A Power of a Thank You

Hey Tara,

What about some sort of 'David vs Goliath' theme, where some little guy keeps getting/receiving positive reinforcement and then eventually defeats the Giant that is negativity?

-Eric

Hi Tara,

Another idea might be Joe/Jane Mediocre muddling through their career and life. Some event happens that encourages them to unlock the power of "thank you". From then on, interaction after interaction where they use the power correctly and good things happen for all involved. When they forgot to use the power, bad results follow and they are reminded. Finally, when they have started to master the power, they share the idea with friends, co-workers and.... you.... the learner is challenged directly to use the power for yourself.

Bob

I don't know how much time you have to develop this project. This idea might take some more time:

How about sending out an optional survey to staff asking them if they ever had a memorable moment in their career when a peer recognized how hard they were working or thanked them and expressed their appreciation. If so, what was the memorable moment and what made it so memorable & meaningful?  I bet you'd get a few staff willing to share a few experiences when they felt appreciated in a really big way and why it mattered so much. You could turn 3 or 4 of these into a meaninful story-based course.

Tara,

Does your company have any sort of recognition program? If so, you could incorporate that into each scenario. Either way, I suggest giving realistic examples based on both standard things that happen in business as well as some things that are specific to your company. Then include various forms of thanks you (e cards, email with manager copied, hand written note, etc). This could be a great opportunity to point out some of the situations when they may not think to use a form of thank you.

As for a theme, you could also go with something basic like office backgrounds converted to black and white and faded a bit, with characters in front in full color. IMHO I think that when the content is strong (especially in scenarios), you don't need to liven it up as much. 

Thank you is simple and clean. It has great meaning but isn't over the top.

I say keep it white. White slides and design with simple black text and pop it out with crisp images of happy smiling people. This font is boys on moped's. Comic book meets minimalist.

To that end, one of the  best scenario-based courses I ever went through was just a grey background with text. The questions and outcomes were so realistic that I was completely captivated. 

That being said, I have never managed to edit myself down to a grey background....

Can anyone else not see Zara's pics? 

Love it! 

I want to make this course (totally pouting as I return to my system training...)

Natalia, I enjoy systems training!  It's black and white and no one argues over the "messaging" and "meaning."  

Thank you so much for the ideas. I love all of these ideas.  This gives me a great start to this project and can't wait to share some of these ideas with the trainer and see what we can come up.

@Elizabeth - I do agree. Systems training definitely has its benefits. But when I see some of the projects other people are developing, I get to thinking about how green the grass is on the other side.

@Tara, let us know what you guys come up with!