The Illinois Model

  Let me start by saying that I have NO clue as to whether this sort of teaching method has been explored or not, to what extent it's been researched or disproved, or what if any academic name has been assigned to it. I'm writing this today to share some positive experiments with training others in complicated physical tasks. I began my "teaching" career as a police firearms instructor in 2000. I was selected partially (arguably mostly ) because I was good shooter. The five (5)-day instructor certification course did little to help me grow skills in others. I was pretty much on my own to read up on the subject. I used the firearms ranges as my own learning laboratory.   This is something we tinkered with about dozen years ago: We had broken down some of the basic physical movements of drawing, presenting, and firing a pistol into five (5) steps in a linear chain. Some very basic. Some complex motor skills requiring coordination. Some fine motor skills requiring dexter...

People who are reluctant to make decisions have been conditioned to behave that way. If you want these folks to make decisions, you'll have to overcome their ingrained fears & incentives . There are no shortcuts. However, I'd like to share a few things that have worked in growing decisiveness in teams of which I've been a member.  1. Discuss the relationship between available/perceived discretionary time & accuracy/reasonableness of the decision. These are two (2) different characteristics of a decision. Time relates to urgency. Basically, how much time do we have to consider the situation and options? Accuracy relates to how correct, while acknowledging that few options are as objective as answers to a math test. 2. Reward decisiveness, even potentially more than the quality of the decision. This is especially true if the situation is complicated , novel, complex, dynamic, or uncertain. Also, criticize or penalize (tactfully, of course) ind...

In 1994, my prep school friends dispersed across the country to their respective colleges and universities. Back then, only a handful of us has access to email. I barely remember my address: l-hayes@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu . (Side note: the first digital picture I received - from a computer whiz kid across the dormitory hallway: a dolphin jumping out of the water. Really? A dolphin? Still, it was pretty amazing to transmit a picture, even at the 45-minute conversion!) Despite social media, browsing algorithms, and other direct messaging, email is still very alive. But it does appear, that email skills and etiquette have been tainted with the increase of those other more casual communication platforms. The Illinois Model exists to increase productivity, adaptability, decision-making, and project management. Its theories are applied to email as well. Here are six simple tricks you should be using to enhance your email...