Interactive.
This was my first online Trainer/Learning Facilitator position, which began in April 2011. One of the first companies that offered live, online interactive trainings for corporate employees. All early meeting/webinar and training delivery systems back then (Go To Meeting, Cisco WebEx, etc.) had regular tech problems and not everyone had high speed internet compared to today's standards. We were learning as we were doing in a brand-new type of learning environment. Very grateful to be one of the pioneers! Live onsite will always be my heart, but live, online/interactive for small teams/groups is the second-best way IMHO and gives many people to learn online with its ability to reach around the world.
Moment Health: Mindfulness: Be Here Now , a short-lived internal division of UnitedHealth Group that offered six-week-long, live, weekly mindfulness skills classes plus guided meditation practices for their employees. While it was fully interactive with attendees, it was audio-only. I also delivered a webinar for their regular, drop-in, lunchtime open mindfulness talks and practices sessions. These employees had very stressful jobs and this was a place to find calm and practice healthy self-care.
